Brick wall - a real long shot

[Bullard]

An interesting aside regarding Samuel Oliver Pierce (1800-85) and his younger sister Jane Beale Bleaden Pierce (1805-86) - they married another brother and sister, Ann Margaret Morgan (1800-72)  and her younger brother Robert William Morgan (1801-72), both children of Robert Morgan (b. 1772) and Elizabeth Fell, who had married as a minor in 1796.

They celebrated a double baptism in St Anne, Soho on 4 January, 1832, when Edward Pierce and Eliza Jane Morgan were baptised together.

[Kate Walker]

You may have already found this:
NZ researcher/librarian Tony Millett (descendant of George Patrick Pierce) gives the following:

Thomas Pearce, b 1678 of Eaststreet, Taunton, Somerset. Children including:

son Damond Pierce, born 1708, of Chepstow (Monmouthshire); children including:

son George b 1738, d 1768 (drowned); of Cowbridge, Glamorgan, Wales; children including:

son George b 19 Dec 1768 at Reading, Berkshire; m 13 Dec 1790 Betsey Matthews, b 1766 Calne, Wiltshire, d of John Matthews, d 15 May 1838
 
 (http://tonymillett.tripod.com/id45.html )

[cloudcuckoo]

My wife's paternal grandmother was Nellie Pierce, daughter of Septimus, Samuel Oliver's son. She married Henry Knight whose son was Robert Lanier Knight my wife's father. We also have a copy of SO Pierce's journal which he put together about his trip to the USA. Like everyone else I have reached an impasse about the Pierces in about the mid 18th century. I have only just joined RootsChat so I am not familiar yet with the thread that I stumbled upon. I should wlecome any contact about the more recent leads.

[Bullard]

Hello cloudcuckoo, welcome to the thread. Your wife is the third of Septimus' great-grandchildren to tangle with it (the other two are MaggiMae through Nellie's brother Henry, and me through Nellie's brother John / Jack). It seems that all of Septimus' children had to copy out the journal of their grandfather's trip to America!

As far as the Pierce ancestors in the 18th century are concerned, the tradition that they came from Wales and the West Country now has names and dates, although I am not sure if anyone has verified them (much of what I was told about the Pierces has turned out to be hogwash, so we need to cautious). Not that we really need a Welsh immigrant to explain George's appearance in St. James Westminster in 1769, since there were multiple families of Pierces living in the parish in the 1730s and 1740s, and he could have been descended from any one of them.

Do you have any old Pierce family photos, documents or memorabilia, apart from the copy of Samuel Pierce's journal? We have a few interesting things that we would be interested in sharing. Also a little information about the maternal lines (Sophia Brorone/Brown & Ann Margaret Morgan). If  you make 3 or more posts you will be eligible to send and receive private messages, which may be preferable for this sort of exchange.

[avm228]

You may have already found this:
NZ researcher/librarian Tony Millett (descendant of George Patrick Pierce) gives the following:

Thomas Pearce, b 1678 of Eaststreet, Taunton, Somerset. Children including:

son Damond Pierce, born 1708, of Chepstow (Monmouthshire); children including:

son George b 1738, d 1768 (drowned); of Cowbridge, Glamorgan, Wales; children including:

son George b 19 Dec 1768 at Reading, Berkshire; m 13 Dec 1790 Betsey Matthews, b 1766 Calne, Wiltshire, d of John Matthews, d 15 May 1838
 
 (http://tonymillett.tripod.com/id45.html )

Sincere apologies for having overlooked this very helpful post from last October. 

I have been in touch with the site owner, who kindly responded to say that his source was this work in Auckland War Memorial Museum Library:

http://thecommunityarchive.org.nz/node/77913/description

I have not yet been in touch with the museum, or attempted to trace the author.  Is anyone on here in or near Auckland?

The information listed in the website extract is very close to the story which has been passed down my line of the family, but obviously more detailed. However, subject to what the NZ documents show, I do not know of any of it yet having been corroborated by contemporaneous 17th or 18th century records.

[avm228]

My wife's paternal grandmother was Nellie Pierce, daughter of Septimus, Samuel Oliver's son. She married Henry Knight whose son was Robert Lanier Knight my wife's father. We also have a copy of SO Pierce's journal which he put together about his trip to the USA. Like everyone else I have reached an impasse about the Pierces in about the mid 18th century. I have only just joined RootsChat so I am not familiar yet with the thread that I stumbled upon. I should wlecome any contact about the more recent leads.

Welcome cloudcuckoo - it's great to have another Pierce researcher on board

[avm228]

Not that we really need a Welsh immigrant to explain George's appearance in St. James Westminster in 1769, since there were multiple families of Pierces living in the parish in the 1730s and 1740s, and he could have been descended from any one of them.

On this - I need to apologise for having (in the first post of the thread) referred to the 1769 Westminster baptism as being "our" George.  I think that is still very much open to question.  In November 2006 an American cousin & fellow Pierce descendant contacted me to say that that the information she had inherited (I do not know what type of document) showed George's birthdate as 19 December 1768.  Place not known.

This is the same date we see in the NZ account, with a Reading birthplace.

It is also consistent, for what that is worth, with his age at death of 55 on 24 Dec 1823 (per burial register of St Anne's, Soho - buried 31 Dec 1823).

[avm228]

son George b 1738, d 1768 (drowned); of Cowbridge, Glamorgan, Wales

Cowbridge PRs show a George Pierce buried 21 July 1768.  No further details of him are recorded.

[cloudcuckoo]

Thankyou avm228 and Bullard for the welcome and for bringing me up to date with the Pierce saga. I clearly wasn't too far out in my analysis so it is all very puzzling especially when the family became so distinguished subsequently. Incidentally, Bullard, we have photographs of Nellie and Henry's wedding which must show Septimus and his wife  and probably two of the sons at Septimus's home in Steyning Sussex. Unfortunately there are no clues as to who is in the photograph. I shall be happy to share such information as I have though as you say it might be best done via e-mail.