IN

XV

MASSACHUSETTS

1630, the good ship Mary and John, chartered by the English company that had

PIERCE CREST.

in charge the Massachusetts Bay Colony, brought to Boston a young man by the name of Robert Pierce. Professor J. M. Peirce of Harvard, says: "A high degree of uniformity exists in the spelling, as used by persons bearing the name in any one family connection."

The branch which

sprang from Robert Pierce has consistently, for nine generations, given the preference to

the method of spelling the name which will be used in this paper, but as the very able "Peirce Genealogy" compiled by Frederick Clifton Peirce, of Rockford, Illinois, proves, the parent stock was the same.1

"The first patent granted by the Council. of Plymouth of land in New England was to John Pierce, of London, and his associates, dated June 1, 1621. 1, 1621. This was a roaming patent, granting 100 acres for each settler already transplanted and such as should be transported."

Under this "roaming patent" Robert "settled on what was called Pine Neck"-so runs the MS. genealogical record kept in the homestead-" near the water." The cellar of his house was to be seen there until 1804. In 1640 he built (in Dorchester, Mass.) another dwelling. "At that time Robert Pierce's house and the Minot house, on the adjoining

1Colonel Peirce is also the compiler of a curious and valuable volume, giving the history of another wing of the family, under the interesting caption of “ Pearce Genealogy, being the Record of the Posterity of Richard Pearce, an early inhabitant of Portsmouth, in Rhode Island, who came from England, and whose Genealogy is traced back to 972; with an Introduction of the Male Descendants of Josceline De Louvaine, the Second House of Percy, Earls of Northumberland, Barons Percy and Territorial Lords of Alnwick, Warkworth and Prudhoe Castles in the County of Northumberland, England.”

farm, were the only houses in this part of the country. The road from Boston to Plymouth was up Oak Avenue" (directly past Robert's door) "and near the old well, crossing Neponset River at a fording-place near the Granite Bridge.

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Robert married Ann Greenway, daughter of one of the first settlers of Dorchester, generally known as Goodman Greenway."

John Greenway, or, according to the boundless license in the matter of orthography prevalent at that date, Greanway, or Greenaway, was a fellow-passenger of Robert Pierce, and, it is supposed, was accompanied by his whole family. Robert Pierce married his daughter just before, or just after the voyage to America. Ann was born in England in 1591, and lived to the uncommon age of 104 years. She died December 31, 1695."

Robert's death is thus set down:

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Robert Pierce of ye greate lotts, died January 11, 1664.

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The descendants of Robert of Dorchester have been men of substance, being industrious and frugal, and have held a respectable rank in society, having intermarried with many the best families in Dorchester and vicinity."

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