This covers a lot of the times of the Revolution. Though not a Signer, Boudinot was the first Commissary of Prisons that Washington appointed. Elias Boudinot was Richard Stockton's brother in law, Stockton being married to Elias' sister Annis. Though his appointment was made while Stockton was imprisoned in NY, it is notable that there is no mention of Stockton's imprisonment in this book.

I do recommend it, however, as it is contains an excellent description of prison conditions, and life in east NJ for a wealthy family. It is well footnoted, with a bibliography and index.

" We have been permitted to print the following list of the authors of that work, assigning to each writer his respective contribution, as a record hitherto inaccessible, but well worthy of preservation."

By other Signers;

By Descendants;

By Henry Dilworth Gilpin, , [1801-1860- Attorney General for Van Buren;

By James Hamilton, Jr.

By Hugh McCall.

By Ed. Ingersoll.

By J. Sanderson.

By De Witt Clinton.

Mass. Historical Society special project on the Adams Papers I didn't have time to really do it justice, but they have it all. Some quotes & bios; Genealogy; locations of microfilms of all the Adams papers from Mass, across the US & the around the world. Books, links.......

Familiar Letters  , Charles Adams, editor, Hurd and Houghton, NY 1876

Works of John Adams , 6 volumes, Charles Adams editor. Pub; Charles C. Little and James Brown Boston, 1850,

Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, 4 volumes; L. H. Butterfield, et al. Editors; Harvard Press, 1961

Diary (1755-1804) and Autobiography (through 1780)

[jje note; I haven't read this one, but list it because it might be easier to find than the earlier work by Charles Adams.]

 [a portion of the above, describing the Boston Massacre & subsequent trial through Samuel Adams' eyes is also located at AmericasRevolution.com ]

This was my first S. Adams biography & it appears to be an evenhanded account. It does dwell more on the times than I expected and not as much on the personal life of Adams as I would like. This is probably a plus for a history student versus my 'life & family of...' interests.

There are no footnotes, but it is well indexed, and has an excellent bibliography that goes beyond the obligatory list of books, and tells a bit about each. The bibliography is divided into sections, and follows a narrative format. After an introduction, Beach has sections on 'Biographies', 'Contemporary
Works', 'Historical Societies' Publications', 'The Tory Side', 'The British View', and the standard few pages of 'Other Pages'.

Most of the 'Bibliography' section follows;

From pp314-15 ;

"WELLS, WILLIAM V. The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams 3 vols. Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1865.

HOSMER JAMES K. Samuel Adams. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1885

HARLOW, RALPH VOLNEY Samuel Adams: Promoter of the Revolution New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1923

MILLER, JOHN C. Sam Adams: Pioneer in Propaganda Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1936

Wells was Adams, great-grandson. He knew George Bancroft and had access to his papers which at that time included the Samuel Adams Papers. Bancroft had acquired these from Wells' father, Samuel Adams Wells. The Wells biography is painstakingly thorough, with every scrap of information and legend Wells could turn up. It includes long quotations from Adams' writings and those of his contemporaries. It is quite pietistic and, while frank enough in examining Adams' activities it is rarely critical in probing beyond the facts. Anyone studying the life of Samuel Adams must read it, but always with caution.

The Hosmer biography is much shorter. Though written with respect, it is sometimes critical without (to my mind) always correctly assessing the facts. It adds little to Wells, but it is worth a researcher's time.

The Harlow study brings nothing new. This was written at a time when it was fashionable to be iconoclastic with old heroes. Freud had come out of Vienna to delight Popular historians. They had a field day psychoanalyzing figures in history by a technique they little understood. Harlow writes Adams in his notebook as a man suffering from an inferiority complex, and treats him from that point of view. This is a most curious assumption. No man as sure of himself as Samuel Adams was suffering from an inferiority complex.

