ABSTRACT
ONE of Rev. and Mrs. Pierce’s genuine gratifications in their middle and older years was the raising of their youngest child, Mary Wild Pierce (b. 1820). That she was pretty and, of course, the fact that she was the youngest helps explain their positive feelings for her. 1 It is probably also true that as several of the other children left home the Pierces came to need her to fulfill their roles as parents. 2 The support which Mary herself received as beneficiary of the family’s affection helped produce in her an “unusually cheerful,” positive personality. 3 This in turn produced fonder feelings for her. Of all the Pierce children, Mary had become most accustomed to affection and most dependent upon it.
