I represent Richard Pearis (sometimes seen as Paris). I was a resident of West Florida during the British period. I was born in Ireland and settled in Virginia sometime before 1750. I was a soldier and “Indian trader”; I served in the French and Indian War. I was appointed Agent to the Southern Indians and served well. I married a Cherokee woman, which increased my influence among that nation, and I was eventually ordered south to South Carolina. I started a trading post but was taken prisoner at the Battle of Big Canebrake; I spent months in irons in Charles Town. While I was in prison, everything I owned was plundered or burned and my wife and three children were deported. When I was released I had nothing left and a few active threats on my life, so I joined with some officers raising men to join the British in West Florida. I was betrayed and ended up fleeing on my own through the wilderness to Pensacola. I reached there in 1777. The next year I was commissioned a captain in a light cavalry company called the West Florida Loyal Refugees under Col. John Stuart. We served with some success around Mobile, St. Augustine, Savannah, and Charles Town. I was eventually taken prisoner at Augusta and sent to Savannah. I died on the Island of Abaco.
Sources: 72, 80