SEVENTH GENERATION

46. Benjamin Shreve PEIRSON was born on 3 Oct 1905 in Salem, MA. He grew up in the Peirson family home at 13 Barton Square in Salem, MA and spent the summers in Cotuit with his family and with his Shreve and Northey cousins. In 1917, Ben entered Middlesex School in Concord, MA and graduated in 1923. He entered Harvard College as a member of the class of 1927, but graduated in 1928 because he changed his major to engineering at the end of his sophomore year.

After graduation from Harvard he went to work for the International Motor Company (predecessor to Mack Truck) in Allentown, PA. In the summer of 1929, after having completed a year in their engineering program, he decided to leave the field of engineering and try sales. Just before the stock market crash, he joined the Houdaille-Hershey Corporation in Detroit, Mich. selling shock absorbers to automobile manufacturers. By May 1931, after the Great Depression had significantly deepened, the entire Houdallie-Hershey sales force was fired. After another year in Detroit trying to promote several new inventions to the automobile manufacturers, he returned to Cambridge to enter the Harvard Business School.

Ben received his MBA from Harvard in 1934 and was hired by Corning Glass Works that same year. He was the first management employee hired since the beginning of the depression. Ben's Career with Corning spanned more than 34 years. In 1936, he was transferred to the newly formed Fibre Products Division. (now Owens Corning Fibreglas) and later became assistant sales manager. Two years later he was transferred to the Housewares Division (glass cooking utensils) later known as the Consumer Products Division (now a division of Borden). While in that Division he held a series of sales and marketing positions and in 1947 was named the Division General Manager. From 1948 to 1958 he held a series of corporate staff sales and marketing positions. In 1958 he became director of Public Affairs. He ended his career with Corning in 1969 as the Director of Corporate Advertising and the President of the Corning Foundation. He served on the board of directors of the Corning Hospital from 1960 until the year of his retirement.

In early 1970, soon after his retirement from Corning, Ben moved to Cotuit, MA. There he was actively involved with the library and became the President of the Cotuit Library Association. He was instrumental in raising the money for and overseeing the design and construction of the addition to the Library known as Kirkman Room. He died on 24 Jan 1979 in Cotuit, MA. after a long illness. He was buried in Mosswood Cemetery, Cotuit, MA.

He was married to Elizabeth GILBERT (daughter of Harold Arthur GILBERT and Sarah Mary BROWN) on 23 Aug 1930 in Williamsport, PA. Elizabeth GILBERT was born on 9 Aug 1908 in Williamsport, PA. She attended high school in Williamsport for two years and then entered Kemper Hall School in Kenosha, Wisconsin, an Episcopal school for girls. She graduated from there in 1925. She spent one year at the Mary Burnham School in Northampton, MA before entering Wellesley College in 1926. At Wellesley, she majored in english composition and graduated in 1930 with honors.

While living in Corning she was an active Corning Hospital and Corning Red Cross volunteer, and in 1953, she served as the public information chairperson for the Red Cross. She died on 24 Jul 1971 in Cotuit, MA. following a long illness She was buried in Mosswood Cemetery, Cotuit, MA. Benjamin Shreve PEIRSON and Elizabeth GILBERT had the following children:

+48 i. Edward Lawrence PEIRSON.
49 ii. Benjamin Shreve PEIRSON was born on 23 Dec 1940 in Corning, NY. He was never married. He died on 7 Apr 1995 in Cotuit, MA. He was buried in Mosswood Cemetery, Cotuit, MA.

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