Hezekiah Pierrepont

Hezekiah Beers Pierrepont (November 3, 1768 – August 11, 1838)

He bought – part of the Livingston estate, plus the Benson, De Bevoise and Remsen farms, – on what was then called "Clover Hill", now Brooklyn Heights, and built a mansion there.

The city then prepared for the establishment of a street grid, although there were competing plans for the size of the lots. John and Jacob Hicks, who also owned property in Brooklyn Heights, north of Pierrepont's, favored smaller lots, as they were pitching their land to tradesman and artisans already living in Brooklyn, not attempting to lure merchants and bankers from Manhattan as Pierrepont was. To counter the Hickses' proposal, Pierrepont hired a surveyor and submitted an alternative. The Hickses' plan was adopted north of Clark Street, and Pierrepont's, featuring 25 by 100 foot (8 by 30 meter) lots, south of it. By 1823, Pierrepoint was advertising and selling lots to New York City merchant and bankers, lauding the ease of transportation by ferry as opposed to by land from Upper Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights soon became the "first commuter suburb",

Personal life On January 21, 1802, Pierrepont was married to Anna Marie Constable (1783–1859) by Bishop Provost. Anna came from a prominent New York City merchant and landowning family. As a wedding present from her father, William Constable, a partner of Alexander Macomb, received a half a million acres of land, becoming a major property owner in Upstate New York; the town of Pierrepont, New York is named after him. Together, they were the parents of:

William Constable Pierrepont (1803–1885), who married Cornelia Ann Butler, a daughter of Dr. Benjamin Butler, in 1830. Anna Constable Pierrepont (1805–1839), who married Gerrit Gansevoort Van Wagenen. Henry Evelyn Pierrepont (1808–1888), who married Anna Maria Jay, a daughter of Peter Augustus Jay and granddaughter of Founding Father John Jay. Emily Constable Pierrepont (1810–1881), who married Joseph Alfred Perry.

Descendants Through his daughter Maria, he was a grandfather of the botanist and ornithologist Eugene P. Bicknell.

Through his son Henry, he was a grandfather of Mary Pierrepont, the first wife of Rutherfurd Stuyvesant, John Jay Pierrepont, and Julia Jay Pierrepont.