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
Note
Finding aid last updated on October 10, 2022 by Melissa Haley.
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: John A. Rockwell papers
Creator:
Rockwell, John A. (John Arnold), 1803-1861
Identifier/Call Number: mssRO
Physical Description:
43.59 Linear Feet
(39 boxes)
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. Also present is an autograph letter signed from Millard
Fillmore to John A. Rockwell, 1852 January 14 (RO 2376).
Processing Information
Processed by Huntington Library Staff, circa 1935. In 2020, Gayle Richardson created the finding aid derived from a legacy
summary report. In 2022, Melissa Haley enhanced description of the presidential material present in the collection as part
of the American Presidential Papers Project.
General
Individual call numbers included in the collection: mssRO 1-2651.
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
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
Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874
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 2469, 2646-2651; Ephemera
Box 39
Georgia-Wilkinson County. Land deeds and papers RO 2628
1828 December-approximately 1828
