Below is the group photo from this year’s Reunion Picnic at the Old Grange building in Hampton, CT.
It turns out that we have no single “group photo” for this year showing the entire group, so here’s a second image showing those missing from the above photo…
Continue reading “2012 73rd Pearl Family Reunion Picnic Photo”
Jerome Pearl 1775 – 1825 married Amaryllis Alworth in 1800. They had 9 children, one of whom was our Hampton Pearl’s direct ancestor, John Porter Pearl. Two of John Porter Pearl’s sisters were Beulah Moseley Pearl and Sarah Alworth Pearl. Sarah was baptized 12 Aug 1810 in Wethersfield, CT. She died on 23 Nov. 1876 in Hampton, CT.
Sarah and her sister Beulah were co-administrators of their mother’s estate in 1850. On their mother’s death, they received the bulk of the estate, including the home and furnishings thereof. After Beulah died in 1852, Sarah continued to live in the home. She never married, though she apparently had several offers. It is said that she confided to her last suitor, a Captain, that now that Beulah was dead, if the right man called she might accept his proposal of marriage. “And whom” asked the Captain, “might the right man be?” Sarah thought about that for a moment and answered, “He must not drink, smoke or take snuff, he must be a Democrat and belong to the Congregational Church.” “Goodbye Sarah” said the Captain, “You will never find that kind of a Democrat!”
The only relatives mentioned in Sarah’s will were John and Samuel, one received $25 and the other $50. The remainder of Sarah’s estate went to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
….D. Vander Meulen, Pearl Historian. The information on Sarah came from Norton Lee Bretz’s History of John Pearl
The following is a letter sent to me by Pearl Scarpino in 1999. She was responding to a question I had about the farm where my Mom and her siblings grew up. My grandfather, William Austin Pearl, and my grandma, Mabel Waite Pearl, purchased the home in the first decade of the 20th Century. It was situated near the bottom of Hammond Hill Rd and had a good view of Little River, the valley and North Cemetery. I had asked Pearl if she knew from whom they bought the homestead? Names placed in parenthesis are additions made by me to clarify the identity of that person …….. Dot Vander Meulen.
Pearl Scarpino wrote, “Your question piqued my curiosity so I went up to the town hall and looked in the land records. I found that in 1906 a deed was recorded to Uncle Will for the farm. His original purchase was for about 2 acres of land with a dwelling house thereon. The deed was signed by Frank Pearl as Administrator of the estate of Charles Pearl. For this land with house your grandfather paid $500.00! There are several purchases of land listed for the next couple of decades at least, but I was just interested in the original purchase. It would have taken quite a bit of time to research every one of those deeds.
“When I was small my mother (Mary Almeda Pearl Emmons) and us children spent quite a bit of time on that farm. One of my very earliest memories was when I was not quite 3 years old and I heard a baby crying in the night. In the morning I asked my mother if Uncle Arthur (Arthur Eugene Pearl) had been here with his baby during the night. Little Arthur (Bennett) Pearl had been born about 3 weeks previously. She told me that no, but that during the night Dr. Marsh had brought me a baby brother (Austin Edwin Emmons). Austin and Arthur were so near the same age that they spent a lot of their growing up years together. Your grandmother, my Aunt Mabel, had helped with the delivery and took care of my mother afterward. (Mabel Waite Pearl was a midwife and delivered many babies in Hampton.)
“When I was 6 years old I spent several weeks there. Grandpa Pearl (Austin Eugene Pearl) was terminally ill and my mother stayed up at his house with Aunt Evelyn (Pearl Estabrooks) and Aunt Flora (Pearl) and the three of them provided round-the-clock care he needed. I went to the Center School for those weeks with Bill (William Waite Pearl). He was in the 6th grade and I was in the 3rd. There was only one other student in the third grade, and it was a boy. Since there was only one set of third grade books, I would have to sit with him!! So I chose to take my lessons with the second grade all the time I attended the Center School.
“One of the things I remember fondly about Aunt Mabel was that she always gave Bill and me hot cocoa to take to school with our lunch. Also, she made the very best rice pudding in the world.
“In those days Hammond Hill Road was a dirt road and there were a number of ‘thank you maams’ on the road. These were spots in the road that were leveled off so that horses could take a rest as they toiled up the hill pulling the wagons. Sometimes we would take a sled to school and what a wonderful ride it was down the hill coming home!
