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THE STOCKTON FAMILY TREE
Copyright © 2004 All Rights Reserved by: Designer, Stockton, 704 701 3400
 
Pages 21-30

are happy in being able to inform Congress, that the Building is convenient &
comfortable, that the Director General has lately received a large supply of
the most capital medicines, and that they are now furnished with a sufficient
quantity of fresh mutton and Indian meal.  They yet want Bedding, and some
other matters which we shall state upon our return.  We shall endeavor to
procure some straw (a very scarce article here) which is much needed at the
Hospital.  At the close of our business at Fort George, we received a letter
from General Gates, advising us not to pursue our journey to Tyconderoga, but
to remain at Saratoga, untill further advise from him.  We are just returned
from Fort George, and shall wait a few days to hear further from General
Gates.  In the mean time, we shall be pursuing the other parts of our
instructions, which can be executed here.

General Schuyler has taken every possible step, in order to keep open the
communication from here to Tyconderoga, that the Army may not want supplies.
Considerable bodies of the Militia are daily going up: yet we heard, the last
evening, that the Savages had appeared between the upper End of Lake George &
Tyconderoga, taken two and killed & scalped one of our people going to
Tyconderoga.  An Express comes in this moment, who brings a letter from the
commanding officer at Fort George, informing that a part of the Enemy had
made their appearance, and fired on some of our people who were crossing Lake
George.  General Schuyler yet doubts of this fact.

We shall attend, with all possible diligence, to the remaining business
committed to us by Congress; and for our own sake, as well as the public
interest, return as soon as may be.  With the greatest esteem and respect, we
have the honor to be,
                Sir,
                    Your most obedient and
                        Very humble Servants
                                    Richard Stockton
                                    George Clymer.
 

                                    Albany November 20, 1776

Sir,

We did ourselves the honor of writing you the 26th of last month from
Saratoga; and after waiting, in vain, a few days, in expectation of advice
from General Gates, agreeably to his letter to us of the 24th we thought it
our duty, nevertheless, to proceed on to Tyconderoga.  We continued there
during the first two days in hourly expectation of sharing in the glory of
our Army, in a successful opposition to the attack of General Carlton: but we
were disappointed and instead thereof, had the pleasure of knowing that he
had totally evacuated Crown Point.  Of this great event, you will have
received authentic accounts before this can reach you.  We returned here the
morning before the last, and this morning we received from General Gates the
inclosed letter, together with some dispatches for ourselves.  The letter he
requested might be immediately forwarded to you by express.  We are
acquainted with the contents of it, and had a Conference with the
Commissioners from the Massachusetts Bay, in company with General Gates,
before we left Tyconderoga.  We did not fail to represent to them, in the
strongest terms, our apprehensions of the fatal consequences of the measure
adopted by their General Court; and advised them, by all means, to suspend
the declaration of their powers untill Congress shou'd be advised of this
extraordinary step.  We left them apparently undetermined; and as to what has
followed General Gates's letter will fully inform you.  Having gone thro' the
business committed to us by Congress, as far as it has been in our power, we
propose to set out to-morrow on our return, if the weather shall permit.  In
the mean time, with the greatest respect, we have the honor to be, Sir,
                        Your most obedient, and
                            most humble Servants
                                        Richard Stockton
                                        George Clymer.
P.S.
This moment fresh arr. from General Gates inform us, that he had sent Boats
40 miles down lake Champlain, and no appearance of the Enemy.

Upon his return home from this service Richard Stockton(4) found his family
and home in danger, Lord Cornwallis being on the march across the Jerseys and
Princeton lying in the direct line of advance of the British army.  He and
his family took up their residence temporarily at the house of John
Covenhoven, in Monmouth, New Jersey; and there he and Mr. Covenhoven were
made prisoners of war, on November 30, 1776, by a party of Loyalists.

Richard Stockton(4) was carried to New York, thrown in the common jail, and
treated with severity.  Learning of this, the Continental Congress, on
January 3, 1777, adopted the follow preamble and resolution:

Whereas, Congress hath received information that the honorable Richard
Stockton(4), Esquire, of New Jersey, and a member of this Congress, hath been
made a prisoner by the enemy, and that he has been ignominiously thrown into
a common jail, and there detained:

Resolved, That General Washington be directed to make immediate enquiry into
the truth of this report, and if he finds reason to believe it well founded,
that he send a flag to General Howe, remonstrating against this departure
from that humane procedure that has marked the conduct of these states to
prisoners, who have fallen into their hands; and to know of General Howe,
whether he chooses that this shall be the future rule for treating all such,
on both sides, as the fortue of war may place in the hands of either party.

