John Pierce Jr.

John Pierce Jr. was born in Farmington, Connecticut on 3 December 1752, the son of John Pierce and Mary (Paterson) Pierce.^[1] His parents moved to Litchfield soon after his birth.^[1] His mother died in 1770, and in 1772 his father married Mary Goodman.^[1]

In 1775, Pierce joined the Continental Army for the American Revolutionary War.^[1] In 1776, he was appointed assistant paymaster-general, and in 1779 he was advanced to deputy paymaster-general.^[1] In 1781, Pierce became the paymaster-general with the rank of colonel, and he held this position until his death.^[1][2]

As paymaster-general in the years following the Revolution, Pierce supervised payment of more than 93,000 certificates for deferred soldier pay, which totaled more than 10 million dollars.^[1][a] As the Continental Army's Commissioner of Accounts from 1781 to 1783, it also fell to Pierce to settle the organization's accounts prior to its disbanding.^[1]

Pierce's father died in 1783; as the oldest of eight children, he assumed responsibility for his stepmother and younger siblings.^[1] In 1786, he brought his sisters Sarah and Nancy (or Anna) to New York City so they could receive the education and training necessary to become schoolteachers.^[1] After they returned to Litchfield, Pierce aided Sarah to begin the school that became known as Litchfield Female Academy.^[1]

In November 1786, Pierce married Ann Bard, the daughter of Dr. John Bard and sister of Dr. Samuel Bard.^[1][4] They had no children.^[4] He died in New York City on 1 August 1788.^[1][5]