Stearns, Abel (1 798-1 871) businessman Abel Stearns was a pioneer merchant in California. Born in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, on February 9, 1798, Stearns went to sea at an early age. He acquired his own ship by 1822, and for many years he plied the trade routes to China, the West Indies, and South America. Four years later, he relocated to Mexico City and became a naturalized
Citizen.
In 1828, Stearns migrated to Monterey, California, where he spent two years trying to obtain a land grant. He subsequently enjoyed better luck in Los Angeles, where he was operating a mercantile house by 1831. Stearns quickly acquired great wealth as part of the local hide and tallow trade then prevalent in Mexican California. He also cemented many friendships among the ruling elite, gained election to the Los Angeles ayuntamiento (town council), and later functioned as its sindico procurador (treasurer/ tax collector). In 1835, he experienced an unfortunate brawl with a Kentucky mountain man that left him disfigured facially and suffering from a permanent speech impairment. Nonetheless, Stearns’s popularity remained undiminished, and in 1836 and 1844 he wielded sufficient influence to assist two uprisings against unpopular Mexican governors who were then replaced by native Californians more sympathetic to the popular will.
Stearns proved himself a successful businessman, but his physical demeanor was so grotesque that he acquired the sobriquet of Cara de Caballo (horse face). Looks notwithstanding, he married into the local nobility, which also boosted his reputation and popularity among neighboring rancheros. He also built an impressive home, El Pala-cio, which served as a social center to facilitate his many transactions.
When the Mexican-American War broke out in 1846, California was invaded by American forces. Stearns, as a Mexican national, maintained a studious neutrality. Afterwards, he retained all his property under the new regime, and in 1849 he participated in the state constitutional convention at Monterey. The following year, Stearns gained election to the new state assembly first as a Whig Party candidate and, after 1860, as a member of the Republican Party. He also amassed a considerable fortune by buying up the property of dispossessed rancheros; by 1858, he owned an estimated 450,000 acres. However, between 1856 and 1865, declining cattle prices, coupled with flood and droughts, severely impacted his holdings, and Stearns liquidated most of his assets to pay off his debts. He subsequently reentered the real-estate market, then enjoying a postwar boom, and regained most of his wealth. By the time Stearns died in San Francisco on August 23, 1871, he ranked as one of the richest individuals in that state. His life personified the first generation of Anglo settlers to California who prospered under Mexican rule and then assisted its transition to self-government.
Further reading: Philip C. Fedewa, “Abel Stearns in Transitional California, 1848-1871” (unpublished Ph. D. dis., University of Missouri, Columbia, 1970); Ronald C. Woolsey, “A Capitalist in a Foreign Land: Abel Stearns in Southern California Before the Conquest,” Southern California Quarterly 72, no. 2 (1993): 101-118; Doris M. Wright, A Yankee in Mexican California: Abel Stearns, 1798-1848 (Santa Barbara, Calif.: W. Hebberd, 1977).
—John C. Fredriksen
Stewart, Maria (1803-1879) activist Maria Stewart was one of the first African-American female abolitionists and feminists. She was born Maria Miller in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1803. Orphaned at an early age, she matured in the home of an African-American clergyman and subsequently worked as an indentured servant. She had previously attended Sabbath school, showing an aptitude for literacy and theology. In 1826, she married James W. Stewart, a black merchant and War of 1812 veteran from Boston, and adopted his middle initial and family name. She resided in Boston in relative comfort until 1829, when her husband died and she was cheated from her inheritance by dishonest executors. In despair, she experienced a religious conversion in 1830 and thereafter dedicated her life to proselytizing religion and civil rights.
Over the next few years, Stewart gained notoriety as the first African American to lecture publicly on national issues. Drawing on her religious background, she heartily condemned slavery in biblical terms, but white northern communities were also castigated for their systematic discrimination against people of color. She therefore exhorted the free African-American community to band together, educate themselves, and demand their civil rights. She also distinguished herself by calling out for women’s rights with concomitant larger roles in civic and political affairs. Stewart’s stridency brought her to the attention of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, and the two struck up a fruitful association. In January 1832, when he printed several of Stewart’s remarks in his newspaper, The Liberator, she became one of the first African-American woman to be published. This was followed up by several radically tinged pamphlets containing harsh language and open criticism of men, the first from a woman of any race, which brought her acrimony and resistance from her own community. At length, Stewart decided she accomplished little by remaining in Boston, so she resettled in New York City in 1833. Intent on becoming a teacher, she sought further enlightenment by joining the Female Literary Society there.
Stewart successively taught in New York, Baltimore, and Washington, D. C., until the advent of the Civil War in 1861. She then organized a school for poor black students and also gained appointment as matron of the Freedman’s Hospital. Ever conscious of the need for educating children, in 1871 she opened another school near the newly founded Howard University and called on the faculty there to assist her. In March 1879, Stewart received a government pension based on her late husband’s military service, and with the proceeds she published a second edition of her Medi-tations from the Pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart (1879), now featuring supporting letters from Garrison and other leading abolitionists. Stewart died in Washington on December 17, 1879, generally regarded as the first African-American feminist.
