Hon. James Alfred Pearce

Notes:

He was a gentleman of great and varied culture, and a Statesman of enlarged conservative views. He was not a politician in the usual acceptation of the word, and yet was one of the most successful public men in Maryland during the period of his life. Honors and offices waited upon him. His success was due entirely to his own individual merit,--to his unsullied integrity and capacity for public affairs,--and the appreciation of his eminent qualities, by his fellow citizens. His death was regarded by men of all parties as a loss to the country, and deplored as a national calamity. He was reputed to be one of the wisest and safest statesmen in that august body, the Senate of the United States; and the minds of the people were turning towards him as a proper candidate for the Presidency, when death removed him from the Councils of the Nation. He d., leaving behind him a reputation which adds to the treasury of national honor, and a name which adorns the History of Maryland, and will be cherished in Kent by generations unborn.

Mr. Pearce was born the 14th of Dec. 1805, at the residence of his grandfather, Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick, in Alexandria, Va. His mother d. when he was very young, and his early education was received in Alexandria, under the direction of his grandfather. He entered Princeton College at the early age of fourteen, and was graduated in 1822, before he had completed his sixteenth year, dividing the honors of his class with Hugo Mearns, of Pennsylvania, and Edward D. Mansfield, of Ohio, both of whom were men of mature years and minds, and were distinguished in after life: the first for general scholarship, and the latter in the Law, being the Professor of Constitutional Law, for many years, in the Cincinnati College. Among his classmates, also, were George R. Richardson, Attorney General of Maryland, one of the brightest ornaments of the Maryland bar in his day, and Albert B. Dod, of New Jersey, afterwards a Professor in Princeton College, and one of the most brilliant rhetoricians and lecturers in this country.

It was the custom of the College at that period for one member of each class, at graduation, to write verses descriptive of the character of each one of the class, in the order of the roll-call, which was called the "Honoriad;" and was written by him best qualified by the voice of the class for the task. The HONORIAD for the class of 1822 was written by William Augustine Washington, of Virginia. The verses descriptive of Mr. Pearce will show the estimate placed on him by his associates and class-mates. They are as follows:

"PEARCE!

"With undissembled joy and homage free
Attractive Genius, next we turn to thee!
'Tis good to pause, and ponder on the mind,
Where all thy charms, thy countless charms, we find;
Where all thy vast and varied powers are shown,
And where thy pleasure 'tis to place thy throne.
In thee, admired Pearce! a mind is found,
Where all these charms and all these powers abound.
Yes! Fancy,--Wit,--and Judgment all appear
To meet and shed their mingled radiance here.

Hence JIM, we like to linger on thy name,
To tell thy value,--hear thy merit's claim,
Display thine honest excellence, and pause
To pay our trifling tribute of applause.
Fain would the Muse have all thy worth expressed,
But dreads to put her talent to the test.
Oh! could she borrow but one tithe of thine,
Around that brow, that honored brow, she'd twine
As fair a wreath as ever learning's lore
Or princely pride in proudest moment bore."

After leaving College, Mr. Pearce studied law in Baltimore, with the late Judge Glenn, and was admitted to the Bar in 1824. Shortly after his admission, he commenced the practice of his profession in Cambridge, where he remained about a year; after which, he went to Louisiana and engaged in sugar planting, on the Red River, with his father. He remained there about three years, and then returned to Kent, where he spent the rest of his honored life. On his return to Maryland he resumed the practice of the law, at the same time carrying on the farm, upon which he resided. He was not, however, permitted to devote himsef to his profession, as he desired, for he was early called into public life. In 1831 he was sent to the Legislature of Maryland, and in 1835 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives, and with the exception of a single Term in 1839, when he was defeated by a small majority by the Hon. Philip F. Thomas, he was re-elected, from time to time, till 1843. In 1843 he was transferred to the United States Senate, where he was continued, by four successive elections, until his death, the 20th day of December 1862. During this long period of public service, the Library of Congress, the Botanical Gardens, the Smithsonian Institute, and the Coast Survey Department were favorite objects of his fostering care, and received great and valuable attention from him, while at the same time he faithfully, conscientiously, and with distinguished ability discharged all the Senatorial duties of a Legislator.

He was offered a seat on the Bench of the United States District Court, for the State of Maryland, by President Fillmore, and during the same Presidential Term was nominated and confirmed Secretary of the Interior; both of which positions he declined, preferring to remain in the Senate, where he believed he could be more useful to his country. He left a son, now residing in Chestertown, who worthily bears his honored name, James Alfred Pearce, and illustrates, at the bar, the "honest excellence" of his distinguished father. He is now (9th Aug. 1875) the capable State's Attorney in and for Kent County, Maryland.

-- Maryland History of Surnames related to SEE family genealogy

Family/Spouse: Martha J Laird. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Cahtarine Julia Pearce
2. Charlotte A Lennox Pearce
3. James Alfred Pearce

Family/Spouse: Matilda C Ringgold. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Mary C Pearce

Gideon married Julia Dick. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

James married Catharine Susanna Shannon on 17 Aug 1771. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Gideon married Beatrice Codd on 6 Jun 1734. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]