Michael Jenifer Stone

Michael Jenifer Stone (1747–1812) was an American planter and statesman from Charles County, Maryland. He represented Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.

Coat of Arms of Michael J. Stone

Michael was born to David and Elizabeth (Jenifer) Stone at Poynton Manor in Charles County. That home had been founded by his ancestor William Stone who had been the third Governor of the colony of Maryland in the mid-seventeenth century. His elder brother Thomas Stone signed the Declaration of Independence, and his younger brother John Hoskins Stone was the ninth Governor of Maryland.

As an adult, Michael lived at Haberdeventure, which was the plantation of his brother Thomas near Port Tobacco. Michael married Mary Briscoe and they had five children. Their grandson, Frederick Stone, would later represent Maryland in the U.S. Congress. Michael and Thomas were very close. When Thomas died in 1787, his will gave Michael the lifetime use of Haberdeventure, and asked that he raise his young son.

Stone represented Charles County in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1781 to 1783. In 1788, he was a delegate to the states convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution. In the new Federal government, Maryland sent him as a Representative of the 1st Congressional district to the First United States Congress from 1789 to 1791.

Stone died in 1812 and was buried on his own estate of Equality near La Plata in Charles County. His son, Michael Jenifer Stone (II), built the historic home Sunnyside at Aquasco, in Prince George's County, Maryland.