Person:Isaac Spire (1)

Isaac Spire was baptised on 11th November 1753 at Ashton under Hill in Gloucestershire, son of Ann Spire, formerly Hobbs, and her husband Thomas Spire, a weaver.

Isaac’s next sighting is on 7th July 1774, when he obtained a marriage licence to marry Mary Whitford from the nearby village of Broadway. As Isaac was not yet 21 years old at the time, the marriage licence notes that his father, Thomas Spire of Ashton under Hill, gave full consent for the marriage to go ahead. Isaac and Mary married the next day at Didbrook in Gloucestershire, which is about eight miles from Ashton under Hill. Mary was 21 when they married. Isaac and Mary’s marriage licence also describes him as a weaver.

Isaac and Mary settled in the parish of Buckland, in between Didbrook and Broadway. They had two children baptised there: a daughter called Elizabeth in 1775 and a son called William in 1776.

Mary died in 1778, aged just 26.

In 1789 Isaac was mentioned in Mary’s brother-in-law James Sperry’s will – not as a beneficiary, but as the father of young Elizabeth and William who were to receive conditional bequests if James Sperry’s own children died young.

Isaac’s son William stayed in the Buckland area as an adult, marrying there in 1794. Isaac’s first known grandchild was born in 1796. William also followed Isaac’s trade, also becoming a weaver. Isaac’s daughter Elizabeth moved to the London area where she married in 1798.

Isaac left Buckland and returned to his native parish of Ashton under Hill. He died at the age of seventy, being buried at Ashton under Hill on 6th August 1824. He had lived to see ten grandchildren born, although only four of them survived him. He also lived to see great grandchildren. He had been a widower for 46 years.

1. ↑ Bishop's Transcript, in Ashton under Hill, Gloucestershire: Parish Registers (Gloucestershire Archives, Gloucester).

   1753 / Baptized / Isaac, Son of Thomas & Anne Spire, November 11th

2. ↑ Bishop's Transcript of Burials Register, in Ashton under Hill, Gloucestershire: Parish Registers (Gloucestershire Archives, Gloucester).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Ashton under hill in the County of Gloucester in the Year 1824
   No	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   69	Isaac Spiers	Ashton under hill	1824 August 6th	71 [1752/3]	J. Timbrill