PIERREPONT, or PIERPONT, James, clergyman, born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1659; died in New Haven, Connecticut, 14 November, 1714. He was the grandson of James Pierrepont, of London, who died in Massachusetts while on a visit to his son John, who came to this country before the Revolution and settled in Roxbury, was a representative to the general court in 1672, and died, 30 December, 1690, leaving James his son.

James was graduated at Harvard in 1681, and in July, 1685, became pastor the church at New Haven. In 1698 he was one of three ministers that concerted the plan of founding a college, which took effect in the establishment of Yale in 1700. He was one of the original trustees of that institution, and it was principally through his influence that Elihu Yale was induced to make the college the object of his liberal benefactions.

He was a member of the synod at Saybrook in 1708, for the purpose of forming a system that would better secure the ends of church discipline and the benefits of communion among the churches, and is reputed to have drawn up the articles that were adopted as the result of the synod which constitute the "Saybrook platform."

He was thrice married, and his daughter by the third wife married Jonathan Edwards. Among the clergymen whose names belong to the early history of New England he was the most distinguished for nobility of character, the purity of his aspirations, and the spirituality of his temper.

Sereno Edwards Dwight, in his life of Jonathan Edwards, says that Mr. Pierrepont read lectures to the students in Yale college, as professor of moral philosophy; but this statement is doubted by other authorities. His only publication was a sermon that he preached at Boston, in Cotton Mather's pulpit, in 1712, entitled "Sundry False Hopes of Heaven Discovered and Decryed." In 1887 his portrait, which is shown in the illustration, was presented to Yale by his descendant, Edwards Pierrepont.

--His grandson, Hezekiah Beers Pierrepont, merchant, born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1768; died in Brooklyn, New York, in 1838, was educated for commercial pursuits by his uncle, Isaac Beers Pierrepont, spent several years in the New York custom-house, and then became agent for Messrs. Watson and Greenleaf, of Philadelphia, in the purchase of the National debt, realizing a fortune thereby.

In 1793 he established the commercial house of Leffingwell and Pierrepont, in New York City, and did a large business in shipping provisions to France during the Revolution. The seizure of American vessels by England led him to abandon the shipment of food.

In 1802 he married Anna, daughter of William Constable, a merchant of New York City, who had been associated with General Alexander Macomb in the purchase of over 1,000,000 acres of wild land in the northern part of New York from the state in 1787. Through this marriage he came into possession of about 500,000 acres of these lands.

In 1804 he bought the Benson farm of sixty acres on Brooklyn heights, with the house that had been Washington's headquarters during the campaign on Long Island. In 1819 he gave up all other business and thereafter devoted himself wholly to the improvement of his vast estate. The city-hall, academy of music, Brooklyn library, five churches, and many public buildings and residences, now cover his old farm.

--Hezekiah's eldest son, William Constable Pierrepont, born in New York city, 3 October, 1803; died in Pierrepont Manor, Jefferson County, New York, 20 December, 1885, was educated in mathematics, surveying, and conveyancing, with a special view to taking the management of his father's property in the northern counties.

In 1820 he was appointed superintendent and director of the agents that were employed in settling the lands, and opened an office in Jefferson County on the site of the present Pierrepont Manor. On the death of his father he was given charge by will of the lands in Jefferson and Oswego counties, and to the day of his death was employed solely in their development.

He was a profound mathematician, and numbered among his friends and correspondents several of the most distinguished scholars of Europe, including Professor Piazzi Smyth, astronomer royal of Scotland, who acknowledged the high value of his calculations concerning the great pyramid in Egypt.

In 1840 Mr. Pierrepont was elected a member of the legislature, but he declined all other political offices. He was a liberal adherent of the Protestant Episcopal church, building and endowing a church edifice near his residence, endowing scholarships in the General Theological Seminary, New York City, and Hobart College, Geneva, New York, building and endowing a church at Canaseraga, New York, as a memorial to a son, and aiding the interests of the church in Minnesota. He received the degree of LL.D. from Hobart college in 1871.

--Another son, Henry Evelyn Pierrepont, born in Brooklyn, New York, 8 August, 1808; died there, 28 March, 1888, after receiving an academic education, spent several years in assisting in the management of the estates.

