James Stewart Pearcy 1839

Pearcy is not a very common name. (Percy is a more common variation). However I noted this family in the Connor area in the 1901 census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Kells/Tullynamullen/931491/

Do you know what denomination your ancestor was? If Presbyterian, it might be worth investigating this family if you can trace them. Ideally you need to find your ancestor’s marriage or death certificate to get his parents names. Otherwise you may me guessing.

Hello Elwyn, Thanks for your reply, I haved his discharge papers and his name on there is Pearcy, however it could possibly be wrong.  The same as his wife Annie, could possibly be Tyrell.  All I have to go on is the discharge papers and Death Certificate, making him very hard to tracem but I shall follow through with Thomas Pearcy and see where that leads.  Thanks again, Kind regards Dale

Statutory registration of marriages started in Ireland in April 1845. I checked the records for 1845 – 1847 to see if a James P married an Anne Tyrell (or similar) but couldn’t find one. So if they married in Ireland it was probably before April 1845. In which case you would need to check the church records (which are mostly not on-line).

My guess is that your ancestor was probably Presbyterian. Connor Presbyterian church records start in 1819, so you might find his baptism if he was born c1821. It’s possible you might also find his marriage but tradition was to marry in the bride’s church, so it rather depends on where she came from and what her denomination was. So that marriage might be harder to find.

Connor Presbyterian records are in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. They are not on-line anywhere so far as I am aware. You might need to get a researcher to look them up for you. Or you could pay PRONI to search them (for a fairly significant fee).

Here’s some gravestone inscriptions from St Saviour’s graveyard in Kells (Connor), in case you find your family and they prove to be related:

Erected by Samuel Percy of Connor in memory of his father Robert who departed this life Febr. 14 1861 aged 44 years. In loving memory of Robert Cooper, of Connor, who died 23rd Feby. 1889, aged 21 years. Also his sister Aggie, who died 28th November 1892, aged 19 years. "gone but not forgotten."

And this is from Connor New Graveyard which is down the road from St Saviours:

Erected by Robert Percy of Carncomb. in memory of his father William Percy, died 19th June, 1887. His sister Jane Thompson Percy, died 11th November, 1908. His mother Agnes Percy, died 31st May, 1915. Also the above-named Robert Percy, died 27th April, 1939. And his sister Elizabeth Ann Percy, died 20th June, 1944.

Percy Erected in loving memory of William Percy, who died 7th May 1923 Also his son fgt-sgt. Robert Percy, R.A.F. killed in action at Arnhem 21st Sept. 1944 Also Elizabeth mother of above Robert Percy who died April 1964 Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.

Gosh what amazing help.  It does state on his discharge papers somewhere that he was presbyterian. But you right that at this stage it is speculation.  However it is the only James Stewart Pearcy (soldier) coming to New Zealand in that time period.  However as New Zealand was a relatively 'new' Country, records are pretty scarce and most of the soldiers were illiterate so the spelling of some names have been altered quite dramatically in many cases, and of course with an Irish accent Pearcy could well sound like Percy.  Marriage & death certificates up to 1880 were'nt required to have parents names on them making it all the more difficult.  Thank you so much though, I shall keep searching. Kind regards Dale

Hello, 

My great grandmother was a Piercy (also known as Pearcy). I am an Englishman from Hull in East Yorkshire, and I thought the Piercy said of the family was from nearby North Cave. However, following  DNA test result from a lady in the US, I am wondering whether there may be some Orange Irish (methodist?) link. It might not be the Piercys but they are in the frame. Does anyone know if that name is well known in Ulster, or whether East Yorkshire farmers settled in Ireland?

Hi Robert, I have since managed to trace this family and they are from Connor, Ballymena Co. Antrim Northern Island.  James was Presbyterian. Their surname was originally Percy and changed a few times down the line due to illiteracy.  James Percy came to Exeter after joining the British Imperial Army under the name James Pearcy in 1839 and was assigned to the 65th Regiment.  He was sent back to Crinkill Barracks, Tullamore, Ireland in c 1841 where he met and married Annie Tyrell (Annie was Roman Catholic).  A child was born in 1844. Not long after that the family were sent to Brompton Barracks in Gillingham, UK where another 2 children were born.  The 1851 UK census have the family at Brompton under the name Piercey.  in 1852 the 65th regiment were shipped to NZ to help fight the Maori Wars.  James Percy was discharged there after given the option to stay.   There are a few Percy's in the area of Ballymena but I did learn that the Latin way of spelling Percy is Piercy.  Hope this helps find or eliminate this family for you.  Be nice to find some more family from this tree though.  Kind regards Dale Ansell

Hi Dale

I note that your original post is around 18 months old, and you may have found all you need to know about James Pearcy and his family by now.

If not, I am one of his great-great grandsons, my mother having been born a Percy, and I can advise that James’ wife Anne (nee Tyrell) died in Wanganui on 8 May 1862 from “inflammation of the lungs”. Less than two months later, on 3 July 1862 James died, aged 40, from an apoplexy.

Tracking James and his family has been confusing due to the various spellings of their names. Initial research was based on my great-grandfather Andrew Percy’s marriage certificate, where his father is stated as James Stuart Percy.

However, so far I have established that Eliza Percy married a Richard Craig in 1862, Henry Michael (Harry) Percy married Sarah Jane Castlemaine, and Andrew Percy (born around 1861) married Isabella Boswell. Part of the reason for a lack of family history for this family is that Harry’s only two sons and two of Andrew’s sons were killed in the Great War, and their six daughters married and lived away from Hawkes Bay.

I have been unable to trace Mary Jane (aged 2 months in the UK 1851 Census), and there may be other children who were born in New Zealand between 1852 and 1862. These may have included, for example, the James Stewart Percy listed in the Waipawa, Hawkes Bay Electoral Rolls from 1880/81 through to 1890 and/or the James Percy shown in the 1885/86 electoral roll as a stockman living in Kariori, Waitotara, South Taranaki.

I can provide further information if you are interested. If you also have further information on the Percy/Pearcy family, especially their ancestry and how long they had been in Ireland (presumably from Northumberland via Scotland), you wouldn’t mind sharing with me, that would be sincerely appreciated.

Regarding the question of when the Percys first came to Ireland, I have no specific information about your own family but the area where they lived was heavily settled by Scots in the 1600s. Some 100,000 Scots settled in Ireland in the 1600s. Some as a part of the plantation of Ireland, some who stayed behind after General Munro’s 10,000 strong Scottish  army was disbanded at Carrickfergus in the 1640s and there was also a huge influx in the 1690s due to famine in Scotland.  By the 1700s the Scots were starting to leave then (for the USA and Canada). So whilst there are bound to have been some later arrivals, the vast majority of incoming Scots settlers arrived in the 1600s.

PhilKen  WOW  I have been searching this family for 3 or 4 years now and only recently found them, I have also been searching for a few living relatives and have found a couple but anyone who had any information has since passed and I had a brick wall for such a long time.  I am the G.Grandaughter of Mary Jane Percy and I have a lot  of information on her, and the rest of the family. I also have a couple of photos of her and would very much like to share my information with you.  I am from NZ and living in Brisbane, Australia and would like you to email me at daleinoz1@gmail.com