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in the 1860 census his nearest post office is listed as Bowling Green; in the 1970 Census it is listed as Green Hill Was a Deacon in the Bethany Church. William is buried in the Haysville, TN cemetery, Row 4, Plot 15. Cemetery records indicate no marker has been placed on the grave. ===== 1900 Census - Second Civil District, Macon Co., TN - 4 June 1900, pg. 212A: lists William aged 80, wife Louisa aged 32, and children Rosa aged 4, William B. aged 2, and Era A. aged 1. =====
This is the home of William or, as he was better know, Billy Pearson. He was the father of Edward Smith Pearson. Billy was the last child of John R. & Rebecca Wright Pearson, born 3/25/1820 in Allen County, KY. It appears Billy had a good education for his day. He married Nancy Melinda Sears, who was raised on a neighboring farm, on August 30, 1841 in Warren County, KY. Shortly thereafter, they began building this home which is described as "an old home typical to the period just prior to the Civil War. It is located near Alvaton. The house has the wide central hall with stairway and large rooms upstairs and down on each side of the hall." The home was still standing and being occupied in 1973. Billy was a very successful farmer. I can find no record where he or Nancy owned slaves, but his Aunt who lived nearby did, and he may have used them His aunt made her living by renting out her slaves, but again I have found no record where Billy rented hers. Nancy was willed a black girl by her father, Philip Sears. This child appears in the census as a free black occupant of their home, not as a slave. Billy was a Deacon in the Bethany church at Goshen, a baptist congregation. Billy and Nancy had eleven children, nine of whom survived to adulthood. Five of these were men. At least 3 of the men were sent to Bethel College in Russellville, KY. John and Edward were educated to be teachers, and Alfred Frank as a Baptist minister. Nancy died when William was 69. Within 6 months, he had married Mary Knight, who was much younger. They had a daughter 4 years later, but Mary died from childbirth. About a year after this Billy married Mary's sister Louisa Ann. At this time Billy was seventy-five and Louisa was twenty-six. They had two more children, a son William Benton when Billy was seventy-seven, and a daughter Era Ann when he was seventy-eight. Billy died at the age of eighty-one on 6/22/1901, in Haysville, TN. He is buried in the Haysville, Tennessee Cemetery, Row 4, Plot 15. Cemetery records indicate that there is no marker. Now my search is for the children of William Benton Pearson to see if they have a picture of my great-great-grandfather William. I am looking for Earnest Edward Pearson, who would be about seventy-five, or for Virginia Lucille Pearson, who would be about sixty-nine. Have you heard of them?
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