Correspondence, 1762-1876 and undated

This series consists primarily of letters written to William B. Stone by various friends, colleagues, and clients. Also included are several business letters written to Stone's uncles Walter, Daniel, and Frederick, as well as one letter written to Stone's father, Michael J. Stone.

Most of the letters to William B. Stone deal with legal matters such as claim and estate settlements, debt collection, and court cases. Some of these letters, however -- especially those from William Plater -- are of a much more personal nature. The Plater letters reveal much about the long-lived friendship that existed between Stone and Plater. Plater, for instance, speaks frankly about his financial straits, the death of his beloved wife, and his child's serious illness. Like Stone, Plater came from an important Maryland family: Plater's father, George, was Maryland's sixth governor.

One letter in particular within the collection stands out as a valuable account of political events in the nation's capital. A letter written by H. G. S. Key and dated 29 January 1845 mentions the Senate's rejection of Stone as a candidate for a judgeship and goes on to discuss the activities of various political parties, President Polk's new government, and Texas' admission to the Union.

The collection also contains a letter from Thomas Fielder Bowie (1808-1869), who was heavily involved in county, state, and national politics. Bowie, an attorney who practiced in Upper Marlboro, served as Deputy Attorney General in Prince George's County and later went on to participate in the Maryland State Constitutional Convention of 1851. He was a member of the judicial committee that assisted in framing Maryland's new constitution, and he was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives for the Thirty-Fourth and Thirty-Fifth Congresses (1855-1859).

Several of the letters include references to slavery and people who were enslaved. Plater's letters of January 5 and February 19, 1839, for example, discuss the price and physical condition of particular enslaved women.

This series of correspondence has been arranged chronologically. A detailed listing of the letters (as prepared by the manuscript dealer Charles Apfelbaum) is available as an external document.