“I remember someone climbing up the tallest pine tree up at Uncle Reuben’s, but I am not sure if it was when your mother (Dorothy Pearl ) did it or possibly Idamay (Pearl) who also would have tried it, particularly if your mother had already done it. I remember whoever it was that time calling down they could see Uncle Will’s house in the valley. Have you talked with Idamay? Next to your mother she was the tomboy of the family. She and Bill were always putting on circus acts, with emphasis on acrobatics, and I am sure she could give you some stories, I was devastated when your mother showed me her engagement ring and told me she was getting married and moving away. After all, she was teaching me how to do hand stands and cartwheels, and who else could teach me that stuff?
“During the various times I stayed on the farm I also helped with the morning ritual of cleaning out the chamber pots. These were usually quite beautiful and often were part of a set which included a washbowl, pitcher and the pot. A typical set would be made of white china, with a gold rim, and probably roses painted on the side.
You mention that the farm was one of the last places in Hampton to be electrified. I vividly remember the gas lamps that were there when I was small. Outside the house there was a supply of what I think was carbide Adding water produced a gas which was piped into the house. In the various rooms were small pipes running up the wall and they would terminate at a lamp. Voila–modern lighting, at least very modern for those times. ”
“Love, Pearl”
It was recently suggested to me that it would be interesting to know about our Pearl ancestors and their involvement in the American Revolution. I have been unable to discover any of our particular Pearl line who did serve in that war. (I would be very interested if any of our readers could provide information to the contrary.) Whether or not they fought in the Revolution, Pearl families were impacted by that war. I did find an interesting story illustrating this in Marian Arlene Pearl’s History which I will relate here. This story is about David Pearl who is the grandson of John the immigrant and the son of Timothy, both our direct ancestors. He was a younger brother of James, our direct ancestor.
David Pearl was born 9 Feb. 1743 in Hampton to Timothy and Mary (Leach) Pearl. He married on 20 March 1769 to Eunice Allen in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. She was born in April 1751 in Manchester, MA. She and her parents had moved to Kelley’s Cove, Nova Scotia in 1766. David arrived in 1764 from Saybrook, CT and he settled at the mouth of Broad Brook on 458 acres. Other families were arriving from Connecticut at this time. Eight children were born to David and Eunice in Yarmouth.
In about 1780 David returned to Windham, CT to settle some affairs relating to the will of his father (Timothy) who had died in 1773. Since the Revolution had ended only a few years before, the colonies were somewhat sensitive to the comings and goings of its citizens living on British soil. David had to petition the Boston General Assembly to return to Yarmouth. In this petition (quoted below) he asks the court to grant his petition because he is going to return with his family to New England. The following is copied from ‘The Family Tree of John Pearl’, by Norton Lee Bretz:
“To the Council at Boston and General Assembly May 31, 1780, the petition of David Pearl of Yarmouth, in the Province of Nova Scotia, Humbly Sheweth,
“That your Petitioners late father Timothy Pearl of Windham, now deceased, by his last Will and testament left you Petitioner one hundred pounds of good and lawful money, hearing of which he left Nova Scotia to see about his affairs and arrived in Salem about 5 weeks ago: from thence he went to Windham and settled with the executors of his said father’s late Will, of whom he received a small part and left the remainder in the hands of his executor, vizt, his brother Phillip Pearl. And as your Petitioner intended to return from Nova Scotia with all his other effects and settle in New England as soon as he can settle his business there, which he supposes he will be able to do in the course of the ensuing summer, if he can obtain the leave of this Honorable Court
“Your Petitioner humbly prays you Honor would be pleased to grant him a permit to go to Yarmouth aforesaid and settle his private affairs there and that he may be allowed to carry with him one cask of rum, one cask of molasses, one cask of sugar, and sixteen of eighteen bushels of corn which he has lately purchased in Boston, and your Petitioner will engage to bring up 180 lbs of good Beaver which shall be devoted to the board of War; this your Petitioner is informed that the Officers of this State’s Line in Camp are in great want of hats, he flatters himself, this Honorable Court will indulge him the articles requested as that he may be enabled to get the furs which he assures you Honor is already engaged by him, and that the necessities petitioned for will about discharge the residue of the Debt which he has contracted for the Beaver and bear his other family expenses. Your Petitioner being ready to give bond that the Board of War shall have the quality of fur (which by sundry Persons intimations they are very desirious of procuring) and any other articles of his property they may want.
