PICTON OF EGLWYSWRW, NEW JERSEY, NEW ORLEANS AND TEXAS
Reverend Thomas Picton
1775-1861
Picture located at Westfield Church, New Jersey
Below information researched and provided by
Brian Picton Swann
Rev. THOMAS PICTON, MA, son of Owen Picton of Nantgwyn, Eglwyswrw (see
PICTON
of Whitechurch and Trelech), was born on 1 May 1775. As his
father and mother were both dead by 1787 he lived with his uncle, Thomas Picton, between
1787 and 1796. He decided to emigrate to America; and he sailed from Milford Haven and
arrived in New York on 14 May 1796. He was appointed Minister of the Presbyterian Church
at Woodbury and Timber Creek, near Camden, New Jersey, on 18 October 1799.
He married Mary Zantzinger of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on 18 November 1802 at
Cumberland, New Jersey. He went to the Presbytery of New York on 18 April 1805, and from
there he was appointed to Westfield Presbyterian Church, New Jersey, on 24 October 1805.
He launched the Great Revival of 1808 from there. He graduated from Princeton University
with an honorary AM in 1811. A letter survives to his uncle, Thomas Picton, written in
1813.
He resigned from Westfield in 1818, and was appointed Chaplain and Professor of
Geography, History and Ethics at the Military Academy, West Point, New York on 23 July
1818. He succeeded Christian Zoeller, who had resigned his position. Thomas Picton was
thus the first person appointed to teach law at West Point. For the next 58 years the
Chaplain at West Point was responsible for law instruction. He was assisted by junior
officers, most of whom were recent graduates of the Academy, and sometimes by
cadets.
His wife, Mary Picton, died in 1821 and was buried at West Point. He resigned
from West Point on 1 January 1825. He was a member of the North River Presbytery, without
charge, in 1828. He was sent with others to form Bedford Presbytery in 1830. He taught
afterwards for several years in a select school in New York City. Letters survive written
to his cousin, Owen Picton of Glanrhyd, Trelech, between 1845 and 1858 (Carmarthen Record
Office, ACC 4199-4204). He is recorded in the 1850 Census at Hoboken, New Jersey, aged 70,
in the house of his son-in-law, Edwin Stevens. Thomas Picton died at Hoboken, New Jersey,
on 6 February 1861. He was originally interred at Hoboken, but in 1865 his grand-daughter,
Mary Garnet, obtained permission from the Secretary of State to remove his remains to West
Point for burial beside those of his wife. Thomas and Mary Picton had two
children:
1. JOHN MOORE WHITE PICTON, born 17 November 1804 and bapt. 13 June 1805 at the
Presbyterian Church, Westfield, Union, New Jersey. He became a cadet at West Point
Military Academy on 1 September 1819. He graduated as a 2nd Lieut., 2nd Artillery, on 1
July 1824. He served in the garrison at Fort Monroe, Virginia (the Artillery School for
Practice), 1825-1826. He was at Fort Columbus, New York, 1826-1827; Fort St. Philip,
Louisiana, 1827-1828; Fort Wood, Louisiana, 1828; Bay of St. Louis, Missouri, 1828; Fort
Wood, Louisiana, 1828-1829; Bay of St. Louis, Missouri, 1829; Fort Wood, Louisiana, 1829-
1830. He was on Recruiting Service in 1831. He resigned his commission on 1 March 1832
and moved to New Orleans. He eventually became Professor of Obstetrics at New Orleans
Medical School and Alderman of the City of New Orleans. He is recorded in the 1850 Census
(20 August 1850) at Shieldsborough, in Hancock County, Mississippi, aged 44, along with his
wife, aged 37. He gave evidence in the Report of the Sanitary Commission of New Orleans on
the Epidemic of Yellow Fever of 1853 in 1854 [pp. 64-65]. He died on 28 October 1859, aged
55. He had married Louise Aglaie de la Rue (born 1812/3 at New Orleans) and they were the
parents of 8 children:
John Moore White Picton
a. CHARLES THOMAS PICTON, born at New Orleans February 1831. He married
Elizabeth Lida Gold Means. They were the parents of:
i. DAVID MEANS PICTON of Port Arthur, Texas. He established the undertaking of
D. M. Picton and Co. Inc., marine contractors. He married Frances Ellen Hynes and they
were the parents of:
a. DAVID MEANS PICTON, jun., born 22 May 1888 at Rockport, Texas. He received a
LLB degree from the University of Texas in 1911. He was a postgraduate student at Harvard
and was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1913. He was City Attorney at Corpus Christi, 1916.
