He was born probably in 1738 at Newington, New Hampshire, United States, the son of Joshua and Mary Deborah (Smithson) Pickering. He was descended from John Pickering, who settled at Portsmouth about 1633, and was not connected with Timothy Pickering.
After graduation at Harvard in 1761, abandoning his plan of entering the ministry, he studied law.
He became one of the few really learned lawyers in New Hampshire in his early years. After a brief period of practice in Greenland he settled in Portsmouth and resided there for the rest of his life. His practice is said to have been large but not particularly remunerative in view of the petty nature of much of the litigation at this time. His name appears in the early records of the Revolutionary contest as a holder of sundry civil posts, but he took no important part in developments until 1781, when he was a member of the constitutional convention.
From 1783 to 1787 he served repeated terms in the legislature as the representative of Portsmouth, declined service as a delegate to the Federal Convention at Philadelphia in 1787, and in 1788 was an influential member of the New Hampshire convention that ratified the United States Constitution. He was a presidential elector in 1788 and 1792, served in the New Hampshire Senate and Council, and in the constitutional convention of 1791-92.
He was appointed chief justice of the superior court of judicature on August 7, 1790, serving until February 1795, when appointed judge of the United States district court. For some years his duties on the federal bench were satisfactorily performed, but in 1801 he suffered a mental breakdown and a member of the federal circuit court was obliged to take over his duties in the district court at Portsmouth.
The abolition of the circuit courts soon after the opening of Jefferson's administration necessitated Pickering's resumption of duty and the situation was obviously incompatible with the proper administration of justice. On February 3, 1803, the President in a special message laid the matter before the House of Representatives. Lacking precedent for dealing with such a matter and apparently influenced by the bitter party animosity of the day, the House promptly voted articles of impeachment, charging "loose morals and intemperate habits" and conduct "disgraceful to his own character as a judge and degrading to the honor and dignity of the United States. "
He had unquestionably been guilty of intoxication and profanity in the court room, but his friends and associates presented evidence of exemplary character prior to his mental collapse. After a perfunctory trial in which the defendant did not appear, the Senate formally voted his removal on March 12, 1804. He did not long survive his unmerited disgrace. He died in 1805.
He was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1791.
Quotes from others about the person
William Plumer, who had served with him in the legislature and the constitutional convention of 1791-92, has recorded some of Pickering's peculiarities, "his timidity, his dread of crossing rivers, his tendency to seek seclusion at periodic intervals", and other characteristics which show a somewhat abnormal mentality.
He married Abigail, daughter of Jacob Sheafe of Portsmouth, but the date is a matter of uncertainty.
