The names of many of Pompano Beach’s earliest settlers are still remembered today, if only for the parks and roads that bear their name.  On the other hand, some of the first to arrive here are familiar to only a few old-timers and those who have researched the city’s history in detail.  One such “forgotten” individual is James W. “Uncle Jim” Pearce.  At the time of his death, however, he was quite well known:

First Pompano Settler Dies at Home Tuesday

Uncle Jim Pearce is dead.

All Pompano this week mourns the death of the beloved J. W. Pearce, 90, who died at his home early Tuesday [August 25, 1942].  Burial services were held Wednesday at Pompano cemetery, which is close to the first home he built in 1898 at the beach.  He was the first pioneer settler to remain here.

It was Uncle Jim’s determination and his faith in the rich soil that is directly responsible for the first nucleus of settlers that founded the present city.   When he came to Pompano beach 44 years ago, only less than half a dozen persons – hunters, trappers and wanderers – were in the immediate area.  They took heart from his example of industry and courage, and remained to beckon others to the brown muck that literally grew vegetables overnight.

Pompano will always remember Uncle Jim as its father and founder.  He was one of the men who cut their way through a half inundated world of mud and mangroves to lay surveying lines for the present Miami Beach.  Later he laid lines for the original Pompano, a town called Dresden at the beach.  Mr. Pearce disliked the name and persuaded the owner of that land and other huge tracts of South Florida to rename it.  So the beach section became known as Pompano, then as west Pompano after the railroad pushed down from the north.

Mr. Pearce is survived by his brother Pinkney M. “Uncle Pink” Pearce, who came to Pompano several months on the heels of Uncle Jim and has lived here with the same serious intent and never lagging faith in the building of a prosperous community.

Funeral services were conducted at the Pompano Cemetery by the Christian Reader.  Pallbearers were Harry Cope of Fort Lauderdale, Jesse Ogden, Lucius S. Warren, Harry McNab, Eugene E. Hardy, E. E. Tarbet, T. N. Alexander.

The Pompano Sun, August 28, 1942