Died February 3, 1899
Pearl Spofford Spear was born in 1812 to Joseph and Dolly Read Spear in an area of Warren that is now part of Rockland, Maine. His over 25 years of sea captain work took him to foreign ports such as those in Havana, Trieste, Malaga, and Canton on vessels with such names as Osprey, Thorn, Victress, and Lydia Stover.
Pearl, a river pilot at the time, married Martha in Georgetown, South Carolina, around 1840. Their daughters were Dolly Read, who died of diphtheria, and Eveline M. Pearl wrote in his book, The Old Sailor’s Story of His Life, Written by Himself, about the sometimes violent, cutthroat nature of his work on the river.
By 1860, Pearl was back in Maine with a new wife, Francis Southworth, and a son named William Serrage. Pearl, Harriet, Frank, and Albion were born later.
Pearl was in ill health by this time, and described himself as a “cripple.” During his life, he wound up staying at Seaman’s and Sailors homes in Portland, and even managed one. At the time, this home could accommodate 300 and boasted a chapel, reading room, museum, and bowling alley. His father-in-law was the pastor.
Pearl died at the age of 88 of heart disease. He and Francis (d. 1893) are listed as being in the same plot in the Eastern Cemetery burial records. The stone adorning the plot is quite different from any other in the burial ground. It’s a rounded marble stone with a pink hue, and simply lists his name, birth, and death years. It was conserved (cleaned and reset) by Spirits Alive in 2015.
Big thanks to Darren McClellan for his work on this biography. Pearl's great-granddaughter, Diane, brought his story to our attention, and we thought it would make a nice feature here.
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