The lack of recent posts doesn’t mean I have abandoned genealogy. Quite the opposite, I am knee-deep in research on a couple of fronts. I have discovered a Charles “Peirce” and George “Peirce” living in Lincoln County, North Carolina in the 1790 census. “Charles” was the name of my 4th great grandfather Spencer Pearce’s father. Spencer was allegedly born in North Carolina. I am painstakingly scanning un-indexed court records to see if I can find any mention of either of them.

A few weeks ago, I decided to take a closer look at DNA matches whose ancestors were born or lived in Lawrence County, Tennessee prior to 1850. The wife of the aforementioned Spencer Pearce is a mystery, except for her first name which was Neoma or Anna. As part of this initiative, I began a new process of charting my DNA matches’ family trees (old school) using a pedigree chart I found online and printed in great quantities. It’s easier to see where their lineages intersect when you write them down (and assuming they have trees to chart). That proved to be extremely helpful and revealed a familial connection that was unknown to me.

I discovered that five of my dad’s DNA matches descend from Thomas Byrd and Jane Littleton, whose children and grandchildren passed through Lawrence County about the same time as my Pearce ancestors. I don’t believe in coincidences so there must be some type of connection. Since allied families tended to travel in packs, I am retracing the Byrds’ footprints that lead them to Tennessee. The bottom line is that I may have some Byrd DNA lurking within me.