John PEARCE has been engaged in business as a contractor and builder at Dover, New Jersey, for the past fifteen years and many of the residences and business blocks here were erected by him. He was born at Ironia, Morris county, New Jersey, January 20, 1875, son of William and Sarah Ann (FRIGGINS) PEARCE, the latter of whom died in 1910, at the age of sixty-seven years. The parents were both born in England, and there they were married and resided until 1872, when they immigrated to the United States. As a young man in England, William PEARCE learned the business of mining and he was identified with that line of work in the iron mines of Morris county during many years of his active career. He is now seventy-five years of age and is passing the closing years of his life at Mount Fern, this State. He and his wife became the parents of seven children as follows:

• Catherine, unmarried;
• William, a resident of the west;
• Charles, a railroad man, makes his home at Little Falls, New Jersey;
• Christina, wife of George O. EAGLES, of Newton, Sussex county, New Jersey;
• John, whose name forms the caption of this review;
• Thomas, engaged in agricultural pursuits in the vicinity of Mount Fern, New Jersey;
• Benjamin, bookkeeper for the Prudential Life Insurance Company of Newark, his headquarters and home being at Mount Fern.

As a boy, John PEARCE attended school at Center Grove, and in Dover, and in 1894 he began to learn the trade of carpenter under the instruction of William PEARCE and Joseph MONEZ, for whom he worked for the ensuing five years. He then entered the car shops at Dover and one year later engaged in business in this city as a contractor and builder. During the past fifteen years he has built up a successful trade, and at the present time, 1913, he has a force of twelve men working for him. He has a reputation for having built as many residences and business structures in this section of Morris county as any other individual engaged in the business. He has some valuable property holdings in Dover and in 1907 erected a beautiful house for himself and family at No. 7 Princeton avenue. He does not take an active part in local politics but owns allegiance to the Republican party in exercising his right of franchise. He is affiliated with the I. O. O. F., the G. F., and the R. A. and in religious faith he is a devout member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, as are also his wife and daughter.

In July, 1896, Mr. PEARCE married Rebecca TREVERROW, daughter of James and Rebecca W. TREVERROW, born and reared at Mine Hill, New Jersey. Mrs. PEARCE’s parents are both deceased.

• Florence M. PEARCE, only child of John and Rebecca PEARCE, was born at Dover, in 1899, and is now a pupil in the public schools of this city.

Mr. PEARCE is a self-made man in the most significant sense of the word, for no one has assisted him in a financial way and he is largely self-educated. Persistence and a determination to advance are the qualities that have marked his rise to prominence and affluence. He is trustworthy and reliable in all his dealings, is kind and unassuming in his private life and as a citizen is loyal and public-spirited in all that affects the good of the general welfare.

This biography was transcribed by John Cresseveur.

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