Moses Pierce was born in Pawtucket, RI (then known as North Providence) in July 1808, the eldest son of eight children of Benjamin B. and Susan (Walker) Pierce, a tanner and later a cotton manufacturer. Moses received his literary training in local schools. At the age of twelve, he began working as a chore boy in a factory store, earning seventy-five cents a week. At fourteen, he became the bookkeeper, and until he was twenty, he held this role and a variety of other jobs, which provided him with a thorough understanding of the cotton manufacturing business.
In 1828, he relocated to Willimantic, where he served as superintendent of one of the newly established mills. Pierce later joined with several investors to build and superintend mills in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In 1839, Pierce was invited to visit Norwich, CT, to assess opportunities in the rapidly developing bleaching business. In September 1840, the Norwich Bleaching, Dyeing & Printing Co. capitalized at $200,000, began operations with Moses Pierce at the head, where he remained for the next forty-eight years.
The company grew to become one of the largest establishments of its kind in the United States, with an annual output of 60 million yards of finished cloth. In 1863, Moses united with approximately twenty investors to form the Occum Company, whose goal was to acquire land and water rights, thereby enabling them to control the Shetucket River from the tail race of the Baltic mill to the upper end of the Greeneville Pond. Three years later, Taftville began its career. The company was capitalized at $1.5 million, an unheard-of sum at the time. Pierce became director of the company and held that position until 1887, when he sold his controlling stock.
Other business ventures included the Ashland Cotton Co. in Jewett City, where he served as president for thirty-five years, and the Aspinhook Co., also located in Jewett City. Moses built the dam located nearby across the Quinebaug River and later opened a bleaching & calendaring company below the dam. The business prominently associated with Moses Pierce employed approximately 2,000 people, with an annual payroll of at least $1 million. The Norwich Board of Trade listed his yearly income at $11,126 in 1865.
In politics, Pierce was a strong supporter of the temperance movement and an Abolitionist. In 1854, he represented his district in the state legislature. He was a member of Norwichtown’s First Congregational Church for many years, later transferring to Park Congregational Church in his later life. Pierce demonstrated his support for his community through many charitable gifts. In 1878, he donated a large house on the Norwichtown Green to the United Workers, known as the Rock Nook Children’s Home.
In 1858, Mr. Pierce was elected director of the Norwich & Worcester Railroad. He served as President of the Norwich & New York Steamboat Company for eleven years and was a board member of the Second National Bank and the Chelsea Savings Bank. He was the VP for an investor group that met at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. He was a member of the Metropolitan Museum in New York and a fellow at the American Geographical Society, also in New York. In his many travels, for business or pleasure, Moses Pierce crossed the Atlantic eight times.
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