Person:Isaac Pearce (5)

Isaac Pearce was one of the Early Settlers of Augusta County, Virginia

Contents 1 Records in Augusta County, VA 2 Records in Tennessee		Welcome to Old Augusta Early Settlers Beverley Manor Borden's Grant Register Data Maps Places Library History Index
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Records in Augusta County, VA

• At a Court Con'd and held for Augusta County May 18th 1775- Prest. Geo Croghan, John Campbell, John Gibson, Geo Vallandigham. On the Petition of Charles Harrison and others, It is Ordered that Richard Walker, Charles Harrison, Daniel Cannon, and Isaac Pearce or any 3 of them being first sworn View a road the nearest and best way to View a Road from Thomas Gists house to Cap'n Fromans mill and make a report of the Conv and Inconv to the next Court. [The Records of deeds for the district of West Augusta, Virginia: for the court held at Fort Dunmore (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1775-1776, pg. 541]

• March 25th 1778— [Minutes of Court of Yohogania County] The Court met Pursuant to adjournment. Present: John Campbell, William Crawford, Richard Yeates, John Decamp, John Stephenson, Joshua Wright, John McDowell, Zacheriah Connell, Gentlemen Justices. Thomas Gist v. Richard Waller; Then came the Plff, and Isaac Pearce personally appeared in Court and undertook for the defendant that in Case he shall be cast in this Suit he shall pay and Satisfy the Condemnation of the Court or render his body to prison in Execution for the Same, or that he the said Isaac Pearce would do it for him. Whereupon the Defendant prays and has leave to imparl untill next Court and then to plead. [The Records of deeds for the district of West Augusta, Virginia : for the court held at Fort Dunmore (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1775-1776, pg. 134]

• March 25th 1778— Thomas Gist v. John Hall. Then came the Plaintiff, and Isaac Pearce personally appeared in Court and undertook for the Defendant, that in Case he shall be cast in this Suit he shall satisfy and pay the Condemnation of the Court or render his body to prison in Execution for the same or that he the said Isaac Pearce would do it for him. Whereupon the Defendant prays and has leave to imparl untill next Court and then to plead. [The Records of deeds for the district of West Augusta, Virginia : for the court held at Fort Dunmore (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1775-1776, pg. 135].

• March 25th 1778 - Isaac Pearce produced a Commission from his Excellency the Governor appointing him Captain of the Militia. Whereupon the said Isaac Came into Court and Swore to said Commission. [The Records of deeds for the district of West Augusta, Virginia : for the court held at Fort Dunmore (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1775-1776, pg. 135].

• June 24th, 1778. [Minutes of Court of Yohogania County] The Court met pursuant to their adjournment. Ordered that the following Gentlemen be appointed to receive the lists of Tythables within the following districts viz : — John Campbell Gent for the district of Capt Lee & Capt Bousman. Benjamin Keykendal Gent, for the districts of Capt. Evans & Capt Z. Wright. Joshua Wright Gent, for the districts of Capt. Jas. Wright &: Capt. Cook. Benjn. Fry Gent, in the districts of Capt. David Ritchey, Capt. Ellis, & Capt. Kemp. John McDaniel Gent, for the district of Capt. David Andrews, Capt. Records & Capt. Nicholas Dawson. George Valandingham Gent, for the districts of Lieut. Newill. Andrew Swearingen Gent, for the districts of Capt. Vance, Lieut. Bay and Capt. Matthew Ritchey. Richd. Yates Gent for the Districts of Capt. A. Swearingens, and the district late Major Taylors. Isaac Cox Gent for Capt. Baxters district. Thos. Freman Gent for his own district & Capt. Ford's. William Harrison Gent for the district of Capt. Pearce. William Goe Gent, for Capt. Springer's district. Joseph Becket Gent, for Capt. Crows district and John Stephenson Gent, for the district of Capt. Minter. [The Records of deeds for the district of West Augusta, Virginia : for the court held at Fort Dunmore (Pittsburgh, Pa.), 1775-1776, pg. 243].

