Beginnings of the Pearson Family

Peter was the first Pearson

The Normans introduced the practice of surnames in England, no doubt in order to collect taxes. Later, when the feudal system was abolished and land could be owned outright, surnames took on a legal necessity. Occupational surnames became common, names such as Smith, Chapman, Brewer, Baker, Wright and Taylor. So too, baptismal names, William-son, John-son, David-son, and Peter-son.

The French speaking Normans spelled Peter "Pierre". Thus, we have Pierson, Peersonne, and Pearson. During the First World War, when my grandfather was in France, he chose for a time to revert to the spelling of his last name as Pierson. This is a good lesson for those who follow records. The spelling of names change.

Edward Peersonne

If we have to pick a date and a place, let us choose 1575 when Edward Peersonne was born.The place of his birth is uncertain, a statement which needs some explaining, and some understanding of history.

England in the 1570's

It is England in the 1570's. Pope Pius V excommunicates England's Queen Elizabeth I. Martin Frobisher discovers Frobisher Bay while searching for the Northwest Passage, and Francis Drake leaves Plymouth to begin his circumnavigation of the globe.

William Shakespeare is still a wee lad and England has not yet begun to colonize North America.

St. Bartholemew's Church, Wilmslow Parish

St. Bart's

There is Wilmslow Parish on Mobberley Brook, in Bollin Township, Cheshire, England. Here is the 16th century church of St. Bartholemew's, and its parish records, evidence of the birth of Edward's nine children, many of whom are given Dayne Row as the place of their birth.

Today, there exists a Dane Drive and Dean Row in Wilmslow, with Dean's Row appearing to be the more ancient of the two. It is a dangerous thing, but let us assume that it is Dean Row where Edward's nine children were born. It lies about a mile east of Wilmslow in the midst of fields and from this we may guess again that the Peersonnes were tillers of the fields. The name and the occupation are coincidental of William Langland's Middle English literary creation Piers Plowman.

I said the place was uncertain.

St. Wilfred's

There is the 13th century St. Wilfred's church in Mobberley Parish, built on the remains of an even more ancient Saxon church, lying to the west of Wilmslow.  It is here in the parish cemetery that in 1656 on August the 16th, Robert Pearson was the first person buried at Mobberley Quaker Cemetery.

St. Wilfred's church, image credit churchcrawler

All of this is known from the Wilmslow parish records. I am not taking credit for the information. That credit goes to Wally Garchow and Corinne Diller and others who took the time to look over baptisms, marriages, and deaths and record the information.

Ancestry now provides this information to the public.

Making sense of history

Making sense of a few records is no easy matter.

What happened in Edward Peersonne's life is for the most part unknown and always will be.  Between  Edward's birth in 1575 and Robert's death in 1656, many historical events took place. Kings would come and go, a Commonwealth was for a time the government. William Shakespeare had written all of his plays and was now dead and buried many years. America was a thriving colony that beckoned many Englishmen and women seeking a better life.

And yes, George Fox had a vision that man could directly receive a vision from God. Quakerism, his religion was gaining in popularity and counted among its adherents 60,000 souls. Pennsylvania would call on many Quakers, including some named Pearson.

The Family Tree - Edward Peeresonne

The Family Tree of Edward Peeresonne 

This is the family tree of Edward Peeresonne, as it relates to my grandfather, James Madison Pearson, his father, Benjamin Rush Pearson, and his father, James Madison Pearson, all of Tallapoosa County, Alabama.

In a bit, I will get to the first recorded Pearson, Edward Peersonne, who, about 1575, was born in Bollin Township, Wilmslow Parish, Cheshire, England. But let us try to do this in some semblance of reverse chronological order. It is those we have known that we remember.

James Madison Pearson was my grandfather, known to me and my cousins as Daddy Matt. For the time that I knew him, he lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, arriving there after he retired from a long career in the Army.

We knew him by his middle name Matt and not James. The practice of taking a middle name rather than a first name, was a common one. First, it was a way tricking the devil, who took children early in life. Second, he might have been Matt to avoid confusion with his grandfather, for whom he was named.

