THOMAS ALEXANDER SPEAR

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Alex Spear and Harriet E. Spear

More than a half a century has come and gone since Thomas Alexander Spear arrived in Cedar county when a youth of ten years. Not long after he started out in life on his own account and, realizing the fact that there is no excellence without labor, he has persistently and with unfaltering energy carried on the work to which he had set himself, overcoming all difficulties and obstacles by determined and unremitting effort and thus gradually working his way upward until he is today honored as one of the most extensive landowners and prosperous citizens of the county.

A native of County Tyrone, Ireland, Mr. Spear was born March 4, 1843, and was one of eleven children whose parents were Robert and Elizabeth (Johnston) Spear, also natives of the Emerald isle. The former was born March 1, 1804, while the latter was born September 1, 1816, in the same house in which her mother and her grandmother were born and which was also the birthplace of Thomas A. Spear and his brothers and sisters. Robert Spear carried on farming and also worked at the stone-mason’s trade in Ireland until 1853, when he crossed the Atlantic to the new world with his family, establishing his home in Philadelphia. Two years later he came with his family to Cedar county, Iowa, where he successfully followed the occupation of farming. It was in 1831 that he wedded Elizabeth Johnston and they traveled life’s journey together for more than sixty-one years, being separated by the death of Mr. Spear on the 5th of December, 1892. His widow survived him until June 21, 1901.

Their children were as follows: Robert, who was born December 29, 1832, and is now deceased; Mrs. Mary Jane McCabe, who was born June 14, 1834, and is living in Philadelphia; Mrs. Margaret McCabe, who was born December 27, 1836, and is now deceased; John, who died in infancy ere the family came to America; John, who was born May 1, 1839, and lives in Stanwood, Iowa; William, who was born October 31, 1842, and makes his home in Cass county, Iowa; Thomas A., of this review; Johnston, who was born June 1, 1845, and is a resident of Tipton; Anna, who was born March 6, 1850, and is the deceased wife of Thomas McCabe; Stewart, who was born September 4, 1852, and is living in Fairfield township; Armstrong, who was born September 4, 1854, and is a resident of Philadelphia. He was only three weeks old when the family left Ireland for the new world.

Thomas Alexander Spear was a lad of eight years when the family emigrated from the old country and had but completed his first decade at the time of their arrival in Tipton, since which time he has remained in Cedar county. They left Liverpool on the sailing vessel “America” which on the voyage was disabled, the masts being blown away. They were seven weeks on the ocean and the food and water supply both became so nearly exhausted that they were put on short rations. Mr. Spear remembers eating raw potato skins with relish. Many died on the ship and most of the passengers believed that they would never reach land but at length the storm ceased and temporary masts were put up. Favoring winds at length brought them to New York and eventually the family reach Philadelphia, where they joined the grandparents and two sisters of our subject who had preceded them. On reaching this county they took up their abode in a log cabin in the south part of Tipton.

During the first winter Thomas A. Spear began working for his board for William Moffit and was allowed to attend school for a few weeks, the sessions of school being held in a little log house. For three years he worked by the month at farm labor and was allowed to attend school a few weeks each winter. After that he worked the year around and though his educational privileges were limited, experience, observation and reading have gradually broadened his knowledge and have made of him a practical, intelligent business man. His last employer was R. M. Moore, who gave him six dollars per month during the summer seasons but gave only board during the winter months. When fourteen years of age he joined his parents, who took up their abode on a rented farm in Red Oak township, and he continued to aid his father in the cultivation of the home farm until after the war.

In the meantime Mr. Spear carefully saved his earnings until he was able to purchase one hundred and sixty acres of prairie land two miles east of Red Oak Grove, paying twenty dollars per acre for the property. He broke the prairie and placed his fields under cultivation and improved his farm as best he could. However, he had to work outside for three or four years to get money enough to carry on the work on his farm. After building a little house, he married and resided upon that place until he removed to Tipton twenty-five years ago. He still owns his original tract and also the one hundred and sixty acres which his father bought in Fairfield township, this being the first property owned by the Spear family in America. Mr. Spear now owns seven hundred and twenty acres in Fairfield township, which he purchased at a later day, and fourteen acres of timber in Red Oak township. His holdings also include six hundred and forty acres in three farms in Center township, forty acres in Rochester township, nine hundred and sixty acres in Aurora county, South Dakota, and three hundred and twenty acres adjoining the corporation limits in Pierre, South Dakota. Those who read between the lines will know something of the wonderful energy, unfaltering perseverance and keen business discernment that Mr. Spear has manifested to thus prosper. He is today one of the most extensive landholders in the county and also has other valuable property interests.

