1st Generation: Henry Pearson (I)
Born approximately 1792 possibly in
Northern Ireland
Died circa 1872-1881 in Ontario, Canada
He was a Wesleyan Methodist possibly from Tyrone
County in Northern Ireland. See information on the Beatty
Group below for more details.
Spouse
Rebecca Donohoe
For more information view
Related Surnames.
Records Found
Location of the Pearson farm indicated in Abstract Index to Deeds for the East half of Lot 14, 2nd Concession West of Hurontario Street of Toronto Township (R.P.A. 90.0097 RG 14 ) Family members mentioned are: Henry (I), Henry (II), Ellen Pearson, Ellen Mary Pearson, William Pearson, Phebe C. Pearson, Christina Pearson. A company - Pearson & Pearson is mentioned and also a Jane Beatty.
Henry Pearson was still alive as of his son's death in 1872 but does not appear on the 1881 census. His wife Rebecca is listed as living with her son John Pearson in Owen Sound so presumably Henry died in the interim. Henry and wife Rebecca are not listed in the transcripts for the Churchville Cemetery with Henry Jr. and the rest of the family. Nor are they listed as being buried in Greenwood cemetery in Owen Sound where son John and his family are buried. Possibly they are buried in Churchville around the monument with son Henry Jr. because the monument has blank sides that were never inscribed.
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Children:
Henry Pearson (II)
1821 - 1872
Click on name for more information and descendants.
John Pearson 1828 -
1921
Large list of descendants to present day. Click on name to
see information.
James Ross Pearson 1831 - 1859
No records found. Buried in Churchville Cemetery.
For more info see Missing
Pearsons.
Joseph Pearson 1834-1849
Buried in Churchville Cemetery.
Ephriam K Pearson 1832 - 1866
No records found. Buried in Churchville Cemetery.
For more info see Missing
Pearsons.
James Ross Pearson 1831 - 1859
No records found. Buried in Churchville Cemetery.
For more info see Missing
Pearsons.
Thomas Pearson 1843-1843
Buried in Churchville Cemetery.
? Matthew Pearson
(not confirmed - possibly born 1824)
For more info see Missing
Pearsons.
An obituary for Henry Pearson's eldest son, also
named Henry (II) which appeared in
"The Evangelical Witness" states that Henry Pearson (I.) was
alive at the time of his son's death in January of 1872 and
that his age was approximately 80 years at the time which
makes his year of birth somewhere around 1792. It also
states in the obituary that Henry Pearson (I) was "a native
of Ireland, and having spent some time in Philadelphia and
other parts of the United States, came to Canada and settled
on a farm near Brampton." Henry Pearson outlived all of his
children but one, John Pearson who
became a prominent figure in Owen Sound, Ontario.
Notes
from the Pearson family file of the William Perkins Bull
fonds (R.P.A. 91.0045). Ont Archives Microfiche MS515 56-57
:
A notation for Henry Pearson at the end of reel 57 reads: Henry Pearson, Yeoman, from list attached to Beatty Petition. See Beatty Folder. The microfiche is MS 515 roll 5 pg. 3593. The Beatty file contains several notes including: "John Beatty came with his two brothers from Ireland to New York city to escape the ill will existing in the old country against the society formed by John Wesley. Beatty wished to settle under the British flag and joined with other Irish immigrants in negotiating for land in Upper Canada. On May 18, 1819, he led a caravan of 27 wagons from New York City to Upper Canada and they settled in Toronto Township." Additionally there is an interesting anecdote in this file describing how John Beatty had the weary travelers stop to pray on their knees by a river during the course of their journey. Henry Pearson is listed on the petition as a native of Ireland, bachelor, yeoman. This petition also appears in a historical book about Streetsville written by Mary E. Manning called "Street: the man, the family, the village" - published by the Streetsville Historical Society. Pgs. 36, 37 & 38. For further info and surnames of other settlers in this party view Surnames.
Land records (reel 57) Henry Pearson - Toronto W. Con. 2 Lot 14E 1/2, 100 acres - gets patent from the crown Oct. 14, 1839. His son Henry (II) is listed on the same property Nov 12, 1866.
Bruce S. Elliott's "Irish
Migrants in the Canadas, A New Approach," doesn't mention
Henry Pearson, but it does talk about the Beatty group on p.
79 in the chapter on "Beginnings of Tipperary Protestant
Emigration":
In the autumn of 1818 the British consul at New York, James Buchanan, a native of County Tyrone, met with some fifty heads of families originally from the British Isles to persuade them to move north to Canada. Most of the group were Methodists and many were from Buchanan's home county in northern Ireland, but among those present was Thomas Reed, a former resident of Borrisokane married to a native of Borris-in-Ossory. He had been in the United States since at least 1810. As a result of the meeting, four men, John Beatty, James Beattie, Joseph Graham, and Reed, went to York in October 1818 and secured a promise of a tract of land for their friends from New York and for relatives from Ireland who would immediately join them. The first party from New York arrived at York in April 1819 and was settled in the northern part of Toronto Township.
