Shanghai

PIERCE, ABEL HEAD [SHANGHAI] (18341900). Abel Head (Shanghai) Pierce, cattle raiser, the son of Jonathan and Hanna (Head) Pierce, was born on June 29, 1834, at Little Compton, Rhode Island. He had a few winters' schooling in a one-room school at Little Compton before 1848 or 1849 when he was sent to St. Petersburg, Virginia, to serve a quasi-apprenticeship in the general merchandise business of his uncle, Abel Head. In June 1854 young Pierce stowed away on a schooner bound for Indianola, Texas. Discovered, he was put to work handling cargo. He landed first at Indianola and then at Port Lavaca where he met Richard Grimes and went to work on the Grimes ranch splitting rails. Pierce soon began to acquire his own cattle which he registered and branded AP. He served in Augustus C. Buchel 's Confederate cavalry during the Civil War , returned to find his holdings evaporated, but continued in the cattle business, branding on the open range. He married Fanny Lacey, daughter of William D. Lacey , on September 27, 1865. They had two children. Pierce and his brother, Jonathan E. Pierce , organized a partnership and established the Rancho Grande on the Tres Palacios River in Wharton County in 1871. The town of Pierce in Wharton County was named for them. The Pierces branded a B originally, then BB, then UU, and finally D. Later partnerships of various types were formed with J. M. Foster, Allen and Poole, B. Q. Ward, and Daniel Sullivan.