Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. Transcribed by Linda Harmon. Memorial of Peirceville, Part II Our Heritage By Claude Moore Mount Olive Tribune April 26, 1991 Last week I wrote about "Peirceville", the old plantation of Thomas B. and Sallie Faison Peirce which flourished until his death in 1912. The Peirces carried on the old traditions which they had known before the War Between the States. I well remember visiting "Cousin Sallie" as we knew her. After the factory, barns and stables burned, the family moved to Warsaw and built a home on Hill Street. This house stood where the parking lot of Branch Bank is now located. Thomas B. Peirce was a great champion of education and for many years he served on the board of trustees of Davidson College. He was a trustee of James Sprunt Institute in Kenansville. He and his wife were among the founders and charter members of the Warsaw Presbyterian Church, which was organized in 188, with the Rev. B. F. Marable, D. D. as the first pastor. Dr. Marable, a native of Virginia, had settled in Sampson County, before the War and had married two Faison ladies. A portrait of Sallie Faison Peirce was placed in the Warsaw Presbyterian Church in 1937 with appropriate ceremonies in tribute to her long years of work in the church. I remember hearing her say that she had five children in college at one time. The Peirces built a little school (still standing) in their grove called the Peirceville School. They had fine teachers for the Peirce children. They invited neighborhood children to attend the school. They also operated a commissary, now the house, which carried general merchandise including ready made clothes. There was much social life at Peirceville and always at least two servants in the house. At that time their neighbors were mostly kin: The Abner Faison family, the William A. Faison family, the Owen Fryar family, the Curtis Thomson family, the Walter J. and John T. Moore families, the Rev. John T. Britt family, and others. Local travel was by horse and buggy and for distant travel, the passenger trains ran regularly from Warsaw to Clinton and from Wilmington to Weldon. Mrs. Sallie Faison Peirce is in a nursing home in Goldsboro. She is the last survivor of the 11 children of Thomas B. and Sallie F. Peirce. She had two sons: Commander Edward B. Gibson, a hero of World War II (now deceased), whose widow, Mary Virginia Gibson and daughter, Dana Gibson Wuntke and her husband, Capt. Mark Wuntke live in Goldsboro; Col, Faison Gibson, (graduate of West Point) and his wife, Sallie, live in Huntsville, Alabama. Nothing remains of Peirceville today except a few oaks and the ruins of the school. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi. ============================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Linda Harmon ==============================================================