Thomas Pearson's Militia Appointments Certificates of appointment. Thomas Pearson's commissions as Ensign (c1808) and Lieutenant (1810) in the North York Militia. Thomas Pearson was Karl Pearson's grandfather. In a letter dated 13 April 1891 from William Pearson to Maria Sharpe Pearson (transcribed in E S Pearson's family history notes, see ESPEARSON/1/5/1/3), William Pearson writes about his father, Thomas: "On his returning home from school in 1808 he was gazetted an Ensign in the North York Militia, which was then and until the end of the War a permanently embodied regiment. He continued in it first as Ensign then as Lieutenant and lastly as Captain until the peace came. - I have his sword, commissions, and gorget." These are presumably those commissions. 1808?