F 
 
 
BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
BIOGRAPHY 
 
 OF 
 
 HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE, 
 
 A. L. BANCROFT 8: Co., Printers, 721 Market St., San Francisco, 18801 
 
NOTE. 
 
 The author of this biographical memoir derived his knowledge 
 of the subject from an autobiography in manuscript, prepared by 
 Mr. Peirce, with the intention of having it published, a purpose 
 he subsequently relinquished. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO, October i, 1880. 
 
HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 
 
 r I ^HE early European ancestors of Mr. Peirce were 
 doubtless French; the name in its diverse forms 
 of spelling being early found in prominence in French 
 history. Subsequently the name is found in the fifteenth 
 and sixteenth centuries, associated with matters of state, 
 and in the army of Great Britain. John Peirce, a subject 
 of the British king and a citizen of London, received from 
 the king of England the first patent to Plymouth colony, 
 dated June i, 1621. The Pilgrims had arrived at Plymouth 
 in 1620, but no patent or title to the land had yet been given. 
 Captain William Peirce, who commanded the ship Lion, 
 of Bristol, and other vessels, brought many of the earliest 
 settlers from England to Plymouth. He resided in Boston, 
 and in 1639 wrote the first almanac made in New England. 
 Michael Peirce, of Hingham, a brother of Captain William 
 Peirce, participated with Miles Standish in the Indian wars 
 in Plymouth colony against the renowned Indian, King 
 Philip, and was distinguished for bravery and patriotism. 
 
 Thomas Peirce, the founder of the Peirce family in Massa 
 chusetts, came with his wife from England in the year 1634, 
 and settled at Charlestown, Massachusetts. His son, of the 
 same name, settled at Woburn, in Massachusetts, where he 
 married Elizabeth, daughter of Rice Cole; their son Isaac 
 was joined in marriage to Grace, daughter of Lewis Tucker, 
 by Cotton Mather, in 1708. The son of this union, also 
 
 bo 
 
4 HKNKY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 
 
 named Isi.ic, born at Boston in 1722, married Mary Hardy, 
 daughter of Captain Joseph Hardy, of Salem. This Isaac 
 Peirce and his wife had four sons, all of whom participated 
 in the revolutionary war for the independence of America ; 
 all having gained distinction for bravery and patriotism. 
 Joseph Peirce, the eldest of -the four sons of the last Isaac 
 Peircc alluded to, was the father of Joseph Hardy Peirce, 
 who was born at Boston, March 8, 1773. Joseph Hardy 
 held many important offices in Massachusetts, was secretary 
 of the board of war of that State in 1812-14, clerk of the 
 municipal court of Boston from 1817 to 1829, and held a 
 commission from the State of Massachusetts to Washington 
 upon national affairs. He married Frances Temple Cordis, 
 daughter of Joseph Cordis, of Charlestown, Mass. Both 
 for many years held a prominent position in the highest 
 social circles of Boston, for which their eminent refinement 
 and culture so well fitted them. Seven sons and six daughters 
 were born to them, all of whom lived to maturity, there being 
 still (1880) one son and three daughters living. The wife 
 of Joseph Hardy Peirce died at Boston, April 8, 1815, and 
 in 1819 Mr. Peirce married for his second wife Abby Robin 
 son, of Newport, Rhode Island. There was no issue of this 
 marriage. On December 31, 1831, Mr. Peirce and his wife 
 Abby embarked on board the schooner Alabama, at New 
 York, for Mobile ; the vessel foundered at sea, and all on 
 board were lost. 
 
 Henry Augustus Peirce is the son of Joseph Hardy and 
 Frances Temple Peirce, already alluded to. He was born at 
 Dorchester, now a precinct of the city of Boston, on the 
 fifteenth day of December, 1808. His youth was marked 
 by a delicate constitution and ill health. Until his thirteenth 
 year he attended the public schools in Boston ; entering, in 
 1821, a private academy in that city, where he spent one 
 year. On leaving the academy, and when about fourteen 
 years of age, the lad entered his father's office to assist in 
 the duties of clerk of the court in Boston, presided over by 
 
HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 5 
 
 Judge Thomas Daws, his father's uncle. In this position, 
 by the side of his father, he heard the effective arguments 
 and eloquence of many of the most distinguished lawyers 
 of Massachusetts. The labor of copying and filing papers 
 soon gave him a practical knowledge of business. The 
 withdrawal from school at so early an age, and the conse 
 quent incompleteness of his education, is one of the chief 
 regrets of the past life of Mr. Peirce. 
 
 In the summer of 1823, the father of Mr. Peirce went to 
 Washington as the agent of the State of Massachusetts for 
 the recovery of claims, and soon was followed by his children, 
 making the voyage by sea on board the ship St. Peter, 
 amongst whom were the subject of this sketch and his five 
 sisters, beautiful and accomplished young ladies, who soon 
 held a leading position in the fashionable society of the 
 capital, the whole family returning to their home in Boston 
 the following year, where Mr. Peirce resumed his duties as 
 assistant to his father, devoting, meantime, all of his leisure 
 time to study and the reading of history, voyages, travels, 
 and the classics. With increasing manhood came a strong 
 desire for travel in foreign lands. About this period (1824) 
 his brother Marcus T. received the appointment of master 
 of the brig Griffon, owned by the eminent mercantile firm 
 of Bryant & Sturgis, of Boston, to go upon a five years 
 voyage in the fur trade, upon the north-west coast of America, 
 Pacific ocean, California, Oregon, and Alaska. Much against 
 the wishes of many of his relatives, on October 24, 1824, the 
 youth of sixteen years enrolled amongst the ship's crew 
 of the Griffon, as a "green hand," before the mast, and 
 sailed on a five years voyage to the North Pacific, under his 
 brother, Captain Marcus T. Peirce, for wages of five dollars 
 per month. The kindly admonitions and prayers of a de 
 voted father, in a most tender letter, handed to the boy as he 
 embarked, with a goodly supply of suitable books upon the 
 subjects of navigation and voyages, added hope -and lent 
 consolation in the long days and stormy nights upon the 
 
HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 
 
 ocean. Out of a list of seventeen, officers and crew of the 
 Griffon, Mr. Peircc is now the sole survivor (1880). After 
 recovery from lacerated hands, incident to the trials of going 
 aloft, and becoming accustomed to the hard fare and rigid 
 discipline of routine sailor drudgery, the voyage became not 
 distasteful, and the good brig Griffon, in five months from 
 the day of departure from Boston, arrived at the port of Hon 
 olulu, Hawaiian islands, March 25, 1825. The thatch-huts, 
 tropical verdure, and nude natives presented a new and fasci 
 nating field of observation for the sailor boy, who, after his 
 five months' practical navigation and close study, had ac 
 quired sufficient nautical skill to enable him to navigate a 
 vessel anywhere. Letters of introduction from prominent 
 persons in Boston to members of the American Missionary 
 Board at Honolulu, gave the youth most agreeable recogni 
 tion in the new and wonderful country. On leaving Honolulu, 
 after a few days' stay in that port, the lad was promoted to 
 " ship's clerk," and was transferred from the forecastle to the 
 cabin, in charge of the stores and goods for trade with the 
 natives. The Griffon in due time arrived off the coast 
 of British Columbia, then known as the Hudson's Bay Com 
 pany's territory, and made her first land after leaving Honolulu 
 by entering the harbor of Chatsena, in Prince of Wales island, 
 on the west side of Clarence's straits. Here an active trade 
 was carried on with the natives, who in great numbers visited 
 the vessel, exchanging furs for articles of commerce. For 
 three and a half years the Griffon continued her trading 
 voyage, visiting nearly all the harbors, islands, and straits 
 along the coast of British Columbia and Alaska, between 
 the degrees of fifty-two and fifty-seven north latitude. 
 
 During the extended voyage upon the north-west coast, 
 young Peirce had made careful observation and study of the 
 natives, natural resources, climate, and temperature of the 
 country visited, and of the waters navigated, an elaborate 
 record of which he subsequently submitted to Commander 
 Maury, of the hydrographic bureau of the United States 
 
HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 7 
 
 navy, at Washington, from which record emanated the re 
 search subsequently made on behalf of the government in 
 relation to a warm ocean current flowing from the China 
 sea and the islands of Japan, to and along the west coast of 
 America. 
 
 During the stay of the Griffon upon the north-west coast, 
 many startling events transpired in trading with the Indian 
 tribes, but no serious results ensued. The objects of the trad 
 ing voyage having been attained, the Griffon, in September, 
 1828, sailed from the harbor of Tungas, on the coast of 
 Alaska, for the bay of San Francisco, where she arrived in 
 October following, anchoring off the Presidio, a small Span 
 ish fortification. Besides the Griffon, there was but another 
 vessel in port the brig Vulture, Captain Henry D. Fitch ; 
 no inhabitants were to be found, except a few at the Presidio 
 and at the Mission Dolores ; not even a hut existed at Yerba 
 Buena, where now stands the city of San Francisco. After 
 a stay of a week in port, the Griffon hoisted sail for Hono 
 lulu, where all arrived safe after ten or twelve days' voyage. 
 Captain Peirce having left the Griffon at this port and gone 
 home, young Peirce declined to go with the vessel upon her 
 continued voyage of another year on the north-west coast, 
 and instead entered upon a clerkship in the mercantile house 
 of James Hunnewell, formerly of Charlestown, Mass., resid 
 ing at Honolulu, where he remained until the fall of 1830, 
 when Mr. Hunnewell returned home, young Peirce continu 
 ing the business upon his own account for many years, with 
 great profit. 
 
 In February, 1834, the young merchant chartered from 
 King Kamehameha III. the brig Becket, built at Salem, Mass., 
 more than twenty years previously, and loading her with 
 sandal wood and other material, sailed for China, to procure 
 a cargo of merchandise suitable for trade in the Russian set 
 tlements in Kamtchatka and in the Sandwich Islands. After 
 a voyage of fifty days, young Peirce arrived at Lintin, and at 
 Canton purchased his cargo of merchandise, and in May fol- 
 
8 HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 
 
 lowing left the Chinese coast for Kamtchatka, arriving at St. 
 Peters and St. Pauls harbor early in the month of June. 
 Here he sold a portion of the cargo, taking paper roubles in 
 exchange. Young Peirce and his associates celebrated the 
 Fourth of July, 1834, by giving to the inhabitants of St. Peters 
 and St. Pauls a grand party on board of his vessel. After a 
 stay of two months in Russian waters, the Becket proceeded 
 to the Hawaiian Islands, where she arrived after a tedious 
 voyage. 
 
