Richard Stockton (October 1, 1730-February 28, 1781) was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was a member of the Continental Congress, 1776; an associate justice on the Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1774-76; and a member of the Executive Council of New Jersey, 1768- 76.
His son Richard was a U.S. Senator, 1796-99; and a U.S. Representative, 1813-15. Another son, Robert, served with prominence as a U.S. Naval officer in the War of 1812; helped freed slaves found the country of Liberia, West Africa in 1821; and conquered California, proclaiming it a U.S. Territory, on August 17, 1846. Robert also served as a U.S. Senator, 1851-53; and was honored when Stockton, California, was named after him.
In his Last Will and Testament, Richard Stockton wrote:
<As my children will have frequent occasion of perusing this instrument, and may probably be peculiarly impressed with the last words of their father, I think proper here, not only to subscribe to the entire belief of the great leading doctrine of the Christian religion...but also in the heart of a father's affection, to charge and exhort them to remember "that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."> 1730RS001
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1730RS001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Richard Stockton, In his Last Will and Testament. Edward J. Giddings, American Christian Rulers, p. 463. Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987; Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas), pp. 431-432. D.P. Diffine, Ph.D., One Nation Under God-How Close a Separation? (Searcy, Arkansas: Harding University, Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, 6th edition, 1992), p. 7.