Individual Details

Edward McGraw Spear

(20 Feb 1860 - 14 Nov 1959)

The McGraws will lead you back to Detroit where there was a rather prominent Col Thomas McGraw. [Edward McGraw] was a prison guard at 13 in Wisconsin, and later moved out as far as Montana where he filed on some homesteads in White Sulpher Springs. He went back to Genoa Nebraska to help his father, Andrew Jackson Spear with a general store he had started or bought? EM made a great success of it. He retired from his very successful general store in 1937 (they even had "Spear money"..script..which could be traded locally. Sadly it was all burned.
I remembered the Ivan Doig book [This House of Sky]. This is an account of life in a valley where a lot of Scots Irish settlers eeked out a living mainly sheep ranching in a marginal climate...It is a generation once or twice removed from the first settlers there which would have included a young 20 something EM who filed on homesteads in White Sulpher Springs. I have the deeds which are hand written meets and bounds descriptions written in the 1870's or 80's. I recall some correspondence where EM said that it was here that he learned never to have a business partner. 
William Spear bill@wmspear.com

Events

Birth20 Feb 1860Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin
Census (family)-shared17 Jun 1870(Andrew Jackson Spear and Catherine Plattner McGraw) Fond du Lac, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin
Marriage25 Dec 1891Genoa, Nance County, Nebraska - Lucia Mary Wilson
Census (family)2 Jun 1900Genoa, Nance County, Nebraska - Lucia Mary Wilson
Census (family)18 Apr 1910Genoa, Nance County, Nebraska - Lucia Mary Wilson
Census (family)22 Jan 1920Genoa, Nance County, Nebraska - Lucia Mary Wilson
Census (family)21 Apr 1930Genoa, Nance County, Nebraska - Lucia Mary Wilson
Census (family)27 Apr 1940San Diego, San Diego County, California - Lucia Mary Wilson
Death14 Nov 1959Nance County, Nebraska
BurialValley View Cemetery, Genoa, Nance County, Nebraska

Families

SpouseLucia Mary Wilson (1872 - 1963)
ChildFrederick Lawrence Spear (1892 - 1950)
ChildAllan Edward Spear (1894 - 1901)
ChildWallace Edward Spear (1896 - 1959)
ChildJohn McGraw Spear Sr. (1901 - 1994)
ChildWilliam Wilson Spear (1911 - 1984)
FatherAndrew Jackson Spear (1825 - 1888)
MotherCatherine Plattner McGraw (1835 - 1872)

Notes

Census (family)-shared

Andrew Spear M 40 Vermont - Lumber merchant
Catherine Spear F 34 Michigan - Keeping house
Edward Spear M 10 Wisconsin
Mary O'Connor F 17 Ireland - Domestic

Census (family)

Edward Spees Head M 39 Wisconsin - Merchant
Lucia M Spees Wife F 28 Nebraska
Fred L Spees Son M 8 Nebraska
Allen E Spees Son M 6 Nebraska
Wallace E Spees Son M 4 Nebraska
Allice B Wilson Sister-in-law F 26 Nebraska

Census (family)

Edward M Spear Head M 50 Wisconsin - Proprietor, general merchandise store
Lucia Spear Wife F 37 Nebraska
Frederick L Spear Son M 17 Nebraska
Wallace E Spear Son M 13 Nebraska
John M Spear Son M 8 Nebraska

Census (family)

E M Spear Head M 59 Wisconsin - Manager, general store
Tucia Spear Wife F 45 Nebraska
Withiom Spear Son M 8 Nebraska
John Spear Son M 18 Nebraska

Census (family)

Edward M Spear Head M 69 Wisconsin - Retail merchant, department store
Lucia M Spear Wife F 56 Nebraska
William Spear Son M 18 Nebraska

Census (family)

E M Spear
Lucia M Spear
Census void - enumerated in Genoa, Nebraska
This is a hotel in San Diego, California

Endnotes

1. "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MN96-7B7 : 12 April 2016), Edward Spear in household of Andrew Spear, Wisconsin, United States; citing p. 2, family 10, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 553,212..

2. "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3BX-9MT : accessed 5 October 2017), Lucia M Spees in household of Edward Spees, Genoa Township Genoa village, Nance, Nebraska, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 146, sheet 3B, family 65, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,935..

3. "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ML4R-BYZ : accessed 5 October 2017), Edward M Spear, Genoa, Nance, Nebraska, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 159, sheet 3B, family 75, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 851; FHL microfilm 1,374,864..

4. "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCKX-V2X : accessed 6 October 2017), E M Spear, Genoa, Nance, Nebraska, United States; citing ED 168, sheet 15A, line 13, family 260, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 994; FHL microfilm 1,820,994..

5. "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQ2Q-QF1 : accessed 5 October 2017), Edward M Spear, Genoa, Nance, Nebraska, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 8, sheet 8B, line 94, family 236, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1288; FHL microfilm 2,341,023..

6. "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K9HZ-CZ6 : accessed 9 October 2017), Lucia M Spear in household of E M Spear, Councilmanic District 6, San Diego, San Diego Judicial Township, San Diego, California, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 62-123B, sheet 6B, line 76, family 215, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 450..

7. Find A Grave Memorial# 13968240.