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Descendants of Leonard Spare

Generation No. 1

      1. Leonard¹ Spare¹ was born May 16, 1692 in Europe, and died February 18, 1770 in Pennsylvania. He married Elizabeth ....... Bet. 1710 - 1718 in Europe. She was born 1694 in Europe, and died October 05, 1776 in Pennsylvania.

Notes for Leonard Spare:
Among the pioneer settlers in the central part of what is now Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, was Leonard Spare, who was the progenitor of the Spare family of southeastern Pennsylvania.

Some forty years after the founding of Pennsylvania Leonard Spare made his home in what is now Worcester Township, though the township was not organized until 1734, ten or more years after Leonard Spare's arrival there. When he took up his abode there the locality usually was designated as part of the vaguely defined district called the Skippack region, but on some maps the present Worcester locality was called New Bristol. The region was twenty-five miles northwest of the city of Philadelphia of that time.

No records have been found to show where Leonard Spare was born, nor precisely when he came to Pennsylvania. There is a family tradition that he was 30 years old when he came to America. The inscription on his tombstone shows he died February 18, 1770, aged 77 years, 9 months and 2 days. This indicates that he was born in 1692. According to the tradition, therefore, he immigrated into Pennsylvania about 1722.

His signature as he wrote it in 1730 --- Lanert Spar (with umlaut over both "a") ---- suggests his Germanic origin in the use of the umlaut a, which in German is equivalent to ae. The name Spar (with umlaut) in German is pronounced precisely like Spare in English.

From the fact that he was early identified with the founding of a German Reformed congregation, it may be inferred that Leonard Spare came either from the Palatinate or from Switzerland. The great majority of the German immigrants in the second quarter of the eighteenth century were Palatinates, and among them, as well as the Swiss, a large proportion adhered to the Reformed faith.

The Upper Palatinate comprised the present Bavarian districts of Upper Palatinate and Regenburg, and the Lower Palatinate was a irregular territory on both sides of the Rhine, including the cities of Mainz, Worms, Heilbron, Landau, Zweibrucken, Heidelberg, Manheim and Speyer.

First the Thirty-year War and then the wars carried on by France had in the seventeenth century devastated the fruitful Palatine country along the upper Rhine, known to the Germans as the Pfaltz. Religious aggressions at home and the alluring prospect of prosperity in the land of Penn induced large numbers of Palatinates to make the journey down the Rhine to Holland, there to embark on sailing ships to cross the Atlantic. The voyage, which, under favorable conditions, might be completed in a month, and might extend over four months or a longer period, was fraught with many perils. On every ship dozens and sometimes scores died from lack of proper food or from epidemic diseases. But the survivors were buoyed up by the knowledge that ever since the first German immigrants under Francis Daniel Pastorius had founded Germantown, in 1683, a year after Penn had established his province, the Germans, by industry and thrift habitual with them, were able in Pennsylvania to acquire fertile farmlands and to rear families amidst an environment which seemed immeasurably better than that of Europe.

Already in 1717 Sir William Keith, Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, had uttered warnings regarding the large German immigration which he believed menacing; and ten years later the Provincial Council directed that upon the arrival of every ship at Philadelphia bearing German immigrants all males above the age of 16 must subscribe to a declaration of allegiance to the English crown.

Thus it is that from 1727 onward records have been preserved of the names of those who complied with this requirement, and in some instances also the ship lists containing the names of women an children still exist. But no such information is extant about immigrants prior to 1727, when Leonard Spare came to America.

The extent of the German immigration may be judged from the fact that in 1727 the number of arrivals at Philadelphia was about 1200. It varied greatly from year to year, however, for in 1728 there were but 390. while in 1732 then number was 2168.

Oscar Kuhns, in his book, "The German and Swiss Settlements of Pennsylvania," has estimated that up to 1727 the number of German and Swiss immigrants who had come to Pennsylvania was between 15,000 and 20,000.

The earliest documentary evidence now known to exist regarding Leonard Spare in Pennsylvania comes down from the year 1728, when he signed an important paper as an official of the Skippack Reformed congregation and also bought 140 acres of land in Worcester Township.

The land of which he became the, owner is situated a mile and a half southwest of Center Point. Part thereof remained in the Spare family ownership until 1873. The occupant in 1931 was Elmer K. Bean. The site is northwest of the road from Fairview Village to Center Point, being approached by a road intersecting the first named highway north of Worcester Evangelical Church, the house on the farm being the first house on the left of the road. None of the buildings on the farm (1931) were there at the time of the Spare ownership.

