There are two Pierpont/Pierpoint family reunions taking place this summer. The Pierpont Family Association (PFA), who are mostly the descendants of two brothers who came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in about 1640, are having their 101st consecutive reunion at Hammonasett State Park in Connecticut in June. And the Pierpont/Pierpoint family, who are mostly the descendants of Henry Pierpoint who came to Maryland in 1650 are meeting in western Tennessee in September. But there are also family members elsewhere in the US, in Canada, in the UK, and in France.
But who are all these groups of people? Are they all
related to each other? And if so, how?
I’ve done a lot of research on behalf of the greater
Pierpont family over the years, and I’d like to first pull it together, then
list all these various groups and tie them together as best I can.
Beginnings in Normandy
No one disputes that the family had their origins in
Normandy, France, in the 900s. While it is not known for certain who was the
first person to bear that name, the earliest which has been documented is Sir Hugh
de Pierrepont who was born around 980. The name de Pierrepont, meaning of/from
the stone bridge, has been the subject of considerable research over the years.
My own contribution to this research can be found here,
where I explored the various sites around France and identified the most likely
location for where Hugh lived. I’ll not repeat that research here, except to note
that the de Pierrepont name can still be found in France now – over 1000 years
later!
Invasion of England
Sir Robert de Pierrepont, a grandson of Sir Hugh, was
one of the leaders under William the Conqueror during the Norman invasion of
England in 1066. Once the Normans had taken over southern England, Robert was
rewarded with land in what came to be called Hurst Pierrepont in Lewes, Sussex,
on the south coast of England. However, within a few generations, the family
had relocated to Halliwell in Lancashire. And just two generations later, the
family seat moved to the town of Holme, Nottinghamshire, which would eventually
be renamed as Holme Pierrepont. This would remain the family home for the next
several hundred years.
The below picture of an official genealogy of the
Pierrepont family, which was drawn in 1764, shows the early generations of the
family, including their place of residence.
[Beginning in England]
Moving to the Americas
There were a number of family members who made the
trip to the Americas, with documented immigrations beginning in the 1600s, and
continuing until the 1900s. I’ll give more details on these below as I explore
the various branches of the family tree.
The Problem of Changing Names
The spelling of the Pierpont family name has gone
through many changes over the last 1000 years. It’s tempting to simplify these
changes by attributing the original name of “de Pierrepont” to those in France,
to drop the “de” and give a name of “Pierrepont” to the generations in England,
and to anglicize the name to a simple “Pierpont” or “Pierpoint” in the US. But
things are not that simple!
While the family members still in France continue to
use “de Pierrepont”, the “de” was not dropped immediately upon the Norman
invasion in 1066. The above picture of the top portion of an English genealogy shows
that the early generations continued to use the “de Pierrepont” surname. It was
not until the 1300s that the “de” was dropped.
[Dropping the de]
While the “Pierrepont” spelling dominated in England after
the 1300s, it was only consistent within the “peers” of the family. Thus, in
the blogs I’ve written on this topic (see here
and here),
I’ve not had to deal with other variations. But outside of this main line,
family members were merchants and other professions and were often not even
literate.
The consonants in the name (P_rp_nt) stayed pretty
consistent. But the first syllable was sometimes rendered “Pier”, “Peir”, “Par”,
“Per” as well as the original “Pierre”. And the last syllable might be “Pont”, “Point”,
“Poynt” or “Pointe”. Thus, variants such as Pierpont, Pierpoint, Peirpont,
Parpoynt, Perpoynt, Perpointe, and others were often recorded. The name was
pronounced per local dialects, but written down according to the hearing of the
listener. Among the peerage, since the name was also associated with the estate
(Hurst Pierrepont or later “Holme Pierrepont), the name remained consistent,
but the farther one lived from these estates, the more variation crept in over
the centuries. I’ve documented a number of these variants here
just among the early New England settlers of the family. Even as late as 1848,
my great*3 grandfather, Austin Pierpont, had his name chiseled on his tombstone
as “Pierpoint” (see https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/53032273/austin-pierpoint).
