George Wesley PEARCE

My third great grandfather, George Wesley PEARCE, was born in January of 1843 in Wake County, NC. He was the fifth child of John PEARCE and Martha WILLIAMS. 

He had eleven siblings, per the 1850 US Census: James T., Marcellus Ervin, John Wesley, Angeline, Sarah Tyson, Vandelia, Sylvanus Talmadge, Joseph Moncher, Roxana, Berry, and Charlie. The family was living in the New Light area of northern Wake County, NC.

George served with Company D of the 23rd Reg in North Carolina during the Civil War. 

When he was 23, George married Miss Elizabeth Caroline PERRY,daughter of William PERRY and Delia HARRISON. The date was February 14, 1866, in the 2nd year of the US Civil War. 

Marriage Bond George Pearce and Caroline Perry

They married in Wake County, NC and had the following children:

1. Dillithea (Dilley) PEARCE was born married, and died in Wake County, NC. She was born 08 Apr 1867 and died 01 Apr 1947 at the age of 79. She married John W. Henry ALLEN on 11 Oct 1896.
2. John William PEARCE was born in 1868 in Wake County and died 13 Jun 1941 in Franklin County, NC. He married Tish CARTER sometime between 1891–1921 and then Geneva BRIDGES on 05 Feb 1891.
3. George Wesley PEARCE also lived, married, and died in Wake County, NC. He was born 18 May 1870 and died 03 Aug 1951. He first married Wiley CHAMPION on 12 Dec 1901 in Wake County, and then Clovenia WILKES on 22 Sep 1909.
4. Martha Hawkins PEARCE (my 2nd great grandmother) followed several of her siblings and spent her life in Wake County, NC. She was born 10 Sep 1872 and died 30 Nov 1953 at the age of 82. She married Allen H. RAY on 03 Dec 1885.
5. Annie Elizabeth PEARCE was born 10 Feb 1876 in Wake County and died 04 May 1950 in Franklin County, NC. She married Champion Newton ALLEN on 19 Nov 1893 in Wake County.
6. Joseph PEARCE was born 24 Oct 1877 and died 05 Nov 1949. He married Lilla CHAMPION on 14 Oct 1901. All occurred in Wake County, NC.

George and family appears on the 1850 census in New Light, Wake County. On the 1860 census, the family was recorded in the Northwestern District of Wake County.  This was probably still the New Light area. 

Oddly, in 1880, George and family appear on the census in Johnston County living in the Neuse River area. I suppose they moved south to Johnston County for work. However, by 1900, they had returned home to the New Light area of Wake County. 

George died in 1916 in Wake County and is buried on the Allen O'Neal Farm on Purnell Road, near New Light next to wife Elizabeth.

Allen H. Ray, 1859 - 1936, Wake County, NC

My 2nd great grandfather on my maternal side, Allen H. RAY was born on 11 Nov 1859 in Johnston County, North Carolina, as the fifth child of James A. RAY and Martha Sarah (Sallie) GREEN. I'm curious to know how be got from Johnston County to the north end of Wake County in New Light, NC.

He had at least six siblings:

1. Sadus/Sardi
2. John
3. Wesley G
4. James Wiley
5. William Aaron
6. Sarah A.

When he was 26, Allen married Martha Hawkins PEARCE,daughter of George Wesley PEARCE and Elizabeth Caroline PERRY, on 03 Dec 1885 in Wake County, North Carolina. Their first child, Elizabeth, was born about a year later.

Allen shows up on all the right census records:

• 1860: North Western District, Wake County, age 9 months.
• 1870: New Light, NC at age 10 
• 1880: New Light, NC at age 20. He was still single and living with his parents.  
• 1890:  Census burned. Bummer.
• 1900:  New Light, NC at age 40. This time he shows up with a wife and kids.  
• 1910: New Light, NC at age 50. 
• 1920: Apparently the family moved on down the road to Brassfield in Granville County, NC. He was 62. 
• 1930: He had moved back to New Light, age 70. 

Allen H. RAY and Martha Hawkins PEARCE had five children:

1. Elizabeth RAY, born  24 Dec 1886 in Wake County. She died on 18 Apr 1928 in New Light at age 40 in childbirth. She married Eugene Narron ALLEN on 02 Jul 1904 in Wake County. These were my great grandparents. 
2. Mary Frances RAY born 13 May 1889 in Wake County. She died 14 Dec 1939 in Youngsville, Franklin County, NC. She married Johnnie O'NEAL in 1908 at her father's home.
3. James Arthur RAY born 11 Oct 1893 in Wake County. He died on 22 Jan 1957 in Wake County.
4. Arthur I RAY born about 1895 in Granville County. He died on 22 Jan 1957 in Wake County.
5. Loretta Jessie RAY born on 30 May 1907 in Wake County. She died on 07 Feb 1992 in Wake County at the age of 84. She married William Graham O'NEAL on 11 Jan 1926. 

Grandpa Allen worked all his life as a farmer. He probably spent a life time farming someone else's land however, I can't find any record that he ever owned land in Granville or Wake County.

Allen died on 26 Oct 1936 in New Light at the age of 76 of heart failure. His wife was 64 when Allen died. She lived another 17 years without him.

Allen is buried in the Smith-Perry Cemetery (also called the Smith Family Cemetery) in Wake Forest, NC. It is located at the corner of Purnell Road (SR 1909) and Hinton Road (SR 1916).  His son James and wife Beulah are also buried there with their son Woodrow, who died in infancy in 1918.