Angels at the Front

Soldiers' memories of war consist of forced marches at night, restless sleep in pup tents too small to keep out the cold drizzle of rain and the noise of falling shells. Mostly, memories are of long stretches of boredom, broken by the sheer terror of battle and haunting fear of death. In the midst of all this, soldiers will take time to think of sweethearts back home.

During the American and French assault on Saint-Mihiel, the 137th Regiment of the 35th Division remained camped outside Nancy in the Forest de Haye.

American Doughboys

The assault began September 12th and was a success.

It was then decided that the 35th Division would move by truck and night march to prepare for the last battle of the First World War, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. In this battle the names of Cheppy, Varennes, Montrebeau Wood, Baulny and Exermont would become forever memorable to those who fought there.

My grandfather Captain James Madison Pearson fought in the upcoming battle as a member of a different unit. His cousin Sergeant Varlourd Pearson was a member of the 137th Infantry Regiment.

His citation for the Distinguished Service Cross reads:

...for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company I, 137th Infantry Regiment, 35th Division, A.E.F., near Baulny, France, (north of Charpentry on the road to Apremont) 28 September 1918. Though wounded three times by shrapnel and machine-gun bullets, Sergeant Pearson refused to be evacuated and continued to lead the advance of ; his platoon, remaining in command for several hours till he received a fourth wound which proved fatal.

Map of the Argonne Forest and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, 1918

What thoughts he had prior to and during the battle, I don't know. But a good account from the 137th Regiment can be found.

An excerpt from Reminiscences of the 137th U. S. Infantry Regiment, compiled by Carl E. Haterius. The words are substantially those of Mr. Haterius, although I have taken some minor liberties.

About September 18th, learning that 35th Division would, not be needed in the drive at Saint-Mihiel, we prepared to move to another front. A few hours later, the regiment left the woods and hiked seven kilometers through the quagmire of the forest over to the Nancy and Toul highway, where a long train of 1100 French motor trucks waited to convey us to another sector.

While loading into these waiting trucks, an amusing incident occurred.

We had not as yet seen evidence of a real honest to goodness American woman. April 25th afforded us our last glimpse of one such. It may sound strange to say we never knew before that moment what one of the fairer sex means to this old world. Often perhaps we had been awkward enough to pass such a remark as,

''Well, I guess we could get along in this old world without women. Vain creatures as a rule, and men must always cater to them." Now, thanking the powers that be, we learned a bitter-sweet lesson – in truth this world would be a dismal place without the presence of those "bright angels."

For weeks, we had come across none but old French peasant folk, and we craved the sight of a real woman. It is strange, we now admit, but it is God’s honest truth. Standing there on that highway awaiting orders to load trucks, we saw an ambulance barreling down the road, and all along the line great cheers rose into the air.

Ambulance World War I

As the vehicle came close, we beheld two American Reel Cross nurses seated in front alongside their driver. Everybody made for the road, and as the ''angels" passed, a thunderous greeting arose from the throats of hundreds of doughboys. God’s honest truth, this was the best thing we had seen since coming to France. Again, truth be told, as fast as that ambulance went by, we had hardly even caught a glimpse of the two nurses. But, burning brightly in each man’s eye, was the vision of a raven-haired beauty or the golden locks of some sweetheart back home.

After the ambulance passed, a new and hitherto unknown cry came could be heard, and voicings such as, ''I want to go home," passed down the line. To this day I am inclined to believe those murmurings were as sincere as the tears we shed. We did want to go home, but not right then and there.

Note. Major and Chaplain, Carl E. Haterius served with the 137th Regiment. He was born in 1892 in Pottawatomie County, Kansas and died in 1962 in Eugene, Oregon.He also served in World War II.

Whimsey

My grandfather loved poetry, as do I, and so here goes:

Nobodiness is a malady
That affects almost everybody.
Won’t somebody tell everybody,
Sir or madam, as the case may be,
Your impoliteness is downright rudeness
I have a name, and it’s not dude

General Charles Lafayette Pearson

They called him general. General Charles Lafayette Pearson, Charles a name fit for a king who lost and won his crown, Lafayette, for a general who fought for a noble cause.

A graduate of law at the University of Alabama, he was too young to have fought for the south in the Civil War, too old to have fought in the Spanish American War. The French gave him his honorary title when he completed four years of graduate study in France, where when the debate continued over revolution and counter-revolution, church and state, and monarchy and republicanism. Young Charles, for he was perhaps in his late twenties by now, was influenced by the moderate President Jules Grévy and his brother Jules Philippe Louis Albert Grévy, who was one of his instructors.

He returned to Alabama and to his father’s farm. He married the beautiful and mysterious Zenia Blasingame, and they had nine children, unusually named and exceptionally well-educated, who, of those that survived the rigors of childhood, grew up, moved away, and lived good lives.

Charles became Brigadier-General of the Alabama State Troops, and so earned his title.

Charles, good son that he was, cared for his father and mother until their deaths. He practiced law in Tallapoosa County and oversaw a large farming operation in the red clay hills of Alabama that grew to over 42,000 acres.

