PICKERING
PICKERING
Mary (Lunt) Wingate. and a descendant of John
Pickering (born 1615), who emigrated from Eng-
land and settled in Ipswicli. Mass., in 1634,
was made
to Salem,
an inhabitant
Mass., ia 1637.
/^^Z^o^i^/i^t**^
in 1636, and removed
Timothy Pickering
was graduated from
Harvard. A.B.. 1763,
A.M., 1766, and was
admitted to the bar
in 1768. He was regis-
ter of deeds for Essex
county ; lieutenant
of militia, 1766-75.
and colonel, 1775-76.
He led the Continen-
tal force in the pur-
suit of the British
through Charlestown,
but arrived too late
to effect a capture.
He was elected jus-
tice of the peace in
1775 ; justice of the superior court of common
pleas ; judge of the maritime court in Decem-
ber, 1775, and a representative in the general
court in 1776. He was married, April 8, 1776,
to Rebecca White of Bristol, England, who
died in Salem, Mass., Aug. 14, 1828. He joined
the Continental army at the head of a regiment
of 700 men ; was promoted adjutant-general.
June, 1777 ; was a member of the board of war,
Nov. 7, 1777 ; was appointed quartermaster-
general of the army, Aug. 5, 1780, and was
present at the surrender of Cornwallis at York-
town. In July, 1785, the quartermaster's de-
partment was abolished, and he went into the
commission business in Philadelphia, but in 1787
he removed to the Wyoming valley, Pa, He op-
posed the insurgent Connecticut settlers and on
the imprisonment of John Franklin, the insurg-
ent leader, his house was attacked by the rioters
and he escaped to Pliiladelphia. He was a mem-
ber of the convention for ratifying the U.S. con-
stitution, and on his return to Wyoming he was
taken prisoner by tlie rioters and confined for
three weeks, his captors wishing him to intercede
in behalf of Franklin. He was finally released
and engaged in putting down the lawlessness in
the state. He was a member of the state conven-
tion of 1789, tliat framed the constitution of
Pennsylvania ; was sent on a mission to pacify
the Seneca Indians, who were aroased by the
murder of two of their tribe in 1790, and com-
pleted negotiations in 1791 with a treaty between
the United States and the Six Nations. He was
postmaster-general, 1791-95, and was appointed
secretary of war to succeed Gen. Henry Knox,
Jan. 2, 1795, controlhng the In<han affairs and
the navy administration. During his term of
service in that department, the military academy
at West Point was founded, and the U.S. frigates
Constitution, Constellation, and United States
were built. He served as secretary of state on
the resignation of Edmund Randolph in 1795,
and was later appointed to the office, serving till
May 12, 1800, wlien, owing to a disagreement be-
tween President John Adams and liis cabinet, he
was discharged. Embarrassed by debt, he re-
moved to Susquehanna county, Pa., where he
lived in a log cabin and engaged in farming.
A subscription was taken by a number of Boston
citizens amounting to $25,000, and after liis debts
were paid he was induced to remove to Danvers,
Mass. He was chief justice of the court of com-
mon pleas, 1802-03 ; was appointed U.S. senator
to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of
Dwight Foster in 1803, and elected for the full
term of six years in 1805. By his opposition to
the Ijouisiana purciiase and the embargo act he
became extremely unpopular. He removed to
Wenham, Mass., in 1812, and was a Federalist
representative in the l?th and 14th congresses,
1813-17. He was a member of the executive
council of Massachusetts in 1817, president of
Essex Agricultural society in 1818, and retired
to Salem, Mass., where he died. Jan. 29, 1829.
PICKERINa, William Henry, astronomer, was born in Boston, Mass., Feb. 15, 1858 ; son of Edward and Charlotte (Hammond) Pickering ; grandson of Timothy and Lurena (Cole) Picker- ing and of Daniel and Sally (Stoddard) Hammond, and great-grandson of Timothy Pickering, (q.v.). He was graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1879 ; was instructor in physics there, 1880-87 ; assistant in the Harvard observatory, 1887-89, and assistant professor in 1889. He was married, June 11, 1884, to Anne Atwood, daughter of Isaac Butts of Boston, Mass. He led the expedition to observe total solar eclipses at Colorado, 187S ; Grenada, West Indies, 1886; California, 1889; Chili, 1893, and Georgia, 1900. He establislied a temporary observatory in Southern California in 1889 ; the Arequipa station of Harvard observatory in 1891 ; tiie astronomical station at Mandeville, Jamaica, W.I., in 1900, and erected the observatory and telescope for Mr. Lowell at Flagstaff, Arizona, in 1894. He ascended the Half-dome in Yosemite Valley, and El Misti in Peru, where he gained an altitude of 19,500 feet and made valuable notes on atmosplieric conditions at different altitudes. He also made observations from over 100 other mountain peaks. He is the author of : Walkiiig Guide to Mt. Washington Range (1882); Investi- gations in Astronomical Photography (1895) ; Visiial Observations of the Moon and Planets (Harvard College Annals, 1900); Lunar Atlas (1903).