Leonard Spare bought the land from Anthony Morris, Jr., and Israel Pemberton, executors of the estate of Anthony Morris, Sr.

The elder Morris, a well-to-do brewer and Quaker minister of Philadelphia, had acquired 558 acres in this vicinity from William Penn, proprietor of Pennsylvania, by patent dated 20th Fifth Month, 1718. Anthony Morris, who died in 1721, owned much real estate in Pennsylvania. He served as a member of the Supreme Court, the Provincial Council and the Assembly, and was also Mayor of Philadelphia.

The son Anthony, who was executor of the father's estate with Israel Pemberton, was one of fifteen children, the father having married four times. The son continued the brewing business and also was interested in iron industries at Colebrookdale and Dale Forges, Berks County, Pa., and Durham, Bucks County, Pa., as well as in New Jersey. He, too, held numerous public offices, among them those of alderman and Mayor of Philadelphia and member of Assembly.

Israel Pemberton, the other executor of the elder Morris' estate, was also a Quaker and a member of Assembly, and he gained wealth as a merchant in Philadelphia.

That Leonard Spare was an elder of the pioneer German Reformed congregation at Skippack within a few years after its establishment, is suggestive of his high standing in the community.

As an elder he was one of the supporters of the Rev. John Philip Boehm in his controversy with the Rev. George Michael Weiss, the most violent phases of this controversy centering about the Skippack congregation.

John Philip Boehm, who had been a schoolmaster in Germany, came to Pennsylvania about 1720 and made his home in Whitpain Township, which borders Worcester on the southeast. At that time there was no authorized clergyman of the Reformed faith in Pennsylvania. Being accustomed to assist in church services, as was required of schoolmasters in Germany at that time, Boehm began holding services of worship among the German Reformed settlers of southeastern Pennsylvania, reading a sermon from a printed volume. He served thus without compensation from 1720 until 1725.

Having come to regard him as their minister, the people who attended Boehm's services urged him to assume all the functions of a pastor ---- to baptize their children, perform marriages, conduct funerals and administer the communion. He hesitated for a time, for among the Reformed and Lutheran denominations much stress was laid upon valid ordination for the ministry. As there seemed to be little likelihood that a properly ordained minister would come to Pennsylvania for a long time, Boehm finally consented to take up the duties of the ministry.

His first step was to prepare a church constitution and organize three congregations ---- the first of the denomination in Pennsylvania ---- one at Whitemarsh, in the lower part of the present Montgomery County at the Philadelphia line; one in the Skippack region, in central Montgomery County, and the other at Falkner Swamp, in upper Montgomery County. The congregations elected him their pastor, and he ministered regularly over a wide and sparsely settled territory where travel over primitive roads involved much hardship. All told in the three congregations Boehm noted there were only fifty men.

With the Skippack congregation Leonard Spare identified himself and was chosen to be an elder. Services were held in the homes of members, so that, no doubt, the Spare home was at times the scene of the ministrations of John Philip Boehm.

Affairs in the three congregations went smoothly enough for two years. In September, 1727, a party of 400 Palatinates landed at Philadelphia. They were under the leadership of the Rev. George Michael Weiss, then 27 years old, who had received the ordination of the Reformed church shortly before leaving Germany. Weiss was imbued with the ecclesiastical conception of the high powers conferred upon him by ordination, and he could not readily make allowance for altered circumstances prevailing in a country far distant from synods and theological schools. Immediately he asserted his determination to assume the pastorate of all Reformed congregations in Pennsylvania, since he was the only ordained Reformed clergyman in the province. He warned the people against Boehm and declared Boehm's religious work illegal.

On October 19 Weiss preached in Skippack and availed himself of the opportunity to condemn Boehm. He gained adherents from among the members of Boehm's flock and proceeded to organize a rival congregation.

By this time Boehm's followers at Skippack had begun to build a church. A site was bought in the south-eastern part of Lower Salford Township, the title being vested in the name of Jacob Reiff.

Boehm was holding services on Sunday, March 10, 1728, at Reiff's home, when Weiss and some of his followers from Philadelphia appeared and ejected Boehm from the house. Reiff allied himself with Weiss, and thus, as he held title to the church site, the Weiss congregation gained control of the new church, Weiss dedicating it on June 22, 1729.

Boehm retained his Whitemarsh and Falkner Swamp congregations, but at Skippack his party was in the minority. However, Boehm continued to hold services in homes. Weiss summoned Boehm to appear before him in Philadelphia for examination, but Boehm ignored the summons.

