A Little History about me : Richard Stockton "The Signer" Signer of the Declaration of Independence~ to which I am a direct descendant.

I related to many of you, how I am a direct descendant of Richard Stockton  Signer of the Declaration of Independence, so I am going to give you the history.   I have found the book that was given to us as descendants “The Ancestors and Descendants of Two Stockton Sisters.” By Ruth Ellen Stampe. 

To those who do not believe it.  Here is fact proof from the book.  My plans are to write the Congressional Congress Library to see if I can obtain copies of these letters to keep in the family.

Origin and History of the Stockton Name

The name Stockton comes from two Saxon words;  STOC, meaning the stock or stem of a tree, and TUN, meaning an enclosed place.  The people who lived in this place ( the enclosed forest) thus became known as Stoctun.  A surname was originally  kind of a title.  Those adopted during the feudal era generally  indicated a territorial standing, or place, as did Stoctun.  Surnames did not become generally used until  the early part of the fourteenth century, for previously the custom prevailed of calling one man the son of someone, as John, son of Richard. Quite naturally then, such a man became John Richardson as surnames were taken.

When the feudal system existed tenures  of the land were free as long as they could be held.  the Stocktons’ held their estate under the barony of the Malpas in Cheshire County,  England, and there  they built the great manor of Stockton and the current owner was known as Lord of Stockton Manor.

In the British Museum, history records the name written de Stoctun in ancient Latin deeds, and in later times as Stockton.   This is the only change the name has undergone in the last eight hundred years, and this change resulted from the English spelling the Saxon word.

Long before Richard Stockton came to America, the prefix “de”, which is an ancient mark of nobility, had been modestly dropped from the name.

The Stockton Coat of Arms.

The motto of the Stockton family is “Ominia Deo Pendent” — all depends on G-d.  Long ago only military chiefs bore coat of arms, and heraldic honors were confirmed to the nobility.

The Stockton coat of arms is found as early as the year 1200.  The arms originally granted the family show three stocks of trees shorn of their branches, a lion rampant supporting an Ionic column.  The shield is green, the stocks of trees silver, the crest natural colors.  These arms were last worn by William, son of Owen Stockton, and are registered to him at the Herald’s College.

A second coat of arms was granted the Stockton family  and this is the one we (I) inherit and which has been borne by our branch of the family for centuries in England and America.  A replica of the arms was included in this book. 

A family coming honestly by a coat of arms has a perfect right to make use of it; a coat of arms is as much a man’s property as  his purse.  The Stockton coat of arms belonging to the Malpas ancestors is often seen on ancient tombstones and plaques in England, the same coat of arms found on the watch engraved in London and given to Richard “The Signer” (watch is still in the family).   The coat of arms was also engraved on the silver brought over from England.

There is no doubt of the direct connection between the Malpas family and the New Jersey Stocktons in America, first founded in this country by that Richard Stockton who came to Flushing, Long Island around 1656.

Stocktons in History

Stockton Manor was in the town of Malpas.  It was on an elevation near the river Dee, not far from Chester, a very old city probably built by the Romans, 168 miles northwest of London.   David de Stockton inherited Stockton Manor from his father in 1250.  in 1470-71 the Right Honorable John Stockton was Lord Mayor of London, a position of rank only second to the King of England.   He was the son of Richard who was knighted in the field by King Edward IV.

A Sir Edward Stockton was vicar of the church of Cookham, in Berkshire, and leader of one of the expeditions to the Holy Land.  A memorial to John Stockton, of Kiddington, who died in 1700, says he was an Esquire, a rank second to knight in England in those times.  An Owen Stockton is called a “gentleman”; he died in 1610.

One of our ancestors of the New Jersey line, a John Stockton, has this inscription on his tombstone in Latin; (translation in part reads)  “The son, well-born, has erected this to the father, well-born, who died Dec. 2, 1610.”

Ormerod,  in his History of Cheshire, says the Manor of Stockton descended to the late Earl Grosvenor about 1789. So  Stockton Manor was lost to the Stockton name when a female heir Isabella inherited it.  She married a Robert de Eaton and their descendant John de Eaton had issue Johanna, wife of Ralph Grosvenor Esquire, who received with her Stockton Manor.

In the church in Cheshire are many memorials to ancient Stocktons; on brass plates may be read some extremely interesting inscriptions in Latin.  One I especially like: ” I, Stoctonus, ever a most gentile promoter of peace, here laid under  hard marble enjoy peace.”

It would not be possible to list all the Stocktons in America who have become famous.  Perhaps the best known of all is Richard Stockton, “The Signer”   He was tutored by Reverend Samuel Finley, President of Princeton, where he graduated with the first class in 1748.   He then studied law, was admitted to the bar and became a great lawyer.  He tutored many illustrious   lawyers , among them the Honorable Elias Boudinot.  Richard “The Signer”, was Judge of the Supreme Court and member of the King’s Council for New Jersey before the Revolution.  He went to England in 1776-67 and the nobility covered him with honors.  While in Scotland he persuaded Dr John Witherspoon to become President of Princeton. 

