I am wandering if our John Speer (John Quern's good friend or relative) was an uncle to this John Speer II who married Elizabeth Caldwell and was a member of Cane Creek Meeting in 1798, according to Quaker records.
According to these records, John Speer II was the son of William Speer Sr. born 1747 in Ireland, died 1826.
Probate: 26 APR 1830 Abbeville Co, SC Burial: Old Rocky River Presbyterian Church, Abbeville Co, SC
Title: Abstracts of Old Ninety-Six and Abbeville District Wills and Bonds
Author: Pauline Young & Rev. Silas Emmett Lucas Jr.
Publication: 2nd Reprint, 1977
Page: Page 309
Text: SPEER, WILLIAM SR. -- BOX 89, PACK 2205
Will dated Feb. 7, 1826 in Abbeville District. Prov. April 26, 1830. Exrs: Sons, John, Wm. Spear. Wit: Abraham Bell, Wm. Ward, Jas. L. McBride. Wife, Martha Speer. Chn: John, Wm., Alxr. Speer, Margaret Rucker. Inv. made April 28, 1830 by Dr. E., Jas. Hunt, John McCalla.
His first wife was Eleanor Little and the 2nd wife mentioned in the Will was Martha Green McBride, a widow when she married him. William Sr. was also a member of Bush River Meeting and attended from Charleston and Abbeville. The book says Meeting records indicate he came from Ireland to Del and Pa and arrived in Charleston, SC in 1775 and then to Abbeville in 1776 and his widow moved to Anderson. He married (possibly for a second time) to Mrs. Eleanor Little Norris
15 JAN 1784 (presumably recorded at Bush River Meeting) when William Speer was 37. Fifteen years later he married Mrs. Martha [Green]McBride in 1799 according to Quaker Records. She died 1835. William Speer's children recorded by the Bush River Meeting as:
1. Rev. Alexander M. Speer Birth: 23 AUG 1790 in Abbeville Co, SC Death: 27 APR 1856 Death: Death: 28 APR 1856 in LaGrange, Troup Co., GA
Married 1st to Mary Elizabeth MIDDLETON b: 9 MAY 1788 Married: 13 AUG 1813
Children Eustace Willoughby SPEER , D.D. b: 1 DEC 1826 Alexander Middleton SPEER b: 27 FEB 1820 in Abbeville District, SC Martha Eleanor SPEER b: 14 JUN 1814 Algernon Sidney SPEER b: ABT. 1818 Louisa SPEER b: 1818 Margaret SPEER b: 1822 Alphred Eugene SPEER b: 1826
Marriage 2 Mary P. Baird GRANT Married: 30 JAN 1839 in Troup Co., GA
Children Mary Eugenia SPEER b: 4 NOV 1840 Francis Albert SPEER b: 1842
Marriage 3 Caroline G. DAY Married: 1848
"When the legislature convened in November 1828, cotton prices were down to eight cents a pound, and a strong political faction led by the State's tight-fisted Comptroller General Alexander Speer, an Abbeville native, pushed hard for drastic reduction in state spending" (Ford, Jr., L.K., 1988, p. 18).
1850 United States Federal Census Census
Name: Alexander Spear
Birth: abt 1790
Residence: Muscogee, Georgia
2. John James Speer II, Esq. 6 NOV 1784 in Abbeville Co, SC Death: 20 APR 1866 m. Eliz. Ann Harris Caldwell b: 1 May 1789 Married: 6 NOV 1807 in Abbeville Co, SC Children Eliza SPEER Jane Caldwell SPEER b: 16 Mar 1813 in South Carolina Martha SPEER James SPEER John SPEER It is not known if he had children with his 2nd wife Mary L. John's will refers to his wife "Mary L. Speer".
1860 Census lists three peolpe living in the John Speer
household:
John Speer age 74
Mary L. Speer age 62
Elizabeth Ellington Speer age 12
John Speer II drowned: Bells Ford near Rampey's Mill; Rocky River, near Lowndesville, Abbeville County, South Carolina, USA
Rampey's Mill was earlier known as Caldwell's Mill (1830) and
C.W. Barne's Mill No. 2. Rampey's Mill was washed away in a
1908 flood. A later mill at the same site was called Price's
Mill, which operated into the 1920's. Caldwell's Mill was in
the same area or was another name for one of the above mills.
