The Pierce/Pearce Brick Wall

  This Brick Wall has to do with the Pierce/Peirce/Pearse/Pearce, etc. name – and, of course, that is part of the problem right there!

   My third-great grandmother was Sarah (Salley) Pierce with a birth date stated as 07 Dec 1787, most likely in RI (each census and child says RI, (one daughter said NH – where the father was born). Salley died in MI (14 Jan 1852) where she and her husband, Peter Hazelton, and seven children came after leaving the Genesee County area of NY about 1836. 

  My great grandmother (Salley's granddaughter) Mary Ella Hazelton Childs, was a genealogist. I have many of her papers in my possession. I also have copies of pages from the Hazelton Bible, which is in the possession of a cousin. Mary Ella gives the above birth date for Salley and the Pierce spelling of her name, most of the time. Mary Ella never mentions Salley’s parents, but leaves a few possibilities.

  Peter and Salley’s first son’s name was Pierce Richardson Hazelton. Most of the children seem to have ‘family’ names, but I am not sure to which family member they belong. (See my Hazelton family blogs for details). When Salley and Peter were married (probably June 1817 in NY), Salley is said to be “of Gains” NY. This does not mean she was born there.

Boston Transcript – Jan. 23, 1922: #9437 (Query of Ella Hazelton Childs)

PEARSE/HAZELTINE: 

"Wanted the parents and grandparents of Sarah (Sally) Pearse born Dec. 7, 1787, married Peter Hazeltine, also the place of marriage and the place of birth of Peter Hazeltine, born Jan 7 1793. He was son of Ballard and Sally (Noyes) Hazeltine, grandson of Joseph and Elizabeth (Abbott) Hazeltine. Family record states that Peter Hazeltine and Sally Pearse of Gaines, Orleans County, New York were married June 1817. The family removed to or near Hastings, Barry Co. Michigan about 1836-37. Peter died 1846, Sally died in Homer [Calhoun Co] Michigan 1852. Their children all born in Orleans and Genesee Counties, New York were:

Nancy Jane        b. 1819

Pearse Richardson b. 1821

Aaron Carter      b. 1823

Peter Clark       b. 1825

Mary Ann          b. 1827

Brooks Bowman     b. 1829

Jeannette         b. 1834

Sally Pearse said to be a cousin of Franklin Pierce, the President [DOUBTFUL!! jbmb]. She had sisters, Mary, who married a Ransom, Clarissa, and a brother Reuben. The father of these children died while they were quite young. and the mother married second _______ Bassett, and had: Hiram and Naomi."   

  Searching the names of Bassett and Ransom – so far – have not led to an answer or connection.

  A distant cousin from CA (now deceased), I corresponded for several years, did a great deal of research on this question, she even hired a RI researcher, Bertram Lippincott III, in 1995, to verify the ancestry of Salley Pierce Hazelton. He came to no definitive conclusion. He does strongly suggest that most likely she is the daughter of James and Phebe (Wood) Pearce, of RI (and later NY).  But their daughter, Sarah, married Timothy (?) Jaynes, according to one of the Pierce Books, and research I did during that time.

   To corroborate the Jaynes marriage, I ordered and received a full copy of the will for James Pearce (as opposed to the abstract where Sarah is NOT mentioned) with his wife and children listed. Sarah does indeed appear as “Sarah Janes.” James Pearce’s will is dated 12 March 1820, and probated 12 Oct 1820 in Sempronious, Cayuga, NY, where this family had moved. The dates of the will make it very unlikely this is OUR Salley.

    Any insight into the above BRICK WALL would be appreciated.