Robert Mears
Robert Mears, who was a brother of Thomas Mears and an uncle of Mrs. Robert S. Hill, of Steubenville, was born at Gortanewry House, the fine old Mears family home situated oiie mile north of Moneymore, County Derry, Ireland, March 17, 1819, and was a son of John and Mary (Brooks) Mears. He came to America in 1839, and lived in Pittsburgh, Pa., for a short time and came to Steubeuville in 1840. He joined the Free Masons in Ireland and became a member of the Steubenville Lodge soon after coming here. He was the most successful business man that has ever lived in Steubeuville, and was always foremost in anything that favored the growth and advancement of the city. He was a member of the firm of Frazier, Kilgore & Co., afterwards the Jefferson Iron Works, and at one time was in partnership with Mr. McKinney, but later on with his brother, Thomas Mears, under the firm name of R. & T. Mears.
The leading characteristic of Robert Mears and the one which, more than all others will cause him to be remembered, was his munificent charity. Was a church to be repaired or built, an entertainment to be given, a fund to be raised for the poor during a specially hard season, his name was always the one that headed the list of contributors. Large, however, as were the amounts thus given, they were as nothing compared to the donations known only to God, the recipient and himself, and of houses let rent free, of barrels of flour, gifts of groceries and clothing and presents of money where such were sorely needed, there is no record. At Christmas, on Thanksgiving Day and other holidays he fed the poor by the hundreds with the best that could be bought. He willed the sum of $10,000 to the city of Steubenville, to be invested under the orders of the city council, the interest of the sum to be distributed to the poor and needy of the city. He also gave the siun of $5,000 to St. Paul's Church, which he attended. He died January 21, 1869, at the residence of his brother, Thomas Mears, No. 720 South Street, Steubenville, and is buried in the Mears family lot in the Union Cemetery. So passed one of Steubenville's most noted philanthropists and worthy men.
From 20th Century History of Steubenville and Jefferson County, Ohio, by Joseph B. Doyle. Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910