In May, 1728, Boehm, accompanied by William Dewees, an elder of the Whitemarsh congregation, went to New York to consult the Dutch Reformed ministers there as to the best course to pursue in the controversy. They advised that application be made to the Classis of Amsterdam for Boehm's ordination.

Consequently a full statement of the different phases of the dispute was prepared, and, in July, 1728, it was forwarded to the Classis of Amsterdam.

The document bore the signatures of Boehm and sixteen elders of his congregations. While there is no question that Boehm wrote the statement, the signatures are those of the elders themselves. One of the signatures is that of Leonhard Sperr, which makes it clear that in the Skippack controversy Leonard Spare stood on the side of John Philip Boehm.

Besides Leonard Spare the Skippack elders who signed were: John Meyer, Gabriel Schuler, Laurens Bingeman, Ulrich Stephen and John Lefevre.

The Whitemarsh signers were: William Dewees, Isaac Dilbeek, Ludwig Knaus and John Rebenstock.

Falkner Swamp was represented by George Philip Dotterer, Frederick Antes, Jacob Meyer, John Berkenbeil, Sebastian Reifsnyder and George Klauer.

The statement opens thus:

      "We, the undersigned, elders of the Christian Reformed congregations at Falkner's Swamp, Schip Bach and Wit Marche, situated in the Province of Pennsylvania, in America, under the crown of Great Britain, find ourselves, in the name of our congregations, under absolute compulsion and obligation, to have recourse to your reverend body, to lay before you the need and perplexity of ourselves and our congregations, and to entreat you to honor us with your Christian help by means of an ecclesiastical resolution, which will tend to our rest and the upbuilding of Reformed worship in this far-off region of the world."

Boehm's work and his dispute with Weiss are then reviewed. Regarding religious conditions in Pennsylvania, the following description is given, which may be quoted here as presenting a picture of the times of Leonard Spare:

      "Our three congregations, which are yet small and poor, namely at Falkner Swamp, Schip Bach and Wit Marche, the largest of which consists of only twenty-four men, the second of about twenty, and the smallest of not more than fourteen, are spread out more than sixty English miles from each other and are distant full 170 miles from New York.
      "Inasmuch as the so-called Quakers constitute the largest number of the civil magistrates among us, your reverend body cannot form any other opinion of us than that we are living among all sorts of errorists, as Independents, Puritans, Anabaptists, Newborn, Saturdayfolk, yea even the most horrible heretics, Socinians, Pietists, etc., among whom dreadful errors prevail; in- deed heinous blasphemies against our great God and Savior and their own exaltation over His Majesty; for they claim that they have essential divinity in themselves; that they cannot sin; that what they condemn or approve is God's own condemnation or approval. They believe that there is no other heaven or hell than what is here on earth; they even deny Divine Providence, and assert that nothing needs God's blessing, but that all products of the ground and all offspring of animals and of the human race come simply from nature, without any care on the part of God, and that prayer also is useless. Indeed, we do not know of any blasphemous opinion which has not its defenders among one class or other of those among whom we are dispersed.
      "Good as the land is in which we live, equally sad and unfortunate is our condition respecting spiritual things, as you can easily see. It is for this reason that the simple-minded people are exposed to the greatest danger of contamination, and this all the more because most of them are inexperienced and poor, living great distances from each other. Therefore we felt ourselves all the more under obligation without delay to set up a pure religious worship and to maintain it by every agency possible, in accordance with the Word of God; in order that neither we nor our children nor so many simple-minded souls in whom there is still a longing for the true doctrine of the Holy Gospel may be lost forever in this soul-destroying whirlpool of apostasy; but that they should work out each other's salvation."

Confession is then made that by urging Boehm to become their minister a "great misstep" had been committed, but Classis was asked to overlook this and to effect an adjustment.

Meanwhile the controversy continued at Skippack. The Boehm party challenged Weiss to give proof of his ordination. He exhibited a Latin certificate from the Palatinate Consistory. The Skippack Germans could not read Latin, and they declared the certificate meant nothing to them. Thereupon Weiss sent to Heidelberg for a German copy of the certificate, which he finally received in 1728.

The petition of Boehm and his elders reached Holland in November, 1728. Proceeding with typical Dutch deliberation, the Classis of Amsterdam decided on June 20, 1729, that the informal call which the Pennsylvania settlers had tendered Boehm possessed the inherent elements of a legal call, and therefore the ministerial acts of Boehm should be considered valid. The Classis further suggested that one of the New York ministers confer ordination upon Boehm. The constitution which his congregations had adopted was approved.