 At Honolulu, in the spring of 1835, young Peirce purchased 
 the ship Rasselas, and dispatched her upon a voyage of traffic 
 similar to that of the Becket. This last venture not proving 
 remunerative, this line of business was abandoned, and in 
 December, 1835, a copartnership was formed by young Peirce 
 and Captain Charles Brewer, who had commanded Peirce's 
 vessels upon their voyages to China and the Russian posses 
 sions. Under this partnership the firm of Peirce & Brewer 
 conducted a general merchandise and commission business 
 at Honolulu until the year 1843, when Mr. Peirce retired with 
 an accumulation of one hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 In February, 1 836, after the establishment of the partner 
 ship of Peirce & Brewer, Mr. Peirce sailed on board the firm's 
 schooner Kamele for the port of Macao, China, where, after 
 dispatching the Kamele with a cargo of Chinese goods to the 
 firm at Honolulu, Mr. Peirce embarked on board the ship 
 Walter Scott, for New York, arriving at that port in October 
 following, after a passage of one hundred and fifty days. This 
 was Mr. Peirce's first return to his native land since his de 
 parture from Boston harbor, on board the Griffon, in 1824; 
 for at the period of his visit to California it was Spanish 
 territory. A few days after his arrival he proceeded to Bos 
 ton, to the loving associations of his relatives. After a brief 
 sojourn at his old home, he accepted a consignment of the 
 brig Peru, carrying twelve guns, and embarked on board of 
 her at Boston, on the nineteenth of January, 1837, for Hono 
 lulu, putting into St. Catherines, Brazil, for repairs, after a 
 
HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 9 
 
 run of thirty-six days in the Atlantic. After a most boister 
 ous passage round Cape Horn, the Peril arrived at Valparaiso 
 in a hundred and twenty days from Boston, departing in a 
 few days for Callao, Peru. At this time war existed between 
 Chile and Peru, and young Peirce, in conformity with instruc 
 tions from the owners of the brig Peru, made great effort to 
 sell the vessel to either government, but without success. 
 
 While at Lima, General Santa Cruz, Protector of Peru and 
 Bolivia, then in supreme command, appointed Mr. Peirce 
 Peruvian Consul at Honolulu, which position he held until 
 1841, when the brig Peru, with Mr. Peirce and some mis 
 sionary passengers from Boston, bound for Oregon, arrived 
 in the month of July, 1837. After the arrival of the brig 
 Peru at Honolulu, she was engaged in running between the 
 principal islands of the Hawaiian group until November, 1837, 
 when she, under the command of Mr. Peirce, sailed for Val 
 paraiso, with a view of the sale of the vessel, touching at 
 the port of Papeete, in the island of Tahiti, one of the Society 
 group, where a few days were spent in observing the beauties 
 and wonders of that delightful tropical region. Soon after 
 the arrival of the Peru at Valparaiso she was sold by Mr. 
 Peirce for the owners ; her price was taken in pig copper 
 and shipped to the United States. 
 
 Mr. Peirce having completed the sale of the brig Peru, he 
 now entered upon a journey overland across South America, 
 from Valparaiso to Buenos Ayres, crossing the Cordilleras 
 and the pampas on his way to the Atlantic. He left the city 
 of Valparaiso upon this journey on the twenty-sixth of Jan 
 uary, 1838, in company with a few others, traveling a portion 
 of the time in a one-horse chaise, and upon horseback, ac 
 companied by spare horses, mules, a capitan, and postilions. 
 The grandeur of the snow-capped mountains and the verdure 
 of the expansive valleys lent a charm to this most inter 
 esting journey. At Santiago, and all places of importance 
 on the route, all public institutions and places of interest or 
 curiosity were visited. On the afternoon of the seventeenth 
 
10 MKNRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 
 
 of March, 1838, Mr. Peircc and his companions entered the 
 city of Huenos Ayrcs, which rests upon a wide plain. Re 
 maining in the city of Huenos Ayres two or three weeks, 
 Mr. Peirce embarked for New York on board the bark 
 Drymo, arriving at his destination in the early part of June, 
 and in a few days proceeded to his old home in Boston, and 
 was, on the third day of July, 1838, united in marriage with 
 Miss Susan R. Thompson, eldest daughter of the late Joseph 
 Thompson, of that part of Boston called Charlestown, Rev. 
 Dr. James Walker officiating. Mr. Peirce remained in Boston 
 until April 21, 1839, when he, as part owner and as com 
 mander of the schooner Morse, purchased at Boston, and 
 laden with merchandise for the firm of Peirce & Brewer, 
 of Honolulu, sailed for the latter port by way of Magellan 
 straits and Valparaiso. On the nineteenth of July, after a 
 three months voyage from Boston, the Morse entered the 
 straits of Magellan, and after a most stormy and dangerous 
 passage of thirty-two days of the straits, emerged into the 
 Pacific ocean, on the twentieth of August, arriving at Val 
 paraiso in one hundred and thirty days from Boston. Having 
 spent a few days in this port, he sailed for Honolulu, where 
 the Morse arrived on the nineteenth of October, 1839, in 
 forty-five days from Valparaiso, and one hundred and eighty 
 days from Boston. During all of this period the business 
 of Mr. Peirce, under the firm of Peirce & Brewer, was going 
 on at Honolulu. But the ill health of Mr. Peirce compelled 
 him to seek a change of climate. With this view, and for 
 the purpose of transacting some business for the firm on the 
 coast of California, the firm of Peirce & Brewer purchased 
 the brig Maryland, and Mr. Peirce, in November, 1841, took 
 command of her and sailed from the port of Honolulu, 
 reaching the south Farallones, off the Golden Gate, in seven 
 teen days. The wind blowing a gale from the north, he 
 concluded not to venture a passage into the bay of San 
 Francisco, and headed the Maryland for Monterey, the then 
 capital of the Mexican territory of Alta California, where he 
 
HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. II 
 
 arrived on the twenty-fourth of November. Anxious to visit 
 San Francisco, Mr. Peirce embarked on board the Mexican 
 brig Catalina, at Monterey, and arrived at Yerba Buena 
 November 30, 1841, thirteen years having elapsed since his 
 previous arrival in October, 1828. But five or six huts or 
 houses now stood at Yerba Buena, where not one stood 
 upon his visit in 1828. Here Mr. Peirce learned that a 
 United States exploring expedition, under the command 
 of Captain Wilkes, had recently visited the place and had 
 surveyed the bay of San Francisco and the Sacramento river, 
 and that Governor Alvarado had caused a survey to be made 
 of the pueblo of Yerba Buena, and that fifty and one-hundred 
 vara lots could be had at twenty to thirty dollars. Mr. Peirce, 
 not doubting the future greatness of California, could not be 
 persuaded to invest or remain. A few extracts from a letter 
 written to his friend, Thomas Cummins, at Honolulu, on 
 board the brig Maryland, on February i, 1842, after leaving 
 California, will best convey Mr. Peirce's conceptions regard 
 ing the then remote Spanish colony. He says : 
 
 " I made many notes in respect to California. From ,San Diego 
 to Bodega it possesses the richest land and the most salubrious and 
 healthful climate of any country that I am acquainted with; in 
 climate and productions it bears a near resemblance to the south of 
 Spain. It produces the grape, olive, fig, orange, lemon, pome 
 granate, and other tropical fruits. Cotton, silk, and the sugar cane 
 can be grown. The northern parts of California possess the finest 
 wheat and grazing lands your eyes ever beheld. * * * In spring, 
 here Nature puts on her brightest robes; the whole country is one 
 vast bed of flowers, delightful to the eye and pleasing to the senses. 
 In my opinion California will become, in its future history, a second 
 Texas. Emigration from Missouri and New Mexico is rapidly 
 taking place. * * * All are pleased with the lands and the 
 climate. * * * The country is overrun with immense quantities 
 of game of all kinds, geese, ducks, deer, etc. I have not a doubt, 
 from what I have seen and know, that in less than six years more 
 thnn fifteen thousand persons will have emigrated to California from 
 
12 HF.NRV AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 
 
 the Western and North-western States; when that time comes, we 
 shall, I hope, see the country governed by our own enlightened laws, 
 and the people speaking our own language; and should that time 
 arrive, as I expect, when these things are to happen, I shall feel a 
 strong disposition to come out and settle there myself." 
 
 Having at this time visited may points north of the bay of 
 San Francisco, and taken copious notes of the region, Mr. 
 Peirce left Yerba Buena on board the Don Quixote, of 
 Hawaii, for Monterey, where he again took command of his 
 vessel, the brig Maryland, on January 3, 1842, arriving at 
 Santa Barbara three days later. Leaving Santa Barbara, the 
 Maryland sailed for San Diego, where she arrived on the 
 eighteenth of January; where, after remaining a few days, 
 she sailed for Mazatlan, Mexico, where she arrived on the 
 fourth of February, 1842. Mr. Peirce had, in all his stopping- 
 places along the coast, traded for hides, furs, and other 
 articles, and, on arriving at Mazatlan, disposed of the Mary 
 land, sending her to Honolulu in charge of his mate, to 
 be delivered to her purchasers. Mr. Peirce in a few days 
 embarked on board the schooner Victoria, for San Bias, 
 where he arrived three days later, and departed upon a 
 journey overland, across Mexico to the Atlantic, on his 
 homeward travels passing through Guanajuata, Queretaro, 
 and many other places of importance, and on the first day 
 of March, 1842, arrived in the city of Mexico, where pleas 
 ant intercourse with the leading officials and the American 
 minister, with observations of the many objects of interest 
 to a stranger, occupied four days, leaving the city of Mex 
 ico on the fourth of March for Vera Cruz. Arriving at 
 the latter city, Mr. Peirce embarked on board the French 
 ship Atlantic, for Matanzas, Cuba, arriving at the latter place 
 after a voyage of twenty-two days. From Matanzas Mr. 
 Peirce went to Havana, from whence in a few days he took 
 passage on board a schooner bound to Charleston, South 
 Carolina. From Charleston he took steamer to Wilmington, 
 North Carolina, and from thence by land to the city of 
 
HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 13 
 
 Washington, where he visited Daniel Webster, Secretary of 
 State, urging upon him action upon the matter of Ameri 
 cans whom upon his (Peirce's) travels he found prisoners in 
 Mexico for supposed political offenses. At this interview 
 Mr. Peirce imparted much information to the distinguished 
 secretary, in relation to the territory of California, and inti 
 mated that " in the fitness of things, we must have Califor 
 nia." To which Mr. Webster replied: " Well, sir, if we must, 
 we probably will!" After a brief sojourn in Washington, 
 Mr. Peirce proceeded on to his old home in Boston and 
 joined his family, after an absence of three years. During 
 all of the years from 1842 to 1849 Mr. Peirce was largely en 
 gaged in commerce and in foreign trade in Boston, being a 
 ship-owner and trading with Hawaii and the Society Islands, 
 Kamtchatka, China, and Manila. In 1847 he chartered to 
 the government of the United States the ship Charles, to 
 carry a cargo of provisions to Monterey, California, for the 
 United States forces there. Mr. Peirce, in the midst of an 
 active commercial life, left Boston in 1844, on a visit to 
 Europe, visiting London, Paris, and other great cities. 
 