The Problem of English Hereditary Rules
In England, not only were titles subject to rules of
inheritance such as being only able to be passed to males or only to legitimate
children, but property was also subject to those same types of rules. There was
benefit to this as it kept estates intact. But if you were a second son, your
only chance of inheritance would be if your older brother died without a male
heir, and if you were a third or greater son, you would have to leave the
family home and make your living through something other than the taxes that
were paid by the individuals working on the family lands.
This also meant that the family name would not be
recorded or preserved over the following centuries, but would be even more
likely to be distorted as in the above discussion. As you’ll see in the below,
most of those who came to North America no longer carried the Pierrepont name.
Many Groups – All with a Common Heritage
Over the past decade or so, during which I have used my
interest in genealogy and during which I’ve been privileged to be a
co-historian of the Pierpont Family Association, I’ve been able to make
connections to several distinct groups of Pierpont/Pierpoint/Pierrepont/de
Pierrepont family members. The power of computers in investigating ancestral
records and the power of social media (principally Facebook) in establishing
connections has enabled research far more easily than in past generations. Here
are the groups which I’ve investigated – groups which are not necessarily
proved to be connected, but which connection is still quite certain.
Group 1 – the French de Pierreponts
As I mentioned above, while Robert de Pierrepont went
to England in 1066 with William the Conqueror, he left behind his uncles and
any male siblings or cousins. The de Pierrepont family name has continued on to
this day. Two current members of this French branch of the family have joined the
Pierpont Family Association and, with the help of Google Translate, I have had
conversations with them in French.
Group 2 – the English Pierreponts
There have been family members in England for over 950
years. While the line of those in the peerage has “daughtered out”, there are
others still living there. Like our French relatives, there are a couple of
individuals who still carry the Pierrepont family name and who have joined the
PFA.
Group 3 – the New England Pierponts
Most of my research into the Pierpont family has been
on behalf of the Pierpont Family Association (PFA) of New England. While this
branch of the family has been in New England since around 1640, many of the
lines from the two brothers, John and Robert, daughtered out fairly early on,
so all the members in this family line are descendants of the Rev. James
Pierpont who got his education at Harvard and who became the pastor of the
Congregational Church in New Haven, CT (see this daughtering out here).
While most of these family members carry the Pierpont surname, in the early
years there were many other variations. One of the Rev James grandsons changed
his name back to Pierrepont, so that surname has also been passed along through
that sub-branch.
This is the only branch where we have established a
definite connection back to the main English line. The father of John and
Robert, James, had also come to New England later in his life. But James’
father was William Pierrepont. He was unfortunately the third son of his father
and so had to leave the family home (Holme Pierrepont) in Nottinghamshire and make
his living in a small town nearby. In the process, he encountered many of the
Puritans in that area – likely the primary reason that his grandsons, and later
his son, made the trek to New England to join their Puritan friends in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. You can see William listed in the genealogical tree
of the Pierrepont peers from the drawing in 1764. He is listed simply as “third
son” and his marriage and any offspring are not even shown.
[William]
Group 4 – the Maryland/Virginia Pierpoints
The second largest group of Pierpont/Pierpoints in the
US are the descendants of Henry Pierpoint who came to America in the mid-1600s.
I’ve done some fairly detailed analysis of this branch of the family in an
effort to see if/how they were connected to the New England branch of the
family (see here),
but like other researchers have not been successful. There are enough matches
of names and similarities of places that it’s pretty certain that these two
branches connect back in England, but to-date a connection has not been
documented. On social media, the NE and MD/VA Facebook groups have a number of
joint members and we will stay connected in years to come. A member of the
MD/VA branch attended the PFA meeting in 1960 and just a few years ago one of
the PFA members attended a reunion of the MD/VA branch. A link to this blog
will be sent to the members of both branches for everyone’s reading pleasure.