He married Martha Washington, daughter of Ezekiel Nance of Kyle, Texas,
on 10 October 1917. He was County Judge of Nueces County, 1919; Attorney with the firm
Hogg Bros., Houston, 1919 - 1941. He was in practice on his own account from 1941 - 1951.
He was President of Fifteen Oil Co. and Ingleside (Texas) Land Co.; Vice-President of
Mikton Oil Co., D. M. Picton & Co. Inc.; and a Director of Kirby Petroleum Co. He died
on 28 November 1951 near Kerrville, Texas. They were the parents of:
i. MARTHA ANN PICTON, married to Jess Willard Hines.
ii. LIDA MEANS PICTON, married to James Harvey Suttles, Jun.
iii. GRACE VIVIAN PICTON, married to Harry Hannon Wise, Jun.
iv. ALICE PICTON, married to Douglas Stirling Craig.
v. FRANCES HELEN PICTON
vi. JULIA NANCE PICTON
b. FRANCES PICTON, born at New Orleans August 1833.
c. JAMES PICTON, born at New Orleans 1839/40.
d. JOHN PICTON, born at New Orleans 1842/3.
e. ELIZABETH PICTON, born at New Orleans 1846/7.
f. STELLA PICTON, born at New Orleans 1847/8.
2. MARY BARTON PICTON, born August 1806 and bapt. 3 October 1806 at the
Presbyterian Church, Westfield, Union, New Jersey. She married, as his first wife, Edwin
Augustus Stevens (born 28 July 1795 at Castle Point, Hoboken, N.J.), son of John Stevens of
Hoboken, inventor of the steam propellor boat. Edwin Stevens became famous as an inventor.
At the age of 25, by family agreement, he was made manager of his father's estate in
Hoboken. He also served as manager of the Union Line, which carried passengers by water
between New York and Philadelphia. It also had boats on the Raritan, supplemented by
coaches that ran between New Brunswick and Trenton. Among his other positions Stevens was
Treasurer and Manager of the Camden and Amboy railroad for more than 30 years after 1830.
He founded and endowed the Stevens Institute of Technology, where his private papers
remain. Edwin and Mary Stevens had two children:
MARY PICTON STEVENS, born 1840, married to ----- Garnet. Her first husband may
have died and she remarried to ----- Lewis. By this marriage she was the mother
of:
EDWIN A. S. LEWIS, born on 15 March 1870 in Pau, France. He was the son of
Edward Parke Custis Lewis, a Colonel in the Confederate Army, and afterwards United States
Minister to Portugal under the administration of President Cleveland. He received his
early education at Stevens High School, Hoboken, and St. Johns School, Sing Sing, New York.
He went to Princeton University, and graduated in the Class of 1891. After graduating he
attended the New York Law School, from where he graduated in 1893. He served a clerkship
in the office of John X. Besson, and was admitted to the Bar as an Attorney in the June
Term, 1894, and as a Counsellor at the June Term, 1897.
He was counsel to the Hoboken Land and Improvement Company, to the Board of
Health of the City of Hoboken, and to the Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York. In
1898 he was appointed by Judge Kirkpatrick as Referee (Judge) in bankruptcy for Hudson
County. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, held in St. Louis in
1904, which nominated Alton B. Parker for President.
He was one of the charter members of the New Jersey State Bar Association, and
attended many of their meetings. He was a member of the Princeton Club, the University
Club, the New York Bar Association, and of the Somerset Country Club of Bernardsville. He
was twice elected President of the Bar Association of Hudson County, which position he held
at the time of his death. He married Alice Stuart Walker, a daughter of General H. H.
Walker of Morristown, New Jersey. He died on 5 September 1906. By his wife they were the
parents of:
i. EDWARD P. C. LEWIS
ii. H. H. WALKER LEWIS
b. ELIZABETH BONNEY STEVENS
Mary Stevens died, and her husband, Edwin Stevens, remarried to Martha Bayard
Dod on 22 August 1854. He died in Paris on 8 August 1868. They had further
children:
c. JOHN STEVENS
d. EDWIN STEVENS
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