John Pierpont (April 6, 1785 – August 27, 1866) was an American poet, who was also successively a teacher, lawyer, merchant, and Unitarian minister. His poem The Airs of Palestine made him one of the best-known poets in the U.S. in his day. He was the grandfather of J. P. Morgan. Early life Born in 1785 in the South Farms section of Litchfield, Connecticut later incorporated as the town of Morris. He was the son of Elizabeth ( Collins) Pierpont and James Pierpont (1761–1840). He graduated in 1804 from Yale College, and later from Litchfield Law School. Career In 1814 he started a dry goods business with his brother in-law, Joseph Lord, and lifelong friend, John Neal. After a stint in debtor's prison as a result of the failure of the "Pierpont, Lord, and Neal" dry goods store chain in 1815, Pierpont sent his wife and children to live with her family in Connecticut, pawned the family silver, and isolated himself in Baltimore until he had produced The Airs of Palestine. This poem made him one of America's best-known poets in 1816, the same year he cofounded a literary society called the Delphian Club. Selling the poem's copyright paid for his move to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Pierpont began his religious work as a theology student in 1816, first in Baltimore and then at Harvard, afterwards accepting an appointment as pastor at the Hollis Street Church in Boston (1819-1845). During his tenure, Pierpont was instrumental in establishing Boston's English Classical School in 1821 and gained national recognition as an educator. 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 angered some parishioners, and after a long public battle, he resigned in 1845. After his resignation, Pierpont served as pastor of a Unitarian church in Troy, New York from 1845 to 1849, and then led the First Parish Church (Unitarian), Medford, Massachusetts from 1849 to 1856. He ran for Massachusetts governor during the 1840s as a Liberty Party candidate, and in 1850 as a Free Soil Party candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. On September 12, 1861, during the Civil War, 76-year-old Pierpont enlisted as the Chaplain of the 22nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry at Camp Schouler. He