In 1774, Stocton became Judge of the Supreme Court. he was a member of the Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence.  His lovely wife, Annis Boudinot, sister of the Honorable Elias Boudinot, was known as most gracious hostess; she was descended from  a French Hugenot family and was a woman of culture.   The celebrated grounds at Morven were of her designing and her husband brought back from England  many choice roots and flowers for her.  Great men were entertained at Morven, George Washington being a frequent visitor and which was best friends with Stockton.   When Congress sat at Princeton, Annis B Stockton entertained them in the mansion Morven. See  http://historicmorven.org/home

The tension between the colonies and the mother country caused Richard Stockton great concern.  We must remember this family had for centuries held offices of great importance for the crown.  It was at considerable personal sacrifice that he separated himself from the Royal Council.  Indeed several Stocktons, unable to take sides against their English King went to Canada where they took up residence and became very prominent men in that country but that is another story.

At first Richard Stockton worked to reconcile the differences  between the colonies and the crown but as difficulties progressed he had to choose and he did so.   In 1776 he was chosen by the Provincial Congress of New Jersey to be delegate to Congress and he took active part in the work of that Congress which developed the Declaration of Independence.  In the Congressional Library, Washington DC are letters  in Richard’s Handwriting informing John Hancock, the President of the Continental Congress, the exact state of affairs of the American forces.  Richard had visited all points of conflict, at his own risk.

Richard’s signing of the Declaration of Independence made many enemies for him among the Loyalists.  He rushed to his home on Morven to rescue his wife and children when the British descended  on Princeton.   The Stocktons took refuge with friends but a Loyalist betrayed their hiding place.  In the dead of the night the Judge was dragged from his bed and brutally beaten and thrown into prison.  The distinguished, jurist, who had worn handsome robes of the colonial court, now shivered in a common jail, abused and all but starved.  It was his best friend George Washington who rescued him.

Invalided by the harsh treatment he had received, he returned to Morven to find his furniture and clothing burned, his fine horses stolen, and his library, on of the finest private collections in the country, completely destroyed.  The hiding place of the exquisite family silver, hastily buried by a servant.  The Stocktons were so destitute they had to accept charity.   For the Judge’s fortune was gone.   He had pledged it and his life to his country.   He lost both.  He did not live to see the Revolution won.  

Richard, “The Signer”  had a most amazing family.  His eldest son Richard, “The Duke” was a lawyer, a US Senator from New Jersey from 1796 to 1799 and a member of the House of Representatives  from 1813 to 1815. He held a Doctor of Law Degree from two colleges.

Lucuis Horatio Stockton,  second son of “The Signer”  settled in Trenton.  He was a successful lawyer and prosecuting attorney of Mercer County.

All three of “The Signer’s” Daughters married men of great distinction.  Julia became the wife of Dr. Benjamin Rush, who also signed the Declaration of Independence.  The brother of “The Signer” , Samuel  Witham Stockton  graduated from Nassau Hall in 1767 was Secretary of the American Commission to the Court of Austria and Russia.  He negotiated a treaty  with Holland, was Secretary of the Convention of New Jersey to ratify the Constitution of the US in 1787.  In 1794 he was Secretary of State of New Jersey.

Phillip Stockton, another brother of “The Signer” , graduated from Princeton in 1773 and became a well known clergyman.   Richard Stockton, eldest son of “The Duke”, went to Mississippi and here became Justice of the Supreme Court and later Attorney General of that State.   He was killed in a duel

Commodore Robert Field Stockton was the son of Richard, “The Duke”.  He was a Princeton student at the age of 13.  Later he returned interested in American Colonization.  The US Navy equipped a vessel for him;  he established a colony on western coast of Africa, which became Liberia.  In 1840, He declined the offer of Secretary of Navy offered him by President Tyler.  He was the mans of establishing a civil government over California before the Mexican War closed.  In 1849 Commodore Stockton resigned his command in the US Navy and in 1851 was elected to the US Senate from New Jersey.  He was instrumental  in construction of the Delaware  and Raritan Canal and the Camden and Amboy railroad.   He led a most exciting life, engaged in several duels but lived to be 91 years of age. 

Phillip Augustus Stockton was also a naval hero, serving on the old Constitution.  He had the rank of lieutenant and was consul-general of Saxony for six years.

The sons of Commodore Stockton also achieved prominence. John P. Stockton was attorney general  of New Jersey.  In 1857 he was appointed by President Buchanan as US Minister  to Rome, being the youngest  man ever appointed Minister.  Elected to the US Senate in 1865 and again in 1869, he was then appointed attorney general  of New Jersey in 1877 and served twenty years.

