52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2019 WEEK 33: THOMAS PIERCE JR. OF WOBURN, MA.

My 8x great grandfather Thomas Pierce Jr. came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a teenager with his parents. He became one of the first citizens of what is now  Woburn Massachysets and with his wife raised a large family.

Here's what Ellery Bickford Crane wrote about him:

(II) Thomas Pierce, Jr., son of Thomas Pierce (1), was born in England in 1608; married, May 6, 1635, Elizabeth Cole, who died March 5, 1688. He died November 6, 1683. They resided in Charlestown in the part now Woburn. He is called sergeant in the records, indicating military prominence. He was the progenitor of President Franklin Pierce, viz.: Franklin (VII), Benjamin (VI), Benjamin (V), Stephen (IV), Stephen (III), Thomas (II), Thomas (I). Sergeant Thomas Pierce was admitted to the Charlestown Church February 21, 1634. He was an inhabitant of Woburn as early as 1643. He was selectman in 1660, and served on the committee to divide the common lands. He was one of the "Right Proprietors" elected March 28, 1667, and also of the committee of the general court appointed 1668 to divide lands, etc. The children: Abigail, born August 17, 1639; John, March 7, 1643, married, July 5, 1663, Deborah Converse; Thomas, June 21, 1645, married, 1680, Rachel Bacon; Elizabeth, December 25, 1646, married, November 9, 1666, Thomas Whittemore, and died March 10, 1670; Joseph, September 22, 1646, died February 27, 1649; Stephen, July 16, 1651, married, November 18, 1676, Tabitha Parker; Samuel, February 20, 1654, died October 27. 1655; Samuel, April 7, 1656, see forward; William. March 20, 1658, married, April 8, 1690, Abigail Sommers, nee Warren; James, May 7, I659, married Elizabeth Kendall; Abigail, Novem20, 1660, married February 18, 1684, George Reed, Jr.; Benjamin, married Mary Reed.-p449

 Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County,   Massachusetts: With a History of Worcester Society of Antiquity, Volume 1  Lewis Publishing Company, New York, N.Y.1907


So apparently I'm a distant cousin of President Franklin Pierce!