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STOCKTON 94 STOCKTON Mary's College, opera house, Masonic "The Lady or the Tiger?" "The Late Mrs. Temple, hospitals, St. Agnes's Convent, Null," "The Casting Away of Mrs. Leeks waterworks, street railroad and electric and Mrs. Aleshine," and its sequel, "The light plants. National, State, and private banks, and daily, weekly, and monthly periodicals. Stockton is an important point for the shipment of wool and wheat. The business of the city includes the furnishing of supplies to the farmers of the San Joaquin valley. Stockton has iron foundries, tanneries, lumber and paper mills, flour mills, machine shops, a terra-cotta plant, car works, ware- houses, agricultural implement works, eftc. It was established in 1849, and named after Robert Field Stockton, of the United States Navy, who seized Cali- fornia for the Union. Pop. (1910) 23,- 253; (1920) 40,296. STOCKTON, a river-port of England, in the county of Durham, 11 miles E. N. E. of Darlington; on the left bank of the Tees; 4 miles above its mouth. Its Anglican churches include St, Thomas's (1712; restored 1859), with a tower 80 feet high, St. James's (1868), in French First Pointed style, with a spire of 130 feet, and St. John's (1872), a brick edi- fice of the basilica type; and of numer- ous non-established places of worship ; the finest are the Roman Catholic St. Mary's (1842-1870), designed by the elder Pugin in Early English style, and the United Presbyterian St. Andrew's (1861). Other buildings are the town hall and assembly rooms (1735) , the borough hall (1852), exchange (1874), postoffice (1878), free-masons' hall (1872), sur- gical hospital (1875), and a cattle mar- ket constructed (1876). Stockton is now an important railway center. Its harbor, also, improved by a cutting below the town (1808), carries on an extensive trade. A former residence of the Bishop of Durham, Stockton was taken by the Scotch in 1645, and seven years later its castle was demolished by Parliament. Pop. about 60,000. STOCKTON, FRANCIS RICHABD, an American author; born in Philadelphia, Pa., April 5, 1834; became an engraver and draughtsman; was connected with the Philadelphia "Post," and with "Hearth and Home," New York; joined the editorial staff of "Scribner's Month- ly," and became assistant editor of "St. Nicholas"; his earliest writings were odd tales for children, bvit he attained a high reputation as a writer of short stories, marked by quaintness of subject and treatment and by dry humor. The first of these were the "Rudder Grange Stories," followed by very many others, of which, perhaps, the best known are: F. R. STOCKTON Dusantes," "The Hundredth Man," "A Tale of Negative Gravity," etc. He died in Washington, D. C, April 20, 1902. STOCKTON, ROBERT FIELD, an American naval officer; born in Prince- ton, N. J., Aug. 20, 1795; entered the navy in 1810; was promoted lieutenant in 1814; engaged in the war with Tripoli in 1814-1815; went to Africa in 1821 in command of the "Erie," where he secured the territory forming the present repub- lic of Liberia; was sent against the pirates and slavers in the West Indies in the fall of the same year; and served as flag-officer in the Mediterranean un- der Preble in 1838-1839. He was one of the earliest advocates of a steam navy; drew the plans for the steam sloop of war "Princeton," the explosion of one of whose guns at Washington in 1844 caused the death of the secretaries of war and the navy; was actively interested in the construction of the Delaware and Raritan canal; and during the Mexican War, as commander of the naval forces on the Pacific, took possession of Cali- fornia in the name of the United States. On his return in 1850 he resigned his commission; entered politics; and in 1851 was elected to the United States Senate, where he introduced and put through a biH for the abolition of flogging in the navy, and also urged the adoption of measures for coast defense. In 1853, however, he retired from the Senate, and devoted himself to the development of the Delaware and Raritan canal. He died in Princeton, N. J., Oct. 7, 1866.