Elijah J. Stone

ELIJAH JAMES STONE
_________________

ELIJAH JAMES STONE, one of the business pioneers of the upper Ohio valley, was born at Enfield, Hampshire county, Mass., November 2, 1819, and died at Wheeling April 23, 1887. At the age of nine years he left the home of his father, Clark Stone, a worthy farmer, and started out in the world with a capital of $3. About the year 1836 he came to the upper Ohio valley and began teaching a country school in Belmont county, Ohio, having prepared himself for that profession by his own efforts. While teaching at Whiskey Run he met, and afterward was married to, Elizabeth C., daughter of Edward Thomas, one of the pioneers of Belmont county. He soon associated himself with his brother-in-law, J. C. Thomas, boating coal down the Ohio river, and subsequently the two gentlemen engaged in the dry goods business at Wheeling. With this business Mr. Stone was connected until his death, and it is now carried on under the old firm name of Stone & Thomas, by his sons, E. L. and W. E. Possessed of remarkable business talent and financial ability, Mr. Stone became one of the most successful of the old merchants of Wheeling, and accumulated large property interests. He was the largest real estate holder in the city in his time and erected a considerable number of buildings. He was also a stockholder and director in many enterprises, such as the Exchange bank, Fire and Marine Insurance company, and was director of the bank of the Ohio valley, the Belmont mill, the Riverside, Bellaire and Junction mills, and the Commercial bank. Public spirited and liberal in his relations to his fellows, he was frequently elected to positions on the board of county commissioners and the city council. As a member of the Methodist church he was influential and active, was instrumental in building the North Street Methodist Episcopal church, and after removing to the Island aided materially in the building of the Thomson church. His widow, the daughter of Edward and Catherine (Clark) Thomas, survives at the age of sixty-five years. Of the ten children born to their union seven are living.