Joseph Pierce was born about 1642 in China.  He was adopted by Captain Amos Peck who found the 10-year –old during a trip to China.  While on the sea trip to America, the sailors named him Joseph, while he chose the name Pearce after the President of the United States, Franklin Pierce.  He lived with Peck’s parents, Norris and Elizabeth Langdon Peck,  and attended local schools in Kensington.  He enlisted into the 14^th Regiment, Company F on July 22, 1862.  In a newspaper article in the 1963 it was claimed that he was the only Chinaman at the Battle of Gettysburg.  He was promoted to Corporal on November 1, 1863.  He mustered out on May 1, 1865.  After the war, he lived in Meriden where he worked as a silver engraver for the Meriden Silver company and later the Meriden Britannia Company.  He married Martha Morgan and they had 4 children:  Lula Edna was born in 1879, Edna Bertha in 1881, Franklin Norris in 1882, and Howard Benjamin in 1884.  Joseph died on January 3, 1916 at age 73 and was buried in the Walnut Grove Cemetery in Meriden, CT.

Roster:  14^th Regiment, Company F

Berlin Connection: when enlisted gave residence = Berlin