Benjamin Pickman, Jr.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Benjamin Pickman, Jr.

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 2nd district In office March 4, 1809 – March 4, 1811 Preceded by Joseph Story Succeeded by William Reed Personal details Born September 30, 1763 Salem, Massachusetts Political party Federalist Spouse(s) Anstiss Derby Children Hasket Derby Pickman, Benjamin T. Pickman[1] Benjamin Pickman, Jr. (September 30, 1763 – August 16, 1843) was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts.

Pickman was born in Salem, Massachusetts, a descendant of Benjamin Pickman, an Englishman from Bristol.[2][3] Benjamin Pickman, Jr. graduated from Harvard University in 1784 after having attended Dummer Academy (now known as The Governor's Academy). The descendant of a Salem merchant family dynasty related to other prominent Salem families such as the Derbys, the Pickerings and the Crowninshields,[4] Pickman studied law in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and was admitted to the bar, but soon relinquished the practice of law to engage in commercial pursuits, becoming one of the most active merchants of his day in Salem.

Pickman's father Col. Benjamin Pickman, Sr.,[5] one of the most important merchants in Salem, had been a Loyalist, his estates confiscated by the Colonial government and was forced to flee America for England, only returning to Salem in 1785 after the end of the Revolutionary War.[6]

Benjamin Pickman Jr., served the new nation in several capacities. He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1797-1802, 1812, and 1813. Benjamin Pickman Jr. also served in the Massachusetts Senate in 1803, as well as a member of the executive council of the State in 1805, 1808, 1813, 1814, and 1819-1821.

Pickman was elected as a Federalist to the Eleventh Congress (March 4, 1809 – March 4, 1811), but he was not a candidate for renomination in 1810. He served as member of the convention to revise the constitution of the State of Massachusetts in 1820. He served as overseer of Harvard University 1810-1818. He served as president of the board of directors of the Theological School at Cambridge. He died in Salem, Massachusetts, August 16, 1843, and was interred with his Pickman ancestors in Salem's Broad Street Cemetery.[7]

Pickman was instrumental in the commercial development of much of the heart of historic Salem. In 1815 he and John Derby III acquired property belonging to Derby family heirs to develop Derby Square, which would encompass three brick commercial rows. The Pickman-Derby Block, built in 1817, still stands. The Pickman Building on Derby Square, built in 1816, was part of the development.[8] The Pickman family also owned Pickman farm. Salem's Pickman Street is named for them.[9]

Benjamin Pickman Jr. was married to Anstiss Derby, daughter of Elias Hasket Derby and Elizabeth Crowninshield.[10] The son of Benjamin Pickman and the former Anstiss Derby was Hasket Derby Pickman, who died in 1815, the same year he graduated from Harvard College.[11]

Contents [hide] 1 References 2 Notes 3 External links 4 See also

[edit] References This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2010) [edit] Notes^ Roberts, Oliver Ayer (1897), History of the Military company of the Massachusetts, now called The Ancient and Honorable Company of Massachusetts. Volume II. 1738-1828., Boston, MA: The Ancient and Honorable Company of Massachusetts., p. 408. ^ The Founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Sarah Sprague Saunders Smith, Sun Printing Company, Pittsfield, Mass., 1897 ^ Naturalization papers of Benjamin Pickman, Dudley Leavitt Pickman Papers, Phillips Library Collection, Peabody Essex Museum, pem.org ^ Pickman House, Essex Institute Historical Collections, Essex Institute, Peabody Essex Museum, Vol. XXXIX, Printed for the Society, Salem, 1903 ^ The Founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Sarah Sprague Saunders Smith, Sun Printing Company, Pittsfield, Mass., 1897 ^ The Journal and Letters of Samuel Curwen, An American in England, Samuel Curwen, George Atkinson Ward, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1864 ^ Pickman family tomb, Broad Street Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts, smugmug.com ^ Architecture in Salem, Bryant Franklin Tolles, Jr., Bryant F. Tolles, Carolyn K. Tolles, Paul F. Norton, reprinted by UPNE, 2004 ^ The Pickman Silver, Essex Institute Historical Collections, Essex Institute, Peabody Essex Museum, Vol. XXXIX, Salem, Mass., 1903 ^ Life in a New England Town, 1787, 1788, John Quincy Adams, Charles Francis Adams, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1903 ^ Gravestone of Hasket Derby Pickman, Old Burying Point, Salem, Massachusetts, gravematter.smugmug.com [edit] External linksBenjamin Pickman, Jr. at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Grave of Benjamin Pickman, Jr., Broad Street Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts, Find-A-Grave