Soon after this Richard Stockton(4) was exchanged, but his health was much
broken and he never regained it.

Upon the organization of the State governments under the Confederation, he
received on the first ballot an equal number of votes with William Livingston
for governor of New Jersey; but Livingston was finally chosen.  Richard
Stockton(4) was then unanimously selected for chief justice, but declined.
He died soon after, at his home, on February 28, 1781.  An oil portrait of
him, by Peale, hangs in Independence Hall, at Philadelphia; and in 1888 the
State of New Jersey placed his statue, by Henry Kirke Brown, in the Capitol
at Washington, a beautiful piece of work, and one of the few artistic statues
there.

Sanderson's Biographies of the Signers has the following to say about the
personality of Richard Stockton(4):

Richard Stockton(4), when unadorned by the gorgeous robes of judicial office
that prevailed previous to the Revolution, was neat but simple in his dress.
Before the Revolutionary War he lived in a state of splendor frequently
adopted by distinguished men in the Royal Government.  Every stranger who
visited Morven was cordially welcomed in the genuine style of ancient
hospitality, and it was customary in those days for distinguished strangers
to call upon men of rank.

He was a man of great coolness and courage.  His bodily powers, both in
relation to strength and agility, were of a superior order, and he was highly
accomplished in all manly exercises peculiar to the period in which he lived.
 His skill as a horseman and swordsman was particularly great.  His manners
were dignified and simple, though highly polished.

The family estate, "Morven", which he had made one of the most beautiful in
the Colonies, suffered severely during the Revolutionary War.  His library,
one of the best in the country, was burned, the lands laid waste, the
furniture burned, and the live stock driven away.  The plate and other
valuable articles had been packed in three boxes and buried in the woods at
some distance from the house, but through treachery two of the boxes were
discovered and fell into the hands of the British soldiers.  The third one
escaped and was recovered by the family.  The depreciation of the continental
currency, in which Richard Stockton(4) invested largely, further reduced his
fortune.

Among the friends of Richard Stockton(4) "The Signer" were a number of the
most eminent public men of his day.  He was a devoted friend of George
Washington, who was a frequent visitor at "Morven".  He and the Honorable
Elias Boudinot each married the other's sisters; and the celebrated Dr.
Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia, was his son-in-law.

When he visited England, in 1766, he invited his wife to accompany him, but
she thought it her duty to remain at home with the children.  They
corresponded with the ardor of youthful lovers, he always giving his wife her
favorite poetical name of "Amelia" in these letters, while she called him her
"Lucius".  As an example of the loving letters he wrote to his wife, here
follows a copy of one never before published.
He writes:

                                London October 21st, 1766
My dearest Amelia,

I have he pleasure to inform you that I arrived in good health in this city
yesterday afternoon from Ireland.  I had a very disagreeable and tedious
passage thither, but a pleasant & quiet one back again.  I know how cordially
you will join me in thanks to God Almighty for His gracious protection.  I
can tell you now, after it is over, that it was not only a tedious but a very
dangerous passage.  I never thought myself in real danger, at sea, before.
My pleasure was greatly increased upon my arrival here, upon my finding a
packet of letters from America.  You may be sure I opened it with great
eagerness having not heard one word from you since I left you.  Your well
known hand first attracted my attention, & I read, & read again.  I have only
your letters of July, one dated fourteenth upon your getting home, & the
other three about the twenty-fourth, if I recollect.  I received Elias' dated
the twenty-sixth of August sent by packet when, I suppose, you did not write,
& he informs me that all was well.  The only melancholy announcement you give
me is the death of our excellent friend, Dr. Finley, but as I fully expected
it, I was not so much shocked; but notwithstanding I was sure of hearing it,
I feel it affects my spirits exceedingly.  I pray God to support our dear
Mrs. Finley under this heavy stroke & tell her one of my great pleasures,
when I return, will be to endeavor to administer comfort to her.

