FIRST GENERATION

1. Samuel PEIRSON resided before 1699 in Yorkshire, England. He may have come from near Dewsbury (just south of Leeds) where a Rev. Samuell Pierson (sic) was the Vicar and whose children had names that generally match with our Samuel's children. Our Samuel Peirson was of the Society of Friends (a Quaker) and it is believed that he came over in about 1699 to join the settlement of Quakers near Philadelphia that had earlier been established by William Penn's "Holy Experiment." During the second week of November 1682, the ship "Discover" landed at the head of Deleware Bay carrying about 100 Quakers, an expedition Penn organized based on the principal that the "Friends" should be able to worship according to the dictates of their own conscience. Penn had acquired "Pennsylvania" from King Charles to satisfy a claim against the Crown inherited from his father for services as an Admiral. On his second and final visit to Pennsylvania, Penn sailed from Cowes on the Isle of Wight in Aug. 1699 (landing in Nov/Dec of that year). Family legend has it that our Samuel Peirson was part of that expedition.

As Samuel's first child was born in 1729, he must have been quite young when he came over. The first mention of him is reported at the 24 Feb 1733 monthly meeting of the Society of Friends in Gwynedd, PA: "Samuel Pearson (sic) and wife were produced a certificate from the Abbington monthly meetings, and it was read and well received." Since Abbington meeting records go back to 1683, and there is no mention of him there, perhaps he was indentured when he came over. Samuel and his family probably settled north of Gwynedd near Quakertown, Bucks County, PA as the Richland (Quakertown) monthly meetings were established from Gwynedd in 1742 and he is mentioned there. Notes from the Richland meeting on 17 Jan 1754 state that "Jos. Unthank and Saml. Pierson (sic) intending to go to North Carolina to see the country and try to look for a settlement there, are requesting our certificate for that purpose," and again in Nov 1754 "Jos. Unthank and Saml. Pierson requested certificates for themselves and families to reccom'd them to Frds. in North Carolina." Those certificates were granted at the 17 Apr 1755 meeting. Shortly thereafter, Samuel and his family must have come down the famous Pennsylvania Wagon Road through Maryland and Virginia as part of a great movement of people southward from Pennsylvania. Settlers in the Northeast were begining to feel political, religious and economic pressure and the govenor of North Carolina was offering a free homestead of 50 free acres in order to populate the region. Notes of the New Garden Monthly Meetings (Guilford county/Greensboro, NC) state that on Aug 30, 1755 Samuel Pearson (sic) & wife & children were received on a certificate dated April 17, 1755 from Bucks County, PA.

He died before 1764 in North Carolina probably in Guilford County. Lizzie Pierson's 1878 "Peirson Genealogy" states: "in the (French & Indian) War which ended in 1763, (he) it is said to have been murdered, with all of his family -- except two chd. -- by the Indians." Since son Samuel was married in Boston, MA on 17 Aug 1756, it is probable that he did not make the trip to NC in 1755. Therefore, the two survivors might be NC survivors. There are New Garden meeting records of 7 children of a Thomas and Elizabeth Pearson (sic), so it is probable that Thomas also survived. In a sermon delivered after the death of his grandson (also Samuel), mention is made that the other surviving child was married to the governor of North Carolina. This seems unlikely as the colonial capital of NC was in New Bern, some 200 miles away. New Garden meetings also record 10 children of Isabel Parson and Issac Beason, so the second/third survivor must have been Isabel.

He was married to Betty SURNAME UNKNOWN. Lizzie Pierson's Genealogy states that "he was twice married," and that "by his first wife he had children Samuel, Thomas, George, Mary, and Elizabeth." No dates of birth are given except Samuel, about 1731. However, The Children of Samuel and Betty Peirson as recorded by the Friends in Buck's County at their Richland monthly meeting are slightly different and have been used here. Samuel PEIRSON and Betty SURNAME UNKNOWN had the following children:

child2 i. George PEIRSON was born on 27 Aug 1729 in the Phildelphia area, probably near Abbington. He died probably before 1764 in North Carolina, massacred with his family.
child3 ii. Hannah PEIRSON was born on 20 Apr 1731 in the Phildelphia area, probably near Abbington. She died on 22 Apr 1732 in the Phildelphia area, probably near Abbington.








child+4 iii. Capt. Samuel PEIRSON.
child5 iv. Thomas PEIRSON was born on 15 Feb 1736 in probably Bucks County, PA near Quakertown. He is probably the "Thomas Person" (later recorded as "Pearson") who married Elizabeth Ballard in Guilford County, NC between 24 Sep and 26 Nov 1757. They had children:
Samuel (b. 20 Jul 1758, d. 14 Mar 1837 in Cherry Grove, IN) married Phebe Farmer, they had 8 children;
Sarah ((b. 23 Apr 1760);
William (b. 25 Feb 1762, d. 28 Oct 1831 in Cherry Grove, IN) married Elizabeth Chamness;
Elizabeth (b.2 apr 1764);
Mary (b. 13 Aug 1766) married Moses Farmer;
Isaac (b. 11 Jan 1769);
Thomas (b. 23 Oct 1771);
Isabel (b. 21 Dec 1774) on 19 Mar 1817, married George Beard;
Hannah (b. 8 Dec 1778) on 1 Aug 1803 married Paul Beard (d. 2 Jun 1851 in Lynn, IN), they had 8 children.
child6 v. Ann PEIRSON was born on 12 Sep 1738 in probably Bucks County, PA near Quakertown. She died on 19 Dec 1739 in probably Bucks County, PA near Quakertown.
child7 vi. Isabel PEIRSON was born on 19 Oct 1740 in probably Bucks County, PA near Quakertown. She died on 14 Dec 1792 in Randolph County/Ashboro, NC. Isabel may be the "Isible Parson" (as recorded in the New Garden Monthly Meeting) also shown as Pierson in the LDS data base, who on 26 Nov 1757 had been recently married to Isaac Beeson also of New Garden/Guilford County, (b. 26 Dec 1739 in Fredrick, MD, d. 21 Sep 1811 in Randolph Cty/Ashboro, NC) . They had children:
Hannah (b. 21 Jan 1759) on 31 Dec 1777 married Samuel Lamb;
Elizabeth, on 25 Sep 1782 married Jesse Wilson;
Benjamin (b. 21 Jan 1764) on 7 Jun 1787 married Margaret Haggatt;
Dinah (b. 14 Oct 1766) on 29 Mar 1786 married Amos Kersey;
Miriam (b. 9 Aug 1769, d. 14 Feb 1770);
Isabel (b. 15 Jan 1771, d. 26 Jul 1840 in Wayne IN) on 9 Nov 1791 m. William Chamness;
Isaac, on 8 Nov 1792 married Hannah Hoggatt (b. Sep 1773), they had 11 children;
Samuel (b. 26 Dec 1775);
Seth (b. 24 Sep 1778) on 18 Oct 1804 married Alice Kersey;
William (b. 22 Nov 1781).
child8 vii. Betty PEIRSON was born on 23 Dec 1743 in probably Bucks County, PA near Quakertown. She died probably before 1764 in North Carolina, massacred with her family.

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