Stone was known for using her birth name after marriage, the custom at the time being for women to take their husband's surname.Stone's organizational activities for the cause of women's rights yielded tangible gains in the difficult political environment of the 19th century.
Oberlin College did not share all of these sentiments.Developments within that controversy over the next several years shaped her evolving philosophy on women’s rights.A debate over whether women were entitled to a political voice had begun when many women responded to William Lloyd Garrison’s appeal to circulate antislavery petitions and sent thousands of signatures to Congress only to have them rejected, in part because women had sent them.Resolving to “call no man my master,” she determined to keep control over her own life by never marrying, obtaining the highest education she could, and earning her own livelihood.At age sixteen, Stone began teaching in district schools, as her brothers and sister, Rhoda, also did.