Bissell Family History

 

 

[------- Michael Pierce, b. 1615

[

[

Capt. Benjamin Pierce, 8th Great-grandfather

b. 1646, Scituate, MA

[

[                   [------- Margery (unknown -- see note below on Margery)

[                   [

[------- Persis Eames, bap 28 Oct 1621, Fordington, Dorchester, Dorset, Eng.

           d. 31 Dec 1662, Hingham, MA

[

[                                       [------- John Eames

[                                       [          b. Abt 1525, Dorsetshire

[                                       [

[                   [------- Thomas Eames, b. 1548, Fordington, Dorset

[                   [                   [

[                   [                   [------- Joan

[                   [

[------- Captain Anthony Eames [GMD]

           b. 1595, Fordington, Dorset

           d. 1686, Marshfield, MA

[

[------- Millicent (Brewster?) b. 1552, Fordington, St. George, Dorsetshire, Eng.

           m. Thomas Eames 

           d. 23 May 1614, Fordington

 

 

Notes.    An alternate birth year for Capt. Benjamin Pierce is 1646 but the Groveland Cemetary slate engraved headstone shows he died at age 73, which would put his birth around 1658. Married Martha Adams 5 Feb 1678 in Scituate; died 3 May 1730, Scituate.

 

Captain Benjamin Pierce was born in 1646 and died in 1730 at the age of 84.
Benjamin Pierce is first in a long line of mostly first born sons all named in honor of their fathers and grandfathers.
Captain Benjamin Pierce [2nd generation] settled on his father's considerable estate and managed it after his father's death in 1676. He lived the life of a wealth landowner (his lands were most probably in excess of 1000 acres). He managed these lands, no doubt, like a typical colonial plantation. In addition, he owned and ran a saw-mill that was erected on a river running through his lands. 
Like his father before him, Benjamin [2nd generation] was appointed Captain of the local militia. He probably took this rank following the death of his father when he was 30 years old, not yet married, and the head of his dead father's household. 
On February 5, 1678, two years after his father's death, and at the age of 32, Benjamin [2nd generation] married Martha Adams, the daughter of James Adams. They had ten children: Martha, Jerusha, Benjamin [3rd generation], Ebenezer, Persis, Caleb, Thomas, Adams, Jeremiah, and Elisha. 
Benjamin's [2nd generation] first wife, Martha, died sometime between 1699 and 1718. On July 21, 1718, Benjamin [2nd generation] married Mrs. Elizabeth (Adams) Perry. They had no children. 
During his 84-year-long lifetime, Benjamin Pierce saw the total population of the New England colonies grow from a sparse 16,000 persons at the time of his birth in 1646, to well over 200,000 by the time of his death in 1730.
Before his death he executed a will, dated 13 October 1730. His will shows him to have died a wealthy landowner. 
Sometime, long before his death, Benjamin [2nd generation] deeded his eldest son, Benjamin [3rd generation] (born March 11, 1883) a major portion of his land holdings to own, live on, and manage. Working from future generation backwards, it is safe to say that the amount of land given to Benjamin [3rd generation] was between 400 and 600 acres. 

 

Note on Margery.  Most sources list her last name as unknown.  One source listed her last name as Prisse, b. 1599 in Fordington, Dorchester and listed her father as John Prisse, born 1571 in St. George, Fordington, Dorchester.