Piersons made matches during Civil War years
This illustration represents “packing girls” at the Bryant & May match factory, Bow, London. Wikipedia.
MARY LOU MONTGOMERY
Friction matches, also known by the name Lucifer, were manufactured in South Hannibal, during the years leading up to and following the Civil War.
In 1858, the factory was located at the intersection of Walnut and Ninth Street, South Hannibal.
(Walnut Street runs parallel to and to the west of Union Street, and Ninth Street is now known as Quincy Street.)
It was at this intersection where a 20x60-foot wooden building (1,200 square feet) stood, providing factory space for the company, which distributed its product to customers in both Missouri and Illinois.
In the Hannibal Daily Messenger, April 29, 1858, the following advertisement was published:
“Wanted: Twenty smart active girls, from 10 years of age upwards, to whom constant employment will be given. Apply to Missouri Match Works, South Hannibal.”
At the time of the employment advertisement, George H. Hicox (or Hicok) was proprietor of the company, which produced round stick matches. It was under his leadership, in September 1858, that Missouri Match Works won a premium for the best “Lucifer Matches” exhibited at the Third Annual Fair of the Agricultural and Mechanical Association in St. Louis. Second place went to Richardson & Son, Detroit, Michigan.
A year later, in September 1859, Mr. Hicox (or Hicok) sold his concern to the M.L. Pierson Company, whose primaries were Martin Luther Pierson and his brother, Jerome S. Pierson, transplants from Genesee county, in Western New York State. W.H. Loomis, married to Lois Melvina Pierson, sister of the Pierson brothers, was the general agent for Missouri Match Works.
In September 1859, the Hannibal Daily Messenger reported that the match works company, now owned by the Pierson company, was producing 12,000 gross of matches annually, with a gross containing 10,000 matches. The selling price was 75 cents per gross. “None but females are employed in this factory,” the newspaper reported. The work force was between 20 and 30 women.
(At the time of the 1860 census, living together were:
Westley H. Loomis 29
Melvina Pierson Loomis 19, wife of W.H. Loomis,
Martin L. Pierson 29
S. Jane Pierson 25, wife of M.L. Pierson, and
Jerome S. Pierson 26, brother of Melvina Loomis and Martin Pierson.)
Daily Messenger, April 13, 1860:
“Matches for Quincy. Messrs. M.L. Pierson and Co., manufacturers of the Missouri Matches, of this city, shipped to Quincy, on the Pike, yesterday, no less than 1000 gross of their matches, to supply that market.”
On June 17, 1858, the Glasgow Weekly Times reported the receipt of a million matches, more or less, from Hannibal. “They are a good article, and dealers should patronize a home article.” Glasgow is located in mid-Missouri, along the banks of the Missouri River.
Elder Piersons
Luther Crampton and Sabrina Elmore Pierson followed their grown children to Hannibal during the Civil War era. The patriarch of the family died Nov. 25, 1862, in Hannibal, and was buried at Riverside Cemetery. (There are a number of Pierson family burials at this cemetery, including Jerome S. Pierson, brother of Martin L. Pierson, who died in 1904.)
Congregational Church
Martin Luther Pierson (1931-1909) was a member of the Congregational Church during his residency in Hannibal.
In 1878, the Congregational Church had 269 members, with the average attendance on the Sabbath at 500. The seating capacity of the church was 1,200, by far the largest in Hannibal. (Source, the Hannibal Daily Courier, Jan. 18, 1878.)
Other ventures
Martin L. Pierson left Missouri Match Works in July 1861, leaving his brother, Jerome S. Pierson in charge.
In January 1862, Martin L. Pierson was employed as Hannibal’s city clerk.
Civil War: Pierson served with the A Marion County Battalion, Missouri Home Guards. He applied for a pension, based on his service, on Aug. 18, 1904.
In 1865 he was an agent at Hannibal for the Automatic Organ for Prince & Company’s instruments.
In 1867, M.L. Pierson was cashier for the Hannibal Courier newspaper.
In 1870, Pierson was among the publishers and proprietors of the Weekly Courier.
In 1871-1874, he was assistant superintendent and Chorister for the Congregational Church.
1875: The newspaper firm’s primaries were Messrs. Winchell, Ebert, Pierson and Henendren.
1876: Mrs. M.L. Pierson’s sister Helen, was the wife of J. Milton Gibbs, a Civil War veteran and a well-known dry goods clerk for A. Shenker & Co., Hannibal.
1877, Martin L. Pierson, formerly of the Courier, went to work in the dry goods house of Worthington and Co.
1877
“Mrs. M.L. Pierson (Sophronia Jane Deming Pierson) left by the early Wabash train, with her little boy, Master Harry Pierson, to spend the heated term with her father (William Henry Deming) in Western New York.”
1880
M.L. Pierson was bookkeeper for the oil and salt store (Loomis & Snively) operated by W. H. Loomis and others, northwest corner Levee and Hill.
1888, Pierson & Dubach, ice, fuel and plasterer’s supplies, M.L. Pierson and George Dubach, Collier, SW corner of Main.
1891, Sabrina Pierson, mother of Martin L. and Jerome Pierson, and Lois Melvina Pierson Loomis, died. She was buried beside her husband at Riverside Cemetery.
1892, Martin L. Pierson managed the M.L. Pierson’s Coal Agency, 205 Broadway. His family lived at 106 N. Sixth, where his wife also operated a boarding house.
1904, M.L. Pierson and family were residents of St. Paul, Minn., where he was working as a clerk for the Great Northern Railroad.
1904, Jerome S. Pierson died in Hannibal. He worked for the machinery department of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad shops for 36 years.
Martin L. Pierson died in May 1909, at Mansfield, Ohio, at the age of 79.
Click here to see an igniting match
The masthead of the Weekly Courier-Post, Aug. 18, 1870. M.L. Pierson was listed among the publishers and proprietors. In 1875, the newspaper proprietors were listed as Messrs. Winchell, Ebert, M.L. Pierson and G.B. Herenden. newspapers.com
Advertisement for the Missouri Match Works, Hannibal city directory, 1859-1860.
M.L. Pierson, a Civil War-era Hannibal stick match maker, performed in the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera, “H.M.S. Pinafore,” in 1878-1879, at the Mozart Hall, 407-409 Broadway, Hannibal. In 1871-1874 he was assistant superintendent and Chorister for the Congregational Church. His portrait was made, in costume, by the Deane brothers of Hannibal. This photo was contributed by Joseph Haslwanter
Mary Lou Montgomery retired as editor of the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post in 2014. She researches and writes narrative-style stories about the people who served as building blocks for this region’s foundation. Books available on Amazon.com by this author include but are not limited to: "The Notorious Madam Shaw," "Pioneers in Medicine from Northeast Missouri,” “Hannibal’s ‘West End,’” “Oakwood: West of Hannibal,” and “St. Mary’s Avenue District.” Montgomery can be reached at Montgomery.editor@yahoo.com Her collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com
