Our Pearce Family Tree

(back 7 generations to England)

Family motto: “Celer et audax”
(“Swift and Bold”)

Table of Contents

(click on first name for family Vitals; spousal surname for associated family)

Thomas Pearce (1751/60-1797)
Jane White? (1767-1811)
I
Richard Pearce (1786-1861)
Susan Austen (1791-1865)
I
Charles Pearce (1834-1914)
Permelia Nelson (1839-1914)
I
Wesley Herron Pearce (1876-1955)
Bessie Reed Hill (1887-1974)
I
Ralph Hill Pearce (1917-2002)
Ruth Elizabeth Gray (1917-2005)
I
Larry Edsel Pearce (1948- )
Susan Kay Miller (1949- )
^
Annie Rebecca Pearce Matthew Carter Pearce
(1971- ) (1973- )

DOCUMENTATION:

Sir John Bernard Burke. The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. London: Habeison & Sons, 1884

Various Public Member Family Trees & other documents, Ancestry.com

See also “Pearce Family” on main menu

Last revised 2/8/21

Comments & Questions

Jim says:
12/23/20

Hello, I believe I’ve found records regarding the Isaac Pearce/Pierce/Peirce of Fayette/Bedford County, PA and Sullivan County, Tennessee.

https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Isaac_Pearce_%285%29

His father appears to be a John Pearce of Augusta County, Virginia, whose will was entered into Court in the District of West Augusta. Hope you find it useful in your research. Best regards,
Jim Veregge
Norwalk, CA

Larry’s response:
12/24/20

Wow, that’s a lot of good information, Jim, and fits nicely with my reference to same. Now I have citations, thanks to you. Now if I can find the time to insert it into my early article, giving you credit, of course. Thanks and have a Merry Christmas. Please stay well and stay in touch. Larry

12 Responses to Our Pearce Family Tree

  1. admin says:

    I read with interest and excitement the story by Paul Muller titled “Rattlesnake Ridge” you posted on e-gen. I found a longer version in Rootsweb’s Genealogy Journal online. It’s so true to form for anyone hunting their Autauga County roots! We’re so fortunate to have a county with a very vibrant past, in which my family played a little part. I’ve been researching Autauga County history in general for several years and just last week “ran into” the Stephen H. Pearce family. I thought you might be interested in some of my findings.

    I am currently working on the title search for the Robinson-Smith house just NE of downtown Prattville and found that Stephen H. Pearce and Augustus A. Wilson once owned it. Of course, that’s not enough information to make the story really interesting; so last week, with the help of a friend, I found that Stephen H. Pearce was a child of Louisa and Edmund Pearce. Stephen’s sister, Harriet, first married Mathew Hale, then Augustus Wilson. Mathew Hale died in 1843 and in 1845, Harriet bought the property where the Robinson Smith house used to stand from Thomas A. Rogers for $900.

    It appears that Harriet’s brother, Stephen, and her husband, Augustus, were in business together because in 1851, both their names are on a deed selling that property to Madison B. Pollard for $4000. That’s a huge jump in price and I can only believe that major improvements were made between 1845 and 1851. A more recent owner of the house claims to have found “1833” carved into one of the beams. The Thomas A. Rogers family owned the property in 1833. Another story, which I haven’t been able to prove, is that the house was a stage coach stop in the earliest days of Autauga County. Perhaps the increased value is an indication of a booming business as an inn. Would you happen to know if the Pearce family would have owned such a business? Two years later, Madison Pollard and his wife sold the property to Lewis G. Robinson (for whom the house is named) for a decrease in value down to $3000. There is certainly a question about why the decrease. Maybe, if it had been an inn, it was no longer an inn.

    I skimmed through your posting about all the many Pearce families and found that one of the Pearces was the captain of the Mayflower during her second voyage to America. Can you prove a connection between the Stephen H. Pearce, son of Edmund and Louisa Pearce, and that Mayflower captain? That would be a very interesting historic tidbit to add to my history. Also, was Edmund one of Benjamin Pearce’s children? We found a mention of Celia Pearce administering the estate of Benjamin Pearce in one of the Will books.

    Thank you for your assistance with my project. This information will be included in a book about Autauga County history through property title search, with all references given their due credit.

    Kathy Fuller

    • admin says:

      Kathy,
      Thank you so much for your interest and response. I hope you’ll notify us when your book comes out. I’m also going to post your subsequent e-mails with your permission. I like your different perspective on genealogy: architecture. Meanwhile, I’m going so many different directions with 100+ families. I’m so glad you found my address on that old forum.
      Larry

    • admin says:

      Kathy,
      I rec’d the following from a reader. Thought you’d be interested and may want to reply:
      The Stephen Pearce whose grave was found by Paul Muller was the son of Benjamin Franklin Pearce. There was more than one Pearce family in Autauga Co. at the same time. I think Stephen A. Pearce and Stephen H. Pearce are not the same person.
      Larry

      • Alison Raborn says:

        Stephen Pearce’s family later moved to Bienville Parish, Louisiana one of his children Delaney Elizabeth Pearce married George Washington Raborn. These are my ancestors.

