Bert lived most of his life in the fifteen room house on North Grand St., West Suffield, near the Massachusetts state line overlooking Spear's pond. He was one of the early persons to generate his own electricity for his domestic use. He owned an automobile long before they were commonplace and he was one of the first in the Connecticut Valley to grow so-called "shadegrown" tobacco. He employed man men to raise and harvest tobacco by "picking" the leaves , women to "sew" the leaves and some to "fire the sheds" a process for curing tobacco leaves. Bert also harvested ice from Spear's Pond on a commercial scale. Ice was used by households in their ice boxes to keep perishables cool and by dairy farmers to cool their milk. The business became obsolete with the advent of electricity and refrigerators.
When Bert retired in 1941, he sold his home and farm to Hale Bros., later it became The Spear Farm of The Consolidated Cigar Corp. , a division of Gulf and Western.
taken from "The Descendants of George Spear 1642-1988" by Verne Raymond Spear. The subject of this profile was his uncle.
When Bert retired in 1941, he sold his home and farm to Hale Bros., later it became The Spear Farm of The Consolidated Cigar Corp. , a division of Gulf and Western.
taken from "The Descendants of George Spear 1642-1988" by Verne Raymond Spear. The subject of this profile was his uncle.
Bert lived most of his life in the fifteen room house on North Grand St., West Suffield, near the Massachusetts state line overlooking Spear's pond. He was one of the early persons to generate his own electricity for his domestic use. He owned an automobile long before they were commonplace and he was one of the first in the Connecticut Valley to grow so-called "shadegrown" tobacco. He employed man men to raise and harvest tobacco by "picking" the leaves , women to "sew" the leaves and some to "fire the sheds" a process for curing tobacco leaves. Bert also harvested ice from Spear's Pond on a commercial scale. Ice was used by households in their ice boxes to keep perishables cool and by dairy farmers to cool their milk. The business became obsolete with the advent of electricity and refrigerators.
When Bert retired in 1941, he sold his home and farm to Hale Bros., later it became The Spear Farm of The Consolidated Cigar Corp. , a division of Gulf and Western.
taken from "The Descendants of George Spear 1642-1988" by Verne Raymond Spear. The subject of this profile was his uncle.
When Bert retired in 1941, he sold his home and farm to Hale Bros., later it became The Spear Farm of The Consolidated Cigar Corp. , a division of Gulf and Western.
taken from "The Descendants of George Spear 1642-1988" by Verne Raymond Spear. The subject of this profile was his uncle.
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