Milton Otto Roesch

Milton was born on October 15, 1902 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Otto Roesch and Mary Belle Pierce.  Sadly, Milton died on July 5, 1908 at the age of six.  He is buried in Hillside Cemetery, Platteville Grant County Wisconsin.

Pierce Line



Arodi Peirce, 4th great grandfather

My grandmother was a Pierce, born in Middleboro, MA.  The family name has quite the military history.  Just about every cemetery in the area has a Pierce/Peirce gravestone in it.  The most surprising was the Pierce Cemetery, hidden in the middle of the woods.  Not many people know it is there.  I was in awe of it.  You have to walk through someone's back yard to find a small path that eventually led to a clearing with a iron fence encircling the graveyard.
 

There was always a mystery about my grandmother's birth, so the name Pierce always left me curious.  For the longest time I thought any other spelling of the name such as Peirce, the E before the I, or any other configuration was not in my family tree.  But soon discovered that was not the case at all.  I found stones of parents and their children spelled both ways. The spelling was interchangeable. 

Arodi's brother, Eliphalet Pierce

 There are many stories, the good the bad and the ugly, about the Pierce family.  They married into the families of Wilber, Hoar, Ryder, and Jones to name a few.  It was the wife of Captain Eli Pierce, Fidelia Ryder, that connects me to most, not all, ancestors who came over on the Mayflower.  It was their son, Thomas who produced a line of children and grandchildren who made history in  music, particularly the violin; concert singers and  actors.  Out of all the names on my family tree, the Pierce line has been the most fascinating to research and learn for there were surprises around every corner. I have found so many Pierce gravestones I lost count long ago.

Abraham Pierce (1600 - 1673)  Arrived on the ship Anne in 1623

Isaac Pierce (1661 - 1731) 

Thomas Pierce (1679 - 1754)

Thomas Pierce (1715 - 1785)

Arodie Peirce (1750 - 1825)

Captain Eli Pierce (1796 - 1871)

Thomas Warren Pierce (1842 - 1910)
 

Carl Zachariah Pierce (1872 - 1927)

Mary Ann Pierce (1898 - 1982) my grandmother

Robert Frank lin Smith (1923 - 2008)  Dad

Kathryn Marie Smith

Baby Richard

Richard Wyman Smith was the infant child of Malcolm and Mary Ann.  Little Richard was born on October 30, 1929 and left this earth due to pneumonia on August 26, 1930. 

My father, told me he was seven years old when his baby brother died.  He remembers going into the bedroom and kissing him good-bye.  He is buried next to his parents in Hillside Cemetery, Bridgewater, MA.

4 Ryder & 4 Pierce Siblings Wed

Remarkable when you find that four children of Arodi Pierce and his wife Jemima Caswell, married four children of Nathaniel Ryder and Patience Dunham, both my 4th gr grandparents. The two families lived in Rock Village, Middleboro, MA. I have found all their gravestones. The first three are buried in Rock Village, Middleboro, MA  and the fourth in Achushnet, MA.

Huldah & Standish

Huldah Pierce Married Standish Ryder
Roland Pierce married Sophia Rider    
Elisha Pierce married Mercy Rider       
Eli Pierce married Fidelia Rider            



Roland Pierce




Sophia Ryder

                                                         

Elisha Pierce

Mercey Ryder



Captain Eli Pierce and Fidelia
My 3rd gr. grandparents



Franklin, Eunice and Babies

Franklin Jones, my 2nd great grandfather had a twin brother, Freeman.  They were born in their parents home in Bridgewater, Massachuetts in the second floor bedroom.  The Hillside Cemetery where they rest is on the same street located no more than a half mile from the home where they were born.

Eunice is buried in Hillside Cemetery, Auburn St., Bridgewater, MA with her husband Franklin. Before her death, she was living with her daughter Laura and her son-in-law Joseph Smith.  You see her there in the 1910  census at the age of 80.  She died in 1911. The couple had six children that lived to adulthood.  Their youngest son died at the age of nine.  How many other babies they lost is unknown.

On the top of this stone it reads "Sammy and Our Babies. We know that Franklin and Nabby named their son after Franklin's father, Samuel and called their son Sammy. Sammy died at the age of 9. We have no knowledge of how many babies are buried here with Sammy.  This stone rests beside their father.

The name Franklin has continued on through the next four generations.  My father's middle name was Franklin, and I have a neice who has two middle names, one of which is Franklin.