During an interview with Lewis Speer on 3 July 1994 in
Lowndesville, he gave the following account of the drowning-
Lewis' story orginally came from Gordon Speer: John drove his
horse-drawn buggy across the flooded river in spite of warnings
that it was too dangerous. The traces came loose and when he
reached down to reconnect them, he fell in and was washed away.
John's tombstone reads: "SACRED to the memory of JOHN SPEER
ESQR, BORN 5 NOVR. 1784, United with His Presbyterian Church in
1809. Ordained a Ruling Elder in 1816. Died 20th April 1866.
Firm and deadicated in character; he was long spared, to adorn
his profession and office. He rests from his labors. Oh Death
where is thy sting."
3. William Speer Jr Birth: 9 MAY 1788 in Abbeville Co, SC Death: 10 JAN 1877 in Abbeville Co, SC m Mary Slaughter Gill b: 28 FEB 1793 in South Carolina Death: 4 SEP 1879 in Abbeville Co, SC Married: 2 DEC 1811 in Abbeville Co, SC Known children- William Houston SPEER b: 9 OCT 1812 in Abbeville Co, SC
Marcia quotes: He lived his entire life on his plantation in the Cherokee Heights and Monterey community of Abbeville County, about three miles west of Calhoun Falls, along the Savannah River. Source Sellers McLaughen Papers of Patrick C. Smith, May 1971, revised 1984.
1850 United States Federal Census Census
Name: William Speer
Birth: abt 1788
Residence: Abbeville, South Carolina
4. Margaret Houston Speer Birth: 1 DEC 1792 in Abbeville Co, SC Death: 6 SEP 1864 m. 1) Houston 2) Joseph Rucker
On line I find that Margaret married Joseph Rucker and moved to GA. That William Speer Sr fought in the Revolution and that he married Eleanor 15 JAN 1784 and that she died 10 OCT 1795.
Children from his late in life marriage to Eleanor Norris, started after the Revolution:
Benjamin Speer John Speer b: 5 NOV 1784 in Cherokee Heights, Abbeville Co., South Carolina
William Alexander Speer b: 9 MAY 1788 in Cherokee Heights, Abbeville Co., South Carolina - was a Reverand (Quaker?) and married Jane Fletcher and Elizabeth Wilson.
Alexander Speer b: 23 AUG 1790 in Cherokee Heights, Abbeville Co., South Carolina
Margaret Houston Speer b: 1 DEC 1792 in Cherokee Heights, Abbeville Co., South Carolina
? Joseph Speer b: 1795 in Jasper County, Georgia
Seems to me John Speer II's father William Speer Sr. 1747 Antrim, Ireland could have had a brother - our John Speer whose sister Ann Speer married Edward Arnett of Spartanburg - whose mother had also been married to a Querns near Harford, Maryland which border meets Del and Pa where the Speers lived. That may have been Margaret Houston who died when William Speer was born. Her previous child could have been John Querns with Ann Speers and brother John Speers previous children of her husband. Suggestions welcome.