On removing to Tipton he purchased a block on Ninth street, between Cedar and Meridian streets, and there built his present fine home and also a commodious and beautiful residence on the same block for his son Forrest. He likewise owns his parents’ old home opposite the Tipton Hotel, where they spent their later days, and he has elsewhere a good residence and three lots together with five and three-quarters acres of land two blocks north of his home. His property holdings in the city are valuable and extensive, and he has engaged in buying and selling land for the past quarter of a century, his unfailing judgment concerning property values enabling him to make judicious investments and profitable sales. He has been a director in the Cedar County State Bank for over thirty years and is widely known as one of the most prominent breeders of Angus cattle, French coach and English Shire horses. He bred the first grand champion steer of the world, “Shamrock,” exhibited in 1902 at the International Stock show in Chicago and sold on foot for fifty-six cents a pound. He has made considerable money as a dealer in live stock, selling hogs at the time of the Civil war for thirteen dollars per hundred and since then for eleven dollars and fifty cents per hundred weight. During the war he also sold four teams of oxen for eight dollars and twenty-five cents per hundred. Some prices, however, were very low for corn sold at ten cents per bushel and wheat for thirty cents per bushel. His nearest markets were at Muscatine and Davenport, a distance from his home of thirty-five and forty miles respectively. To this point he would haul his farm products, starting in the morning before daybreak and arriving before night. From actual experience he can tell the tales of early days when there were many hardships and privations to be borne incident to establishing a home on the frontier.

On the 20th of December, 1870, Mr. Spear was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Emily Fulwider, who was born in Center township, Cedar county, Iowa, February 24, 1851, upon the farm which is now the property of Mr. Spear. Her parents, Henry and Harriet (Kincade) Fulwider, were both natives of Greenbrier county, West Virginia. The former was born April 4, 1804, and the latter June 10, 1810. They were reared and married in their native state, then went to Indiana and later to Missouri, and in 1835 came to Iowa. Mr. Fulwider aided in driving the stakes that marked out the county seat of Tipton. He and his wife continued to reside in Cedar county through their remaining days and were among the most worthy and honored pioneer settlers, taking a most active and helpful part in the progress and upbuilding of this community. They were married in 1829 and Mr. Fulwider passed away at the age of eighty-two years, while his wife reached the age of eighty-six years. They were the parents of twelve children, nine of whom reached adult age, namely: Mrs. Elizabeth Bolton, who is now deceased; Mrs. Sarah Ann Hanna; Mrs. Allie Hill and Mrs. Ellen Edmeson, all of whom are now deceased; Andrew, who is living in Blockton, Iowa; Marion, deceased; Newton S., of Denver, Colorado; Henry M., of St. Louis; and Mrs. Spear.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Spear have been born two children: Nellie M., born November 29, 1874, is the wife of B. A. May of Tipton and has one child, Ursula, born May 1, 1900. Forrest Wayman, born July 10, 1988, married Gertrude Crum and has two children, Dorothy, born February 20, 1903 and Alfred Alexander, born May 25, 1910. His home adjoins that of his father.

Mr. Spear returned to his native land about twenty-five years ago and found that the little home in which the children were all born stood there without change. He has been a life-long republican but never a candidate for office. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias fraternity and attends the Methodist Episcopal church, aiding in building the fine house of worship here. He displays the ready adaptability characteristic of his nationality, the industry and resourcefulness, and these qualities have constituted the basis of his success. His has been a notable record, showing what canbe accomplished by earnest and persistent effort guided by intelligence and determination. He is today one of the most prominent residents of Cedar county and one of her wealthy citizens, and his prosperity is entirely the result of his own labors.