Further reading: Jami L. Carlacio, “In Their Own Words: The Rhetorical Practices of Maria Stewart and Sarah Grimke” (unpublished Ph. D. dis., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2001); Lora Romero, Home Fronts: Domesticity and Its Critics in the Antebellum United States (Durham, N. C.: Duke University, 1997); Rodger Streitmatter, “Maria W. Stewart: The First Female African-American Journalist,” Historical Journal of Massachusetts 21, no. 2 (1993): 44-49.
—John C. Fredriksen
Still, William (1821-1902) abolitionist, civil rights, Underground Railroad Conductor
An abolitionist and businessman, William Still personally sheltered most of the slave fugitives who made it as far as Philadelphia. He was born in Medford, New Jersey, on October 7, 1821, the youngest of 18 children. His parents were both former slaves who either purchased their freedom or escaped. Barely educated and largely self-taught, Still worked on his father’s farm until the age of 20, then left home to work as a laborer. In 1844, he arrived in Philadelphia, site of the largest community of free African Americans in the country. He worked at numerous odd jobs until 1847, when he joined the Anti-Slavery Society office. This was a front organization of the famous “underground railroad,” which smuggled slaves to northern cities and Canada. Still performed well, and in 1852 he gained appointment as secretary and chairman of the society’s General Vigilance Committee. He was then tasked with raising money for the effort and keeping accurate records.
At this time, the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 made it a federal offense not to aid in the recovery of escaped slaves, but Philadelphia nonetheless thrived as an important station in the underground railroad. Still became directly responsible for assigning shelter to fugitives, feeding them, and sending them north to Canada. He also carefully interviewed each escaped slave to record their individual experiences. In this manner, Still inadvertently encountered his long-lost brother, who had been abandoned by his mother 40 years earlier. In 1855 Still also ventured to Canada to report favorably on the progress of fugitive slaves settling there.
When the Civil War erupted in 1861, Still left the ABOLITION MOVEMENT to concentrate on business matters. After opening a lucrative coal yard, he was called on to service Camp William Penn outside the city, where African-American soldiers were stationed. Postwar emancipation further intensified Still’s social activism. He subsequently initiated a drive to fight the prohibition against African Americans’ using the city’s streetcars, and in 1867 the state legislature complied, forbidding such discrimination. He also gained a measure of national attention through publication of his eloquent book The Underground Railroad (1872), which related the experience through the eyes of the fugitives. This landmark publication went through three editions, with several thousand copies sold.
Still further enhanced his reputation for philanthropy by providing material assistance to the African-American community of Philadelphia. He remained a longtime member of the Freedmen’s Aid Commission as well as a number of charitable and welfare agencies. Despite his advanced years, Still was active in founding a YMCA for black youth and the Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons. Still died in Philadelphia on July 14, 1902, a leading African-American reformer and civil rights champion of the 19th century.
Further reading: William C. Kashatus, “Two Stationmas-ters on the Underground Railroad: A Tale of Black and White,” Pennsylvania Heritage 27 (Fall 2001): 5-11; Lurey Khan, One Day, Levin. . . he be free: William Still and the Underground Railroad (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1972); William Still, The Underground Railroad (New York: Arno Press, 1968); William J. Switala, The Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania (Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2001).
—John C. Fredriksen
Stockton, Robert Field (1795-1966) naval officer Commodore Robert Field Stockton was an American naval officer who commanded the Pacific squadron during the Mexican-American War (1846-48). With a small naval force, he occupied southern CALlfORNlA, fought two battles, and broke Mexican resistance by early 1847.
Stockton was born in Princeton, New Jersey, on August 20, 1795, the grandson of Richard Stockton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He left the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) to enter the U. S. Navy at the age of 16. Commissioned a midshipman on September 5, 1811 he served under Commodore John Rodgers aboard the USS President during the War of 1812. Promoted to lieutenant, Stockton sailed to the Mediterranean aboard the USS Guerriere and took part in the campaign against the Barbary pirates.
Stockton was selected by President John Tyler to bring a proposal for annexation to Texas in 1845. Following the outbreak of the Mexican-American War, in July 1846, he sailed around Cape Horn to take command of the Pacific squadron, arriving in Monterey to relieve Commodore John Sloat as commander. Stockton proceeded to occupy the ports of Southern California, capturing Santa Barbara on August 4, 1846 and Los Angeles several weeks later with the aid of Colonel John C. Fremont’s California Battalion. He declared California a territory of the United States and named himself the governor of the new civil and military government.
While Stockton was in the north, Mexican loyalists recaptured most of the southern California towns. In January 1847, he joined forces with Brigadier General Stephen Watts Kearny in recapturing Los Angeles and ending Mexican resistance in California. Stockton and Kearny feuded over who had U. S. governmental authority in California. Kearny’s position was upheld, and Stockton returned to the East Coast. He retired from the navy in May 1850 and became a U. S. senator from New Jersey for a brief time (1851-53). While in the Senate, he urged the abolition of flogging as punishment in the U. S. Navy. Stockton retired to Princeton, New Jersey, where he died on October 7, 1866.
Further reading: K. Jock Bauer, Surfboats and Horse Marines: U. S. Naval Operations in the Mexican War, 184648 (Annapolis, Md.: U. S. Naval Institute, 1969); Samuel John Bayard, A Sketch of the Life of Commodore Robert F. Stockton (New York: Derby & Jackson, 1856).
World History
