Soon after arriving in this country the eldest son of the first American Stockton settled in Princeton, N.J., and founded that branch of the family; while the father, with the other sons, settled in Burlington County, in the same State, and founded the Burlington branch of the family, from which Frank R. Stockton was descended.  On the female side he was descended from the Gardiners, also of New Jersey.  His was a family with literary proclivities.  His father was widely known for his religious writings, mostly of a polemical character, which had a powerful influence in the denomination to which he belonged.  His half-brother (much older than Frank) was a preacher of great eloquence, famous a generation ago as a pulpit orator.

When Frank and his brother John, two years younger, came to the age to begin life for themselves, they both showed such decided artistic genius that it was thought best to start them in that direction, and to have them taught engraving; an art then held in high esteem.  Frank chose wood, and John steel engraving.  Both did good work, but their hearts were not in it, and, as soon as opportunity offered, they abandoned engraving.  John went into journalism; became editorially connected with prominent newspapers; and had won a foremost place in his chosen profession; when he was cut off by death at a comparatively early age.

[Illustration:  The Holt, Mr Stockton’s home near Convent.  N.J.]

Frank chose literature.  He had, while in the engraving business, written a number of fairy tales, some of which had been published in juvenile magazines; also a few short stories, and quite an ambitious long story, which was published in a prominent magazine.  He was then sufficiently well known as a writer to obtain without difficulty a place on the staff of Hearth and Home, a weekly New York paper, owned by Orange Judd, and conducted by Edward Eggleston.  Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge had charge of the juvenile department, and Frank went on the paper as her assistant.  Not long after Scribner’s Monthly was started by Charles Scribner (the elder), in conjunction with Roswell Smith, and J.G.  Holland.  Later Mr. Smith and his associates formed The Century Company; and with this company Mr. Stockton was connected for many years:  first on the Century Magazine, which succeeded Scribner’s Monthly, and afterward on St. Nicholas, as assistant to Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge, and, still later, when he decided to give up editorial work, as a constant contributor.  After a few years he resigned his position in the company with which he had been so pleasantly associated in order to devote himself exclusively to his own work.  By this time he had written and published enough to feel justified in taking, what seemed to his friends, a bold, and even rash, step, because so few writers then lived solely by the pen.  He was never very strong physically; he felt himself unable to do his editorial work, and at the same time write out the fancies and stories with which his mind was full.  This venture proved to be the wisest thing for him; and from that time his life was, in great part, in his books; and he gave to the world the novels and stories which bear his name.