Brothers Frederick and Frank Teare from Peel killed in the battle of Arras April 1917

poppyFrederick and Frank Teare, stepbrothers born in Peel, were in two different armies when the battle of Arras started on 9 April 1917. They died within days of each other and despite being in the same battle and within miles of each other almost certainly had no idea they were so close. Frederick and Frank Teare are remembered on the Peel War memorial.

In the spring of 1917, British Empire and French forces began a combined offensive against the German Army on the Western Front in France. British Empire troops attacked around Arras on 9 April. Far to the south, the French launched their attack on 16 April, along the Chemin des Dames ridge. Arras had been close to the front line throughout the war, and was dominated by the high ground of Vimy Ridge. The German defences were formidable, with several lines of trenches, concrete blockhouses and deep dugouts.

The Canadian Corps, made up of the 4 Canadian Divisions, attacked and captured the high ground of Vimy Ridge that dominates the Douai plain and provides unobstructed views in all directions.

Frank Teare, a corporal in the Canadian Infantry Alberta Reg: 50th Bn. was killed on the 10 April 1917, the second day of the battle for Vimy Ridge. Despite severe cold and unseasonal snow the Canadians captured the majority of Vimy Ridge on the first day. They dug in and consolidated their positions overnight and on the 10th were attacking a small summit known as Hill 145. By the 12 April the Canadians controlled the whole ridge but at a cost – 10,602 Canadians were wounded during the attack, and 3,598 killed.

More about the story of Frank Teare and how he came to be in the Canadian Army here.

To the south an advance of over three and a half miles achieved by the 9th (Scottish) Division and the ‘leapfrogging’ 4th Division resulted in the capture of the village of Fampoux. This advance was the longest made in a single day by any belligerent from static trenches.

Frederick Teare, a sergeant in the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders, was wounded on the 11 April in the disastrous attack from Fampoux. Only 57 of the 363 men and 12 officers who started the attack returned unscathed. He died from his wounds in Hospital in Etaples 12 days later.

More about the story of Frederick Teare and how a master mariner came to die on the Western Front here.

Go to Teare WW1 memorial page.

Frank Teare 1889 – 1917

Frank Teare 1917 Calgary HeraldFrank was born in Peel in 1889 son of William Edward Teare sailmaker and partner in Teare and Sons ships chandlers and Eleanor Morrison daughter of Charles Morrison, a Peel grocer. They lived at 2 Crown Street.

Frank had an older stepbrother Frederick William, an older brother Archy (died in 1907 aged 11) and a younger brother Edward Morrison Teare. Frank’s older stepbrother Frederick was a merchant seaman and by the time war broke out in 1914 he had his masters certificate and was a river pilot in Rangoon, Burma. (See link Frederick Teare)

Frank attended King William’s College and was a keen sportsman enjoying golf and playing football for Peel AFC. Frank Teare Peel FC 1908 1909He was a member of the cup winning team of 1908/9 when Peel defeated Wanderers 2-1 at Tromode.  He became a surveyor and architect apprenticed to J.E. Teare of Douglas and in 1911 he emigrated to Quebec, Canada on the Empress of Ireland. He settled in Ontario and worked for the Canadian Government as a surveyor in the northern Alberta Region.

He enlisted into the Canadian Army in Calgary, Alberta in 1915 at the age of 26. His height was 5 ft 7inches and he had a fair complexion and hair and grey eyes.  The army had previously rejected him because of his eyesight, which was adversely affected by snowblindness caused during his surveying work.  He was drafted to England where he finished his training at Bramshott Camp before being sent to France where he was involved in the 1916 Somme offensive. He had a months furlough in Peel in January 1917 before returning to his regiment. He had been promoted to Corporal and was killed on 10 April 1917 taking part in the Canadian army campaign attacking and taking Vimy Ridge, a heavily fortified high point to the west of the town. The Battle of Vimy Ridge was fought between April 9 to 12 as part of the greater Battle of Arras. On April 10 the Battalion was near Hill 145, attacking at 3:15 p.m. and achieving all objectives by 3:45 p.m. even though enemy resistance was strong, the unit was relieved from their new positions that night.

frank teare memorialFrank is remembered on the memorial at Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France and on the Peel War Memorial.

He was killed within a few miles of his stepbrother Frederick Teare who was wounded at Fampoux on the 11 April in the battle of Arras and later died of his wounds in Etaples Military hospital on 23 April 1917.

Frank’s younger brother Edward Morrison Teare served in the Royal Engineers, survived the war and eventually retired to Peel and became a Peel Town Commissioner.

 

Thank you to Barry Bridson who supplied this photo of Frank Teare’s medals and the plaque sent to the families of all who were killed on active service.

frank teare medals

 

 

 

 

 

 

More about the battle for Vimy Ridge at http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/vimyridge.htm

Vimy Ridge Canadian Memorial  http://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/after-the-war/remembrance/vimy-memorial/

Teare ‘Clan’ – IoM, UK, USA

Screen Shot 2014-04-25 at 18.07.21 The information about the mining Teare family from Patrick and their voyages to and from the IoM to the USA and Canada was sent me by John Teare jr. now living in West Virginia, USA. (see blog : Teare mining families – IoM, USA, Canada http://teareandsons.com/2014/04/teare-mining-families-iom-usa-canada/)

When we started comparing notes and family tree information John Teare jr. had another insight into the Teare family connections.

