Thomas Reed Kear

Another paper in the possession of Mary McDonald Ritch deserves publication for its family tradition, some which has been verified, This paper was prepared by the son previously mentioned, Carleton Romig Kear, around 1911 when he was on the Naval academy staff:

"Before narrating the result of my investigations in this vicinity, I shall set forth what was known before, as it was related by my grandfather and grandmother.

    "My great grandfather's name was John Kear, who was born in Maryland in 1763, and died in Licking County, Ohio, in 1820. In his youth he worked in a shipyard in or near Baltimore, Md.,, and later was Captain of a ship that traded to the Gulf ports, and going up the Mississippi River, In his early life he spelled his name John Ker, but later, in the Court at Licking County, Ohio, had it changed to Kear.
    "His father was a seafaring man who later settled down in or near Baltimore and worked in the same shipyard as his son. The name of this shipyard was the Chesapeake Shipyard, as near as my grandfather could remember. John Ker married Mary Reed [note 1], a daughter of the owner of the Chesapeake Shipyard, and afterwards moved to Virginia, later to Ohio, where he lived till he died. During the War of 1812, he served in the Virginia Militia.
    "My grandfather was Thomas R. Kear, who was born in Maryland on April 27, 1806 [note 2], and died in Van Wert, Ohio, May 11, 1864. He was an Aid-de-camp on the staff of the Governor of Ohio during the Mexican War and was a Deputy U.S, Marshal during the first part of the Civil War. He used to show my father and his other children an old seamans [sic] chest filled with heirlooms, family papers, records, etc., among which were an officers full dress uniform, a cocked hat with an ostritch [sic] feather and cockade, which he said belonged to his grandfather. This trunk or chest contained a great deal of information about the family, but it was unfortunately burned up with the house in 1858 or 1859.
    "He would tell my father that his forefathers were among the first colonists in this country and that they lived in Maryland on the Eastern shore about equally distant from Baltimore and Annapolis, and that before coming to this country they lived in England or Scotland, and were of a very good and old family and that one of his direct ancestors was an English Knight, who was a famous swordsman. "He told my father about his father going to the Courts in Licking County, Ohio, and having his name changed from Ker to Kear by producing evidence and records, and that anytime anyone of the family wanted to know the sources of the descent they could find the complete record there recorded, with all of the evidence necessary to establish it in any court in the United States. My father went there a few years ago to get this evidence, but found that about all the records of that county had been destroyed by a fire in 1872.

"There were some few that had not been destroyed and among them was the appointment of the administrator of the estate of John Kear, deceased.

"There were also on record deeds showing that his widow had married George Spahr.
"My grandfather, in speaking of his grandmother's family, said that they had three brothers, Thomas, William and John (or Robert) Reed, and that they were shipbuilders and owned their own shipyard in or near Baltimore. Their mother's name was Eleanor. One of my grandfather's sister, Polly, married a Robert Basil, and another, Nancy, married a man by the name of PUSSLEY, or a name something like that."

Notes:

Marriage Records, 1777-1813, Anne Arundel Co., Maryland, p. 70. [Return to text]
Bible, Flyleaf, 1823, Thomas Cears (ThomasReed Kear), Bible donated to the Van Wert County Historical Society. [Return to text]

Copyright

Information on this site related to the Kear family is from The John Cears Kear Family compiled, written and edited by Donald L. Kear, copyright © 1984.
Copyright © 2000 - 2006 by Donald L. Kear. All rights reserved. Portions of the pages on this site may be reproduced for nonprofit use only. Credit shall be given to the source.