Tombstone Tuesday: Pierson George Still

Pierson George Still is my great grandfather. I thought it appropriate to feature him this week since yesterday was the 38^th anniversary of his passing away.

His stone is a simple one. He is buried with his wife and three of their four children. My grandfather is the only one to have married and is buried elsewhere. Pierson and the others are buried at Doe Run Cemetery in East Fallowfield, Chester County. The cemetery is across the street from the Doe Run Presbyterian Church.

Pierson was born 16 March 1886 in Unionville to Franklin and Sarah Jennie Van Horn Still. He built the house where my uncle’s family still lives in Unionville. A simple, yet comfortable, house. He lived out West to Clark, Colorado, for awhile with his son, my Uncle Jim. He passed on 12 January 1977 in Kennett Square. He had been living with his other son Lloyd and his wife (my grandparents).

I remember fondly him living at my grandparents’. We kids just loved him. He was a big man, even in his later years, but always so gentle with us. He was a farmer, a ranch hand, and a blacksmith. I never knew him as any of those. In fact, physically speaking (and keeping in mind I was only eight when he passed) I only recall him as a wonderfully pleasant old man in a wheelchair. I do not recall why he was in the wheelchair. In the end, it was a two day bout with pneumonia that caused his death.

The photo is of my cousins and I with our great grandfather. Beth and I are the same age and Ken is two years older than us. The photo was not dated.

Mary Kilpatrick, his wife, is buried with him. She was born in 1885 in Ireland and came over with her siblings. She was a domestic working for a family on the Main Line when she and Pierson met. He was a blacksmith and traveled often to the Main Line to work for several families. They married in 1908. Mary died from complications in childbirth in 1916.

Also buried with Pierson and Mary (known as Minnie) are: Margaret (1908-1909), James (1910-1979), and Dorothy (1912-1912). Uncle Jim never married though there is a family story of him fathering a son while out West.

Tombstone Tuesday is a genealogical prompt of GeneaBloggers.

Photo and text by Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman

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