John Stocker

John Stocker (died 1807) was an affluent American merchant, insurance agent and alderman in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during the eighteenth century.

Involved in the fire insurance industry, he resided at 404 Front Street (Philadelphia) in Philadelphia in a house that has been preserved since his death. Francis Trumble's woodshop was also once located on the property.

Formative years and family John Stocker was born to Mortimer (1731–1778) and Anna (née St. John) Stocker (1735–1774) in 1754, their first child, in Philadelphia. He was sent to a grammar school, and he excelled at an early age. When his mother died, Stocker's father sent him to live with his bachelor uncles Ebenezer and Humphry St. John in their boarding house, a few streets away from his father's house. He continued his schooling there, and his uncle Ebenezer said "he was the smartest boy that I have ever seen, espesially(sic) at his books". When the more lenient Ebenezer died in 1771, Humphry took Stocker out of school, and apprenticed him to the merchant Aubrey Winstead Cleveland.

Children Stocker had seven children:

Ebenezer Stocker (1786–1834), who took over his clothes import company; Maria Webster Stocker (1787–1861), a noted early suffragette; Rowland (or Roland ) Stocker (1787–1830), an author; Louise Stocker (1788–1799), who died of tuberculosis; Valentine Stocker (1789–1847), a noted politician; Hamilton Stocker (1790–1854), a newspaperman; and Mortimer Stocker (1793–1880), an architect, who early on in life was also an insurance agent.

Apprenticeship and Parker Affair Stocker called Cleveland "a dastardly, double chinn'd old buzzard", When Stocker returned, he found out that Parker had made it seem that Stocker was dead and taken over his company. Stocker, unable to convince people who he was, moved to another part of Philadelphia and started another company in 1784.

First and Second Marriages Stocker grew very wealthy, and married Maria Webster in 1785. His first child, Ebenezer Stocker, was named after his late uncle Ebenezer,

Death John Stocker died of an uncertain cause on August 5, 1807.