New York, Probate Records, 1629-1971 Franklin Dower records 1839-1880
*First file - Jane Pierce, widow of Oliver (Image 312)
Moira, Franklin, New York
29 June 1839
Two murders have been committed in Moira. On January 10, 1839, while Oliver Pierce and his son, William, were at work in the woods, an altercation arose between them over the son's request to be permitted to take a horse to drive to an entertainment in the evening. Upon denial of his request the son became sullen, and failed to obey directions given by the father concerning the work, whereupon the father struck him in chastisement. In a paroxysm of rage the son then buried the blade of his axe in the father's breast, and death ensued after a day or two. The son was convicted of murder in the first degree, and was sentenced to be hung; but Governor Seward visited him in the jail at Malone, and afterward commuted the sentence to life imprisonment, which was subsequently modified to imprisonment for forty-nine years, four months and six days. The term expired in December, 1888, but Pierce had become insane, and upon his release was turned over to Superintendent of the Poor Henry A. Miller, who had him transferred to the Willard Asylum at Ovid, where he died. (Source)
*Heirs-at-law: William, Sybil, Sabra, Abigail, Isabel, Mirriam, and Sophia Pierce
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