T.J.Spear

Pam’s Genealogy Pages
Pam, after a research session.
Thomas James “T.J.” Spear
Individual

Born: 19 Aug 1835 in Barnesville, Belmont County, Ohio, USA

Died: 12 Aug 1923 in Oberlin, Decatur County, Kansas, USA

Father: Joseph Spear (1809 – 1844)

Mother: Sarah Ann Hinton (1812 – 1867)
Family #1

Spouse/Partner: Mary Ann Shafer (1840 – 1887)

Married: 26 Jun 1859 in Mt. Ephraim, Noble County, Ohio, USA

Child: Amanda Belle “Belle” Spear (1860 – 1965)

Child: David C. Spear (1862 – 1940)

Child: William Thomas Spear (1864 – 1866)

Child: Martha Jane “Mattie” Spear (1867 – 1953)

Child: Sarah Elizabeth “Sadie” Spear (1869 – 1883)

Child: Frank J. Spear (1871 – 1950)

Child: Cora Adelia Spear (1874 – 1874)

Child: Ernest Wilfred “Fred” Spear (1876 – 1960)

Child: Joseph Elbert “Bert” Spear (1879 – 1955)

Child: Mary Winnifred “Winnie” Spear (1883 – 1975)

Child: Wilma May Spear (1886 – 1967)
Family #2

Spouse/Partner: Samantha J. Karnes (1851 – 1915)

Married: 17 Mar 1889 in Rawlins County, Kansas, USA

Child: Emmett Spear (1891 – 1931)
Notes:

T.J. was active in the local Methodist church early in his life, and served as a local preacher for many years.

On 22 Aug 1862, T.J. enlisted and was assigned to Company H of the 116th Ohio Volunteers (an infantry regiment). I don’t have any records on when he may have been on furlough, but a brief summary of the regiment follows. Many assignments and attachment details have been left out for this short summary.

The unit fought in the Battle of Winchester (13-15 Jun 1863), was assigned to The Army of the Potomac and fought in numerous skirmishes in northern Virginia and western Maryland in the summer of 1863.

At some time while the army was encamped at Martinsburg, West Virginia (4 Aug 1863 to 29 Apr 1864), they were close enough to his home that wife Mary Ann and daughter Belle were able to visit on horseback.

At the Battle of Piedmont (5 Jun 1864), the Union prevailed but T.J. was wounded (on the back of the right arm near the elbow) and was taken prisoner by General Early’s men. He was “attended by a Rebel surgeon . . . until about July 1st” and was then sent to Andersonville Prison in Georgia, spending just under five months in the infamous prisoner of war camp. He was sent to Savannah in a prisoner exchange on 24 Nov 1864.

T.J. was mustered out 10 Jun 1865 at Camp Chase, OH.

In 1870, T.J. was a farmer in Union (Guthrie County, IA), but had moved to Rawlins County, KS before his wife, Mary, died in 1887.

T.J. remarried in 1889 and was now in Union (Rawlins County, KS). At 60, he had a hired hand who lived with the family, by the name of Charles Porterfield, born Apr 1860, in Ohio.

By 1920, twice widowed T.J was living in the home of his stepson Harvey Fisher and his wife and family.
Change Date

A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion
by Frederick H. Dyer; The Dyer Publishing Company; Des Moines, IA; 1908 [applies to notes]
A Spear Family History
by Michael Engelmann; Privately published genealogy. [applies to birth, death, marriage, notes]
Obituary (Thomas James Spear)
Oberlin Herald; Oberlin, Decatur County, Kansas, USA; 16 Aug 1923; page ?. Duplcate printed in the Atwood Citizen-Patriot; Atwood, Rawlins County, Kansas, USA; 30 Aug 1923; page ? [applies to name, birth, death, marriage, notes]

T.J.’s obituary lists his place of birth as Bloomington County, Ohio, but there is no such place.

The Harvey Fisher in the notes was probably Samuel H. Fisher, whose middle name may have been Harvey. He was the son of T.J.’s second wife Samantha by her first husband, John Fisher.