In 1833 he went to Europe. During his absence the village of Brooklyn was incorporated as a city, and he was appointed one of the commissioners to prepare plans for laying out public grounds and streets. He made a thorough study of the topography of all the large cities of Europe, and prepared plans that were in substance adopted by the legislative commission in 1835. He also submitted plans for converting the Gowanus hills into a rural cemetery. On his return he employed Major David B. Douglas to work out the details of his cemetery scheme, and in 1838 obtained a charter from the legislature for the Greenwood cemetery company, with which he has since been actively identified. By his father's will he was charged with the care and development of all the Brooklyn property and the wild lands in Franklin, St. Lawrence, and Lewis counties.

On the Brooklyn estate he excavated Furman Street, built a retaining wall 775 feet in length to sustain the heights, and created five acres of wharf property by erecting a new bulkhead on the water-front.

Mr. Pierrepont was the first president of the Brooklyn academy of music, and for many years has been active in various Brooklyn societies and financial institutions, also in organizations of the Protestant Episcopal church.

--James's great-grandson, Edwards Pierrepont, jurist, born in North Haven, Connecticut, 4 March, 1817; died 1892. He was graduated at Yale in 1837 and at the law-school in 1840, and began practice at Columbus, Ohio. In 1845 he removed to New York City, where he became eminent at the bar. In 1857 he was elected a judge of the superior court of the city of New York, in place of Chief-Justice Thomas J. Oakley. A speech that he made a year and a half before the fall of Fort Sumter, in which he predicted the civil war, attracted much attention.

In October, 1860, he resigned his seat on the bench and returned to the practice of law, and in 1862 he was appointed by President Lincoln, in conjunction with General John A. Dix, to try the prisoners of state that were confined in the various prisons and forts of the United States. In 1864 he was active in organizing the War Democrats in favor of the re-election of Abraham Lincoln.

In April, 1867, he was elected a member of the convention for forming a new constitution for the state of New York, and one of its judiciary committee. He was employed to conduct the prosecution on the part of the government of John H. Surratt, indicted for aiding in the murder of President Lincoln.

Judge Pierrepont has been engaged in many celebrated causes, and he was much employed by railroads and other corporations. At the beginning of the civil war he was an active member of the Union Defense Committee, and one of the three that were appointed to proceed to Washington to confer with the government when all communication was cut off by way of Baltimore after the attack upon the Massachusetts troops.

In the presidential contests of 1868 and 1872 he was an ardent supporter of General Grant, by whom he was appointed in 1869 United States attorney for the southern district of New York, which office he resigned in July, 1870. In the autumn of that year he was one of the most active members of the committee of seventy in opposition to the Tweed ring.

In May, 1873, Judge Pierrepont was appointed United States minister to Russia, but declined, and in April, 1875, he became attorney-general of the United States, remaining in the cabinet of President Grant until May, 1876, when he was sent as United States minister to Great Britain. During his term of office as attorney-general he was called upon by the secretary of state to give an opinion upon a question of international law, in which were discussed the questions of natural and acquired nationality. This opinion gave him a wide reputation.

During General Grant's visit to London, Judge Pierrepont urged upon the queen's ministers the propriety of according the same precedence to him as had been given to the ex-ruler of France. This was done, and other governments followed the example of Great Britain.

Judge Pierrepont devoted large attention to the financial system of England. On his return in 1878 he engaged actively in his profession, but afterward retired and has taken especial interest in the financial policy of the country, writing several pamphlets upon the subject. In one, issued in 1887, he advocated an international treaty and claimed that by convention the commercial value of the silver dollar might be restored. He has published various orations, including one before the alumni of Yale, (1874). Judge Pierrepont received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Columbian college, Washington, D. C., in 1871. In 1873 the same degree was conferred upon him by Yale. While he was in England Oxford gave him that of D. C. L.

--His son, Edward Pierrepont, born in New York city, 30 June, 1860; died in Rome, Italy, 16 April, 1885, entered Christ Church, Oxford, while his father was minister to Great Britain, and was graduated in June, 1882. After spending a summer in travel upon the continent he returned to the United States and entered Columbia law-school. In May, 1883, accompanied by his father, he journeyed to the Pacific coast, and traveled far into Alaska, publishing on his return "From Fifth Avenue to Alaska" (New York, 1884), for which he was made a fellow of the Royal geographical society of England. In the spring of 1884 he was appointed secretary of legation at Rome, and upon the resignation of the minister, William W. Astor, he was made chargeé d'affaires, and died while holding this position.

