John Cox Stevens (September 24, 1785 – June 10, 1857) was the founding Commodore of the New York Yacht Club.

[1] He was the eldest son of Col. John Stevens, a revolutionary war veteran, pioneer in steamboats, and purchaser of what is now Hoboken, and Rachel Cox, who was from New Brunswick, New Jersey.

The race stoked sectional tensions when the Northern horse, "American Eclipse", defeated the southern colt, "Sir Henry".

He was also a founding member of New York's oldest gentlemen's society, the Union Club of which he served as the second president.

[5] After his marriage, they lived in a house called Red Hook, north of Poughkeepsie, New York on the Livingston Manor.