C. S. Pierce, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of C. S. Pierce
C. S. PIERCE. The efficient and popular clerk of the courts of Porter county is a native son of this county, with whose history the family name has been linked for more than half a century. He has served continuously in his present office since 1902 and his long tenure of the same indicates the estimate placed upon his services by the people of the, community in which he has maintained his home from the time of his nativity.
Mr. Pierce was born in Valparaiso, Indiana, on the 18th of October, 1858, and is a son of Joseph and Julia (Haas) Pierce, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Virginia, both representing stanch German lineage. Joseph Pierce was born at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and was reared and educated in the old Keystone state, where he continued to reside until about the year 1854, when he came to Indiana and established his home in Valparaiso, the metropolis and judicial center of Porter county. Here he engaged in the lumber business, in connection with which he operated a saw mill, and he continued to be concerned with these lines of enterprise until 1867, when he turned his attention to the boot and shoe business, with which he continued to be identified for many years. He was one of the substantial business men and representative citizens of the county, where he ever commanded secure place in popular confidence and esteem, and he here served for a time as deputy collector of internal revenue for this district of Indiana. He was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. Joseph Pierce was summoned to the life eternal in 1890 and his widow passed away in 1900, both being held in gracious memory by all who knew them. They became the parents of four sons and four daughters, all of whom attained to years of maturity and all of whom are still living except one, C. S. of this review having been the fifth in order of birth.
C. S. Pierce is indebted to the public schools of Valparaiso for his early educational discipline and as a youth he became associated with the retail shoe business conducted by his honored father. With this line of enterprise he was here continuously identified for the long period of thirty years, and the business during this entire time was conducted in the original store, which became known as one of the landmarks in the mercantile section of Valparaiso, with a large and representative patronage and with a high reputation for fair and honorable dealings.
Mr. Pierce has ever shown a loyal interest in all that concerned the welfare of his native city and county and is essentially progressive and public-spirited. In politics he is found aligned as a stalwart in the ranks of the Republican party and he has given efficient service in the furtherance of its success in his home county. In November, 1902, he was elected clerk of the courts of Porter county, and by successive reelection he has since served consecutively in this important office, the manifold affairs of which he has administered with marked discrimination and efficiency, his last election having occurred in November, 1910. Mr. Pierce is well known throughout his native county and it may well be said that his circle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances. He is affiliated with Valparaiso Lodge, No. 500, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and takes much interest in the affairs of the same.
In the year of 1885 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Pierce to Miss Belle Anderson, of Buchanan, Michigan. Her parents, Drs. John and Elsie Anderson, were both successful physicians and both are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce have one son, Joseph A., who was born in the year of 1888, and who is now employed in the city of Chicago.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company. 1912. History of Porter County, Indiana: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, its People and its Principal Interests. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. 881 p.
Page(s) in Source: 873-875
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook