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He married,
in Newark, New Jersey, April 15, 1852,
Elizabeth Virginia Barclay (see Barclay II),
daughter of George Brinley and Abigail
(Shaw) Barclay. She was born in Cranbury,
New Jersey, February 28, 1822, died in
Brooklyn, New York, May 26, 1892. Eight
children: 1. John Little, born in Brooklyn,
New York, June 14, 1853; resides (1913) in
Ithaca, New York; married in Bath Beach, New
York, April 18, 1803, Elizabeth Mary,
daughter of George Murray and Mary Ann
(Foote) Rhodes; she was born in Antigua,
West Indies, February 6, 1868; three
children;
Page 338
i. John Little, born
January 21, 1894; ii. Helen, September 21,
1895; iii. Reuben Curtis, April 24, 1897.
2. George Barclay, born in Brooklyn,
September 29, 1854, died December 4, 1911;
married, October 10, 1888, Frances Hillard,
daughter of William Augustus and Harriet (Hillard)
White, of Brooklyn: five children: i.
Alexander White, born in Brooklyn, New York,
June 26, 1891; ii. Donald, born in Beedes,
New York, July 18, 1894; iii. George
Barclay, born in Rye, New York, May 16,
1897; iv. Frances White, born in New York
City, November 21, 1899; v. Gordon, born in
New York City, March 7, 1905, died there
April 5, 1906. 3. Edgar Victor, born in
Brooklyn, new York, June 20, 1856; resides
in Orange, New Jersey; married,. in
Brookline, Massachusetts, June 1, 1887,
Edith, daughter of Avery and Martha Lawrence
(Kidder) Wellington; five children: i.
Harold Wellington, born in Brookline,
November 26, 1888; ii. Barclay Wellington,
born in Orange, New Jersey, July 9, 1890;
iii. Virginia, born in Orange, New Jersey,
July 8, 1892; iv. Ethel, born in Orange, New
Jersey, April 21, 1894; v. Constance, born
in Orange, New Jersey, November 23, 1898.
4. Ada, born in Brooklyn, New York, March
21, 1858; resides (1913) in London, England;
married, in Brooklyn, New York, November 17,
1885, John McLean, son of John Mast and
Isabella Howe (Stewart) Lachlan, born in
Melbourne, Australia, May 31, 1861; no
children. 5. Lillian, born in Brooklyn,
August 20, 1859, died there February 11,
1860. 6. Reuben Burnham, mentioned below.
7. Mable, born in Brooklyn, March 26, 1863,
died there July 30, the same year. 8.
Willie Partridge, born in Brooklyn, March
21, 1865, died same day.
(VII) Reuben
Burnham, son of Dr. Reuben Curtis and
Elizabeth Virginia (Barclay) Moffat, was
born in Brooklyn, New York, January 7,
1861. He attended the schools of his native
city, and prepared for college at the
Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New
Hampshire. He graduated from Harvard
College in 1883 with the degree of B. A. and
from the Columbia Law School in New York, in
1885, LL. B. He has practiced his
profession continuously in the city of New
York. In 1896 he formed a partnership with
Sherman Evarts under the firm name of Evarts
& Moffat, and in 1904 with Willoughby Lane
Webb, under the firm name of Moffat & Webb.
In 1906 this latter firm became Rand, Moffat
& Webb, the new partners being William Rank
Jr., Frederick Kernochan and Frank A Lord,
and later Landon Parker Marvin. In 1910 the
firm dissolved, and since then Mr. Moffat
has practiced alone. He married, June 5,
1895, Ellen Low, daughter of Henry Evelyn
and Ellen A (Low) Pierrepont, born in
Brooklyn, New York, April 15, 1872. Three
children have been born to them: 1. Jay
Pierrepont, born in Rye, New York, July 18,
1896. 2. Elizabeth Barclay, born in Rye, New
York, June 26, 1898. 3. Abbot Low, born in
New York City, May 12,1901.
(The Barclay Line)
This famous
Scotch family is of ancient French ancestry,
dating back to Roger, who came to England
with William the conqueror, and was given by
William Fitz Osborn, his minister, the manor
of Berkeley in Gloucestershire. This Roger
assumed the name of de Barchelai (de
Berkeley), and having given support to
Stephen he was driven from Berkeley manor by
Henry II., when he ascended to the throne.
