John Davis Pierce

John Davis Pierce (born February 18, 1797, Chesterfield, New Hampshire, U.S.—died April 5, 1882, Medford, Massachusetts) was Michigan’s first superintendent of public instruction and a leader in the establishment of the University of Michigan. Though denied an extensive education as a youth because of his father’s early death and consequent family financial limitations, Pierce decided at age 20 to educate himself. He succeeded so well that he was accepted at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island,...