At the age of seventeen, Stone became a teacher in the Bee Grove rural school in Menard County for one year.

During the Spanish–American War, he served as a corporal in Company K, Fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, from May 1898 to May 1899 with service in Cuba.

He studied law at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Stone was elected county superintendent of schools for Peoria County, Illinois, in 1902, reelected in 1906, and served until 1910.

He served as master in chancery of the circuit court of Peoria County, Illinois from June 5, 1928, to January 20, 1945.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress