Francis Harrison Pierpont, Artifacts Collected by Jack Sandy Anderson
Collection
Collection Number: A&M 3926
Ceramic and glassware items owned by Francis Harrison Pierpont (1814-1899) and his wife Julia Augusta (Robertson) Pierpont. Francis Pierpont of Monongalia and Marion Counties, West Virginia, participated in the West Virginia statehood movement, and served as governor of the Restored Government of Virginia during the Civil War. The collection includes a platter, small plate, pickle dish, salt cellar, egg cup, spoon holder, goblet, pitcher, sugar bowl, and oil lamp. Acquired by the donor Jack Anderson in 1957, the provenance of these items can be traced to Mrs. Anna Siviter, daughter of the Pierponts.
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Francis Harrison Pierpont was born in Monongalia County, (West) Virginia on January 25, 1814, the son of Francis and Catherine Weaver Pierpont. He married Julia Augusta Robertson (July 26, 1828 - March 25, 1886) on December 26, 1854. He graduated from Allegheny College, Pennsylvania, in 1839, and began teaching in Mississippi and later in (West) Virginia. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in Fairmont, Marion County, (West) Virginia, in 1842. During the 1840s and 1850s, he became interested in politics, joined the Whig Party, and opposed slavery. He participated in the First and Second Wheeling Conventions in 1861. Elected Governor of the Restored Government of Virginia on June 20, 1861, he continued to serve as Governor of Virginia after the Civil War, until 1868. He continued in politics, serving one term in the West Virginia Legislature in 1870, and serving as Collector for the Internal Revenue Service in West Virginia in 1880. After retiring from politics, he spent the final years of his life as a founder and member of the West Virginia Historical Society. He died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on March 24, 1899.
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The following information was received from the donor of the collection:
"In March 1957, I acquired several pieces of glass and china that had belonged to Gov. and Mrs. Francis H. Pierpont. They had been given, circa 1899, to Mrs. Thomas H.B. Staggers by the Pierpont daughter, Mrs. Anna Pierpont Siviter, when she was closing the Pierpont home in Fairmont.
Mrs. Staggers was born Laura Jeanette Burns and was one of Mrs. Siviter's childhood friends. The Burns family was a prominent 19th century Fairmont family and friends of the Pierponts. Mrs. Staggers' husband had been a protege of Gov. Pierpont after he settled in Fairmont in 1879 to practice law.
Mrs. Staggers gave the Pierpont pieces to her daughter, Mrs. Oscar (Margaret Staggers) Robey (1888-1957) of Fairmont. For years I was a frequent guest in her home and from her heard many stories of long-ago Fairmont people, including Gov. Pierpont, whom she well-remembered."
2.6 Linear Feet (Summary: 2 ft. 6 1/2 in. (flat storage box, 3 1/2 in.); (4 artifact storage boxes, 5 in. each); (artifact storage box, 7 in.))
English
Ceramic and glassware items owned by Francis Harrison Pierpont (1814-1899) and his wife Julia Augusta (Robertson) Pierpont. Francis Pierpont of Monongalia and Marion Counties, West Virginia, participated in the West Virginia statehood movement, and served as governor of the Restored Government of Virginia during the Civil War. See the scope and content note and historical note for further detail.
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Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository