Richard [Nicholls] Harison / Harrison - Onondaga and Oswego ...

Greenleaf, and acted as their agent in Philadelphia where he realized a small fortune on his own account by the purchase of the
government debt. In 1793, he formed a partnership with a cousin on his mother's side, William Leffingwell, and established in New
York City the commercial house of Leffingwell & Pierrepont.
France at that time was in the throes of its Revolution, and its agriculture was neglected, and its supplies were derived from abroad,
principally from America. 'Mr. Pierrepont went to France to attend to the shipment of provisions, and was in Paris during the
bloodiest of the Revolution's bloody days. He saw Robespierre beheaded on 28 Jul 1794, and was so affected by the sight of blood
that he feared his weakness would be mistaken as an indication of sympathy, and that he would be made to suffer accordingly.
The seizures that were made on the seas by England so embarrassed the trade of his firm with France that they determined to
abandon it, and Mr. Pierrepont went to India and China on a trading voyage, acting as his own super-cargo. On his return with a
valuable cargo, his ship, called the "Confederacy," Scott Jenks, Master, was captured off the coast of France on the 3rd or 4th of
June, 1797, by the French privateer "Duguai Trouin," Capt. Dutache in command, and was taken as prize into Nantes. It was there
(illegally) condemned and sold for the sum of 1,650,701 livres, equal to about $330,000 in American money. Mr. Pierrepont
remained in France, asserting the claim of his firm against the government for the seizure and seemed in a fair way of recovering
the value of both ship and cargo when the United States entered into a treaty with France, by the terms of which our government
assumed all claims of American citizens against the French government. These claims, popularly termed the "French Spoliation
Claims prior to 1800," were long before Congress. The firm of Leffingwell & Pierrepont dissolved partnership in 1800, and under the
articles of dissolution Mr.. Pierrepont assumed the responsibility of prosecuting the claim for the seizure of the "Confederacy" and its
cargo, and dividing the same when realized among those entitled thereto. Resolutions in favor of a payment of the claim were
passed in each of the thirteen states; twenty-four reports were made to the United States Senate in favor of payment; twenty similar
reports were made to the House of Representatives; while one adverse report was made to the Senate and two to the House. No
adverse report was made after publication of the correspondence in 1826; nevertheless, two bills for payment which subsequently
passed both houses were vetoed, one by President Polk, and another by President Pierce. A third bill was approved by President
Arthur and became law on June 20, 1885; but the money which was appropriated as restitution for a loss occurring in 1797 was not
actually paid until March, 1891, and even then the amount paid by the government was but $160,478.29, or less than one-half the
amount of the principal of the claim, and without interest.
After the seizure of the "Confederacy" Mr. Pierrepont was detained for some time in England in order to collect what insurance he
could on the venture, only a part of which, however, he succeeding in recovering. His neutral character as an American enabled him
to travel without difficulty on the continent, although war prevailed. Our country being represented abroad at that time by able men,
Mr. Pierrepont enjoyed, as well in as out of diplomatic circles, the society of many whose friendships were then cemented and lasted
during life; and among these was the inventor, Robert Fulton. With his advice and influence Mr. Pierrepont aided Mr. Fulton in the
establishment of Fulton Ferry, between New York and Brooklyn, and always took the keenest interest in the improvement of this, the
main entrance to Brooklyn, until the construction of bridges and later of subways reduced to a minimum the usefulness of the ferry.
Mr. Pierrepont was one of the subscribers toward the purchase of this ferry from the assigns of Fulton, and continued a director of
the Union Ferry Company until his death.
In 1802 Mr. Pierrepont married Anna Maria Constable, daughter of William K. Constable, a distinguished merchant and the
largest owner of wild-lands in the state of New York. Considering foreign commerce too hazardous in the then disturbed political
state of Europe, Mr. Pierrepont abandoned it and visited New England in order to examine its manufactories. Finding the
manufacture of gin to be extremely profitable, he engaged Col. James Anderson of Connecticut to establish a distillery for him, and
about 1804, he purchased in Brooklyn the brewery then belonging to Philip Livingston at the foot of Joralemon Street which had
been burnt during the war of the Revolution; and he there established a distillery which obtained a high reputation. It was at that time
the only manufactory of the kind in the state, and proved to be a source of great profit.
Early in 1804, Mr. Pierrepont purchased on Brooklyn Heights the so-called Benson Farm and the spacious residence which was
situated on the Heights where the Plaza now stands on Montague Street Hill overlooking the confluence of the Hudson and East
rivers; and in the same year he moved into the mansion. (See picture opposite page 162.) He subsequently bought the adjoining
farm of Robert DeBevoise on the north and a part of the Remsen farm on the south, thus owning in all a tract of sixty acres, with a
frontage of eight hundred feet on the East River and extending back about a half mile between Love Lane on the north and Remsen
Street on the south, to the old Jamaica Road or Fulton Street, as it was subsequently called.
Through his father-in-law, William K. Constable, Mr. Pierrepont's attention was drawn to lands in the northern counties of the state;
and believing that the possibilities of those lands for timber supply and for the market gardening of New York City, with the ready
means of transportation by the then projected Erie Canal and sloops on the Hudson River, invited a large future return to the
investment, he bought in 1806 the town of Pierrepont and subsequently Lewisville and Stockholm. He afterwards made large
additions to his purchases from the estate of Mr. Constable and others, and became the owner of about a half million acres. He did
not know that steam would soon become a factor in transportation by water and on land. His properties lay in Oswego, Jefferson,
Lewis, St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, and, abandoning in 1819 his distillery in Brooklyn, he spent part of every summer during
the remaining nineteen years of his life in visiting those lands in company with his two sons, William and Henry, whom he had
educated with special reference to their management. On his earlier visits, he would travel on horseback, making thus the entire tour
from Schenectady through Jefferson, St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties. On his first visit in 1803, he saw the country an almost
unbroken forest; but he had the gratification through a long series of years of watching its gradual settlement and improvement, no
small part of which was the result of his own exertion. In his treatment of his settlers, for more than thirty years, he was uniformly
kind and lenient, and he extended his indulgence in the collection of their dues for long periods together, very much to his own
pecuniary inconvenience.
Mr. Pierrepont foresaw, at an early period, the future growth of Brooklyn which was then mainly devoted to farms by market
gardeners or was occupied by country residences. He was one of a committee in 1815 which framed and procured the act of the
Legislature incorporating Brooklyn as a village; and he afterward served as one of the trustees. As chairman of the street committee
of the Village Trustees, he exerted himself to secure an open promenade for the public along the heights from Fulton Ferry to
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