Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/350

 PIERCE

PIERCE

ties. He edited : Hntcfiinson on Cai'Hers (1878), left untiuisheJ by Judge Robert Hutchinson, and is the author of Fraudulent Mortgages of Merchandise (1884), and contributions to the Southern Law Review, Central Law Journal, and American Law Review.

PIERCE, Jane Means Appleton, wife of Presi- dent Pierce, wa-s born in Hampton, N.H., March 12, 1806 ; daughter of the Rev. Jesse Appleton. She was married in 1834 to Franklin Pierce, and they had three cliildren (sons), two of whom died in infancy, the youngest son, Benjamin, wheuabout thirteen years of age. was instantly killed while en route from Boston to Concord, N.H., and near Andover, Mass., the car in which he sat with his parents being derailed, and both parents escaping without injury. Thissliock corning immediately before her husband's inauguration as President and her advent as mistress of the White House, greatly affected lier health, which was not rugged, and she took up the cares and duties of her W-asliington life under great depression. Aside from her necessary duties as the first lady of Washington official life, which she performed with dignity and tact, she withdrew wholly from the gaieties and festivities of society. After her return to her home in Concord, she traveled three years with her husband in Europe, and died at Andover, Mass., Dec. 2, 1863.

PIERCE, Lovick, clergyman, was born in Halifa.K county, N.C., March 17, 1785. He was taken by his parents to Barnwell district, S.C., where his school training was limited, amounting to about six months' attendance at an " old field school." He entered the Methodist ministry in 1804, and removed to Greene county, Ga., in 1809, where he married a daughter of the Hon. George Wells Foster, attorney-at-law. He was a chaplain in the army during the war of 1812 ; studied medi- cine in Philadelphia, and practised medicine and preached the gospel in Greensborough. Ga., for several years, and then devoted himself to the ministry altogether. He was a delegate to the general conferences of the Methodist church in 1836, 1840 and 1844, and after the organization of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, was a delegate to its general conventions continuously up to the time of his death, his council being greatly valued. He took part in the Louisville conference of 1874, to which his son and grandson were also present as delegates. He continued to preach occasionally up to his ninety-fourth year. He received the degree of LL.D. from Randolph- Macon college in 1843, and was a trustee of that college, 183.5-79. He published a series of tlieo- logical essays a short time before his death, which occurred at the residence of liis son, Bisliop George Foster Pierce (q.v.), near Sparta, Ga., when nearly 95 years of age, Nov. 9, 1879.

PIERCE, Rice Alexander, representative, was born in Weakley county, Tenn., July 3, 1849; son of Thomas M. Pierce. After attending the com- mon schools he enlisted in the Confederate army as a private in the 8th Tennessee cavalry regi- ment, under General Forrest, and was taken prisoner at Jackson, Tenn.. in 1864, and confined till the close of the war. He attended the high school at London, Ontario, and was admitted ta the bar of North Carolina in July, 1868. He was married in April, 1873, to Mary Hunter of Ham- burg, Mo. He was district attorney-general for the twelfth judicial circuit of Tennessee, 1874-83, and a Democratic representative in the 48th con- gress, 1883-85, the 51st-52nd congresses, 1889-93, and in the 55th-58th congresses, 1897-1905.

PIERCE, William, delegate, was born in Georgia about 1740. He received a liberal edu- cation, and engaged in merchandising as William Pierce & Co., Savannah, Ga. He was appointed captain of the 1st Continental artillery, Nov. 30, 1776, served as aide-de-camp to General Nathanael Greene throughout the war, and on Oct. 29, 1781, received the thanks of congress, and was pre- sented with a sword for his meritorious conduct in the battle of Eutaw Springs, S.C. He con- tinued business in Savannah, Ga., 1783-88 ; repre- sented Chatham county in the Georgia legisla- ture ; was a delegate from Georgia to the Conti- nental congress, 1786-87, and was a member of the Convention of 1787, in Philadelphia, that framed the Federal constitution, but his ab- sence in New York, Sept. 17, 1787, prevented his signing the document. He was a vice-president of the Society of the Cincinnati at the time of his death. While in congress he prepared his- impressions of the delegates, which were pub- lished in the Georgia Gazette of March 20, 1788. and form a part of tlie Peter Force collection in the Congressional library. He died in Savannah ,. Ga.. Dec. 10, 17^9.

PIERCE, William Oscar, minister, author, and musician, was born in New Haven. Ohio, Oct. 28, 1835 ; son of Samuel Ransom and Sylvia Jane (Comstock) Pierce ; grandson of Phineas. and Annie (Kellog) Pierce and of Dr. James and Chloe (Beach) Comstock, and a descendant of Thomas Pierce, who emigrated from England in 1633 and settled in Charlestown, Mass. He was graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan university, A.B., 1859; A.M., 1862; was professor of Greek in Moore's Hill college, Ind., 1861-62. and its president, 1862-64 ; in the pastorate, 1864-73 ; pro- fessor of Greek in Fort Wayne college, Ind., 1873- 76 ; professor of Greek and Hebrew in Illinois Wesleyan university, 1876-79, and again in the pastorate, 1879-84 and 1887-90. Cornell college conferred upon him the degree of D.D. in 1878. He was editor of TJie Methodist Pulpit and Pew..