Chapter 16 - The Pierce Family

The Irish Famine resulted from failures of the potato crop in Ireland during the years 1845-1850.  (Potatoes were introduced into Ireland in 1585.)  Emmigration and death reduced the population of Ireland by almost two million people during those years.

Why do we mention the potato famine?  Because our ancestors, Thomas Pierce and his wife, Catherine Henry, were among those who left Ireland during that period.  Besides the potato famine, there was also a cholera epidemic in Belfast, and more than 2500 people died from that disease in 1848 and 1849.

Chapter 16 begins with Thomas Pierce and Catherine Henry, and continues through a most remarkable woman, Kathryne Carolyn Pierce.

From Ireland to the Confederacy

Thomas Pierce , born in County Kerry, Ireland, in 1825, married Catherine Henry in Ireland.  They came to America in 1849.  The census of 1860 lists him as a laborer in Macon, GA.  During the War between the States, he was an employee of the Confederate Government, working as a hospital head cook and steward during an outbreak of smallpox.  He was exempt from conscription because of his employment and because he was born in a foreign country.  After the war, he received a lifetime appointment as street overseer for the City of Macon.  Thomas Pierce  died of pneumonia in Macon , Georgia, November 13, 1884, and his funeral was held at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.

Among the children of Thomas Pierce  and Catherine Henry  were:

• Patrick Henry C. Pierce
• Kate Pierce
• possibly Mary Pierce
• two other daughters
• John Pierce . 

Kate Pierce, daughter of Thomas Pierce and Catherine Henry,  married a man named Blaney  and moved to Australia.

Mary Pierce, possibly a daughter of Thomas Pierce and Catherine Henry,  was born in County Kerry, Ireland, near the town of Tralee, about 1833.  [Either this date is in error, or Mary Pierce was not a daughter of Thomas Pierce and Catherine Henry.]  She came to America sometime in the 1840’s, perhaps with her parents, and lived first in the northern states, and later moved to Macon, Georgia.  She married Cornelius O’Connell .  Their first child, Honora O’Connell , died at the age of eight of “congestive chill”.  Mary Pierce  was a large woman with black hair and rather small, dark eyes.  She spoke with an Irish brogue, and often said that she was part Spanish.  She was indulgent of her children, and often excused them from school and Mass.  Mary Pierce  died in Macon Georgia, aged about 70 years.

Of the two other daughters of Thomas Pierce and Catherine Henry, one married a man named Roche  in America, and the other married a man named Patrick Grace  and lived in Connecticut.

John Pierce, son of Thomas Pierce and Catherine Henry,  was born October 22, 1859 in Macon, Georgia.

Police Officer and Latin Tutor Patrick Henry C. Pierce

Patrick Henry C. Pierce, son of Thomas Pierce and Catherine Henry,  was born in Macon, Georgia, March 7, 1858, and Baptized March 16^th, 1858, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Macon.   His first wife was Janie (or Clainie) James , born in Savannah, Georgia in August, 1860.  Janie’s father was born in Wales, and her mother in Ireland.  Patrick Henry C. Pierce and Janie James  were married by Father Richard John O’Brien  in Chatham County, Georgia, on November 29, 1880.

Janie James  died of muscular rheumatism, her first serious illness, on December 21, 1901, and is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon.  Patrick Henry C. Pierce ’s second wife was Mary Corra , whom he married November 3rd, 1907, in Macon, Georgia.

Patrick Henry C. Pierce  was a police officer in Macon for thirty years, and for his own pleasure, he tutored students in Latin.  He died at Macon Hospital January 26, 1920, of bronchitis which he caught while directing traffic in bad weather.  He is buried in lot 1, block 3 of the Honeysuckle Ridge section of Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, Georgia.  At the time, flu was rampant in Macon, and health officials were urging citizens to take flu shots. 

