Tilley Pearsall Genealogy Database

This database includes the families of the compiler's four grandparents

My father's parents:

• Chester Burdick Pearsall (1888-1983)
• Roxana Mabel Pratt Pearsall (1893-1985)

My mother's parents:

• Milton Popple Tilley (1882-1981)
• Winifred Lulu Holly Tilley (1890-1980)

All their known lines go back to England with one known exception. Winifred Holly Tilley had a grandmother from Scotland.

A cousin of my father, Edgar Leggett, entered a good bit of the Pearsall line into a software program and gave it to me in the early 2000's. The Pearsalls go back to Hempsted, Long Island.

My grandfather, Milton P. Tilley,  was a genealogist and compiled his ancestry in a little booklet. He was very interested in tracing lines to royalty or famous people. I do not have his research notes, but his booklet does not show family information, just pedigree information. The Tilley's first came to Boston but our line very soon settled in Newport, RI, for many generations.  Here is a link to the pedigree chart he left us.

My paternal grandmother's father, Mason D. Pratt, put together a lovely family history booklet on the Pratt family, which is a treasure. One colorful ancestor is General Richard Henry Pratt who founded the Carlisle Indian School. He was my grandmother's grandfather. His grandfather, Benjamin Pratt, is one of my main brick walls.

When I received the gift of the genealogy software and database, my mother and I decided to look into the genealogy of her mother, the Holly family. My uncle, David Brown Tilley, had done some research on that family in the 1950's, and we are lucky enough to have some of his notes. Mom and I worked on that line for several years, so it is detailed more extensively than the others in this database. The Holly's and related lines descend from John Holly, one of the founders of Stamford, CT.  One of my other big brick walls is my 3rd-great grandfather, David Holly.

Using This Website

First of all I would like to recommend GedSite, the software that creates this website. If your genealogy program can create a GEDCOM export, you can use GedSite, and it has many more features that I take advantage of. Also the company provides webhosting, so you can easily have your own wonderful website. Google it, you will love it.

On each person page, events in that person's life are listed in date order. The first sentence for each event is generated automatically by my RootsMagic software. Sometimes the software-generated text may sound stilted and the punctuation may be wrong, but the meaning is clear.

Another peculiarity of sentences generated by RootsMagic concerns names. Even after a woman is married, the sentences still use her maiden name. For example, Mary Ferris married Edgar Pearsall and was of course known to all as Mary Pearsall, but the events at her death state "Mary Ferris died...", "Mary Ferris was buried...". Also when a person is called by their middle name, the generated sentences will use the first name. For example, Anna Laura Pratt was called Laura, but the generated sentences will say Anna. Any additional text that I have typed into the database will use Laura.

I am in the process of gradually scanning and adding more photos to the site. Photos are indicated by small purple camera icons in the people listings, and also available to view through the Photo Galleries.

• Resources