by Don C. Stone, don@donstonetech.com, Oct. 2016
The cupboard is described briefly and illustrated in color at http://www.concordmuseum.org/joined-cupboard.php. It is covered in some detail by Robert F. Trent as catalogue item no. 1 in David F. Wood, ed., The Concord Museum: Decorative Arts from a New England Collection (1996), 1-2, Pl. 2.
John Augustus Stone was the owner of the Gregory Stone cupboard at his death in 1834. He is apparently the earliest attested owner of this piece (no. 1 in George Tolman's Catalogue of a Portion of the Collection of the Concord Antiquarian Society, 1911). John A. Stone's ancestry is given in the Gregory Stone Genealogy by J. Gardner Bartlett, 1918; this book is viewable and downloadable from the Web; for example, https://books.google.com/books?id=ZxsVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA293 opens to the sketch of John A. Stone on p. 293 in the printed book and on the Web (p. 361 in the downloaded PDF), including information about his literary-theatrical career.
The table below summarizes the descent of John A. Stone from the immigrant Gregory Stone. In the second generation David Stone, the third son of the immigrant Gregory, built a homestead ca. 1653 in what is now Lincoln. It is plausible that David and each successive generation in this descent was an owner of the Gregory Stone cupboard. If so, then note that the cupboard stayed in the homestead of ca. 1653 for four successive generations (the first four generations in the table with large, bold asterisks, indicating ownership of the homestead). Then in the fifth generation, Joshua Stone (father of John A. Stone), did not get the old homestead on his father's death in 1782 but apparently did get the cupboard, either then or perhaps somewhat later, for example when he moved to Concord ca. 1789. It is important to note that Joshua was a cabinetmaker, and he may well have had a special appreciation of the old cupboard and consequently have negotiated with other family members to be its recipient.
I think that the above plausible scenario (with the cupboard staying in the same house for four successive generations and then going to the cabinetmaker son in the fifth generation) strengthens the case that Gregory Stone was the original owner of this cupboard as compared to the situation where there was simply an oral tradition concerning the original ownership.
Each table row is one generation; successive rows are successive generations.
The number before each name is that person's number in the 1918 Gregory Stone Genealogy.
| 1. Gregory Stone, bapt. 1592, came to Massachusetts in 1635, settling in Cambridge, died 1672. | |
| 4. David Stone, bapt. 1622, built a homestead ca. 1653 in what is now Lincoln.* Source: pp. 75, ff., in the printed or Web version of the Gregory Stone Genealogy (pp. 135, ff., in the downloaded PDF of the book). | |
| 9. Daniel Stone,* b. 1651. Source: pp. 87, ff. (151, ff., in PDF). | |
| 27. Gregory Stone,* b. ca. 1692. Source: pp. 115, ff. (179, ff.). | |
| 61. Gregory Stone,* b. 1729/30, d. 1782. Source: pp. 174, ff. (242, ff.). | |
| 141. Joshua Stone, b. 1751 in the old homestead built ca. 1653 by his ancestor David Stone. He was a cabinetmaker of Concord. Source: pp. 291, ff. (359, ff.). | 142. Gregory Stone,* b. 1754 (a younger brother of Joshua). Source: pp. 293, ff. (361, ff.). |
| 141. iv. John Augustus Stone, b. 1800, d. 1834 (suicide). Actor, dramatist, producer. Source: p. 293 (361). Attested as owner of the Gregory Stone cupboard. | 142. iii. Gregory Stone,* b. 1793, d. 1870. No children. Source: p. 294 (362). |