My Mother’s Pierpont Cousins

My best friend growing up was my cousin, Dave Pierpont. His family lived just a few houses away and with the five children in our family and the five children in his, there was a lot of interaction between the two families. My mother grew up in Waterbury and there were other Pierpont families in the area, so I wondered if she had the same sort of interactions. But apparently that was not the case.

My grandfather, Harold Pierpont, was the youngest of eight children. But his mother had died after he was born and his father had given him to another family in the next town to be raised. It wasn’t until after he married and had his first child that he moved back to the East Farms area of Waterbury where he worked as a milkman for his cousin, Mort Pierpont, who owned the Maple Hill Dairy just down the street. Although the East Farms area had had Pierponts living there since the time of his great-great-grandfather, Ezra Pierpont, none of my grandfather’s siblings lived in the area. Here is where they were living in 1940:

·       George (b. 1879) – Wyman Street on the far side of Waterbury

·       Edith (b. 1881) – Massachusetts

·       Albert (b. 1884) – disappeared in 1901, whereabouts unknown

·       Richard (b. 1886) – died at age 3

·       Joseph (b. 1888) – North Haven

·       Charles (b. 1891) – Massachusetts

·       Nathan (b. 1893) – Fleming Street on the far side of Waterbury

Thus, my mother would not have had the same type of close relationship with her first cousins that I did. But what about the other Pierponts in the East Farms area. Where were they living in 1940?

·       Morton (b. 1884) – was living on Pierpont Road on the property where the Maple Hill Dairy was located. He was 14 years older than my grandfather

·       Lawrence (b. 1906) – also living on Pierpont Road as co-owner of the dairy with his father. Although he was my mother’s 2^nd cousin, he was 18 years older so would have no interaction with her

·       Ralph (b. 1910) – lived just 2 houses away from my grandfather, also a co-owner of the dairy. But he was 14 years older than my mother, so would have had no interaction with her either.

Thus, although my grandfather had moved to the East Farms area of his ancestors, the only other Pierponts still living there were his cousin Morton and family. But the ages of the two families were a half-generation apart. My mother and her siblings were born in the span between 1920 and 1929, but Morton’s two sons were born in 1906-1910 and were too much different in age to have any relationship.

The same was true for Ralph’s two sons and myself and my cousins who frequently visited my grandparents. William and James were born in 1937 and 1939, a half-generation after my mother and her siblings and a half-generation before myself and my siblings and cousins who were born in 1948-1958. Thus, while I knew that Ralph and his family lived just two houses away from my grandparents and I recall seeing his two sons from time to time, they were too old for me to establish any relationship with them.

My third cousin, James, just passed away a few days ago (*1). In his obituary are a number of references to things that are very familiar to me. He worked for the Maple Hill Dairy (above) growing up; he was a life member of the Mattatuck Drum Band (*2, *3); and after retirement he was the Inland Wetlands officer (a job that my father also held in the latter years of his life) for Roxbury, CT (where my great aunt and uncle Hartwell lived).

James’ older brother, William Seabury Pierpont, is the current drum major for the Mattatuck Drum Band (*2, *3).

Notes:

*1 – https://patch.com/connecticut/southbury/obituary-james-g-pierpont-sr-southbury?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_term=obituaries&utm_campaign=autopost&utm_content=southbury

*2 – https://www.facebook.com/Mattatuck-Drum-Band-112424132110392/

*3 – http://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2015/06/wolcott-history-mattatuck-drum-band.html