NOTE: I have no connection, no further information and am not seeking additional information. 11176 BOYLE CO – EUGENE H. PEARCE – Pearce, Woods, Pierce, Green, Cunningham, Morgan, Perry, Bowman, Bartley, Stanton, Leslie, Cowan, Offutt, Armstrong. Allen, Nelson, Crittenden, Murray #11176: Kentucky Genealogy and Biography, Volume V, Battle-Perrin-Kniffin, 4th ed. Boyle Co. EUGENE H. PEARCE was born September 16, 1844, near Maysville, Ky., and is the only son of four children born to Wesley and Rachael (Woods) Pearce. Wesley Pearce was born and reared near Evansville, Va.; emigrated to Brown County, Ohio, near Maysville, Ky., about 1825, was a farmer, and died in 1877, aged seventy-four years. He was a son of Capt. Samuel Pearce of Evansville, Preston Co., W. Va., and who was one of its pioneers. The Pearce families of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware are of Scotch and Scotch-Irish nativity, the father, Samuel Pearce, immigrating to America about 1752, from Lurgan, north Ireland, whither the family has been driven by the religious persecutions in Scotland, under James II, against Protestants. Pursued by the dragoons of Claverhouse, executing the edicts of James II, the early ancestor, Mark Pearce, had only time to pause for a moment at his own door and say to his wife, “you go to Lurgan – I go to France.” By that persecution, a part of the Pearce family became identified with the Huguenots of France, afterward immigrating to America, and settling in the Carolinas and Georgia. From the Huguenot branch came the Pierces of the Carolinas and Georgia, represented in the present generation by his eminent Rev. Dr. Lovick Pierce, of Georgia, and his distinguished son, Bishop Geo. F. Pierce, of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Samuel Pearce, the paternal grandfather of Eugene H. Pearce, was captain of a cavalry company in Gen.Green’s corps, during the war for independence, was wounded at the battle of Brandywine, and wounded at the battle of Brandywine, and was at the Yorktown surrender. He married Margaret Cunningham, of Virginia, a half sister of Zachariah Morgan, the founder of Morgantown, W. Va., and a prominent pioneer – her brother, Lieut. Cunningham, was in the fleet under Com. Perry and was killed during the war of 1812. The mother of E. H. Pearce was born near Maysville, Ky., and was a daughter of Micha and Hester (Bowman) Woods, one a native of Mason, the other of Bracken County, Ky. Micha Woods was a planter and trader, a soldier of 1812; from Mason County moved to Brown County, Ohio, where he died at an advanced age. For some years Judge Woods was judge of the county court of Brown County. He was a son of Samuel Woods, who was born in Carlisle, Penn., and who was a soldier during the war for independence, 1776 to 1781. He migrated to Limestone, now Maysville, in 1782, where he lived till his death. His brother, Ezekiel Woods, migrated from Mason County, Ky., and settled in Toledo, Ohio. Hon. William B. Woods, of the supreme court of the United States, 1880-87, is a son of Ezekiel Woods. Eugene H. Pearce was reared on a farm, graduated from the National Normal University of Ohio, in August, 1865, and also received honorary degree from Kentucky Wesleyan College; studied law with Hon. T. W. Bartley, an ex-chief justice of the supreme court of Ohio, at Cincinnati, also with Hon. R. H. Stanton of Maysville, Ky..; April, 1867, and was admitted to the bar, and practiced his profession till 1870, when he entered the licentiate of the ministry, acting till 1875 as assistant superintendent of the American Bible Society for western Kentucky; receiving leave of absence, was appointed by Gov. Leslie as commissioner to the Vienna International Exposition, making a general tour of Europe and Great Britain. After his resignation with the American Bible Society, he entered and completed a course of study at Drew Theological Seminary, and subsequently entered the Kentucky Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church South, and was first stationed at Covington, in September, 1876; he has since been appointed to pastorates at Paris, Versailles, Nicholasville and Danville, while at three of these places he caused handsome churches to be built – at Covington, Versailles and Nicholasville. In May, 1882, he purchased a residence in Danville – “Grace lawn,” the former residence of Col. Jno. Cowan. While he was connected with the Bible Society, October, 1869, to July, 1875, he traveled 37,459 miles and delivered 630 sermons and addresses. In 1870 he invented and