This information was forwarded to the New York ministers, and they transmitted it to Boehm by a special messenger, he receiving it on November 4, 1729. Naturally it was the occasion of great joy among Boehm's adherents and no doubt the household of Leonard Spare shared in this joy.

Accompanied by Gabriel Schuler, of the Skippack congregation; Frederick Antes, of Falkner Swamp, and William Dewees, of Whitemarsh, Boehm repaired to New York, where they appeared before the New York ministers on November 18, 1729. By direction of the ministers, Boehm was ordained Sunday afternoon, November 23, in the Dutch Reformed Church of New York.

Weiss was present at the ordination. The day following a reconciliation was effected between Boehm and Weiss, the latter agreeing to give up the congregations at Skippack, Falkner Swamp and Whitemarsh to Boehm and Boehm agreeing that Weiss should minister to the congregations in Philadelphia and Germantown.

Boehm's elders at once ratified the agreement, and on January 29, 1730, a communication of grateful acknowledgment was sent to Classis bearing the signatures of Boehm and eleven elders and deacons of his congregations ---- Hans Meyer, Gabriel Schuler, Leonard Spare and Lorentz Bingeman, of Skippack; Frederick Antes, Bastian Reifsnyder and Hans Wolfmiller, of Falkner Swamp, and William Dewees, John Rebenstock, Isaac Dilbeek and Ludwig Knaus, of Whitemarsh. The letter closes by citing the needs of Boehm's congregations in these words:

      "Now we need most urgently for each congregation a house of God, or a fixed place of assembly, and also a dwelling for our minister. To wander here and there, from one house or barn to another, is too troublesome and also detrimental to the divine service, because of the ignorance of some persons in whose houses it is held, nor can one person be expected to allow the services to be held always in his house. Of ourselves we are unable to begin, much less to carry out, even the least, because almost all of us are newcomers in this poverty-stricken land and are burdened with our own debts. For even the small amount which each member subscribed and promised for the support of the minister cannot be collected, although in the congregation at Falkner Swamp it amounts to only 8 pounds, 17sh, at Shipbach 5 pounds, 5sh, and at Weitmarsche 4 pounds --- in all only 18 pounds, 2sh. But with many even this remains unpaid because of poverty, so that he (the minister), like all of us, must patiently support himself by the labor of his hands. With this paltry contribution he is not even able to hire a servant to do his work, that he might better attend to the duties of his office only."

The original of this letter, in German, is in the archives of the Classis of Amsterdam. Here Leonard Spare's name is written "Lanert Spar." (each a is umlauted) The original of the petition of 1728, of which Leonard Spare was one of the signers, has disappeared, but there is a Dutch translation of it in the records of the Collegiate Reformed Church of New York City. Both of these documents are given in full in the Rev. Dr. William J. Hinke's book, "Life and Letters of the Rev. John Philip Boehm."

Notwithstanding the reconciliation, Weiss' followers refused to permit the announcement thereof to be read at the church services at Skippack, and they sent protests against Boehm's ordination to the Classes of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. However, the Classis of Amsterdam confirmed the ordination.

Weiss apparently yielded to his Skippack friends. Shortly thereafter he withdrew from the scene of conflict, and, with Jacob Reiff, set out, in 1730, for Holland and Germany to collect money for the Pennsylvania congregations. The outcome of this collecting tour constitutes an unpleasant chapter in the early religious history of Pennsylvania.

Weiss returned to America in 1731, and took a charge in Schoharie County, New York. In 1732 Reiff returned. But the Pennsylvania congregations failed to receive the proceeds of the collecting tour, though it was known some funds had been given. Reiff had had charge of the money and had invested it in merchandise, ostensibly to gain a profit through the shipment to America. Neither the profit nor the principal was in sight, however. Litigation followed in Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Reformed people were so dissatisfied with the Weiss management that they asked Weiss' old foe, John Philip Boehm, to become their pastor. He accepted the call.

The Skippack congregation refused to have Boehm as pastor. He still had some adherents there. In 1735 Boehm and two of his elders, Gabriel Schuler and Ulrich Stephen, bought a tract of 150 acres in Lower Salford Township, several miles north of the first Skippack Church, in what is now Harleysville, with the intention of founding a church there. Services were held in a dwelling on this tract until December, 1745, but no church was built, and the congregation dwindled. After the transfer to this site Leonard Spare's name is no longer mentioned in connection with Boehm's congregation.

