John A. Rockwell Papers mssRO
Gayle Richardson
The Huntington Library
September 2020
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Business Number: (626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: John A. Rockwell papers
Creator:
Rockwell, John A. (John
Arnold), 1803-1861
Identifier/Call Number: mssRO
Physical Description:
43.17 Linear Feet
(38 boxes, 16 folders)
Date (inclusive): 1770-1871
Abstract: A collection of professional and
personal material related to John Arnold Rockwell, American lawyer, author, and
politician.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at
the Huntington Library for more information.
Conditions Governing Use
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. John A. Rockwell papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from George D. Smith Book Company, March 1925.
Biographical / Historical
John Arnold Rockwell (1803-1861) was an American jurist, Whig politician, and businessman.
A native of Norwich, Connecticut and a graduate of Yale University, class of 1822; he
married Mary Watkinson Perkins on September 28, 1831. Rockwell was a member of the
Connecticut State Senate in 1839, and the judge of the New London County Court in 1840. He
represented the state, as a Whig, in the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth United States
Congresses. Rockwell served as the chairman of the Committee on Claims in the Thirtieth
Congress, and was the Chief Founder of the Court of Claims in Washington (established 1855).
Having lost his re-election bid in 1848, Rockwell practiced law before the Court of Claims
of the United States until his death in Washington, D.C. on February 10, 1861. Rockwell and
his brother Charles William Rockwell were actively involved in various enterprises having to
do with the westward expansion, including land development, railroads, transportation, and
banking. In 1836 they founded the Rockwell Land Company with the purpose of land development
in La Salle County, Illinois.
Scope and Contents
A collection of approximately 3000 items from 1770 to 1871, it consists of the personal and
professional papers of John Arnold Rockwell, chiefly his incoming and outgoing
correspondence. The papers document Rockwell's legal career; the development of the U.S.
Court of Claims; politics; the Constitutional Union Party of 1860; land development,
particularly in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan; transportation, including land grants
in aid of canals and railroads such as the Illinois Central and the projected Pacific
Railroads; mining; and banking. Correspondents include, among others, John William Allen,
Reverdy Johnson, Charles William Rockwell, and Dixwell Lathrop, who was a member of the
Rockwell Land Company and one of the founders of Rockwell Colony in La Salle, Illinois. Also
included are a letter book, plats, Dixwell Lathrop's notebooks, newspaper clippings, and the
1857 legal brief in the case of the United States, appellants vs. Charles Fossatt, regarding
the New Almaden Quicksilver Mines. The earliest portion of Rockwell's correspondence
includes letters from his father Charles Rockwell and brother Charles William Rockwell who
had moved to Savannah, Georgia in 1817 to run a shipping business. The post-1861 part of the
collection consists mainly of the incoming correspondence of John A. Rockwell's youngest son
Alfred Perkins Rockwell, a Yale graduate, mining engineer, Civil War veteran, and
businessman. Also included is correspondence of the Perkins and Tisdale families, including
Rockwell's father-in-law Joseph Perkins who died in 1832 and was a Revolutionary War
soldier, a Major in the Connecticut militia, physician, and businessman; also, Simon
Perkins, John Tisdale, Elkanah Tisdale, and others. This correspondence deals chiefly with
the properties in Connecticut and the Western Reserve.
Processing Information
Processed by Huntington Library Staff, circa 1935. In 2020, Gayle Richardson created the
finding aid derived from a legacy summary report.
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
General
Individual call numbers included in the collection: mssRO 1-2651.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Businessmen -- Connecticut
Land grants -- California
Land grants -- Northwest, Old
Lawyers -- United States
Legislators -- United States
Politicians -- United States
Railroads -- Northwest, Old
Transportation -- Northwest, Old
Real property -- Northwest, Old
Connecticut -- History
La Salle (Ill.) -- History
Norwich (Conn.) -- History
Northwest, Old -- Commerce -- History
Rockwell (La Salle, Ill.) -- History
Savannah (Ga.) -- History -- 19th century
Western Reserve (Ohio) -- History
Family papers -- Connecticut
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 18th century
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 19th century
Personal papers -- United States
Professional papers -- United States
Allen, John W. (John William),
1802-1887
Johnson, Reverdy,
1796-1876
Lathrop, Dixwell
Perkins, Simon,
1771-1844
Rockwell, Alfred Perkins,
1834-1903
Rockwell, Charles William,
1799-1866
Tisdale, Elkanah, 1768-1835
Constitutional Union Party
(U.S.)
New Almaden Quicksilver Mines (Calif.)
United States. Congress
(29th, 1st session : 1845-1846)
United States. Congress (30th, 1st session :
1847-1848)
United States. Court of
Claims
Whig Party (U.S.)
Box 38
RO 2628, 2469, 2646-2651; Ephemera
Folder 1-16
Georgia-Wilkinson County. Land deeds and papers
1828 December-approximately 1828
