Part of The Emergence of Princeton Extravagance.

This early mansion was built 1754-55 for Richard “The Signer” Stockton (grandson of Richard “The Settler”), and named Morven in 1758 when rebuilt after a fire. The name was selected by Annis Boudinot Stockton, Richard’s wife and one of America’s first published poets, in reference to the epic poems of Ossian. Both Richard and Annis were patriots -- Richard was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Annis wrote widely about the Revolution. She was also the sister of Elias Boudinot, President of the Continental Congress in 1783. Boudinot was responsible for bringing the Congress to Princeton that year, and for three months in the summer, Princeton became the capital of the United States.

Before members of the Congress were lavishly entertained at Morven during this visit in 1783, the Battle of Princeton saw Morven’s capture in 1777. British loyalists caught Richard after he tried to flee the pillaged house. They took him to William Howe, and Stockton was imprisoned for several weeks. Howe pardoned Stockton only after he swore allegiance to the crown. After this, Stockton kept out of politics.

Richard “The Signer” is a local example of the contradictory American revolutionary. While committed in the Declaration of Independence to principles of liberty, he was also one of the largest slaveholders in the Princeton area. He wrote to Annis in 1766, “Tell the Servants [referring to the enslaved] if they behave well I will reward them when I return, and if ill, I will punish them.” However, records do not give us many details of the enslaved people who lived here. An exact count is not available, for slaveholders were only required to report working enslaved men in tax documents.

We do, however, have a somewhat fuller story for Marcus Marsh, who was born into slavery at Morven in 1765. Annis is known to have nursed him herself, expressing in correspondence a particular fondness for him. Sometime after her husband’s 1781 death, Annis freed him, and Marcus applied for a Seamen’s Certificate at the Port of Philadelphia in 1798.

Original Sections: West wing (left side when you are looking at the front of the building). The central block of the house was also completed in the mid-eighteenth century, not long after the west wing.

Present Use: Morven Museum & Garden