Abraham Pierson (1646 – March 5, 1707[1]) was an American Congregational minister who served as the first rector, from 1701 to 1707, and one of the founders of the Collegiate School — which later became Yale University.

This claim conflicts with his gravestone in present-day Clinton, Connecticut, as well as the period he spent as a student at Harvard College (1664 to 1668).

Abraham Pierson was the minister of the Killingworth Congregational Church at the same time he started to teach the first classes of what would become Yale University.

For the period of 1646 to about 1664, it has been assumed that Abraham Pierson, as a child, lived with his parents and followed the movements of his father, Rev.

Abraham Pierson Sr., was one of the most prominent figures in the New Haven Colony, and his activities are well-documented in many places, including the following.

The Founding of Harvard College, Samuel Eliot Morison, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1935, pages 91 and 396. c. The History of Long Island, Peter Ross, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., New York, NY, 1902. d. A History of the City of Newark, New Jersey, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., New York, NY, 1913 e. Pierson Millennium, by Richard E. Pierson and Jennifer Pierson, Heritage Books, October 1997.