Francis and Sophia (Felch) Spear family in Michigan

Francis Spear and Sophia Felch were married in Hinesburg, Vermont in 1817 and moved to Gull Prairie, Kalamazoo Co., Michigan in 1834. The location of the Village of Richland was on Gull Prairie when it became incorporated.

Francis Spear's name doesn't appear in U. S. Census results in Michigan but there are other reliable sources that name the places he lived.

He applied for bounty-land in 1855 and for a soldier's pension in 1871. It is apparent that he was denied the pension that he applied for. The applications are helpful in that they were filled out and witnessed in Richland, Mich. and place him there in those years. His soldier's pension application contains his statement that he had received bounty-land in his application for that. It may be difficult to find out if there was a bounty-land warrant because he authorized an attorney to receive his warrant for him. Francis Spear would not have been the warantee and we don't have the name of the warantee.

A Sophia Felch can be found in records that was the daughter of Samuel Felch, Jr. and Electa Durkee. Persons doing family research sometimes encounter the problem of other persons with the same first and last names. I wouldn't have been able to say that this Sophia Felch was the daughter of Samuel Felch, Jr. but an 1850 Probate court case in Kalamazoo County named two sisters of Samuel Felch, Jr. (in Windham Co., Conn.) and two children of Francis and Sophia Spear.

Two town histories can be found on the internet that are very interesting. The town histories of Hinesburg and Charlotte can be found at a site called "Vermont Gateway." Use Google to search. The town history of Hinesburg mentions Francis Spear by name.

GEDCOM Trees (viewing trees requires 4.0 or later)

• Henry L. Spear GEDCOM (108 KB)
  A GEDCOM is a genealogy database format.

Family Photos

• More photos (133 KB)
  More photos.
• Spear family photos (142 KB)
  Spear family photos

Family Tree Maker Reports and Trees

• Genealogy Report: Descendants of Francis and Sophia (Felch) Spear


• Genealogy Report: Ancestors of Henry Leslie Spear


• Report: Bibliography of Sources

Related Files

• Some Dead Ends and Some Avenues for Further Resear (6 KB)
  Some Dead Ends and Some Avenues for Further Research

Related Links

• Bounty-land and pension applications, Francis Spear
• Soldier's pension application, Henry F. Spear, Civil War
• 1850 Kalamazoo Co. Probate Ct. case, Henry & Mary Spear
• Pension app. of Jeremiah Kettle (husband of Lucy J. Spear)