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My cousin and I are searching and searching to find out if this legend could be true. Or where we could go to find out if this legend is fact or fiction. The legend states that he was accused and killed for being a Pirate sometime on or before 1800. I find it interesting that he did die around this time period and left his youngest son Phineas without a father. Also what I find interesting is that there is no offical record of his death. One cousin told me that his grandmother told him that yes "Phineas was a Pirate and he was hung from his own yard arm".

I am not directly related to Phineas Pearl. His father Timothy Pearl is my 6th Great Grandfather. Timothy Pearl born about 1694. Timothy married two times. His first wife was Elizabeth Stevens and this is my line. His second wife was Mary Leach and this is the line Phineas comes from.

If you have any information that could lead me to find out if Phineas Pearl was a Pirate I would truly appreciate it. Kind regards, Laura in Michigan

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My full name is Laura.  :) Martha are you related to Pearl's at all? Just curious! I wonder if we are cousins?

Do you have Norton Bretz book on the Pearl's? It is very interesting. If you do have it, you can find me in John (B) page 15 under Simeon Oliver Pearl. Norton had some errors in my line so I emailed him and let him know and he corrected them. It states my name is Laura Dione. It is Laura Diane. Just little errors like that. Also, if you do not have Norton's book I can send it to you. I have it on floppy disks. It can easily be downloaded to Microsoft Word.

I could send you what is said in the fliers that James W. Pearl sent out around the early 1900s for Reward for verified facts, Was he a Pirate? (meaning Phineas Pearl) 
Sincerely, Laura

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Hi Martha, It is nice to hear from you again. :)

Timothy Pearl Jr. born in Windham, Connecticut Oct. 24, 1723 was a half brother to Phineas Pearl born Aug. 2, 1753. (This is the Phineas Pearl of the legend in our family that was possibly accused and killed for being a Pirate) Phineas Pearl's son Phineas Pearl, was born May 12, 1789, he married Fanny Hatch.  

Timothy Pearl born Feb. 23, 1694/5 in Rowley or Boxford, Mass. died Oct. 9, 1773. This Timothy is a son of John Pearl who immigrated from Beverley Yorkshire, England to Mass. with his brother Nicholas about 1670.

The reason that Phineas Pearl born Aug. 2, 1753 and Timothy Pearl Jr born Oct. 24, 1723 are half brother's is because their father Timothy Pearl born 1694/5 in Mass. married two times. Timothy's first marriage was to Elizabeth Stevens. <-----this is my line. His second marriage was to Mary Leach.

Timothy Pearl Jr. born Oct. 24, 1723 is the first of six children of Timothy Pearl and Elizabeth (Stevens) Pearl. Phineas Pearl born Aug. 2, 1753 is one of nine children of Timothy Pearl and Mary (Leach) Pearl. This Phineas Pearl married Azuba Haywood and had 7 children and his youngest son is the Phineas Pearl mentioned in the Berrein County Website. He was born May 12, 1789 in Windsor Count, Vermont. He married Fanny Hatch Feb. 28, 1814 (or March 1813) in Weathersfield, Vermont, and had nine children. He lived in Weathersfield, VT., Herkimer Co., Little Falls (1810), and Jefferson Co., NY (1818), Lasalle, Monroe Co. Michigan (1830), Benton Twp. Berrien Co., Michigan (1840) died about 1870.

Timothy Pearl born Feb. 23, 1694/95 had fifteen children all of whom survived to adulthood. There are records of thirteen marriages and, of these, records of twelve families producing at least 87 grandchildren.

So, the Phineas Pearl born May 12, 1789 that is mentioned in the Berrien County Website; HIS father; Phineas Pearl born Aug. 2, 1753 is the subject of a legend in our family that he was accused and killed for being a Pirate.

I would like to mention that there is an error regarding Phineas Pearl in your Berrien County Website. It states there, Phineas Pearl born May 12, 1789 parents were born in Wales. This is not true. His parents were born here in the States. His father Phineas Pearl (the one I am researching about being a Pirate) was born Aug. 2, 1753 in Windham Conneticut. Right now I can not find the record of where his Mother Mary (Leach) Pearl was born, but it is here somewhere. :)

Phineas Pearl born May 12, 1789--  His parents were Phineas Pearl and Azuba (Haywood) Pearl.  His Grandparents were Timothy Pearl and Mary (Leach) Pearl. His Great Grandparents were John Pearl and Elizabeth (Holmes) Pearl. Hopefully this correction can be made at your website.

John Pearl immigrated with his brother Nicholas Pearl from Beverley Yorkshire England about 1670 to Marblehead, Mass. John was one of six children of Nicholas and Alice (Proudfellow) Pearl. John was baptized Feb. 8, 1645/6 in St. John's church in Beverley, Yorkshire England. John Pearl married Elizabeth Holmes in 1682. She was born 1662 in Mass.

John Pearl's son Richard purchased a home in West Boxford, Mass. There is a lot of history about this home but I won't get into it right now. It was known as the Brown-Pearl home. Then in succeeding generations the house came to be known as the "Pearl Place" and later the "Pearl-Webster House". In 1925 the house was acquired by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to be dismantled and reconstructed in part in Boston. The home had been abandoned as a dwelling for some years and was rapidly deterioating. The architecture was typical of the seventeenth century and one of the best remaining examples of colonial craftsmanship. The reproduction was still on display in 1991. I will send you a picture of the home in a separate email.

There is a interesting story about John's brother Nicholas. Nicholas lost his wife and child. The reason of his wife's death is assumed to be from complication's due to childbirth. His wife and daughter's names were both Elizabeth. His wife died in 1702; and the daughter Elizabeth died soon after. Nicholas had one other child named John and he and John moved to Dover, NH about 1703. My asumption is Nicholas must have been very distraught over the death of his wife and child because; " Nicholas was slain by Indians in the day-time in his cave above Oyster River where he dwelt night and day, summer and winter, from the last breaking out of the war, precisely three years, though twas in the very wake and way where the enemy used to pass. He was a man of strange confidence and would not be persuaded to leave his place." Nicholas died Aug. 10 or 11, 1706. Another record has "Nicholas Pearl...lived in a small hut near the Demerett garrison at Pudding Hill in Old Dover. It was close to a path which the Indians traveled and nearby was a refuge known as Pearl's Cave. The Indians set fire to the hut and Nicholas was burned alive on Aug. 10, 1706."

Would you like to have Norton Bretz' book on the Family Tree of John Pearl?

It is about 400 pages.  It is a very interesting read. There are indenture papers going back to England, and Will's etc.   Here is an interesting web site, look at the bottom of the page for Pearl geneaology:

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/2786/dat122.html 

Sincerely,
Laura