I wrote you from Clonmel, in Ireland, sent via Cork, & I also wrote you from
Dublin, both of which I hope you have received.  I have been running to every
American coffee house to see if any vessels are bond for your side of the
water, & I can find none so direct as Captain Bran bound to Boston, but as I
cannot omit giving you the most early information of my return from Ireland,
I shall try this round about way, & let me tell you that all the elegance &
grandeur I have yet seen in these kingdoms, in different families where I
have been received, serves but to increase the pleasures I have for years
enjoyed in my domestic connections.  I see not a sensible, obliging, tender
wife but the image of my dear Amelia is full in view.  I see not a haughty
imperious ignorant dame, but I rejoice that the partner of my life is so much
her opposite.  But why need I talk so gallantly, you knew me long ago as well
as you would should I write a volume on this endearing topic.  I have not
time to write to a soul but you, as this must be sent immediately.  My love
to your good Father, whose affectionate prayers, I hope will be heard.  Love
to all my brothers & sisters, Mr. & Mrs. Forman, the Justice & dear Mrs.
Finley.  I shall write to many next packet; to Mrs. Forman particularly.
Kiss my dear sweet children, & give the hardest squeeze to my son, if you
think it is right, if not divide in equally without any partiality.  Tell
Dick I wil bring him a laced hat & each of the little girls something.
Adieu, my dearest Amelia, may Haven protect you & your dear little family
till I meet you.  Tell the servants I have made an account of their good
behavior, & will not fail to remember it.  I am yours forever in the utmost
affection & love.
                                    Richard Stockton(4)

Mrs. Stockton survived her husband and died February 6, 1801, at White
Plains, Burlington, New Jersey.  She was a woman of very considerable
literary attainments.  She wrote a drama called " The Triumph of Mildness",
besides odes and poems, and contributed to a number of periodicals.  She
corresponded freely with George Washington; and one of her poems, addressed
to him upon the occasion of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, he
gracefully acknowledged in the following letter:
 

                                    Philadelphia, July 22nd, 1782
Madam;

Your favor of the 17th, conveying to me your pastoral on the subject of Lord
Cornwallis' capture, has given me great satisfaction.  Had you known the
pleasure it would have communicated, I flatter myself, your diffidence would
not have delayed it to this time.

Amidst all the compliments which have been made on this occasion, be assured,
madam, that the agreeable manner, and the very pleasing sentiments in which
yours is conveyed, have affected my mind with the most lively sensations of
joy and satisfaction.

This address, from a person of your refined taste and elegance of expression,
affords a pleasure beyond my powers of utterance, and I have only to lament
that the hero of your pastoral is not more deserving of your pen; but the
circumstance shall be placed among the happiest events of my life.
I have the honor to be, madam,
            Your most obedient and respectful servant,

                            George Washington
Mrs. Stockton.

Upon the announcement of peace, in 1783, Mrs. Stockton addressed this ode to
General George Washington:

ODE TO WASHINGTON

With all thy country's blessings on thy head,
And all the glory that encircles man,
Thy deathless fame to distant nations spread,
And realms unblest by Freedom's genial plan;
Addressed by statesmen, legislators, kings,
Revered by thousands as you pass along,
While every muse with ardor spreads her wings,
To greet our hero in immortal song;
Say, can a woman's voice an audience gain,
And stop a moment thy triumphal car?
And wilt thou listen to a peaceful strain,
Unskilled to paint the horrid wrack of war?
For what is glory?  What are martial deeds,
Unpurified at Virtue's awful shrine?
Full oft remorse a glorious day succeeds--
The motive only stamps the deed divine.
But thy last legacy, renowned chief,
Hath decked thy brow with honors more sublime--
Twined in thy wreath the Christian's firm belief,
And nobly owned thy faith to future time.

To this, General Washington replied in a letter dated at Rocky Hill, New
Jersey, where he had been provided with a house:

                                    Rocky Hill, September 2d, 1783

You apply to me, my dear madam, for absolution, as though I was your father
confessor, and as though you had committed a crime, great in itself, yet of
the venial class.  You have reason good, for I find myself strangely disposed
to be a very indulgent ghostly adviser on this occasion, and notwithstanding
"you are the most offending soul alive", (that is, if it is a crime to write
elegant poetry), yet if you will come and dine with me on Thursday, and go
through the proper course of penitence which shall be prescribed, I will
strive hard to assist you in expiating these poetical trespasses on this side
of purgatory.  Nay, more, if it rests with me to direct your future
lucubration's, I shall certainly urge you to a repetition of the same
conduct, on purpose to show what an admirable knack you have a confession and
reformation; and, so, without more hesitation, I shall venture to recommend
the muse not to be restrained by ill-grounded timidity, but to go on and
prosper.

You see, madam, when once the woman has tempted us and we have tasted the
forbidden fruit, there is no such thing as checking our appetite, whatever
the consequences may be.  You will, I daresay, recognize our being the
genuine descendants of those who are reputed to be our great progenitors.