“Your Petitioner would beg leave to further inform this Honorable Court, that his family consists of six persons and that the stores requested after paying his arreages for the fur will be but very little more than sufficient to supply them up and himself down.
“And as in duty Bound shall Pray
David Pearl”
The following is quoted from Marian A. Pearl’s History of the Pearls:
“Boston June 1, 1780
“State of Massachusetts By, In the House of Representatives, June 7, 1780 ‘On the Petition of David Pearl, praying that he may have liberty to go to Yarmouth in Nova Scotia and carry certain effects with him, and return with his family into this State.
“Resolved, that the prayer and Petition be so granted that the said David Pearl have liberty to go to Yarmouth aforesaid, and to carry with him provisions necessary for his passage there and bring off his family and effects to this State. And all armed vessels of this State are required and the armed vessels of the U.S. of American (sic) are requested not to molest said David Pearl in going to and returning from Yarmouth with aforesaid with his family and effects’
“Sent up for Concurrence in Council June 7, 1780.
Nath. Gorham, Spkr. Pro Tem.
“David Pearl of Yarmouth in Nova Scotia shewing to the Assembly that he is a native of the town of Windham in this State about 15 years removed where he resided without becoming subject to his Majesty Government and desired to return with his family and effects consisting of salt, codfish and bail goods, etc.
“Resolved by Assembly he be given permission to return from Nova Scotia to this State with his family and effects aforesaid residence in the State.”
According to Norton lee Bretz: “David’s request was granted in the State of Massachusetts House of Representatives June 1, 1780. However, he was apparently in no hurry about returning to New England because he was listed in Yarmouth in 1785 and 1791. There is no record of his returning to New England, nor is there a record of the War Board receiving the promised beaver. This is probably the same David who shows up in 1796 in New York City as a shipwright at First St. Bowery in 1797-1800 at Division St. and in 1803 at Cherry St. where he remains until 1812 running a boarding house. David died Jan 10, 1818 in NYC”.
……..D. Vander Meulen, Family Historian
We held our 72nd Reunion and celebrated our family at the Hampton Community Center on the last Sunday of July. This was the second year we have met there and we were blessed with perfect weather. There were 40 of us ‘cousins’ attending, ranging in age from 92 years to twins aged 11 months. We came from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Florida.
While the adults sat and visited in the shade of the big trees surrounding the Center, the children played on the grassy hill next to us, expending a lot of energy and having a lot of fun.
Our pot luck picnic was eagerly consumed and after topping it off with some fantastic desserts, we had our brief business meeting.One of the items discussed was the poor condition of the tombstones in the North and South Cemeteries. They need cleaning to remove moss and lichens. Our Reunion Moderator has been consulting with Quintana Memorials in Chaplin, CT. We are hoping we can get a group rate. If anyone is interested in having their family stones cleaned, let Neal know, or contact me and I will pass your information on to him.
The date for next year’s Reunion was discussed, but no definite date has been set as yet.
Dorothy Vander Meulen, Family Historian
This website focuses on the descendants of Austin Eugene Pearl, but there were many other Pearls in Hampton, all descendants of Timothy Pearl (1694-1773, who settled in Hampton in about 1717). These other branches, like our own, lived in Hampton and surrounding communities for many generations. Although some of Philip Pearl Jr’s own children (including Patrick Henry Pearl) lived in Hampton up until the early 20th century, he is but a distant cousin to our line, as seen in the chart below…
Timothy Pearl (b. 1694, d. 1773)
….Timothy’s 7th child was James Pearl (b. 1739, d. 1831)
……..James 7th Child was Jerome Pearl (b. 1775, d.1825)
…………Jerome’s 6th child was John Porter Pearl (b. 1813, d. 1881)
…………….John’s 3rd child was Austin Eugene Pearl (b. 1851, d. 1927, this is our ancestral line)
….Timothy’s 12th child was Philip Pearl, Sr. (b. 1747, d. 1835)
……..Philip Sr’s 2nd Child was (the Honorable) Philip Pearl, Jr. (b. 1783, d. 1850, the subject of this posting)
The Honorable Philip Pearl, Jr. was born 19 Aug. 1783 to Philip and Olive Wheeler Farnam Pearl in Hampton, CT and became a member of Hampton Congregational Church in 1804. He was a wealthy farmer and landowner who lived in Hampton all his life.
