Speer Antrim area

Chris,

A problem that you face is that there are almost no records for Loughguile for the mid 1700s and so tracing this family will be difficult.

The oldest comprehensive records for that parish are the 1803 agricultural census. It lists 3 Speer (or variant spellings) households. William Speer in Ballyportery, Widow Spere in Lavin and Adam Sper in Turnagrove. The 1803 agricultural census is on Bill McAfee’s website: http://billmacafee.com

I next searched the tithe applotment records for 1832. They were compiled for taxation purposes and list all folk with land, so that’s mainly farmers. If there was a Speer in Loughguile still farming in the 1830s they ought to be listed. There is just one farm.  There were no Speers farming in Lavin or Ballyportery by 1832 but Adam Spiers was still farming in Tournagrove (more commonly spelled Turnagrove):

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/antrim/tithe-applotments/loughguile-parish.php

Moving forward to Griffiths Valuation in 1861 there was just 1 Spears farm in that townland. That was John Spears who had plots 14 & 15 which was 36 acres of farmland plus some bog. That property today is up a lane off the A44 Drones Rd, a few miles south of Armoy. You can see exactly where it is using the maps on the Griffiths website:

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameSearch

There was 1 Speers family farming there in 1901:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Castlequarter/Turnagrove/944211/

1911:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Castlequarter/Turnagrove/127821/

I cannot say that this family is connected to your family. Merely that it’s the only one I can find in the Loughguile area in the 20th century. The two other families, in Lavin & Ballyportery, clearly had either left or died out in the early 1800s.

The Turnagrove family were Presbyterian. The nearest Presbyterian church is probably Ballyweany. Their baptism records only start in 1862 and marriages in 1845. Presbyterians don’t generally keep burial records.

Ballyweaney Presbyterian graveyard’s gravestones have been transcribed. I searched the database but did not find any Speers graves there. So either the family didn’t have a gravestone or they were buried in a different graveyard. (Many Presbyterians were buried in Church of Ireland graveyards, for example).

I searched the internet and found reference to John Speers of Turnagrove being buried in Kilraghts Presbyterian graveyard. He died in 1881. So maybe that’s the place to search. Kilraghts 1st Presbyterian church has records from 1831 onwards.

http://www.arborealis.ca/resources/biographies/speer/speer-antrim/

Thank you so much for the information! At least I know why I have been hitting dead ends. We are still going to visit the area so we can see the area they lived in. There is also a connection with the Taggart family in the same area so hopefully we can see something. Thank you again for your help and your prompt reply. 

Hi Chris

For the time period you are looking at estate records are your best bet. As Elwyn highlighted above William Speer in Ballyportery in 1803 has disappeared (possibly emigrated?) by 1832, while the Turnagrove family remain resident into the 20th century. The 1803 agricultural census also lists a William Speer in Kilmoyangey townland in Kilraughts parish, but on its border with Loughguile. This family is also worth exploring. The relevant estates are :- Kilmoyangey in Benvarden estate; Turnagrove in MacCartney estate; and Ballyportery leased by the Lecky family from the Earl of Antrim. Ballyweeney Presbyterian Congregation was only formed in 1835 as an offshoot of Kilraughts Presbyterian, but neighter has surviiving pre 1800 records unfortunately.

Andrew