PIERREPONT, or'PIERPONT, James, clergyman, born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1659; died in New Haven, Connecticut, 14 November, 1714. He was the grandson of James Pierrepont, of London, who died in Massachusetts while on a visit to his son John, who came to this country before the Revolution and settled in Roxbury, was a representative to the general court in 1672, and died, 30 December, 1690, leaving James his son. James was graduated at Harvard in 1681, and in July, 1685, became pastor the church at New Haven. In 1698 he was one of three ministers that concerted the plan of founding a college, which took effect in the establishment of Yale in 1700. He was one of the original trustees of that institution, and it was principally through his influence that Elihu Yale was induced to make the college the object of his liberal benefactions. He was a member of the synod at Saybrook in 1708, for the purpose of forming a system that would better secure the ends of church discipline and the benefits of communion among tile churches, and is reputed to have drawn up the articles that were adopted as the result of the synod which constitute the "Say-brook platform." He was thrice married, and his daughter by the third wife married Jonathan Edwards. Among the clergymen whose names belong to the early history of New England he was the most distinguished for nobility of character, the purity of his aspirations, and the spirituality of his temper. Sereno Edwards Dwight, in his life of Jonathan Edwards, says that Mr. Pierrepont read lectures to the students in Yale college, as professor of moral philosophy; but this statement is doubted by other authorities. His only publication was a sermon that he preached at Boston, in Cotton Mather's pulpit, in 1712, entitled " Sundry False Hopes of Heaven Discovered and Decryed." in 1887 his portrait, which is shown in the illustration, was presented to Yale by his descendant, Edwards Pierrepont.--His grandson, Hezekiah Beers (Pierrepont), merchant, born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1768; died in Brooklyn, New York, in 1838, was educated for commercial pursuits by his uncle, Isaac Beers, spent several years in the New York custom-house, and then became agent for Messrs. Watson and Greenleaf, of Philadelphia, in the purchase of the National debt, realizing a fortune thereby. In 1793 he established the commercial house of Leffingwell and Pierrepont, in New York city, and did a large business in shipping provisions to France during the Revolution. The seizure of American vessels by England led him to abandon the shipment of food. In 1802 he married Anna, daughter of William Constable, a merchant of New York city, who had been associated with General Alexander Macomb in the purchase of over 1,000,000 acres of wild land in the northern part of New York from the state in 1787. Through this marriage he came into possession of about 500,000 acres of these lands. In 1804 he bought the Benson farm of sixty acres on Brooklyn heights, with the house that had been Washington's headquarters during the campaign on Long Island. In 1819 he gave up all other business and thereafter devoted himself wholly to the improvement of his vast estate. The city-hall, academy of music, Brooklyn library, five churches, and many public buildings and residences, now cover his old farm. --Hezekiah's eldest son, William Constable, born in New York city, 3 October, 1803; died in Pierrepont Manor, Jefferson County, New York, 20 December, 1885, was educated in mathematics, surveying, and conveyancing, with a special view to taking the management of his father's property in the northern counties. In 1820 he was appointed superintendent and director of the agents that were employed in settling the lands, and opened an office in Jefferson county on the site of the present Pierrepont Manor. On the death of his father he was given charge by will of the lands in Jefferson and Oswego counties, and to the day of his death was employed solely in their development. He was a profound mathematician, and numbered among his friends and correspondents several of the most distinguished scholars of Europe, including Professor Piazzi Smyth, astronomer royal of Scotland, who acknowledged the high value of his calculations concerning the great pyramid in Egypt. In 1840 Mr. Pierrepont was elected a member of the legislature, but he declined all other political offices. He was a liberal adherent of the Protestant Episcopal church, building and endowing a church edifice near his residence, endowing scholarships in the General theological seminary, New York city, and Hobart college, Geneva, New York, building and endowing a church at Canaseraga, New York, as a memorial to a son, and aiding the interests of the church in Minnesota. He received the degree of LL.D. from Hobart college in 1871.