Children of Patrick Henry C. Pierce and Janie James  were:

• James Henry Pierce  
• John Pierce
• Marie Pierce  
• Will Pierce  (died young, perhaps of rheumatic fever)
• Jane Pierce  
• Patrick H. Pierce
• Henry Mack Pierce   
• Marion Elizabeth Pierce  (see below)
• Kathryne Carolyn Pierce  

A Sailor in Shanghai

James Henry Pierce, son of Patrick Henry C. Pierce and Janie James ,  was born May, 1885 or May 18, 1882 in Savannah, GA.  He never married.  He served in the U. S. Navy 1904-1924, and died December 14, 1928, in Shanghai, China.

John Pierce , son of Patrick Henry C. Pierce and Janie James , was born November, 1892.  He worked as a chauffeur in 1910, married Jane -----, and died of the flu in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, during World War I.

Drowned in a Lily Pond

Marie Pierce, daughter of Patrick Henry C. Pierce and Janie James ,  drowned in a lily pool while under the watchful care of a nurse-maid.

Will Pierce, son of Patrick Henry C. Pierce and Janie James,  died young, perhaps of rheumatic fever.

Died of the Flu

Jane Pierce , daughter of Patrick Henry C. Pierce and Janie James,  was born in July, 1894.  She died of the flu in Chicago in 1919 while working in a Catholic hospital.  The so-called Spanish flu of 1918-1919 killed 8500 people in Chicago, an estimated 675,000 Americans, and 20-40 million people worldwide.

Captain of the Passaic Sun

Patrick H. Pierce, son of Patrick Henry C. Pierce and Janie James, was  born December 14, 1888, and Baptized at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Macon, GA, December 21, 1888.  He left the sixth grade at Whittle School in Macon and went to Florida to become an apprentice seaman. He married Katherine Rich.  He became mate of the Point Breeze, and in 1929 became First Officer of the Chester Sun.  He was named Captain of Sun Oil Company’s ship, the Passaic Sun, (180 ft long, launched June 26, 1930) and was a Lieutenant Commander in the Merchant Marine.   On one occasion, winter closed in on his ship near Hudson Bay, and the crew had to walk 80 miles on the ice to the nearest trading post for food.  A German submarine torpedoed Captain Pierce’s ship in the Caribbean during World War II, and Captain Pierce was badly burned.  Captain Pierce died in Mobile , AL, May 10, 1950, and lies buried at Macon, GA.

Henry McHatton Pierce , son of Patrick Henry C. Pierce and Janie James,  was born January or March 17, 1900. He was a member of the Catholic Church, served in the U. S. Navy 1918-1921, and later became a tool and die maker with Chrysler Corporation in Michigan.  He married Florence Myers .  Henry McHatton Pierce died in Detroit, Michigan, July 9, 1964, at age 64, and lies buried in Macon Memorial Park.

Fifty Years at Fort Hawkins School

Marian Elizabeth Pierce, daughter of Patrick Henry C. Pierce and Janie James, was born in June, 1897. She was Baptized at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church July 17, 1898.  When she was six years old, she threw hay onto the fire.  The fire spread, and the house burned to the ground.  Left-handed, she was Macon’s first girl state tennis champion in 1916.  She attended Lanier High School and Elam Alexander Normal School, and was Director of the North Highlands Playground in Macon for seven years.  She married Bonnie Lester “Barney” Long (Son of J. W. Long)  June 24, 1924 , but had no children.  She was a teacher at Ft. Hawkins School in Macon, Georgia for fifty years, beginning 1n 1918 in a wooden building with a pot-bellied stove.  Fort Hawkins School was located on the site of the original Fort Hawkins, named for Indian Agent Benjamin Hawkins.  During World War II, Marian Elizabeth Pierce sold war bonds at her school, and was so successful that a paper on her methods was published by the US Treasury Department.  She graduated from Mercer University in 1948, and was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma.  She died April 6, 1972 in Macon, Georgia.

Ahead of her Time

Kathryne Carolyn Pierce, daughter of Patrick Henry C. Pierce and Janie James,  was born in Georgia September 12, 1881.    She was baptized at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Macon, Georgia, on September 22, 1881.  Peter Redmond  and Catherine James  were her godparents. She married William Elmer Jackson  (See Chapter 15) on May 24, 1903.   

