Edwin L. Stockton Sr. was born in Salem in 1905. He graduated from R. J. Reynolds High School and Moravian College.
For 36 years, Stockton served as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Southern Province of the Moravian Church.
Stockton devoted his life to the Moravian Church, its history, and his community. He was instrumental in the exploration and preservation of Bethabara, the first Moravian settlement in North Carolina. The new Visitor Center at Historic Bethabara Park was named in his honor in 1986.
Edwin Stockton passed away in 1987.
In addition to championing the formation of Historic Bethabara Park, he maintained a sizeable antique book collection. Of the 39 volumes he donated to the Bethabara Archive, 20 comprised the original “Bethabara Archiv.” All of these volumes were published between 1756 and 1827, most were written and published in German, by the Moravian Church.