Robert Field STOCKTON, Congress, NJ (1795-1866)

STOCKTON, Robert Field, (son of Richard Stockton [1764-1828], father of John Potter Stockton, grandson of Richard Stockton [1730-1781]), a Senator from New Jersey; born in Princeton, N.J., August 20, 1795; was privately tutored; attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University); entered the United States Navy in 1811, served in the War of 1812, the war with Algiers, and the Mexican War; was sent to the Pacific coast in 1845 and, in cooperation with the land forces, captured the Mexican capital of California and organized a civil government; attained the rank of commodore; returned home and resigned his commission in 1850; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1851, until his resignation on January 10, 1853; president of the Delaware & Raritan Canal 1853-1866; member of the peace convention of 1861 held in Washington, D.C., in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; retired from public life; died in Princeton, N.J., October 7, 1866; interment in Princeton Cemetery.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Bayard, Samuel. A Sketch of the Life of Com. Robert F. Stockton. New York: Derby & Jackson, 1856; Spencer, Donald S. “Hawks and Doves in the 1850’s: Stockton vs. Miller.” New Jersey History 88 (Summer 1970): 99-109.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present