The farm is gone, sold to a lumber company, and the land has reverted to pine trees and kudzu, the children are gone, what remains is a small cemetery lost in the woods, appropriately called the General Charles Lafayette Pearson cemetery.

The general died on January the 12, 1894 and his remains lay along with those of his father and mother and a few other souls.

Notes.

During a time in Alabama state history when ordinary working-class citizens opposed compulsory education, he insured his children got a good education. Several of them went to Emory College in Atlanta, others to Kansas State in Manhattan. One son, James Nevels Pearson taught at Michigan State after graduating from Kansas State. Another son, Varlourd left Kansas State to enlist in the Army during World War I (He died during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and received the Distinguished Service Medal), another son Madison Bertand Pearson, also graduated from Kansas State University and played on the World Champion Chicago Bears team in 1932.

The general's oldest surviving son was Carlos Lopez Pearson. There is little information available about him other than a draft registration for World War II that declares he was born in Hudleyville, Alabama, March 14, 1887, and was then (1942)living in Wenatchee, Washington. The name Carlos Lopez is a play on his father's name, Charles Lafayette - Carlos is Spanish for Charles and Lopez comes from Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Lafayette of Mexican independence.

I am not able to independently verify that Charles Pearson was a Brigadier General of the Alabama State Troops or to learn the exact organization referenced.

Personal note.
 
The General is my great great uncle.

Great great grand-daddy James Madison Pearson (1817 - 1891) was born in Monticello, Jasper County Georgia. In the 1830's, he left Georgia for the new state of Alabama, settling on land recently taken from the Creek Indians along the Coosa River,  some 12 miles north of Dadeville, in Tallapoosa County.

Read about the Creek Wars, Alabama Department of Archives.

James and wife Elizabeth Ann Brown had nine children. See O'Farrell Family. Included in this brood, was my great great grandfather Benjamin Rush Pearson, born 1849, and his younger brother Charles Lafayette Pearson, born 1854.


More sources and notes

General Charles Lafayette Pearson, courtesy of George Campbell

Two story family farm in Alabama in the Auburn University Libraries

 Find a Grave. 

Pearson's Dragoons

Note. I have no information to directly connect Pearson's Dragoons with my family. I just wanted to get this down in case some information should turn up.

The Civil War impacted every corner of the South and Tallapoosa County was no exception. One estimate is that small rural Tallapoosa County contributed almost 3,000 soldiers to the war effort on the Confederate side, and of these almost a third perished. A Few Soldiers of Old Tallapoosa.

Campaign Flag First Alabama Cavalry Regiment

Pearson's Dragoons 

The First Alabama Cavalry Regiment was organized at Montgomery, November, 1861 under the command of Colonel James H. Clanton.

The First Alabama Cavalry Regiment fought at the battles of Shiloh and Murfreesboro. It was also part of the rear guard which protected the retreat from Tullahoma and Chattanooga, losing severely at Duck river; fought at Chickamauga, Clinton and Knoxville, and took a brilliant part in the Sequatchee raid. It was engaged in retarding Sherman's advance on Atlanta.

Read more.

Company D of the First Alabama was also known as Pearson's Dragoons. It is also called Company C and may have had other designations due to reorganizations. It was formed in Tallapoosa County. Its regimental commanders included: John G. Stokes (resigned, 25 Oct 62); Jesse W. Fitzpatrick (resigned, 26 Nov 64); Henry C. Washburn (1st Lt., paroled as Capt., Co. "D").

The company designation changed during the war due to reorganizations. Other designations include: "Co. C, 1st Alabama Cavalry; Co. D, 12th Alabama Cavalry, later 2nd Co. C". I have also seen reference to Companies C, D, and F. See following.

The 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment surrendered at Charlotte, North Carolina, May 3, 1865. Pearson's Dragoons was then under the command of Henry C. Washburn, and designated as Company D. Seventy-two officers and men of the Alabama First Cavalry signed paroles. Re: James Henry Pitts.

Lost in all of this is the explanation for the name Pearson's Dragoons. The Pearson family lived in Tallapoosa County from shortly after the War of 1812 and the Battle with the Creeks. They owned a significant amount of land in the county. That land was located off modern Highway 280 and up Slaughter’s Crossing Road. Today, the land is owned by Kimberly Clark.

The land was passed down to General Charles Lafayette Pearson, but he was born in 1854, and would have been only six or seven at the outbreak of the Civil War. His father James Madison Pearson, born Monticello, Jasper Co., Georgia in 1817 is the more likely connection, if any, to the company name. He was an attorney and farmer, who passed the farm down to his son Charles. Family cemetery of Charles Lafayette Pearson, including his father James Madison Pearson.

There were nine children born to James Madison Pearson and his wife Mary White. My connection is to older son, Benjamin Rush Pearson, my great-grandfather, who became a doctor and practiced in Birmingham. His son, my grandfather, was also named James Madison Pearson.

My grandfather often spoke about his adventures in and around Dadeville and Tallopoosa County.

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.
______________________________________________________

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