The Pierson Family papers cover the period between 1821 and 1996. The collection is composed primarily of family correspondence, legal papers, genealogical research, newspaper clippings, printed materials, and visual materials, which include photographs, ambrotypes and daguerreotypes, tintypes, and ink drawings. The collection also contains materials documenting Clara E. Dillingham Pierson's writing career as a children's book author.
The collection has been arranged into four principal series: Family Groups, Clara E. D. Pierson (1868-1952) Papers, Visual Materials, and Other Materials.
Job Pierson (1791-1860) was a lawyer and politician who served in Congress as a representative of New York from 1831 to 1835. He was born September 23, 1791 in Bridgehampton, New York and died April 9, 1860 in Troy, New York. He was the son of Samuel Pierson and Jerusha Conkling and a descendant of Henry Pierson, one of the early settlers of Southampton, Long Island. He graduate from Williams College in 1811 and went on to study law in Salem and Schaghticoke, New York. After being admitted to the bar in 1815, he began practicing law with Herman Knickerbocker in Rensselaer County, New York. Before being elected a member of the United States House of Representatives, he was district attorney in Rensselaer County, New York. After his time in Congress, he was elected Surrogate of Rensselaer County in 1835. He married Clarissa Taintor Bulkeley of Williamstown, Massachusetts on September 24, 1815. She was the daughter of Joshua Robbins Bulkeley and Sarah Bulkeley Taintor and a descendents of Rev. Peter Bulkeley, one of the founders of Concord, Massachusetts.
Job and Clarissa Pierson had five children, Sarah Jerusha (1816-1866), Samuel Dayton (1819-1850), Job (1824-1896), Mary Bulkeley (1825-1851), and John Bulkeley (1828-1885). Sarah Jerusha Pierson married Philip Titus Heartt in 1839 and had 8 children. Mary Bulkeley Pierson married Major Oscar F. Winship in 1854 and had one child. John Bulkeley Pierson was married to Mary Lockwood until her death. He was married for a second time to Harriet L. VanSchoonhoven.
Rev. Job Pierson (1824-1896) was born in Schaghticoke, New York on February 3, 1824 and died on February 3, 1896 in Stanton, Michigan. He graduated from Williams College in 1842 and then from Auburn Theological Seminary in 1847. Rev. Job Pierson was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsford, New York from 1850 to 1856. Later, he was pastor in Victor, New York from 1856 to 1863; Kalamazoo, Michigan from 1863 to 1868; and in Ionia, Michigan from 1868 to 1878. In 1878, he retired from active ministry and spent the remainder of his life in literary pursuits such as contributing to the Oxford Philological Society's New English Dictionary. He was also briefly the Librarian of Alma College in Alma, Michigan.
Rev. Job Pierson married Rachel Williams Smith of Geneva, New York on February 7, 1849. The couple had five children, Clarissa Taintor (1850-1889), Samuel Dayton (b. 1852), John Williams Smith (1854-1946), Bowen Whiting (b. 1858) and Philip Titus Heartt (1859). Clarissa Pierson married Beverly Chew of New York in 1811. The couple had no children. Bowen Whiting Pierson married Nannie Meach of Norwich, Connecticut and had one child, Clarissa Pierson (1890-1974).
John Williams Smith Pierson was born in Pittford, New York July 20, 1854. He was a merchant in Stanton, Michigan, opening his first Hardware store in 1878 with the assistance of his brother Philip T. H. Pierson. He continued his hardware business until 1908. In 1911, he established The John W.S. Pierson Company and began selling investment securities. John W.S. Pierson married Clara Dillingham of Coldwater, Michigan on October 9, 1894. The couple had one biological child, John Lincoln who was born January 30, 1900. However, he died five days later on February 4, 1900. They adopted two sons, first John Howard Pierson, and later Harold Dillingham. John Howard Pierson married Carrie Louise and had two daughters, Eleanor and Maxine.
Clara Dillingham Pierson was born March 11, 1868 in Coldwater, Michigan. She was the only child of Captain Lucius Abell Dillingham and Jennie Lincoln. She was primarily schooled at home by her mother, but did graduate from a kindergarten training program in Chicago. Before her marriage to John W.S. Pierson in 1894, she taught a two-year kindergarten-training course at Alma College. After her marriage, she began writing for and about children. Her books were published by E.P. Dutton & Co. and include, among others, her nature stories for children: Among the Meadow People (1897), Among the Forest People, (1898), Among the Farm-Yard People (1899), and Among the Pond People (1901). Clara D. Pierson moved to Grand Rapids in 1930 with her husband John and lived there until her death in 1952.
