I am researching various Limerick families with a number of other cousins from branches in Australia, Canada, Ireland and America. Your website listing for William Sperin is DEFINITELY connected to the Limerick branches.

Purposely, the different branches changed the spellings of their surnames. The first families came from London to Cappagh parish, Limerick between 1680 and 1700 a.d. spelling the name Spierin.

By 1800 the family branched out into several parishes and the spellings morphed at that point into Sperin, Speirin, Speiran, Speerin, Speering, Spearin and Spearing. My main problem is the lack of records from 1760 to 1800. I have a lot of kids with known first names born in this time frame and very few father's names.

HOWEVER, I do know certain things about this time period....

Your specific branch in Geelong appears to come from the parish of Croagh just below Cappagh in Limerick.

The William in your tree had a son Frank who had a son WILLIAM FRANCIS HARTWELL who died as an infant. HARTWELL is a uniquely Limerick name and was the key to determining your origins. Here's why.

The London Spierins were friends a British Naval Captain named Samuel Hartwell who died in battle near the Netherlands about 1689. His son was Barry Hartwell AND HERE'S THE CONNECTION ON HOW SOMEONE IN YOUR TREE ENDED UP WITH THE NAME HARTWELL......

The first 2 Spierins in Limerick were Luke and Matthew Spierin. Matthew died in 1717 in Adare parish Limerick. Luke died in 1726 in Cappagh parish Limerick. Matthew's daughter married Barry Hartwell and Luke's eldest son was named Hartwell Spierin. This first of many, many Hartwell Spierins was born in 1680. This Hartwell had 3 brothers Mark, Nicholas and Luke Jr. Spierin.

I am descended from Luke Jr. If I have my theories correct your William Sperin may be descended from Hartwell and not just because of the name. You are definitely part of the Limerick families even if I have the wrong brother. Records are so hard to come by but I am making progress using Irish land deeds from the 18th century.

I believe your William is the son of William Sperin/Speerin who came to Australia on the prison ship Asia in 1824. The elder William left behind a wife and 5 children in Croagh parish, Limerick. These children we all born between 1815 and 1824. I lost the trail of the elder William once he got to Australia but your William is a perfect age based on when his children Agnes, Rachel and Frank were born.

Croagh parish is important because of its proximity to Cappagh parish. The first Hartwell inherited land in Croagh and took over land in Croagh left to his other brothers. At this point some of the branches apparently split and go to Adare parish.

Another researcher is researching a Patrick Speerin/Sperin/Sperrin who came to Australia in 1831 and I believe he is connected to your William. He was born either 1796 or 1806. Patrick was sentenced in Newport, Tipperary county, Ireland where he lived at the time. His wife Ellen and son John followed him to Australia in 1849. While Tipperary is a different county than Limerick, the town of Newport is only about 20 miles from Adare and Croagh parishes in Limerick.

Here's the link. In the 1856 elector rolls for Geelong district, there is a William Sperrin (most probably yours) and a Patrick Sperrin. I believe they are either brothers and sons of the elder William or Ppatrick is the brother of the elder William and thus your William's uncle.

There is also a 3rd and a 4th Limerick family in Australia.

In the 1850s another Adare parish Limerick branch came as freemen. They were George, John, Luke and Tobias Speiran. In Limerick they spelled their name Spearin. They are connected also to 2 Canadian branches. George, John and Tobias went to NSW and Luke went to Perth.

The fourth branch begins with a James Speering who came to Australia in 1822 on the prison ship Mangles with his brother Michael aka Thomas Michael. They also were from Adare parish, Limerick. Their brother Luke is my great great great grandfather. Luke went to England instead of Australia and his son Michael came to New Jersey where we are to this day.

Yet another branch I believe directly related to you went from Croagh to Ballingarry parish Limerick in the 1790s and changed their spelling from Spierin to Sperin. A Nicholas Sperin of Ballingarry and his brothers left Ballingarry and went to Cherokee county Georgia in 1834. This branch is almost certainly descended from the first Hartwell Spierin.

My hope here is that you may have additional information not currently on your website which would verify the Limerick/Tipperary and/or Patrick Sperrin connections or you may possess a larger tree that I would appreciate seeing. I have an enormous amount of material I can share on the family history that would occupy about 2 cdrom disks. I also have a very large tree on rootsweb.com concerned with linking all these families.

My goal (and the goal of 9 other researching cousins around the globe) is to link all the families to their common ancestor about 1760 when the original brothers Hartwell Mark Nicholas and Luke split into different families.

I love to share so feel free to use this info on your website if you wish.
Can you help? Please!!! We are so close to figuring out the whole story!
Sincerely
Bob Spearing