The Pirl Family Farm

Welcome back! Today I'm sharing a little bit of what I know about one of my earliest Pennsylvania ancestors, my 3rd-great-grandfather, George Perl (Pirl).

George Perl, my 3rd-great-grandfather on my mother's side, was born in 1806 in Salt Lick Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. According to later census records, both of his parents were also born in Pennsylvania, but I have never been able to find any records revealing their names.

George Perl married Elizabeth Grim (maiden name tentative) and they had nine children. George was a farmer, and by 1872 owned a farm in Springfield Township, as shown on this map (as with many families, the surname spelling changed from record to record over the years, eventually settling firmly on Pirl, but here is it shown as "Pearl"). I'm confident this is the correct family, because the neighbors' names match names found in the censuses as well.

Map accessed from US Gen Web Archives: springfd.jpg (1800×1500) (usgwarchives.net)

By the time of the 1880 U.S. Census Agricultural Schedule (below), it appears that George has given/sold about 10 acres to his son Daniel, and retains 20 acres (half improved/farming, half wooded in both cases). They each had a few milk cows, pigs and poultry, and one produced corn and the other wheat. I love the little detail of how much butter Daniel's farm produced in 1879: 50 lbs!

United States. Census Office. Nonpopulation census schedules for Pennsylvania; agricultural schedules, 1850-1880. Washington, District of Columbia : National Archives & Records Administration, Central Plains Region, 1970. 1880: Fayette - Franklin counties (NARA Series T1138, Roll 43). Available and accessed from FamilySearch.org, Film # 008129973.

We can also see the names and farm details of their nearest neighbors. On this page alone, I can tell that most of their neighbors owned and farmed similar-sized parcels, but a few neighbors owned much larger pieces of land, namely Henry Bungard, George Warrick, and John K. Grimm. This information may prove useful in the future, especially given how much marriage there was between some of these families and my own.

In later generations, many of the men in this family became coal miners. I imagine some of this shift had to do with large families and limited land to share between siblings at each generation. Some of my next steps for research on this family are to look for land records both before and after George Perl's generation, in the hope of learning more about how subsequent generations made their livings, as well as perhaps identifying George's parents and how he came to be a landowner in Fayette County, Pennsylvania.

Thanks again for joining me here! I would love to read your comments and questions.