Pierce Line



Arodi Peirce, 4th great grandfather

My grandmother was a Pierce, born in Middleboro, MA.  The family name has quite the military history.  Just about every cemetery in the area has a Pierce/Peirce gravestone in it.  The most surprising was the Pierce Cemetery, hidden in the middle of the woods.  Not many people know it is there.  I was in awe of it.  You have to walk through someone's back yard to find a small path that eventually led to a clearing with a iron fence encircling the graveyard.
 

There was always a mystery about my grandmother's birth, so the name Pierce always left me curious.  For the longest time I thought any other spelling of the name such as Peirce, the E before the I, or any other configuration was not in my family tree.  But soon discovered that was not the case at all.  I found stones of parents and their children spelled both ways. The spelling was interchangeable. 

Arodi's brother, Eliphalet Pierce

 There are many stories, the good the bad and the ugly, about the Pierce family.  They married into the families of Wilber, Hoar, Ryder, and Jones to name a few.  It was the wife of Captain Eli Pierce, Fidelia Ryder, that connects me to most, not all, ancestors who came over on the Mayflower.  It was their son, Thomas who produced a line of children and grandchildren who made history in  music, particularly the violin; concert singers and  actors.  Out of all the names on my family tree, the Pierce line has been the most fascinating to research and learn for there were surprises around every corner. I have found so many Pierce gravestones I lost count long ago.

Abraham Pierce (1600 - 1673)  Arrived on the ship Anne in 1623

Isaac Pierce (1661 - 1731) 

Thomas Pierce (1679 - 1754)

Thomas Pierce (1715 - 1785)

Arodie Peirce (1750 - 1825)

Captain Eli Pierce (1796 - 1871)

Thomas Warren Pierce (1842 - 1910)
 

Carl Zachariah Pierce (1872 - 1927)

Mary Ann Pierce (1898 - 1982) my grandmother

Robert Frank lin Smith (1923 - 2008)  Dad

Kathryn Marie Smith