Frederick Piercy
(Portsea, Hampshire, England, 1830 - 1891, London, Middlesex, England)
Frederick Piercy was born 27 Jan 1830. He traveled with the Daniel A Miller/John W Cooley company as an artist to sketch images of the West. Piercy joined the Church of the Latter-day Saints in 1848, and in 1849 was married to Angelina Hawkins.
On February 5, 1853, Piercy, along with about 300 other immigrants, set sail from Liverpool on the Jersey, bound for the port of New Orleans, and eventually to Salt Lake City. This journey resulted in the publication of the illustrated travel book, "Route from Liverpool to Great Salt Lake Valley". It was first published in fifteen monthly parts from July 1854 to September 1855 to encourage British Mormons to emigrate to Utah. Piercy skillfully sketched immigration in the American West; his works and writings are most often used to represent the time period.
It is believed that Piercy returned to London after his journey and worked the rest of his life as an artist and teacher. The 1861 England Census lists Piercy as an artist and Professor of Drawing. Piercy reportedly suffered from paralysis the last ten years of his life, dying on 10 June 1891 in London.