Like many of his cousins and descendants, Philip was a prominent man in the public affairs of Windham County and the State of Connecticut. He represented Hampton as a Senator in the State General Assemblies; and was named Captain of Hampton’s Company of Grenadiers (formed soon after the Revolution by the town’s many Veterans and sustained by the residents “with much enthusiasm” for many decades afterward). He was also a Deputy Sheriff and a Justice of the Peace.
In the Presidential election in the fall of 1840; Philip Jr., a Whig, was one of eight presidential electors to cast the vote of the State for Wm. Henry Harrison for President, and John Tyler for Vice President.
During his tenure as a State Senator, his daughter, Hannah Pearl (b. 1815) was a student at the “Prudence Crandall Female Academy” in nearby Canterbury, CT for the 1832-3 school year. The school was established in 1831 with the support of the town to teach young ladies from wealthy families in advanced subjects. The original school building is now a National Historic Landmark and museum roughly 10 miles South and East of Hampton Center.
Philip was killed 17 May 1850 at age 66 when a building that was being torn down fell on him. He is buried in Hammond Cemetery (North Cemetery), Hampton. He left most of his estate to his 7th child, Patrick Henry Pearl (1819-1900) on his death.
In the next article we’ll talk more about the Prudence Crandall Female Academy, the immense controversy that surrounded it, and Philip Pearl’s leading role in it. We’ll end the series with an article about how this controversy led to his deep involvement with major personalities and formative events in the evolution of the Abolitionist Movement of the mid 1800’s.
We are still looking for additional information on Philip Pearl, Jr., such as: details of his history as a public servant; exactly where he resided in Hampton; more information on the lives of some of his children, especially Hannah Pearl (b. April 7, 1815); and photos or images of him and his family. If you wish to help us research these questions, are a descendant of Philip Pearl, Jr., or already have some of this information, please let us know!
– Allen Vander Meulen III
We toured the Boston Museum of Fine Art’s new “Museum of the Americas” wing shortly after it opened this past fall. While there, we made a point of visiting the “Brown Pearl Hall”, which is a gallery in the lower level of the new wing. Below is a photo of part of the gallery, which is furnished with examples of colonial craftsmanship from the late 1600’s and early 1700’s.
For more information on this room’s history and connection with the family, go to this earlier posting: The Brown-Pearl Hall on Display at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.
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The busiest day of the year was January 7th with 73 views. The most popular post that day was Ideas for Increasing Family Participation.
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These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
Ideas for Increasing Family Participation July 2009
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The Brown-Pearl Hall at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston October 2009
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Welcome to the Pearls of Hampton (Connecticut) Site May 2009
THE RESTLESS PEARLS September 2010
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Pearl Settlement in the West February 2010
In 1925 the Brown-Pearl House was acquired by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and dismantled. The living area was reconstructed as an exhibit hall – an example of colonial architecture and early domestic life. It was taken down and stored 10 or 11 years ago when the museum began construction of the new Art of the Americas Wing.
On Nov. 20th, 2010, the new wing was opened to the public and the Brown–Pearl Hall is again on display as a gallery in the lowest level of the new wing.
A little bit of history as excerpted from Norton Lee Bretz’ “Family Tree of John Pearl” (with additional comments in italics):
“John’s son Richard (the youngest of John Pearl’s sons) purchased the house, barn, and land from Cornelius Brown in 1737. (Our ancestor, Timothy Pearl, had left Boxford and moved to what is now Hampton, CT roughly 30 years earlier.) Mention was made in the deed of 175 acres of this land previously purchased by Richard. Mr. Brown was allowed to live in the house until May 20 of that year. It was on a narrow winding road near West Boxford. Near the time of its purchase, Richard built a grist mill in the rear of the house, the first in the parish. Major additions were put on the house in 1725 and in 1843 when an abandoned parish church was patched onto the building. In 1925, the house was bought by the MFA. It had been abandoned as a dwelling for some years and was rapidly deteriorating. The structure was made of massive hewn, red oak beams, 12 by 14 inches, hand-fit at the supports. The fireplace was over seven feet wide with a lintel made of oak. The architecture was typical of the seventeenth century and one of the best remaining examples of colonial craftsmanship. The living room, which the family knew as the foreroom, is what is now on display at the museum. The original room was 19×19 feet and has an 8 foot ceiling.”
