John Fred Pierson

John Frederick Pierson (February 25, 1839 – December 20, 1932) was an American soldier, business executive, and society leader who was prominent in New York during the Gilded Age.

Fred, as he was known, was seventh in descent from Abraham Pierson, the first president of Yale University beginning in 1701. The first American Pierson, Abraham Pierson the Elder, came to Boston in 1639 from Yorkshire, England and helped found Southampton, New York, Stamford, Connecticut, and Newark, New Jersey. His maternal grandparents were Isaac Pierson and Helen (née Fort) Pierson.

Career In 1857, he enlisted as a private in Company K of the 7th Regiment of the New York National Guard, and was attached to the staff of Brig. Gen. William Hall. He also served as president of the Ramapo Foundry and Wheel Works, the Ramapo Hunting and Villa Park Association, the Ramapo Manufacturing Company, the New York Association for the Protection of Game, the New York City Marble Cemetery, the A. and N. Realty Company, and the New York Stamping Company. Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom. Pierson was a member of the Union Club of the City of New York, the New York Yacht Club, the Tuxedo Club, and the Army and Navy Club. In 1929, the Piersons entertained at their home in New York by giving musicale featuring Abby Morrison Ricker, a soprano, accompanied by Mrs. Harrison Irvine.

Personal life On December 16, 1869, Pierson was married to Susan Augusta Rhodes (1844–1929) in Providence, Rhode Island. Together, they lived at 20 West 52nd Street

Marguerite "Daisy" Pierson (1870–1964), who married George Huntington Hull Jr. in 1910. John Fred Pierson Jr. (1872–1951), who first married Suzanne Miles. They divorced in 1928 and he married Virginia (née Land) Blanchard, granddaughter of Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Thomas Land, in 1929. James Rhodes Pierson (1873–1959), a Harvard graduate and president of the Ramapo Land Company and proprietor of the Pierson estate. Harold Pierson (1875–1879), who died young. Adeline Chandler Pierson (1876–1933), who married Edward Walker Scott Jr.

Pierson worked up to four days before his death at age 93 in New York City on December 20, 1932, at which point he was the oldest general of the Union Army in the civil war.