Archival Materials in Special Collections

Title

Reference Code (ID/Accession #) 

Name and Location of Repository 

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Extent

Creator(s) 

Parker H. Pierce—(father) (1794-1875)

Hannah Withington Pierce (1791-1878)

Parker H. Pierce—(son) (1819-1872)

Elizabeth Hannah Pierce Woods (1821-1899)

Rev. Daniel Bates Woods (1809-1892)

William Henry Pierce (1825-1913)

George Augustus Pierce (1828-1898)

Elisa/Eliza Jane Pierce McCarthy (1831-1912)

John Warren Nixon (1816-1852)

Administrative/Biographical History 

Capt. Parker H. Pierce (father) (Dec. 11, 1794-June 23, 1875) was a prominent Boston banker, merchant, and politician.  Pierce was in charge of the military’s role on June 17, 1825 when the Marquis de Lafayette laid the cornerstone for the Bunker Hill monument in Charlestown, Massachusetts.  Involved in local politics, Parker served on the Common Council in 1833, chaired the 1834 Boston Whig Committee of Safety, and served as a marshal for the Boston delegation at the July 1848 national convention of the Whig Party in Philadelphia.  He moved to Springwater, Livingston County, New York, where he was a farmer and merchant.  

Parker Pierce married Hannah Withington on Feb. 23, 1818.
 
Hannah Withington Pierce (Nov. 24, 1797-Mar. 31, 1878) daughter of Edward Withington (May 23, 1755-Aug. 14, 1826) -- a sixth generation descendant of a blacksmith named Henry Withington (Feb. 22, 1587-Feb. 2, 1666) who came to Boston in 1635 on the James and was one of the seven signers of the First Parish (North) Church of Dorchester in 1636.  She lived in Springwater, New York until her death. 
 


Children of Parker Hall Pierce and Hannah Withington Pierce (not complete list):


Parker Hall Pierce—(son) (Feb. 8, 1819-Aug. 26, 1872) 
He left the northeast for California during the Gold Rush. Later, he used the experience garnered in the gold fields to work with major mining interests in the West. For two years prior to his death, he represented Colorado mining companies.  He also previously worked in San Francisco.  He married Jane Blanchar in September 1853. 
 
 


Elizabeth Hannah Pierce Woods (Apr. 4, 1821-Oct. 18, 1899) married Daniel B. Woods on Jan. 1, 1839. 
 
After completing his education, William Henry Pierce (Dec. 27, 1825-12 Feb. 1913) lived in Boston from at least 1845 to 1848.  He worked for Wales, Tucker, & Co., a Boston shoe company, in 1847 and 1848.  Henry moved to Springwater, Livingston County, New York, prior to the 1850, where he operated a hardware store.  His obituary stated that he owned the “first cottage built on the west side of Conesus lake”--the most western of New York’s 11 Finger Lakes.  
 


George Augustus Pierce (July 1828-Feb. 2, 1898) was a native of Boston.  In 1837-1838, he studied at “Mr. Wing’s School” in Sandwich, Massachusetts.  In the 1840s he lived first in Boston and then in Philadelphia.  The 1850 census records him living in his parents’ household in Springwater, Livingston County, New York, and "clerk in a store" is listed as his occupation in the 1860 and 1870 censuses.  He was a postmaster in 1880. 
 


John Warren Nixon (Sept. 7, 1816-May 25, 1852) 
The son of Hannah Withington Pierce’s older sister Elizabeth Withington Nixon (1783-1869) and Aaron Nixon (1782-1863), by 1841, he lived in Livingston County, New York and married Cornelia Wright.  He remained in Livingston County until his death on May 25, 1852.
 


Elisa/Eliza Jane Pierce McCarthy (Oct. 23, 1831-June 2, 1912) married Robert McCarthy (Mar. 14, 1827-May 23, 1902), a prosperous merchant in Central New York state.  Although never a candidate for public office, McCarthy was prominent in the Democratic Party.  In 1861, he traveled through New York State with Henry Ward Beecher asking people to support the Union cause.  Robert was also involved in benevolent activities of the Roman Catholic community aimed at immigrants and the poor.  When he died, his wake was held in a hotel to accommodate the people and his requiem mass at Syracuse’s cathedral. 
 


Son-in-law 
Rev. Daniel Bates Woods (Sept. 20, 1809-May 29, 1892) was son of the professor of theology at Andover Seminary.  After graduating Andover, he pursued advanced studies at Amherst.  Ordained in 1839, he served as the pastor of the Presbyterian church in Springwater, New York.  From 1841 until 1844, Woods taught school and served various churches in Appomattox, Cumberland, and Prince Edward counties, Virginia.  In 1844, he started teaching in Philadelphia.  He left in 1849 in the California Gold Rush.  In 1851 he returned East and published Sixteen Months at the Gold Diggings, a memoir of his time in the California.  A London edition appeared in 1852.  From the 1852 through 1855, Woods taught in Cincinnati after which he moved to St. Louis in 1855. He married Elizabeth Hannah Woods on Jan. 1, 1839.  
 

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