The Tragic Death of Bennie Pierce

The Pierce Parents

When Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) married Jane Means Appleton (1806-63) in 1834, he was nearly thirty, a fine age for a man to marry. Mature, and financially solid enough in trade or profession to provide for a wife. She, at twenty-eight, was considered “old”.

She was a nice looking woman, petite, with fine-chiseled features and generally delicate health. Childhood tuberculosis may have contributed to her frailty. She was well read and extremely pious. She may also have been inclined toward melancholy. Those traits became more pronounced as time went on.

But the Pierces had courted for some time, and all indications are that he was eager to marry. Her family, however, was reluctant to approve. It was no secret that he liked his whiskey. And politics. But on the plus side, he was…