Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/39

Rh PIERSON, Abraham, clergyman, b. in York- shire, England, in 1008 ; d. in Newark, N. J., 9 Aug., 1678. He was graduated at Cambridge in 1632,' and ordained to the ministry of the estab- lished church, but, becoming a non-conformist, emigrated to this country in 1639, and united with the church in Boston. He accompanied a party of emigrants to Long Island, N. Y.. a short time after- ward, and in 1640 became pastor of the church at South Hampton. He removed with a small part of his congregation to Branford, Conn., in 1647, or- ganized' a church there, and was its pastor for twenty-three years. His ministry was eminently successful, especially in his efforts to evangelize the Indians, to whom he preached in their own language, also preparing a catechism (1654). He served as chaplain to the forces that were raised against the Dutch in 1654. In the contentions between the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven in 1662-'5 he opposed their union, and, when it took place, resolved to remove with his people out of the colony. He accordingly left Branford in June, 1667, and settled in Newark, N. J.. carrying away the church records, and leav- ing the town with scarcely an inhabitant. Mr. Pierson exercised a commanding influence in the colony. Gov. John Winthrop, who was his per- sonal friend, pronounced him a "godly man," and Cotton Mather said of him : ' Wherever he came, he shone." He published "Some Helps for the Indians in New Haven Colony, to a Further Ac- count of the Progress of the Gospel in New Eng- land " (1659). His son. Abraham, educator, b. in Lynn, Mass., in 1645; d. in Killingworth, Conn., 5 March, 1707, was graduated at Harvard in 1668, ordained to the ministry the next year, and was successively pastor in South Hampton, L. I., Bran- ford, Conn., Newark, N. J., and Killingworth, Conn. He was one of the ten principal clergymen who were elected to " found, form, and govern a college in Connecticut" in 1700. and the next year was chosen its first president, under the title of "rector of Yale," holding office until his death. He composed a system of natural philosophy, which was used as a manual in that college for years, and published an " Election Sermon '' (New Haven, 1700). A bronze statue of him, by Launt Thomp- son, was erected in the grounds of Yale in 1874. The first Abraham's descendant, Hamilton Wil- eox, clergyman, b. in Bergen, N. Y., 22 Sept., 1817 : d. there. 7 Sept., 1888. He was graduated at Union college and at Union theological seminary, in 1848, and became an agent of the American Bible society in the West Indies. He labored in Kentucky in 1853-'8, then became president of Cumberland col- lege, Ky., and in 1862-'5 taught freedmen and colored troops, and was a secretary of the Chris- tian commission. Union college gave him the de- gree of D. D. in 1860. He had published " Thomas Jefferson at Monticello, or the Private Life of Thomas Jefferson" (New York, 1862); "In the Brush, or Old-time Social, Political, and Religious Life in the Southwest " (1881) ; edited the " Amer- ican Missionary Memorial " (1853) ; and contributed to the religious press.

PIUAFETTA, Francesco Antonio (pe-gah- fet'-tah), Italian navigator, b. in Vicenza in 1491 ; d. there in 1535. After receiving a good education, he was about to enter diplomacy, when he read of the expeditions to the New World that had been made by the Spanish and Portuguese, and deter- mined to become their historian. In 1518 he went to Madrid and obtained leave to serve as volunteer under Magellan (q. v.). While awaiting the arrival of the navigator in Seville, Pigafetta occupied lis time in studying the exact sciences and the niral's ship, and kept a diary of events and of his lersonal observations. He named the Tehuelche Indians, Patagonians, and is responsible for the story that they were a race of giants. On the re-
 * heory of navigation. He embarked on the ad-
 * urn of the expedition in 1522 Pigafetta went im-

mediately to Valladolid, presented Charles V. with a copy of his journal, and received tokens of the monarch's satisfaction. He passed afterward to Rome, where Pope Clement VII. appointed him an honorary officer in his guard, and through the pontiff's intercession the grand master of Rhodes received Pigafetta into the order on 30 Oct., 1524. At requests of Clement VII. and the grand master, Pigafetta wrote a circumstantial relation of Magellan's expedition, of which only three copies were made, one for the grand master, one for the Lateran library, and one for Louisa of Savoy, but this last found its way into the Milan library, while the princess received only an abridged copy. Pigafetta's narrative is the only account of Magellan's expedition, as the history that was written by D'Anghiera by order of Charles V. was destroyed during the storming of Rome by the army of the Constable de Bourbon in 1527. Until the beginning of the 19th century Pigafetta's re- lation was only known by the abridged copy of Louisa of Savoy, which was published by Antoine Pabre under the title " Le voyage et navigation faiets par les Espagnols es lies Moluques. des lies r.'ils ont trouve audict voyage, des roys d'icelles, leur gouvernement et maniere de vivre, avec plusieurs autres choses " (Paris, about 1540). Ka- musio translated it into Italian, and published it in his "Voyages" (1563). For nearly three centuries the opinion prevailed that the original manuscript was written in French, when, in 1798. Amaretti discovered in Milan one of the three original copies written in a mixture of French, Italian, and Span- ish, which he translated into French as " Relation du premier voyage autour du monde, fait par le Chevalier Pigafetta sur 1'escadre de Magellan pen- dant les annees 1519-1520. 1521. 1522" (Paris, 1801). The work ends with a dictionary of the dialects of the nations that were visited by Piga- fetta, and in particular of the inhabitants of Philip- pine and Molucca islands. The remainder of Piga- fetta's life is unknown, but the date of his death is recorded in the archives of Vicenza. He left also a treatise on navigation.

PIGGOT, Robert, engraver, b. in New York city, 20 May, 1795 : d. in Sykesville. Md.. 23 July, 1887. An early inclination to drawing determined him to study engraving, and with that object he went to Philadelphia and became a student under David Edwin, whose manner he closely followed. Upon reaching his majority, he entered into a business arrangement with a fellow-student. Charles Goodman, with whom he was associated for several years, and all the plates he worked upon bear the firm-name of Goodman and Piggot. Although an engraver of no mean ability, and ardent in his love for his art, he soon abandoned it for holy orders in the Protestant Episcopal church, and was ordained by Bishop White, 30 Nov., 1823. He held several charges in Pennsylvania and Mary- land, and was called to Sykesville, in the latter state, in 1869, as rector of Holy Trinity parish, where he remained until his death, attending to his parochial duties until within four years of his decease, and retaining all his faculties unimpaired. He received the degree of D. D.

PIGOT, Sir Robert, bart., British soldier, b. in Stafford, England, in 1720; d. there, 2 Aug., 1796.