The valuable estate was given to Robert
Harding, who assumed the name of Berkeley,
thus founding another family that bore the
name of Berkeley and Barclay. Henry II., in
order to conciliate Roger de Barchelai, gave
him the manor of Dursley and several other
valuable estates. The name Barclay is the
same as the English Berkeleys, and it was
not until the fifteenth century that the
"de" was dropped from the name, and then by
one, Alexander, son of David, who probably
did not like anything that savored of
French. About this time the spelling was
changed from Berkeley to Barclay. The Saxon
Glastershire Berkley became extinct in the
male line at the death of John de Berkley in
1331, and the representative of the family
then went to the descendants of John de
Berchelai, who had accompanied Margaret,
sister of Edgar Aetheling to Scotland in
1071, and to whom the lands of Towie were
granted by Malcolm Caenmoir, her husband,
King of Scotland. A descendant of John de
Berchelai, Walter de Berkeley, was
chamberlain of the kingdom in 1165. Members
of the family have been prominent in the
history of England and Scotland. Several
members of the family immigrated to America
at an early date. John Barclay, second son
of Colonel David Barclay, of Ury, settled in
East New Jersey in 1684, and died in Perth
Amboy in
Page 339
1731. Another member
of the Barclay family, though not of the
Barclays of Ury, was Rev. Thomas Barclay,
the first rector of St. Peter's Church at
Albany. He was born about 1668, died in
1725. He married Anna Dorothea, daughter of
Captain Andries and Gertrude (Van Scaick)
Drauyer. They had four children whose
descendants have intermarried with many of
the most distinguished families of New York.
The Barclay
family of Philadelphia sprang from John
Barclay, who served as mayor of
Philadelphia, and died there in 1816.
Another long
line descended from Thomas Barclay, who was
born in Strabane, Ireland, in 1728. At an
early date he immigrated to American and
became prominent in diplomatic service of
the United States. He married, Mary Hoops,
of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Many of his
descendants live in Virginia, West Virginia
and other southern states.
(I) The
branch of the family given below descends
from Thomas Barclay, born in St. Mary's
County, Maryland, March 18, 1755. From
family tradition he is believed to have been
a son of Robert Barclay, of Dublin, born in
1718, who was a grandson of Robert Barclay,
of Ury, Scotland, the famous Apologist of
the Quakers, but the connection has never
been established. Thomas Barclay was a
gallant soldier of the American army during
the Revolutionary War. On July 22, 1776, he
enlisted from St. Mary's County, Maryland,
in the "Flying Camp", in which organization
he served for some time. In 1779 he was a
member of Major Anderson's battalion of the
Third Maryland Regiment, which served in
General Washington's command in New Jersey.
After the war he located in Strewsbury, New
Jersey, where he made his home until his
death in 1804. While serving with his
command in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, he met
Catherine, daughter of John Williams, whose
property has been confiscated by the
Continental Congress, and who was himself a
fugitive because of his loyalty to the King.
Soon after the war he married Miss
Williams. Seven children were born of this
marriage: 1. Robert, born August 4, 1783,
died unmarried, June 112, 1835. 2. William,
born September 20, 1785, died in Spain. 3.
John Williams, born February 20, 1788, died
in new York City; married ---------------;
one child, Daniel Barclay, born August 31,
1825, died February 2, 1880. 4. George
Brinley, mentioned below. 5. Joseph, born
in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, July 10, 1793,
died at Eatonville, New Jersey, April 15,
1880; was a well known judge of the highest
court of the state; he married (first) at
Madison Court House, Virginia, February 29,
1816, Mary H. Lee, who died Januarys 2,
1861; married (second) at Shrewsbury, New
Jersey, November 20, 1862, Sarah Maria
Allen, born November 4, 1818; four children:
William Overton, Caroline Matilda,
Catherine, Caroline Amelia. 6. Elizabeth,
born in Shrewsbury, December 25, 1795, died
in Farmingdale, New Jersey, August 18, 1883;
married, October 30, 1813, William Van
Benthuysen, born January 20, 1791, died in
1825; three children: Thomas, William and
Joseph. 7. Daniel, born in Shrewsbury,
January 1, 1802, died in New York City,
January 21, 1845; married, November 15,
1836, Catherine, daughter of Francis
Granger, of New York; she was born February
22, 1814, died February 6, 1872, four
children: Catherine Fitz Allen Granger,
George Ann Granger, Charlotte Croton and
Mary Louisa.
