Abraham Pierson - New Haven, CT
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 41° 18.522 W 072° 55.739
18T E 673365 N 4575095
A statue of Abraham Pierson, the first president of Yale College, is located the Old Campus of Yale University between College and High Streets in New Haven, CT.
Waymark Code: WMWGKK
Location: Connecticut, United States
Date Posted: 09/03/2017
Views: 0
A 6' by 2' by 2' bronze statue of Abraham Pierson stands on a 6' high by 2.5' square granite base. The statue was sculpted by Launt Thompson in 1874 and cast at the Robert Wood & Company, foundry.
Abraham Pierson is depicted wearing knee length boots with a buckle at the instep and a ribbon at the top, clerical vestments, and clerical collar. He is wearing an academic robe is worn over his shoulders and he holds a book to his chest with his right hand.
The front of the base Is inscribed in Latin:
ABRAHAMUS PIERSON
PRIMUS
COLLEGIO YALENSI
PRAESEDIT
MDCCI - MDCCVII
ABRAHAM PIERSON
FIRST
YALE COLLEGE
PRESIDENT
MDCCI - MDCCVII
The back of the base is inscribed in Latin:
HANC STATUAM
PONENDAM CURAVI
CAROLUS MORGAN
NEO-EBORACENSIS
MDCCCLXXIV
THIS STATUE
ERECTED (BY)
CHARLES MORGAN
(OF) NEW YORK
MDCCCLXXIV
Abraham Pierson was born in 1646 in Southampton, Long Island, NY. Around 1647, Abraham's family moved from Southampton to Branford, New Haven Colony in what is now the State of Connecticut. He graduated from Harvard College in 1668, was ordained a minister and he joined his father in New Ark, NJ where he succeeded his father as pastor of the First Congregational Church in New Ark. He then moved to Greenwich, CT to become the pastor of the First Congregational Church of Greenwich. In 1694, he moved to Killingworth, now Clinton, CT, to become pastor of the Killingworth Congregational Church. With a library of over 400 books inherited from his father, Pierson began teaching classes in a school he founded which was to become Yale University. He served as President of Yale College from 1701 to 1707.