William Stone (Maryland governor)

William Stone
William Stone, 3rd Proprietary Governor of Province of Maryland
3rd Proprietary Governor of Province of Maryland
In office 1649–1656
Preceded by	Thomas Greene
Succeeded by	Josias Fendall
Personal details
Born	William Maximillian Stone c. 1603 Northamptonshire, England
Died	c. 1660 Charles County, Maryland
Profession	businessman, planter, land owner, colonial government official, colonial governor
Religion	Puritan Christian

William Maximillian Stone, 3rd Proprietary Governor of Province of Maryland (c. 1603 – c. 1660) was an early, English settler in Maryland. He was governor of the colony of Maryland from 1649 to 1655.

William Maximillian Stone was born in Northamptonshire, England.

On 15 Sept 1619, William Stone set sail for the Virginia Colony, on the ship, Margaret of Bristol and was one of the new colonists, being sent to Berkeley Hundred, to work under Captain John Woodlief's supervision. Stone was supposed to serve the Society of Berkeley Hundred's investors for six years in exchange for 30 acres of land. Sometime, prior to 9 February 1629, he received a tobacco bill from Richard Wheeler. By 4 June 1635, William had patented 1,800 acres in Accomack.

Local court records revealed, that he was the brother of Andrew Stone and Captain John Stone, who had been trading, on the Eastern Shore, since 1626. By 1634, William Stone had become a commissioner of the county court. Sometime, prior to February 1636, he married Verlinda Graves, the daughter of Captain Thomas Graves. William went on to become sheriff and vestryman. In 1645 he was residing on the Eastern Shore, in what had become Northampton County.

By 1648, he had become the third proprietary governor of Maryland.

Stone came to America, in 1619, with a group of Puritans, who settled on the Eastern shore, of Chesapeake Bay, in the colony of Virginia. The first Puritan settlement, in Virginia, thrived, but eventually came into conflict with the established Episcopal Church.

In 1648, William Stone reached an agreement, with Cecilius Calvert, the 2nd Lord Baltimore to resettle the Virginia Puritan colonists, in the central region of the Province of Maryland.