 News of the discovery of gold in California having reached 
 Boston in the fall of 1848, Mr. Peirce, in connection with 
 James Hunnewell, of Boston, fitted out the ship Montreal 
 with a cargo of merchandise for San Francisco, the vessel 
 sailing on the nineteenth of January, 1849, with Mr. Peirce 
 as supercargo. Fleets of vessels were now on the way from 
 all quarters of the globe, bound for San Francisco. The 
 Montreal arrived at Valparaiso in ninety days from Boston. 
 Here Mr. Peirce's business sagacity induced him to sell at 
 high figures most of the cargo of his ship, to be delivered at 
 San Francisco. The vessel, on leaving Valparaiso, pro 
 ceeded to Honolulu, where, discharging a portion of her 
 cargo, she sailed for San Francisco, where she arrived in 
 July, 1849. At this period more than two hundred vessels of 
 different nations lay in the bay of San Francisco. On the 
 arrival of the Montreal, her entire crew deserted her and de- 
 
14 HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 
 
 parted for the mines, leaving Mr. Peirce and the captain 
 alone. In September, 1849, Mr. Peirce, on board the 
 Montreal, sailed out of the Golden Gate for Honolulu, from 
 whence he dispatched her soon after with a cargo of oil and 
 whalebone to New Bedford, and in November following he 
 embarked on board the brig Noble, chartered by him at 
 Honolulu, and sailed for Canton, China, for a cargo of gen 
 eral merchandise for the Hawaiian trade. The vessel on her 
 voyage touched at the island of Kauai, the most western of 
 the Hawaiian archipelago, where, near the harbor of Nawili- 
 wili, he purchased, in connection with the late William L. 
 Lee, Chief Justice of the Hawaiian Kingdom, a sugar planta 
 tion of three thousand acres, leaving competent parties in 
 charge, and proceeding on to China. This sugar enterprise 
 resulted most disastrously as a speculation. On Christmas, 
 
 1849, the Noble, with Mr. Peirce, arrived at Hongkong. On 
 the following day Mr. Peirce took passage upon an English 
 steamer for the city of Canton. In due time the Noble re 
 turned to Honolulu with her cargo, which was sold at great 
 profit to those concerned. 
 
 Always active and keen for speculation, Mr. Peirce, seeing 
 the opening for Chinese goods in San Francisco, communi 
 cated his views to the firm of Russell & Co., who dispatched 
 the brig Eagle for San Francisco, laden with Chinese goods; 
 in this venture, Mr. Peirce had a quarter interest. The goods 
 sold at San Francisco at a satisfactory profit. After settling 
 his business at Canton, Mr. Peirce sailed on board the ship 
 Oriental for New York city, where he arrived after a passage 
 of eighty-three days, arriving a few days thereafter, in April, 
 
 1850, at his home in Boston, having circumnavigated the 
 globe in the last fifteen months of his absence, and returned 
 to the happy circle of his wife and two children, crowned 
 with financial success. 
 
 Soon after Mr. Peirce's return from China to Boston, he, 
 with James Hunnewell and Charles Brewer, with their united 
 capital, entered upon a partnership for commercial voyages 
 
HENRY AUGUSTUS PE1RCE. 1 5 
 
 from Boston to Honolulu and San Francisco. This associa 
 tion lasted for four years, during which more than half a 
 million dollars were constantly employed, and a fleet of ships 
 engaged, traversing the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and 
 bringing increasing wealth to their enterprising owners, a 
 loss of thirty thousand dollars in the fire at San Francisco of 
 May 4, 1851, on goods in the hands of their agents, being 
 the only loss of consequence sustained. 
 
 For the period from 1850 to 1861 Mr. Peirce was a promi 
 nent and prosperous merchant and ship-owner of Boston, and 
 from 1852, for a period of fifteen years, he resided with his 
 wife and two children at their elegant residence, No. 46 Bea 
 con street, Boston, purchased from his uncle, Thomas Cordis, 
 esq., where he enjoyed all the social pleasures of the most 
 refined society of that city. During the period from 1856 to 
 1869 he was consul for the Hawaiian kingdom at the ports of 
 Boston, Mass., Portsmouth, N. H., and Portland, Me. 
 
 In the year 1857, Mr. Peirce dispatched the bark Messenger 
 Bird with a cargo of merchandise to the Russian settlements 
 at the Amoor river. The commencement of the civil war, in 
 1861, found Mr. Peirce with a fleet of ships scattered in peace 
 ful commerce upon every sea. The subsequent disasters to 
 this class of property seriously affected his financial affairs ; 
 following in the wake of which came the robbery of fourteen 
 thousand dollars from a bank by a confidential . clerk, and 
 forgeries to the extent of an additional forty thousand dollars. 
 But neither the spirit nor the integrity of the shrewd mer 
 chant, trader, and navigator was shaken, but with active patri 
 otic zeal he entered upon aiding his afflicted country, devoting 
 his time and means to the cause of her preservation, assisting 
 in recruiting and sending into the field from Boston, regiments 
 of soldiers, among which may be named the ninth, four 
 teenth, twelfth, and the fifty-third and fifty-fourth colored, 
 co-operating actively with Governor Andrews and other patri 
 ots of Massachusetts. 
 