Before I come to the serious conclusion of my letter, I must beg leave to say
a word or two about these fine things you have been telling in such
harmonious and beautiful numbers.  Fiction is, to be sure , the very life and
soul of poetry.  All poets and poetesses have been indulged in the free and
indisputable use of it, time out of mind; and to oblige you to make such an
excellent poem, on such a subject, without any materials but those of simple
reality, would be as cruel as the edict of Pharaoh, which compelled the
children of Israel to manufacture bricks without the necessary ingredients.

Thus are you sheltered under the authority of prescription; and I will not
dare to charge you with an intentional breach of the rules of the decalogue
in giving so bright a coloring to the services I have been enabled to render
my country, though I am not conscious of deserving anything more at your
hands than what the purest and most disinterested friendship has a right to
claim; actuated by which, you will be permit me to thank you, in the most
affectionate manner, for the kind wishes you have so happily expressed for me
and the partner of all my domestic enjoyments.  Be assured, we can never
forget our friend at Morven, and that I am, my dear madam, with every
sentiment of friendship and esteem,
                    Your most obedient and obliged servant,

                                G. Washington
Mrs. Stockton.

Another of his letters to her, a copy of which follows, shows that her letter
which he was answering, was more than five weeks reaching Mount Vernon from
Princeton:

                                Mount Vernon, February 18th, 1784

Dear Maham:

The intemperate weather, and very great care which the post-riders take of
themselves, prevented your letter of the 4th of last month from reaching my
hands until the 10th of this.  I was then in the very act of starting on a
visit to my aged mother, from whence I am just returned.  These reasons I beg
leave to offer as an apology for my silence until now.
It would be a pity, indeed, my dear madam, if the muses should be restrained
in you; it is only to be regretted that the hero of your poetical talents is
not more deserving their lays.  I cannot, however, from motives of false
delicacy, (because I happen to be the principal character in your pastoral)
withhold my encomium on the performance.  For, I think, the easy, simple, and
beautiful strains with which the dialogue is supported, do great justice to
your genius, and will not only secure Lucinda and Aminta from wits and
critics, but draw from them, however unwillingly, their highest plaudits, if
they can relish the praises that are given as highly as they must admire the
manner of bestowing them.

Mrs. Washington, equally sensible with myself of the honor you have done her,
joins me most affectionate compliments to yourself, and the young ladies and
gentlemen of your family.  With sentiments of esteen, regard, and respect, I
have the honor to be, dear madam,
                        Your most obedient and most humble servant,

                                    G. Washington
Mrs. Stockton

(The foregoing letters and ode are taken from Mr. John W. Stockton's History
of the Stockton Family).  Mrs. Stockton also wrote the stanzas, beginning:
"Welcome, mighty chief, once more"! which were sung by the young ladies of
Trenton when George Washington passed through that city on his way to his
inauguration as the first President.  These lines are given in full, in
Marshall's Life of Washington.
 

RICHARD STOCKTON(5)
"THE DUKE"

Richard Stockton(5) (Born April 17, 1764 - Died March 7, 1828 at 64 years
old) was the son of Richard Stockton(4) "The Signer" and Annis (Boudinot)
Stockton.  He was often called "The Duke".  He married Mary Field (Born
October 10, 1766 - Died December 25, 1837), daughter of Robert and Mary
(Peale) Field, of Burlington, New Jersey, and sister of Robert Field who
married his sister, Abigail Stockton.  Robert Field lived at "White Hill", on
the Delaware, a plantation which had been in possession of the family from
their first settlement in the State.  He was noted for the quality of his
character and the extent of his fortune,  and was active in the cause of the
Colonies up to the time of his death, which occurred shortly before
hostilities began.  Richard "The Duke" Stockton(5) died in Princeton.

He was graduated at Princeton in 1779, and studied law in Newark, New Jersey
with his uncle, Honorable Elias Boudinot.  At twenty-five years of age, he
stood at the head of the New Jersey bar, and maintained the position for
forty years.  In politics he was a Federalist.  He was a presidential elector
in 1792 and 1801, and in 1796 was elected to the United States Senate and
filled the unexpired term of Frederick Frelinghuysen, serving till March 3,
1799.  He also served one term in the lower house of Congress, in 1813-15,
declining re-election to both offices.  He was eloquent speaker and
exceptionally able common-law lawyer, and was consulted by eminent lawyers
from many other states.

Mr. Samuel J. Bayard, of Princeton, related the following characteristic
anecdote of Richard "The Duke".

