The New International Encyclopædia/Stone, William Leete

STONE, William Leete (1792-1844). An American journalist and historical writer, born at Newpaltz, N. Y. After editing several provincial journals he became editor of the New York Commercial Advertiser in 1821. He earnestly furthered a plan for collecting the colonial documents of New York, and was defendant in a famous suit brought by the novelist Cooper for criticisms that had appeared in his journal on that novelist's Home as Found and the History of the Navy. (See Cooper, J. F.) He was active in furthering benevolent institutions for the deaf and dumb and for juvenile delinquents. Among his many publications the revolutionary Tales and Sketches (2 vols., 1834), Maria Monk and the Nunnery of the Hôtel Dieu (1836), and a social satire Ups and Downs in the Life of a Distressed Gentleman (1836) are still of interest. Better known probably are his Life of Joseph Brant (1838); Life of Red Jacket (1840); and Uncus and Miantonomeh (1842). An account of his other works is given in Life and Writings of Col. William L. Stone (1866), by his son, William Leete Stone, Jr. (b. 1835), himself the author of many works of antiquarian research connected with the Revolutionary epoch, among which the more noteworthy are: The Life and Times of Sir William Johnson, Bart.; Revolutionary Letters: Burgoyne's Campaign; History of New York City; Reminiscences of Saratoga and Ballston. He edited also Ballads of the Burgoyne Campaign and Other Revolutionary Memorials.