The Legacy of Lawrence B. Stockton, Early Lafayette Pioneer

Lawrence B. Stockton’s Connection to the Underground Railroad

By Suzanne Martin & Donna Laughlin

Suzanne Martin & Donna Laughlin are descendants of Stockton pioneers. 

 By Suzanne Martin & Donna Laughlin, Descendants of Stockton Pioneers

Along with surveying real estate and buying and selling it, Lawrence B. Stockton practiced philanthropy in his personal and professional life. For example, after marrying Rachel Steele, in 1835, Stockton supported his wife’s church, St. John’s Episcopal, financially and by committing himself to the duties of a vestryman. He was always on time and executed his responsibilities to perfection. He attended church and community events and took great pleasure in socializing with the citizens of Lafayette. (1) Meanwhile, Lafayette's "silent city," the original City Cemetery, was beyond crowded, and a group of businessmen, including Stockton, organized to solve this problem. In 1847, they purchased land bordered by Greenbush Road and called it “Greenbush Cemetery.” The men donated the land to the city and developed a plan that incorporated Greenbush Cemetery with rules of operation. At Greenbush, there was plenty of land for growth. With excellent care, Greenbush Cemetery became known as one of the most lovely in the state. "The care taken of the "silent cities" of any community--the burying places--is but a true index of the character of the people . . . " (2) Stockton also consistently practiced benevolence, and as member of Lafayette’s Odd Fellows and Masons, he strove with his fellow members to establish order in their city as it grew. Although the Masons were secretive about their projects, the achievements and camaraderie the members shared developed great character and great reward. A testimonial on record at St. John’s Episcopal verifies that Stockton was a man of "honesty" and "integrity" who clearly cared for his community and was “beloved”.

In the years leading up to the Civil War, there were in the City of Lafayette, abolitionists and other sympathizers. Many who remained unknown to the general public extended a helping hand to slaves heading north to Canada. These homeowners were called Conductors, and the slaves, usually small groups, were hidden in their homes at night, fed, and sent on to the next station by daylight. All those fleeing slaves had one name, that of Mr. Smith. Also, there were a few homes belonging to free African Americans who ventured to settle in Lafayette. In 1846, during a three-day period, homeowners of Lafayette were terrorized by a mob of outsiders and ruffians who did not want African Americans to settle in Indiana or to travel through on the Underground Railroad. Although the sheriff and his men were providing protection with firepower, the mob became unruly. A violent thunderstorm helped disperse these protesters and antagonists. However, three homes of black citizens were burned during this time, which scared their occupants into fleeing and hiding. Fourteen of them found their way to the Stockton house. Perhaps Stockton’s philanthropy and relationship with his household staff was why his African American cook felt confident enough to open Stockton’s door to these African Americans who had been scared away from their homes. Perhaps the fact that Stockton attended St. John’s Episcopal where known abolitionists were in attendance was also a factor.  (3) We will never know for sure, but three days later, Parson Johnson of St. John's Episcopal Church, located the refugees at Stockton's home and led them to sheds on his property where they would be safe. (4)

Footnotes

1.  For Fifty Years: The History of St. John’s Parish from 1837-1887, Harvey, Jane C., Vol. 1 pp. 66-67

2. Past and Present of Tippecanoe County Indiana, DeHart, General R. P., B.F. Bowen & Company; Indianapolis, Indiana, 1909 Vol. 1 pp. 448-449 

3. For Fifty Years, Harvey, Jane C.  Vol. 1 pp. 19-24

4. Reser, Alva O. “Underground Operations at Lafayette (Tippecanoe County)”, The Lafayette Daily Courier, April 1, 1916, p. 3

 Another of the Old Settlers Gone Hence – October 21^st – 1878 (Local Newspaper) Sad Death of L. B.Stockton, Esq.