Group 5 – the Maine Pierponts
The Maine branch of the family are the descendants of
Richard Pierpont/Pierpoint. He was born in Liverpool, England in 1790, came to
Norfolk, VA in 1811, and just a few years later moved to Washington, ME. His
naturalization record (from 1857) has his surname as Pierpont, but he signed
with an “X” as he was illiterate. His grave lists his surname as Pierpoint. Other
records of the time for him and his children have his name listed variously as
Pierpont or Pierpoint. Three of his great*3 granddaughters have joined the PFA.
While the PFA is happy to have them be part of the ”New England Pierpont”
association (PFA), the nearly 200 years between the immigration of Richard and
John and Robert has made it difficult to document a genealogical connection.
Group 6 – the Utah Pierponts
The Utah branch of the family are the descendants of Thomas
Fairclough Pierpont. He was born in Lancashire, England in 1836 and came to New
York in 1851. There he married, became a Mormon, moved to Canada during the US
Civil War, then moved to Salt Lake City in late 1865. I’ve documented his story
here.
I’ve traced his family tree back to the mid-1500s and noted that there were various
spellings such as Parpoynt and Pierpoint until Thomas’ father, John Pierpont
changed the family name one more time. But I have not been able to make a
connection to any of the other Pierpont groups. As a relatively recently
immigrant group, even with the Mormon tradition of multiple wives and large
families, this is still a relatively small group.
Group 7 – the Canadian Pierreponts
Although the prior four groups came to what is now the
United States, there is also one family branch which came to Canada. I’ve
written about them before here.
As noted in that blog, Samuel Whitworth Pierrepont came to western Canada
(Manitoba) in 1911. He had been born in Nottinghamshire in 1887, married in
1911, came to Canada just 3 weeks later as an indentured servant to work off the
cost of his passage, then sponsored his wife to come join him in 1912. While he
and his ancestors were from several small towns just a few miles from Holme
Pierrepont, because it was nearly 300 years from when John and Robert came to
New England, it was too many years to make a definitive connection to the New
England Pierponts. But it is quite likely that the two groups are connected. Only
having been here for slightly more than 100 years, this group is pretty small,
but one of the great-granddaughters of Samuel has joined the PFA and we have
regular communication with her.
Group 8 – the Wolcott Pierpoints
In my hometown of Wolcott, CT, there was a Pierpoint
family. Upon investigation, they were the descendants of Jesse Pierpoint who had
been born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England in 1860 and who had come to
Rhode Island in 1880. This family had been in Warwickshire for over 100 years
and had been in Cheshire before that. The spelling of Pierpoint in this family
line appears to have been unchanged since the 1600s.
Other Groups
It’s been nearly 400 years since the first family
members came to North America. It is pretty likely that there have been other
members of the greater Pierpont/Pierpoint family who have done so just as the
above groups (as an example, the Wolcott Pierpoint family would be unknown to
the other groups except that they happened to be in the same town as a few
members of the PFA). But finding records that can document exact family
connections between these groups over such a long period of time is difficult
and may even be impossible. But I have not yet found any groups/individuals
where there is any indication that they are not connected. Some of the above
groups have come to our attention just recently and we are happy to have
additional family members.
Conclusion
Despite the considerable changes/variations in surname
over the last 1000 years, all these Pierpont/Pierpoint/Pierrepont/de Pierrepont/etc.
groups share a common heritage. I have documented all the groups that I am
aware of, but there may be others. All of them are descendants of the original
de Pierrepont in what is now Normandy, France. And all of them, whatever the
spelling of their surname, and even if they no longer have the surname at all
because of subsequent marriages and name changes, can be proud to be part of
this connected family! My mother was a Pierpont, and my ancestral line includes
a number of the variant spellings. But I am proud of my heritage and my
connections to all my cousins, however distantly we may be connected!
If you are reading this post, what is your story? Are
you a member of one of the groups listed above? Or are you a member of some
other branch of the family? Share this post with other members of the greater
Pierpont/Pierpoint/etc. family. And share your own connection as well. We’re
all family and we all enjoy talking with other family members!
