Person:William Pierce (40)

The marriage of William Henry Pierce to Julia Emojean Lewis was previously unknown to the descendants of his marriage to Elizabeth Pilcher. But the circumstantial evidence for this marriage is compelling: 1) The marriage license states that William lived in Livinston county IL in 1876. From Livinston county researchers Kevin and Annette Liptak, the following e-mail: (April 30, 2005) "I found in the history of the First Baptist Church of Fairbury a reference of a E. R. Pierce having been one of several regular pastors oe temporary supplies of this church in the time period of 1864 to 1888." Since E.R. Pierce is William's father, this suggests he was there at the time. 2) Emma Lewis Pierce's divorce petition, filed in 1888, alleges that William deserted her in September of 1880. 3) In the 1880 census, in which the W.H. Pierce -Emma Lewis household appears in Indianapolis, Indiana, Wiliam's information is that he was born in 1854 in Michigan, was a printer, that his father was born in Pennsylvania. This corresponds to the William who was married to Lizzie Pilcher. 4) The youngest son of this marriage was named Marion RANDALL Pierce. Randall is William's grandmother's maiden name. 5) Most tellingly, in the 1910 census, William says that he has had 7 children (6 living) while his wife Lizzie states that she has had 4 children (3 llving.) This is clearly an acknowledgement of his first marriage.

Sadie Flossie Pierce Kemp lived in Austin Illinois. This was a small community in the early 1900's. Moreover, her husband was a musician, and William's daughter Ruth was on the Chicago stage in vaudeville. It seems at least possible, if not plausible, that William and Sadie knew of each other.

It is unknown when Lizzie Pilcher found out about William's previous marriage (and that her own marriage was bigamous, William not being divorced from Emma until 1888). it is interesting that in 1906, in Ruth's engagement announcement, the wording is "Mrs. W.H. Pierce announces" and not Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Pierce.

A tribute to William H. Pierce appeared in the Builder, a Masonic publication, after his death, which is included her:

FROM the Chicago Masonic Chronicler we learn of the death of Bro. William Henry Pierce on January 6. It is probable that at the least two out of three of the many readers of the Chronicler always turned first to the page on which appeared the weekly contribution from the "Hired Man," under which pseudonym Bro. Pierce was wont to hold forth his homely and penetrating philosophy of life veiled in anecdotes and illustrated by a whimsical humor all his own. Bro. Rapp, the Editor, thus expresses himself on the departure of his old friend and co-worker:

"Our good friend and co-laborer, William Henry Pierce, passed from earth January 6. The tenement of flesh which had housed his gentle spirit is now mingled with the dust in Oakridge cemetery. A multitude of personal friends will mourn his departure, but a much larger circle of acquaintances, who knew him only as the "Hired Man" and gained their knowledge of his personality through reading what he wrote for this column, will feel that they have lost a friend   A commentator of great acuteness and interesting quality is gone.
"It has been evident for many months to his intimates that Brother Pierce's thoughts were dwelling much on the translation from earthly existence to the life eternal, and that he was preparing himself for the inevitable change that he felt was not far away. Many things he has written in the past year or two have revealed to our readers the trend of his thought. To us nothing among his contributions reveals his state of mind more poignantly and pathetically than the following, which appeared in The Chronicler of February 23, 1929:
"'When my father, in 1895, built a house on Latrobe avenue in Austin he planted four lilac bushes on the lot, one in front of the house and three in the back yard. The one in the front of the house and the one beside the north fence in the back yard never did well, the first never having more than three or four blooms on it at once and the other perhaps a dozen. But the two near the south fence in the back yard were marvels of fragrance and beauty every year, being profuse bearers of magnificent blooms. The spring of 1900 was a very early one. Father died on April 28 of that year, and the lilac bushes were in bloom, so we took the blossoms to the cemetery with us and placed them above him, as we knew he would wish, for he loved them. Six years later, on May 11, 1906, we laid Little Bill beside grandpa. Again the lilac bushes were full of blooms, and these we carried with us, for they were Little Bill's special pride. The year 1912 was cold and backward. On June 6, when my mother died, the lilac bushes were again loaded with their beautiful flowers, and again we took them to Oakridge.
" 'It will not be long now until the lilac bushes will be in bloom once more.'
"In consequence of Brother Pierce's death, a few weeks previous to lilac time, which he thus set as the limit of his life, the "Hired Man" column will be discontinued when accumulated matter of his writing has been published."

1. ↑ Death Certificate, Cook County, IL.
2. ↑ 1920 Census Cook County IL, ED.
3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Cook, Illinois, United States. 1900 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration Publication T623).

   Precinct 2 West Town Chicago City Ward 35, Cook county, ED 1132, Sheet 9A, Family 171, Lines 32-38, NARA microfilm publication T623