436                 HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

    Mr. Hyland married, December 29, 1851, in Greggsville, Virginia,
Helen Mullarkey, who was horn in county Mayo, Ireland, November 8,
1833, a daughter of Owen and Mary (Mulkene) Mullarkey, also of that
country. Their daughter came to the United States with relatives in
November, 1851, and located first in Greggsville, Virginia. Mr. and
Mrs. Hyland became the parents of the following children: James,
whose home is in Omaha, Nebraska; Maria, of Terre Haute; Annie C.,
wife of Charles W. Lamb, of Terre Haute; Martin, also of that city;
John T., of Washington, D. C.; Agnes, at home; Jennie F., also at
home; Robert E., of Indianapolis, Indiana; Clara, who became the wife
of Elsworth Miller and died May 13, 1907; Simon, who died December
21, 1902; and Isadore and Ansalom. who died in infancy. Mr. Hyland
gave his political allegiance to the Democracy, and was a member of the
Catholic church, as is also Mrs. Hyland.

    William Spears.__At the early age of seven years—at a time
when most boys have hardly begun their education as public-school
students—William Spears began to provide for his own support. He
is truly a self-made man and deserves great credit for what he has
accomplished, for it has been through his diligence and unwearied indus-
try that he has worked his way upward, occupying now the responsible
position of assistant superintendent with the Crawford Coal Company
and also with the Indiana Block Coal Company. He was born in Dundi-
van, Scotland, February 16, 1843, his parents being Andrew and Ann
(Kilpatrick) Spears. The father’s birth occurred at Toll Cross, Scot-
land, February 28, 1817, and he died at the age of fifty-six years in
Akron, Ohio. His wife was born near Glasgow, Scotland, July 28,
1818, and died at Middlebury, Ohio, when fifty-four years of age.
Their family numbered ten children, of whom nine are living: William,
James, George, Esther, Robert, Agnes, Catharine, John and Annie. The
father was a miner in Scotland and came to America in 1865, settling at
Sharon, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, where he followed mining for
about two years. He then removed to the vicinity of Akron, Ohio,
where he continued in the same department of business activity up to
the time of his death. He was a man of Christian faith and principles,
and in his political views was a stalwart Republican.
    William Spears, whose name introduces this review, crossed the
Atlantic to the United States in January, 1864, when twenty years of
age. His youth was a period of earnest, unremitting toil. He was
employed in the rolling mills of his native country between the ages of
seven and nine years and afterward worked in the coal and iron mines
until twelve years of age. He then worked in the mills for about a
year and then again returned to the mines, where he continued until
seventeen years of age. He became a contractor in the mining business,
being perhaps the youngest contractor in that line in his native country.
He so continued for about a year and a half and then again followed
mining until 1864, when, attracted by the opportunities of the new
world, he came to the United States, settling first at Frostburg, Mary-
land. There he worked at mining for about eight months, when he
removed to Sharon, Pennsylvania, where he resided for about nine months.
On the expiration of that period he became a resident of Galcsburg,
Illinois, where he followed mining for a short time, after which he