| Notes |
- From Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (Volume 2)
The Speer family of Coraopolis, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, descends from an ancient Highland Clan who, in their own land, Scotland, were powerful and influential, bearing arms and controlling large estates.
(I) James Speer, the American progenitor of the family, came to America in 1750, with his wife and a family of children, all born in Scotland. They sailed up the Chesapeake Bay, landed in Maryland, where they remained for about fifteen years, then removed to where McKeesport, Pennsylvania, now stands, traveling by way of the Ohio and Monongahela rivers. At the expiration of eleven years Mr. Speer removed to a place six miles from Pittsburgh, on the Coraopolis road, Robinson township. There, in a log house across the road from the frame house now occupied by his grandson, Alexander Speer, he and his wife, Margaret (Braden) Speer, lived to a good old age, Mrs. Speer dying at the house of her son Andrew, at the advanced age of one hundred and one years. They were both buried on the hillside below the log house and above the spring house. At the time of the death of Mr. Speer only two of his sons were living, and his property in Robinson township was divided between them. James and Margaret (Braden) Speer had children: i. Robert, who did not come to Pennsylvania with the others of the family, but removed to a place in Kentucky, and later to the middle west, where his descendants still live ; the Rev. Mrs. Collins, who died recently in Pittsburgh, was a granddaughter, and the Rev. Robert E. Speer is a great-grandson. 2. Andrew, of further mention. 3. Alexander, started on a return trip down the river, was never heard from again, and it is presumed that he was captured by hostile Indians. 4. James, of further mention. 5. Ann. 6. Jane. 7. Elizabeth. 8 and 9. Jean and Ginny, did not come to America with their parents, but lived and died in Scotland.
(II) Andrew Speer, son of James and Margaret (Braden) Speer, was born in Maryland in 1758, and died July 4, 1838. He was young when the family removed to Pennsylvania, and was variously engaged prior to his settlement in Robinson township, where he owned a good farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres. He married Elizabeth Boyd, born in county Down,
Ireland, brought to this country when young by her parents, and lived to an advanced age. Mr. Speer and his wife were active members of the United Presbyterian church, and among the founders of the Union Church in Robinson township. They had children: i. James, of further mention. 2. Andrew, died unmarried. 3. Alexander, was a farmer all his life, having
inherited a part of the original Speer homestead, and died at the age of sixty-three years ; he married Hannah Philips, and had children : George Samuel, Emma, Arra, Ella and Laura. 4. Martha, married (first), (second) a Mr. McWhirter, and moved to Ohio. 5. Margaret, married Samuel McCoy, her cousin, and lived in Robinson township. 6. Jane, married James Robinson, a carpenter of Robinson township, and died quite young. 7. Mary, married James Hazlet, of Butler county, and they resided
in New Castle, Pennsylvania. 8. Ann, married Samuel McCoy, a nephew of her sister Margaret's husband, and lived in Robinson Township.
(III) James (2) Speer, eldest son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Boyd) Speer, was born in Robinson township, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, in 1800, and died there in 1837. He grew to manhood on the home farm, and after his marriage rented a nearby farm of Alexander McKee, which he cultivated until his early death at the age of thirty-seven years. He married
Elizabeth McCoy, born in Robinson township in 1810. died in March, 1880. She never remarried, but after the death of her husband removed to the farm he had left to the wife and children of his son James. There she built a house in 1842, which was her residence until its destruction by fire in 1878, two years prior to her death. Elizabeth (McCoy) Speer was the
daughter of William and Elizabeth (Speer) McCoy, and granddaughter of Thomas and Jane McCoy, who came from county Down, Ireland, in 1790, finally settling in Robinson township, where the family became extensive land owners. John McCoy, brother of William McCoy, married Sarah King, and became one of the prosperous men of the township, and founded a
family that is now represented by Thomas (2) McCoy. William McCoy, son of Thomas and Jane McCoy, was born in Ireland. He owned a large tract on Chartiers' creek, near the Steubenville pike, where he died about 1835, being survived by his wife, Elizabeth Speer, until 1850; she was a sister of Andrew Speer. Children : William, died unmarried in early manhood ; Robert, died unmarried ; John, died unmarried : Samuel, married Margaret Speer, and moved to Guernsey county, Ohio; Elizabeth, married James Speer, as previously mentioned; Margaret (Peggy), married George McCready. James and Elizabeth (McCoy) Speer had children : i. William, died unmarried at the age of twenty-four years. 2. Absalom, died unmarried at the age of twenty-one years. 3. Andrew, died in infancy. 4. Andrew Braydon, of further mention. 5. Elizabeth Jane, died unmarried at the age of seventy-seven years, having resided with her mother until the death of the latter, after which she took up her residence in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania.
