Betsey Stockton
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Betsey Stockton (c. 1798–1865), sometimes spelled Betsy Stockton, was an American educator and missionary. In her early life, she was an enslaved person, but was emancipated and became a Christian missionary in Hawaii.


Early life

Betsey was born into
slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
in
Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...
, about the year 1798. While she was a child, her owner Robert Stockton gave her to his daughter upon her marriage to Reverend Ashbel Green, president of the College of New Jersey (now
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
). Much of what is known of her earlier life comes from sporadic mentions of her in Green's diary; while useful, this source also reflects Green's assumption of control over the enslaved girl, often leaving out key details about her. When Green decided she needed further discipline, young Betsey was temporarily sent to labor in the household of Green's nephew, the Reverend Nathaniel Todd. The Todd household seemed a place Betsey was more able to flourish, but financial matters related to Todd's employment caused Betsey to return to Green's household in 1816. She gained her education from reading in Reverend Green's library, and eventually gained fluency to read religious and scholarly texts in several languages. She attended evening classes at Princeton and was studying at the university during the winter of 1815 when a revival broke out on campus; at this time she was granted her
manumission Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing slaves by their owners. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that the most wi ...
by the Greens. International Mission Board website, ''Missionaries You Should Know: Betsey Stockton''
/ref> In 1817 she was admitted as a member of the First
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
Church in Princeton.University of Hawai’i website, ''From Slave to Schoolteacher: The Life of Betsy Stockton'', article written by Hilo History Club: David Freund, Kepa Revelle, Lilliana Galarneau, Donovan Wolford, Alex Aguirre, Spring 2022
/ref> It appears she chose the surname of Stockton for herself, likely reflecting her own former enslavement by the white Stockton family, and perhaps also indicating her father or another paternal relative was a white Stockton. She remained as a paid domestic servant with the family, and learned to read, perhaps with some instruction from Reverend Green's sons. A deeply religious person, she expressed a desire to go as a missionary to
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.


Missionary and educator

Betsey Stockton learned of plans by Charles S. Stewart, a student at
Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a Private university, private seminary, school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Establish ...
and friend of the Green family, to go to
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
(then known as the Sandwich Islands) as a missionary. She expressed a desire to go with him and his family, and Dr. Green and her Sabbath school teacher wrote letters of recommendation to the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian mission, Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the l ...
. Stockton was commissioned by the Board as a missionary, and became the second single American woman (after Charlotte White) sent overseas as a missionary. Her contract with the Board and with the Stewarts said that she went "neither as an equal nor as a servant, but as a humble Christian friend" to the Stewarts,Princeton University website, Princeton and Slavery section, ''Betsey Stockton''
/ref> and provided that she was not to be more occupied with domestic duties than the other missionaries. The team (which included William Richards) set sail on the ship ‘’The Thames’’ from
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on November 22, 1822, for a five-month voyage. The Stewarts and Stockton settled at Lāhainā on
Maui Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...
. Stockton was the first unmarried woman from the U.S. to travel to Hawai'i as a missionary (most women accompanied their husbands), as well as the first African American to serve as a missionary in Hawai'i. She was the teacher of the first mission school opened to the common (non-chiefly) people of Hawaii. where she taught history, English, Latin, and algebra. The current Lahaina Luna School is built on the site of Stockton’s school. Along with being a missionary and teacher, Betsey also served unofficially as a doctor and nurse to a number of people in Hawaii. She also trained native Hawaiian teachers, who took over from her upon her departure until the arrival of another missionary. She returned with the Stewarts to the U.S. in 1825 due to Harriet Stewart's poor health. A version of Stockton's Hawaiian diary was published in the ''Christian Advocate'' by Dr. Green in 1824 and 1825. Stockton stayed with the Stewart household until at least 1830. She taught briefly at an infant school in
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, and established a school for Indians at Grape Island,
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. After returning to Princeton in 1835, she taught in its school for people of color until her death on October 24, 1865. She taught at the ‘’colored school’’ in Witherspoon Street and was assessed as an ‘’excellent teacher’’. African American Registry website, ''The Witherspoon School For The Colored Opens'
/ref> In 1840, she helped found Princeton's First Presbyterian Church of Color, which in 1848 was renamed the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church. She was buried in Cooperstown, New York alongside the Stewart family.


References


Further reading

* Escher, Constance K. ''She Calls Herself Betsey Stockton: The Illustrated Odyssey of a Princeton Slave''. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2022. * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stockton, Betsey 1798 births 1865 deaths People from Princeton, New Jersey American Presbyterian missionaries Female Christian missionaries African-American women educators African-American missionaries American Christian missionaries American expatriates in the Hawaiian Kingdom Presbyterian missionaries in Hawaii Educators from New Jersey 19th-century American women educators 19th-century American educators 19th-century African-American educators