PIATT-PTCKERING. 



206 



Sons Piano Company, of Boston. Mass.. was organized 

 in 1884, succeeding Henry F. Miller, wlu> had estab- 

 lished himself as early as 18C3 ; the Emerson Piano 

 Company, and the Ivers & Pond Piano Company, also 

 have their head-quartan in Boston. Many others, too 

 numerous to name here, have arisen within recent 

 years. The Mason & Hamlin Organ and Piano Com- 

 pany deserves mention for the new method of string- 

 ing it has introduced. By this system, which was 

 patented in 1883, the strings are secured by metal- 

 lic fastenings directly to the iron frame, instead of 

 winding them around wrest-pins set in wood as in the 

 old system. 



The business of piano-making in this country is con- 

 tinually assuming larger proportions, and new firms 

 continue to spring up. Naturally, a certain percentage 

 of the work produced is cheap and poor. But on the 

 whole the many useful improvements made in the con- 

 struction of the piano by American manufacturers 

 have served to make their instruments superior in 

 many ways to those produced in Europe, (p. L. w.) 



PI ATI'. JOHN JAMES, poet, was oorn at Milton, 

 Dearborn co., Ind., March 1, 1835. Taken in boy- 

 hood to Columbus, Ohio, he became a printer. In 

 1856 he removed to Illinois and soon began to con- 

 tribute poems to the Louisville Journal, whose editor, 

 G. D. Prentice, proved a steadfast friend. In 1860 

 Piatt and W. D. Howells published at Columbus 

 I', >nis of Tu:r> Friend*. In 1861 Piatt removed to 

 Washington, having been appointed clerk in the U. S. 

 Treasury Department. In 1867 he engaged in news- 

 iiapcr work in Cincinnati, but in ] 870 he returned to 

 Washington as clerk in Congress, and two years later 

 was made librarian of the lower House. In 1882 he 

 was appointed U. S. consul at Cork, Ireland. His 

 publications are Next* <il II W< ///.'/'"" (1864); Poems 

 in Sunshine, ami firelight (1866); Western Windows 

 (1869); Landmark* and other Poem* (1871). The 

 later volumes contain old retouched as well as new 

 poems. His uncle, DONN PIATT, born in 1829, rose 

 to the rank of colonel in the civil war, and is noted as 

 a journalist. 



J. J. Piatt' s wife, SARAH MORGAN BRYAN PIATT. 

 born near Lexington. Ky., Aug. 11, 1836. was educated 

 at Henry Female College, Newcastle, Ky., and early 

 wrote poems for the IjnnuviUe Journal. She was 

 married in 1861, and some of her early poems were 

 published in Nests at Washington and others in 

 A Woman'* Poem* (1871). Her poems are thoughtful 

 and deep in sentiment, but sometimes obscure. 



PICKENS, ANDREW (1739-1817), general, was born 

 at Paxton, Bucks co., Pa., Sept. '19, 1739. His 

 parents, who were of Huguenot descent, removed to 

 South Carolina in 1752. In 1761 Andrew served in 

 an expedition against the Chcrokees, and at the put- 

 break of the revolution he was made captain of militia. 

 Throughout the struggle he displayed patriotic zeal, 

 and rose to the rank of brigadier-general. In Febru- 

 ary, 1779, he defeated a band of Tories under Col. 

 Boj-d at Kettle Creek ; in June he covered the retreat 

 at Stono Ferry, and later in the same year defeated the 

 Cherokees at Tomassee. For his part in the battle of 

 Cowncns, Jan. 17. 1781, see COWRBU. He had com- 

 mand of the Carolina volunteers at Eutaw Springs, 

 Sept. 8, 1781. He made an expedition against the 

 Cherokees in 1782, which resulted in the cession of a 

 large territory. He was afterwards member of the 

 State Legislature (1783-94), then member of Congress 

 for a single term, and major-general of militia. He 

 took part in negotiating several treaties with the In- 

 dians. In 1765 he married Rebecca Calhoun, aunt of 

 John C. Calhoun. He died in Pendleton District, 

 S. C., Aug. 17, 1817. 



His son, ANDREW PICKENS. became governorof South 

 Carolina in 1816, and died in 1838. FRANCIS W. 

