For almost four centuries, the Stone family of Maryland contributed talents and skills to the colony, the state, and the nation through roles that included governors, congressmen, judges, and statesmen, often amid events that shaped the country. William Stone, the first Protestant Governor of Maryland under Lord Baltimore and Thomas Stone's great-great-grandfather, signed the Religious Toleration Act of 1649, helping make North America a land of religious freedom. Thomas Stone served in the Continental Congress, signed the Declaration of Independence, and was one of the authors of the Articles of Confederation, the first national government of the United States; Haberdeventure was his home and remained in the Stone family until 1936. His brother John Hoskins Stone, one of Thomas Stone's six younger brothers, served as Maryland's governor from 1794 to 1797 and helped George Washington raise money to build the new capital city of Washington, DC. Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Thomas Stone's maternal uncle, strongly influenced his political career and also signed the US Constitution. Another brother, Michael Jenifer Stone, moved into Haberdeventure, raised Thomas's young son after Thomas's death, attended President George Washington's inauguration in 1789, and served as Maryland's first congressman under the US Constitution. In the nineteenth century, Frederick Stone, Thomas Stone's great-great nephew, defended Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, accused as an accomplice of John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of President Lincoln, and after the Civil War became a two-term US Congressman and a federal judge.