Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/734

692 elected one of the visitors and governors of Wash- ington college, in which institution he afterward lectured on law. Mr. Pearee was regarded as one of the wisest and safest members of the senate.

PEARSE, John Barnard, chemist, b. in Phila- delphia, Pa., 19 April, 1842. He was graduated at Yale in 1861, studied chemistry in Philadelphia for the next three years, and was in charge of the chemical division of the U. S. army laboratory there in 1863-'o. He spent the next two years in the School of mines in Freiberg. Saxony, and Leoben, Styria, made a specialty of iron and steel metal- lurgy, and worked in the German mines. He con- nected himself with the Pennsylvania steel company in Harrisburg, Pa., in 1868, and became its general manager in 1870. In June, 1874, he was a com- missioner and secretary of the second geological survey of Pennsylvania. He has made various in- ventions in connection with steel manufacture, im- proved the design and product of the Bessemer steel plant, and was instrumental in making Besse- mer pig-iron from native New .Jersey and Penn- sylvania ores. He has published " A Concise His- tory of the Iron Manufacture of the American Colonies up to the Revolution, and of Pennsylvania till the Present Time " (Philadelphia, 1876).'

PEARSON, Alfred L, soldier, b. in Pittsburg. Pa., 28 Dec, 1838. He was educated at Jefferson and Allegheny colleges, admitted to the bar in 1861, and in 1862 became captain and then colo- nel of the 155th Pennsylvania regiment. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers, 30 Sept., 1864, for services at Peeble's Farm, and major- general for a charge that he made at Quaker Road, 29 March, 1865, for which he was also compli- mented by Gen. Meade. His command fired the last shot at Appomattox Court-House. On his re- turn he engaged in the practice of his profession, and was district attorney in 1870, 1872, and 1877. He has been active in militia matters, and as rank- ing major-general of the Pennsylvania national guard commanded in Pittsburg during the riots of 1877. He also ended the troubles in Luzerne county, and for his action in firing on the rioters was arrested on a charge of murder, but the grand jury did not indict him. In 1888 he became com- mander of the National Union veteran legion. Gen. Pearson edited the " Sunday Critic " in 1886-'7, and is the author of three plays, none of which have yet been produced.

PEARSON, Eliphalet, educator, b. in New- bury, Mass., 11 June, 1752 ; d. in Greenland, N. H., 12 Sept., 1826. He was graduated at Harvard in 1773, taught in Andover, and was licensed to preach, but was prevented by the failure of his eyesight from accepting a charge. During the Revolution he executed a commission from the general court to manufacture saltpetre and gunpowder for the patriot army. He was appointed by Gov. Samuel Phillips first preceptor of Phillips Andover acad- emy in 1778, continued in that office for eight years, and in 1786-1806 was professor of Hebrew and oriental languages at Harvard. In 1804-'6, after the death of President Joseph Willard, he dis- charged the duties of the latter's office. On his resignation he returned to Andover, and was instrumental in establishing the theological semi- nary there. He was ordained to the ministry of the Congregational church in 1808, and the same year became first professor of sacred literature in Andover theological seminary, holding office one year, when he retired, and devoted the remainder of his life, for the most part, to agricultural pur- suits. Yale and Princeton gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1802. He was secretary of tlie American academy of arts and sciences, president of the Society for promoting Christian knowledge, a founder of the American educational society, and a member of numerous religious and charitable bodies. He left many unpublished manuscripts, the most valuable of which is a course of lectures on language that he delivered at Harvard. Among his published works are occasional discourses, a Hebrew grammar, and a " Sermon on the Death of President Joseph Willard " (Cambridge, 1804).

PEARSON, George Frederick, naval officer, b. in New Hampshire. 6 Feb., 1796 ; d. in Ports- mouth, N. H., 30 June. 1867. He was appointed midshipman, 11 March, 1815, and cruised in the frigates " United States " and " Independence " in the Mediterranean in 1816-'20. and in the West Indies in 1822-'3. He was commissioned lieutenant, 13 Jan., 1825, commanded the schooner " Shark " at Norfolk in 1839, and served at the Portsmouth navy-yard in 1839-'41. He was promoted to com- mander on 8 Sept. of the latter year, was in the " Falmouth " at Norfolk in 1852-'3, and became captain, 14 Sept., 1855. He commanded the steamer " Powhatan " in the East Indies in 1858-'60. Dur- ing the civil war he rendered valuable service as commandant of the Portsmouth navy-yard, which post he held at his death. He was retired by law, being over sixty-two years old, 21 Dec, 1861, and became commodore on the retired list, 16 July, 1862, and rear-admiral. 25 July, 1866.

PEARSON, John James, jurist, b. in Delaware county, Pa., 25 Oct., 1800 ; d. in Harrisburg, Pa., 30 May, i888. He was educated at a grammar-school and by a pi'ivate tutor, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1822, and practised in western Penn- sylvania. He was elected to congress in 1834, serv- ing one term, and in 1837 to the state senate for a term of four years. On 7 April, 1849, he was com- missioned president judge of the 12th judicial dis- trict, in 1851, when the change in the state consti- tution made the judges elective, he was unanimous- ly chosen president judge lor ten years, and he was re-elected in 1861 and again in 1871, at the end of which term he declined a further nomination. During his judicial term he received from three different colleges in Pennsylvania the honorary de- gree of LL. D. In 1879 appeared two volumes of his " Decisions," which are considered equal to the reports of the supreme court as authority.

PEARSON, Jonathan, educator, b. in Chichester, N.H., 23 Feb., 1813. He is descended from John Pearson, an English carpenter who settled at Rowley, Mass., prior to 1643. His father, Caleb, was a fifer in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war. The son was graduated at Union in 1835, served as tutor in 1836-'9, and in 1839-'49 was assistant professor of chemistry and natural philosophy. He was given the chair of natural history in 1849, and that of agriculture and botany in 1873, and has also served as college treasurer and librarian. Beginning with the study of his own ancestry, he had spent much time in deciphering the Dutch records in Albany and Schenectady, translating most of the vast mass of records in “Mohawk Dutch” - a compound of Netherlandish, Indian, French, and English speech - in the archives of the churches and public offices in the Mohawk valley. He has published “Early Records of the County of Albany” (Albany, 1869); “Genealogy of the First Settlers of Schenectady” (1873); “History of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Schenectady” (Schenectady, 1880); and “A History of the Schenectady Patent,” edited by J.W. MacMurray (Albany, 1883).