Possibly one small clue to your Speir family is that in the Georgia Land Lottery of 1805 a Benton Speir and a Milly Spier were listed in Handcock County and both won prizes.

Your John Speir may be related to the following:

Speir John Capt Nansemond County, 1704
Speirs James Nansemond County, 1704

and

Speirs Wm Nansemond County, 1704

(sounds like it could be a father and two sons.)

These people are listed in:

"Annie Laurie Wright Smith, The Quit Rents of Virginia, 1704 (Baltimore, 1977) is a list of landowners in Virginia in 1704." A version of this list is on line accessible on the Va GENCOM page.

(Nansemond County was just across the James river from Jamestown and was not far from Edgecombe County, NC, which at one time included much of the state along the Va. line.)

My earliest Speir ancestor that I can definately trace was Willis Speir who died in Effingham County, Georgia about 1817. I have identified a number of descendents of Willis Speir, including many more Johns, James's, and Williams. Many of these were from Bryan County, Georgia.

I have been told that Willis had a brother, Moore Speir and that they also were, at one time, from Edgecombe County, and that there was another murder by slaves involved, but, I have not yet confirmed this. Nor do I know how they were related to your John Speir or Captain John Speir of Virginia.


I am interested in any information that anyone may have on Willis and Moore Speir.

Henry Speir Hillbrath