Records in Tennessee

• Davidson County, Tennessee, Court Records: Isaac Pierce, Plaintiff vs. Rodger McQuilliam & Wm. Espey Defdts. To which at July Term 1793 the plaintiff appeared by John Overton Esqr., his attorney, Likewise the Defendants, Andrew Jackson Esquire their Attorney and Pleads "Non-Assumpsitt & Sett Off" And thereon the plaint. & Defdts. Joined Issue after which the cause and proceedings had thereon was continued to each succeeding Sessions Untill April Sessions 1794 at which time comes hereinto court as well the plaint. as the Defendants by their attorneys aforesd. And thereon comes a Jury to wit, George Payne, James Hamilton, John Anderson, Azariah Stuart, Abraham Deton & James McEwen, who being Elected Tried and Sworn well and truly to try the issue Joined between the Parties as aforesd. && And Jonathan Pierce & Isaac Pierce Junr., Thomas Waller, Henry Bradford, and Daniel Smith, the witnesses in the cause being called sworn Examined and heard, the Jury withdraw. Return and on their oaths do say that they find the Issue in favour of the Plaint. And do Assess his Damages on the occassion to Ten Dollars Six Shillings and eight pence; Therefore it is considered of by the court that the Plaintiff Do Recover against the Defendants the Sum of Ten Dollars Six Shillings & eight pence so assessed to him by the Jury aforesd. Also his costs of suit &&. Judgement 10 Doll. 6x-8d. [Davidson County Tennessee Court Records, pg. 171, FamilySearch Film #008263206].

1.   Some Pennsylvanians in 1772: Settlers in Fayette, Greene, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties.

   TYRONE TOWNSHIP. Jonathan Arnold, Andrew Arnold, David Allen, Andrew Byers, Christopher Beeler, Henry Beeson, John Boggs, Thomas Brownfield, Bernard Cunningham, Daniel Canon, Edward Conn, George Clark, George Clark, Jr., John Cherry, James Cravin, John Clem, John Cornwall, John Castleman, Wiliam Crawford, Esq., Valentine Crawford, William Collins, George Dawson, Edward Doyle, Joshua Dickenson, Thomas Davis, Robert Erwin, Thomas Freeman, James Gamble, Reason Gale, Tomas Gist, Esq., Charles Harrison, William Harrison, Ezekiel Hickman, Henry Hartley, James Harper, Joseph Huston, William Hanshaw, John Keith, Andrew Linn, David Lindsay, John Laughlin, Samuel Lyon, Alexander Moreland, Augustine Moore, Edmund Martin, Michael Martin, Hugh Masterson, Isaac Meason, Philip Meason, Providence Mounts, William Massey, William Miller, Robert McGlaughlin, William McKee, Robert O’Guillon, Adam Payne, Elisha Pearce, Isaac Pearce, George Paull, Andrew Robertson, Edmund Rice, Robert Ross, Samuel Rankin, William Rankin, Dennis Springer, Josiah Springer, George Smith, Moses Smith, Isaac Sparks, William Sparks, John Stephenson, John Stewart, Philip Shute, Philip Tanner, James Torrance, Thomas Tilton, John Vance, Conrad Walker, Henry White, William White, Joseph Wells, John Waller, Richard Waller, Lund Washington, George Young.
   
   https://www.genealogymagazine.com/some-pennsylvanians-in-1772-settlers-in-fayette-greene-washington-and-westmoreland-counties/

2.   Bedford County, PA Tax List 1773.

   TYRONE TOWNSHIP.
   
