Great great grand parents

 

Hi,

 

Thank you for your message. I have passed it on to one of our volunteers who hopefully may be able to assist or advise you.

 

Kind regards,

 

Genealogy Support

 

Emma Carty sent your queery to me.

 

I see that William Spears married Margaret McCool at the Castledawson Presbyterian Churchon July 18, 1833 (PRONI Microfilm 1P/90 Castledawson Presbyterian Church) but their parents names were not listed in the record.  There were a number of Spears in Ballynocher in the records for the 18th century with all of the variant spellings:  Spier, Spiers, Spear, Spears, Speare, Speares, Speer, Speers.  I find these a little surprising because normally "ea" in a name would be also spelled with a long "a" so I would have expected Spare as an alternative spelling of Spear. 

William and Jane McCool baptised the following children at the Castledawson Presbyterian Church:

• Elizabeth, born February 5, 1836 and baptised on Feb 19, 1836
• John, born December 25, 1837 and baptised on May 5, 1840
• Samuel, born Oct 23, 1839 and baptised on May 5, 1840

While I have records of several William and James Spears from that area baptised in the same period, they are not the children of William and Margaret Jane McCool.  I can only find the records for the baptisms of those listed above.  Further, I have a record of John Speer of Ballynocher marrying Mary Weir of Ballynocher in 1892 in the 1st Magherafelt Church of Ireland.  John Speer's father is John Speer, farmer of Ballynocher who I think is the brother of the above Samuel.

Does your record of John, William and James' emigration include their father's name?  These names were very common in that family so there was a James and William and John baptised by other Spears from Ballynocher.

I could not find any burial records for William or Jane.

You can contact me at  ronaldjdale(at)netscape.net if you would like a gedcom of my entries for the Spears recorded from the Presbyterian and Church of Ireland records from Magherafelt and Artrea parishes.

Ron Dale 

I know this is a really old thread, but rumour has it that we have a Mary Spiers from that area in our pedigree.  This stems from a census search form I believe.  I'd be very interested in seeing your GEDCOM please, Ron. Is it ok if I email you?

Thanks

Helen

Hi Helen,

My information is much more up to date now.

John, William and James (my great grandfather) emigrated to Australia and their father was William.

Samuel was another brother of John/williamJames who lived at Ballynocker and died there. He married Rachel Weir there and one of their children was called Mary. More later......

Regards,

Milton

 

 

 

 

Spier Family

 

Hello Helen,

Feel free to contact me at ronaldjdale@netscape.net.

Ron Dale

 

Hi,

 

I have a William Speers in my family tree who was born in 1833 in Castledawson and moved to Australia in about 1858. He married Mary Jane McIntyre (born about 1834 in Tyanee, Co Derry) in Beechworth, Victoria, Australia on 3 January, 1860. His father (aparrently) was Robert Speers(born 1795) and his mother was Jane Simpson.

Not sure if that helps or hinders....

Good luck in your search.

 

Rob

Thanks Rob,

I don't think you're in my direct line.

Anyway (Ron and HelenS), 

Here is information on my ancestry from Brian Watson (from several years ago) followed by more comments from me:-

 

Family Ulster

Email:              info@familyulster.com

Website:          www.familyulster.com

Social Media:   www.facebook.com/familyulster

Address:          24 Moyne Park

                        Belfast  BT5 7Q Northern Ireland

Research on:   Spier / Speer Family Magherafelt

On behalf of:    Milton Speer

Compiled by:   Brian Watson

Date:               August 2015

Speer Family

Information provided

We know that William Speer married in 1833 to Jane McCool

William was born c. 1802

They had a number of children, one of whom was Samuel Speer.

Samuel Speer married Rachel Weir on 24 April 1877 and had a number of children. We want to identify these children and research forward in time to the present day.

RESEARCH

Our first record to look at is the valuation carried out around 1859 in Ballynocker.

Primary Valuation of Ireland (Griffiths Valuation) 1848 - 1864

Irelands Valuation office conducted its first survey of property ownership in Ireland from 1848 to 1864.The surveyors started in the very south of the country so the valuations for Cork or Waterford date from 1848 while the Province of Ulster was last to be valued between 1858 and 1864

This survey became known as "Griffiths Valuation" after Sir Richard Griffith who was the director of the Valuation Office at that time. The survey was used to determine the amount of tax each person should pay towards the support of the poor within their Poor Law Union. The rate was based on the value at which each unit of property could be rented year after year.

The resulting survey was arranged by barony and civil parish and townlands.

Griffith's Valuation can be used as a census substitute for the years after the Great Famine and provide the names of the heads of households for each property.

