Jacob Spears

Other Events:

• Occupation: Paris, Bourbon, Kentucky, USA; Jacob Spears was one of the 1st distillers of bourbon and supposedly gave "bourbon" its name.
• Reference Number: 13235
• Residence: 1789, Fayette, Kentucky, USA
• Residence: 1790, Paris, Bourbon, Kentucky, USA; Stone Castle built by Thomas Metcalfe
• Residence: 1810, Bourbon, Kentucky, USA
• Residence: 1820, Bourbon, Kentucky, USA

Notes:

Jacob was the son of Henry Speers who settled in southwest Pennsylvania, 1771 on the Mononhahela near Belle Vernon and Speers, Pennsylvania.

Jacob was a 2nd Sergant in General George Rogers Clark's campaign to the Illinois Forts. John, George, Jacob and Samuel Spears were members of the Kentucky Militia, sometimes know as the Cornstalk Militia, which was organized as necessary to protect the settlements in Kentucky from Indian raids.

Jacob a native of Pennsylvania, emigrated to Kentucky and settled in Bourbon Co. at a very early day. The first distillery was erected circa 1790 by him. , locating on the farm now owned by W. H. Thomas.

Jacob married Elizabeth Keller 17 Jun 1786, Shenandoah, Virginia, USA. Elizabeth (daughter of Abraham Kellar, Sr and (Unknown)) was born 10 Sep 1765, Shenandoah, Virginia, USA; was christened Apr 1791; died 23 Jan 1837, Boone, Missouri, USA; was buried , Ashland, Boone, Missouri, USA. [Group Sheet]

1. Rachel Spears was born 2 Apr 1787, Pennsylvania, USA; died 4 Nov 1850, Boone, Missouri, USA; was buried , Ashland, Boone, Missouri, USA.
2. Solomon Spears was born 3 Mar 1790, Bourbon, Kentucky, USA; died 2 Aug 1836, Bourbon, Kentucky, USA.
3. Abram Spears was born 5 Dec 1795, Bourbon, Kentucky, USA; died 14 Dec 1862, Bourbon, Kentucky, USA; was buried , Paris, Bourbon, Kentucky, USA.
4. Noah L Spears was born 15 Oct 1793, Bourbon, Kentucky, USA; died 14 May 1868, Bourbon, Kentucky, USA; was buried , Paris, Bourbon, Kentucky, USA.
5. Rebecca Kent Spears was born 25 Dec 1788, Virginia, USA; died 13 Sep 1826, Bourbon, Kentucky, USA.
6. Sarah Spears

Other Events:

• Find-A-Grave: 47028134
• Name: Henry
• Reference Number: 13256

Notes:

After arriving in America, Peter settled in Augusta, Co., Virginia until 1751-52, then moved up to Frederick Co., Virginia. Henry and George F. Spears explored the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, possibly together, where George remained and established the "Spears" family of Rockingham County. Henry went to Maryland then later established the "Speers" family in Pennsylvania.

Henry married Regina Froman and settled on farm known as Gibstoton, on the Mon River, below Belle Vernon.

Henry Speers and his wife took up residence on the east bank of the Monogahela River in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, in 1764. He called his home "Summer House." He died circa 1782, supposedly from a kick to the head by a horse. His wife, Regina was taxed in 1783 for 250 acres of land, stock and nine slaves. Regina and sons would be found later in Washington County, Pennsylvania, at Speers Borough, a small community south of Donora on the Monogahela River. It is felt that the Speers family lived in the same general area as the "colony" where the early Crist family lived.

Henry was active in community affairs - occasionally busy with one project or another for the county. He was appointed a captain of the militia in August of 1757.

Abraham Frye and family located on the opposite side of the river. He owned land from Maple Creek on the outskirts of Charleroi, to Pigeon Creek in Monongahela, from the Mon River, to where Fallowfield township school now stands, except for the Grant and Wickerham Farms, near what is now Fisher Heights. They came here from their homes in a place 18 miles south of Winchester, Virginia.

The Speers and the Fryes were intimately associated in everything that pertained to each others comfort, and this fact, in these days of trial and danger, was no small affair. In going from place to place or in the field, these settlers were compelled for personal safety to carry firearms so as to meet the attacks of the Indians.

Buried:
Gibson Cemetery

Peter married Regina Froman Abt 1744, Augusta, Virginia, USA. Regina (daughter of Peter Froman and Elizabeth Margretta Ficklesen) was born 1725, Alsace, Germany; died 1793, Rostraver, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, USA; was buried , Belle Vernon, Fayette, Pennsylvania, USA. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Find-A-Grave: 47028188
• Name: Ragina Froman
• Reference Number: 5077

Notes:

Buried:
Gibson Cemetery

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 13255

Peter married Margaret Graefenreid Henlopen Abt 1708, Germany. Margaret (daughter of Peter Henlopen) was born Abt 1688, Brandenburg, Germany; died Aft 1731, Pennsylvania, USA. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 5407

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 5075
• Birth: 1690, Germany

Notes:

Family tradition says that Peter was a teacher and Huguenot. In 1685,
after Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, an edict issued by Henry
IV of France in 1598, granting religious freedom and political
equality to the Huguenots. This revocation was a sentence of civil
death on them all; it crushed more than half the commercial and
manufacturing industry of the kingdom. Life in France became
extremely perilous for the Huguenots and many were leaving the
country. During a meeting held to choose a safe haven for their
people, the look out came crying, "The enemy is upon us, save
yourselves. Family tradition says that Peter hastily went home, took
his ready cash, silverware and other valuables in a four-horse wagon
and so quickly left that he forgot his hat. A friend called to him,
"Peter Froman, where is your hat?". He replied, "It is better to have
a head without a hat than a hat without a head." He placed his
valuables in a ship, leaving his horses and wagon standing on the
street.
After escaping from France, Peter went to Germany where he married a
French girl and settled in the Heidelberg or the Strassburg, Alsace
area which was under German control at that time.
His daughter Regina was said to have been born in Alsace. Although
there are records of several Peter Froman/Vrooman in New York and New
Jersey, no satisfactory proof has been found to show that Peter
Froman came to America, but we know his grown children were with Jost
Hite in Pennsylvania by 1731. If they were in America earlier, they
probably followed, rather closely, the trail of Hite's group from
Kingston, Ulster Co., New York to the Perkiomen (Skippack),
Philadelphia Co., (now Montgomery) PA, to York, Lancaster Co., (now
York), PA, and finally to the Shenandoah Valley in Frederick Co., VA.

Peter married Elizabeth Margretta Ficklesen 1700. Elizabeth was born , Germany. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 4706

Other Events:

• Reference Number: 13226

Notes:

As a young man, Christian Speers went to London to take ship to America where some of his cousins had migrated. While waiting for passage at the dock, he was caught by the "Press Gang" and forced into the British Army. His first opportunity to desert came when the army went into France. Being a Protestant, he was able to lose himself among the persecuted Huguenots who befriended him. Christian joined the French Huguenots and became associated with the Reasoner and Froman families in France and Germany. Later in America, descendants of the three families intermarried. Christian married a French Protestant girl in France. They had one son.

Other Events:

• Name: Peter Henlopin Graefenreid
• Occupation: Burgersmeister of Potsdam
• Reference Number: 6512
• Birth: 1665, Germany

Notes:

Peter Henlopen was a German Burgameister of Potsdam, a residential city on the Haven River 17 miles west southwest from Berlin. Both Grossburen and Potsdam are in the State of Brandenburg where many Huguenots settled following the Potsdam Edit of 1685.