    • Don Edgeworth says:

      I live in Prattville, AL and am the current President of the Autauga County Heritage Association. We own the Robinson-Smith House and I would like to get more information from Kathy Fuller.

      • admin says:

        Hi Don,
        Glad you found us! I’m e-mailing your request to Kathy. She may not see this inquiry and/or she may have changed her e-mail address. Please send us anything PEARCE.
        Larry

  2. admin says:

    Hey, you never know if the addresses you find are still current; so glad to find your’s is! I know what you mean about going in so many different directions. I’m finding that it’s impossible to research just one family when looking at these old houses. And even researching the other families involved leads to other families, etc. I keep hoping I’ll find something about my own families and perhaps the Grays on e-gen will be some of mine.

    I might include the reference to the Mayflower and say that the Autauga Pearces might be related. Feel free to post my letter, since I think it’s so very important to share our experiences in the great hunt on which we’ve chosen to embark. I’ve recently met a very nice lady at the Probate Office where I usually spend 6-8 hours one day a week. She was just out taking photos in one of the cemeteries and decided she wanted to know more about the cemetery. Boy, did she ever open a can of worms (the worms crawl in, the worms crawl out; the worms play Pinocle (sp?) on your snout)! She said she had no idea it was going to be this hard, but now she’s also addicted to digging up the history. In the last few years, I’ve found references to family cemeteries in old deeds, now lost to cows’ hooves, bushes, and housing developments.

    I look forward to hearing if you know anything more about Benjamin, Stephen, and the gang of Pearces around Prattville. It will be awhile before I get the book written as I have other houses to complete research on. I could be doing this for several years, and in the end, it will be worth it if someone finds a long lost relative lurking in the pages.

    Kathy

  3. Gary Anderson says:

    The Stephen Pearce whose grave was found by Paul Muller was the son of Benjamin Franklin Pearce. There was more than one Pearce family in Autauga Co. at the same time. I think Stephen A. Pearce and Stephen H. Pearce are not the same person.

  4. admin says:

    On Fri, 3 Oct 2014 10:00:04 -0500
    Vicki Hale wrote:
    After Googling Helen Louise Herron, along with variations of other search
    criteria, i.e. family tree, paternal uncles, cousins of Helen Louise
    Herron, I found your website with an exchange between you and Alex
    Bannerman.

    In my genealogy search of my family (Wade), I have a typed “family
    tree/history” of the Wade family that was done in 1927. According to the
    information gathered by the writer, Eliza Eleanor (Wade) Long (William,
    Samuel, Thomas).

    In her narrative, she states that Amos Stevens married Eliza Herron “a near
    relative of Mrs. William Howard Taft, ex-President of the United States”.
    Amos and Eliza Stevens had a daughter, Mary Augusta Stevens who married
    Herbert Noble Wade. They had a son, Paul Lester Wade, my grandfather,
    whose daughter was Patricia Wade Smith, my mother.

    Due to the same last names of Herron (Helen Louise Herron and Eliza Herron,
    I am assuming that if there is a familial connection between the two women,
    it would be on the Herron side. However, I am unable to make the
    connection. I am not so much concerned about proving any relationship to
    Helen Louise Herron Taft as I am in trying to find Eliza Herron’s family.
    I’ve been able to track Eliza and Amos Stevens up to 1885 in Chetopa,
    Labette County, Kansas and have found the death notice of Amos Stevens but
    nothing on Eliza.

    According to the information I found on this link
    https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/viewFile/2876/2708 I believe that
    Eliza’s father was John Herron, b 1799 or 1800 and enlisted in the 22nd
    Regiment of Pennsylvania during the War of 1812. The details of his
    later life match up to where Amos and Eliza where living in 1870.

    If you have any information regarding Nellie Herron’s paternal relations
    and are willing to share or point me in the right direction, I would most
    certainly appreciate your assistance.

    • admin says:

      Hi Vicki,
      Sounds like you’re doing all the right things. Eventually you’ll uncover a treasure trove. Genealogy tends to grow geometrically, and I have to warn you, it’s certainly addictive. Unfortunately, I don’t recognize any of your names. My grandfather Wesley’s middle name was Herron, but I’m sure it was after the old Presbyterian preacher from Pittsburgh who used to visit Cross Roads church. Google “Rev. Herron Pittsburgh Allegheny Co Pa” and see if you might be related.
      My wife’s relatives are the Amish Brenneman’s (not Bannerman, although that’s probably a derivation). They aren’t real good with the internet – LOL. I don’t remember Alex, but I’ll have to check.
      Thanks for writing, and let me know what you find. If you permit me to post this on my webpage, perhaps a reader will respond.
      Larry

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