elected one of the visitors and governors of Wash- ington college, in which institution he afterward lectured on law. Mr. Pearee was regarded as one of the wisest and safest members of the senate.
PEARSE, John Barnard, chemist, b. in Phila-
delphia, Pa., 19 April, 1842. He was graduated at
Yale in 1861, studied chemistry in Philadelphia for
the next three years, and was in charge of the
chemical division of the U. S. army laboratory there
in 1863-'o. He spent the next two years in the
School of mines in Freiberg. Saxony, and Leoben,
Styria, made a specialty of iron and steel metal-
lurgy, and worked in the German mines. He con-
nected himself with the Pennsylvania steel company
in Harrisburg, Pa., in 1868, and became its general
manager in 1870. In June, 1874, he was a com-
missioner and secretary of the second geological
survey of Pennsylvania. He has made various in-
ventions in connection with steel manufacture, im-
proved the design and product of the Bessemer
steel plant, and was instrumental in making Besse-
mer pig-iron from native New .Jersey and Penn-
sylvania ores. He has published " A Concise His-
tory of the Iron Manufacture of the American
Colonies up to the Revolution, and of Pennsylvania
till the Present Time " (Philadelphia, 1876).'
PEARSON, Alfred L, soldier, b. in Pittsburg.
Pa., 28 Dec, 1838. He was educated at Jefferson
and Allegheny colleges, admitted to the bar in
1861, and in 1862 became captain and then colo-
nel of the 155th Pennsylvania regiment. He was
brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers, 30 Sept.,
1864, for services at Peeble's Farm, and major-
general for a charge that he made at Quaker Road,
29 March, 1865, for which he was also compli-
mented by Gen. Meade. His command fired the
last shot at Appomattox Court-House. On his re-
turn he engaged in the practice of his profession,
and was district attorney in 1870, 1872, and 1877.
He has been active in militia matters, and as rank-
ing major-general of the Pennsylvania national
guard commanded in Pittsburg during the riots
of 1877. He also ended the troubles in Luzerne
county, and for his action in firing on the rioters
was arrested on a charge of murder, but the grand
jury did not indict him. In 1888 he became com-
mander of the National Union veteran legion. Gen.
Pearson edited the " Sunday Critic " in 1886-'7,
and is the author of three plays, none of which
have yet been produced.
PEARSON, Eliphalet, educator, b. in New-
bury, Mass., 11 June, 1752 ; d. in Greenland, N. H.,
12 Sept., 1826. He was graduated at Harvard in
1773, taught in Andover, and was licensed to preach,
but was prevented by the failure of his eyesight
from accepting a charge. During the Revolution
he executed a commission from the general court
to manufacture saltpetre and gunpowder for the
patriot army. He was appointed by Gov. Samuel
Phillips first preceptor of Phillips Andover acad-
emy in 1778, continued in that office for eight
years, and in 1786-1806 was professor of Hebrew
and oriental languages at Harvard. In 1804-'6,
after the death of President Joseph Willard, he dis-
charged the duties of the latter's office. On his
resignation he returned to Andover, and was
instrumental in establishing the theological semi-
nary there. He was ordained to the ministry of
the Congregational church in 1808, and the same
year became first professor of sacred literature in
Andover theological seminary, holding office one
year, when he retired, and devoted the remainder
of his life, for the most part, to agricultural pur-
suits. Yale and Princeton gave him the degree of
LL. D. in 1802. He was secretary of tlie American
academy of arts and sciences, president of the
Society for promoting Christian knowledge, a
founder of the American educational society, and
a member of numerous religious and charitable
bodies. He left many unpublished manuscripts,
the most valuable of which is a course of lectures
on language that he delivered at Harvard. Among
his published works are occasional discourses, a
Hebrew grammar, and a " Sermon on the Death of
President Joseph Willard " (Cambridge, 1804).
PEARSON, George Frederick, naval officer,
b. in New Hampshire. 6 Feb., 1796 ; d. in Ports-
mouth, N. H., 30 June. 1867. He was appointed
midshipman, 11 March, 1815, and cruised in the
frigates " United States " and " Independence " in
the Mediterranean in 1816-'20. and in the West
Indies in 1822-'3. He was commissioned lieutenant,
13 Jan., 1825, commanded the schooner " Shark "
at Norfolk in 1839, and served at the Portsmouth
navy-yard in 1839-'41. He was promoted to com-
mander on 8 Sept. of the latter year, was in the
" Falmouth " at Norfolk in 1852-'3, and became
captain, 14 Sept., 1855. He commanded the steamer
" Powhatan " in the East Indies in 1858-'60. Dur-
ing the civil war he rendered valuable service as
commandant of the Portsmouth navy-yard, which
post he held at his death. He was retired by law,
being over sixty-two years old, 21 Dec, 1861, and
became commodore on the retired list, 16 July,
1862, and rear-admiral. 25 July, 1866.
PEARSON, John James, jurist, b. in Delaware
county, Pa., 25 Oct., 1800 ; d. in Harrisburg, Pa., 30
May, i888. He was educated at a grammar-school
and by a pi'ivate tutor, studied law, was admitted
to the bar in 1822, and practised in western Penn-
sylvania. He was elected to congress in 1834, serv-
ing one term, and in 1837 to the state senate for a
term of four years. On 7 April, 1849, he was com-
missioned president judge of the 12th judicial dis-
trict, in 1851, when the change in the state consti-
tution made the judges elective, he was unanimous-
ly chosen president judge lor ten years, and he was
re-elected in 1861 and again in 1871, at the end of
which term he declined a further nomination.
During his judicial term he received from three
different colleges in Pennsylvania the honorary de-
gree of LL. D. In 1879 appeared two volumes of
his " Decisions," which are considered equal to the
reports of the supreme court as authority.
PEARSON, Jonathan, educator, b. in
Chichester, N.H., 23 Feb., 1813. He is descended
from John Pearson, an English carpenter who
settled at Rowley, Mass., prior to 1643. His father,
Caleb, was a fifer in the Continental army during
the Revolutionary war. The son was graduated at
Union in 1835, served as tutor in 1836-'9, and in
1839-'49 was assistant professor of chemistry and
natural philosophy. He was given the chair of
natural history in 1849, and that of agriculture
and botany in 1873, and has also served as college
treasurer and librarian. Beginning with the study of
his own ancestry, he had spent much time in
deciphering the Dutch records in Albany and
Schenectady, translating most of the vast mass of
records in “Mohawk Dutch” - a compound of
Netherlandish, Indian, French, and English speech -
in the archives of the churches and public offices
in the Mohawk valley. He has published “Early
Records of the County of Albany” (Albany, 1869);
“Genealogy of the First Settlers of Schenectady”
(1873); “History of the Reformed Protestant Dutch
Church of Schenectady” (Schenectady, 1880); and
“A History of the Schenectady Patent,” edited by J.W.
MacMurray (Albany, 1883).
