Introduction

Biography

John was the son of James Pier­pont and Eli­za­beth Coll­ins; fa­ther of James Lord Pier­pont, cre­at­or of the fa­mous 1857 song Jin­gle Bells (al­so known as The One Horse Op­en Sleigh and Dash­ing Through the Snow); and grand­fa­ther of fi­nan­cier John Pier­pont Mor­gan.

John Pier­pont mar­ried twice: to Ma­ry Shel­don Lord (1810) and Har­ri­et Lou­ise Camp­bell Fow­ler (1857).

He gra­du­at­ed from Yale Col­lege (1804), worked as a tu­tor in New Ha­ven, Con­nec­ti­cut, and in Charles­town, South Ca­ro­li­na, then be­came a law­yer in 1812. Shortly af­ter, he left law and went in­to bu­si­ness, onl­y to leave it, too, and at­tend Har­vard Col­lege to stu­dy theo­lo­gy.

In 1819, he be­came pas­tor of the Hol­lis Street Church in Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts. His zeal against drink­ing and slav­ery made him re­sign in 1840.

In 1845, he be­came pas­tor of a Uni­ta­ri­an con­gre­ga­tion in Troy, New York. He served an­oth­er Uni­ta­ri­an church in Med­ford, Mas­sa­chu­setts (1849–59).

At age 70, he be­came a chap­lain in the Am­eri­can ar­my, and was lat­er ap­point­ed a clerk in the Trea­su­ry De­part­ment in Wash­ing­ton, DC.

Works

• Airs of Pa­les­tine (B. Edes, print­er, 1816)
• The Ame­ri­can First Class Book, Or, Exer­cise­s in Read­ing and Re­ci­ta­tion Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Cum­mings & Hill­iard and Ri­chard­son & Lord, 1825)
• The Na­tion­al Read­er: A Se­lect­ion of Ex­er­cis­es in Read­ing and Speak­ing (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Ri­chard­son, Lord & Hol­brook and Hill­iard, Gray, Lit­tle and Wil­kins, 1832)
• The Gard­en of Graves, 1832 & 1841
• The Young Read­er: To Go with the Spell­ing Book (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Da­vid H. Will­iams, 15th ed­ition 1839)
• Airs of Pa­les­tine, and Oth­er Poe­ms (Lon­don & Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: John Green & James Mun­roe, 1840)
• A Dis­course on the Co­ve­nant with Ju­das (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Charles C. Lit­tle & James Brown, 1842)
• The An­ti-Slav­ery Po­ems of John Pier­pont (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Ol­iv­er John­son, 1843)
• Phrenology and the Scrip­tures (New York: Fowl­ers and Wells, 1850)
• The Pil­grims of Ply­mouth (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Cros­by, Ni­chols, 1856)