1911, the Pearsons moved to Coolacrease from neighbouring County Laois. They bought a 341-acre farm and worked it successfully. In the 1911 census they listed their religion as Church of Ireland. Initially, the Pearsons integrated well into the local community, and their children attended the local Catholic school in Cadamstown, where one of them was a member of the hurling team.
In County Offaly, where the Pearsons had their farm at Coolacrease, the military conflict was slow to develop, but it intensified in the course of 1921. A number of Catholics, classified by the IRA as spies and informers, were executed. In Kinnitty, about five miles from Coolacrease, two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary were killed in an ambush by the IRA on 17 May 1921. Following a June 1921 dispute between the Pearsons and local Catholics over a mass path running through the Pearsons’ land, two IRA men, John Dillon and JJ Horan, were arrested.
And later in June 1921 the Kinnitty Company of the South Offaly No 2 Brigade IRA was ordered to construct a roadblock as part of county-wide military manoeuvres. At around midnight some of the Pearsons are said to have come to the roadblock and fired a shot or shots.
As in most incidents facts are disputed by both sides. In this case it is unclear if it was anti-Protestant, anti-IRA by the Pearsons, or a Land Grab.
This execution of the 2 Pearson brothers is particularly horrific. It has been written about often over the years, and I will not attempt to rake over those coals. I give the IRA witness statement that says what and why the IRA thought that they acted in this way. And the British inquiry that records what the surviving Pearsons believed that they saw
The Pearsons, not surprisingly, left Ireland afther these murders, and emigrated to Australia
1934 Dec 19. Their father William Pearson died in Bendigo, Australia
1947 May 16. Their mother Susan Pearson (Nee Pratt) died in Bendigo, Australia
1990 Mar 9. Their brother William Sidney Pearson died in Australia
1991 Apr 26. Their brother David Pratt Pearson died in Australia