Blog: Statehouse Observer

Mention the name Shanghai Pierce to a longtime resident in the Gulf region of Matagorda County, Texas and it will elicit a reaction. Who was this man whose name is on nearly every property title of land in Matagorda County? And how did he come by that name?

A biography by Chris Emmett published in 1953 titled Shanghai Pierce; A Fair Likeness drew upon the papers and letters of the Pierce estate, now at the University of Texas library in Austin. The author also pulled information from numerous court battles involving Pierce and oral history of the man’s family, friends and foes.

The book starts the day Abel Head “Shanghai” Pierce died, December 26, 1900. An account of his holdings at the time showed a net worth of over one million dollars. His lawyer, charged with announcing the death to Pierce’s associates and creditors, wrote that he died from “hemorrhaging” of the brain. His body was laid to rest at Hawley Cemetery in Blessing, a town his brother Jonathan named when the railroad came to town.

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