(II) George
Brinley, son of Thomas and Catherine
(Williams) Barclay, was born in Shrewsbury,
New Jersey, October 3, 1790, died in New
York City, December 27, 1829. He married,
in Cranbury, New Jersey, August 27, 1816,
Abigail Shaw. She was born April 16, 1792,
died September 9, 1871. Five children: 1.
De Witt, born in Cranbury, New Jersey,
February 8, 1818, died in Monmouth County,
New Jersey, March 21, 1867; became a
prominent physician; married, at freehold,
New Jersey, June 20, 1850, Margaret Augusta
Baldwin; nine children: 1. Margaret
Augusta, 2. Joseph. 3. George Earl. 4.
Harold Philemon. 5. William De Witt. 6.
Ellie Baldwin. 7. De Witt. 8. Robert Hard.
9. Paul. 2. Alexander, born in Cranbury,
New Jersey, February 10, 1820, died in
Newark, New Jersey, January 27, 1881;
married, in Newark, August 12, 1841,
Charlotte Sophia Hard, born in Newtown,
Connecticut, December 26, 1818, died in
Newark, February 22, 1881; ten children: 1.
William. 2. George. 3. Charlotte Hortense.
4. Augusta. 5. Alexander. 6. Charlotte
Sereno. 7. John De Witt. 8. Thomas Guy. 9.
Howard McClellan. 3. Elizabeth Virginia,
married Dr. Reuben Curtis Moffat, a
prominent physician in Brooklyn, New York
(see Moffat VI). 4. Annie McChesney, born
in Cranbury, New Jersey, February 14, 1825,
died in Newark,
Page 340
New Jersey, September
18, 1866; married at Newark, new Jersey, May
10, 1848,. Stephen Richards, Jr., born in
West Haven, Connecticut, May 17, 1817, died
April 4, 1861; five children: 1. Ann
Elizabeth. 2. Emma Elita. 3. Susan Amelia,
4. Alexander Barclay. 5. Joseph Albert. 5.
George, born May 23, 1827, died October 3,
the same year.
PIERREPONT.
The Pierrepont family, which is inseparably
connected with the history of New York
State, is of Norman origin, antedating the
Conquest. The castle of Pierrepont, which
derives its name in the time of Charlemagne
from a stone bridge built nearby to take the
place of a ferry, lay in the southerly
portion of Picardy, diocese of Laon, about
six miles from St. Sauveur, Normandy. The
earliest lord of the castle was Sir Hugh of
Pierrepont, who lived about 980 A.D. He was
succeeded by his son, Sir Godfrey de
Pierrepont, who left two sons, Sir Godfrey
and Sir Robert. The former was the father
of Sir Ingolbrand de Pierrepont, lord of the
castle in 1090 A. D., and ancestor of the
French family of Pierrepont. Sir Robert
accompanied William the Conqueror to
England, took part in the battle of
Hastings, 1066 A. D., and was the founder of
the English branch. That he stood high with
the Conqueror is attested by the fact that
many honors and estates were bestowed upon
him by the King. he possessed, according to
the Domesday Book, a memorial of the
possessors of the lands in England, of
Henestede and Wrethem in Suffolk, and he
held them of the famous William, Duke of
Normandy, afterward King of England.
Godfrey, de Pierrepont held the hundred of
Belinga of said earl. The family continued
in their possessions, viz.: the castle of
Pierrepont, in the south confines of Picardy,
and were benefactors to the abbey of
Thionville for lands in the territory of
Sorincourt and Veel. Sir Robert de
Pierrepont relinquished all claim in
England, and it appears that, besides those
lordships in Suffolk and Hurst in Sussex,
which now retains the name of Hurst-Pierrepont,
he held other lands of great extent in said
county, amounting to ten knights' fees. As
generation succeeded generation the
Pierreponts intermarried with the high
nobility of England and became Anglicized.
The arms borne by the family of
Holme-Pierrepont at the time the American
branch left England for the New World, which
are used by the Pierrepont family in the
United States are: Argent, semee of
cinquefoils, gules. A lion rampant, sable.
Crest: A fox passant proper, on a wreath.
