When Ira Albert Pierce was born on 29 July 1845, in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, his father, Josiah Pierce, was 41 and his mother, Ellen Davis, was 41. He married Jane Ekis on 13 August 1868.
English, Welsh, and Irish: from the Anglo-Norman French and Middle English personal name Piers, Peres, Peris, an Old French nominative of Pierre or Per, the French form of Peter . Pierce is especially frequent in northwestern Wales and Lancashire, while Pearce is the more common spelling in the rest of England. In Ireland Pierce and Pearse represent a shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Piarais ‘son of Piaras’, a Gaelicized form of Piers.
Americanized form of some similar-sounding Jewish surname.
History: Franklin Pierce (1804–69), 14th president of the US, was born in Hillsborough, NH, on the New England frontier. His English ancestor Thomas Pierce emigrated to Charlestown, MA, in 1633/34.
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