The Miller biography is particularly valuable for its vast amount of research on the reaction of neighboring colonies to Massachusetts Bay's resistance to the Stamp Act. Miller finds Adams to have been an activist in rabble-rousing, a conclusion which I do not feel is supported by the evidence. Nor do I agree with his choice of "Sam" Adams as a valid designation of the man. It was simply not used by the town of Boston or by his associates elsewhere." (back)

A study of the entire Carroll in Maryland clan. Well footnoted, indexed. [Also some genealogical charts that emphasize how important the 'of Carrollton' was to Charles' name.]

mentioned in the footnotes of Hoffman's 'Princes of Ireland'

I haven't read it. It was in Scudiere's bibliography.

An easy to read overview of Ben & his son William. William was the Royal Governor of NJ who refused to step down and was imprisoned for years. Randall is a journalist, not a historian, but he tackles this like a historian. Lots of endnotes, a huge bibliography, and good index. Recommended not just for reading about the Franklins, but the [common] relationships between family members who chose opposite sides in the Revolution.

Abram English Brown, _John Hancock, His Book_ (Boston: Lee & Shepard, 1898)

 Recommended by SD at the Georgia Historical Society;

Jackson, Harvey H. _Lachlan McIntosh and the Politics of Revolutionary Georgia_ (Athens:University of Georgia Press, 1979)

Article by Jackson; "Button Gwinnett and the Rise of the Western Members: A Reappraisal of Georgia's Whig to Excess," Atlanta Historical Journal 24 (1980): 17-30

Jenkins, Charles F. _ Button Gwinnett: Signer of the Declaration of Independence_ (1926).

Coleman, Kenneth; The American Revolution in Georgia (1958).

The only set of Signer Brothers doesn't seem to get much ink. The Stratford Hall Org has a bibliography on their page and is likely to be able to direct researchers to more info. Go first to the history page to see the famous Lee's who seem to overshadow the Signers. Then at the bottom of that page is a link to the bibliography.

Among those on the "Lee Brothers of Stratford" page are;

Ballagh, James C., ed., The Letters of Richard Henry Lee, volumes one and two, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1914.

Matthews, John C., Richard Henry Lee, The Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission, 1978.

The only biography listed by the Library of Congress is;

_Francis Lightfoot Lee, the incomparable signer_ / by Alonzo Thomas Dill ; Edward M. Riley, editor. Williamsburg, Va. : Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission, c1977. v, 63 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.

Delafield, Julia Livingston 1801-1882, _Biographies of Francis Lewis and Morgan Lewis_, Pub. New York, A.D.F. Randolph 1877. 2v. 20cm. Held by: NY State Archives Personal subject: Lewis, Francis, 1713-1803, Lewis, Morgan, 1754-1844. CMS call num: 974.7 ZL6 MSC CALL NUMBER 1)974.7 ZL6 Available on film from Library of Congress. L.L. Call NO: Microfilm 43871 L.C. Call NO: E302.6.L6.D3

Delafield is a granddaughter of General [and Governor] Morgan Lewis, the son of the Signer. The book is recollections of a family member. The stories presented are family tradition, for the most part, but I haven't found any faults with most of it.

Jenkins, John Stillwell _Lives of the Governors of New York_, 1851, Morgan Lewis on pp133-[140?] in NY State Archives on shelf, call #974.7 J52

There is a bit about his parents, his life growing up and his military service during the Revolution. I spent an hour or so skimming this one in the archives.

Spencer, Charles Worthen. "Francis Lewis." Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. Xl.

.

Livingston, Edwin B. The Livingstons of Livingston Manor. New York, 1910.

This website is a fitting tribute to a very interesting man. http://users.clover.net/mckean/

A nice site including a virtual tour of the supposedly destroyed Middleton mansion. http://middletonplace.org/html/family.html

Morris, Lewis. "Letters to General Lewis Morris, 1775-1782" New York Historical Society, Collections VII (1875), 433-512

Young, Eleanor; Forgotten Patriot, Robert Morris ; Macmillan NY, 1950

Will of General/Governor Thomas Nelson, 1788 (York County, Virginia Wills and Inventories 23:171-176).

There is a complete and accurate transcription of Thomas Nelson Jr.'s will by Gwen Hurst, posted to York Co, Genweb site; at this address; http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/va/york.htm

Evans, Emory G ;Thomas Nelson of Yorktown, Revolutionary Virginian; Williamsburgh in America Series, #10 .ISBN 0-887935-024-5 ISBN 0-8139-0515-X (UPVa) University Press of VA 1975

Lee, Nell Moore; _Thomas Nelson, Patriot above Profit_ ; Nashville, Tenn. :Rutledge Hill Press, c1988.

Description: 640 p. : ill. ; 25 cm. LC Call No.: E263.V8N435 1988 Dewey No.: 973.3/13/0924 B 19

ISBN: 0934395683 : $29.95

GEORGE ROSS, Illustrated by Seymour Fleishman Know The 56 Signers Of The Declaration Of Independence Publisher: Rand McNally, 1963; ISBN: 0-528-87737-2.

Stockton, Elias Boudinot _The Stockton Genealogy_

Stockton, DR. T.C. _The Stockton Family of New Jersey_(1911).

"I paged through [TC. Stockton's book] on a trip to Princeton; it is more detailed than E.B.'s, but I can't recommend it for either the accuracy of its sources nor their veracity. I ended up drawing most of my notes from W. A. Whitehead's "A Sketch of the Life of Richard Stockton" (_Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society_, 2nd Series, Volume IV (1849)"

Recommended by SD at the Georgia Historical Society;

Bridges, Edwin C.; "George Walton: A Political Biography," Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago, 1981;

Lamplugh, George R. "Politics on the Periphery: Factions and Parties in Georgia, 1776-1806," Ph.D. dissertation, Emory University, 1973.

Jackson, Harvey H. _Lachlan McIntosh and the Politics of Revolutionary Georgia_ (Athens:University of Georgia Press, 1979)

Referenced in 'Letters to Delegates of Congress';

Smith, Page James Wilson, Founding Father, 1742-1798 ;Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1956

Collins , Varnum Lansing ; President Witherspoon : a biography
Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1925.
2 v. : ill. ; 25 cm. Call # E302 W7 C7 Reprinted in 1969. [I haven't read it. It is on my 'want' list]

Brown, Imogene E ; American Aristides: A Biography of George Wythe

Boyd, Julian P. and Hemphill, W. Edwin; Murder of George Wythe Two Essays

I haven't seen it, and know nothing about the Society. I found the title while looking for another book.

Keith McKean goes into great depth, and includes sources. It includes McKean's will, his genealogy, a simple timeline, and extensive detail about the Signer.

Their 'system' is, in my opinion, the height of genius. Arranged in chronological order without regard to author, each volume covers several months.

Each volume includes;

There are footnotes to many letters clarifying points made in the letter. [I'll call them all letters, though there is other stuff there too]

Then an index that is incredible. The index only covers the single volume. My first thought was that an overall index would be handy, but I changed my mind-- This is perfect;

Sample entry from Volume 5;

"Stockton, Richard: letters from, 228, 284, 342, 358, 392, 415, 464; letter to, 527,* elected to Congress, xix; attends Congress, xix; committee on foreign mercenaries, 50; chief justice of New Jersey, 106; committee to Ticonderoga, 252-53, 255-56, 324, 342-43; committee on clothing, 284-85,, 415-16; on building barracks, 342; on state of northern department, 342-43; on clothing scarcity, 416; accounts, 465; committee to reinforce Washington, 542; reportedly seeks pardon, 641; treatment as prisoner, 706; mentioned, 128, 263, 486, 702."

The depth of the index was impressive, but what really sold me was the letter where Stockton is 'mentioned' in Vol 5 in a letter from Benjamin Rush to Julia Rush.[his wife, and Stockton's daughter]

In a long letter, a single paragraph mentions 'your papa's harsh treatment'. It doesn't say Stockton, but the indexer was sharp enough to know that Julia's father was the Signer.

The letters from committees to Washington are interesting, but I especially like when a single author will write 2 or three letters to different people on the same day, about the same topic-- but each has it's own spin depending on who he's talking to. (back)

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