 PlCKENS (1 807-1 869), son of Andrew was noted as a 

 Secession leader. Educated at South Carolina College, 

 be wan a lawyer and first obtained note as a speaker in 



the Legislature during the nullification excitement in 

 1832. He maintained that Congress, being u creature 

 of the States severally, had no sovereign power. In 

 1835 he was elected to Congress, and there he denied 

 the right of Congress to abolish slavery in the District 

 of Columbia. After ten years' service in the national 

 legislature he was returned to the State Senate, where 

 he opposed a movement tor immediate secession. He 

 took part in the Southern Convention at Nashville in 

 1850 and in the Democratic National Convention at 

 Cincinnati in 1854. He was sent as U. S. minister to 

 Russia in 1858, but returned to take part in the seces- 

 sion of South Carolina, of which State he was then 

 chosen governor. He demanded the surrender of Fort 

 Sumter from Major Anderson, and afterwards aided 

 in every way the rebellion. He retired from office in 

 1862 and died at Edgefield, S. C., Jan. 25, 1869. 



PICKERING, TIMOTHY (1745-1829), statesman, 

 was born at Salem, Mass., July 17, 1745. He grad- 

 uated at Harvard College in 1763, and became a lawyer 

 at Salem in 1768. He was prominent in resisting the 

 arbitrary measures of Parliament, and in 1 774, on be- 

 half of the people of Salem, he delivered an address 

 to Gov. Gage on the occasion of the Boston Port Bill. 

 While holding the office of judge, he published An 

 Easy Plan of Discipline for a Militia (\T15). which 

 became the textbook of the State. He served in the 

 revolution as colonel, and in 1777 was made adjutant- 

 general by Washington, and in 1780 quartermaster- 

 general. After the war he became a merchant in 

 Philadelphia. In 1786 he removed to Wilkesbarre to 

 organize the county of Luzerne and to settle the 

 disputes which had arisen from conflicting claims of 

 Connecticut and Pennsylvania to the Wyoming Valley. 

 While acting in this capacity he was seized by persons 

 in disguise, imprisoned and harshly treated for twenty 

 days. He was sent as delegate of Luzerne county to 

 the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention of 1790. 

 In Washington's administration he was postmaster- 

 general (1791-94), then secretary of war (1794-95), 

 and secretary of state (1795-1800). He had also been 

 much employed in negotiating treaties with the In- 

 dians of New York and Ohio, leaving office poor, 

 he lived for a time in a log-house at Wyoming, but 

 afterwards, by the sale of lands, was enabled to return 

 to Salem, Mass., where he was made judge of com- 

 mon pleas. In 1803 he was elected to the U. S. Senate, 

 being an ardent Federalist. During the war of 1812 

 he was a member of the board of war of Massachu- 

 setts. He was afterwards member of Congress for a 

 single term, but retired from public life at the age of 

 72. though he remained president of the Essex Agri- 

 cultural Society. He died at Salem, Jan. 29, 1829. 

 His Life, left incomplete by his son Octavius, was fin- 

 ished by C. W. Upham (4 vok, 1867-73). 



His oldest son, JOHN PICKERING (1777-1846), phi- 

 lologist, was born at Salem, Feb. 17, 1777, accompanied 

 his father in his visits to the Six Nations of New York, 

 and was thus led to investigate the Indian languages, 

 to which he devoted much attention throughout Rfc. 

 After graduating at Harvard in 1796 he spent some 

 time in diplomatic service at Lisbon and London, and 

 was afterwards a lawyer at Salem. From 1829 till his 

 death, on May 5, 1846, he was the city solicitor of 

 Boston. His chief publications were on philological 

 subjects, and include, besides treatises^ on the Indian 

 languages, a Vocabulary of Americanisms (1816) and 

 a Greek and Enc/lish Lexicon (1826), which reached a 

 third edition before his death and was long held in 

 high esteem. He was the founder of the American 

 Oriental Society and president of the American Acad- 

 emy of Arts and Sciences. 



Another son, OCTAVIUS PICKERING (1792-1868), 

 born in Wyoming Valley, Sept. 2, 1792, graduated at 

 Harvard College in 1810, and became a lawyer at 

 Boston. He was State reporter from 1822 to 1840, 

 publishing 24 volumes of Reports. He afterwards 

 lived in Europe for some years and died at Boston 



