Pierce, Jonathan Edwards, 1839-1915

Jonathan Edwards Pierce was born in Little Compton, Rhode Island, on December 6, 1839, the son of Jonathan D. and Hannah (Head) Pierce. He moved to Texas in 1860 and became a ranch worker in Indianola until joining the Confederate army, where he served from 1861 to 1865. He later joined brother Abel Head (Shanghai) Pierce in founding Rancho Grande in Matagorda County, Texas, and then the town of Blessing. He married Nannie Deborah Lacey, daughter of William Demetris Lacey, on May 2, 1868, and fathered four children with her. After Nannie's death, Pierce remarried twice and fathered two additional children. He died on March 29, 1915, and is buried near Hawley, Texas, in the Demings Bridge Cemetery.

From the guide to the Jonathan Edwards Pierce Collection, 68-150., 1824-1958, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)

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