Page:One of a thousand.djvu/494

 43o PIERCE. PIERCE. vember, 1861, attracted much attention. In December of the same year, Mr. Chase, secretary of the treasury, despatched Mr. Pierce to Port Royal to examine into the condition of the negroes upon the Sea Islands. In February, 1862, he returned to Washington and made a very able and exhaustive report, which was published in the " New York Tribune." and extensively copied, both in England and America. Largely owing to his suggestions, freed- men's aid societies were formed. He was on duty at Morris Island in Au- gust, 1863, where, without any previous request or knowledge on his part, he re- ceived notice of his appointment as collector of internal revenue for the 3d Massachusetts district. He held this office three years. Governor Bullock immediately after ap- pointed him district-attorney to fill a va- cancy in that district occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Harris. He was elected by the people to the same office in 1866 and re-elected in 1868. In October, 1869, he was appointed secretary of the board of state charities, and held that office till 1874, when he resigned. In 1875 and again in '76 he represented the town of Milton in the House of Representatives, with distinc- tion and marked ability. He is the author of the well-known act to limit municipal indebtedness. During the session of 1876 he was chairman of the judiciary commit- tee. He was appointed assistant-treas- urer of the United States by President Hayes in December, 1S78, but declined the appointment. Mr. Pierce was for ten years a lecturer at the Boston University law school. He is the author of treatises on the law of rail- roads, and of various addresses and papers on politics and literature. His best known liter- ary work is the "Memoir of Charles Sumner," the first two volumes of which were pub- lished in 1877. He has resided in Milton for many years, and has ever taken an active part in public affairs, where his in- fluence is always felt on the side of all good measures. He was the originator of the public library, and has been a trustee since its organization. He received the degree of LL. D. from Brown University in 1882. PIERCE, HENRY LlLLIE, son of Jesse and Eliza S. (Lillie) Pierce, was born in Stoughton, Norfolk county, August 23, 1X25. He is a descendant of the " John Pers, weaver," who is recorded in an an- cient document in the English Exchequer, bi iring date April 8, 1637, as "desirous i'i passe" with his wife and children "to Boston, in New England, to inhabitt," and who appears to have been admitted, under the name of John Pierce, to be a " free- man," in Watertown, in March, 163S. The subject of this sketch received a good English education at the public schools in Stoughton, and at the state nor- mal school in Bridgewater. In 1849 the family removed to a house in Dorchester, near Milton Lower Mills, where Mr. Pierce has ever since resided. In 1850 he entered the chocolate manu- factory of Walter Baker & Co., which was established on the Neponset River, near his home. On the death of the owner, in 1854, he took charge of the business, and from that time to this has been the sole manager. At an early age he began to take an interest in public affairs, and while still a school-boy contributed articles to some of the country papers. He took an active part in the organization of the Free Soil party of 1848, and subsequently of the party which grew out of it, and which elected Lincoln in i860. At the state election of 1859 he was chosen a member of the lower branch of the state Legisla- ture, in which he served four years — i860, '61, '62 and '66. He took the initiative in securing the repeal of the state and na- tional legislation which prevented the enlistment of colored men into the local militia and the United States army. In 1862 he was chairman of the committee on finance, and in that capacity reported and carried through the House two measures of great importance — the act providing for the payment of the state bonds in gold, and the act taxing savings banks and insurance companies. On the annexation of Dorchester to the city of Boston, in 1S69, he was elected to represent that district in the board of aldermen. After serving two years, he declined a renomination. In 1872 he was nominated as a non-par- tisan candidate for the office of mayor of Boston, and, after a sharp contest, was elected. To improve the efficiency of the government, radical changes were needed in some of the departments, and such changes he not only recommended, but proceeded resolutely to carry out. Against very strong opposition, he re-organized the health and fire departments, and freed them from the personal and partisan influ- ences to which they had long been subject. Before his first term as mayor had expired, he received the Republican nomination for representative in Congress from the 3d Massachusetts district, and was elected by