Motto: Pie repone te. The chief seats of
the English family are: Holme-Pierrepont, a
stately pile and the ancient seat and burial
place of the family, three miles from
Nottingham and ninety-eight from London;
Thoresby Park, in the Forest of Sherwood,
and Tong Castle, in Salop. The descendants
of Sir Godfrey de Pierrepont, the Norman
King were:
(I) Sir
Robert de Pierrepont, of Castle Pierrepont,
Picardy, Normandy, crossed to England with
William the Conqueror. He fought at the
battle of Hastings, 1066, and was first lord
of the manor of Hurst-Pierrepont, which lay
north of Brighton in Sussex. He had many
honors and estates conferred upon him by
King William.
(II) Sir
William, son of Sir Robert de Pierrepont.
(III) Sir
Hugh, son of Sir William de Pierrepont,
living in the time of Henry II.
(IV) Sir
William (2), son of Sir High de Pierrepont,
of Holywell County, Suffolk, had two sons,
Simon and Robert. Simon, the elder, died
without issue and was succeeded by his
brother, Robert.
(V) Sir
Robert (2), second son of Sir William de Pierrepont, became sixth Lord of the Manor
of Hurst-Pierrepont.
(VI) Sir
Henry, son of Sir Robert (2) de Pierrepont,
of Holbeck Woodhouse, was knighted by Edward
I.
(VII) Sir
Henry (2), son of Sir Henry (1) de
Pierrepont, fought in the battle of Lewes,
1624. He married Annora, only daughter of
Sir Michael de Manvers, Lord of the Manor of
Holme in the county of Nottingham, which
passed into his possession and was
thereafter known as Holme-Pierrepont. Sir
Henry died in 1202.
(VIII) Sir
robert (3), son of Sir henry (2) de
Pierrepont, succeeded his elder brother, Sir
Simon, to the estate and title, the latter
dying without issue. He occupied
Holme-Pierrepont, and died in 1333. His
first wife was daughter, and finally
heiress, of Sir John Herrize, Knight, of
Wingfield, county
Page 341
Derby; and his second
wife was Cecily, daughter of Annesley of
Annesley.
(IX) Sir
Henry (3), son of Sir robert (3) de
Pierrepont, of Holme-Pierrepont, married
Margaret Fitz Williams, daughter of Sir
William Fitz William,. of Elmsley, Knight,
and Maude, daughter of Edmund, Baron
Deincourt, Sir William was a grandson of
Thomas Fitz Williams and Ella Plantagenet.
She was the daughter of Hameline
Plantagenet, a son (on the left hand) of
Geoffrey Plantagenet and natural halfbrother
of Henry II, of England, and Count of
Anjou. Hameline Plantagenet became Earl of
Surrey in right of his wife, Isabel,
daughter of William de Warren, Earl of
Surrey.
(X) Sir
Edmund, son of Sir Henry (3) de Pierrepont,
of Holme-Pierrepont, and Maude, daughter of
Baron Deincourt, was descended through his
mother from the kings of France and England
and from the Counts of Normandy, Flanders
and Anjou. He married Joan, daughter of Sir
George Montboucher, of Gomulson, Notts,
Knight, and died at Gascoigne, France, in
1370.
(XI) Sir
Edmund (2), of Holme-Pierrepont, son of Sir
Edmund (1) de Pierrepont, was living during
the reign of Henry VI, in 1423. He married
Frances, daughter of Sir William Franke, of
Grimsby, in the county of Lincoln.
(XII) Sir
Henry (4), of Holme-Pierrepont, son of Sir
Edmund (2) and Lady Frances de Pierrepont,
died prior to 1453; he married Ellen,
daughter of Sir Nicholas Langford.
(XIII) Sir
Henry (5), son of Sir Henry (4) and Lady
Ellen Pierrepont, was high sheriff of
Nottingham and Derby. He married Tomasin,
daughter of Sir John Melton, of Melton Hall,
county Derby. They had two sons, Henry and
Francis.
(XIV) Sir
Francis Pierrepont, Knight, son of Sir Henry
(5) Pierrepont, succeeded to the estates and
title on the death of his elder brother, Sir
henry, who died without issue. Francis died
November 9m 1495. He married (first)
Margaret, daughter of John Burden, Esquire,
by whom he had one son, William. He married
(second) ------------ Pierrepont, of
Landford near Newark, by whom he had three
children.
