My Genealogy Hound

Hon. Rice A. Pierce, ex-member of Congress, was born in Dresden, Weakley Co., Tenn., July 3, 1847. His father, Thomas M. Pierce, is a native of Buckingham County, Va., and was born in 1807. He went to Halifax County, N. C., in his boyhood and came to Tennessee in 1845, and settled in what was then Weakley County (now Obion). His wife’s maiden name was Margaret J. Blacknall. She was born in North Carolina in 1813. Our subject’s grandfather was Capt. R. B. Pierce, of the regular United States Army, and a soldier in the war of 1812. He died in Halifax County, N. C., in the ninety-first year of his age. Rice A. Pierce was raised on a farm, and attended the common schools. In 1862 he joined the Eighth Tennessee Cavalry, Confederate States Army, and in 1864 was captured at Bolivar, Tenn., and held as a prisoner of war for nine months. After his return home he entered school at London, Canada, where he remained some time and then began the study of law at Halifax, N. C., under the direction of Judge Edward Canigland. He was licensed to practice in 1868, and the same year came to Union City and engaged in the practice of his profession. He is a leading lawyer of West Tennessee, and has gained prominence as a criminal lawyer. In 1874 he was elected attorney-general of the Twelfth District and was re-elected in 1878. In 1882 he was elected to the Forty-eighth United States Congress. He is a Democrat and belongs to the K. of P. and I. O. O. F. In 1872 he was married to Miss Mollie Hunter, of Scott County, Mo. She was born in 1853, and is a daughter of Hon. Isaac Hunter. They have one child, Thomas M.