SPEARS (SPEARSVILLE) Per "Jessamine Co., Ky 1798-1993", submitted by Jane Welch Stafford Spears, or Spearsville, as it was called in the early days, is located on a ridge overlooking the Kentucky River and Madison County. Union Mill Pike from Nicholasville, Tates Creek Road from Lexington, Newman Road and Spears Road going on to Jack's Creek Pike all converge at Spears. Tates Creek Road goes on down to the Kentucky River and Valley View Ferry to Richmond in Madison County. From the corner of Newman Road and Tates Creek Road one can see across the river into Madison County. Tates Creek Road is in the division line between Fayette County and Jessamine County at Spears. When Jessamine County was formed out of Fayette County, Tates Creek Road was designated as the boundary line between the two counties, leaving Spears divided with part of the village in each county. Because of its unique location, Spears has always been a trade, cultural, and until recent years, an educational center in this part of Jessamine County. In the 1890's and early 1900's there were three general stores, two churches ( Methodist and Christian), a blacksmith shop and a school with grades 1 through 12. Since then one of the stores burned and was not replaced; the Methodist Church was demolished and not replaced; the Christian Church burned and was replaced; the blacksmith shop disappeared; and the school was consolidated with the rest of Jessamine County schools. There were also three doctos in Spears until the coming of common usage of automobiles, which changed the entire life of the community. Until that time, the people living in the Spears community were very self-sufficient. Most of their needs were met right there at home. The churches were the center of their social life with Sunday morning services and mid-week activities. The Methodist women were famous for their quilting. They met at various homes, and holding the quilting frame in their laps, sat in a circle and settled the community's prblems while the children played on the floor under the quilt that their mothers were working on. The Christian Church held very popular watermelon feeds, ice cream socials, and a community Christmas Tree and program. Names were drawn so that everyone in the community received a gift from under the enormous, ceiling-touching evergreen. Santa Claus was especially good to the children with stockings filled with candy, nuts and huge apples and oranges for each child. There was a closeness, and a warm spirit of caring in Spears that reached out to all families within a radius of about 5 miles of the junction of the roads. We do not know the exact date of the founding and naming of Spears, but it would probably be safe to assume that it was about 1800. This is because John Spears and Jonathan Newman came to Lincoln County in 1793, and moved on to then Fayette County and what was later to become Spears, where Jonathan Newman built a log and stone house on his grant of several thousand acres, which were a part of a settlement grant from the American Revolution. His son, David Newman, built his house nearby in 1818. So, Spears must have been founded at some date between 1793 and 1818. It was probably named for John Spears or some member of his family. Some of the family names that represent people who lived in or near Spears in the 1800's and early 1900's were as follows: The three doctors were Dr. Linville, Dr. Blount and Dr. Baucom, who later moved to Winchester. There may have been a Dr. Carl Grant, also, who moved to Winchester. Most of the rest of the families were farmers. Their names and the roads on which they lived are : JACK'S CREEK ROAD: Prather, Charles Land (former sheriff of Fayette County), Tuttle and Lamb; UNION MILL PIKE: Marcus Cassell, Robert Newman, David Newman, Jonathan Newman, John Spears, Samuel Peyton Welch, Thompson, Fletcher; TATES CREEK ROAD: Grubb, Everett Hayden, Buck and Jennie Smith, Miller, Sam Young, Sherman Cook; NEWMAN ROAD: Hale, Christian, Thompson, Green Murphy, Tate, Laffoon; MARBLE CREEK: John Russell, Joe Beck, Turner Johnson, Susie Williams, Rutherford, Taylors and others. The three stores were each owned and run respectively by Jim Tudor, Johnny Bourne, and Luther Powell. In 1993, Spears is a thriving and growing community with two stores, and one church. The children go to school in Nicholasville. There is a large trailer park and many new homes on Newman Road and the other connecting roads.