To the Lister who was enquiring about William Spears: I have had computer trouble and unfortunately did not retain the original request - was it about the first William Spears in Sydney and his son and grandson of the same first name? I believe that William Spears, born about 1773 at Lye, Somerset, England, arrived Sydney 12 June 1801, free, on "Earl Cornwallis". He was a Protestant. NSW Corps. He married Mary Howe on 29.7.1806 at St Philip's Church, Sydney. She came free 1799 "Minerva", arriving Sydney 11 Jan, 1800. She died 15 September 1829 aged 47, Protestant. Apparently they met while William was on Norfolk Island and two of their children were born there. In the 1828 Census, William and Mary were living in Clarence St Sydney. He was then a sawyer aged 56. I do not have details of the full background of William Spears, sorry. William (2) was apparently the couple's third son, born 16 April 1806 in Sydney. He married Sarah Dowling. Their children included Mary 1829 (?); Mary A. 1833; John 1831; WILLIAM (3) 1836-12 May1886, buried Pt Frederick Cemetery at Gosford NSW (Pioneer Park); Louisa A. 1838; James 1839; George 1841 ; Richard 1844 ; Elizabeth S. 1845; Eliza 1848 (may not be complete). William Spears (2) was landlord of an inn called "The Crooked Billet" at Pretty Beach, Brisbane Water, first licensed in 1838. Masters of vessels waiting to cross the bar were the main patrons of this establishment, apparently. Of the children of William Spears (1) and Mary Howe, John was born Norfolk Is c. 1802; James b. 1804 Norfolk Island; then William (2) mentioned above, born Sydney; George b.1808 was licensee of The Cricketer's Arms Hotel in Mann St Gosford ( known in its final years as the Pier Hotel on the present site of the Presbyterian Church opp. Vaughan Avenue), succeeding his brother Francis. George died Gosford 18.10.1878. Then there was Joseph b. 1811 Sydney, died Gosford 11.4.1860 aged 49, who was licensee of the Victoria Hotel at East Gosford in the 1850s. His wife Sa rah Piper was brother to Kincumber shipbuilder Jonathan Piper. Joseph Spears had a 60 acre grant of waterfront land at Kincumber named "Brisbania" which he sold to James Dunlop, Astronomer-Royal, in 1842 except for a 10 acre strip on which his brother-in-law established a shipyard. After Joseph's death Sarah married (2) Frederick Bramwell (died 1866) and (3) James Brown. Both men on marriage took over from her as licensees of East Gosford hotels. Sarah herself died in 1881. William Spears (1) had a daughter Mary b. 1814 in Sydney (died Kincumber 1897) who married early Kincumber settler Thomas Humphreys. This couple had a very large family (possibly 19, of whom five or six died as infants - maybe one of the Humphreys descendants can fill us in on that subject sometime!). There are many descendants in the Gosford district today. Thomas and Mary are both buried at Holy Cross Cemetery at Kincumber South. Isaac Spears b. 1816 to William (1) and Mary, died 1817. After that child came Francis Henry Spears b. 1818 Sydney, who married Sarah Agnes Roche in 1840. Francis, once a house servant, was later a well known publican in Gosford. When he died in Gosford of cancer of the face at 74 in 1892, he was described in his obituary as having lived there for 60 years. His son James H. Spears was born in 1850 in the Mason's Arms, Mann St, Gosford, where his father was licensee. This was almost certainly the same hotel as the Sawyers Arms (an inn of the same name was at East Gosford for a period), the Cricketers Arms and the Pier Hotel). James H. Spears built Gosford's Union Hotel. His wife was Louisa Hillas Drinkwater who, after his death in 1900, married John Smith of "Stonehurst" near the Punt Bridge, East Gosford. Smith then became the licensee of the Union Hotel. The rather ornate and large headstone of Jame H. Spears still stands in the old Bradys Gully Cemetery at North Gosford, now a memorial park. The Spears picture covers a large canvas. The overall impression is of a family with a great interest in hotel-keeping. Besides the connection with the Piper shipbuilding family, there are links with the Howards of Erina Creek, and the Frosts of Kincumber, as William Henry Spears (1876-1924) son of James H. and Louisa Spears, married Edith Jane Howard, daughter of shipbuilder George Howard and his wife Letitia (nee Brennan) in 1899, and shipwright Francis Humphreys whose mother was the former Mary Spears, daughter of William (1), had a daughter Annie who married Horace Frost, son of shipbuilder George Frost and his wife Margaret E. (Lizzie) Frost of Kincumber Creek. Dates should all be cross-checked for confirmation. This is one of those families where children were named after siblings and cousins - extremely confusing! Best wishes, Gwen Dundon