Bio: J. F. Pierson, Red River, Bienville and Natchitoches Parish
Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana
The Southern Publishing Company, Chicago & Nashville, 1890
Submitted by: Gwen Moran-Hernandez
Gherna1154(a)aol.com
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J. F. Pierson. This talented lawyer, who has achieved such an excellent
reputation for legal ability at the Coushatta and other bars, was born in
Pike County, Ala., October 3, 1844, being the ninth of ten children, four of
whom are living. Born to William and Mary (Collins) Pierson, who were born
in South Carolina and Georgia, in 1808 and 1811, and died in Natchitoches,
La., and Bienville Parish, La., in 1885 and 1848, respectively. They removed
from Pike County Ala., in the fall of 1848 and settled in Bienville Parish,
which was laid out that year, but was in a very primitive condition. Mr.
Pierson brought with him four negroes, and was worth in all, from $1,800 to
$2,000, and remained on the plantation on which he settled until the fall of
1860, exclusively engaged in planting, but in that year sold his plantation,
stock, all his negroes, with the exception of three, for $30,000, reserving
his family horse and carriage and all his household effects. This is a good
illustration of how rapidly money could be accumulated in Louisiana at that
day, his being an average increase of the prosperity of the settlers form
1847 up to the opening of the Rebellion. J. F. Pierson, the immediate
subject of this biography, was a student in the common schools from 1854 to
1859, and from the latter year until 1862 he attended Mount Lebanon
University, being a painstaking, intelligent and faithful student. In the
fall of that year he joined Company C, Third Louisiana Infantry, and the
following year was captured at Vicksburg, being exchanged in 1864. From that
time until Lee's surrender he served in the Trans-Mississippi Department,
proving himself a true and tried soldier. In 1865, after his return home, he
began the study of law and in the month of August, 1869, was licensed to
practice in the Supreme Court at Natchitoches. In May, 1875, he came to
Coushatta from Bienville Parish and here has since continued the practice of
his profession, winning golden opinions for himself, in regard to his ability
as an all-around lawyer, from the members of the legal fraternity of this
section. Hi is a forcible and convincing speaker, and his indomitable energy
has enabled his to overcome what at times seemed insurmountable difficulties.
He is a Democrat, politically, a member of the Silent Brotherhood Lodge No.
146, of the A. F. & A. M. of Coushatta, which lodge is in a flourishing
condition. In November,1865, Miss Amanda J. Thomas became his wife, and in
time the mother of his four children: Edward, Thomas, Reuben A. and Malcolm.
Mrs. Pierson was born in Alabama in 1846, and is the daughter of D. K. and
Elizabeth (Ryan) Thomas. She is an earnest member of the Baptist Church and
an intelligent, cultured and charitable lady.