susanaldridge2000@yahoo.de
The following accout is from Marcia at
Upcountry South Carolina Green Families
His mother died when he was born, and he was raised by his maternal grandfather, William Houston, in Ireland. He came to America and landed here at Christian Bridge, Delaware River, September 3, 1772. He was in Pennsylvania in 1773 and came to Charleston, SC, in 1774. He was in the military service in SC during the Revolutionary War, and lived with the family of General Andrew Pickens, in the Long Cane community of Abbeville County for about three years during the war period. Following the War, he received a grant of 1,400 acres of land in the Cherokee Ford area of Abbeville County where he settled and engaged in merchandising and farming. The following sketch of Speer family history is from a photostatic copy of a statement written in 1874 by William Speer, Jr., son of William Speer, Sr. who came from Ireland. Biography of the life of William Speer Sr. and his family by his son William Speer, Jr. On the third day of September 1772, one hundred and two years ago this day the third of September 1874, my father landed at Christian Bridge in the River Delaware. He was a native of Ireland. Born in the year 1747 in the County Antrim near the town of Strebaul. His mother s maiden name was Margaret Houston. She died at his birth, his grandfather William Houston raised him. His father married again, had four sons, John, Joseph, James and Alexander. John came to America in 1786, raised a large family scattered through Georgia and Alabama. My father remained in Pennsylvania in 1773, in 1774 he came to Charleston, in 1775 the Revolutionary War began, he remained in Charleston till after Sir Peter Parker s attack on Charleston in June 1776. He then came to what was called the Long Cane Settlement in Abbeville. At that time, the Cherokee Indians occupied the lands now Greenville, Anderson, Pickens and Oconee Counties and made frequent inroads into the white settlements. In the winter of 1776 and 1777 an expedition was fitted out under the command of a Colonel Richardson. My father was in that campaign. It was called the Snowy Camps or Drayton s Camps. The army was snowed up, the snow as deep as the fore wheel of a wagon. He was in two expeditions against the Cherokee Indians IN Georgia, one under Gen. Williamson and one under Col. Pickens. They went as far as the high wassie and High Tower River. Burnt their towns, destroyed their corn and brought them to terms of peace. My father served in the army in the cavalry under the command of Capt. Hugh McCall. After the fall of Charels ton, the British overran the State. Many of the inhabitants took protection under the British government. My father and others went to North Carolina as Refugees and remained there until Genl. Greene took command of the army in South Carolina. He was in the battle of Kettle Creek where Col. Pickens with 300 men defeated Boyd Boyd with 700 men. Boyd was killed. He was at the battle of Keowee where Salvadore the owner of the Jews ?land was killed. He was at the siege of Ninety Six. He was at the seige of Augusta where Pickens and Lee took the place, which ended his military service. My father was a member of Gen. Pickens family three years when they were not in the service. He lived in a block house at what is now called Fort Pickens near the depot at Abbeville C.H. Court House . After the war he commenced merchandising about two miles below Abbeville. Early in the year 1784 he married Eleanor Norris, a widow lady whose maiden name was Little. She was the mother of four children before her second marriage, Robert, Eleanor, Mary, and Elizabeth. My oldest brother, John, was born the sixth of Novermber 1784. My father moved to a plantation near the Cherokee Ford, Savannah River, where he continued to merchandise till near the close of this life. On the ninth of May, 1788, the writer of this narrative was born. In 1790, the 23rd of August, my brother Alexander was born. On the first day of December 1792 my sister Margaret was born. In the year 1793 my father shipped to London forty five 45hogsheads of tobacco. Others also shipped at the same time. With a view of buying goods they employed a man to go as super cargo who was thought to be capable and trustworthy. He betrayed his trust and gambled. My father lost all, about five thousand dollars. On the 26th of October, 1795, my mother died. In 1796, my father employed an overseer named Moses Cheynee ? . He remained a few months and robbed his store of fifteen hundred dollars. My father, in 1799, married a second time a widow lady named Martha McBride. She was the Grandmother of James and William McBride. Their mother was my half sister Elizabeth Norris. My brother John married the 6th November 1807 Elizabeth Caldwell and died the 20th April 1866 leaving surviving children, Eliza, Jane, Martha, James and John. I, the writer of this narrative, was married on the 2nd of December 1811 to Mary S. Giles and have eight surviving children, William, Alexander, Milton, Margaret, Mary, Elijah H., Andrew J., and George W. My sister was married 5th March Year omitted to Joseph Rucker and died 6th September 1864 leaving two surviving children named Elbert and Alexander. My brother Alexander was married in August 1812 and died 27th April 1856. His children, Sidney, Alexander, Eustice, Alford, Eleanor, Mary and Eugene Eugnia ? . My father died on the 17th of April 1830, aged 83 years. My stepmother died the 6th of May 1834, aged 82 years. W. Speer William Speer, Jr. was 86 years of age when the above account was written . Source Sellers McLaughen Papers of Patrick C. Smith, May 1971, revised 1984
