James Spiers
James Spiers, farmer, P. O. Atwater, was born in England, October 16, 1813, son of Thomas and Ann (Parkins) Spiers, with whom he immigrated to this country in 1833, and located in Deerfield Township, where Thomas Spiers died the following week. In 1840 our subject secured fifty acres of his present estate, now comprising eighty-two acres, which at that time was wholly wooded. A road through the forests had to be cut to make a clearing for the erection of a cabin. Their bread was baked in a kettle suspended on poles, over a fire, and they experienced all the other hardships and privations incident to a pioneer's life. He was married in Boardman, then Trumbull, now Mahoning County, Ohio, February 29, 1844, to Miss Betsey, daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Webber, by whom he has the following children living: Milo; Lucy, wife of Charles Craig (have one child—Ethel M. ), and Celeste, residing at home, the joy and solace of her parents' declining years. The family are widely known and highly esteemed.
From History of Portage County, Ohio, Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885