Perhaps Leonard Spare realized the harm due to such religious controversies, and perhaps he now attended worship at the original Skippack Church, on the Reiff farm, though his name does not appear in the documents available regarding that congregation. His interest in this church is suggested by the fact that he was one of nine signers of a petition presented to court in Philadelphia on September 6, 1736, asking that a road be opened from Isaac Kline's tavern, where Harleysville now is, to Felix Guth's mill, in Skippack. This road was needed, the petitioners asserted, both to afford access to the mill and to accommodate people going to the Skippack Church. The signers, besides Leonard Spare, were Felix Guth, Heinrich Huber, James Been, Peter Peisen, George Merckli, Gabriel Schuler, Hans Wenner and Hans Reiff. The court rejected the petition on the ground that the proposed road would be at a distance of seventy-five perches from the church and the existing Morris road would suffice for the church people.

Schuler and Stephen in 1742 sold their interest in the Lower Salford church site to Boehm, and three years later, when it was evident that the church could not be maintained, Boehm sold the property, though be held occasional services in the neighborhood until 1747.

By this time the Old Goshenhoppen Reformed congregation had been established a few miles to the west, and with this congregation Gabriel Schuler identified himself. A pulpit which he made is still in possession of this congregation, though not used in the services. Gabriel Schuler, who was a prosperous innkeeper, lived, it is said, to the age of 109 years, and on his 100th birthday anniversary he demonstrated his vigor by cutting down a large tree.

The original Skippack congregation did not outlive Boehm's congregation. After Weiss' departure John Peter Miller was pastor in Philadelphia, Germantown and Skippack for a year. Then he went to the New Goshenhoppen charge, and afterward to Tulpehocken, Pa. There he became a convert of the Seventh-Day Baptist Community at Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pa., and eventually was made superintendent of that remarkable community.

The Rev. John Bartholomew Rieger, the Rev. John Henry Goetschy, and John William Straub, who was not ordained, ministered further to the Skippack congregation, Straub closing his services about 1741.

The church building stood until 1760. Surrounding it was a burial ground, which successive owners of the land preserved until the middle of the nineteenth century, when a new owner removed the gravestones and added the burial ground to his farm.

Perhaps the large incursion of Mennonites into the Skippack region had something to do with the decline of the Reformed church. Furthermore, the Old Goshenhoppen Church, to the west, and the Indian Creek Church, to the north, in Franconia Township, were at no great distance.

The Rev. George Michael Weiss came back to Pennsylvania in 1746, and became pastor of the Old and New Goshenhoppen Churches, serving then until his death, in 1763.

The Rev. John Philip Boehm founded a congregation at Blue Bell, near his home, in Whitpain Township, Montgomery County, Pa., and this church has since been known by the name of its founder. His busy labors among various congregations in southeastern Pennsylvania continued until his sudden death, in 1749.

Leonard Spare outlived both these eminent pioneer pastors, and witnessed the founding of another Reformed congregation in the district where two predecessors had failed. This congregation was located in the township where Leonard Spare lived, and with it he and his family were identified, several generations being buried in its grounds. It is now known as Wentz's Church, and is situated on Skippack Pike, west of Center Point.

The name of Wentz was given to the church because early members of that family who owned much land in Worcester Township had an important part in the inception of the congregation. Jacob Wentz and John Lefevre gave an acre each for a site for the "use of the high Dutch Reformed or Presbyterian congregation in the said Township of Worcester." Lefevre's wife is believed to have been of the Wentz family.

One of the trustees taking title to the property, June 2, 1762, was Philip Spare, son of Leonard Spare. The other trustees were: Peter Wentz, Philip Wentz, Jacob Weber, Henry Conrad and Jacob Reiff.

Work on the church was begun that year, and it was dedicated November 13, 1763. The building cost 250 pounds, or about $678. Part of the funds needed to pay for the construction was raised by a lottery. The list of donations to the fund, which has been preserved, shows that Leonard Spare gave 5 pounds and his son Philip, 6 pounds.

A school house was built adjoining the church in 1765, and a school was maintained by the congregation for many years.

A description of the church in which Leonard Spare and his wife and scores of their descendants worshipped has been handed down. It was a stone structure, with a steep roof. Within were galleries and a high pulpit. The walls were ornamented with brilliant colors which those who attended services in the building always recalled in later years.

A new church was built in 1851, and the present (1931) church in 1878.