(XV) Sir
William (3), of Holme-Pierrepont, knight and
Baronet, son of Sir Francis Pierrepont,
married (first) Joan, daughter of Sir Brian
Stapleton, Knight, by whom he had one
daughter; he married (second) Anne, daughter
of Sir Richard Empson, Knight, Chancellor of
the duchy of Lancaster, by whom he had a
son, Sir George Pierrepont, Knight, by whom
he was succeeded. Sir William was a gallant
soldier, being distinguished for bravery at
the battle of Stoke, near Newark, in 1486.
He was created Knight of the Sword by Henry,
Prince of Wales, in 1503, and for his
services at the siege of Thewmanne and
Tourney in 1513, he was made a knight
banneret.
(XVI) Sir
George, Knight, of Holme-Pierrepont, son of
Sir William (3) Pierrepont, was Lord of
several manors in Nottingham and Derby, and
was one of the Knights of the Carpet created
at the coronation of Edward VI on February
22, 1547. He died March 21, 1564. He
married (first) Elizabeth, daughter of Sir
Anthony Babbington, by whom he had one
daughter, Amor. Elizabeth was an intimate
friend of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. He
married (second) Winifred Thwaits, daughter
of William Thwaits, Esquire, of Norfolk.
Children: Henry; Gervase, who died without
issue; William, daughter; daughter.
(XVII) Sir
Henry (6), son of Sir George Pierrepont,
Knight of Holme-Pierrepont, died March 19,
1615, aged sixty-nine years. He married
Frances, daughter of Sir William Cavendish,
of Chatsworth, Derby, ancestor of the Duke
of Devonshire. Children: 1. Robert. 2.
Francis, married Thomas, Earl of Kelly, in
Scotland. 3. Mary, married Fulke
Cartwright, Esquire, of Ossington,
Nottingham. 4. Elizabeth, married Richard
Stapleton. 5. Grace, married Sir George
Manners, Knight of Derby, son of Sir John
Manners and Dorothy Vernon, of Haddom Hall.
(The American Branch)
(I) William
Pierrepont, third son of Sir George
Pierrepont, Knight, of Holme-Pierrepont, was
a younger brother of Sir Henry Pierrepont.
He married Elizabeth ----------------.
Children: 1. William. 2. Richard. 3. James,
of whom further. 4. Joseph. 5. Joshua.
(II) James,
third son of William Pierrepont, was owner
of a large estate in Derbyshire and carried
on trade between England and Ireland, but
during commercial troubles
Page 342
that were incident to
the Protectorate he fell into bankruptcy,
and later came to America to visit his sons,
John and Robert, who about 1640 had
emigrated to Massachusetts. He died in
Ipswich, Massachusetts, previous to 1664.
His wife, Margaret, died in London, January,
1664. Children: 1. John, of whom further.
2. Robert, who emigrated to America, 1640.
3. Mary. 4. Anne, born in London. 5.
Martha, bon in London, married Rev. William
Eaton, vicar of Dorsetshire.
(III) John
Pierpont, as the name began to be spelled,
son of James Pierrepont, of London, was born
in London, in 1617, came to America and
settled probably at Ipswich, Massachusetts,
in 1640. In 1648 he purchased the John
Stowe place of three hundred acres, where
Roxbury and Dorchester are now situated,
giving the name of Dorchester out of
compliment to his second cousin, Henry
Pierrepont, who was created Marquis of
Dorchester, in 1645. John Pierpont died
December 7, 1682, and his gravestone in the
old burying ground at Eustis and Roxbury
streets, Roxbury, Massachusetts, is even yet
in a fairly good state of preservation. He
married Thankful, daughter of John Stowe, of
Kent, England. Children: 1. Thankful, died
1649, or after the family came to this
country. 2. John, born October 28, 1652,
died at Roxbury, December 30, 1690, without
issue. 3. Experience, born at Roxbury,
February 4, 1654; married, March 12, 1678,
John Hayward. 4. Infant, born august 4,
died August 8, 1657. 5. James, of whom
further. 6. Ebenezer, born December 21,
1661, died December 17, 1696. 7. Thankful,
born November 18, 1663. 8. Joseph, born
August 8, 1666, died at Cambridge,
Massachusetts, in 1686. 9. Benjamin, born
July 26, 1668, settled in the ministry at
Charleston, South Carolina, and died in
1690, without issue.
(IV) Rev.
