Author: Pierson, Josiah
Biography:
PIERSON, Josiah (1781-1846: ancestry.com)
Pierson, a descendant of the Pilgrims, was himself one of the early settlers of Western New York. Born in Killingworth CT, son of Rebecca (Parmale) and Samuel Pierson Jr., he was apprenticed to a shoemaker but felt a calling to the ministry and studied as best he could in his free time. In 1806, as an emigrant from New England, he purchased a farm near Bergen NY. By that time he was probably already married to a woman whose first name may have been Elizabeth but whose last name is not recorded, with whom he would have at least four children. The Bergen Church, established in 1808, elected him a deacon in 1810. He sought instruction from the Presbytery of Geneva and was licensed to preach in 1816. Under the auspices of the Presbytery of Rochester, he faithfully served small congregations and new churches throughout the district for thirty years despite a chronic disease of the lungs. He died in Bergen and is buried there. (Obituary, New York Observer, 30 Oct. 1846; ancestry.com)