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The Pierce family burial plot is located in the Federal Street Cemetery. Theodore Judah was born on March 4, 1826, and died on November 2, 1863, at the age of 37. As a boy, he studied civil engineering and became a railroad surveyor by age 18. While in Greenfield building bridges and receiving metal supplies through John Pierce, Theodore met Anna Pierce, John’s daughter. At the age of 21, Judah married Anna Pierce, who was born June 30, 1828, in Greenfield and died September 2, 1895, at age 67. 


Plant, Cemetery, Headstone, Grave

Cloud, Plant, Sky, Cemetery

Plant, Sky, Cloud, Tree

Sky, Cloud, Daytime, Tree

While hiking the Donner Pass in California, Theodore Judah realized that the grade of the land would easily allow a steam train to pass over the Sierra Nevada Mountains which was previously impassible. This important discovery would eventually complete the Transcontinental Railroad.

Theodore Judah also designed a three-arch stone span bridge which is the only known surviving structure from the Early Industrial Period (1830-1870) in Bernardston. He was also responsible for bringing the railroad tracks to Greenfield.  

While in port in Panama on a business trip to secure financial backers to keep railroad construction going, Theodore Judah became ill with yellow fever. He made it back to New York where he died in the presence of his wife, Anna. Unfortunately, he never saw the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Anna buried her husband in the Pierce family plot in the Federal Street Cemetery in Greenfield

Jenkins, Paul. The Conservative Rebel. The Town of Greenfield, Massachusetts, 1982.

Cutler Kellogg, Lucy. History of Greenfield. Town of Greenfield, 1931.

Miller, Peter S., and William C. Garrison. Images of America Greenfield. Arcadia Publishing, 2000.

Photo of a circa 1940s thread-cutting tool (http://americancenturies.mass.edu/collection/itempage.jsp?itemid=18398)

 

Theodore Judah | American Experience | PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/tcrr-judah/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2024.

University, © Stanford, et al. “Maps of Theodore Judah.” The First Transcontinental Railroad - Spotlight at Stanford, 3 Apr. 2019, https://exhibits.stanford.edu/rr/feature/maps-of-theodore-judah.

“Science Church Marks 35th Anniversary.” Greenfield Recorder, 23 June 1973.

“Purchase of Former Church Spells Expansion for Franklin County’s YMCA.” Greenfield Recorder, 6 June 2023.

Moorhead, Andrea, et al. The Greenfield Common Court Square Bank Row. Greenfield Historical Commission, 2022.

A Walking Tour of Downtown Historic District -- Greenfield Massachusetts. greenfieldsfuture.org.