Pierce Noland, I

As best as can be determined, Pierce Nowland was born in Dublin, Ireland, sometime around 1628, probably the son of a Catholic merchant with Royalist ties and family roots in the barony of Gowran, Co. Kilkenny.

His first name, i.e. Pierce, is of Norman origin and derives from “Piers”, a medieval spelling for the modern-day name of Pierre. For those bearing the Nolan family name, the choice of Pierce as a first name is believed to have started in the 15th century with the rise to prominence of Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond, whose mother had previously been married to the chief of Forth O’Nolan in Co. Carlow.(Click on the "View Comments" link at the end of the family story to learn more about the early Butler-Nolan family link)

During the Irish civil war of the 1640s, Pierce is believed to have gone to Fethard, a royal charter town and centre of trade and commerce in South Tipperary where Piers Butler, a presumed distant cousin and descendant of the first Piers Butler, was Governor not to mention one of the chief commanders for the Irish rebel forces in Ireland. By 1650, however, the tide had turned. The King had gone into exile and, on February 3, 1650, Fethard surrendered to Cromwell’s army. Pierce Nowland is believed to have married shortly thereafter.

Having taken an active part in the Irish civil war, under the terms of an Act of Resettlement passed in 1652, Piers Butler was forced to forfeit his vast lands in south Tipperary in exchange for less desirable lands in counties Clare, Galway and Mayo, where he, his tenants and retainers could resettle. Pierce Nowland, his wife and their young children, most likely Henry and Darby at this point, are believed to have gone to Co. Mayo sometime around 1654 where Pierce Jr. was born sometime around 1655. It is not known exactly where they lived but it was most likely in the Barony of Tirawley where Pierce Butler is known to have received lands.

After the death of Cromwell in 1659 and the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Piers Butler’s family did regain some of their lands in Co. Tipperary and took up residence in a former Grace castle in Ballylinch parish. Pierce Nowland, the defeated royalist rebel, probably also returned with his family, establishing himself in Fethard. Pierce Jr., born around 1655 in Co. Mayo, named his land in Maryland “Fethard” and it can be reasoned that he would not have had such a strong attachment to the name unless he grew up there.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42031989/pierce-noland