American family descended from John (son of James Pierrepont of London, England), who settled in Roxbury, MA, before the Revolution, and who was a representative to the general court in 1672, and died in December 1690.—His son James was born in Roxbury, in 1659; graduated at Harvard, in 1681, and became pastor of the church at New Haven. In 1698 he, with two other ministers, formulated a plan for a college, which materialized in the founding of Yale College two years later. He was the most distinguished of the early clergymen of New England. He died in New Haven, CT, on the 14th of November 1714.—His grandson, Hezekiah Beers, was born in New Haven, CT, in 1768; was educated for commercial pursuits, and became agent for Watson and Greenleaf of Philadelphia in their purchase of the national debt. Having acquired a fortune in this transaction, he founded the firm of Leffingwell and Pierrepont, that did a large business shipping provisions to France during the Revolution, until American ships were seized by Great Britain. By his marriage in 1802 with Anna, daughter of William Constable, a New York merchant, he came into possession of 500,000 acres of wild lands in the northern part of the state. Two years after his marriage he purchased the Benson farm on Brooklyn Heights, where he resided, devoting himself entirely to the development of his estate. On the site of this farm the city hall and other public and private buildings of the city of Brooklyn were afterwards erected. He died in Brooklyn, in 1838.—His eldest son, William Constable, was born in New York City on the 3rd of October 1803; was educated with a view to taking charge of his father’s property, becoming agent for the same in 1820. He was famed as a mathematician, and corresponded with many of the famous mathematicians of the time. He received the degree of LL.D. from Hobart College in 1871. He died in the Pierrepont manor, Jefferson County, NY, on the 20th of December 1885.—His brother, Henry Evelyn, was born in Brooklyn, NY, on the 8th of August 1808; assisted in the management of his father’s estates. He traveled in Europe in 1833, and on his return, Brooklyn having become incorporated, was appointed a commissioner to lay out plans for the city. He converted Gowanus Hills into a cemetery, and in 1838 obtained a charter for the Greenwood Cemetery Company. He improved the Brooklyn property, creating Furman street, and secured five acres of wharf property by erecting a new bulkhead on the water-front. He died in Brooklyn on the 28th of March 1888.—James Pierrepont’s grandson, Edwards, was born in North Haven, CT, on the 4th of March 1817; graduated at Yale in 1837, and at the law school in 1840. Removing to New York City in 1845, he became eminent at the bar. He was elected a judge of the superior court of the city of New York in 1857, resigning in 1860. In 1862 he was appointed, with General Dix, to try the cases of parties confined in government forts and prisons. In 1864 he worked with the War Democrats for the election of Abraham Lincoln, and subsequently conducted the prosecution of J. H. Surratt, indicted for complicity in the assassination of the President. From 1869 to 1870 he was attorney-general of the southern district of New York, and was active in the opposition to the Tweed ring. In 1873 he was offered, but declined, the Russian ministry; he was Attorney-General for the United States in 1875 and 1876, and minister to Great Britain in 1876 and 1877. He received among other honorary university degrees, that of D.C.L. from Oxford, England. He died on the 23rd of September 1892.—His son, Edward, was born in New York City on the 30th of June 1860; graduated in 1882 at Oxford, England. After a year’s travel in Europe he returned to the United States and entered Columbia Law School. In 1883 he traveled on the Pacific Coast, going as far as Alaska, and published, as a result, From Fifth Avenue to Alaska (1884). He was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London, and in 1884 was appointed secretary to the legation at Rome, and, on the resignation of the minister, was made chargé d’affaires, and died in office on the 16th of April 1885.