 After the capture of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1865, 
 
1 6 HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 
 
 Mr. Peirce, having obtained a permit from the secretary of 
 war, in company with William Lloyd Garrison, Henry Ward 
 Bcecher, Theodore Tilton, and George Thompson, the famous 
 English abolitionist, visited Tort Royal and Fort Sumter. 
 While at Port Royal Mr. Peirce was the guest of his old 
 friend, Admiral William Reynolds, whom he had known at 
 Honolulu in 1840. This was upon the fourteenth day of 
 April, 1865, just four years after the surrender of Fort Sum 
 ter, and the occasion upon which General Anderson hoisted 
 over the retaken fort the flag of his country, which he had 
 been compelled to lower on the fourteenth of April, 1861. 
 
 On the return of Mr. Peirce and his patriotic associates 
 next day (April 15, 1861) to Port Royal, they learned the sad 
 news of the assassination of President Lincoln. Returning 
 to New York city on the Sua Nada, in a few days Mr. Peirce 
 witnessed the solemn funeral procession bearing the remains 
 of President Lincoln to their resting-place at Springfield, Illi 
 nois. 
 
 The adversity of war and the almost total destruction of 
 shipping, incident to rebel pirates, left Mr. Peirce, in 1866, 
 deprived of the greater part of his large fortune, secured by 
 long years of close application, shrewd speculation, and ex 
 tensive voyages to almost every portion of the mercantile 
 world. Despairing of recovery in his past line of pursuits, 
 and anxious to demonstrate the practicability of the free 
 labor of the emancipated colored people of the South, he, in 
 company with his old friends R. B. Forbes and John P. 
 Gushing, of Boston, purchased the Scotland plantation, on 
 the Big Black river, Yazoo county, Mississippi, paying thirty- 
 five thousand dollars for the plantation and all its improve 
 ments and live stock. The freedmen were hired, and, under 
 skilled superintendents, employed in raising cotton; but, 
 owing to defective levees, unusual climatic changes, and 
 other causes, at the close of the season, after an expenditure 
 of ninety thousand dollars, this agricultural venture yielded 
 ninety-two bales of cotton, which sold for five thousand dol- 
 
HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. I? 
 
 lars. At this time social disorder reigned supreme in Yazoo 
 county and vicinity. Between the disastrous cotton specula 
 tion and the nightly raids of "jayhawkers " and "bush 
 whackers," upon the horses and mules of the plantation, little 
 remained to induce Mr. Peirce to expedite a sale of his most 
 unremunerative agricultural property. Intent upon release at 
 any sacrifice from his Yazoo cotton plantation, Mr, Peirce 
 visited New Orleans and found a purchaser for his property, 
 at a clear loss of forty-nine thousand dollars. The addition 
 of this misfortune to the great depression of the shipping in 
 terests began to melt from sight the accumulations of all his 
 past success, and Fortune in her most fickle moods seemed to 
 thwart his every effort. The elegant mansion at 46 Beacon 
 street, Boston, so long the happy home of his family and the 
 center of social refinement, was sold, realizing eighty-five 
 thousand dollars, with a portion of which all demands against 
 Mr. Peirce were paid off, the balance being invested in a more 
 unpretentious residence on Chestnut street, in the rear of 
 Beacon street. Through every phase of these unforeseen 
 disasters, the moral integrity of Mr. Peirce, and the purity of 
 his motives in all commercial and business transactions, have 
 never suffered a shadow of doubt or reproach to rest upon 
 them. 
 
 Mr. Peirce, now out of business, and residing with his 
 family in their retired home in Boston, having, in May, 
 1869, received a commission from the State department at 
 Washington, as minister resident at the Hawaiian Islands, 
 once more directed his steps toward the far Pacific, the early 
 scenes of his youthful activity and commercial success, and 
 on June 7, 1869, left Boston by the overland railroad for San 
 Francisco, en route for Honolulu, arriving at the former place 
 on June 15, 1869, twenty years having elapsed since his last 
 visit to that city (1849), and more than forty years since his 
 first visit in 1828, during which time a great commercial city 
 had arisen upon the sands of Yerba Buena, more than fulfill 
 ing his predictions of a quarter of a century before. During 
 
1 8 HKNRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 
 
 Mr. Peirce's stay of a fortnight in San Francisco, he studied 
 carefully the commercial advantages and requirements of the 
 city, and its relative commercial importance in relation to 
 trade with Hawaii and the Orient. 
 
 Vested with the diplomatic authority of minister of the 
 United States, Mr. Peirce left the harbor of San Francisco on 
 board the American ship Rival for Honolulu, where, on the 
 twenty-fifth of March, 1825, he had first landed as a sailor 
 boy on board of the brig Griffon, and where he had spent so 
 many subsequent years in active commercial and friendly re 
 lationship with the people. On the sixteenth of July, 1869, 
 on his arrival at Honolulu, he was received with the warmest 
 demonstrations by the inhabitants, who gave him a hearty 
 welcome to the scene of his early commercial prosperity. 
 On the nineteenth of July, 1869, the new minister to Hawaii 
 was granted an official audience with King Kamehameha V., 
 to whom he presented his credentials to the Hawaiian court, 
 which were received by the king with marked declarations of 
 personal regard for the newly-appointed representative of the 
 American Republic the old and esteemed friend of the 
 king's predecessors and people. 
 