James (2) Pierpont, son of John and Thankful
(Stowe) Pierpont, was born at Roxbury,
Massachusetts, January 4, 1659. He
graduated from Harvard College in 1681. He
was ordained as a Minstar of the
Congregational Church, and settled in New
Haven, Connecticut, July 2, 1685, the
successor of Rev. John Davenport. He
remained here for thirty years, and became
one of the founders of Yale College. He
died November 22, 1714, and was buried under
the Center Church on the Green, in New
Haven. Three of his descendants, the two
Timothy Dwights and Theodore Dwight Woolsey,
have presided over Yale. A memorial tablet
in Center Church has inscribed the chief
events of his life, the engraved arms of the
Pierrepont family, and the following
tribute: "His gracious gifts and fervent
piety, elegant and winning manners were
devoutly spent in the service of his Lord
and Master." He married (first) October 27,
1691, Abigail Davenport, who died February
3, 1692, aged twenty, daughter of Rev. John
Davenport. He married (second) May 30,
1694, Sarah, daughter of Rev. Joseph Haynes;
she died October 27, 1696, leaving one
child, Abigail, born September 19, 1696. He
married (third) July 26, 1698, Mary,
daughter of Samuel and Mary (Willett)
Hooker, of Farmington, Connecticut, born in
Farmington, July 3, 1673, died at New Haven,
Connecticut, November 1, 1740. Child of
second wife: 1. Abigail, born in New Haven,
September 19, 1696; married Rev. Joseph
Noyes, of New Haven died in Wethersfield,
Connecticut, October 10, 1768. Children of
third wife: 2. James, born May 21, 1699. 3.
Samuel, born December 30, 1700, in New
Haven; graduated at Yale College, 1718,
drowned March 15, 1722-23, while canoeing
the Connecticut River in a canoe with an
Indian; his remains were found at Fisher's
Island, April 28, 1723, and were buried at
the westerly end of the island. 4. Mary,
born November 23, 1702. 5. Joseph, born
October 1, 1704. 6. Benjamin, born in New
Haven, October 15, 1707; graduated from Yale
College, 1726; died in Virgin Gorda, West
Indies, 1733. 7. Sarah, born January 9,
1709; married Jonathan Edwards, the noted
divine. 8. Hezekiah, of whom further.
(V)Hezekiah,
son of Rev. James (2) and Mary (Hooker)
Pierpont, was born in New Haven,
Connecticut, May 26, 1712, died in New
Haven, September 22, 1741. He married in
New Haven, February 9, 1736-37, Lydia,
daughter of Rev. Jacob and Lydia (Ball)
Hemingway; she was born in New Haven, in
1715, died in Killingworth, Connecticut, May
27, 1779. She married (second) Theophilus
Morgan, March 2, 1745. Children of Hezekiah
and Lydia (Hemingway) Pierpont: 1. Jacob,
born in New Haven February 11, 1737, died in
the army at Crown Point, April 1, 1761,
unmarried. 2. John, of whom further.
Page 343
(VI) John
(2), son of Hezekiah and Lydia (Hemingway)
Pierpont, was born in New Haven, May 21,
1740, died in New Haven, October 7, 1805.
He married, in New Haven, December 29, 1767,
Sarah, daughter of Nathan and Hannah
(Nichols) Beers, born at Stratford,
Connecticut, October 29, 1744, died in New
Haven, April 15, 1735. At the time of his
marriage he moved into a new house, erected
in 1767, on land originally deeded by the
town of New Haven, to his grandfather, the
Rev. James Pierpont, in 1685. This building
was later occupied by his grandchildren, and
there was only one deed of conveyance
between then and the Indians from whom the
land was originally purchased nearly three
hundred years ago. A younger brother of
Mrs. John Pierpont, Nathan Beers, joined
April 21, 1775, the second company of
Governor's guards, of which Benedict Arnold
was captain, and served until the end of the
Revolutionary War. He commanded he company
which guarded Major Andre the night before
his execution, and was thanked by Andre for
his considerate kindness to him on that
occasion. The pen and ink sketch made at
that time by Andre of himself was presented
to Nathan Beers and is in possession of Yale
College. Children of John and Sarah (Beers)
Pierpont: 1. Hezekiah B., of whom further.
