Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/352

 PIERPONT

PIERSON

pont (q.v.) James Pierpont publisljpil Sundry False Hopes of Ilfuren. Discorercd and Decryed, a sermon (ITl'.'). He ilied at Now Uaven, Coun., Nov. '2-\ ITU.

PIERPONT, John, jurist, w:is born in Litch- field, Conn., Sei)t. 10. 1805; son of Daniel and Sarah (Plielps) Pierpont; grandson of James and Anna (Slierman) Pierpont, and great-grandson of John and Thankful (Stow) Pierpont. He was taken to llutlan I. Vt.. in ISir). and resided with his brotlier. Judge Robert Pierjwnt (1791-1865). He was graduated at the Litchfield law school in 1827, an<l practised in Pittsford, Vt., removing in 18:3'3 to Vergennes, where he was married in 1S3S to Sarali M. Lawrence. He was register of probate, 1836-55, represented Vergennes in the state legislature in 1841, was a member of the state senate. 1S55-57. and chairman of its judi- ciary com mi tteo for two years. He was an asso- ciate judge of the supreme court of Vermont, 1857-65. and chief justice. 1865-83. He died in Ver.j:enn.--. Vt.. Jan. 6, l*^"^?.

PIERREPONT, Edwards, jurist, was born in North Haven. C mn., March 4, 1817; son of Giles and Eunice (Munson) Pierrepont; grandson of Jonatlian ilunson. ami a descendant of John and Thankful (Stow) Pierpont. He was graduated at Yale, A.B., 1837, A.M., 1840, commenced the study of law in Columbus. Oliio, and graduated at the New Haven law school in 1840. He was a tutor in Yale, 1840-41. settled in practice in Columbus, Ohio, in partnership with Phineas B. Wilcox, in 1843, and in 1845 removed to New York city and resumed practice. He was married. May 27, 1846, to Margaretta, daughter of Samuel A. Willoughby of Brooklyn, N.Y. He was judge of the superior court of New York city, 1857-<50, and in 1863 was appointed by President Lincoln, in conjunction with General John A. Dix, to try the prisoners of state accused of political offences. He was an active member of the Union defence committee; one of the three appointed to proceed to Washington to confer with the government, when all com- munication was cut off by the way of Balti- more after the attack on the Massachusetts troops in Baltimore, and he conducted, on the part of the government, the prosecution of John N. Surratt, indicted for aiding in the murder of President Lincoln; the Arkansas Hot Springs case, and the Pacific Railway case. Ho was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1867, serving on its judiciary committee. He was U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, 1869-70; a member of the committee of seventy that fought the Tweed ring in 1870; declined the office of U.S. minister to Russia in 1873. and was U.S. attorney-general in President Grant's cabinet from April, 1875, until May, 1876,

when he accepted the appointment of U.S. minister to England, serving until 1878. He was secretary of legation and charge d'affaires at Rome, 1884-85. He was a founder, and for many yeai-s governor, of the Manhattan club. He received the degree of LL.D. from Columbian university, Washington, D.C., in 1871, and from Yale in 1873, and that of D.G.L. from Oxford univer- sity, England, in 1878. He is the author of political and literary orations, publislied in pamphlet form. He died in New York city, March 7, 1893

PIERSON, Abraham, educator, was born in Lynn, Mass., in 1645; son of the Rev. Abraham Pierson ( 1603-16. ~8), who emigrated from York- shire, England, in 1639, and settled successively in Boston, Mass., Long Island, N.Y., Branford, Conn., and Newark, N.J.; was most successful in his efforts to convert the Indians, and prepared an Indian catechism (1654), Abraham Pier.son, Jr., was graduated from Harvard in 1668, and was ordained to the ministry in 1669. He was assistant to his father at Newark, N.J., 1672-78; pastor 1678-94, and was appointed^pastor at Kill- ingworth, Conn., in 1694. He was associated with the Rev. James Pierpont (q.v.) in the revival of the plan to form, found and govern a college in New Haven. A charter was drafted and after the legislature had convened Oct. 9, 1701, an act was passed giving them the liberty to erect a collegiate school. It Avas first estab- lished at Saybrook with Abraham Pierson as rector, in 1701, which office lie con- tinued until his death. The office did not entitle him to membership in the Corpora- tion, but he was one of the eleven trustees constituted by the charter of 1701. He composed a system of natural philosophy, and published an Elec- tion Sermon (1700). A bronze statue by Launt Thompson was erected to his memory on the Yale grounds in 1874. He died in Killingworth, Conn.. March 5. 1707.

PIERSON, Arthur Tappan, editor, was born in New York city, March 6, 1837; son of Stephen H. and Sally Ann (Wheeler) Pierson of New York and Newark, N.J.. and a descendant of the same ancestors to whom the Rev. Dr. Abraliam Pier.son, first president of Yale college, belonged. He was graduated from Hamilton coUege, N.Y., A.B., 1857, A.M., 1860, and studied at the Union Tiieological seminary, N.Y., 1857-60. He was ordained by the presbytery of New York, May