John Spires
John Spires, farmer and manufacturer, Deerfield, was born in Buckinghamshire, England, December 13, 1800, son of Thomas and Ann (Perkins) Spires, who reared three sons and two daughters, John and James being the only survivors. The parents came to this county in 1833, and settled in Deerfield Township, but the father only lived about thirty days after his arrival. The mother died in August, 1852. Our subject came to America in 1832, stayed one year in New York, and then followed his parents to Deerfield Township, this county, where he began the struggle of life empty-handed But he was sagacious, frugal, ambitious, full of energy, and blessed with a rugged constitution. He was married, in 1820, to Miss Rebecca Parker, a native of Buckinghamshire, England, by whom he had nine children, of whom are now living: William P., James, Ann P. Eddy (in Racine, Wis.), Hannah, Richard, Thomas J. and John A. Mrs. Spires died in 1881. Our subject in 1837 was enabled to purchase thirty-five acres of land. He now owns about 100 acres in Deerfield Township and 900 in Atwater Township, this county. The pottery at Atwater, Ohio, carried on under the firm name of John Spires & Sons, was purchased of the administrators of the late W. F. Burns in 1880. His first enterprise was to supply a pottery at Limaville, Stark County, with clay, in the year 1849. In the same year he built a saw-mill on Yellow Creek in Deerfield, which was used twenty-one years. It was then moved to its present site in Atwater, where it is now run by the firm. Mr. Spires, though well advanced in age, enjoys the best of health. During his residence here he has cleared 500 acres of land, most of which is under cultivation.
From History of Portage County, Ohio, Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885