Among the early records of Connecticut may be found mention of the coming to that colony from England, in 1639, of Reverend John Stone, and his descendants may be found not only in Connecticut but in many other states and in Wisconsin in particular, where for generations the name Stone has been identified with people of true worth, and in this connection may be mentioned Harlan D. Stone, the present register of deeds of Waupaca County. Mr. Stone is a native of Wisconsin and was born January 28, 1865, in Alto Township, Fond du Lac County. Harlan was the only son of Edward Payson Stone and Annis M. (nee Larrabee).

Harlan D. Stone was reared on the home farm and attended the public schools. He was a thoughtful and serious-minded young man and at the age of twenty-four years entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He cheerfully accepted and faithfully performed the onerous duties that attend the self-sacrificing life of a Methodist circuit-rider, and by 1904, when he came to Waupaca County, he had served six circuits, covering a period of fourteen years. After coming to this county, Mr. Stone turned his attention to agricultural pursuits for a time and owns a farm in Helvetia Township, but he also, for three years supplied the church at Iola. Not long after coming to Waupaca County, Mr. Stone was elected township clerk at Helvetia, on the republican ticket, and served three years in that office and for four years was chairman of the township official board. He still retains his farm in Helvetia Township, but after being elected register of deeds of Waupaca County, in 1914, took up his residence at Waupaca, where his steady citizenship is valued.

In 1886 Mr. Stone was united in marriage with Miss Fannie E. Harris, who was born in 1865, at Marquette, in Green Lake County, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Stone have reared a family of seven children. Harlan Stone died at his home in Waupaca Wisconsin on September 5^th 1937 at the age of 72. He had suffered a stroke six and a half years earlier leaving him partially paralyzed.

From the above record it may be seen that a name that has been honorably borne for 277 years in the United States, is one of the aristocracy of old American names in fact, is in no danger of having its fair fame clouded in Wisconsin.

References:

· “A Standard History of Waupaca County, Wisconsin” by John M. Ware, 1917

· 1937 First Methodist Episcopal Church Yearbook