Although Peirce fought in several skirmishes with Native Americans and served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly as well as helped topple governor John Harvey, today he may best be known as one of the first slave owners in the colony.
Another passenger on the wrecked vessel was John Rolfe, who was responsible for re-establishing the Jamestown settlement (and thus the colony), became the husband of Peirce's daughter (after outliving two previous wives).
Later that year, he, John Rolfe and another man went to Old Point Comfort to meet the Treasurer, which bore the first Africans to reach the English colony, and his household later included a Black woman who had arrived on that ship.
Peirce eventually built a store and what Sandys called the fairest house (a brick dwelling) in Jamestown, the colony's seat of government and main settlement.
That William Peirce participated in many land transactions in the drainage area of the Rappahannock River, became a justice of the Westmoreland County Court in 1661 (and remained such for three decades) and served as a burgess in 1680-1682.
Since the only records which remain and mention his descendants relate to his wife, his daughter and granddaughter Elizabeth, his relationship with William Pierce who served as a burgess after his death is presumed distant.