M. E. Stone

     M. E. Stone, merchant and postmaster at Divine, Tenn., was born July 3, 1850, in Chattooga County, Ga., and is the second of seven children born to William and Annie (Junkins) Stone. The father was born in North Carolina about l823, and was captain of the State militia of the district in which he resided. He taught school and has been bailiff of the county for two terms. The mother was born about 1832 in South Carolina, and her parents were J. W. and Annie Junkins, who came from Ireland to South Carolina about 1820, settling in Franklin County, where Mrs. Stone was born. She died in 1865. Mr. and Mrs. Stone were active Christian workers in the church since early in life. Mr. Stone has always been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mrs. Stone first joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church but after marriage joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Stone is a licensed minister in the church, and has served the organization to which he belongs as a class leader and in other capacities for some time. He is of German and Holland descent. Our subject received his education in the Chattooga County common schools principally. He assisted his father on the farm until nineteen years of age, when he was thrown upon his own resources. Mr. Stone is a very promising young man. He followed farming until 1880, when he engaged in business at his present location. One year from that date, there being need of a post office at this place, Mr. Stone was commissioned to fill the position of post-master under Thomas L. James, the postmaster-general at that time. Mr. Stone commenced life in very limited circumstances, but by energy and enterprise he has succeeded in a very creditable manner. He has as fine a stock of goods as is to be found in any country store. He built the first store in this locality, and has increased his business until his sales amount to $9,000 per year. He is a Democrat in politics, casting his first presidential vote for Horatio Seymour. Besides his store building and stock of goods Mr. Stone owns five acres of land, two and a half miles from the corporation limits of Chattanooga, and is a valuable piece of property. His grandfather, Stone, was a very prominent citizen of the German Government before immigrating to this country.
Goodspeed's "History of Tennessee" 1887.