An Open Sleigh in Savannah

The Jingle Bells Church or otherwise known as the Unitarian Universalists Church of Savannah

There are lost sheep and then there is James S. Pierpont. The Pierpont lineage was a proud one. James Pierpont his great grandfather was a Congregationalist minister who is credited with the founding of Yale University in the United States His grandmother married Johnathan Edwards.

His father, the Reverend John Pierpont (1785–1866), as would be expected graduated from Yale College in 1804. In 1819 he began serving as pastor at the Hollis Street Church in Boston (1819-1845). His father Pierpont was instrumental in establishing Boston's English Classical School in 1821.  He published two of the better-known early school readers in the United States, The American First Class Book (1823) and The National Reader (1827). However, Pierpont's latter years at the Hollis Street Church were characterized by controversy. His social activism for temperance and abolition would cause him to have to resign in 1845.

John Pierpont was an important influence on reform-minded antebellum poets. Along with John Greenleaf Whittier’s verse, Pierpont’s poems were frequently recited at public antislavery meetings. Oliver Johnson, a leading antislavery publisher and Garrison associate, published Pierpont’s Anti-Slavery Poems in 1843. The collection contains poems that had appeared mostly in the poetry columns of The Liberator and The National Anti-Slavery Standard. Pierpont’s writings were also anthologized widely in antislavery poetry collections, such as William Allen’s Autographs of Freedom (1853).Pierpont was an important influence on reform-minded antebellum poets. We can see in John his son Jame’s habit of being a contrarian with an artistic bent.

At the age of ten James ran away to sea aboard a whaling ship. He then served in the US Navy until the age of 21.   Eleven years later he returned to New England to be with his family. He quickly married Millicent Cowee and they settled in Medford, where they had three children. His father, Rev. John Pierpont, assumed a position as minister of a Unitarian congregation in Medford, Massachusetts in 1849. In 1849 James’ wanderlust took over and he fled to California to answer the call of the Gold Rush. He left his wife and three children in the capable hands of his father. He worked as a photographer and ran a store which caught on fire and left him desolate

When he returned he found his career as a composer. On March 27, 1852, James Pierpont published his composition "The Returned Californian", based on his experiences in San Francisco. He followed this with song after song. In 1855, he composed "The Starlight Serenade". Pierpont also composed "I Mourn For My Old Cottage Home" that year. In 1857, Pierpont had another successful hit song composition with a song written in collaboration with lyricist Marshall S. Pike, "The Little White Cottage" or "Gentle Nettie Moore".

Showing his different views from his father’s views on racial issues Pierpont published minstrel songs. Minstrel songs were popular in the 1850s and continued to be popular into the 20th century in the U.S. The lyrics to all minstrel songs reflect and mirror the racial stereotypes inherent in America. Minstrel songs and the minstrel genre exploited racial stereotypes and racially stereotypical language

In 1856, Millicent died. After James’ brother, the Rev. John Pierpont, Jr. (1819–1879), accepted a post with the Savannah, Georgia, Unitarian congregation, James followed, taking a post as the organist and music director of the church.

In August, 1857, James married Eliza Jane Purse, daughter of Savannah's mayor, Thomas Purse]. I I am not counting but before nine months were up Eliza gave birth to the first of their children, Lillie. Pierpont's children by his first marriage remained in Massachusetts with their grandfather.

But it was in a hot Savannah Summer in August of 1857 that he wrote the song that would immortalize him "The One Horse Open Sleigh" The song was copyrighted on September 16, 1857. The song was originally performed in a Sunday school concert on Thanksgiving in Savannah, Georgia. His brother John would leave Savannah behind as his abolitionist message was not appreciated. James, however, stayed in Savannah, and at the beginning of the Civil War, joined the Lamar Rangers, which became part of the Fifth Georgia Cavalry of the Confederacy

While working as the company clerk for his troop. He also wrote music for the Confederacy including "Our Battle Flag", "Strike for the South" and "We Conquer or Die". While his father’s poems were for the abolitionist’s movement, James songs were for the Confederacy. Thanksgiving dinners would have been interesting. While he worked for the Confederacy his father saw military service as a chaplain with the Union Army stationed in Washington, D.C. and later worked for the U.S. Treasury Department

After the war Pierpont moved to Quitman, Georgia. He became the organist in the Quitman’s Presbyterian Church. He also gave private piano lessons and taught at the Quitman Academy. retiring as the head of the Musical Department. Pierpont, ever the wanderer, spent his final days at his son's home in Winter Haven, Florida, where he died on August 5, 1893. At his request, he was buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery in Savannah beside his brother-in-law Thomas who had been killed in the first battle of Bull Run.

Pierpont’s musical legacy included a Bob Dylan based song "Nettie Moore" on the Modern Times (2006). The structure of the chorus and the first two lines ("Oh, I miss you Nettie Moore / And my happiness is o'er") of Bob Dylan's "Nettie Moore" are the same as those of "The Little White Cottage, or Gentle Nettie Moore", the ballad Pierpont published in 1857. The Sons of the Pioneers with Roy Rogers recorded "Gentle Nettie Moore" in August, 1934 for Standard Radio in Los Angeles.
 
Jingle Bells has been listed as one of the top 25 of the most recorded songs in history, beating out "My Old Kentucky Home", "The Stars and Stripes Forever", “Blue Skies”, “I Got Rhythm” and “Georgia on My Mind”. In recognition of the universal success of his composition, he was elected into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. "Jingle Bells" was the first song performed in space on December 16, 1965, when NASA astronauts Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford, aboard Gemini 6, played it on a harmonica and bells for Mission Control. Both instruments are displayed at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Although he was the lost sheep of the family he did make a name for himself and his song. Jingle Bells recalls the good times he had with his family in the North. It has also given much joy to people all over the world.

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James Pierpont