Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. Transcribed by Barbara Kawamoto. Memories of Peirceville, Part I "Our Heritage" By Claude Moore Last week I had a visit with a cousin. Sallie Faison Peirce Gibson, age 100, at the new nursing home in Goldsboro. She had been living in Washington, D.C. for many years and was anxious to get back to her beloved North Carolina. Her memory is clear and she likes to talk about the good old days at Peirceville, Turkey, Faison, and Warsaw. My visit with her has inspired me to write about this old plantation and the Peirce family. I well remember the old plantation house, which burned in the 1930’s after it had passed into the hands of another family. Peirceville was located on the old Warsaw-Clinton Road, now called the Penny Branch Road, two miles west of Warsaw and about four miles northeast of Turkey, and the land was part of a large survey granted to the Kenan family during the colonial period. The earlier houses were already gone when young Thomas Buckner Peirce was married in 1872 to Sallie Elizabeth Faison, the daughter of Dr. Henry W. Faison and of his wife Martha Hicks Faison, of Faison. We believe that this was about the time he built the beautiful Victorian (Electric) house at Peirceville with two stories and double porches on all sides of the house. Thomas B. Peirce (1847-1912) was a son of Wentworth Peirce (1813-1866), originally from Norfolk, Virginia, and was one of the engineers of the building of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad (1836-1840). He married Margaret Dudley Hill, the daughter of General William Lanier Hill and Ann Dudley Hill (sister of Governor Edward Dudley, the president of the railroad.) Wentworth Peirce was Quartermaster General of North Carolina during the War Between the States. Young Thomas B. Peirce was brought up in Wilmington and Raleigh, but in summers he spent much time with his grandparents near Warsaw. He attended Hillsboro Military Academy and when the War came on in 1861, he was too young to enlist, but he later joined the junior reserves and was made captain. After the War he took a business course at Eastman College at Poughkeepsie, New York. When young Peirce married Sallie Elizabeth Faison in 1872, she had already attended the Clinton Female Institute, St. Mary’s School, Raleigh and the Presbyterian College of Charlotte. Her brothers and sisters were: Dr. John M. Faison, a member of Congress; Judge Henry E. Faison; William M. Faison of Faison; Dr. James Hicks, Faison; Albert Dewey Faison; Isham Roland Faison of Alabama; Percy Faison of Nevada, and Winnifred Faison, a teacher of Faison. After the War Between the States, North Carolina began to diversify farming by planting truck crops. Sampson, Duplin, and Wayne began to plant strawberries, early corn, green peppers, cantaloupes and other crops for the Northern markets. In 1886-87, the railroad was extended and a spur of the line was built in Peirceville. Thomas B. Peirce built a large crate factory at Peirceville and employed local people of both races. It was a flourishing business until it was burned after 1900. He was the founder of the Bank of Warsaw and was president of the bank for many years. He was largely instrumental in building tobacco warehouses in Warsaw, and was one of the founders of the Duplin Telephone, which built telephone lines in Duplin and Sampson. Thomas and Sallie Peirce had the following children all of whom are deceased except Sallie Peirce Gibson, now 100 years old: Henry Faison Peirce (1874-1931), banker and business man; Mrs. Margaret Orme (1876-1940), one- time lady principal of James Sprunt Institute; Wentworth W. Peirce (1878- 1928) a graduate of West Point and an attorney; Thomas B. Peirce, Jr., businessman, attended the University at Chapel Hill, James Hicks Peirce (1882-1921), graduate of N.C. State, and businessman; Christopher Dudley Peirce, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy transferred to U.S. Army and became a colonel; Sallie Faison Peirce (b. 1890) attended James Sprunt Institute and East Carolina College and married Capt. Edward B. Gibson, U.S. Navy, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy; Anna Elizabeth Peirce attended James Sprunt Institute and Flora McDonald College and later married (1) Hines; (2) Dr. Shewbrooks; (3) Stafford; Martha Winnifred Peirce attended Queens College, Charlotte and later married Dr. Earl Best of Warsaw; and John Miller Peirce, attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, manufacturer and married Estelle Ray of Clinton. They have a daughter, Margaret Manchester who now lives at Carolina Beach. ============================================================== 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. 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