Brad and LD,

The only on-line public record that George W. Pierce appears on is the 1840 census of Hall Co., GA.

If you search on Ancestry.com, you will find him on Page 55, living next to Robt. Evans.  There are a few people with the surname Prince on the same page.  Don’t confuse that with Pierce.  There was a Prince family which I also have indirect connections to.

On the following Page 57, you will find Sampson Pierce.

And on the next Page 59, you will find the elder Reuben Pierce and my Wilson Pierce.  Also on this page is Rebecca Cavender (LD’s ancestor), my 3th-great grandfather Henry Barton, and my 4th-great grandfather John Thomerson (Thomason).  And note that there is an elder Sion Gamblin and Jarret Gamblin on this page.

Jackson Pierce (LD’s Andrew Jackson Pierce) is found on Page 39, but where he lived was not that far away from the group above.  And on the following Page 41 is a Joshua Gamblin – I believe this should be Josiah Gamblin.  On the 1849 Hall Co. tax digest, there is a Josiah Gamblin living next to Sion Gamblin -- in the same militia district as all the others I have mentioned above (I’m saying all this for a reason).

So the only place we ever find George W. Pierce is on the 1840 census of Hall Co., GA.  He is not found in any other on-line records.  I believe George W. is the son of Reuben Pierce, and a brother of my Wilson Pierce and LD’s Andrew J. Pierce.  From the 1820 and 1830 censuses, Reuben Pierce had 5 sons and 1 daughter.

Note that I mentioned above that George W. Pierce was living next to Robert Evans on the 1840 census.

I have copies of some deed records from Hall Co., GA.  In September 1837 there are 3 deed records wherein Robert Evans sells to Washington Pierce all his land and all his personal property. 

One deed is for Lot 422 in the 15th District for $40 (this is a partial lot). 

Another deed is for Lot 1 (250 acres) in the 11th District for $900 [250 acres is a full lot].  Note that my 3rd-great grandfather Henry Barton (Wilson Pierce’s father-in-law) owned Lot 3 in the 11th District essentially all his life, and upon his death in 1871 my Wilson Pierce bought 1/2 the lot from the estate sale and move onto it.

The third deed is for all of Robert’s personal property, including one male slave, a horse, a yoke of oxen and cart, all his stock of cattle, hogs and sheep, all his farm equipment, all his household and kitchen furniture, etc.  In this deed it states the following:

“Know all men by these presents that I Robert Evans of said State and County for divers good causes and considerations me hereunto moving and especially for the natural love and affection hath this granted given and conveyed and by these presents doth hereby give grant and convey unto Washington Pearce of said County who is my Son in Law...[the things I mentioned above]”

Then in April 1839, there are two deeds wherein Washington Pierce sells Lot 1 and all the personal property back to Robert Evans (but not Lot 422).

In all 5 of these deeds, the name is always Washington, never George or G.W.  And the surnames Pierce and Pearce are used interchangably, even within the same document.

There is an Evans Family genealogy that appears to be from 1966.  In that genealogy it mentions a letter written in 1891 by an Emma C. Vickery in which she mentions that Mary Evans Pierce had moved to Arkansas and was still living.

But George Washington Pierce and family cannot be found anywhere after 1840.  He was shown on the 1840 Hall Co., GA census with a wife and 4 sons.

Remember the Gamblin’s that I mentioned above.  This Josiah Gamblin was on the 1849 Hall Co. tax digest, along with Sion Gamblin.  On the 1850 census this Josiah Gamblin (with a son named Sion) is found living in Montgomery Co., AR.

On the 1860 census of Montgomery Co, AR we find the following family (all living next door to each other):

Pearce, Mary Ann – 43 F – GA

Pearce, G.W. – 20 M – GA   (probably George W.)

Pearce, N.J. – 19 M – GA     (probably Newton J.)

