{{Short description|American colonel & judge (1772–1852)}} '''Cromwell Pearce''' (August 13, 1772 – April 2, 1852)<ref name=HistoryChesterCounty>{{Citation | last1 = Futhey | first1 = J. Smith | last2 = Cope | first2 = Gilbert | title = History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches | publisher = Heritage Books | year = 1986 | pages = 676–677 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sotOsiKJFPIC&q=%22Cromwell+pearce%22&pg=PA676 | isbn=978-0-7884-4387-9 }}</ref> was a colonel in the U.S. army during the War of 1812, served as sheriff of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and later as an associate judge in the county.<ref name=HistoryChesterCounty /><ref name=LancasterJournal18161030>{{Citation | newspaper = Lancaster Journal | page = 3 | date = 1816-10-30 }}</ref> He lived in West Chester.<ref>{{Citation | title = Take Notice | newspaper = Aurora General Advertiser | page = 2 | date = 1804-02-10 }}</ref>

==Early life== Pearce was born in a farm in Willistown where the Paoli Massacre took place in 1777. He had a limited childhood education due to the Revolutionary War.<ref name=HistoryChesterCounty />

==Personal life== Pearce married Isabella Bull on April 23, 1801. They lived in Philadelphia for a short time where their son Lewis Gronow Pearce was born. In 1802, the family moved to West Chester and Pearce became postmaster on September 25, 1802.<ref name=HistoryChesterCounty />

On March 30, 1807, Isabella Pearce died.<ref name=HistoryChesterCounty />

On April 13, 1821, he married Mary Bartholomew.<ref name=HistoryChesterCounty />

==Military service== President John Adams appointed Pearce first lieutenant of the 10th Regiment United States Light Infantry on April 17, 1799.<ref name=HistoryChesterCounty />

Pearce became lieutenant-colonel of the 85th regiment state militia on August 18, 1806.<ref name=HistoryChesterCounty />

Pearce was appointed by President James Madison and the United States Senate as a colonel of infantry on July 23, 1812.<ref name=HistoryChesterCounty /><ref>{{Citation | newspaper = Reporter, The (Brattleborough, VT) | page = 1 | volume = 10 | issue = 472 | date = 1812-05-23 }}</ref> He commanded the 16th Regiment.<ref>{{citation | title = Colonel Pearce | newspaper = Poulson's American Daily Advertiser | date = 1815-07-07 | page = 3 }}</ref> In the Pennsylvania militia, Pearce had been replaced by James Steele.<ref>{{citation | title = Appointments by the Governor of Pennsylvania | newspaper = Poulson's American Daily Advertiser | date = 1812-09-07 | page = 3 }}</ref>

Cromwell Pearce (along with Thomas Sargeant of Harrisburg, Rees Hill of Greene County, and Samuel McKean of Bradford County) was appointed as an aide de camp to the commander in chief of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.<ref>{{citation | title = Appointments by the Governor | newspaper = Berks and Schuylkill Journal | date = 1818-11-14 | page = 2 }}</ref>

==Political activity== Pearce was a member of the Democratic Republican party. He held a number of party meetings, open to the public, at his home.<ref>{{Citation | newspaper = Democratic Press | page = 2 | date = 1807-06-08 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | title = Chester County Meeting: September 20, 1803 | newspaper = Aurora General Advertiser | page = 2 | date = 1803-09-22 }}</ref>

Pearce became a Presidential elector in 1824.<ref name=HistoryChesterCounty />

==Sheriff of Chester County== Pearce was elected sheriff in 1816<ref name=LancasterJournal18161030 /> and served for one term.<ref name=HistoryChesterCounty />

==Associate Judge of Chester County== Governor John Andrew Schulze appointed Pearce as an associate judge in the county court on September 5, 1825. He remained in that position until 1839. He resigned due to a hearing problem.<ref name=HistoryChesterCounty />

==Miscellaneous notes== On January 8, 1805, a petition from Pearce was presented to the United States House of Representatives for a claim of {{convert|2000|acre|km2}} of unappropriated land due to service of his father as an officer in the French and Indian War. This was based on a proclamation signed by the King of England in 1763.<ref>{{citation | title = Minutes of the Proceedings of the House of Representatives U.S.: January 8, 1805 | newspaper = Aurora General Advertiser | date = 1805-01-17 | page = 2 }}</ref> On January 24, 1805, the petition was declined.<ref>{{Citation | last = United States. Congress. House | title = Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States: at the second session of the Eighth Congress, in the twenty-ninth year of the independence of the United States. November 5, 1804, to March 3, 1805. | publisher = Samuel Harrison Smith | page =247 | year = 1804 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TyIZAAAAYAAJ&q=%22cromwell+pearce%22&pg=PA247 }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|1}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Cromwell}} Category:1772 births Category:1852 deaths Category:United States Army personnel of the War of 1812 Category:Military personnel from Chester County, Pennsylvania