Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/38

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PIERREPONT
PIERRON

he has since been actively identified. By his father's will he was charged with the care and de- velopment 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 organiza- tions of the Protestant Episcopal church. James's great-trraiidson. Edwards (Pierrepont), jurist, b. in North Haven. Conn., 4 March. 1S17: d. in New York city, (i March. 1X92, was graduated at Yale in 1837 and' at the law-schoul in 1*4(1. In 1845 he re- moved to New York city, where he be- came eminent at tin- bar. In 1857 he was elected a judge of the superior court of the city of New York, ill placco!' Chief-Justice Thomas J. Oak- ley. A speech that he made a year and a half before the fall of Fort Sumter, in which he predicted the civil war, attract- ed much attention. Ill October. 1*111 1. he resigned his seal on the bench and i practice of law. mid in ISII'J he turned to the

was appointed by President Lincoln, in conjunc- tion with Gen. John A. Dix, to try the prison- ers of state that were confined in the various prisons and torts of the United States. In 1SI14 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 com- mittee. He was employed to conduct the prose- cution on the part of the government of John H. Surratt, indicted for aiding in the murder of President Lincoln. Judge Pierrepont had been en- gaged 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 Wash- ington to confer with the government when all com- munication 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 Gen. Grant, by whom he was appointed in 1869 U. S. 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 U. S. minister to Russia, but declined, and in April, |s;.-|. be became attorney-general of the United States, remaining in the cabinet of President ( iiaui until May, 1876, when he was sent as I". S. mini-tei to Great Britain. During his term of office a a1 tornev-general he was called upon by the secrctan of state to give an opinion upon a .|ucstion of iniei- nalional law, in which were discussed the question of natural ami acquired nationality. This opinion gave him a wide reputation. During Gen. 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 gov- ernments followed the example of Great Britain. Judge Pierrepont devoted large attention to the inancial system of England. On his return in 1878 le engaged actively in his profession, but afterward retired and had taken especial interest in the finan- cial policy of the country, writing several pam-

)hlets upon the subject. In one, issued in 1887, he

idvocatedan international treaty and claimed that ay convention the commercial value of the silver dollar might be restored. He hadpublished various orations, including one before the alumni of Yale, 1874). Judge Pierrepont received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Columbian college, Wash- ington, 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, Edwards, b. in New York city. 30 June. 1860; d. in Rome, Italy, 10 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 con- tinent he returned to the United States and en- tered Columbia law-school. In May, 1883, accom- panied 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.


PIERRON, Jean, French missionary, b. in France; d. there toward the end of the 17th cen- tury. He belonged to the Society of Jesus, and arriving in Canada on 27 June, 1667, devoted him- self to the study of the Mohawk language, and was soon able to preach in that dialect. He preached constantly in the seven Mohawk towns, and his success, though temporary, was remarkable. He was a skilful artist, and effected more conversions by exhibiting vivid pictures, symbolizing the deaths and destinies of a Christian and pagan Indian, than by his sermons. In his etloit- to gain con- verts lie followed the Mohawks everywhere, even to battle. He drew pictures on cards symbolizing the Christian life from the cradle to the grave, and formed with them game- which t he Indians learned by their camp fires. Once he was ordered from the council by a chief who wished to perform a superstitious ceremony which he knew the mis- sionary would not sanction; but Pierroii turned the insult to his advantage, and. by hints of what might happen if he left the Mohawk valley, excited the fears of the chiefs, who dreaded a rupture with the French. On 26 March, 1670. they assembled in the chapel, promised to renounce their god, Aireskoi. and to abandon their worship of evil spirits and their superstitious dances. The medi- cine-men burned their turtle-shell rattles and the other badges of their office. There were eighty- four baptisms during the year. Christianity made rapid progress among the tribes. The-e results were not lasting, however, and when Pi.-i-ron was recalled t" govern the mission of St. Krtiiicis Xavier at La Prairie, most of ihe Mohawks relapse,! int.. paganism, lie continued his missionary labors up to UiT'.l ami perhaps later. He returned to France, but nothing is known of his life afterward, or of the time of his death.