venango county homes 22

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22. Edward Pearce House - Old Stone House

The photo, courtesy of the Venango County Historical Society, shows the home as it looked about 1890.

The stone house located at the corner of Elk and South Park streets is one of the oldest and best known landmarks of Franklin. Edward Pearce erected this Colonial Style home around the year 1843. The structure was considered to be one of the finest and best in this part of the country. The location also followed the custom of the old country by placing the home flush on the line of the street. According to an article in the Franklin Evening News, March 17, 1903, �the stone work was done by John McConnell, and the carvings of the main entrance, the work of his chisel, were the admiration of early Franklin�. The home had a frontage of 68 feet on Elk and 150 feet along South Park Street.

Born in England around 1791, Mr. Pearce was a wagonwright and innkeeper, being the proprietor of the Rising Sun Hotel. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and died May 1851. Mr. Pearce was buried at Franklin Pioneer Cemetery, the location marked by an obelisk in the far SW corner. His wife, Elizabeth Fagundus Pearce VanDusen, was born in 1789, died in 1865 and is buried next to Edward and her mother, Mary Cressman Fagundus.

This home was later owned by Richard Irwin and in 1903 was purchased by Charles H. Sheasley. The structure was later used as the Christian Science Church and the interior altered by removing the second floor to provide a worship area with a high ceiling and the main entrance was converted to a window. The home was purchased in the 1980s by Allan and Janean Hoffman who restored the flooring, put on a new roof and returned the entranceway to the original location.

This photo shows the obelisk of Edward Pearce at Franklin Pioneer Cemetery. To the far right is the box tomb of his mother-in-law, Mary Cressman Fagundus and between them, with the curved top is the tombstone of Elizabeth Fagundus Pearce VanDusen. Elizabeth married Henry VanDusen after the death of Edward.

Submitted by: Penny Minnick
minnick862@verizon.net