El
Dorado County
Biographies
REV. C. C. PIERCE
El Dorado County has one citizen who
is beloved by all irrespective of party, religious or other affiliations; not
because of riches, for he has none; not because of position, as he considers
himself as only a humble worker in the Master’s vineyard; nor because of any
expected material benefits, but simply because he has spent his life in
earnestly and unselfishly endeavoring to benefit his fellow-men without a thought
of fame or reward. Like the Master, the
poor are his people and he watches over them as a shepherd guards his
flocks. In addition to his duties as
officiating minister at the Episcopal Church at Placerville, he walks all over
the county, holding services in the various school-houses, and uses all of his
spending money in buying books and papers for the children. He ministers to the sick and cares for the
dying, not because he is a minister, but because it is his nature to do
so. The universal regard which is felt
for him is simply a spontaneous tribute to his kindly character and
disinterested motives.
Rev. C. C. Pierce was born in
Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 2, 1825. He attended the Woodward high school,
after which he studied law. He finally
entered the ministry, graduating at the General Theological Seminary of the
Protestant Episcopal Church at New York, and was ordained in Trinity Church
upon the first day of July, 1860. On the
very next day he left for San Francisco, arriving there on the 25th. He came to Placerville on the 30th
of March, 1861, and for nearly five years held services in the court room. In 1865-6 the Episcopal church
was built by the general community and Mr. Pierce has been the officiating
minister, without salary, ever since. He
also holds gospel meetings in twenty-four districts.
[The above brief account is taken,
by permission, from the Mountain Democrat, of Placerville, California]
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 660-661. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2011
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden
Nugget Library's El Dorado County Biographies