Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/361

 PINTARD

PISE

Hempstead, L.I., and was graduated at the Col- lege of New Jersey, A.B., 1776, A.M., 1779. He volunteered for service in the Revolution in 1776, entering the army at the time of the British occupation of New York city; was sent on various expeditions to harass the British; was deputy commissary for the prisoners in New York city under his uncle, serving until 1781, and in 1782 became a clerk in his uncle's count- ing room. He was for some time employed by the government as a French translator. He was married Nov. 12, 1784, to Eliza, daughter of Col. Abraham and Helena (Kortright) Brasher of Paramus, N.J. Col. Abraham Brasher was a member of the first provincial convention that luet in New York in 1775 to choose delegates to represent the colony of New York in the Con- tinental congress. Mr. Pintard engaged in the East India trade on his own account in 1785; was an alderman in 1788; represented the city in the state assemblj'in 1790, and in 1791 was a commissioner to erect bridges over the Hackensack and Passaic rivers and also to survey the country between Jer- sey City and Newark. He lost his entire property in 1792, by indorsing for William Duer, associated with Hamilton in the plan to fund the national debt, and removed to Newark, N.J., wliei-ehe was confined for a time in jail for Duer's debts. He established a museum in 1791, in connection with the Tammany society, originally a historical and antiquarian organization, of which he was the founder and first sachem, and which formed the nucleus of Barnum's American museum. He returned to New York city in 1800, and engaged in the book trade and auction business. In the winter of 1801 he went to New Orleans, La., where he gathered valuable statistics relating to the territory which contributed to its purchase. He edited the Daily Advertiser, 1802; was clerk to the corporation of New York city, and city in- spector, 1804-09; secretary of the Mutual Insu- rance company, 1809-29, and a director of the same, 1829-44. He signed all the paper notes of small denomination during the scarcity of change in 1812; was secretary of the New York Chamber of Commerce, 1817-27; in 1819 originated the first savings bank that was established in New York city, and served as its president, 1823-41, Avhen he became blind, and resigned. He was the founder of the New York Historical society in 1804, and served as its recording secretary and librarian; was among the first in 1805 to agitate the " free school system," and Avas influential in securing the construction of the Erie canal. He was a founder, secretary and vice-president of the American Bible society, and was manager of the then popular lotteries in New York city. His plan for a system of avenvies and streets was adopted by the common council for upper New

York. He was a vestryman of the Huguenot church. New York city, 1810-44; treasurer of Sailors' Snug Harbor, 1819-23, and a principal supporter of the General Theological seminary.

which he was instrumental in removing to New York city from New Haven. Pintard Hall, one of the dormitories of the seminary, was erected in his honor in 1885. He received the degree LL.D. from Allegheny college in 1822. His pub- lished works include: An Account of New Orleans, in the New York Medical Repository; Notice of Philip Freneau in the New York Jlfuror (1833), and a French translation of the Book of Common Prayer. He died in New York citj', June 21, 1844. PISE, Charles Constantine, R. C. clergyman and author, was born in Annapolis, Md., Nov. 22, 1802. He was graduated at Georgetown col- lege, D.C., and went to Rome to complete his theological studies, but his father's deatii recalled him to America, and he was graduated at Mount St. Mary's seminary, Emmittsburg, Md., teach- ing rhetoric and belles lettres while puisuing his studies. He was ordained priest in 1825, and served the church at Frederick, Md., and in the cathedral at Baltimore. While at Rome several years after he received the degree D.D., and was made a Knight of the Holy Roman Empire in recognition of his literary work in the United States. He served in St. Patrick's church, Washington, D.C., and as chaplain of the U.S. senate, being the only Roman Catholic to hold that office, up to 1903. He declined a professor- ship in Transylvania miiversity obtained for him by Henry Clay, who was his personal friend. Bishop Dubois induced him to come to New York, where he was connected with St. Patrick's, St. Joseph's and St. Peter's churches, and about 1849 founded the Church of St. Charles Boriomeo, Brooklyn, N.Y., where he remained till liis death. He was associate editor of the Catholic Exposi- tor; editor of the Metropolitan, and translated Tlie Catholic Bride from the Italian (1848). He is the author of: Father Rowland (1829); Indian Cottage (1829): History of the Church from its Establishment to the Reformation (5 vols.. 1830); Tlie Pleasures of Religion and other Poems (1833);