The Hampton Congregational UCC Church recently posted on Facebook that it is celebrating its 300th Anniversary this year, and that a number of events are planned. Timothy Pearl (and other ancestors of ours) were among those that founded the Church back then. And, family members have been part of the congregation right up to the present day.
I will keep an eye out for events related to the church’s 300th Anniversary, and will share them here and on Facebook.
-Allen
Timothy Pearl, the 7th child of John and Elizabeth (Holmes) Pearl, born 23 Feb. 1694/95 in Boxford, MA, moved to eastern Connecticut about 1720. He was a tanner by trade. He bought 100 acres of land on Appaquage Hill in Windham County, Connecticut from Ebenezer Jennings for a sum of 45 pounds. This area was then known as Canada Parish. It is now called Hampton Hill. In 1724 he joined the Congregational Church which met in the first meeting house planned in 1717. Around 1753 a new meeting house was built and in 1762 Timothy was one of twenty five who purchased a pew in the church for his family. *
Timothy had 2 wives. The first was Elizabeth Stevens with whom he had six children. Elizabeth died in 1736 and she is buried in North Cemetery in Hampton. His second marriage was 15 Nov. 1737 to Mary Leach, born in 1709. Timothy and Mary had 9 children. The first was James Pearle, born 24 March 1739 or 1738. It is from James that our Hampton Pearl family is descended. Mary Leach Pearl died 27 Feb. 1790 and Timothy died 9, Oct. 1773. They are both buried in North Cemetery. **
* This information on Timothy Pearle and his settlement in Hampton is from The Family Tree of John Pearl(e) by Norton Lee Bretz.
**This information of Timothy Pearle’s family is from The Pearl & Jewett Family Genealogy & History, 2003 by Dorothy Vander Meulen.
The Pearls of Hampton 