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The Speare family in Canada is a result of four separate
immigrations in the space of about 60 years that include two different
Centuries.
William Speare was born in
Inwardleigh, Devon England. He married first Mary Ann
Baker who bore him six children before she died in Devon between 1851
and 1853. He then married Ann Baker in about 1853 in Devon and had nine
more
children all born in Devon England. William Speare then
decided to move his family from the Early Ontario Marriage Registrations
003966-1884 (Haldimand Co.) Henry ROBBINS, 21,
Yeoman, Wellandport, same, s/o Wm & Elizabeth, married Emeline
JONES, 18, Moulton, same, d/o Thomas & Jane, witn: Thos & Jane
JONES both of Moulton, 30 June 1884 at Dunnvilleentire family to Canada.
In Canada William's wife Ann Speare nee Baker gave birth to three more
children
According to descendants of William Speare and Ann Baker
Speare, William Speare and his family immigrated to Canada from Devon,
England in 1869. He bought the farm in Cromarty, Perth Township, Ontario
in 1870 and built a log house for the family to live in.
Home of William Speare and Ann Baker Speare
Built in 1888 for $2500.00 Destroyed by Fire Jan 7
1997
William built a solid brick house
for his family in 1888, and he built his barn in 1897. The barn was torn
down in 1998 and replaced by the new owners of the farm. The house was
destroyed by a chimney fire in 1997. The cost of the house at the time
it was built was $2500.00 as the brick was 3 brick deep. The brick had
to be brought in by his son Joseph by horse and wagon from St. Mary's to
Cromarty.
Most of the descendants of William Speare remained in
the Perth / Wellington County areas but some went further west to
Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia and others immigrated to Texas, and
the state of Washington, USA
The next Speare family to arrive in Canada was from
Dolton, Devon, England. Henry Speare and his wife Elizabeth Speare nee
Lake arrived between 1851 and 1871 with their four children.
In the 1851 British Census for Devon Henry Spear, his
wife Elizabeth and four children lived at Halsdon, and the census place
was Dolton, Torrington, Devonshire. The Spear family in Dolton Devon had
an e at the end of their name in baptism records but not on the 1851
Census. In the 1871 Census for Ontario, Canada, Henry Spear had an e at
the end of his name, and he and his wife Elizabeth and their daughter
Elizabeth lived in Preston Village, South Waterloo County, Ontario,
Canada.
Some descendants of Henry Speare and his wife Elizabeth
Speare nee Lake moved to neighbouring Oxford and Brant Counties from
Waterloo County where the family originally settled. One branch of
Henry's family moved to Manitoba and one branch of the Manitoba Speare's
immigrated further to North Dakota, USA and to California, USA.
The third family to arrive in Canada was the family of
George Walter Speare and Sarah Mitch with their three living children.
They came from Newton Abbot, Devon, England. They first settled in
Hamilton Ontario about 1890, where a daughter Susan Emily Speare was
born. The eldest child, a daughter, Maud Eliza Speare
stayed in Hamilton and the rest of the George Speare family moved to
South Hampton, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada by the mid 1890's
George Walter Speare
In 1896 Sarah wife to George Walter Speare died and he
married a widow, Christina Gray who had one
daughter. Together George and Christina added two more Speare offspring
to the growing Speare family members living in Canada.
One of George and Sarah's children, George Richard
Speare immigrated to Detroit, Michigan, USA, where he raised a large
number of children. These children all remained living in United states
as well as most of their descendants but a few returned to live in
Canada.
The last immigration of Devon Speare's to move to Canada
happened after World War I, in September of 1920. This was the Walter
Henry Speare family from Upton Pyne, Devon England of which I am
personally involved. Walter Speare's family came to Canada to live via
Cardiff, Wales.
Walter was the last born child of Daniel Speare of
Inwardleigh, Devon England and Harriet Perkins of Upton Pyne. He was
born in Jackmore Cottage, in Upton Pyne in November, 1868 and spent his
youth in the same home. He moved to Cardiff, Wales between the years
1881 and 1891. He became a master baker in between these years as on the
1891 census Walter appears as Baker. Later that same year he married
Lucy Howard, who's father Joseph Howard had also immigrated from Devon
England to Wales with his family.
Lucy died around the same time as the birth of their
third daughter, in 1898.
Walter Henry Speare subsequently married Alice Scourse
who was born in Cardiff Wales, the daughter of James Scourse of Cheddar,
Somerset, England, and Elizabeth Wilson, of Glasgow Scotland. Alice
raised the three daughters of Lucy until the untimely death of the
youngest daughter. She continued to raise the other two daughters of
Walter's and his first wife Lucy plus the 12 children she had by
Walter.
 
Alice Speare nee Scourse
Walter
Henry Speare
Photos both taken around
1920
After the war Walter and Alice
decided to immigrate to Canada with their family. In January of 1920,
they sent their oldest boy Walter Daniel James Speare, was a young lad
of 17 at that time, to visit his Uncle Sidney Hunter, who was the half
brother of his mother, Alice Scourse Speare. The son Walter must have
had a good report to give his parents about Canada as shortly afterwards
Walter Senior sold his bakery business in Cardiff, Wales and packed up
his entire living descendants and immigrated to Canada.
They set sail from Liverpool,
England, on the 4th of September 1920, on the ship the Megantic, and
reached the port of Quebec on September 11, 1920 From Quebec City the
family travelled to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, where they commenced to
find a place to live and a location for Walter to open a bakery.
Above 12 Severn St. Hamilton Ont. Canada circa 1921,
Bought by Walter Henry Speare circa 1920
12 Severn St. Hamilton, Ont, Canada 2001 still
possessed by a
Speare family member.
Upon their arrival in Hamilton, they went first to the
Caroline St. Mission, and then they went to Wesley United Church. The
Speare family had trouble finding a place to live in. No one wanted to
rent a house to someone who had so many children. In the end they had to
use the money they had from selling their bakery business in Cardiff to
purchase a home to live in. Instead of setting up a new bakery in
Hamilton, they bought a semi-detached house at 12 Severn St. in
Hamilton, where they lived their remaining years. This same house is
where the youngest daughter spent her remaining years also dying in
2004. Walter then went to work as a master baker at Hill's Bakery until
his retirement.
Alice Speare nee Scourse &
Walter Henry Speare Circa 1940
Most of Walter Henry Speare's
descendants remained in the Hamilton area with the exception of James
Arthur Speare who moved from Hamilton Ontario, to Nova Scotia where he
remains living today, July 18, 2009
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