Samuel “Squire” Peirson (sometimes written as “Pierson”) was born in Boston on February 22, 1759 to a prominent family in Boston and served as a private clerk to George Washington (with whom he shared a birthday) during the Revolutionary War. He worked afterward in Salem, Massachusetts and in Portland, Maine and went on to pursue a career in banking in Saco and Biddeford.
Beginning as cashier of the Saco Bank from 1803-1825, he also served as president there from 1826-1833. He was director of the Manufacturer’s Bank from 1826-1830. He also was secretary, treasurer and trustee, respectively, of Saco and Biddeford Savings Institution between 1827-1843, as well as serving on the boards of other local institutions. In 1827, he was elected to the state legislature.
Peirson's first wife, Sarah Page, with whom he had four children, died in 1802 at the age of 17, according to the inscription on her headstone. He was married again in 1803 to Sarah Hill, and had seven more children, naming his fourth son in honor of his revered superior officer, George Washington.
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Covered bridge over the Saco River, Biddeford, ca. 1872
In 1820, he bought a house near the Saco River that had originally been built by his second wife’s father, Captain Jeremiah Hill, a veteran of the Revolutionary War and resided there until the time of his death. Pierson Lane in Biddeford, near where the house stood, is named after him.
Peirson was described as being something of a paradox by some biographers: “He wore to the last the old-fashioned small-clothes and knee-buckles, but kept abreast with the times in activity of thought and general information...He was noted for humor and racy wit, that gave zest without bitterness to his conversation.” (Clayton, 208)
However, he was also characterized as honest, courteous and proper – in a letter written to his son, he implored: “Let strict truth without any equivocation be your constant rule, and rigid honesty in all your dealings be your practice.” (Clayton, 208)
Samuel Pierson died at the age of 93 in May, 1852 and is buried in a family plot in Woodlawn Cemetery.
