Hezekiah Pierrepont

Pierrepont was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1768 to a long-established New England family. He was one of ten children, only four of whom survived to adulthood. His parents were John Pierpont and Sarah ( Beers) Pierpont. His maternal grandparents were Nathan Beers and Hannah ( Nichols) Beers. His paternal grandparents were Lydia ( Hemingway) Pierpont (a daughter of Rev. Jacob Hemingway who married Capt. Theophilus Morgan after his grandfather's death) and Hezekiah Pierpont, a son of the Rev. James Pierpont, a founder of Yale University. ==Career==

ferry After making some money by speculating on the national debt, He bought – part of the Livingston estate, plus the Benson, De Bevoise and Remsen farms, – on what was then called "Clover Hill", now Brooklyn Heights, and built a mansion there. The city then prepared for the establishment of a street grid, although there were competing plans for the size of the lots. John and Jacob Hicks, who also owned property in Brooklyn Heights, north of Pierrepont's, favored smaller lots, as they were pitching their land to tradesman and artisans already living in Brooklyn, not attempting to lure merchants and bankers from Manhattan as Pierrepont was. To counter the Hickses' proposal, Pierrepont hired a surveyor and submitted an alternative. The Hickses' plan was adopted north of Clark Street, and Pierrepont's, featuring 25 by 100 foot (8 by 30 meter) lots, south of it. By 1823, Pierrepoint was advertising and selling lots to New York City merchant and bankers, lauding the ease of transportation by ferry as opposed to by land from Upper Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights soon became the "first commuter suburb", ==Personal life==

On January 21, 1802, Pierrepont was married to Anna Marie Constable (1783–1859) by Bishop Provost. Anna came from a prominent New York City merchant and landowning family. As a wedding present from her father, William Constable, a partner of Alexander Macomb, received a half a million acres of land, becoming a major property owner in Upstate New York; the town of Pierrepont, New York is named after him. Together, they were the parents of: • William Constable Pierrepont (1803–1885), who married Cornelia Ann Butler, a daughter of Dr. Benjamin Butler, in 1830. • Anna Constable Pierrepont (1805–1839), who married Gerrit Gansevoort Van Wagenen. • Henry Evelyn Pierrepont (1808–1888), who married Anna Maria Jay, a daughter of Peter Augustus Jay and granddaughter of Founding Father John Jay. • Emily Constable Pierrepont (1810–1881), who married Joseph Alfred Perry. Through his son Henry, he was a grandfather of Mary Pierrepont, the first wife of Rutherfurd Stuyvesant, John Jay Pierrepont, and Julia Jay Pierrepont. ==References==