   Elisha Pearce, 4 .6
   Isaac Pearce, 4 .0
   
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/bedford/taxlist/1773-tax.txt

3.   Pearce Lines: Part 2-The New World.

   Isaac Peairs (1730-1810) [probably one of several born in Maryland or Pennsylvania and not to be confused with Isaac Pearce, Son of Alfred, who served in the American Civil War about whom a future article is planned] is listed as a 1772 resident of Tyrone Township, Bedford County, which a year later became Westmoreland County and 10 years after that Fayette County, PA. Renner believes that several Peairs families came from Virginia and Maryland, along with their slaves, to settle along the Redstone Creek, a tributary to the great Monongahela River southeast of Pittsburgh. She cites the abundance of game, the immunity of Indian aggression, the fertility of the land, and good water. Above all, Braddock’s Road (now Rt. 40 and I-68) from Baltimore and Cumberland to Pittsburgh made access easy. They settled near Uniontown (3). Ellis’ History of Fayette County, PA states that “an Isaac and Jonathan Pearce, two brothers, came to this county with the earliest settlers and each took up a considerable tract of land (673). The “Quarter Sessions Docket,” Westmoreland County, April/July 1773, identifies an Isaac Parce as a juror in the King Vs. Baltzer Shilling Trial. A Lewis Pearce is also mentioned (6). Again, in 1785, Isaac is listed as a witness for the State in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vs. John Patrick for Assault and Battery. Renner’s work lists several other interesting references to old Isaac, known as Captain Isaac because of his commission before Governor Patrick Henry in 1778 to lead a Virginia militia [remember that this land was under dispute between Pennsylvania and Virginia before the famous Mason-Dixon Survey] (an Elisha Peairs, probably his brother, also took an oath that day). She says:
   During the spring and summer months of 1781, the Pennsylvania frontier was sorely disturbed by the efforts of General George Rogers Clark to raise troops for an expedition against the British post at Detroit. General Clark was needing supplies and the farmers were harassed for provisions. [Isaac’s] family probably lived in a log cabin that had loop holes for rifles for this was a time of many Indian raids. Hannastown, the county seat of Westmoreland when Isaac was living there [an now a state historical site], was destroyed by Indians July 13, 1782. This was the hardest blow inflicted by “savages” during the Revolution within the limits of Pennsylvania settlements. (5)
   
   A tract of 320 acres, which was originally surveyed in 1769, was finally patented to Isaac in 1785 under that name “Discord.” The Ellis account says that Isaac ran a distillery there, which is significant because the Peairs family later operated a similar business when they moved to Sumner County, TN. In her book Over the Mountains, Evelyn Abraham says that many farmers in Western Pennsylvania were very unhappy over the government excise tax on whiskey. Converting corn and rye to alcohol was a profitable way of transporting grain to market then. The general discontent lead to the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, the only time newly elected President George Washington ordered Federal troops against American citizens. Today, the adjacent county of Somerset, where I live, still commemorates that action with an historic military reenactment. But there was probably another reason why Isaac and the Peairs might have been ready to move back down south. In 1780 the Pennsylvania legislature passed the “Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery” declaring that all “colored” persons born after that date were considered free men after they reached age 28. The 1790 Fayette County census registered Isaac’s household as “1 white male, 16 and older including the head of the family; 3 free white females; 2 other persons; and 3 slaves.” In the fall of 1790, local deed books show Isaac Pierce selling his property in Pennsylvania. He and his family, and presumably the slaves, moved to Sumner County, Tennessee.
   
   http://e-gen.info/?page_id=954

4.   Abraham Lincoln the Elder - Pennsylvanian .

   Of the Berks County Lincolns in PA: "The Lincolns were prominent in Berks county. Thomas, brother of Mordecai, was sheriff of the county, and all owned land. Mordecai was a merchant in Berks county and a man of means. In 1791 he visited his son Benjamin, who prior to 1791 had gone to Fayette county, Pennsylvania. He liked the country so well that on June 29, 1791, he purchased of Isaac Pearce the tract of land called "Discord," containing three hundred and twenty acres. He finally settled in the county himself, and continued his residence until his death in 1812."
   
   Of the Virginia stage of the family's situation: "John ("Virginia John") settled in Berks county, Pennsylvania, later in Virginia, His son, Abraham, carried on an extensive land transaction[s] in Augusta county, Virginia, and later in Kentucky, where he was killed in the spring of 1784 by an Indian, while at work in his field."
   
   https://cwbn.blogspot.com/2006/12/abraham-lincoln-elder-pennsylvanian.html

5.   Franklin Ellis. History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania: with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: L.H. Everts & Co, 1882).