My grandfather had three daughters and a son, Fletcher, who died early in life. The daughters all married (Davis, Fletcher, and Campbell are the names) and now there are cousins everywhere. My cousin George Campbell, like me, has taken an interest in the family name.

What is in a name?

Names are identifiers.

Saying "hey you" gets confusing in a group. So, someone came up with names like Peter, Paul, John, etc. These names all had meanings. Peter meant rock in Hebrew, the French version, Pierre, still means stone, but for most of us names just become names. Incidentally, my name Arthur, could be derived from the Celtic elements artos "bear". I like that, but it is just a guess.

Pierresonne

Along came William the Conqueror in 1066, and defeated King Harold for the Kingdom of England. French entered the language.

Edward is a good Anglo-Saxon name. In fact, it was the crown of the childless King Edward the Confessor. Our Edward had a father named Peter or Pierre, and to distinguish father and son, Edward became Edward Pierresonne. It is as likely that Edward could have become Edward Peterson, but he didn't and so the name of Pearson entered history.

Edward Peersonne

 Our Edward Peersonne enters history in 1575.

 Descendants of Edward Peeresonne

Generation No. 1

1. EDWARD1 PEERESONNE was born Abt. 1575 in Bollin Twp., Wilmslow Parish, Cheshire, England, and died July 25, 1648 in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England.

Notes for EDWARD PEERESONNE:
Source: Wilmslow Parish Records

Pierson Family

There are claims that family has its roots in the Vikings of Scandinavia. That is a claim that can't be proven except for the blond hair and blue eyes that occasionally pop up, as it did in me.

The first Edward Peersonne as churchwarden

This first Edward Peersonne is found in the Wilmslow churchwarden's books of 1631.

The Parish priest was assisted each year by at least two churchwardens, one chosen by the priest, one by the parishioners. The churchwarden served for a year and entered in the books transactions on the church and its land holdings. They also wrote Settlement Certificates identifying church goers as members of the parish.

In 1631, Edward transcribed some of these records and was reimbursed for his efforts. One writing lists Edward as a thatcher. Yes, a thatcher is one who places straw on a roof.

England

Edward Peeresonne lived in Pownall Fee, near the modern city of Manchester, England.

Edward Peeresonne, 1575 – unk., m. unk.

Edward Peeresonne, 1594 – 1648, m. unk.

Lawrence Pearson, 1620 – 1675, m. Elizabeth Janey, 1620 -1701

America

The first Pearson in America was Edward Pearson, son of Lawrence.

He was born in Wilmslow Powell, Cheshire, England and died in Falls MM, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. (Falls MM refers to Fallsington Monthly Meeting in Falls Township in eastern Pa. near the Susquehanna River. See my later post on Fallsington.) Pennsylvania was created as a colony for English Quakers. It was organized by William Penn. Bucks County was established in 1682, and was a destination for Quaker immigrants.

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This section is questionable.
Edward's wife Sarah Burgess came to America in 1683, on a ship from the Barbados. COLDHAM, PETER WILSON. Bonded Passengers to America. 9 vols. in 3. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983. Vol. 3. London, 1656-1775. 179p. Another source says that Edward and Sarah were married in Pownall Fee, Cheshire England and had several children there before leaving for America. Family Tree Maker.
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Edward Pearson, 1651 – 1697, m. Sarah Burgess, 1641 – 1707

Enoch Pearson, 1683 - 1758, m. Margaret Smith.

John Pearson, 1728 – 1790,  m. Sarah Hall, unk.  John Pearson was born in Pennsylvania, married, also in Pa., to Sarah Hall in 1756, and died in Union, South Carolina.

Enoch Pearson, 1757 -1831, m. Diana Head, 1760 -1833. There is a photo of a grave stone for E. Pearson in the Pearson Cemetery in Union, South Carolina.

William Head Pearson, 1780 – 1841, m. Mary White, 1790 – 1883.

James Madison Pearson, 1817 – 1891, m. Elizabeth Ann Brown, 1823 - 1861

Benjamin Rush Pearson, 1849 – 1906, m. Sally Coleman Ferrell, 1852 - 1906