Family lore says she was a personal friend of Juliette Lowe , who founded the Girl Scouts.  No doubt they were at least acquainted, because Juliette Lowe travelled extensively, persuading whomever she could to start Girl Scout troops.  In 1913, Kathryne Carolyn Pierce organized the first Girl Scout troop in Macon, GA, and one of the first in the U. S.  She attended Normal School, and was a school teacher in Macon for 25 years, mostly at Virgil Powers School, and she was also Parks and Recreation Manager in Macon. 

Later, she went to Mercer Law School and was president of the senior class, graduating in 1919.  She was the first woman graduate of Mercer University Law School, earning an LLB Degree.   That same year, she appeared on the front page of the newspaper when she defended a criminal client in Superior Court in Macon.  However, she was not the first woman lawyer in Georgia.  Miss Alene Hardin  was in practice in Macon by 1918.  Furthermore, Kathryne Carolyn Pierce never really intended to practice law.  She just wanted to show people a woman could earn the degree. 

Kathryne Carolyn Pierce  divorced Mr. Jackson in Mexico and was excommunicated from the Catholic Church.  Perhaps fearing iminent loss of her job, she and her daughters went to New Jersey, travelling from Savannah to New York by steamship.  She became the principal of Ridgefield High School in Bergen County.  She re-married in 1925, this time to Joseph Seth Weekly  (a Baptist from Phoenix, Alabama, born October 4, 1884), and although he was at his church almost every time they opened the doors, she never went to church after she left Macon.  Mr. and Mrs. Weekley received Master’s degrees from Columbia University together. 

After they retired from teaching and coaching, Mr. and Mrs. Weekley lived at Cranford, New Jersey.  When she died on June 11, 1960, her body was returned to Macon, Georgia, and she is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery near her father.

It is likely that Kathryne Carolyn Pierce  and Joseph Seth Weekly  met at Mercer University.  He was a junior there in 1916, an unclassified student in 1917, a senior in 1918, and graduated in 1919 with an AB degree.  He attended summer school 1917 through 1920.  In 1921 he attended law school.  He played right tackle on the 1915-1916 varsity football team, and was on the track team in 1916 and 1917.  He was on the class basketball team 1915-1919, and lettered in basketball, football, and track.  After graduation, he served as sparring partner for a well-known boxer, Young Stribling, who fought Max Schmeling for the heavyweight title in 1931.  Joseph Seth Weekley was a graduate of Columbus Industrial High School in Columbus, Georgia.

A Successful Coach

Joseph Seth Weekley became football, basketball, and track coach at Cranford high School in Cranford, New Jersey, in 1929, where he retired in 1958.  At one point, his basketball team won 35 games in a row, and his track teams had a ten-year undefeated streak in dual competition.  When he retired, the people of Cranford named the running track behind the high school “J. Seth Weekley Field.”  As part of the festivities, there was a parade down the main street of Cranford, led by the High School band.

He Demanded a Refund!

Although Mr. and Mrs. Weekley lived comfortably, Mr. Weekley was extremely frugal.  When Kathryne Carolyn Pierce died, Mr. Weekley went to a funeral home near their home in New Jersey, and told the funeral home to put Mrs. Weekley in a plain pine box and ship her to Macon , Georgia, for burial.  When she arrived in Macon, she was in an expensive coffin.  Mr. Weekley had the funeral director in Macon take her out of the expensive coffin and put her in a plain pine box for burial.  After the funeral, Mr. Weekley put the expensive coffin in the back of his station wagon, took it back to New Jersey, and demanded his money back! 

Joseph Seth Weekly  died of cancer in Columbus, GA, November 6, 1969.  He was a resident of Opelika, Alabama at the time, and lies buried in Double Churches Cemetery in Opelika.

References: 67, 70, 71, 85, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 118, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 141, 142, 144, 147, 148, 149, 150, 165, 166, 176, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 240, 241, 410

All content copyright Charles Ferdinand Carson Jr. © 2003-2004 info@CarsonJohnson.com
site design and hosting courtesy of CoolCoyotes.com     info@coolcoyotes.com