(IV) Andrew Braydon Speer, fourth son of James and Elizabeth (McCoy) Speer, was Born in Robinson township, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, March 27, 1833, the farm on which he was born now being a part of the borough of McKees Rocks. Until he was eighteen years of age he attended the public schools of McKees Rocks and the "Clever" district for about six months of each year, and thus acquired a good education. After the death of his two elder brothers, in 1851, he became manager of the home farm, and so continued until the death of his mother. This farm was willed to his mother and her children by Andrew Speer, their grandfather, and after the death of Elizabeth (McCoy) Speer, Andrew Braydon Speer bought out his sister's interest and became the sole owner. The barn on the farm was built in 1854 and the house in 1879. The homestead is devoted to general farming, although market gardening is a prominent feature. Mr. Speer is an elder of twenty-five years' standing in the Forest Grove Presbyterian Church, which he has also served as trustee and treasurer. The McCoys and Speers, in Scotland, Ireland and Pennsylvania, have ever been Covenanters and Presbyterians, devout in their religion and exemplary in their lives. In politics he is an ardent abohibitionist and has voted that ticket for many years.
Mr. Speer married, October 13, 1864, Elizabeth Ann Glass, born in Robinson township, a daughter of William and Sarah Glass, both deceased. Children: i. William James, now manager of a company store at Cherry Valley. 2. Albert Howard, a practicing dentist of Long Beach, California: married Anna Petrie. 3. Clayton Wesley, married Margaret Blanche Riddle ; resides with his parents at the farm. 4. Harvey Barnett, a practicing physician of Coraopolis : married Anna Moore. 5. Walter Braydon, a jeweler, died unmarried.
(II) James (2) Speer, son of James (1) and Margaret (Braden) Speer, was born in 1765, in the family log house in Robinson township, and died on his half of the estate left by his father, July 25, 1847. He married Mary Boyd, who died November 22, 1859, a daughter of Roland and Nancy Boyd, and they had children: i. Roland, born in 1797, died November 15. 1880; his father left him a farm in Sharon. 2. Alexander, born on the homestead, in 1799. 3. Agnes, born on the homestead, September 4. 1802, died November 4, 1892 ; she married John Ritchey, of Pittsburgh, and had children : Martha, who was burned to death ; James ; Sarah, married William Crayton, and had one child, who died in infancy, the mother dying soon
after; Ann; Mary Jane, married, August 30, 1861. Samuel Young, and had children: Charles Andrews, who married Sarah Johnston, and Willard Woods, who married Dolly Baker: Andrew, who died in 1862 from the effects of wounds received in the Civil War; John Irvine, died of starvation in Libby Prison, in November, 1863. 4. Margaret died in infancy. 5. Mary, married James Robinson, and had children: Mary and the Rev. George Robinson, of Pittsburgh; she died January 1, 1873. 6. James Boyd, born July 4, 1807, died April 2, 1886: he married Agnes Twiford, who died August 21, 1913, at the age of eighty-two years. Children: Wilhelmina. Married Philip J. Magnus, a farmer and has a son, Edward; Cordelia, married, October 2, 1888, Dr. J. R. King, removed to Riverside, California, in 1906, and has children : Dr. Errol R. King, Hazel O. and Raymond J. ; Harriet, deceased; Newton; Frank; Howard; Grant; Cora; Elmer; Garnet; Elizabeth, deceased. 7. Ann, born in 1809, died November 2."], 1882; married John Phillips and lived in Moon township; children: Matthew, Boyd and John. 8. Elizabeth, born in 181 1, died in Jmie, 1841 ; married a Mr. Young, and died a year after her marriage. 9. Robert, born in 1813; married Sarah Sampson, and had children : William ; George ; Robert ; Mary, deceased; Elizabeth. 10. John, born 1815; married Sarah McCoy. 11. Jane, died January 6, 1887; married Daniel Ewing, and had children: Elwilda, James and Addison. 12 and 13. Died in infancy.
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1745 - 1789 (44 years)
