Pearl Farm

The Pearl Farm has been in our family for 5 generations.  This is a brief history of how and when the Pearls originally came to St. Marys. 

According to genealogy records, my great great great grandpa John Pearl, was born in Ireland in the early 1830s.  According to stories passed down by my grandma and her siblings, he came to the United States, where he was one of the laborers who worked helping to build the Erie Canal.  However, if he really was born in Ireland in the 1830s, that was likely not true, as the canal opened in 1825.  Maybe he worked on the canal after it opened? 

John settled in Pennsylvania and married Mary Kavannaugh in 1857.  They had a son, James H. Pearl, who was born in 1859.  I do not know how many other children they had.  The Pearls came to St. Marys in 1872, and John and Mary had a farm near Rossville, KS. 

John Pearl Farm Rossville, KS

My great great grandpa, James H. married Rosa Kiernan in January 1886.  They were the first generation on the Pearl Farm.  According to newspaper records, they lived on the Pearl Farm their entire 50 + year marriage.  Although property records say that the house was built in 1912, we have pictures of the house that were taken before 1912.  Some say that my great great grandpa built the house, others say that he bought it. 

James H. and Rosa Pearl

The farmhouse in 1908