General Robert Field Stockton was a State Comptroller and later Adjunct General of New Jersey.

Richard Stockton of Trenton, son of former attorney general  was the youngest Consul of US ever appointed.  He served in Rotterdam and was in charge of affairs at The Hague.

There are many towns in the US named Stockton, the most important perhaps is Stockton California in the San Joaquin Valley named for the Commodore.  One of the principal streets in San Francisco is also named for the Commodore.

There is a memorial  plaque in the National Museum  in Washington DC commemorating the conquest of California with Commodore Stockton’s flagship riding in the San Diego harbor.   A memorial window is in St Peters Chapel, Mare Island Navy Yard, and the statue of Richard “The Signer” is in the Capital at Washington DC.  

Along with the Adams family of Massachusetts, the Jay family of New York, the Stockton family of New Jersey has ranked prominently in America for over 300 years.

Introduction~

The author of “The Stockton Family” , Dr T C Stockton, asserts that exceptional as the record of the New Jersey Stocktons, the descendants in other states are equally honorable.  New Jersey sent her sons generaously into the tide of westward emigration to form par of the bone and sinew of the great American pioneer movement, and while the hard conditions of pioneer days may have obscured their talents for a time, they have produced ministers, teachers, lawyers, physicians of eminence and devotion.  The history of the middle west , the northwest and the far west cannot  be written without including some of the achievements of descendants of Richard Stockton.

Our branch of the Stockton family that first came to the midwest was William King Stockton, his wife Harriet Green Stockton and their four children, Mary Martha, Sarah Ann, Richard Eli and Joseph Henry.  they came to Illinois in 1855.  Some say they spent a year in Jersey County, then came to Logan County in 1857 and settled near Hartsburg.   The last daughter, Emma, was born in Illinois in 1859.   Mary Martha, the eldest daughter  married a neighbor Joseph Franklin Fisher.  Sarah Ann ( whom I descended from ) married Wesely Trollope and Joseph  Henry married  a brother and sister in the Trollope family.   All were of English extraction.   That the two families  had known each other perhaps in another century in another country is a very good possibility.  A memorial to John Stockton of Kiddington says he died in 1700.  Kiddington was also the home of the Trollopes in England.

William King Stockton and his family lived in Illinois until 1872.  He was 63 and his wife Harriet 57 when they moved to Nebraska to homestead. He lived to be 99 years , 2 months and 25 days old and Harriet died at 82.  Anyone interested in longevity  will find a fascinating story in this family.

All the Stockton family except Mary Martha moved to Nebraska, including Emma, Joseph Henry, Richard Eli and the married daughter Sarah Ann Stockton Trollope.  Sarah Ann and Wesley Trollope had farmed in Illinois near Delavan in Tazewell County, and when they moved  their fifth child, Mary Harriet, was only a baby.   This child just passed away in Sept 1968 at the age of almost 97 years.   Sarah Ann was 32 years of age and Wesley (who my oldest son is named after) Trollope 43  when they moved to Nebraska.  She lived to be 92 and Wesley 79.

Logan County Illinois has been the home of most of the Fisher family since first John Nelson and his brother Joseph Franklin arrived from New Jersey in 1855 and Joseph Franklin  married Mary Martha Stockton to begin the Fisher line.   At the end of 8 generations of the Fisher family  there is only one male to carry the name.   He is the son of William John Fisher and is named Joseph Paul.  He was 13 at the time.

The counties of Furnas Phelps York Harlan  Seward and Red Willow in Nebraska bound in the descendants of the Stockton line but none carry the name for Joseph  Henry Stockton’s ( son of William King Stockton) only child was a daughter Harriet Jane, who married George A Trollope.  So it is the Trollope name that we find.   AT the end of the fifth generation of Trollopes there are  five males to carry on the Trollope name, all in the Lamon Trollope line  They include his sons Lester George,  Larry Eugene and Lynn Elvin, and his grandsons Gary Lynn and Ronald Lee.

The first section of genealogy  traces the ancestral line of Mary Martha and Sarah Ann Stockton, daughters of William King Stockton, from their first ancestor in America, Rickard Stockton of Flushing Long Island.

The number of descendants of the two Stockton Sisters represent a remarkable and interesting contrast   Together there are 358 ( when this was written)  descendants  299 of the 358 are of the Sarah Ann line.   Sarah Ann was my Great Grandfather Trollope mother.

My great grandfather left home in Lincoln  Illinois at the age of 8th grade and rode the west.  He was a cowboy, fought Indians and rode the range.  He was born 1863  He didn’t marry until he was 40 years old.  I never got to meet him but my mom and grandparents told stories about him.  I’ve seen pictures and he reminded me of Colonel  of Kentucky Fried… My mom says he was quite a character.