Letter to Sumner LaRue Tone, Apr 3 1899

A letter to Sumner Larue Tone (1864-1942) covering some history of the Tone family in upstate NY.

Scipioville April 3rd 1899

S. Larue Tone
Dear Sir

I received your letter Sat, & will now tell what I know of the Tones back of John A he married his cousin Margaret Manahan & her mother was Elizabeth Tone before she married Hugh Manahan, I think her father was John Tone. I can't say how many children there were, but know there was 3 brothers as I know of 3 John Tones [?]. One was John & one was long John married his cousin Betsey Manahan, & another John unreadable used to live in Springport & they were cousins to one another. I cannot say how many girls, one Elizabeth married Hugh Manahan, one Sally married Joel George, & one Hannah I think is a great grandmother of Mrs. Windsor Arnold, Aunt Polly used to tell of cousins by the name of Hance, they all came from South Amboy, Middlesex Co, NJ. John seems to be a prominent name in the Tone family, as all of the Johns that I have mentioned had a sone John. Now you will get far behind if you don't have a son John. Grandfather Tone came to Scipio in 1801, a few years adter the Manahans came, they had 10 children, 2 Johns, one died when little, Thomas, James, & Wm, Margaret, Jane, Polly, Betsy, & Hannah. I don't believe Andrew has any papers that Mary Tone had. I think she lent them to him to read & took them back to Ohio with her.

Perhaps Delany Cook could give you some information as she has a good memory & is just as near related as I am & if you would write to unreadable he may have Mary's papers & they were more correct than anything I can tell, that is more of it. I am quite poorly this Spring, have been sick since Jan 1st. Don't go out of doors yet, please excuse hand writing as I can't write with pen, my hand is so trembly. Love to all our friends. I will send aunreadable of John Tone's grandma [?] the Manahans fathers [?] I found unreadable of Aunt Polly's papers unreadable old letters. I have unreadable since her death.

Friends in haste,
Clarence Shane [?]

Notes:

• Scipioville is a hamlet in the town of Scipio, NY
• "Elizabeth married Hugh Manahan" refers to Elizabeth Tone (1747-1831).
• John A. Tone (1768-1825) married his cousin Margaret Manahan (1769-1832) (Elizabeth Tone (1747-1831)'s daughter). John's father was Andrew Tone (1742-1820), a brother of Elizabeth.
• "Sally married Joel George": "Sally" is pretty clear in the letter but it was Elizabeth's sister Mary Tone (1759-1822) who married Joel George (1767-1848). Maybe Sally was a nickname.
• Hannah could to be Hannah Tone (1769-1846), a sister of John A. Tone (1768-1825), or Hannah Tone (1747-1849), a sister of Elizabeth Tone (1747-1831). The latter Hannah married Thomas Hance (1741-1838), so she may be more likely since the letter mentions "cousins by the name of Hance".
• I'm pretty certain that "Windsor Arnold" is not Windsor Arnold Hosmer. Hosmer would have been 5 years old when the letter was written and not yet known to Sumner Larue Tone (1864-1942).
• According to the Tone Book, Polly is "Polly (Mary)", born and died in 1801.
• "Grandfather Tone [who] came to Scipio in 1801" is John A. Tone (1768-1825). He and Margaret had numerous children but the names at Ancestry don't quite match the ones mentioned here.