 During the period of Minister Peirce's residence at Hono 
 lulu, from July, 1869, to September, 1877, he exerted not 
 only upon the commercial relations of Hawaii and the United 
 States most beneficial influence, but, through his far-seeing 
 and energetic efforts, brought the two nations into close and 
 friendly diplomatic intercourse, binding the people and gov 
 ernments and commerce in mutual reciprocal relations, such 
 as only could have been comprehended and accomplished by 
 such knowledge of the condition of both governments and 
 people as had been acquired by years of active and friendly 
 intercourse with the government and people of Hawaii. 
 
 The active and efficient efforts of Minister Peirce in his 
 official duties with the State department at Washington, and 
 his prompt aid and attentions to his countrymen in distress 
 upon the Pacific islands, received the heartiest expressions of 
 
HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 1 9 
 
 recognition and commendation from the government of the 
 United States. During the residence of Mr. Peirce as minis 
 ter of the United States at Honolulu, he witnessed many im 
 portant changes in the government and affairs of Hawaii. 
 The death of King Kamehameha V. on the eleventh day of 
 December, 1872, ended the reign of the line of that king's 
 predecessors, he being the last of his race in descent from 
 the great Kamehameha I. He died without naming his suc- 
 cessoi. The assembly at Honolulu, on February 6, 1873, 
 elected Prince William Lunalilo king. His reign ended 
 within a year; he died on the third of February, 1874. He 
 also declining to nominate his successor, on the twelfth day 
 of February, 1874, the assembly of Hawaii elected Kalakaua 
 king. At the announcement of his election the populace 
 arose, and entering the council chamber, dispersed the assem 
 bly, gutting all the government offices, and inaugurated a 
 reign of general destruction and slaughter. The native po 
 lice and authorities seemed powerless. But the vigilant 
 American minister, who had anticipated trouble, and had 
 been invited into the chamber to witness the voting, had cau 
 tiously placed under arms the marines on board the United 
 States frigates Titscarora and Portsmouth, lying in the har 
 bor, and in fifteen minutes after the riotous demonstration 
 in the assembly, Mr. Peirce brought one hundred and fifty 
 armed Americans into the assembly chamber, and put to 
 flight the rioters and restored order, retaining, at the solicita 
 tion of the officials of the government, his marines for a 
 period of seven days in protecting life and property. For 
 these acts Mr. Peirce received the thanks of the king and his 
 government. 
 
 The government at Washington having extended an invi 
 tation and transportation to King Kalakaua, of Hawaii, and 
 placing the United States steamer Benicia, then at Honolulu, 
 at the disposal of the king and his suite, they embarked at 
 Honolulu on November 17, 1874, for San Francisco, en route 
 for Washington, accompanied by Minister Peirce, the invited 
 
2O HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 
 
 guest of the king. The Benicia arrived at San Francisco on 
 November 28, after a passage of eleven days from Honolulu. 
 The royal party and Mr. Peirce left San Francisco for Wash 
 ington on December 5, and reached the latter place on De 
 cember 12. At Washington, the king and his suite and Mr. 
 Peirce remained the guests of the government. The arrival 
 of the Hawaiian king was the first visit of 3 sovereign to the 
 United States. 
 
 Mr. Peirce remained with the royal party during its stay of 
 several weeks in Washington, and accompanied it to New 
 York city, from whence he visited his old home in Boston in 
 advance of the king, where a grand reception was tendered 
 the party. Mr. Peirce, meantime, on the eleventh of Janu 
 ary, 1875, arrived in Washington, to forward the political and 
 commercial relations of his government with Hawaii, partic 
 ularly in relation to the reciprocity treaty of September 9, 
 1876, news of the signing of which was received at all ports 
 of the Hawaiian kingdom with unbounded enthusiasm. The 
 treaty has proven most beneficial to both countries. From 
 the city of Washington Mr. Peirce proceeded to St. Louis, 
 where he joined the Hawaiian king and party, and leaving 
 them after a brief sojourn, arrived by rail at San Fran 
 cisco, on his return to Honolulu, on January 26, 1875, where 
 they embarked on board of the United States steamer Pensa- 
 cola on February 2, and arrived at Honolulu thirteen days 
 later. On the arrival of the royal party at home a banquet 
 was given by the king in the garden of the palace, where the 
 king, in recognition of the personal worth and high services 
 rendered by Mr. Peirce in promoting the political and com 
 mercial welfare of the Hawaiian kingdom, proceeded to in 
 vest him with the high honor of the order of Grand Com 
 mander of Kamehameha. The official position of Mr. Peirce 
 would not permit his acceptance; but the king, still impressed 
 with his debt of gratitude to the American minister, after 
 Mr. Peirce had resigned his office, in October, 1877, conferred 
 
HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 21 
 
 upon him the order, which Mr. Peirce then accepted. Mr. 
 Peirce remained at Honolulu, discharging his high official 
 duties with marked ability and satisfaction, until October 25, 
 1877, upon which day he sailed on board the United States 
 steamer Jamestown, for San Francisco, having, on the twenty- 
 fourth of June preceding, resigned his position as United 
 States minister to Hawaii, to take effect upon the arrival of 
 his successor. 
 
