FRANK, IKE AND ALICE (Frank W. Pearce, talking about his father, Isaac Thomas Pearce, and his mother, Alice Moss Pearce, both of whom are buried in the Ahoskie Cemetery) ~ My father was Isaac (Ike) Thomas Pearce (1875-1959). He married Alice Moss (1873-1935). My father was raised on a farm (in upper Bertie County, NC). When he was about 18, he left home to see what the world was like. He joined the US Army and was stationed at Fort Hamilton, in Brooklyn, NY. He was injured while in the Army. While he was in the hospital, some girls came from the church to visit the sick and the soldiers. One of the girls had not been in the United States very long ~ Alice Moss, who was from Queenstown, Cork County, Ireland. She met and married Isaac Thomas Pearce. Soon after they were married they left New York and moved to Hertford County, North Carolina, where Esther, Annie and I were born. I was told that I was born at Tunis, NC in Hertford County (in 1902), where the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad crossed the Chowan River. My father was the coal and water tender for the railroad at that time, and he made 40 cents a day. Later we moved to Suffolk, VA. When I was about seven, I went on a fishing trip with him. He had a cabin sailboat with a cookstove, and bunks to sleep on. We went out from Suffolk down the Nansemond River to Hampton Roads and fished all week. When we got home we were both sick. He had typhoid fever and I had malaria. My father was a farmer and worked as a carpenter when he was not busy on the farm. Money was hard to get in those days. When I had a penny, I thought I had money. Eggs were 24 cents per dozen, so I would get an egg or two and take them to the store for candy or cakes. We moved from Suffolk to Portsmouth about the year 1909. I had a paper route and made one dollar and 50 cents per week when I was in the fifth grade at school. I really had money in those days. I bought a used bicycle. I would spend a nickel each day at school for a half of a pie, which was a good pie, and that was about all you would eat with one sandwich for lunch. Later when I was 16 I got my first job during the summer vacation, and I made 10 cents per hour. One dollar for a 10-hour day. After that I went to work as an apprentice in the US Navy Yard in Portsmouth, VA. As an apprentice I worked at my trade and went to school for four years. One day a week I would attend classes for eight hours. This education was equivalent to two years in college. After serving my apprenticeship and one year as a mechanic, I was laid off. Ship work was poor at that time. It was then that I decided to go into refrigeration work. I got a job with Horne Ice Cream Company in Norfolk, VA and continued in refrigeration until I retired. One night just before going to work with the ice cream company, I went to visit my sister Esther. A girl was visiting her, with her uncle Charles Gibbins, who we knew. The girl's name was Edith Louise Dunn from Norwalk, Connecticut. I thought she was real nice, and with her being a Yankee I thought it would be exciting to take her out to the movies. I got my sister to ask her as I was too bashful. We went to the movies one night and a dance another night. Then she had to go home to Connecticut. We wrote a few letters to each other. Christmas time was near, and I did not want to buy her a present, and I did not want her to buy me a present, so I stopped writing. After Christmas, her uncle Charles Gibbins went up to Connecticut to visit his people and saw (her). She had bought me a Christmas present before I stopped writing to her. The present had my initials engraved on it, and she did not know what to do with it. She decided to send it to me by her uncle. When he returned home, he gave me the present. Well, I thought about it, and came to the conclusion that this girl liked me, and I had never had a girl to like me before. I went to Connecticut to see her, and later married her. We had planned to live in Norfolk, VA but to please her mother, I stayed in Connecticut for about three years and worked for Polly Refrigeration Company. Our oldest daughter was born in Norwalk, Connecticut. We moved to Salisbury, MD I worked with Southern Dairies. Our other two daughters were born in Salisbury. Later we moved to Greensboro, NC and I worked with Southern Dairies. Later we moved to Raleigh NC and I worked with Pine State Creamery Company until retirement, Dec. 31, 1964, at the age of 62. ~~~~~~~~