John and Elizabeth SpiersJohn Spiers was a labourer (1832-1836), farmer (1837-1841) and publican (1841-42) in Thornborough, Buckinghamshire, England. He married Elizabeth Colton, the daughter of George and Martha Colton, in 1829.
John and Elizabeth, and 5 children, emigrated to Canada in 1844, 15 years after their marriage, and settled in the Ottawa area and on January 11, 1859 obtained a Crown Grant for 200 acres in Lot 8, Concession 8, Cumberland Twp., Russell County, Ontario. This was about 15 miles down the Ottawa River from Bytown (now the City of Ottawa, Ontario). In July of 1874 they obtained a Crown Grant for Lots 25 and 26, Concession 2, in Stisted Twp., Muskoka District, a few miles west of Hunstville, Ontario.
The whole family, including four grandchildren, is listed in the 1861 Ontario Census records for Cumberland Twp., Russell County. This township has the Ottawa River as its northern boundary.
William J. the 5th child of John and Elizabeth, was married on May 17, 1860 in Cumberland Twp. Land records indicate that he purchased 50 acres on Lot 8, Concession 8, from his father in 1862.
Thomas the 6th child of John and Elizabeth, married Lydia Sheffield of Bristol, Quebec. Their 1st child, Thomas, was born in Arnprior, Ontario according to the memoirs of his oldest son, Nelson Spiers. Two other children were born between 1865 and 1868 in Bristol, Quebec. Arnprior and Bristol are on opposite sides of the Ottawa River, upstream from the city of Ottawa.
The elder Thomas lived and operated a store at Sand Point, a short distance upstream from Arnprior, prior to purchasing land in Muskoka District in 1878. This fact is recorded in his purchase agreement document for lot 28, concession I, Stisted Twp.
On July 17, 1974, John & Elizabeth located on lots 25 & 26, concession II, Stisted Twp in the Muskoka District. They had followed in the footsteps of their son George who had homesteaded nearby in 1871. George had acquired lot 25, concession I under the Free Grants and Homestead Act of 1868. This Act entitled any settler, eighteen years of age and over, to select 100 acres in a surveyed township and any head of a family could select 200 acres. This did not include the mineral rights or the pine trees on the property. Within five years following selection, the locatee was required to have at least fifteen acres of cleared land under cultivation; to have built a house fit for habitation at least at least sixteen feet by twenty feet; and to have actually and continuously resided upon upon and cultivated the land, not being absent for more than six months in any one year. On the fulfillment of these conditions, the patent would be issued, and the settler would hold his or her estate in fee simple.