Pearce, Vicey – 13 F – GA    (aka Lavisa or Levicia)

Pearce, Nancy M – 11 F – GA

Pearce, R.H. – 25 M – GA   (probably Reuben H.)

Pearce, J.B. – 3 M – AR

Pearce, J.B. – 1 M – AR      (probably John Newton)

Pearce, R.J. – 24 M – GA    (probably Robert Andrew J.)

Pearce, Mary – 20 F – AL

Pearce, Geo. W. – 3 M – AR

Pearce, Mary E. – 1 F – AR

The names in parentheses are bases on other records I have found (marriage records, civil war records, etc).  The four sons of Mary Ann Pearce were all in the Civil War – 3 of them in a Company that was almost completed decimated.  I believe all 4 of them died during the Civil War.

Note that the names in this family all have connections to the names in the Reuben Pierce and Robert Evans families from Hall Co., GA.  Also, almost all the children and grandchildren of Reuben and Lavisa Pierce have sons named Reuben and daughters with some form of the name Lavisa.  And, the names Newton and Jasper are also common among the descendants of Reuben Pierce.

I researched the above Pearce family in Montgomery Co., AR and traced down to Jenny’s husband Carl J. Pierce.  I have put together a fairly good descendant chart for the descendants of this Mary Ann Pearce/Pierce.

About a month ago I received 6 microfilm rolls from LDS of Montgomery Co., AR probate records.  From these records, I have determined the following:

Mary Ann Pierce (widow of George W. Pierce) filed for probate of his estate with the County Clerk in Nov. 1854.  The case was brought before the Probate Judge in January Term 1855, and Mary Ann was appointed administratrix.

In one of the entries for this estate, Reuben H. Pierce (an heir of the estate) files for reimbursement for the cost of a horse that was killed on the property by a tree falling on it.

I did not find any entries for the settlement of the estate of George W. Pierce – nor any distributions to heirs.  But Mary Ann Pierce did buy a parcel of land during the probate.

There are also probate records for Reuben H. Pierce.  From these records we know that he died “on or about March 8, 1863.”

In Oct. 1865, Mary Ann Pierce was appointed guardian of the two children of Reuben H. Pierce, who are named as James B. H. Pierce and John N. Pierce. 

Mary and the two grandsons cannot be found on the 1870 census.  In 1880, Mary is found living with the family of her daughter Lavica Lovell in Logan Co., AR. (I actually have cousins who live there now).

So we know that the parents of Carl’s ancestor Reuben H. Pierce of Montgomery Co., AR were George W. and Mary Ann Pierce (based on the probate records).  So I think at a minimum, they can be added to Carl’s ancestry on the Pierce DNA project.

And while the genealogical evidence suggests that the George W. Pierce who died in Montgomery Co., AR in 1854 is possibly (maybe likely) the same George W. Pierce that is on the 1840 Hall Co., GA census, it is our DNA match that almost confirms it.  From my perspective, I think the evidence is enough to draw the conclusion.

From the DNA, we know that my Wilson Pierce, LD’s Andrew J. Pierce and Carl’s George W. Pierce are all related.  The genealogical evidence suggests that they are all brothers and the sons of Reuben and Lavisa Pierce who lived in Jackson Co., GA, Hall Co., GA and Lumpkin Co., GA from 1809 to 1850.

I am certain that Sampson Pierce is another brother of three that we have DNA results for.  I need to get one of his descendants (who live in Hall Co. GA) to do a DNA test. 

I believe the 5th son of Reuben and Lavisa Pierce is a Wiley Pierce who married Sally Mills in Hall Co., GA.  I have traced down their line a few generations, but have not found a living descendant yet.

And it appears that the daughter of Reuben and Lavisa Pierce is probably Lucretia Pierce who married William Cavender in Hall Co., GA.

