I don't have too many memories of my Dad's father Wesley Harden Pierson.  He was born of Nancy Ann Dugger and Daniel Parker Pierson.  My Dad's mother Hallie Myrtle Large Pierson told me that both of her first born children were Sooners....and she didn't mean born in Oklahoma.  "That was the only way she could get a man!" according to Granny.  Wes was born, and possibly even before he was born, his father left and went to live with his sister and brother in law Miles Sears and Mathenia Pierson Sears.  Mathenia I think died in childbirth with their son, Henry Sears.
 
      Daniel Parker Pierson about 1900      
      Nancy Ann Dugger Abt 1878

                  

Wesley Harden Pierson abt. 1900   Hallie Myrtle Large abt 1904     Wes & Hallie Pierson abt 1946
 
  
                          

 

One of the stories my dad William Thomas "Billy" "Bill" Pierson told me was about when he was 8 or 9 years old.  He was traveling with his dad down one of the country roads around Weir, Kansas.  Kansas is laid out in sections one mile by one mile squares.  Before they planted the Hedge rows to stop the soil erosion you could see at least a half a mile in either direction when you approached an intersection of the roads.  None of the roads were paved, so dust clouds from other traffic was easy to see.  When my grandfather would see a STOP sign, he would stop immediately (even if he were several hundred feet or yards from it.) and then start up and go right through the STOP sign intersection.

 

On one trip, my dad recalls, Wes stopped because he saw a STOP sign and then started up as usual.  My dad saw a cloud of dust on the right about a quarter of a mile from the intersection moving quickly.  As both vehicles approached the intersection my dad started shouting, " Dad, you have to stop, there's another car coming." 
"I already stopped, I'm not stopping two times for only one STOP sign."
May dad said he thought he was going to die that morning.  Just before they got to the intersection, the other car whizzed through and they crossed through the dust cloud.  My dad said that Wes never even blinked over the whole thing.

     Another story my grandmother, Hallie,  told was that Wes always had a bucket and dipper on the front porch so when a visitor would come by they could have a drink.  You would think it would be a cool drink of water.  Not so, a bucket of whiskey.  She tells of one day Wes spent a large part of the day out on the front porch having frequent sips from the dipper.  He got more and more morose as the day went by and finally went inside and got the shotgun, came back outside, put the barrel up against the back of his head, behind the ear and pulled the trigger.   He went down in a slump on the front porch.  Granny and Dad came out and found him lying there.  They saw the blood and found he was still alive so they carried him in an put him in bed and began treating his wound.  He had almost missed himself.  Largely what he did was remove some hair and a little flesh off the back of his head and partially cauterize the wound with the flames that came out of the barrel of the gun.  She said at first she was scared to death that he was going to die.  Then, when she saw the small extent of the wound she got really mad at him.   Later, she said that with all the bad times they went through in their nearly 50 years of marriage, she NEVER ever thought of divorcing him.....murder a couple of times, but never divorce.                                                            
       
                           5 Generations of Piersons (picture taken about 1952)

      
                                      

From Left to Right  Patricia Pierson, Her father Jack Pierson, His father John Pierson,
His father Wes Pierson, His mother Nancy Ann Dugger Pierson Frazee.