David’s family

Richard Stockton II "Princeton Landowner"

Princeton Landowner

Abt. 1655 – 30 Nov 1709 · 8th Great Grandfather

Richard Stockton II, described in the supplied notes as the “Princeton Landowner,” was a colonial New Jersey landowner. Identified as the son of immigrant Richard Stockton, he reportedly moved from Flushing, Long Island, to Piscataway and then, in 1696, to Princeton. He acquired 400 acres there and later purchased 4,450 additional acres from William Penn in 1701. He died 30 November 1709, leaving six sons.

At a glance

Name: Richard Stockton II
Descriptor: “Princeton Landowner”
Relationship: 8th great-grandfather
Birth: About 1655
Birthplace: London, England, in the current facts; not stated in the supplied narrative
Father: Richard Stockton, according to the supplied notes
Migration within America: Reportedly moved from Flushing, Long Island, to Piscataway, and then to Princeton in 1696
Land purchase: Bought 400 acres at Princeton in 1696, according to the supplied notes
Land purchase: Bought 4,450 acres from William Penn in and around present-day Princeton in 1701, according to the supplied notes
Death: 30 November 1709
Death place: Princeton, Middlesex, New Jersey, United States
Children: Richard Stockton
Children: Samuel Stockton
Children: Joseph Stockton
Children: Robert Stockton
Children: John Stockton
Children: Thomas Stockton
Estate: The homestead later known as Morven reportedly passed to his son John after division of the estate

Richard Stockton II was born about 1655. The supplied material identifies him as a son of Richard Stockton, described as the first of the family to immigrate to America. That earlier Richard Stockton reportedly settled first at Flushing, Long Island, and later in Burlington County, New Jersey.

Richard Stockton II reportedly moved from Flushing to Piscataway and, in 1696, to Princeton. There he bought 400 acres. In 1701, he bought an additional 4,450 acres from William Penn in and around what is now Princeton.

Richard Stockton II died on 30 November 1709 at Princeton, then in Middlesex County, New Jersey. The notes state that he left six sons: Richard, Samuel, Joseph, Robert, John, and Thomas. After the estate was divided, the homestead later known as Morven went to his son John.

Historical context

Richard Stockton II’s reported land purchases occurred during the colonial period, when settlement and private landholding were expanding in New Jersey. Princeton was then a developing local community rather than the later borough and university town known today.

Sources & research

Current source record: @S12@
Current source record: @S32@
Princeton and its Institutions, by John F. Hageman, I, 33–9.
Princeton and its Institutions, by John F. Hageman, I, 78.
Provincial Courts of New Jersey, by Richard S. Field, 192.
Life of Com. Robert F. Stockton, 9–10.
Sketch of Life of Richard Stockton, by William A. Whitehead, N. J. Hist. Soc. Proc., January 1877.
Rules of Supreme Court, N. J., 1885, Appendix, by G. D. W. Vroom, 54, 59.
Reed’s Reed, I, 30.
N. J. Hist. Proc., 149.
History of College of N. J., by John MacLean, I, 297, 385.
Provincial Courts, 192–6.
Historical Magazine, November 1868, 228.
Minutes Provincial Congress, etc., 323.
Minutes Provincial Congress, etc., 473.
Works of John Adams, III, 53–8.
Field’s Provincial Courts, 197.
Minutes Joint Meeting, passim.
Sedgwick’s Livingston, 205–6.
History of Revolution, ed. 1789, II, 108.
American Archives, 5th Series, II, 561, 1256, 1274.
American Archives, 5th Series, III, 784, 828.
Hageman, ut supra, I, 86.
Provincial Courts, 198–9.
Lossing’s Field Book of the Revolution, ed. 1789, II, 175.
Raum’s Hist. N. J., I, 423.
Whitehead, ut supra.
Whitehead’s Perth Amboy, 254.
Gordon’s N. J., 324.
Hatfield’s Elizabethtown, 588–9.
Helen Boudinot Stryker, in Penn. Hist. Mag., III, 191.
Mag. American Hist., V, 118; VII, 66.
Provincial Courts, 199.
N. J. Archives, X, 427–430.