*Harriet Josephine Pierce

Harriet, first born child of Benjamin and Josette, was left in the care of Elizabeth McNeil (and sometimes her Grandmother Madame LaFramboise) at Mackinac after Benjamin was re-assigned to Florida...

Between assignments Benjamin would visit his children, either in Hillsboro, at his parents' or in Boston at the home of Elizabeth and Gen McNeil after McNeil's reassignment to Boston Harbor...on other occasions, when possible, all or some of the children would visit him at whatever post he was currently assigned.

Among other letters to Gen John McNei, with whose family, the children were often living were numerous mentions of his daughters Harriet and Elizabeth.

  From his then post in Holden, Maine he write to his sister Elizabeth McNeil and states, "my dear sister. Harriet wrote to you some day since informing you of her engagement to be married to Lieutenant Ricketts. He is a very clever young man of most correct and exemplary habits of most respectable connections and I have given my consent and I think he will make a good husband. " The marriage license was dated October 24,1840.

  In a letter dated Oct 11,1841 he writes to his sister that Harriet had given birth to a daughter, who she has named Elizabeth but was not expected to live ' the day'. However, both Harriet and the child seem to recover since another letter, dated Feb 3,1842 to Elizabeth McNeil , "My Dear Sister. I have nothing to report except the death of Harriet's little baby" and that "Harriet wishes to communicate this to you." (At this time Lt Ricketts appears to be away at Ft Fairfield further north in Maine).

A further dau. is indicated by ref to info that was provided by her, but no name was included in the source.

HARRIET JOSEPHINE PIERCE RICKETTS ....... Birth: 1818 Fort Mackinac Mackinac County Michigan, USA Death: Jan. 17, 1854 Elizabeth Union County New Jersey, USA

Harriet Josephine Pierce, the only daughter of Col. Benjamin Kendrick Pierce and the former Josette La Framboise, was born in 1818 at Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island were her father was commander. Her mother was the daughter of Magdaleine Marcotte La Framboise, a well-known fur-trader at the turn of the century. At the death of her mother, Harriett lived with her maternal grandmother until she came of age.

Harriet was also the niece of President Franklin Pierce. It was while living in Boston with a Pierce aunt (Elizabeth Pierce McNeil), Harriet met and married James Brewerton Ricketts, son of George Robert Ashe Ricketts and the former Mary Brewerton, of New York. James B. Ricketts would go on to be a career officer in the United States Army, serving as a Union Army general in the Eastern Theater during the American Civil War. Harriet and James Ricketts were married on October 18, 1840. They had one known daughter, Mary Brewerton.

On January 17th 1854, Harriet Josephine Pierce Ricketts died in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, as reported in the New York Evening Post, the following day. She was buried in the Rickett family vault in the churchyard cemetery at Trinity Church downtown on Wall Street in Manhattan.

Family links:

Parents:

 Benjamin K Pierce (1790 - 1850)

 Josephin Pierce (____ - 1820)

Spouse:

 James Brewerton Ricketts (1817 - 1887)

Children:

 Mary Brewerton Ricketts Graham (1842 - 1922)*

*Calculated relationship

Burial: Trinity Churchyard Manhattan New York County New York, USA Plot: Section 3S, southside

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Created by: GMG Record added: Sep 28, 2012 Find A Grave Memorial# 97912785

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