Private Life
He was devoutly religious, though he seldom published his theological thoughts. Peirce credited God as shaping nature in ways that account for the efficacy of pure mathematics in describing empirical phenomena. Peirce viewed "mathematics as study of God's work by God's creatures", according to an encyclopedia.
He married Sarah Hunt Mills, the daughter of U.S. Senator Elijah Hunt Mills. Peirce and his wife had four sons and one daughter:
- James Mills Peirce (1834–1906), who also taught mathematics at Harvard and succeeded to his father's professorship,
- Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914), a famous logician, polymath and philosopher,
- Benjamin Mills Peirce (1844–1870), who worked as a mining engineer before an early death,
- Helen Huntington Peirce Ellis (1845–1923), who married William Rogers Ellis, and
- Herbert Henry Davis Peirce (1849–1916), who pursued a career in the Foreign Service.
Read more about this topic: Benjamin Peirce
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