A report to Classis in 1765 shows that the Worcester congregation consisted then of twenty-seven families, while twelve children had been baptized that year, and thirty children attended the church school.

Until 1772 the minister of the Germantown Reformed Church included the churches of Worcester and Whitpain in his charge. After being severed from Germantown, Worcester and Whitpain remained united until 1834, and at times Trappe and Hilltown also were in the charge. In the later years of the nineteenth century Keely's Church, Schwenksville, and the Towamencin Church formed a charge along with Wentz's.

Leonard Spare helped to bring about the organization of Worcester Township, in 1734.

On some maps prior to that date this territory was named New Bristol. There was a Bristol Township in Philadelphia County at that time, comprising the present Oak Lane region in the city of Philadelphia. In a petition dated 2d, First Month, 1733/4, presented to the justices of the Court of Quarter Sessions of the County of Philadelphia, the court was asked to erect a township comprising the 8000 acres "lying between the townships of North Wales [Gwynedd], Towamencin, Bebber [Skippack], Providence, Norrington [Norriton] and Whitpain."

The petition bore twenty-two signatures of residents of the district, including Leonard Spare and Stephanus Styer. The latter was the father of Jacob Styer, who married Christiana, daughter of Leonard Spare.

Attached to the petition was a draft of the proposed township showing the tracts which the different residents owned. These documents are preserved in the City Hall, Philadelphia.

It is interesting to note that, while Leonard Spare signed his name in German, as "Lanert Spar (with umlauts)", to the letter forwarded to Amsterdam in 1730, his signature to the township petition of 1734 is in well formed English script, being written "Leonard Sperr." The character of the handwriting suggests that the writer possessed rather more than the usual culture of that period.

The court complied with the petition and constituted the township, giving it the name of Worcester.

Another petition, still in existence and bearing the names of "Linart Spaar" and "Stephanus Steyer" was presented to court in 1734, in protest against the proposed opening of a road "that is likely to go through our township." The petitioners averred "we think it needless and very troublesome to our township," as the Morris road was already in use and the proposed new road was only a mile and a quarter from "the Great road of Skipak," and followed the same course as that road.

He left no will, and letters of administration were granted in Philadelphia February 24, 1770, to his son, Philip Spare, and his son-in-law, Jacob Styer.

More About Leonard Spare:
Burial: Unknown, Wentz's Reformed Church, Worchester, Pennsylvania
Naturalization: April 11, 1763, in accordance with the laws of the British Parliament and the Assembly of Pennsylvania, at a session of court held in Philadelphia, Chief Justice William Allen and Judge William Coleman being on the bench.

Notes for Elizabeth .......:
All that is known of Leonard Spare's wife is that her name was Elizabeth, and that, according to her tombstone, she was 82 years old when she died, October 5, 1776. This indicates she was born in 1694.

More About Elizabeth .......:
Burial: Unknown, Wentz's Reformed Church, Worchester, Pennsylvania

Marriage Notes for Leonard Spare and Elizabeth .......:
The couple were married before coming to Pennsylvania, and at least one of their children, the son Philip, was born abroad.

We only have record of children surviving after the deaths of Leonard and Elizabeth. It is likely there were other children who died before their father, as in the burial ground at Wentz's Church five stones without inscriptions mark graves in the Spare row. These uninscribed markers are not what are usually known as "field stones," from the neighborhood, but they are blue marble, such as was quarried in the eighteenth century in Whitemarsh Township, a few miles southeast of Worcester. They are shaped similar the the inscribed stones, though they are smaller. The several stones in the Spare row are in the following order:

Leonard Spare
Elizabeth Spare
Four stones without inscriptions
Philip Spare
Benjamin Spare
Peter Spare. born November 30, 1795; died June 22, 1798. His identity has not been established.
Daniel Spare
Rosina Spare
One Stone without inscription
Jonas Spare

Numerous later members of the family are buried elsewhere in the same grounds.

More About Leonard Spare and Elizabeth .......:
Marriage: Bet. 1710 - 1718, Europe

Children of Leonard Spare and Elizabeth ....... are:

+	2	i.	Philip² Spare, born January 25, 1718/19 in Europe; died September 28, 1799 in his home in Worcester Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
+	3	ii.	Christiana Spare, born Bet. 1718 - 1731; died Unknown.
+	4	iii.	Margaret Spare, born Bet. 1721 - 1732; died Unknown.
+	5	iv.	Elizabeth Spare, born January 20, 1733/34 in Worcester Township, Philadelphia County, now Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; died January 25, 1811 in Whitpain Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

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