On a side note, there are many Public Member Trees on Ancestry.com that incorrectly list several other children of Reuben and Lavisa Pierce.  These children are actually members of Group B on the Pierce DNA project – in particular ID 66776.  This group of Pierce’s also had a Reuben H. Pierce who lived in Hall, Lumpkin and Dawson Cos., GA.  This is the family with connections to William Greenberry Russell – who led an expedition that discovered gold in Colorado and set off the Pike Peaks Gold Rush.  Elizabeth Pierce was the mother of “Green” Russell, and the sister of John Pierce, Levi Pierce and Reuben Harrison Pierce.  Even though they lived in the same counties at the same time (and share the name Reuben), there is no historical or genealogical evidence making any connection between them.  And the lack of a DNA match further proves it.

Dan Pierce

Glendale, Calif.

FYI.. this is a message I sent to Jenny one year ago.

Dan

From: Two Run

Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2011 10:25 PM

To: Jenny Pierce

Subject: Pierce DNA Project

Hello Jenny,

I have some good news.  I just got my first DNA match a couple days ago.  I matched with L.D. Pierce from Texas (actually his father is the one who sent in the DNA).  We have thought for a long time that we share a common great-great-great-grandfather – Reuben Pierce (b. 1768 SC).  The match is good news because I previously did not match with anyone who had taken the DNA test so far – neither Pierce nor any other surname.  I had expected to match with some other Pierces from Georgia or South Carolina.  When I didn’t match to anyone, I wondered if I might not even be a Pierce by blood.  This match confirms that L.D. and I are Pierces by blood and that we share a common ancestor before 1800.

Now that I have this information, I’ll tell you my thoughts about your husband’s Pierce line.

Dan,  We can attempt to establish the so called modal haplotype for your
common ancestor Reuben of SC although it is best to do probably with
more descendant lines, but three is the minimum and we have that now. 
Using what we now have (and this can change as more lines test) you and
Carl look to be closest to the modal (the closest match to Reuben's
presumed DNA markers).  The modal haplotype is the group of markers that
are most common to all lines. We can say now that your line had one
mutation from the modal--from 38 to 37 on CDY a.  LD has 2 mutations
from the modal--from 11 to 12 on 460 and 38 to 39 on CDYb.  Carl is one
off of the modal--from 31 to 32 on 449.  So LD's line has just happened
to have had a couple rather than one mutation along his line like you
and Carl have.  These mutations are just random events but can prove
helpful in separating lines and sort of serve as signatures of the
individual lines.
 
Robert C.  Pierce has not joined our Pierce dna project so I do not have
his results.  Perhaps you can convince him to join.  Or if you would
rather I try to get him interested I can email him.  His email address
is on LD's match page under the 12 marker matches. All Robert has to do
is click the "join" link at the top of the piercedna.com website and
that will get the ball rolling.  Basically the family tree DNA computer
just sticks him into the Pierce DNA project then and I can then access
his markers.  All we would need from him is a brief pedigree to post
under his kit number at the website.  The more the better for group KK. 
I looked and he has only tested 12 markers for sure.  He matches 12/12
not 0/12.  His genetic distance to you all is 0, so he certainly is 
related if you have a paper trail for him (which it sounds like you do).
 
For Alexander Lewis to join he just has to agree to do so.  He can join
the Pierce DNA project in the same fashion as Robert--at our website.  I
would really prefer for him to wait until he is comfortable with the
idea that they are Pierces--based on any written records they have, DNA,
or accepted family stories.  If they are comfortable with that now, then
I don't have a problem with them joining at this point.  We have others
in our project  with a similar story.  It will be up to them to move
forward with that.   Brad
 
