Howard-Newton-Madison County IN Archives Biographies.....Piercy, Charles M. 1855 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com April 5, 2006, 4:13 am

Author: Jackson Morrow (circa 1909)

CHARLES M. PIERCY.

   One of the most difficult literary tasks is to write an unexceptionable
memoir of a living man. If the life is worthy of record there is always danger
of offending that delicacy which is inseparable from merit: for even moderate
praise, when it meets the eyes of its subject is apt to seem fulsome, while a
nice sense of propriety would not be the less wounded by a dry abstract
containing nothing but names and dates. To sum up a career which is not yet
ended would appear like recording events which have not transpired; since justly
to estimate the scope and meaning of a history it is important that we have the
closing chapter. In writing biographical notice, therefore, the chronicler from
the moment he takes up his pen should consider the subject as no longer among
his contemporaries, for thus he will avoid the fear of offending by bestowing
praise where it is merited and escape the risk of giving but a fragmentary view
of that which must eventually be taken as a unit. At some risk, therefore, the
writer in this connection addresses himself to the task of placing on record the
life and character of a man who, by the force of strong individuality, has
achieved more than ordinary success in one of the most responsible and exacting
callings, and by sheer force of individuality won for himself an enviable
position among the leading men of the city and county honored by his citizenship.

   Charles M. Piercy, for a number of years one of the most enterprising and
progressive educators of Howard county, is a native of Franklin county, Ohio,
and the son of William and Phoebe Piercy, the father an American by birth; the
mother, whose family name was Goodwine, was born in Germany. Mrs. Piercy was
brought to this country in childhood and grew to maturity in Ohio, where in due
time she was married. Later the family came to Indiana and located at Anderson,
where Mrs. Piercy maintained her children by working as a nurse, subsequently
becoming a tailoress, in both of which callings she acquired more than ordinary
efficiency and skill. The subject was a small boy when the family moved to the
above place, where he remained until his tenth year, at which time (1865) he
accompanied his mother to Howard county, where she has since resided, her
present home being in the city of Kokomo. To William and Phoebe Piercy were born
six children, four daughters and two sons, one of the former, Mollie M., who
married Marion Fletcher, dying in 1890, and one of the latter departing this
life when a child of two years. Those living are Charles M., of this review;
Emma L., widow of the late G. W. Moore, of Kokomo; Ora, wife of W. E. Hayes,
also of Kokomo, and Clara C. who lives in Chicago.

   Charles M. Piercv, whose birth occurred on the 11th day of February, 1855,
was quite young when the family moved from Ohio to Indiana, and, as already
indicated, he spent his early childhood in Newton county and in 1865 was brought
by his mother to the county with which he has since been very closely
identified. On coming to Howard county he made his home with his uncle, Charles
P. Goodwine, a prosperous farmer of Howard township, with whom he lived until
his eighteenth year, in the meantime becoming familiar with the rugged duties of
country life and learning those lessons of industry and consecutive effort which
proved of such value to him in after years. Leaving the farm in 1870, he came to
Kokomo to learn the carpenter's trade with Lewis Goodwine, another uncle, under
whose direction he continued until becoming a proficient workman, meanwhile
attending at interludes the public schools of the city, in which he made
substantial progress in his various studies. While living in the country he
attended the district school during the winter seasons, and having early
manifested a decided taste for study and books determined to acquire a good
education, in which laudable ambition he was heartily seconded by his mother,
who gave him all the encouragement within her power. When he began working for
himself at the age of twenty-two it was with the one object of mental
improvement ever uppermost in his thoughts, and being a good mechanic it was not
long until he was enabled to carry out his plans by entering in 1876 the
Northern Indiana Normal University, at Valparaiso, which he attended during the
spring and summer terms of that year, in the fall becoming a student of the
Howard county normal at Kokomo. Devoting himself assiduously to his studies with
the object in view of becoming a teacher, he was enabled in the fall of the
above year to pass the examination and- secure a license, immediately after
which he was hired to teach in the same country district school where he had
formerly attended school, his first term proving a decided success, as he
pleased both patrons and pupils and earned a creditable record as a capable and
painstaking instructor.

Mr. Piercy continued to teach in Howard county until 1879, when he went to
Kansas, but not finding the advantages there that he had anticipated he soon
returned to this county, and after teaching one term in Center township entered
the State Normal school at Terre Haute, which he attended until becoming
principal of the fourth ward school at Kokomo in the fall of 1881. Resigning
this position after one term, he was chosen principal of the Center township
graded school at Grange Hall, where he taught the ensuing three years, at the
expiration of which time he took charge of the seventh year work in the Kokomo
city schools and continued the same with great satisfaction of the board and
patrons from 1885 to 1887, returning to Grange Hall in the latter year. After
two more years as principal of that school Mr. Piercy in 1889 was again made
principal of the old fourth ward school in Kokomo, which position he held until
1891, when he obtained a leave of absence for the purpose of further prosecuting
his studies in the State Normal school, which institution he attended during the
period indicated and at intervals thereafter until finishing the prescribed
course and receiving his certificate of graduation in 1896. Meantime a new
building of eleven rooms had been erected in Kokomo, of which Mr. Piercy was
made principal, with seven assistants; he taught in this place before and after
completing the course of work in the State Normal, and in 1898 was transferred
to the old Normal building of District No. 1, where with nine assistants he
taught very successfully for a period of six years, during which time he earned
distinctive prestige as one of the leading educators of the city and became
widely and favorably known among the progressive school men of Howard and
neighboring counties. Mr. Piercy taught his last term as principal of the New
Central building during the year 1903-4, at the expiration of which he resigned
his position, severed his connection with educational work and turned his
attention to business pursuits, being since that time proprietor of a wood and
coal yard on the corner of Buckeye and Monroe streets in the city of Kokomo and
commanding an extensive and lucrative patronage.

   As a teacher Mr. Piercy had few equals and no superiors in the county, where
his signal success was achieved, and during his fifteen years of service he
spared no pains to fit himself for efficiency in the profession, having in
addition to finishing his course in the State Normal school attended several
summer terms at the Indiana State University at Bloomington. A man of high
ideals, he strove earnestly to impress upon the minds of his pupils the
necessity of correct living, and to this end his aim was ever in the direction
of symmetrical development, instead of devoting his entire attention to the
cultivation of the intellect. His efforts to promote the moral well-being of
those under his charge won for him a warm and abiding place in their affections,
and today his most loyal and devoted friends are to be found among the men and
women who as boys and girls profited by his instruction and were induced to
aspire to higher aims in life through his counsel and advice.

   Mr. Piercy is a Republican in politics and takes an active interest in public
affairs, being an influential factor in his party and well informed on the
leading questions in issue before the people. In religion he is a consistent
member of the Christian church of Kokomo, to which his wife also belongs, and
his fraternal relations are represented by the Pythian Order, in which he has
served in the capacity of vice chancellor.

   Mr. Piercy is a married man and the father of four children, his wife, to
whom he was united in the bonds of wedlock on September 5, 1894, having formerly
been Sallie Garr, who was born and reared in Center township, Howard county, in
the public schools of which and the Female College at Eminence, Kentucky, she
received her educational training. The names of the children born to Mr. and
Mrs. Piercy are Frances Ruth, Mary Lucile, George William Garr and John Charles
Monroe.


Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY OF HOWARD COUNTY INDIANA
BY
JACKSON MORROW, B. A.
ILLUSTRATED
VOL. II
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

(circa 1909)



File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/howard/bios/piercy297nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/infiles/

File size: 9.7 Kb