HIRAM F. LEAR, farmer and stock-raiser, is a native of Culpeper County, Va., son of Nathan and Maria (Spicer) Lear, who was born January 21, 1821. The grandfather of Mr. Lear was one of the three Virginia Blues that carried Gen. Braddock from the field of battle in one of the early Indian wars. He was also a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and the father of Mr. Lear was a soldier of 1812. When Mr. Lear was nine years of age, his father removed from Virginia to Belmont County, Ohio, and there remained until the spring of 1838, when he came to White County and began settlement in Big Creek Township. When Mr. Lear reached his majority, he began work for himself. He rented land of Joseph Thompson, and farmed three years, and then came to Princeton Township and purchased eighty acres of land in Section 4. He now owns more than 500 acres. Here he has lived all the time, save seven years he was in the mercantile business in Monon. Mr. Lear married Miss Margaret Ann Burnes, daughter of the old pioneer, John Burnes, in Big Creek Township. To this union have been born thirteen children, viz.- John F., Charles N., Thomas A., James B., David M.. Zorah M., Hiram Fayett, William W., Samuel E., Birt L., Mary J., Etna D., Hugh L. and an infant that died unnamed. In religious opinion, Mr. Lear is a liberal. He is a golden-rule kind of a man, and perhaps the greatest compromiser in White County. Many differences between neighbors have been settled through his influence, and his place in this particular could not easily be filled. Mrs. Lear is a member of the Christian Church, and he is a Republican.

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