Col. John Stevens, III (1749 - March 6 1838) was an American lawyer, engineer, and an inventor. Born in New York, New York, the son of John Stevens (1715-1792), secretary to Governor Livingston of New York, and his wife, the former Elizabeth Alexander. He graduated King's College (which became Columbia University) in May 1768. At age 27 he was appointed a Captain in Washington's army, and was afterwards treasurer of New Jersey, and bought at public auction from the state of New Jersey land which had been confiscated from a Tory landowner. The land, described as "William Bayard's farm at Hoebuck" comprised approximately what is now the city of Hoboken. In 1802 he built a screw-driven steamboat, and in 1806 he built the Phoenix, a steamboat that ultimately sailed from Hoboken to Philadelphia in 1809, thereby becoming the first steamship to successfully navigate the open ocean. On October 11, 1811 Stevens' ship the Juliana, began operation as the first steam-powered ferry (service was between New York, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey). The first railroad charter in the U.S. was given to Stevens and others in 1815 for the New Jersey Railroad. He designed and built a steam locomotive capable of hauling several passenger cars at his estate in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1825. He helped develop United States patent law. On 17 October 1782 he married Rachel Cox, a descendant of the Langfeldts who originally settled New Brunswick, New Jersey. They had nine children:
- John Cox Stevens (1785-1857), first commodore of the New York Yacht Club
- Robert Livingston Stevens (1787-1856), applied the wave line to shipbuilding, and president of Camden and Amboy Railroad, the first railroad built in New Jersey.
- Edwin Augustus Stevens (1795-1868), founder of Stevens Institute of Technology
- James Alexander Stevens
- Elizabeth Juliana Stevens
- Mary Stevens
- Harriet Stevens
- Esther Cox Stevens
- Catherine Sophia Stevens
External links
- John Stevens Collection, 1808 - 1881 Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