On 4/14/2012 12:58 PM, Dan Pierce wrote:
> Brad,
>
> I know it’s a little early to start drawing conclusions with only 3
> different tests, but when you see our results together, it looks
> better than with just me and LD.  Assuming that our genealogy is
> correct and we do in fact all 3 share the same common ancestor, the
> current group of 3 makes it look possibly like my line has had one
> mutation, Carl's line has had one mutation, and LD's line has had 2
> mutations.  LD's mutation at marker 460 is the one that throws off the
> probability calculation.
>
> It doesn't appear to me that Robert Clayton Pierce's DNA is
> represented in the list(unless he actually was tested for more than 12
> markers).  Is this because he has not joined the project?  Or because
> you don't have access to his results?
>
> Also, what do you think about adding Alexander Lewis' results to the
> list? Would that be premature?  Would he need to join the project and
> give permission?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dan
>
>
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Brad Pierce
> Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2012 6:55 AM
> To: Dan Pierce ; ld pierce
> Subject: Carl Pierce's results
>
> I uploaded Carl's results to the website.  That shows where the
> differences are in marker results with you all in group KK.
> I put a very brief pedigree up for now just to get something up for
> him.  Brad
> http://www.piercedna.com
>

It appears evident that you can trace his line back to Ruben Pearce and his mother Mary Ann Pearce, who were living in Montgomery County, Arkansas in 1860.  They were from Georgia, but making the connection back to Georgia prior to 1860 is almost impossible.

My ancestor is Wilson Pierce, born in 1811 GA, who lived in Hall County and Lumpkin County, GA.

L.D.’s ancestor is Andrew Jackson Pierce, born in 1815 in GA, who lived in Hall County, Lumpkin County and Cherokee County, GA, but moved to Texas before 1870.

For a long time we have believed that they are brothers, and that their parents are Reuben Pierce (b. 1768 SC) and Lavisa (b. 1775 SC).  We also believe that Sampson Pierce is another brother, as well as George Washington Pierce.  The family of Sampson Pierce almost all stayed in Georgia.  However, George Washington Pierce has been very enigmatic.  We know that he was married in the early 1830s, and had 4 boys by 1840.  But then his family completely disappears after 1840 – no trace.  I have been on his trail for 20 years, but turned up nothing until just recently. 

Although we don’t have a marriage license, we know from a couple deed records and some Evans family history that George Washington Pierce was married to Mary Evans – daughter of Robert Evans and Mahala Grainger.  And we have one tidbit of information from a Evans family book that says Washington and Mary Pierce were in Arkansas in 1891.  For many years, I kept searching census records and could not find any evidence of George and Mary (and we didn’t know any of their children’s names).

With the continued improvement of the search capabilities of the Ancestry.com census records, I have recently been able to perform some rather exhaustive searches and I have determined that the only viable possibility is this Mary Ann Pierce in Montgomery Co., AR in 1860, and she is also found in Logan Co., AR in 1880.

The ages of her children fit with those in the family of George Washington Pierce in the 1840 census of Hall County, GA (except that there would be one more son that is missing in 1860).  But more importantly, the names of all of her children are names in the families of Reuben Pierce and Robert Evans.  There are also a couple of other interesting connections.

But finding any real evidence to connect this family of Mary Ann Pierce in 1860 to the family of George Washington Pierce in 1840 has been fruitless so far.  It might be possible to turn up some additional evidence if we were to do some research at the Montgomery Co., AR courthouse.

However, if I am right about all of this, then your husband should be a DNA match to myself and LD.  But if I’m wrong and he does not match to us, there is still a possibility that he will match to someone else – which would give you some clues about where to go with your research.

You can have a look at the Pierce DNA website: http://www.piercedna.com/

Go to the links for Pedigrees – our group is Group KK

  I did the 37 marker test, and LD’s father did the 67 marker test

Also, go to the link for Results and look at Group KK

The testing is recommended to be done by Family Tree DNA

http://www.familytreedna.com/

If you order the test by first joining the Pierce DNA project http://www.piercedna.com/ there is a discount from the normal price.  Also, they occasionally have special lower prices for a month.  The 37 marker test is probably the best to start with.

Let me know what you think about having the DNA test done.

Take care,

Dan Pierce