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by Warren Skidmore (Author)
This genealogy presents six generations of descendants of the English immigrant Thomas Stonestreet. Thomas is believed with some certainty to have been christened at Birchden, Withyham, East Sussex, on July 14, 1630, as the son of Edward Stonstrete. He was transported to America as servant to William Waters and married a fellow servant, Elizabeth Butler, c.1688. By 1668/9, he had received a land grant from Charles Calvert of a 150-acre tobacco plantation in St. Mary's (now Charles) County, which he named Birchden after his English birthplace. He would acquire a great deal more land over the ensuing years conveying Birchden to his eldest son Thomas, and living out his days on a second plantation known as Morris' Help. He died c.1706, having fathered four children, and his will and estate inventory have survived to this day. Thomas Stonestreet's descendants are traced down through the male lines of his two sons, Edward (born c.1673) and Thomas (born c.1682). Each descendant has been assigned an individual reference number and the last recorded descendants bring the family up to the 1850s. This genealogy is enhanced by a series of entries copied from the Bishop's transcripts from Withyham, Sussex, and the parish register of East Grinsted, Sussex, noting Stonstreet births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths, as well as Sussex probates and assizes. Surname variations include Stonstreete, Stonstreat, Stanstreet, Stanstrete, Stanstreete, Stanstret, Stanstrett and Stansted. A full-name index augments the text.
