Notes
Note for: Minnie Speary, 17 JAN 1878 - Index
The 1910 census show her at age 31 living with her father & brother
Ernest in Luzerne County, Pa.
Notes
Note for: Ernest Speary, 13 NOV 1888 - Index
Burial:
Place: Cherry Grove Cemetery, Nordmont, Sullivan County, Pa
Individual note:
never married, Veteran of WWI - Pvt 1 C1-311MG BN 79 Div. During WW I he
was in the Argonne Forest Battle, all but a few of his Company were
killed.
He was caretaker of the King Farm at Nordmont, Pa. The King family were
next farm neighbors to Christopher Speary.
The 1910 census show him at age 23 living with his father & sister Minnie
in Luzerne County, Pa.
Notes
Note for: Ruth F Speary, 4 MAY 1899 - Index
Shown in the 1900 census as Florence Ruth Speary
Notes
Note for: Christopher B Speary, 7 JUL 1813 - 2 MAY 1893 Index
Burial:
Place: Cherry Grove Cemetery, Nordmont, Sullivan County, Pa
Individual note:
Christopher Speary was born in Huntington, Luzerne County, Pa & first
arrived in Davidson Township, Sullivan county with his brother Samuel in
1826 at the age of 13. His father, Miles, had arrived earlier. He
returned to Huntington, Luzerne county, at the age of 25 and married
Rachel Jane Benscoter.
Christopher & Rachel left Huntington in a buggy drawn by 2 horses & were
headed for Illinois when they stopped in Davidson township to visit
Christopher's father Miles. While there Miles offered them 50 acres of
land as a gift if they would settle & farm there rather than continue on
to Illinois. They accepted.
Christopher originally built a 2 story log house on the property. The
first floor contained a kitchen, bedroom & buttery while the second floor
held 2 bedrooms.
In total, Rachel & Christopher had 14 children. Their first 2 children
were twins born in 1839 - both died as infants - no further information
(names, dates, etc.) is available. This information is from Eudora sicks
notes read at the 1937 Speary reunion & also a story recounted by Alice
Brown in a letter dated June 4, 1978.
As their family grew, their farmhouse had another bedroom & kitchen added
but in 1873 a new house was built on the Christopher Speary homestead. In
1937 this farm was owned by Frank Speary - Christopher's grandson.
Elk Lick had never had a church & held their services in the Elk Lick
School or outdoors in a cherry grove in good weather. Although land had
been deeded & a board of trustees elected in 1858 the citizen's could
never afford to build a church for themselves. In 1893, Christopher
Speary left in his will $300.00 for use to build the Cherry Grove Church.
Because the labor & lumber were donated the $300.00 was enough to pay for
construction . It took an additional 2 years to complete as the
citizen's could only work on the church in the time they could spare
away from their farms.
Christopher is buried at Cherry Grove Cemetery, Nordmont, Sullivan
County, Pa.
There are additional pictures of Cherry Grove Church shown with his wife
Rachel Jane (Benscoter) Speary
Notes
Note for: Rachel Jane Benscoter, 30 JUL 1817 - 28 JUL 1890 Index
Burial:
Place: Cherry Grove Cemetery, Nordmont, Sullivan County, Pa
Individual note:
Rachel Jane Benscoter remains somewhat of a mystery. According to the
notes of Eudora Jane Speary Sick - daughter of Dorson Speary & Rachel's
granddaughter:
A man & his wife - a Mr & Mrs. Brown - were passing through Huntington &
spent the night of August 5, 1818 at the Benscoter home. During the
visit, Mrs. Brown gave birth to Rachel Jane. The notes state that
because the Benscoters had no family of their own they wanted to keep the
baby and that the Browns gave their consent.
These notes were read at a Speary Family Reunion in 1937 and according to
notes dated November of 1962 were in the possession of Adona Sick -
Eudora's daughter.
In a letter dated July 29, 1978 from Alice Brown - granddaughter of Lucy
Ann Speary (Rachel's daughter), Alice recounts a story told by her mother
how Rachel's older brothers ( 3 or 5 of them) would carry her over
puddles on the way to school. Obviously one story or the other is not
completely accurate. If Rachel had older brothers then the story of the
Benscoters having no family of their own is inaccurate. Perhaps they
simply had no girls & that is why they desired to keep the Brown's baby.
In yet another letter dated 1978, Mrs. Lynn Cerveris - descendant of
Christopher Speary & Rachel Jane Benscoter - tells how her Grandmother
Sally (Sarah Eliza - daughter of Christopher & Rachel) stated that her
mother was an Indian. While this may be a first hand story told by
Rachel's daughter there is no evidence to support it. In fact, both Mrs.
Cerveris & Alice Brown state in letters, again dated 1978, that Rachel
Jane was noted as having bright red hair, deep blue eyes & fair skin (not
exactly traits anyone has ever associated with any Indian tribe that I am
aware of).
Rachel Jane was also noted for being left handed & a family story tells
that she hired a woman to teach her daughters how to sew because she felt
that she would be holding the needle in the "wrong hand" while teaching &
would confuse the girls. According to Eudora Jane Sick's notes, Rachel
Jane was a very efficient woman who also raised, spun & wove flax & wool,
dried berries, fruits & pumpkin and made clothes for her large family.
Searches of the Van Benscoter book owned in the 1970s by Mr. Floyd Tubbs
of Shickshinny, Pa showed no mention of a Rachel Jane.
Rachel Jane is buried at Cherry Grove Cemetery, Nordmont, Sullivan
County, Pa. Her tombstone (which is also Christopher's stone) reads:
Rachel
Wife of
C.B. Speary
Died
July 28 1890
Aged
72 Yrs 11Ms
& 28 Day
This would make her birthday July 30, 1817 - which does not match the
Aug. 5, 1818 story involving the Brown family.