My Pierpont Family Line

I’ve written a number of blogs over the years about some of my Pierpont ancestors. But I’ve never actually written down the family line showing all the relationships and some of the “less famous” of my ancestors. So, it’s time to rectify that.

The De Pierrepont / Pierrepont / Pierpont family name goes back over 1000 years to Normandy, France, then to England during the Norman invasion, then to America during the Great Migration. That’s 30+ generations and far too much to try and replicate here. Rather, I’m just going to look at the last 10 generations ending with myself.

 

Great*7 Grandfather – Rev. James Pierpont (1659-1714)

I’ve written a lot about the Rev. James over the years, so I won’t replicate that here. He was born in Roxbury, MA, and studied at Harvard (then a school for ministers). In 1684, he was asked to become the pastor of the First Congregational Church in New Haven, CT, where he served for the next 30 years. He married three times, his first two wives passing away at a young age. His third wife, Mary Hooker, was the granddaughter of Thomas Hooker, one of the founders of Hartford, CT.

 

Great*6 Grandfather – Joseph Pierpont (1704-1738)

Despite his father having founded Yale University (then called the Collegiate School of Connecticut), Joseph was the only one of his sons who did not attend that school. Rather, he became a farmer – the first of a long line of Pierpont men who worked in the agricultural field. He did, however, provide for the Yale education of his son, Joseph, Jr.

Joseph married Hannah Russell, the youngest daughter of Rev. Noadiah Russell from Middletown. They settled in North Haven where they had a total of 11 children.

 

Great*5 Grandfather – Joseph Pierpont, jr. (1730-1824)

Joseph had a long life, living until age 94. While he went to Yale, he did not become a minister, instead using his services in the CT militia (where he was a captain), then in the CT General Assembly (where he served several terms), then as a town clerk and justice of the peace.

Like his father, he lived in North Haven. He married Lydia Bassett and they had 6 children. When she passed away in her late 40’s, he married the widow Annis [Warner[ [Curtis] [Blakeslee] in 1791. There’s an interesting family relationship here as Annis’ second husband, Noah Blakeslee, was a cousin, once removed, of Joseph’s daughter-in-law, Mary Blakeslee (see below).

 

Great*4 Grandfather – Ezra Pierpont (1757-1842)

Ezra was born in North Haven as the oldest son of Joseph, jr, and Lydia. He served in the Revolutionary War. After the war, in 1783, he married Mary Blakeslee.

Mary was the daughter of Isaac Blakeslee and Lydia [Alcox/Alcott]. Lydia had been born in North Haven, but her parents had moved when she was just a year old to Farmingbury (later Wolcott) as the first settlers of that town (my hometown). There being few other families in Farmingbury, Lydia had returned to North Haven to stay with relatives when she was in her late teens and had met Isaac there.

It may have been the influence of Mary and her grandparents and aunts and uncles living in Farmingbury that convinced Ezra to move to the East Farms section of Waterbury after his marriage to Mary – just a few miles south of the rest of the Alcox/Alcott family. But it’s also possible that Mary being four months pregnant with their first child that caused the hasty exit from the North Haven scene.

Ezra and his descendants bought up large sections of land in the East Farms section over the coming years – using some for eventually a dairy farm as well as growing other crops. They became some of the largest landowners of that part of the city. A history of Waterbury notes that the Pierpont family owned several hundred acres.

Ezra and Mary had seven children together. They and most of their children are buried in the East Farms Cemetery. The land was eventually divided among their five sons.

 

Great*3 Grandfather – Austin Pierpont (1791-1848)

Austin was the fourth child of Ezra and Mary. Like his father and grandfather, he served in the military, in his case the War of 1812. He had married Sally Beecher right before the war began. They had ten children. When Sally died (at the age of 52), he married Emily Sperry. A year later he was killed by lightning. Like his father, Austin was a farmer.

 

Great-great-grandfather – Charles Joseph Pierpont (1825-1844)

Charles was the sixth child of Austin and Sally. Continuing in the farming-related businesses, he was a butcher. He married Mary Ann Warner. He and Mary Ann had six children, most of whom also continued in farming-related businesses. I detailed one of their children in a prior posting.

 

Great-grandfather – Wilson Levinus Pierpont (1855-1921)

Wilson was fourth child of Charles and Mary Ann. He married Annie Merrill and they had eight children together. Annie died as a result of childbirth complications when my grandfather was born and later Wilson married Anna [Root] [Hall]. He and his brother Elmer had a wholesale business – first as milk brokers, then adding groceries to the items they handled.

 

Grandfather – Harold Granger Pierpont (1898-1969)

I’ve written fairly extensively about my grandfather before. He married Sara Blackman and they had five children together. He died prematurely at age 71 when a ladder he was using to clean the gutters of his house slipped out from under him.

Although he worked in a plumbing store in his later years, he was initially a milk man – delivering milk from the Pierpont-owned Maple Hill Dairy which was owned and operated by a couple of his cousins. Although he grew up in Prospect, like most of his Pierpont ancestors beginning with Ezra, he lived in the East Farms area of Waterbury.

 

Mother – Sylvia Louise [Pierpont] Russell (1924-2012)

My mother was the third (and middle) child. She married my father, Vernon Harold Russell, right after he returned from his service in WWII. I’ve written about that here.

 

Myself – Alan Harold Russell (1948-)

I’m the oldest of five children. I was born in St. Mary’s hospital in Waterbury as there are no hospitals in Wolcott. I grew up there and still have fond memories as well as I continue to be friends on social media with many of my high school classmates. Although I’ve lived in PA for nearly 50 years, I am the co-historian of the New England Pierpont Family Association.