Stone, Joel

Col. Joel Stone, United Empire Loyalist and founder of Gananoque, was born at Guilford, Connecticut, 1749, to Stephen Stone and his wife Rebecca Bishop, both members of families that took part in the original settlement of Guilford in 1639. The Stone family removed, in 1751, to Litchfield County, Connecticut, where shortly before the Revolutionary War Joel Stone entered business as a general merchant. A known loyalist, Stone took refuge in New York toward the end of 1776 and during the remainder of the war served as a volunteer. Frrom 1783 to 1786 Stone was in London seeking compensation for confiscated property. In 1786 he sailed for Quebec and by the following year was settled with his family at New Johnstown (Cornwall). About 1792 Stone took up residence at the mouth of the Gananoque River, becoming the first white settler at what was to become the town of Gananoque. During the next forty years he was the principal land-owner and leading citizen of the little community, acting as justice of the peace, customs collector and roads commissioner. During the War of 1812 he conducted the defence of Gananoque in his capacity of Colonel in the Leeds militia. He died in 1833..