This record shows 3 families of the Speers surnames:

Griffiths Valuation Parish of  c.1859

Townland

Name

Lessor

Nature of property

Area in

Acres   roods and   perches

Ballynocker       Property number 11a

William Spiers

Worshipful Company of Salters

House, office and land

15-2-20

 

11b     Robert Spiers

Worshipful Company of Salters

House, office and land

Land above shared with William Spiers

 

14     Andrew Spiers

Worshipful Company of Salters

House, office and land

8-1-25

This is interesting. The record was taken 26 years after William married Jane.

The other two Spiers families are headed by Robert and Andrew, neither of whom are sons of William. We would expect them to be related so may be brothers, cousins etc., or one may even be his father.

Tithe Applotment records 1823 - 1837

Tithe was a tax on all agricultural land (originally a tenth of the produce) except for those living on church owned lands and glebes and in urban areas. It was paid by leaseholders and occupiers of all religious denominations to the clergy of the Established Church of Ireland. There was growing resentment against this tax, particularly after 1815 and the government was forced to give way and introduce a Tithe Composition Act 1823 which replaced payment in kind by payment in cash by landlords.

In order to effect this change, all the agricultural land in the country, which was liable to pay the tithe had to be surveyed and apploted or valued. During the period 1823 to 1837 a Tithe Applotment Survey was made in each civil parish for the whole of Ireland to determine the value of tithe payable by different landlords. The material was arranged by civil parish and townland in volumes known as TITHE APPLOTMENT BOOKS. In some parishes more than one survey was taken, while in others the manuscript has not survived.

The Tithe record for Ballynocher was taken in 1829 and shows:

John Spier                         8-1-25 acres

William Spier                     10-1-25 acres

Samuel Spier                    5-1-11 acres

 

These three families are probably related and give us some clues to previous generations. Possibly one of these names may be the father of William.

[In 1796 there is a Samuel Speer and William Speer from Magherafelt listed as flax growers by the Irish Linen Board]

 

 

Researching forward from Samuel Spier

Samuel Spier married Rachel Weir on 24 April 1877

They had a number of children:

22 Jan 1878                      Nancy

3 May 1879                       William

14 Nov 1880                      Robert

30 Dec 1882                      Samuel

13 Jun 1885                      James

11 Feb 1888                      John and Rachel (twins)

28 Jan 1890                      Gamble

 

Of these children we can find:

Robert died on 7 Oct 1897 of scarlatina age 16

James died on 3 Mar 1939, a bachelor, age 53, died of a “gunshot while depressed”

John the twin of Rachel died on 1 Mar 1890 age 2

William Spier married Maggie Jane Mawhinney on 19 September 1906

They had children:

28 Apr 1907                       Elizabeth and Robert (twins)

26 Sep 1908                      Maggie

8 Sep 1910                        Annie

Of these children, Maggie married Thomas Campbell on 25 August 1933

They had children:

24 Jan 1934                      Samuel George

27 Jan 1936                      Mary

18 May 1937                     Annie

29 Aug 1940                      Thomas

10 Sep 1943                      Maureen

12 Feb 1947                      William

Maggie Campbell nee Spier died on 5 Sep 2005 at 16 Lowertown Road, Magherafelt, County Londonderry, BT45 5DU

Her death was registered by her daughter:

Maureen Loughrey

7 Bridge Street   Castledawson   Magherafelt

County Londonderry    BT45 8AD

Samuel George Campbell born 24 Jan 1834 died on 15 February 2014 at:

23 NorthlDrive     Moneymore    Magherafelt

County Londonderry  BT45 7QT

His wife was Norah Elizabeth Campbell

His death was registered by his daughter:

Fiona McColgan

11A Fairlea Heights  Moneymore  Magherafelt

County Londonderry  BT45 7UQ

There is also a Mary in the 1911 census in the following information:-

Residents of a house 5 in Ballynocker (Magherafelt, Londonderry)
Show all information
Surname Forename Age Sex Relation to head Religion Birthplace Occupation Literacy Irish Language Marital Status Specified Illnesses Years Married Children Born Children Living
Speer Samuel 69 Male Head of Family Presbyterian Co Derry Farmer Can read and write English Married - - - -
Speer Rachel 63 Female Wife Presbyterian Co Derry - Read and write English Married - 34 8 6
Speer Nancy 33 Female Daughter Presbyterian Co Derry House Keeper Read and write English Single - - - -
Speer Samuel 28 Male Son Presbyterian Co Derry Labourer Cannot read English Single - - - -
Speer James 27 Male Son Presbyterian Co Derry Stone Mason Read and write English Single - - - -
Speer Rachel 23 Female Daughter Presbyterian Co Derry House Keeper Read and write English Single - - - -
Speer John Gamble 21 Male Son Presbyterian Co Derry Labourer Read and write English Single - - - -
Speer Mary 2 Female Grand Daughter Presbyterian Co Derry - Cannot English - - - - -