A One-Name Study for the BARNUM/BARNHAM Surname
James Lord Pierpont (1822-1893). The colorful James Pierpont was the author of "One Horse Open Sleigh" which was first published in 1857. In 1859, he reissued the song under a new name: "Jingle Bells." It was a "sleighing song" which was a popular topic of the time and had nothing to do with Christmas, or for that matter, Thanksgiving (see below).
James Pierpont was born in 1822, while his father the Rev. John Pierpont (1785-1866) served as the Unitarian pastor of the Hollis Street Church in Boston. His father was an ardent abolitionist and noted poet. His mother was Mary Sheldon Lord, the daughter of Lynde Lord, Jr. (1762-1813), and Mary Lyman. Together, they had six children. The Pierpont name has been traced back as far as Charlemagne and the invasion of England by William the Conquerer.
In 1832, at the age of 10, James was sent to a boarding school in New Hampshire. He wrote his mother a letter about riding in a sleigh through the December snow. Four years after that, in 1836, 14-year-old James ran away to sea (aboard a ship called "the Shark"). Some sources indicate that the ship sailed as far as California. If so, it would have been only the first time.
By 1845, he was back on the East Coast, where his father was the minister of a Unitarian congregation in Troy, New York. Sometime between 1845 and 1849 James married Millicent Cowee, the daughter of Farwell Cowee and Abigail Merriam. They had two children, Mary and John. Mary was later a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR; Mary Pierpont Barnum, DAR # 17208). Rev. Pierpont accepted a position in Medford, MA in 1849.
That same year, Pierpont left his wife and children with his father in Massachusetts to open a business in San Francisco during the gold rush of 1849. It is reported that he also worked as a photographer. The business failed after his goods burned in a fire (there were several fires in the early years of San Francisco). After the fire, Pierpont returned to Medford.
In 1853, James’ brother, the Rev. John Pierpont, Jr. (1819-1879), accepted a post with the Savannah, Georgia, Unitarian congregation. James followed, taking a post as the organist and music director of the church. To support himself, he also gave organ and singing lessons (the organ is now in the possession of Florida State University). His wife and children remained in Massachusetts with his father, Rev. John Pierpont. That same year, James had his first songs published in Boston, among them "Kitty Crowe" and "The Colored Coquette." Nothing further is known about either of these songs. Several other songs, however, are known and have been recorded by Mr. Jamie Keena, a noted balladeer and authority on 19th century music. Songs performed by Mr. Keena include "Ring the Bell, Fanny," "Quitman Town March" and "Wait, Lady, Wait" as well as the three Confederacy songs mentioned below. Pierpont is also said to have published a number of ballads, polkas and minstrel songs.
Three years later, in 1856, his first wife Millicent died of tuberculosis. A year later, in August 1857, James married Eliza Jane Purse, daughter of Savannah's mayor, Thomas Purse. She very soon gave birth to the first of their children, Lillie. Pierpont's children by his first marriage remained in Massachusetts with their grandfather.
Also in August 1857, his song "One Horse Open Sleigh" was published by Oliver Ditson and Co. of Boston. Two years later it was re-released with the title "Jingle Bells, or The One Horse Open Sleigh". It was not a hit either time.
In 1859, the Unitarian Church in Savannah closed due to its abolitionist leanings, unpopular in those parts at that time. By at least 1860, Rev. John Pierpont, Jr. had returned to the North.
James, however, stayed in Savannah with his second wife Eliza Jane and at the beginning of the Civil War he joined the Isle of Hope Volunteers of the First Georgia Cavalry (later the Fifth Georgia Cavalry) of the Confederacy. Records indicate that he served as a company clerk. He also wrote music for the Confederacy, including "Our Battle Flag", "Strike for the South" and "We Conquer or Die." His father also saw military service — as a chaplain with the Union Army stationed in Washington, D.C.
After the war, James moved his family to Valdosta, Georgia, where he taught music and made many friends (and was involved in a local scandal). According to Savannah author Margaret DeBolt and researcher Milton J. Rahn, Pierpont's son, Maynard Boardman, was born in Valdosta. The 1870 Lowndes County Census lists: "Pierpont, James 48, Eliza J. 38, Lillie 16, Thomas 8, Josiah 5, and Maynard B. 4." Note that if Lillie was 16 in 1870, she was born in about 1854. The record, of course, could be in error.
In 1869, Pierpont moved to Quitman, Florida. There he was organist in the Presbyterian Church, gave private piano lessons and taught at the Quitman Academy, retiring as the head of the Music Department.
In 1880, Pierpont's son, Dr. Juriah Pierpont M.D., renewed the copyright on "Jingle Bells" but he never made much money from it. It took considerable effort to keep his father's name permanently attached to the song after the copyright expired.
Pierpont died in 1893 in Winter Haven, Fla. At his request, he was buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery in Savannah beside his brother-in-law Thomas who had been killed in the first battle of Bull Run.
A Research Guide to the Genealogy of the Barnum/Barnam/Barnham Family Worldwide
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