History of Ocala, (Marion County) Florida United States of America

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Biographies:

Henry Miller Pierce, educator and inventor, was born in Susquehanna county, Pa., Oct. 6, 1831; son of Henry Miller and Susan (Peironnet) Pierce; grandson of Dr. John Harvey and Jane (Miller) Pierce and of James Stephen and Susan (Bishop) Peironnet, and a descendant of Dr. William Harvey, who discovered the circulation of the blood, and of Admiral Adam Duncan, the hero of Camperdown in 1797. His parents camo to America from England in 1820. He was graduated at Waterville college, Maine, A.B., 1853, A.M., 1857; was principal of Newcastle academy, 1853-55, of the high school, Chicopee Falls, Mass., 1856-57, and president of Rutgers Cortege for Women, New York city, 1858-71. In 1861 with Dr. Francis Lieber and Judge White of New York he organized the army ambulance corps and personally directed its work, 1861-62. He was married, Nov. 9, 1855, to Mary Quimby, daughter of Joshua and?(Stockbridge) Page of Bath, Me., and secondly, June 21, 1866, to Mary Jane, daughter of Col. Dennis and Mary H. (Stewart) Church of Riga, N.Y. He was manager of charcoal and iron manufacturing companies, Bangor and Elk Rapids, Mich., Nashville and Goodrich, Tenn., and Calera and Decatur, Ala., 1871-94, and was president of the West Nashville Improvement company, 1887-94. He invented processes for making acetate of lime and wood alcohol from the waste gases of charcoal kilns. He introduced wood alcohol on the commercial market and also became interested in the development of the phosphate industry. He made a number of inventions in connection with the iron and chemical industries for which 27 patents were issued to him. West Nashville, which city he founded in 1887, became the centre of extensive manufacturing industries. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Bucknell university, Lewisburg, Pa., 1866. He removed to Washington, D.C., in 1890 and to Rochester, N.Y., in 1894. He died at Ocala, Fla., Feb. 18, 1902.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Frederic Perry Stanton, representative, was born in Alexandria, Va., Dec. 22, 1814; son of Richard and Harriet (Perry) Stanton. He was graduated from Columbian university, Washington, D.C., in 1833; studied theology and afterward law, and practised in Memphis, Tenn. He was a Democratic representative in the 29th-33d congresses, 1845?55, serving as chairman of the committee on naval affairs and of the judiciary committee, 1853?55; was secretary of the territory of Kansas from April to December, 1857, and upon the departure of Governor Walker to Washington in 1857, Stanton became acting governor, serving until Dec. 21, 1857, when the President sent J. W. Denver as secretary. Stanton then joined Governor Walker in Washington, but soon after returned to Kansas, and on May 12, 1858, Denver was made governor. He resigned, Oct. 10, 1858, and was succeeded by Samuel Midway. Kansas was admitted as a state. Jan. 29, 1861; the legislature convened in March and four candidates were presented to the joint session for the offices of U.S. senator, F. P. Stanton, J. M. Parrott, James H. Lane and S. C. Pomeroy, and, after an exciting contest, the two latter were declared elected, the defeated candidates freely charging the result to illegal voting and the combination of two candidates on one ballot. Mr. Stanton then removed to Washington, D.C., where he practised law. He was president of the International Peace League, and a delegate to the Richmond convention of 1882. He was married in 1834, to Jane Harriet, daughter of the Rev. William Lamphier of Alexandria, D.C., and his son, Henry Thompson, served as captain and major in the Confederate army; was a member of the U.S. Indian commission, and became well known as an author and editor. Frederic Perry Stanton died at Ocala, Fla., June 4, 1894.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor