Brief Summary: The Legacy Of Betsy Stockton

Betsy Stockton was born a slave in New Jersey in 1798. Her master, Robert Stockton presented her to his daughter and son-in-law as a gift. The Greens encouraged her to learn after she came to live with them. She was even allowed to attend classes at the Princeton Theological Seminary, where Rev. Green was the current president. In 1816 Betsy got saved. Before her conversion, she was considered quite wild, but Rev. Green saw that she, “met with a saving change of heart.” When Betsy told Rev. Green, of her dream of becoming a missionary. Ashbel Green granted Betsy her freedom around the same time that she was accepted in the First Presbyterian Church.
After Betsy received her freedom, she became a member of the American Board of Commissions for Foreign Missionaries. At first she wanted to go to Africa but her friends encouraged her not to go. Another opportunity presented itself soon thereafter. She was presented with the chance to join a group of about 30 missionaries on their way to Hawaii. They were going to the Sandwich Islands.
The opportunity to go Hawaii came up in interesting circumstances.
One of those thirty missionaries had become a Christian at Princeton one year before Betsy did. Charles Stewart came to visit Green in 1821 and in the midst of the conversation they had the idea that Betsy should accompany the group of missionaries. Ashbel and one of Betsy’s teachers gave letters of recommendation. Both letters gave very high approval. Over the next year, Charles and Betsy raised and saved money, also in the midst of the year Charles married and it was decided that Betsey would work for the Charles and his new wife on several conditions which were written in a contract. The contract stated that she was to be “specially attached” to the Stewarts
and “she is to be regarded & treated neither as an equal nor as a servant—but as an humble Christian friend, embarked in the great enterprise of endeavoring to ameliorate the condition of the heathen generally, & especially to bring them to the saving knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus.”
The contract was signed and a copy was made to take to Hawaii. The group of missionaries departed by ship from New Haven, Connecticut in November 1822.
During the voyage she wrote of her adventures. She talked about the fish and bird life. She wrote about the sea. She enjoyed the adventures of sleeping in a hammock, or being hit with a wave, or riding around their ship in a boat. Betsy even got to be the midwife to the Stewart’s little baby on April 11, 1823. Having to go through all these experiences together pulled the team of missionaries together and by the end of the trip Betsy felt like she was fully accepted.
When they finally reached their destination on April 24, 1823 they were slightly surprised at the appearance of the people. The men were “half man and half beast—naked—except a narrow strip of tapa round their loins” The people on the boat were frightened, but Betsy reassured herself with these words, “they are men and have souls.”
While she is in Hawaii she get invited to sit next to the queen even though there was a language barrier. She also got to teach English to one of the king’s sons. During her tenure she started a Hawaiian and English school, which would continue on even after they left.
Unfortunately they had to leave sooner than was expected. Two years after the work started, the Stewarts and she had to go back home. Mrs. Stewart had become ill after their second baby, and because of this Betsy had a lot of things to do and grew very tired. Because of exhaustion they decided that would make their way back to the United States.
On return to the states, Betsy Stockton was immersed in ministry. Teaching filled her time for the rest of her life. She taught in Philadelphia and also in Grape Island, Canada. She was also the founder, director, and teacher for several black schools in Princeton, New Jersey. She was also a leader in the forming of the Presbyterian church of Color, later named the Whitherspoon Street Church. Betsy never got to be a foreign missionary again, but worked right here on home soil teaching possible future missionaries. Betsy also kept in touch with Charles Stewart and the son that she helped to bring to this world. They were so close to her that in 1860 Charles Stewart’s son bought a house for her. In was in this home that Miss Betsy Stockton, former slave, intelligent student, former missionary to Hawaii, and schoolteacher would pass away on October 24, 1865. She was laid to rest in Cooperstown, New York in the Stewart plot, after a life well spent.