Walter F. Stone

Who was Walter F. Stone?

Walter Freeman Stone was a Republican politician who was an Ohio Supreme Court Judge 1873-1874.

Walter Stone was born at Wooster, Ohio. His father died when he was young, but left adequate means that Stone received an education. He studied law in Pittsburgh, where he studied under Walter H. Lowrie, who would later be Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court., and Cleveland, and was admitted to the bar in 1845 in Cleveland.

In 1846, Stone moved to Sandusky, where he established partnerships with judge A. W. Hendry, and later with Ebenezer Lane, who had served on the Ohio Supreme Court for 15 years, and his son William G. Lane as Lane, Stone & Lane until 1865. He was initially a Democrat, but joined the Freesoilers in 1849. He was elected Common Pleas Judge in 1865 and re-elected in 1870. In 1873 he was appointed by Governor Noyes to the Ohio Supreme Court when William H. West resigned. He was nominated by the Republicans, and elected to the remainder of the term in 1873, but had to resign in August 1874.

Stone married Cordelia A. Hitchcock on June 5, 1851, and they had three children. Stone retired to Oakland, California for his health, but died December 23, 1874. His funeral was January 5, 1875 in Sandusky, with burial in Oakland Cemetery in that city.