We also have this information from the “History of the Pearl Family” by Marian Arlene Pearl:
“John and his wife Elizabeth Pearl undoubtedly spent the remainder of their life on the Pearl Homestead at Boxford as the youngest son, Richard, was said to have been brought there in a bread trough when an infant. This house stood on a 200 (acre) tract of land laid out originally to John Sandys in 1667. The acreage passed into the hands of Joseph Dowding a Boston merchant who sold it Sept. 10, 1703 to Cornelius Brown of Reading for seventy pounds. Mr. Brown built the house of solid hewn oak timber and it stood true and plumb throughout the years. Alice Heath Fairbank Dow in her Pearl history of Richard’s line states that ‘one of the timbers measures 18 inches and between the inside and outside finish are bricks, larger than modern bricks, solidly laid in mortar and there are two or three wooden latches with the latch string in the house and the one on the south door is very large’ There were no highways when this home was erected and it faced south fronting a field., The road when eventually constructed was laid out at the rear of the house. The Browns lived there many years, the wife Susannah died in 1734 at age 74. The Pearl family occupied one side of it, and during this period it was known as the Brown-Pearl house.”
The house was built around 1704 and in this room the home’s occupants cooked, ate and slept, illustrating New England domestic life in the first years of the 1700’s. Furnishings in the room as now displayed in the Museum are from other early homes and illustrate the multipurpose nature of a 17th and early 18th century hall.
– Dorothy Vander Meulen, Pearl Family Historian (with additional material and comments by Allen Vander Meulen III)
We recently heard from a distant cousin, Robert Brand, who found our Pearl Website and has communicated with us by email. He is descended from Ebenezer Pearl, born ca. 1778. Ebenezer was the son of James Pearl (1739-1831). One of James Pearl’s other sons, and brother to Ebenezer, was Jerome Pearl born in 1775. Jerome is our family’s direct ancestor.
The migration patterns of various lines of the Pearl family are fascinating., Some moved to Nova Scotia, at least one moved back to England, many moved west to New York State, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and eventually on to the west coast before the 20th century dawned. Ebenezer Pearl migrated from Connecticut to New York State.
Below is a brief history and interesting story from Robert Brand’s family, which he shared with us.
“After moving from Connecticut to New York, Ebenezer Pearl married Lucy Cole, born 1786 in Sterling, CT. She had come with her parents to NY when she was about 6 years old. Ebenezer married her in Fairfield, NY. They had 8 children, one of whom was Ebenezer A. Pearl born 1811 in NY. Ebenezer A. served in the Civil War and was pensioned out early in the war with $8.00 per month, Invalid Pension. In the 1860 and 1870 censuses he is listed as a peddler. He created and sold ‘Ebenezer A. Pearl’s Tincture of Life’*. He married Harriet M. ?? and had 8 children, one of whom was Aurilla Pearl, born 1852 in NY. Aurilla married William Brand, but unfortunately he died young after falling off a ladder, breaking his neck. He was only 29 years of age. He left Aurilla with 4 children (one of whom was Robert Brand’s grandfather) and an insurance policy. The insurance money attracted a scoundrel named Charles Wesley Delrymple who married Aurilla on Jan. 1, 1891. Unfortunately he already had three wives. Aurilla’s sisters filed charges against him to protect the children whom they said were being abused by him. Delrymple was arrested, tried and sent packing. Aurilla then married an English farmer named George Happs and found peace.”
…….Robert Brand, Sept. 2010.
*According to an article found on the web, from the ANTIQUE BOTTLE AND GLASS COLLECTOR MAGAZINE, Antique Medicine Bottles Dr. Cannon’s Medicine Chest: “Ebenezer A. Pearl’s Tincture of Life came in an aqua, rectangular, 7 3/4 inch tall bottle. The product was advertised for coughs, colds, sore throats, etc. in the Boonville Herald, NY Feb 16, 1888.” A fair number of these bottles have been found for sale on the web over the years.
The Pearls of Hampton 