2. Sally, born in New Haven, June 22, 1770,
died November 11, 1772. 3. Sally, born in
New Haven, February 22, 1773, died March 3,
1773. 4. Sally, born in New Haven, April
30, 1774, died in New Haven, February 12,
1788. 5. Hannah, born 1776, married
Claudius Herrick. 6. Mary, born April 3,
1778; married (first) Edward J. O'Brien,
November 11, 1796; married (second) Eleazer
Foster, January 12, 1806. 7. John, born in
New Haven, August 8, 1780, died, unmarried,
April 12, 1836. 8. Nathan Beers, born in New
Haven, October 18, 1782, died there January
12, 1803, unmarried. 9. Henry, born in New
Haven, January 19, 1785, died in New Haven,
August 8, 1790.
(VII)
Hezekiah Beers, son of John (2) and Sarah
(Beers) Pierpont, was born in New Haven,
November 3, 1768, died in Brooklyn, New
York, August 11, 1838. He was carefully
educated, and on leaving school he was for a
year a clerk in the New York Custom House.
He established, in 1793, the house of
Leffingwell & Pierpont. He made his home in
the latter part of his life in Brooklyn, on
the Heights. Through his wife he inherited
part of a large tract of land in Northern
New York, the territory including more than
two million acres, which had been purchased
by William Kerin Constable,. He married, in
New York City, January 21, 1802, Anna Maria
Constable, daughter of William Kerin and
Anna (White) Constable; she was born in
Philadelphia, March 10, 1783, died in
Brooklyn, November 7, 1859. Children: 1.
William constable, of Pierpont Manor, New
York, born October 3, 1803, married, June 2,
1830, Cornelia A., daughter of Benjamin
Butler, of Oxford, New York; she was born in
New York, March 1, 1806, died December 10,
1871. 2. Anna Constable, born 1805; married
G. G. Van Wagenen. 3. Caroline Theresa,
born in Brooklyn, New York, February 28,
1807, died in Schenectady, New York, August
17, 1823, unmarred. 4. Henry Evelyn, of
whom further. 5. Emily Constable. 6.
Francis Matilda. 7. Robert Fulton, born in
Brooklyn March 7, 1814, died there October
27, 1814. 8. Harriet Constable. 9. Mary
Montague, born in Brooklyn, June 18, 1821,
died in Brooklyn, February, 1853, unmarried.
10. Maria Theresa. 11. Julia Evelyn. 12.
Ellen Josephine.
(VIII) Henry
Evelyn Pierrepont (as the name is now
spelled, his father having the children
resume the old spelling of the name), son of
Hezekiah Beers and Anna Maria (Constable)
Pierpont, was born in Brooklyn, New York,
August 8, 1808, died in Brooklyn, March 28,
1888. Henry Evelyn Pierrepont, with his
brother, Willian Constable Pierrepont,
attended a school in New York City conducted
by a French émigré, Monsieur Louis Bancel,
and there remained seven years, during which
time he became proficient in the French and
Spanish languages, in addition to the
regular curriculum. In 1833-34 he went
abroad and made an extensive tour of
Continental Europe and Great Britain,
visiting in the latter the ancestral home of
the Pierreponts. While absent in Europe, he
was appointed one of the board of
commissioners to prepare plans for laying
out the public grounds and streets of the
new City of Brooklyn. He was one of the
founders of Greenwood Cemetery, and was
instrumental in the planning of and carrying
out the water front of Brooklyn, at the foot
of Brooklyn Heights. In the
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earlier days of the
ferry service between New York and Brooklyn,
Mr. Pierrepont took an active part in
organizing that service, and became
vice-president of the Union Ferry Company
and chairman of its executive committee, a
position which he held for forty-seven
years, and in 1886, upon the death of the
then incumbent, he succeeded to the
presidency. Although interested in the
ferries, he advocated the building of the
Brooklyn Bridge, and gave it his active
earnest and intelligent support. He was the
first president of the Brooklyn Academy of
Music, and other public institutions that
owe much to his unflagging interest and
service were the Brooklyn Hospital and the
Long Island Historical Society; he was also
trustee of many financial corporations.
Mr. Pierrepont was an earnest and sincere
churchman throughout his life, and was
active in the organization of the Protestant
Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, known as Grace
Church, on Brooklyn Heights, and for more
than forty years was its senior warden. He
was a member of the standing committee of
the Diocese of Long Island from the time of
its erection until his death; was for
twenty-three years treasurer of the General
Theological Seminary of New York, and
carried it through its financial crisis; was
always a delegate from his diocese to the
general convention of the church. |
