Nathaniel Pearse

Nathaniel Pearse (or Pearce, Pierce, 1708-1793) was the second child of Richard Pearse and his wife Sarah. He is referred to in official documents with the title “esquire”. In 1732, he married Mary Lindsey at St. Michael’s Anglican Church. Nathaniel and Mary had eleven children: Samuel, John, Nathaniel, Christopher, Elizabeth, Richard, Thomas, Mary, Thomas, William, and Sarah. In 1746, the year Bristol became part of Rhode Island, Nathaniel was captain of the Bristol Militia Company. In 1747, he was a justice of the peace. In 1759, he was lieutenant colonel of the militia, and also a justice of the court of common pleas. In 1774, as part of a town-wide effort, he sent a sum of 18 shillings to support the people of Boston (that city’s port having been recently closed by the British). In May, 1776, when Rhode Island’s Act of Renunciation was passed, Nathaniel was serving in the General Assembly.