 One by one the old pioneers – the advance guard of civilization who reclaimed the rich valley of the Wabash from the barbarism and savagery in which its rich resources had slumbered for untold centuries, are passing away.  But few of the crowned heads remain, and these should be very precious to us of the harvest-time who are reaping the ripe fruits of their enterprise and self-sacrifice.  The old pioneer lying there today with folded hands, in the old home of his early manhood, has had much to do with Lafayette in the half century of her eventful history.  He had faith in the future of the Star City from the beginning, and as a result has justified his clear judgment.  The eighty acres extending from Ninth Street east, which was originally entered by his father at the land sales in Crawfordsville, is now the heart of the city., and with the eighty acres adjoining which the deceased subsequently bought at $5 per acre, realized a handsome fortune.  A part of this property sold at the rate of $7,000 per acre, and the last of it, save his homestead and a few reservations, was closed out in bulk a few years since to banker Perrin, at $1,000 per acre.  His farm investments, if not so remunerative, were judicious, and the deceased, in property and available means, was one of the solid and wealthy citizens of Lafayette.  The lesson of his life, in its frugal economy and industry, will be profitable to the young men of today.  There were many men who at the land sales in Crawfordsville made equally fortunate investments, but who in the popular dissipation of the times lost it all in shooting matches or horse races.  Mr. Stockton had learned the value of money by toiling with the toilers in his boyhood home, in Greenbriar County, Virginia, where, as he has often told us, he made rails at fifty cents a hundred, and worked on a farm for his board while attending school.  In 1819 the deceased, then in his sixteenth year, in company with his father, removed to Wayne County.  In 1824 the family removed to Lafayette, locating on a farm one mile southwest of the present city limits.  The old log house, or parts of it, was still standing a few years since.  The Holabird distillery site and the bottom lands adjoining, now owned by W. S. Lingle, was a part of the homestead farm, and had been cultivated by the Indians in corn, years and years before, when Wea-ta-non, two miles below, at the mouth of the Wea, was a flourishing trading post and a town with fifty or more shingle roof houses.  On this very field Mr. Stockton followed the primitive plow.  He had studied civil engineering while in Wayne, and in 1826 was appointed, by Governor Ray, Surveyor of Tippecanoe County.  He held the position for ten years.  In 1831 he married Miss Maria Emerson.  She died the following year.  In 1835 he married Miss Rachel Steely, and built the homestead on Main Street, where he has since resided.  It was at that time the palatial house of the city and county.  Four children were the fruits of this union.  The eldest, George N., and the youngest, Lawrence B., Jr., the well-known queensware merchants, alone survive.  The widow of the second son Andrew J., and one child, are living, and have for years resided with the deceased as members of his household in the old homestead.  Mr. Stockton sought diversion and education for his family in extensive travel—making frequent trips to the seaboard.  In 1857 he went with his wife to Cuba and the South in the hope of benefitting her shattered health.  June 5, 1868, his second wife died of cancer—surviving an almost hopeless surgical operation but three or four months.  She was one of the rare women of the world—a high type of Christian mother—handsome, genial, gracious and much belove.  Mr. Stockton mourned his loss with unaffected sorrow and cherished her memory to the last hours of his life.

The deceased was an Odd Fellow of high degree and was a Mason of high standing.  He was warmly attached these orders and made their precepts the religion of his life.  In 1860 he was a delegate to the National Democratic convention at Charleston and saw the beginning of the end of that great tragedy which deluged the land in blood.  He was bold and free to say to the delegates from the South already threatening disunion, that the attempt to carry out the rebel programme would grind them to powder.  He was a partisan, but never carried his politics into the private relations of private life.  His warmest friendships were among Republicans.  By invitation he took a seat on the stand at the Ben. Harrison and General Gordon meetings in this city during the late campaign.  He had contracted a severe cold at the Democratic rally, corner of Thirteenth and Union Streets, near the close of the canvass, but was otherwise in a splendid state of preservation for a man his years – 75 last June.  The immediate cause of his death, as our readers have been advised in the daily bulletins of his condition, was a fall from a pear tree.  He had climbed to the top of the ladder, twelve feet, and was standing on a limb pruning the sprouts, when he lost his footing and fell heavily upon his face and for the moment dazed, stunned and insensible.  He was carried into his house and tenderly cared for.  He regained his consciousness immediately.  His mind was clear up to the hour of his death.  No serious apprehensions were entertained until yesterday, when the gorged and congested condition of the right lung – the result of his severe cold, complicated by the fall, made his breathing very difficult, and gave warning of his death.  Drs. O’Ferrall and Dr. Yeakle, the attending physicians, his sons and all his household, were about him doing all that the skill, sympathy and tenderness of human hands and hearts could do to avert the impending blow, but at quarter before five this morning it was all over.  Peace to his ashes.  

The funeral will take place from St. John’s Church at 2 p.m. on Sunday and will be under the direction of the Masons and Odd Fellows orders.

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