Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


EDWARD T. PIERCE, 
 
of Pasadena, was born at Meredith Square, March 19, 1851. He was the eldest of 
eleven children, ten boys and one girl. When he was eight years old his father, 
J. W. Pierce, purchased in Hamden, the same county, a farm, most of which was 
primeval forest. The summers were spent clearing land and farming, and the 
winters in attending the district school until he was seventeen years old. Among 
his companions he was noted for his studious habits, and Elder Post, a Baptist 
clergyman of the place, who gave him access to his library, said, "That boy just 
devoured my books!" After one term at an academy, 1868, he commenced teaching; 
and for two years worked on the farm summers, teaching winters. This thirst for 
more knowledge caused him to save the pennies until he could enter the Albany 
State Normal School, where he graduated with honor in 1872. Immediately after 
graduating he was appointed principal of the school in Orangeville, New York, 
which position he held for nearly two years, resigning to take a more important 
one at Linden, New Jersey. He remained for two years and a half at Linden, and 
then took a special course in the Albany Law School, receiving, in 1877, the 
degree of LL. B. The same year he was married to Isabelle Woodin, of Dutchess 
County, New York, also a graduate of the Albany Normal School. Teaching was the 
profession of both members of the new firm, and Prof. Pierce became principal of 
the graded school at Belleville, New Jersey, where he was ably assisted by his 
wife. The aid in the school and wise counsels of this true woman have done much 
to help Prof. Pierce to his present prominent position as an educator. For four 
years these co-laborers were ranked first among the educators of Essex County, 
New Jersey; but the cold winters of the Atlantic Coast were trying, and in 1881 
they came to California, Prof. Pierce purchasing a ranch at Sierra Madre, 
California. But the spirit of teaching could not be suppressed, and in 1883 Mr. 
Pierce accepted the position of principal of the Wilson School, then the only 
school of Pasadena. The next year new schools were established and the office of 
superintendent was added to that of principal. In this rapidly increasing 
population of cultivated people from all parts of the world, Prof. Pierce in six 
years succeeded in building up the finest school system in Southern California. 
He was several years a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Education and 
for his energy and devotion to his profession is considered one of the best 
educators south of San Francisco. March, 1889, he was unanimously elected by the 
board of trustees as principal of the new State Normal School at Chico, Butte 
County, California. By virtue of this office he is one of the five members 
forming the State Board of Education, and has a voice in all the great 
educational problems of the State.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 796
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler