Thirty-seven years cover the life record of William Smith Spear to the present writing in 1910. He was born September 12, 1873, on the farm on which he now resides on section 31, Dayton township, and is not only busily engaged in cultivating the fields but also raises and feeds stock, making a specialty of Aberdeen Angus cattle and Shire horses. His business ability is manifest in the fact that he is successful in managing his place of two hundred and forty acres and that he keeps it in a condition which wins it classification with the well improved and valuable farms of Cedar county.
His father, John Spear, was a native of Ireland and became one of the early settlers of Iowa. Devoting his attention to agricultural pursuits, he prospered by reason of his capable management and unfaltering diligence. Year by year he added to his competence and at length retired to private life, making his home in Stanwood at the present time, his former labors giving him the capital that now enables him to rest from further business cares.
William Smith Spear was reared upon the old homestead farm where he was born and where he now resides. The place is therefore endeared to him through the association of boyhood and youth as well as of manhood. At the usual age he entered the district school and when he had mastered the branches of learning therein taught he had the benefit of further instruction in the Clarence high school. Later he pursued a commercial course in Davenport and was thus well qualified for the conduct of important and growing business interests. When his school days were over he returned to the farm to assist in carrying on the work of the home place, and when his father removed to Stanwood about 1907 William Smith Spear took charge of the farm and has concentrated his energies upon its further improvement. He has torn out the old hedge fence and put in woven wire, has replaced primitive machinery with modern agricultural implements, has rotated his crops and made judicious use of fertilizers so that the land has been kept in good condition. His labors have been resultant and his success places him with the leading farmers and stock-raisers of the community. Since taking charge of the farm he has engaged quite extensively in breeding and raising Aberdeen Angus cattle. His father was said to have had the first cattle of that kind in Cedar county, and the son has found them profitable. He is now a member of the Angus Cattle Association and through his efforts has done much to improve the grade of stock raised in the county.
William S. Spear was married in Stanwood in November, 1897, to Miss Clara Nordhaus, who was born, reared and educated in that place. They now have one son, William Everett Spear, a bright little lad of two years, who adds much to the joy of the household. Mrs. Spear is a member of the Stanwood Methodist church. Mr. Spear is progressive in all matters of citizenship as well as in business and has given material aid to various projects for the public good. What he undertakes in a business way he accomplishes for he allows no difficulty nor obstacle to bar his path if it can be overcome by persistent and honorable effort.