 The departure of Mr. Peirce from Hawaii was the occasion 
 of widespread regret by the native and foreign population, 
 and brought forth from every class marked expressions of the 
 highest esteem. The address of the king upon the occasion 
 of Mr. Peirce's withdrawal as minister from his court will 
 convey the cordial relations existing between Mr. Peirce and 
 the people and government from which he was separating. 
 The king said: 
 
 " Mr. Peirce: I have received with regret the information that 
 your official duties as United States minister resident in this kingdom 
 are now to cease in consequence of your recall from that mission. 
 Your official intercourse with myself and with my royal predecessors 
 and with the officers of this government, during the period of over 
 eight years in which you have held this office, has been marked in a 
 rare and most felicitous degree, not only with the dignity and firm 
 ness requisite in presenting your views and those of your govern 
 ment upon public and private international matters, but with a 
 discretion and a spirit of conciliation and. courtesy which has usually 
 prevented find always removed all unnecessary obstacles to mutual 
 understanding and accord. Your long residence here in former 
 years as one of our leading merchants, and your personal acquaint 
 ance with the sovereigns, chiefs, and people of this kingdom, and 
 with the capabilities as well as the wants of this country, have not 
 failed to serve most important ends in facilitating official intercourse 
 during your incumbency, and in enabling you to arrive at safe and 
 just conclusions. If, as I believe, the commercial interests, not only 
 of my subjects but of our respective countries, and of all others 
 having commercial relations with this kingdom, or business or prop- 
 
22 HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 
 
 erty connections here, are largely enhanced by the operation of the 
 convention of reciprocity, the re-suit may largely be attributed to 
 your intelligent and well-directed efforts in promoting that compact. 
 I thank you for your kind expressions of good \\ishes for myself and 
 my subjects. Be assur d that vou will alwavs have my sincere 
 regard, and my desire for your continued happiness and prosperity. 
 You will always have the consciousness of faithful performance of 
 public and private duties, and the public recognition from all who 
 have known you here of those qualities which deserve and bring 
 'honor, love, and obedience, and troops of friends.' " 
 
 On October 25, 1877, Mr. Peirce left Honolulu, taking a 
 last farewell of the scenes of his long and most varied career, 
 and after a passage of twenty-three days on board the James 
 town, on November 17, 1877, he arrived at San Francisco, on 
 his way to his birthplace in Massachusetts ; but the inclement 
 season in the Atlantic States, and the sudden change from 
 the genial climate of Honolulu to the rigid winter of New 
 England, induced him to remain a time in San Francisco; 
 but, as the most simple seeming circumstances often change 
 the whole current of prearranged plans, so in Mr. Peirce's 
 cases. Soon after his arrival in San Francisco he was at 
 tacked with a severe cold, which, threatening serious results, 
 induced him to seek until spring the mild climate from which 
 he had just departed, and, retracing his course, he set sail 
 for Honolulu, where be arrived on board the steamer Zea- 
 landia, on January 8, 1^878. His voyage had completely 
 restored his health, and his return opened up a new and 
 unforeseen event in his career. Towards the close of Feb 
 ruary of the same year, and just as Mr. Peirce was about to 
 return to San Francisco, King Kalakaua appointed him min 
 ister of foreign affairs for the Hawaiian kingdom, upon the 
 discharge of the duties of which he entered on the first day 
 of March, 1878. Mr. Peirce's strong desire to advance the 
 political and commercial interests of the United States in 
 Hawaii induced him to accept the new service; besides, he 
 
HENRY AUGUSTUS PE1RCE. 23 
 
 strongly desired to enjoy the delightful climate in which he 
 had spent so many years of active life ; but, as in the earlier 
 career of Mr. Peirce, events were developing which, unseen 
 by him, were preparing sudden and unexpected changes, and 
 were destined to sever his connection forever with the people 
 and climate to which he felt strong attachment. On the 
 thirtieth of April, one month after the minister had entered 
 upon his duties, the Hawaiian assembly entered upon a vio 
 lent and groundless attack upon the cabinet ministers of the 
 kingdom, and although a "want of confidence " was defeated 
 by a vote of seven, yet the king, to allay the seeming lack 
 of confidence in his cabinet, and to retain the support of the 
 legislative branch of his government for public and private 
 appropriations, sacrificed his ministers, who, upon the request 
 of the king, surrendered their offices on the first of July fol 
 lowing. Thus closed, after the brief period of four months, 
 another eventful chapter in a most eventful life. 
 
 Mr. Peirce, impressed with the cowardice and bad faith 
 of the king towards his deposed cabinet officers, determined 
 to leave the islands, and in the latter part of July, 1878, sailed 
 from Honolulu for San Francisco, where he arrived on the 
 sixth of August following, and soon after proceeded by rail 
 to his old home in Boston, returning to San Francisco over 
 land in November following, where Mr. Peirce has established 
 his permanent home, and where he has ever since resided. 
 
 Two children were born to Mr. Peirce : his daughter Ella 
 Augusta, born October 3, 1839, resides with her husband, 
 Frederick Clapp, esq., at Greenfield, Mass.; his son, Henry 
 Marcus, born November 23, 1846, while a student at Harvard 
 college, gave great promise of future intellectual activity; 
 but, in his twentieth year, the cloud of disease blighted the 
 bud of promise, and immured in an asylum the father's hope. 
 In that sad event, in which the curtain of oblivion obscured 
 the reason of a loved son, is recorded the saddest page in the 
 eventful life of one of the earliest pioneers of the Pacific 
 
24 HENRY AUGUSTUS PEIRCE. 
 
 coast. And now, with the frosts of more than seventy years 
 whitening the locks of this extraordinary man, he looks out 
 upon the former scenes of his earliest activities alone, seek 
 ing in the midst of crowding memories of the past, and 
 through the deep shadow that excludes his darling son, the 
 approach of other and more enduring shores, upon which to 
 voyage in the bosom of perpetual repose. 
 
1 in I 
 
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