When Lafayette made the tour of America, in 1824 - 1826, the master of
"Morven" was appointed by the committee of reception to act as their
mouthpiece in welcoming the distinguished visitor to Princeton.  In the
morning of the day when Lafayette was to arrive, the council assembled to
hear Mr. Stockton read his address.  He commenced by saying:  "Marquis de La
Fayette".  After he concluded, Mr. Bayard suggested timidly that Lafayette
had renounced his title in the National Assembly, and that he would prefer in
this country to be called "General".  Mr. Stockton sternly said:  "Once a
marquis, always a marquis.  I shall address him by what was his title before
the infamous French revolution".  And he did so address him.

He was a man of dignity and possessed of a lofty sense of honor and
integrity.  Queen's College (now Rutger's) conferred upon him the degree of
LL. D. in 1815, and Union did the same in 1816.

Having inherited the family estate, "Morven", he restored and greatly
improved it, and made it his home until his death.
 
 

ROBERT FIELD STOCKTON(6)
"FIGHTING BOB"
 

Commodore Robert Field Stockton(6) (Born August 20, 1795 - Died October 7,
1866 at 71 years old) was the most distinguished son of Richard Stockton(5)
"The Duke".  He was known as "Fighting Bob," in history.  He married Harriet
Maria Potter (Born - Died 1862), daughter of John Potter, of Charleston,
South Carolina, in 1823.  He became a student at College of New Jersey when
but thirteen years old.  A few years later he left his studies to enter the
navy.  After spending ten years in foreign countries he returned and became
interested in the American colonization cause.  The United States Navy
equipped a new vessel called the Alligator for him, and he established a
colony on the western coast of Africa which subsequently became the Republic
of Liberia.  Thus, the name of Stockton is associated with the foundation of
that country.

In 1840 he was selected by President Tyler to be Secretary of the Navy, but
declined the honor.  In 1842 the Navy Department gave him permission to
construct a steamship of war, which was named the "Princeton" attracted much
attention in European ports. She was armed with twelve forty-two ponders, and
two guns of ten tons each, which were called the "peacemaker" and the
"Oregon." One of these guns exploded, during an exhibition trip, and killed
the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Navy, and a number of prominent men.
 A naval court of inquiry exonerated Stockton from blame for this accident
due to the Secretary of the Navy demanding a gun to be fired.

In October 1845, Captain Stockton was ordered to proceed, in the frigate
Congress, to the Pacific Coast, to act as commander-in-chief of the Pacific
squadron at the beginning of the Mexican War.  Out numbered ten to one by
General Castro of the Mexican Army, Commodore Stockton(2) defeated General
Castro and drove his Army back into Mexico.  The people of California named
for him the city of Stockton, also one of the principal streets of San
Francisco, and there is a memorial window in his memory in the St. Peter's
Chapel at Mare Island Navy Yard.

On May 28, 1850 Commodore Stockton(6) resigned his command in the United
States Navy.  From 1851 to 1857 he was elected to the United States Senate
from New Jersey but resigned in 1853.  During his brief term, he introduced
and advocated the bill by which flogging was abolished from the Navy.  From
the time of leaving the Senate, he devoted himself to his private interest's
and was president of the Delaware & Raritan Canal Co.  Also, he became famous
for developing the Camden & Amboy railroad. Notwithstanding his exciting life
in the navy, and the fact that he was engaged in several duels, he lived to a
ripe old age and died in 1866. The chapeau he wore as Commodore is now in the
possession of his grandson, Richard Stockton, of Trenton, New Jersey.

Philip Augustus Stockton(6), third son of the first Lucius Witham
Stockton(5), was also a naval hero.  He served on the old Constitution, when
it was the flagship of Commodore Read.  After eleven years' service, he
resigned, with the rank of Lieutenant.  He was Consul-General for Saxony six
years.

Commodore Stockton(6) left three sons, Richard Stockton(7), John Potter
Stockton(7) and General Robert Field Stockton(7).  John P. Stockton(7) was
Attorney-General of New Jersey.  In 1857 President Buchanan appointed him
United States Minister to Rome. He was the youngest man ever appointed a
Minister.  He was elected to the United States Senate in 1865, and was
reelected in 1869 and served a full term.  His name was several times
mentioned in connection with the Democratic nomination for President.  He was
appointed Attorney-General of New Jersey in 1877 and served twenty years in
that capacity.  He was State Comptroller and later Adjutant-General of the
State of New Jersey prior to the term of General William S. Stryker. He
received the thanks of the Legislature of the State for the manner in which
he discharged the duties of these two offices.

Richard Stockton(8), of Trenton, New Jersey, son of Richard P. Stockton(7),
the former Attorney-General of New Jersey, was the youngest Consul of the
United States ever appointed. He served at Rotterdam and subsequently in
charge of affairs at the Hague.

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