A written history of the John Cears Kear family was started in 1977 after my father, Oscar Melville Kear, over several years gave me some information on scraps of paper. One of my daughters gave me a genealogy book as a Christmas present in 1976, and urged me to make a permanent record of the Kear family history. After a seven-year research, and at the urging of a librarian, I published The John Cears Kear Family (descendants and their families). Credit the librarian for encouraging me to publish, even though the history was incomplete. He advised that the history would never be complete, and that revisions should be made as new information was discovered.
The genealogy book raised many questions that I did not know needed to be asked. So, my research began in earnest by trying to draw from the memory of my 100-year-old father, who at the time was in a hospital. However, it was too late, as he died a few weeks later in January 1977. It was then that a decision was made to seriously research the Kear family history. I had retired the previous December, and this gave me a good project to fill my days.
One of the first things learned was that the Kear name was not the original family name. One scrap of paper identified my great grandfather as Thomas Reed Kear, and that he was born in Maryland. A history of Van Wert County, Ohio, gave his father's name as John Cears Kear. Further research in Maryland found a marriage license to Mary Reed that gave his name as John Ker. And, papers written by a great-uncle in early 1900 stated the three sons of this marriage changed the surname to Kear in protest of their father remaining loyal to England during the American Revolution. These papers also indicated the family is from Scottish descent, and that the family may have come through England to Maryland.
The many pages on this site contain the history of the John Cears Family with many corrections and additions to the published book.
Donald L. Kear, [email protected]
Information on this site related to the Kear family is from The John Cears Kear Family compiled, written and edited by Donald L. Kear, copyright © 1984. Copyright © 2000 - 2006 by Donald L. Kear. All rights reserved. Portions of the pages on this site may be reproduced for nonprofit use only. Credit shall be given to the source.