Individual Details

An online database gives a marriage to Ann Steele, 27 Feb 1804. I have not found this record, but it is quoted in several North Carolina history books.

1810 Census, Rowan Co NC
Jesse A. Pearson: 1m 10-16, 1 male 16-26, 1m 26-45. 1f -10, 1f 16-26.

Jesse A. Pearson served in the War of 1812 as a Colonel in Capt Joshua Craven's Company of Infantry of the 7th North Carolina Militia Regiment. He is said to have been elected Major-General of the state militia following the War.

Pearson said to have fought a Duel with his brother-in-law Montford Stokes; Stokes was wounded. Montfort Stokes had served in the Navy during the Revlution; taken prisoner he spent seven months aboard a prison ship in New York Harbor. He was clerk of the superior court of Rowan Count NC and was elected a U.S. Senator in 1804 but declined to serve. He was a trustee at the UNC at Chapel Hill from 1805 until 1838. In 1816 he did serve in the Senate, fillingthe vacancy caused by James Turner in 1816; then continuing to serve. He was Governor of NC 1830-1832 until appoint a member of the Board of Indian Commisssioners by Pres. Andrew Jackson in 1832. He served at Ft. Gibson, now in Oklahoma, where he died 4 Nov 1842 and is interred.

When Jesse returned from the War of 1812, he named his Yadkin River plantation Cooleemee after the Kulami tribe of Creeks in Alabama with whom he had become acquainted during his service. In 1817, Jesse sold two tracts totaling 2,570 acres to Maj. Peter Hairston for $20,000. Hairston kept the Cooleemee name. A subsequent owner of Cooleemee built a plantation house under construction from 1853 to 1855 - it stands today and is recognized as a National Historic Landmark; it is still owned by the Hairston family.

Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions 1817-1818
June Clodfelter Watson, no date
p.145 Thus 21 May 1818
Petition of Richmond Pearson for a Bridge across the South Yadkin bet Haden's ferry and the mouth of Second Creek… it is ordered that a bridge be erected…. Commissioners appt: Richmond Pearson Jr, Nicholas W. Gaither, Ransom Powell, Jesse A. Pearson, Lewis Beard, Stephen L. Ferrand. Shall report when bridge is completed. Authorized to draw from the Trustee of the county, $500 for the use of said bridge.

Jesse was left nothing in the will of his father written July of 1819 and presented to the August Court - except his father's love and best wishes - as he had already received his portion. He was appointed executor of the will along with his mother and sister Sarah.

1820 Census. Rowan Co NC, Battalion 3, or Forks of the Yadkin.
Jesse A. Pearson: 2m 10-16, 2m 16-26, 2m 26-45. 2f 10-16, 1f 16-26, 1f 26-45, 1f over 45. 42 slaves

Abstracts of Deed Books 25-29 Rowan Co NC 1818-1828
Salisbury NC 2002
James W. Klutz
#2431 DB 28, p.396
6 Dec 1825 Chas. Fisher, Sheriff to Joseph Pearson by virtue of execution of Rowan Ct against the heirs of Jesse A. Peason, dec'd. in the amount of $1236.29 which sum was recovered by Jesse Haden. Fisher seized five tracts - sold 21 Nov 1825 to Jos. Pearson as highest bidder. Ack Feb Ct 1826
Joseph, a brother to Jesse Pearson. "Wheeler's Historical Sketches" which contains some critical errors, states that Jesse died in 1823, without issue. His siblings would have been heirs, if he had no children or wife. Jesse Haden was a 2nd cousin of Jesse Peason.

#2673 DB 29, p.125
23 Jun 1820 Billy D. Haden to Jesse A. Pearson and John Calloway & Citizen S. Woods of Franklin Co VA for $340. 11 1/3 a in forks of Yadkin adj Joseph Pearson now the Clinton Town Co. and the Clinton Rd. It was conveyed to these Grantees for the purpose of conveying it to others and in trust for the Clinton Town Co. composed of Jesse A. Pearson, John Callawy, Citizen S. Woods, Wm Langhorn, John S. Burwell, A. D. Murphey, George T. Hearsey, Zachariah Haman, Joseph Pearson, Emanuel Shobe & John C. Blum. Wit: Isaac D. Jones who proved Nov Ct 1826
Notice that this deed was not recorded until six years after it was made. Jesse A. Pearson was still alive in 1820. Billy D. Haden was a brother of Jesse Haden, 2nd cousin to Jesse Pearson.


Historical Sketches of North Carolina from 1584-1851, by John Hill Wheeler, Lippincott, Grambo & Co, 1851, p.385:
JESSE A. PEARSON was a member of the General Assembly in the House of Commons in 1808, 1809, and 1813 and 1814, from Rowan. He marched in 1814, as colonel of a regiment, to the Creek Nation, under General Joseph Graham, and was afterwards elected Major-General of the State.
He had a duel with Gen. Montford Stokes at Mason's old field, near Salisbury.
He married first, a daughter of Gen. John Steele, and second, Mrs. Wilson, whose daughter by a form husband, married Archibald G. Carter, Esq. of Davie County. He died in 1823 without issue.

Death

Bef Dec 1825

Rowan County, North Carolina

Father	Richmond Pearson (1751 - 1819)
Mother	Sarah Haden (1756 - 1790)
Sibling	Betsey Pearson (1773 - 1791)
Sibling	Joseph A. Pearson (1776 - 1834)
Sibling	Richmond Pearson Jr. ( - )
Sibling	George Pearson ( - 1819)