The Kingdom of Matthias: A Story of Sex and Salvation in 19th Century America

While working as a missionary, Pierson met Sarah Stanford, a member of the perfectionist community and the oldest daughter of Reverend John Stanford, a respected chaplain. Pierson and Sarah married in May 1822, and Sarah introduced her husband to the inner circles of New York’s evangelical society. Soon after, he left Brick Presbyterian Church and joined Sarah at the South Baptist Church. The more Pierson succeeded financially, the more thoroughly he rejected his Morristown upbringing because “[early] marriage, a large family, and the assumption of fatherly pretensions would have doomed him to failure” (20), the authors contend.

The couple moved to a larger house on William Street as Pierson’s mercantile business continued to prosper. At night, he continued his evangelical work with Sarah; both shared missionary zeal and worked hard for social change. Johnson and Wilentz state: “The marriage of Elijah and Sarah Pierson was not based on inherited property, large families, or patriarchal assumptions. It was a spiritualized union between partners” (27).

In 1825, Sarah started going to prayer meetings led by Frances Folger, an ultra-evangelical committed to Retrenchment, which advocated the avoidance of luxury clothing, food, and furniture. To non-believers, the prayer group was known as the Holy Club. Members claimed to speak directly to God and to have visions and prophetic dreams.