Edward Peeresonne of c1585 married and had among other children, a son he called Lawrence Pierson born 1606. This was in a section of England, South of Manchester and East of Liverpool in Cheshire County. They lived in a place called Pownall Fee, near the city of Wilmslow, west of the river Bollin and east of Mobberley Brook. Lawrence married a girl called Elizabeth Janney in 1645. She was of the Count Gyney line, Lord of Haverland, Norfolk, England. Lawrence could read and write, although many at that time could not. Therefore the spelling of names changed frequently because different clerks and scribes would spell names differently and those who could not read or write could not tell them that the spelling was wrong. Lawrence also was entitled to a coat of arms. Lawrence and Elizabeth had five children. They were Edward (1651), Thomas (1653), John (1655), Sarah (1657), and Mary (1659). Thomas, John and Mary all sailed for America in September 1683 on the ship Endeavour of Liverpool, England. Edward did not sail until four years later, arriving on June 1687 with certificates from Bramhall Monthly Meeting, Cheshire, England for transfer of his Quaker membership to the Darby Monthly Meeting. He obtained 200 acres of land west of Darby Creek in 1688 and moved to the Falls Monthly Meeting in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in late 1688. Edward is my direct ancestor. Edward and Sarah Burgess had seven children.
Edward and Sarah’s seven children were; Martha I (1673, died in infancy), Deborah (1675), Lawrence (1677, named after his grandfather), Sarah (1680), Enoch (1683), Phebe (1685) all born in England, and finally Martha II (1688) born in America. It was quite usual to give another child the same name if the first child died young. Edward died on June 3rd 1697 at the age of 46. Edward’s wife Sarah, married again to a Martin Wildman on November 2nd 1698 (an old friend of the family). The older children, having already married (I am assuming here that the older children did not go to Philadelphia as they were married living on their own—Tim Pearson), and three youngest surviving children( Sarah of 1680, Enoch 1683 and Martha II of 1688) went to Philadelphia, PA in 1699 to live with Thomas and Margaret Bye (a family friend) who had just arrived from England. Sarah eventually married in 1704 to John Bye (Thomas Bye’s son) of 1674. Martha II also eventually married John’s brother Nathaniel of 1677 in 1706.
Enoch evidently returned to Bucks County, PA and lived in Solebury township while joining the Falls Monthly Meeting. On November 25, 1712, he married Margaret Smith of 1691 of the Middletown Monthly Meeting at the Falls Meeting House. He became the first person in Bucks County to have a Lime-Kiln (located at Lahaska Station) or a “Lime Burner” for calcining (or calcination) limestone into a usable form of lime. This was a very pungent, smelly operation. He had twelve children; William (1713), Thomas (1715), Mary (1717), Enoch (1718), Sarah (1719), Phebe (1720), Margaret (1722), Rachel (1724), Elizabeth (1726), (possibly Benjamin (1727)), John (1728), Samuel 1730), and Charles (1736). In May of 1730 Enoch became a Quaker preacher and traveled through Philadelphia County, Montgomery County, and Chester County. While journeying to different Monthly Meetings and Quaker Meeting Houses, his sons operated his lime-kiln. His son, Enoch Jr. of 1718, disliked the nasty smelling lime-kiln so much he decided to become a surveyor instead, but that in it self in another story.
