Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/349

 PIERCE

PIERCE

ized the army ambulance corps and personally directed its work, 1861-63. He was married, Nov. 9, 1855, to Mary Quimby, daughter of Joshua

and -(Stookbridge) Page of Bath, Me., and

secondly, June 21, 1866, to Mary Jane, daughter of Col. Dennis and Mary H. (Stewart) Church of Riga, N.Y. He was manager of charcoal and iron inanufacturing companies, Bangor and Elk Rapids, Mich., Nashville and Goodrich, Tenn., and Calera and Decatur, Ala., 1871-94, and was president of the West Nashville Improvement compan\', 1887-94. He invented processes for making acetate of lime and wood alcohol from the waste gases of charcoal kilns. He intro- duced wood alcohol on the commercial market and also became interested in the development of the phosphate industry. He made a number of inventions in connection with the iron and chemical industries for which 27 patents were issued to him. West Nashville, which city he founded in 1887, became the centre of extensive manufacturing industries. He received the hon- orar_v degree of LL.D. from Bucknell university, Lewisburg, Pa., 1866. He removed to Wash- ington, D.C., in 1890 and to Rochester, N.Y., in 1894. He died at Ocala, Fla., Feb. 18, 1902.

PIERCE, Henry Niles, fourth bishop of Arkan- sas and ninety-fifth in succession in the American episcopate, was born in Pawtucket, R.I., Oct. 19, 1820 ; son of Benjamin B. and Susan (Walker) Pierce; grandson of Moses and Sarah (Bently) Pierce, and a de- scendant of Richard Pearce, Jr., born 1590, in Bristol, England, who came to this country about 1638, and resided in Ports- mouth, R.I. Henry N. Pierce was gradu- ated at Brown, A.B., 1842, A.M., 1845. He was ordered deacon, April 25, 1848, and ordained priest, Jan. 3, 1849, by Bishop Freeman in Christ church, Matagorda, Tex. ; engaged in missionary work in Washing- ton county, Tex., 1849-52; was rector of Christ churcli. Matagorda, Tex., 1852-54 ; Trinity church. New Orleans, La., in 1854; St. Paul's, Rah way, N. J., 1855-57; St. John's, Mobile, Ala., 1857-68, and St. Paul's, Springfield, 111., 1868-70. He was married, April 18, 1854. to Nannie Hayward, daughter of Abram and Eleanor (Wallace) Sheppard of Matagorda. He was elected mission- ary bishop of Arkansas and Indian Territory and was consecrated in Christ church, ]\Iohile,

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Ala., Jan. 25, 1870, by Bishops Green, White- house, R. H. Wilmer, Quintard, J. P. B. Wilmer and Young. In 1871 Arkansas was organized as a diocese, of which he became the first diocesan, and retained the charge of the missionary juris- diction of Indian Territory until 1893, when the territory became part of the missionary district of Oklahoma and Indian Territory. He received the degree D.D. from the University of Alabama in 1862 and from the University of the South in 1869, and that of LL.D. from William and Mary college in 1867. He is the author of published sermons, addresses, translations, mis- cellaneous pamphlets and The Agnostic and Other Poems (1884). He died at Fayetteville, Ark., Sept. 5, 1899.

PIERCE, James Oscar, historian, was born at Oriskany Falls, N.Y., Feb. 3, 1836; son of James and Lucy (Barnes) Pierce ; grandson of Stephen (a Revolutionary oflScer) and Abigail (Taj-lor) Pearce, and of Thomas Barnes, and a lineal de- scendant of John and Priscilla (Molines) Alden, and of Richard Warren, passengers on the May- flowsr, 1620 ; also of Edward Rossiter, assistant in the first government of Massachusetts Bay, 1630. James Oscar Pierce attended the public schools of Syracuse, N.Y. He enlisted, April 20, 1861, in the 1st AVisconsin volunteers for thi-ee months' service ; was admitted to the bar in Dodge county. Wis., in September, 1862, and was maiTied, Sept. 14, 1862, to Ada, daughter of Wel- lington H. and Caroline (White) Butterfield. He re-entered the army, Sept. 27, 1862, as 1st lieu- tenant of the 29th Wisconsin volunteers ; was promoted major and assistant adjutant-general. May 8, 1863, serving on the staff of General B. M. Prentiss, and as his chief of staff participated in the battle of Helena, July 4, 1863. He was mus- tered out, Nov. 29, 1865, and took up the practice of law at Memphis, Tenn., where he resided until 1886. He was appointed judge of the law court of Memphis, October. 1867, and elected judge of the circuit court of Shelby county, Tenn., August, 1878, which office he held for eight years. He was lecturer on constitutional juris- prudence and history in the College of Law in the University of Minnesota, 1888-1902, and in July, 1902, was chosen dean of the College of American History, a department of the National Memorial university. Mason City, Iowa, esta- blished in 1902. He was an active member of the Tennessee State Historical society and of the Tennessee State Bar asssociation, 1875-86, and president of the Eclectic club of Memphis. 1876- 86. He was elected a member of the Minnesota Historical society in 1890 ; was president of the Bar association of Hennepin county, Minnesota, 1901; a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and of several other patriotic socie-