Speir Family of San Saba Co, Texas

Descendants of Harris Speir and his Wife Hannah Coker

THE FAMILY OF THOMAS WILSON SPEIR and MARY JANE SPERRY -

Thomas Wilson Speir, was the son of Harris Speir and Hannah Coker. Thomas was born in Alabama on 6 December 1839. He married his first wife Mary Elizabeth Melton, in Mississippi when he was 20 and she 18. They had two children before he and two of his brothers went off to the Civil War. Thomas deserted the Civil War and went in search of his family in the Southern states. He never found them nor learned what happened to his first wife or their children whose names are unknown to us.

His brother Henry Harris Speir was killed at Gettysburg in July 1863. His brother George Washington Speir was wounded in June 1864 at Cold Harbor and captured at Greencastle, then transported to a hospital in Richmond VA, where he died 10 August 1864. George Washington was married to Missouri Ann [Coker] Speir. They had one son, James H. Speir, born about February 1860.

Eventually Thomas ended up in Kentucky. We assume it was here that he met his second wife, Mary Jane Sperry who was born 13 November 1841 in Kentucky. Oral family tradition suggests, but not proven, that she may have been of Indian descent. Their first two children were born near Louisville Kentucky, Sarah Jane born in 1867, and William Daniel born in 1868.

Thomas and Mary Jane were farmers and eventually left Kentucky heading westward for better and cheaper land to ply their livelihood. They were known to be in Mississippi for a time and in Texas by 1874. Their third child, George Washington, was born in San Angelo in October 1874. Their next seven children, all girls, were all born in San Saba County, Texas. They were Elizabeth Frances, Cora Etta, Hattie A., Nancy Alvenia, Marian Gertrude, Ida Mae, and Lydia Armstrong, their last child, was born in 1887. Mary Jane died in January of 1888.

Thomas Speir's daughter and oldest child, Sarah Jane, married Alfred Jack Walker in March 1884. Their son, William Thomas was born in Pecan Grove in January of 1885. Tragically, Sarah died at age 24, in May of 1892. She is buried at Harmony Ridge Cemetery.

Thomas and Mary Jane's second child, William Daniel Speir married Tennie Belle Cloud. They had no children of their own, but adopted a newborn infant and named him Charles Ford Speir. George Washington Speir married Ella Mathas. Cora Etta married James Madison Proctor. Marian Gertrude married Richard Wright. Ida Mae married John David Brown.

Our grateful thanks to Bobbie (Speir) Jarvinen of Cohoctah, Michigan for the Speir story and photograph. Bobbie descends from George Washington Speir.

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