Born June 5 1805, Middletown, Middlesex Connecticut, USA.

Father: John Pierce. Mother; Abigail Stow.

Married: Amanda Mary Heath, December 16, 1828 in Windsor, Broome County New York.  He was 23 years old.

The lived at Janesseo, Broome County, New York where two children were born.   Elizabeth, January 1829.  She died that same year.  Edwin was born November 27, 1830 and died, August 28, 1832 at 21 month.

Joseph and his wife, Amanda joined the Church in New York, only a short distance from the birth place of Mormonism.  In April 1830 Joseph Smith made his first visit to   Colesville, Broome County New York where several public meetings were held.   Later other visits were made.  No doubt, this is where they heard the Gospel from the lips of the prophet and joined the church sometime between then and 1832.

They followed the Church to Kirtland, Ohio in 1832, where he helped build the Kirtland Temple.

Mary Adeline, who married William Ballard, born 22 November 1833 at Niagra, New York.   Catherine Amanda, born 18 February 1836, died 1 March 1837, at  13 months of age, KIRTLAND, OHIO.  

They lived in Far West, Caldwell County, Misourri.   Their fifth child, Joseph Henry was born here on 17 January 1838 and died 18 of February one month later.  Four of their first five children died before reaching the age of two.

January 29, 1839 in Far West, Missouri, Joseph White Pierce subscribed his name, along with many others, to pledge their available property to be disposed of by a committee, for the purpose of assisting the worthy poor and destitute to remove from the state in compliance with the order expelling them from the state of Missouri. (History of the Church Volume III page 250 to 254.)

In Nauvoo, they lived in the same house as Hyrum Smith and knew and associated with the prophet Joseph Smith.  Amanda Mary Heath Pierce, stated that, the death of the prophet gave her a very deep grief.

While in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, there were three children born.  Roxey Abigail, May 24, 1840.  She married John McRae, a brother to my grandmother, Mary Jane McRae.  George, born October 17, 1842 died November 11, 1842 at less than a month. Isaac Riley was born July 13, 1844, about two weeks after the prophet Joseph Smith was killed in Carthage Jail.  He was my grandfather.

They crossed the Mississippi on the ice as they were driven from Nauvoo.

Adelia Delialah, their ninth child was born January 13, 1847, somewhere in Iowa.   She married Al Workman.  She later married William Edger French and they moved to Canada and have a large posterity in that area.  Lucy Jane, their tenth child, was born March 22, 1850 at Silver Creek, Iowa.  She died February 18, 1851, she was only ten months old. 

NOTE: SLIYER CREEK TOWNSHIP IS LOCATED ON THE SOUTH BOUNDARY OF POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY. ABOVT MIDWAY BETWEEN THE EAST AND WEST BOUNDARY. THIS MAY HAVE BEEN THE PLACE OF BIRTH.  

(912.777 IOWA HISTORICAL. AN 25i 1839-ISOO 4150 IOWA MAPS 1855 1855 R BARNEi   "B3 TOWNSHIP MAPS.)

Julia Ann Menetta, their 11th child was born at Kanesville, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, August 3, 1852.  She married John Morgan Hughes.

The name of Kanesville was later changed to Council Bluffs.  They spent several years in this area, mostly at Kanesville.  Joseph White Pierce and his family followed the Church on all of its moves westward.  They were driven from five different homes.

They crossed the plains in 1853. 

They settled in Salt Lake City, at 5th South and 9th East.  (922 E. 500 S.)  They owned about 2 1/2 acres.  They hauled timber and wood from the canyons and farmed and cleared land.  They homesteaded a ranch at the foot of Little Mountain, on the old Emigrant Trail in Emigration Canyon.  They also raised stock and farmed in the summer and spent winters in Salt Lake City.

Joseph White Pierce died April 2, 1888 at Salt Lake City, Utah. He was 83.