--Another son, Henry Evelyn, born in Brooklyn, New York, 8 August, 1808; died there, 28 March, 1888, after receiving an academic education, spent several years in assisting in the management of the estates. In 1833 he went to Europe. During his absence the village of Brooklyn was incorporated as a city, and he was appointed one of the commissioners to prepare plans for laying out public grounds and streets. He made a thorough study of the topography of all the large cities of Europe, and prepared plans that were in substance adopted by the legislative commission in 1835. He also submitted plans for converting the Gowanus hills into a rural cemetery. On his return he employed Major David B. Douglas to work out the details of his cemetery scheme, and in 1838 obtained a charter from the legislature for the Greenwood cemetery company, with which he has since been actively identified. By his father's will he was charged with the care and development of all the Brooklyn property and the wild lands in Franklin, St. Lawrence, and Lewis counties. On the Brooklyn estate he excavated Furman street, built a retaining wall 775 feet in length to sustain the heights, and created five acres of wharf property by erecting a new bulkhead on the water-front. Mr. Pierrepont was the first president of the Brooklyn academy of music, and for many years has been active in various Brooklyn societies and financial institutions, also in organizations of the Protestant Episcopal church.--James's great-grandson, Edwards (Pierrepont), jurist, born in North Haven, Connecticut, 4 March, 1817, was graduated at Yale in 1837 and at the law-school in 1840, and began practice at Columbus, Ohio. In 1845 he removed to New York city, where he became eminent at the bar. In 1857 he was elected a judge of the superior court of the city of New York, in place of Chief-Justice Thomas J. Oakley. A speech that he made a year and a half before the fall of Fort Sumter, in which he predicted the civil war, attracted much attention. In October, 1860, he resigned his seat on the bench and returned to the practice of law, and in 1862 he was appointed by President Lincoln, in conjunction with General John A. Dix, to try the prisoners of state that were confined in the various prisons and forts of the United States. In 1864 he was active in organizing the War Democrats in favor of the re-election of Abraham Lincoln. In April, 1867, he was elected a member of the convention for forming a new constitution for the state of New York, and one of its judiciary committee. He was employed to conduct the prosecution on the part of the government of John H. Surratt, indicted for aiding in the murder of President Lincoln. Judge Pierrepont has been engaged in many celebrated causes, and he was much employed by railroads and other corporations. At the beginning of the civil war he was an active member of the Union defence committee, and one of the three that were appointed to proceed to Washington to confer with the government when all communication was cut off by way of Baltimore after the attack upon the Massachusetts troops. In the presidential contests of 1868 and 1872 he was an ardent supporter of General Grant, by whom he was appointed in 1869 United States attorney for the southern district of New York, which office he resigned in July, 1870. In the autumn of that year he was one of the most active members of the committee of seventy in opposition to the Tweed ring. In May, 1873, Judge Pierrepont was appointed United States minister to Russia, but declined, and in April, 1875, he became attorney-general of the United States, remaining in the cabinet of President Grant until May, 1876, when he was sent as United States minister to Great Britain. During his term of office as attorney-general he was called upon by the secretary of state to give an opinion upon a question of international law, in which were discussed the questions of natural and acquired nationality. This opinion gave him a wide reputation. During General Grant's visit to London, Judge Pierrepont urged upon the queen's ministers the propriety of according the same precedence to him as had been given to the ex-ruler of France. This was done, and other governments followed the example of Great Britain. Judge Pierrepont devoted large attention to the financial system of England. On his return in 1878 he engaged actively in his profession, but afterward retired and has taken especial interest in the financial policy of the country, writing several pamphlets upon the subject. In one, issued in 1887, he advocated an international treaty and claimed that by convention the commercial value of the silver dollar might be restored. He has published various orations, including one before the alumni of Yale, (1874). Judge Pierrepont received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Columbian college, Washington, D. C., in 1871. In 1873 the same degree was conferred upon him by Yale. While he was in England Oxford gave him that of D. C. L.--His son, Edward, born in New York city, 30 June, 1860; died in Rome, Italy, 16 April, 1885, entered Christ church, Oxford, while his father was minister to Great Britain, and was graduated in June, 1882. After spending a summer in travel upon the continent he returned to the United States and entered Columbia law-school. In May, 1883, accompanied by his father, he journeyed to the Pacific coast, and travelled far into Alaska, publishing on his return "From Fifth Avenue to Alaska" (New York, 1884), for which he was made a fellow of the Royal geographical society of England. In the spring of 1884 he was appointed secretary of legation at Rome, and upon the resignation of the minister, William W. Astor, he was made charge d'affaires, and died while holding this position.

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