"Pierce, John Davis"@en . . . "John Davis Pierce"@en . . . "1882-04-05Z"^^ . "Michigan public schools advocate and administrator" . . . "1797Z"^^ . "John Davis Pierce (February 18, 1797 \u2013 April 5, 1882) was a Congregationalist minister, public schools advocate, and Michigan legislator. He was Michigan's first superintendent of public schools, a position new to the United States, where he established Michigan's public school system. His work has been compared to that of Horace Mann's.Before his public service career, he attended Brown University and Princeton Theological Seminary, and became an ordained minister of the Congregational Church."@en . . "1797-02-18Z"^^ . . "1882Z"^^ . . . .