Background
He was born on October 21, 1804 in Simsbury, Connecticut, United States, the son of Butler Pinney, whose wife was Eunice (Griswold), widow of Oliver Holcomb. He was a descendant of Humphrey Pinne, who emigrated from England to Dorchester, Massachussets, in 1630.
Education
Norman received a college training at Yale, where he won the Berkleian Premium and was graduated in 1823.
Career
On June 14, 1826, he was elected tutor at Washington (now Trinity) College, Hartford, Connecticut, and two years later was appointed adjunct professor of ancient languages, with an annual salary of $600. He resigned this position on September 5, 1831.
Soon afterward he was ordained by Bishop Thomas C. Brownell of the Protestant Episcopal Church, who was also president of Washington College. In 1829 Brownell had traveled through Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, where his visits lent impetus to the growth of the Episcopal Church, and it was probably due to his influence that in 1831 Pinney went to Mobile as rector of Christ Church. He was active both in his parish and in the affairs of the diocese.
Judging from his one published discourse, A Sermon Preached July 5, 1835 in Christ's Church, Mobile (1835), he took his responsibilities seriously yet cheerfully. Having come to differ with the doctrines of his Church, he withdrew from the ministry, and was formally displaced by Bishop James H. Otey, on February 27, 1836.
In 1836 he founded the Mobile Institute. His educational ideas are set forth in his booklet of fifty-six pages, The Principles of Education as Applied in the Mobile Institute (1836).
Shortly before his death he went to New Orleans, Louisiana, intending to found a boys' school there, but died after a brief illness in 1862, aged 58 years.
Religion
Initially he supported Episcopal Church, later, he became a Unitarian.
Views
He foresaw that New Orleans was to become the commercial center of a great inland empire, and hoped that Mobile might aspire to be the educational and cultural center of this region. He understood that in a democracy there is peculiar need for proper education, and considered that the education of his time was too theoretical.
He opposed the plan on which many colleges and schools were then being founded, which provided that students should spend part of their time in farm work, on the ground that such labor was "incompatible with that neatness of dress and cleanliness of person which befits a student. " He stressed the value of unrestricted sport for boys, and thought corporal punishment necessary only in rare and unusual cases. He attached importance to Latin, mathematics, and English composition, but put less emphasis on history, modern languages, and sciences.
Quotations:
"Parents who wanted their children educated in order to make more money must of course regard money, not merely as the chief good, but as the only good. "
Personality
Pinney had important qualifications as an educator and was especially noted for the patient firmness with which he succeeded in bringing out whatever capacity there was in his pupils. He lived quietly, and took no active part in public affairs.