Isaac Pierce died Middleboro MA 1732

 

Isaac Pierce was born probably in Duxbury, Massachusetts. He was the son of Abraham and Rebecca (____) Pierce. His last name is spelled in many ways including Peirce, Pearse and Perse.

Although Isaac was a Member of the Society of Friends (Quakers), he served in King Philip’s War. I have multiple ancestors who were both Quakers and soldiers in the war, which ordinarily would be against their beliefs. I wonder if the war with the Indians was so important to them that they were able to put aside their pacifist beliefs to serve.

I have seen Isaac’s wife Alice’s maiden name as Chartley, but that hasn’t been proven.

Isaac and Alice had children: Sarah, Isaac, Thomas, Mary, Lydia, Mercy, and possibly Rebecca.

I descend through their son Thomas who married Naomi Booth, daughter of Benjamin Booth and Mary Sutton. I also have three lines from Isaac’s sister Alice Pierce who married John Baker.

Isaac’s brother Abraham received most of their father's land, being the oldest, but Isaac the youngest son received 20 acres of upland and 2 acres of meadow.

Isaac sold the land he inherited at Duxbury and removed to Middleborough in or about 1710, where he purchased a considerable amount of land.

Middleboro Mass from Barden Hill, 1915, GW Davidson

Isaac Peirce of Middleborough was granted land at Narragansett No. 4 (later became Greenwich Mass., one of the towns flooded for the Quabbin Reservoir) for his service in King Philip's War.

Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester Co., MA , pg. 935:
Isaac was left an orphan at the age of 13 and at 16 he served in the army in King Philip's War. For his services his heirs received a grant of land in township No. 4, in New Hampshire. This was exchanged later for land at Greenwich, Massachusetts.

Vintage postcard from Greenwich, Mass.

From a deed dated 28 May 1733 some of the real estate of Isaac Peirce, Senr, in Middleborough, had been granted to him "By the General Court, as he was one of the soldiers in the Narraganset war."

Other members of the family settled in Yarmouth and perhaps Isaac did as well for a time. David Kelley of Yarmouth wrote his will on 10 February 1696/7, which was witnessed by Thomas Folland, William Baker, Sr., and Isaac Perse (by a mark). David Kelley and many of his neighbors were Quakers.

Middleborough vital records state that Mr. Isaac Pierce Senior Deceased February the 28th 1731/2 in the Seventy first year of his age. I’m not absolutely certain this is Isaac’s death record, or whether his age at death is accurate. I believe he was born ca 1641, not 1661. This would have been after his mother’s death and his father would have been about 61 years old.

His will was dated 27 June 1722, giving land to his two sons, Isaac and Thomas, and five pounds to each of his daughters and use of his house and lands to his wife Alice during her lifetime. Inventory was taken 24 May 1732. It is said he died suddenly while sitting in a chair. If his age at death is accurate, it would make him very young to have served in King Philip’s War. Still a lot of questions to answer concerning this line!

Sources:

"The Peirce Family," by Ebenezer W. Peirce, printed in NEHGR in Jan., April, July 1867 and October 1868

George Madison Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip's War, A Critical Accounting of That War with a Concise History of the Indian Wars of New England from 1620-1677