introduced the supply of the Scriptures to railroad coaches, whilst acting as superintendent of the American Bible Society in western Kentucky. After filling pastorates with much acceptance at Covington, Paris, Versailles, Nicholasville and also as member of the board of education of the Kentucky Conference, Mr. Pearce became pastor of the Walnut Street Methodist Church South, at Danville, in September, 1884. Under his ministry here, there was an increase of thirty per cent in the membership, from 1884 to 1886, placing the church among the first in the South, in organizations and influence. In 1884 he published a “Manual of Church Work and Organization,” more especially for the use of his own congregation, but which through notice and commendation of the religious press and pastors elsewhere, had subsequently a circulation and sale in twenty States of the Union. As a member of the board of curators of Kentucky, Wesleyan College at Millersburg, Mr. Pearce, chiefly in 1887, advocated the relocation of the institution at Winchester, Ky., his addresses and arguments in behalf of the educational interests of the church being widely circulated and attracting much attention and commendation. Being officially appointed by the Kentucky Conference to represent its interests in Kentucky Wesleyan College, he made application and argument before the Kentucky Legislature, in the winter of 1886, for enactment of temperance legislation for Kentucky Wesleyan College and vicinity. In discharge of the duty, he became engaged in a newspaper controversy with Hon. Charles Offutt, speaker of the House and representative of the county in which the college was located (Bourbon). The result of the controversy was a very signal triumph for the interests of the conference and the welfare of the institution. In 1882 Mr. Pearce became interested in the growth and development of Florida, his influence and contributions to the press contributing no small degree to advancement of its interests, especially on the western coast and vicinity of Tampa Bay, where he located an estate and winter residence near Bay View, one of the most picturesque and attractive localities in Florida. In 1887 he was elected president of the Kentucky Chautauqua Assembly, at its first organization in the city of Lexington, in convention composed of ministers and laymen from different denominations throughout the State. For fourteen years, 1863 to 1877, he was also a members of the State executive committee of the Young Men’s Christian Association of Kentucky, assisting in organizing and promoting the work in many places. Mr. Pearce was married October 15, 1874, to Miss Annie E. Armstrong, second daughter of Charles Q. and Amanda F. Armstrong, at “Idylwild,” the country and ancestral residence of the family, near Bloomfield, Nelson Co., Ky. Miss Armstrong was born and reared in Louisville, Ky., and was educated at the Nold school for young ladies, and Louisville Female College. Possessed of culture, with graces of person and an active and benevolent disposition, Mrs. Pearce’s influence and usefulness has been of signal and marked character in all the walks of life. Her father, Charles Q. Armstrong, was for many years, one of the most active and prosperous citizens of the city of Louisville and was most highly esteemed. Her mother, Amanda F. Allen, was a daughter of Jas. Allen, one of the pioneers of Nelson County, and a most popular and useful citizen, greatly respected by all who knew him. The Allen family was one of unusual force of character. Col. Jno. Allen, a brother of James Allen, and member of the Shelbyville bar, was a graduate of the University of Virginia and commanded the Second Kentucky Regiment at the battle of the River Raisin, in the war of 1812, where he fell at the head of his regiment. A descendant of the Allen family, also, was Rev. David Nelson of Danville, Ky., the celebrated author of “Cause and Cure of Infidelity.” Gen. Thomas H. Crittenden and Gen. E. H. Murray are grandsons of Col. John Allen. Both were distinguished officers in the civil war, and subsequently became governors of Missouri and Utah. Another grandson is Logan C. Murray, president of the United States National Bank of New York City. Mr. and Mrs. Pearce have had born to them five children: Eugene Lovick, born in 1872, in Louisville; Stanley Dodd, born in 1876, at “Idylwild,”, Nelson County; Lillian, born in 1880, at Versailles; Allene, born in 1882, and Charles Wesley (deceased), born in 1885, at Danville, Ky. 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