Mial Hicks Pierce

BARTON, DURYEE, WHITAKER, WARREN, SLOCUM, MURPHY, FORD, MCCRACKEN, HUGHES, SPEECE, CLARKE, HALL, CLARK

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 2/20/2004 at 23:00:44

Mial Hicks Pierce, one of the most thrifty and prosperous farmers of Fairfield Township, owns and occupies a well-appointed rural homestead on sections 19 and 20, comprising 200 acres of good land, which was partially improved at the time of its purchase by him. The first dwelling was destroyed by fire. Mr. Pierce soon rebuilt, and, besides his residence, has good barns and outbuildings, together with the machinery necessary for prosecuting agriculture in a profitable manner. He makes a specialty of stock-raising, and has numbers of good horses, cattle and swine.

Mr. Pierce, politically, is a sound Democrat, and takes a genuine interest in supporting the principles of his party, always doing his duty at the polls. He has hold the office of Justice of the Peace, and officiated as School Director in his district. While not a member of any church, he is undeniably the friend of morality and education, and may be classed among those men who form the bone and sinew of every well-organized community.

Bradford County, Pa., was the native place of our subject, and where he first opened his eyes to the light Feb. 20, 1819. His advantages for education were rather limited, his studies being completed in the common schools. His father, Dyer Pierce, was born in Vermond in 1785, and departed this life in Miami County, Ind., in March, 1857. He was by occupation a farmer and stockraiser. The mother, Mrs. Diana (Barton) Pierce, was born in Rhode Island in 1790, and died in Winneshiek County, this State, in 1854. The parental family comprised eight children, seven of whom are living: Pauline became the wife of Chauncey Duryee, of Genessee County, N.Y., and is now deceased; Mr. Duryee was the founder of the Rochester (N.Y.) Scale Works, and became well-to-do. Seth B. married a Miss Whitaker, of Sandusky County, Ohio, and is now a resident of Harrison County, this State; his wife is deceased. William D. was first married to Miss Martha Warren, of Washington; she died leaving five chilren, four of whom are living - LaFayette, Julia, Sarah, and Mary; the name of his second wife is not known. He is carrying on farming and stock-raising in Washington. Mial H., our subject, was the fourth child; Daniel B. died when sixty-six years old; Eliza (Mrs. George Slocum) is a widow, and lives in Harrison County, this State, on a farm. She has three children living, a son, George F., and two daughters - Mary C. and Eliza I. Mary (Mrs. Murphy) lives in Xeniz, Ind., where her husband is engaged in the manufacture of wooden ware, and is a stockholder in the natural gas plant. Eliza (Mrs. Ford) is the wife of an attorney of Sioux City, Iowa. James B. Pierce is living with his second wife in Montgomery County, Ind., and is engaged in farming and stock-raising. Mary Piece married Thomas McCracken, of Miani County, Ind., and they live in Nebraska; Mr. McCracken is an editor of a paper; he was at one time a clerk in the post-office department in Washington, and has been United States Marshal in Iowa; they have two sons, Ralph and Frank, the former a jeweler, and the latter occupied in the printing-office of his father.

Our subject was first married in 1844, to Miss Martha Hughes, of Montgomery County, Ind., and of their untion there were born four children, the eldest of whom, Joseph G., is conducting a fruit farm near River Side, in California; George D. married Miss Mary Speece, of Jackson County, Iowa, and is now occupied as a merchant in Shelby County; he is the father of one child, a daughter, Alice. Bruce married Miss Bertha Clarke, of Winneshiek County, and is also carrying on merchandising in Shelby County; he has one child, a son, Clarke. Mae is the wife of Samuel H. Hall, who is a commission man and produce dealer in Minneapolis, Minn.

The present wife of our subject was, in her girlhood, Miss Sarah A. Clark, and was first married to William B. Pulver. Mr. Pulver, during the Civil War, enlisted as a Union soldier in Company B, 19th Wisconsin Infantry, and died in the hospital in Virginia. They had one daughter, Lizzie W., who is still unmarried and living with her mother. Miss Pulver received a good education, being graduated from the Normal School in Cedar Falls. To our subject and his present wife there have been born two children - Lester C. and Grace.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois)