My oldest Pierce is Dennis Pierce. He's my brick wall. All I know of him is that he was born in Ireland and married Julia Sullivan in Butler County, Ohio in January, 1851. He had three sons: William and James, twins, born November 1851, and Dennis, Oct. 1853 in Hamilton Ohio. Denis Sr. died between 1854 and 1857. In 1857, Julia and the family were living in northwest Illinois and she had remarried, to Thomas Scanlon. Keeping my fingers crossed for a connection - Nancy White