Abraham Pierson, the elder (1613-1678) was an English churchman, known as a minister in New England. He reportedly came to the American colonies in 1639 to escape persecution for his Puritan views. Later, he and other emigrants from the Massachusetts Bay Colony formed a new township on Long Island which they named Southampton. His last relocation was in 1666, when Pierson and many of his church followers left the Connecticut Colony and established a new church and township at Newark, New Jersey.