Between January 1863 and August 1864, he owned The Republican, one of the first local newspapers in Greensburg, PA.[2] He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1872.

It sat on the property of the Jennings Farm which would later be purchased by the Sisters of Charity where they would charter their new school, now known as Seton Hill University.

Carnegie writes: The grandeur of Mr. Stokes's home impressed me, but the one feature of it that eclipsed all else was a marble mantel in his library.

In the center of the arch, carved in the marble, was an open book with this inscription: "He that cannot reason is a fool, He that will not a bigot, He that dare not a slave."

The building still stands today on Seton Hill University's campus, though it has undergone many changes and uses, and is known as St. Mary Hall.

[7] His stirring speech, at the Union Convention of Westmoreland County, PA in 1861, was delivered in support of the united American Republic and in favor of the war to crush rebellion.