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.

WHICH NANCY JANE WAS MARRIED TO ALEXANDER?

NOTE: the Hazelton name can be spelled many ways, mostly in this family it is either Hazelton or Hazeltine. I will use Hazelton.

Was Alexander Cummings married to Nancy Jane Hazelton, daughter of Ballard and Sarah (Noyes) Hazelton, OR Nancy Jane Hazelton, daughter of Peter and Sarah “Salley” (Pierce) Hazelton?

Alexander Miller Cummings was born on 18 October 1819 in Truro, Colchester, Nova Scotia, Canada, one of nine children born to John Cummings (1794-1862) and Lettice (Barnhill) Cummings (-1854). Alexander died sometime after the census for 1891 was taken on 30 April, in Middle Londonderry, Colchester, NS, where he is listed as a widow and living alone. No record of his death or burial has been found to date. Nancy Jane (Hazeltine) Cummings died in Glenholme, Colchester, NS on 13 Mar 1886. Her tombstone can be seen on FindaGrave.com #47637621. Note: her age at death does not match her documented birth date. Fudging her age seems to be a theme in her life and adds to this confusion.

Nancy Jane Hazelton was the ninth and last child of Ballard and Sarah and was born on 24 Sept 1812, in Concord, Rockingham, New Hampshire. On 22 Jul 1855, she married Alexander Cummings in Boston. On the marriage record, he gives his age as 33 (1822) and she gives her age as 30 (1825), with fathers, John and Ballard. On the Massachusetts State Census of 1855,  in Boston, Suffolk, they are both listed in a boarding house. This census appears to have been taken in June of 1855, so they are not yet married. His age is given as 33, her age is 40.  

Alexander had moved to Massachusetts sometime before 1855. This couple is then listed back in Canada on the 1861 Census in Colchester, NS, and in the 1871/1881 Censuses in Upper Londonderry, Colchester, NS. This couple had no children.

The secon Nancy Jane Hazelton (b. 17 Sep 1819), was born in Marengo, Calhoun, MI, the first child of Peter and “Salley. Peter is Ballard’s oldest child and brother to the first Nancy Jane, which makes this second Nancy Jane a niece to the first. It is interesting to note that Peter and Salley had seven children, four of them boys, who were given unique names. Two of the three girls were given names of sisters of Peter – Nancy Jane and Mary Ann. The niece, Nancy Jane (dau. of Peter), spent most of her life in Michigan, but died in Big Bend, Republic, Kansas on 25 Dec 1891. She was living with her daughter, Lelia and her family, at the time.  Nancy Jane (niece) never married although she had daughter, Lelia Luella, out of wedlock on 24 Feb 1850, in Marengo, Calhoun, MI. We are still looking for Lelia’s father.

There are a few Ancestry trees who credit THIS second (niece) Nancy Jane (b. 1819) as the wife of Alexander Cummings. But I think we can see, that this is in error.

 

Olivet College Spring Break

NOTE: the picture on the left, at the top of this blog.

In 2008, on the website Roosweb.com (no longer usable, but still has some information “read only”) a notice appeared on one of their ‘Archives’ mailing lists with the name Hazelton in the subject line. It was from someone who had a picture that she had “rescued.”  On the back it indicated that it was taken at the Crispell Studio in Battle Creek, Michigan (owned by Theron Crispell and in business from 1873-1883) and dated April 3, 1876. It was a group of students (calling themselves “Odette of the Shrug”) on vacation from Olivet College. The six students listed were: Ella Hazelton of Hartford, MI, Frankie Hazelton of Hartford, MI, Belle Mather of Detroit, MI, May Smith of Somerset, MI, Frank Green of Olivet, MI and Sherman Upton of Big Rapids, MI. Mary Ella (my great-grandmother) and her sister, Frances Ann (Frankie) are on the right. The woman who found the picture had done some initial research on the students in the picture which was included on the mailing list. I contacted her and she generously sent the picture to me. 

What a treasure to have been found it, done the initial research and then to reach out and give to a family member. Genealogists are such a fun, interesting and giving community.

Sears Timeline