My Genealogy Hound

Benjamin F. Spears, was born in Mecklenburgh County, N. C., April 8, 1836, and is a son of William and Jane (Gray) Spears. The father was born in Cabarrus County, N. C., and there learned the mechanic’s trade, although he lived upon a farm until eighteen. He was also a tailor by trade, but worked at the names trade the greater part of his life. For a short time he kept a tavern at Charlotte. He died in the prime of his life, in North Carolina, in the year 1842. The mother was a native of Mecklenburgh County, where she was educated and married. She died, aged eighty-one years, on April 10, 1877, and was the mother of nine children, of whom three are now living: James M., Flornoy G. and Benjamin F. Those deceased are Washington, Wallace, Charles, Edny, Stanhop and Mary. The paternal grandfather, Wallace Spears, was born in Ireland, of Irish parents, and when twelve years old came to North Carolina, where he married Betsy Gilmore. He never heard but one minister after settling in North Carolina. His wife, Betsey Spears, was born in North Carolina, and was of Scotch parentage. Nelson Gray and Olivia, his wife, the maternal grandparents, were natives of Wake County, Va. Mr. Gray had a brother who was killed in the Revolution, and two of Mrs. Gray’s brothers served in the same war. Benjamin F. lived in his native county until 1847, and then went to Lafayette County, Miss., where he lived until 1879. He received a common-school education, and in April, 1862, enlisted in Company G, Fourth Mississippi Volunteer Infantry, Confederate Army. He was in the fights at Chickasaw, Vicksburg, Port Gibson, Big Black, Resaca, Franklin and Nashville, among many others. At Nashville he was captured, and held a prisoner at Camp Chase for six months. He was paroled at Vicksburg, but was afterward exchanged. He was discharged June 12, 1865, and then resumed farming in Mississippi. January 4, 1859, he married Marina M., daughter of William and Lucinda Giles, natives of North Carolina, who immigrated to Mississippi when Mrs. Spears was a child. She bore three children, McKindrey, Delia and Eugene, and died February 19, 1873, in Mississippi. December 11, 1879, Mr. Spears married Dorcas Ross, also a native of North Carolina, who immigrated to Mississippi. In 1879 Mr. Spears came to Sebastian County, Ark., where he now owns a farm of 200 acres, which he bought after renting land for two years. Fifty acres he keeps under cultivation. Politically Mr. Spears is a Democrat, and himself and wife and McKindrey and Delia belong to the Old School Presbyterian Church.