   Isaac and Jonathan Pearce, two brothers, came to this county with the earliest settlers, and each took up a considerable tract of land. On Sept. 14, 1769, a tract of 820 acres was surveyed to Isaac, which was given the name of "Discord," and upon which a patent was issued March 10, 1786. In 1785 the business of a distillery was carried on here, and June 29, 1791, the property was sold to Mordecai Lincoln, of Derry township, Dauphin Co. While yet in the possession of Isaac Pearce the survey of " Discord" was disputed by the attorney of Thomas Gaddis, for William Cromwell, by virtue of an order issued from the Ohio Company. The property located by Jonathan Pearce was called " Bowling Green," a body of 180 acres, adjoining that of Samuel McClean and Jonathan Pearce. A survey of it was made March 20, 1787.
   
   Samuel Lyon, Sr., and Samuel Lyon, Jr., came here in 1769, and purchased extensive bodies of land north of that located by Isaac Pearce. Samuel, Sr., had three hundred and fifteen acres, which was called " Pretention and Contention," and which was surveyed June 13, 1769.

6.   Sumner County, Tennessee Tax List, in RootsWeb's WorldConnect Project.

   Name Polls Land (acres) Amount of Taxes
   ------------------------------------------------------
   Isaac Pearce 1 200 1-8
   Isaac Pearce, Jr. 1 200 1-8
   
   https://sites.rootsweb.com/~providence/tax1794.htm

7.   Jackson, Andrew; Sam B Smith (ed.); Harriet Fason Chappell Owsley (ed.); and Harold D. Moser (ed.). Papers of Andrew Jackson. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1994)
   pg. 67.

   

8.   Tennessee, Early Tax List Records, 1783-1895.

   Name: Isaac Pierce
   Year: 1791
   Residence: Sumner, Tennessee
   Polls: 3

9.   Pennsylvania. General Assembly. Septennial Census Returns, 1779-1863. (Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Archives Series #7.26).

   Name: Isaac Peairs
   Residence Year: 1786
   Residence Place: Union, Fayette, Pennsylvania, USA

10.   Tennessee, Early Tax List Records, 1783-1895.

    Name: Isaac Peairs Senior
    Year: 1794
    Residence: Sumner, Tennessee

11.   Find A Grave.

    Isaac Pierce
    Birth 1730
    Maryland, USA
    Death 20 Jan 1810 (aged 79–80)
    Sumner County, Tennessee, USA
    Burial
    Pierce Cemetery
    Hendersonville, Sumner County, Tennessee, USA
    
    Isaac is listed as a 1772 resident of Tyrone Township, Bedford County, which a year later became Westmoreland County and 10 years after that Fayette County, PA. Researcher Helen Ruth Renner believed that several Peairs families came from Virginia and Maryland, along with their slaves, to settle along the Redstone Creek, a tributary to the great Monongahela River southeast of Pittsburgh. She cites the abundance of game, the immunity of Indian aggression, the fertility of the land, and good water. Above all, Braddock’s Road (now Rt. 40 and I-68) from Baltimore and Cumberland to Pittsburgh made access easy. They settled near Uniontown (3). Ellis’ History of Fayette County, PA states that “an Isaac and Jonathan Pearce, two brothers, came to this county with the earliest settlers and each took up a considerable tract of land (673).
    
    Hannastown, the county seat of Westmoreland when Isaac was living there [an now a state historical site], was destroyed by Indians July 13, 1782. This was the hardest blow inflicted by “savages” during the Revolution within the limits of Pennsylvania settlements.
    
    In 1790/1791, Isaac moves to Tennessee along with several other families, including the Cummins and Wallers. A court document for false imprisonment confirms the PA and TN Isaac are the same man, with Isaac's slave, York, having been both in PA and TN. In a 1795 court case, John Cummins v. Isaac Peairs, Andrew Jackson is Cummins lawyer.
    
    https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/191363971/isaac-pierce