Of the Teare family from Peel, that ended up as ropers, sail makers and ships chandlers in the 19th century, there are now families living principally in IoM and UK. The UK families resulted from emigration to UK at the beginning of the 20th century, after Dumbells Bank crash in 1900, which had such a negative impact on the Manx economy and especially the fishing industry. There were other Peel Teare’s at this time that emigrated to Canada but at present no connections to living families.

The IoM and UK Teare families had a common ancestor in Nicholas Teare (1766-1837) married to Mary Gibson (Cannel) (1770-1831).

It was John Teare jr. who noticed that Nicholas had a brother Edward (1757-1809) who was in his family tree. Edward married Margaret Caine (1766-1795) and these are the common ancestors for his family line, many of whom ended up in the USA and /or Canada.

The parents of Edward and Nicholas were John Tear (d 1789) and Jony Cosnahan (d 1797) so the Teare’s of Peel and the lead miners from Patrick are part of the same family.

At the end of the previous blog I commented on the contemporary accounts of how early Manx immigrants to the USA continued to speak Manx and were considered clannish. This summary family tree shows the connections of the Teare families now in IoM, UK, USA and Canada – and it’s only a summary there is much more detail if you’re interested.

It may have taken a couple of hundred years but the Teare family clan is connecting again.

Teare iom uk usa canada

Teare mining families – IoM, USA, Canada

miners

Mining has a long history on the Isle of Man with earliest records going back to 1246 when King Harald granted mining rights to the monks of Furness Abbey.  During the period from the 1830’s there was a great revival in the Manx mining industry and rapid development. In1848 the Foxdale mines had proved to be the most productive in the island. In 1871 a new lease was granted and the mine was renamed the Central Foxdale Mine, sometimes know as the east mine. The three main shafts were renamed ‘Amy’, ‘Elizabeth’ and ‘Taylors’. Elizabeth was the deepest at 145 fathoms and was the engine shaft. The mine had a workforce 70 men underground and 45 at the surface in 1882 and the annual production of ore was between three and four hundred tons. (http://www.manxmines.com/FOXDALE%20MINE.htm )

John Teare jr. from West Virgina, USA recently contacted me with information about Edward Teare and his family from Patrick. He takes up the story – Edward Teare and Elizabeth “Betsy” Kennaugh, both of Patrick Parish, had eight children. In 1861, aged 24 he was married to Elizabeth and working as a fisherman and agricultural labourer but by 1871 he was a miner as well as farming 6 acres. He continued working as a lead miner in the 1881, 1891 and 1901 censuses.

His eldest son, William Edward was born 1858, and another Teare relative reported that he had been in the USA at the time of the 1891 IoM census, but no record of his visit has been found, so far. He married Sarah Ellison and was living on Glen Rushen Road, working as a lead miner. He was a widower living in Douglas when he died in 1920.

Thomas Henry Teare was born 1861 in Patrick Parish and arrived at New York (age 26) along with William Christian (age 22) on March 10, 1888 aboard the “City of Chicago” and destined for Michigan. His wife Emily Margaret Cain (daughter of Philip Cainand Anne Callin) joined him later with their children and other children were born in Michigan. The family returned to the Isle of Man, arriving at Liverpool, England in 1899 aboard the “Campania”, prompted, I believe by his father’s failing health. He returned to the USA without the family and in 1900 he was boarding in Ishpeming but in 1901 he was in Port Erin (his father died 1 April 1901) and then he returned to America without his family, sailing from Liverpool on 4 May 1901 and arriving New York aboard the Camapnia on 11 May. He was killed in a mining accident 23 December 1901 (ironically, at the Foxdale mine in Ishpeming) and buried in Ishpeming. His widow Emily and 4 children arrived in Boston, Massachusetts in May 1907 aboard the Cymric destined for Cobalt, Ontario, Canada to join her brother, Cesar Cain. His son, Thomas Henry Jr., now age 16 is listed as a miner. Emily died in Timmons, Cochrane County, Ontario, Canada in 1932.

Ambrose Teare was born in 1863 in Patrick Parish but by 1900 the census shows him living in Ishpeming, Michigan with his Swedish born wife Annie Peterson (married about 1894) and adopted daughter Kate. He arrived in the US in 1886 and was working as an iron miner. In 1910 the family was living in Mace, Shoshone County, Idaho and he was a Quartz miner. Also in the household was Thomas Quilliam aged 43, also a Quartz miner. The following week Ambrose, Annie and Kate crossed the Canadian border at Kingsgate, British Columbia bound for Langdon and in 1911 the family is found at McLeod, Alberta, Canada where he is a farmer. In the same housing unit are Mark Crellin, his brother in law, married to Elizabeth, the youngest of Edward and Elizabeth’s children. After Annie died in 1913 Ambrose remarried to Eleanor Elizabeth Christian born Glen Maye, Patrick about 1875. They had one child, John Frederick Teare, born 1914 in Alberta Canada. Ambrose died in 1915 at Carseland, Strathmore, Alberta, Canada.

John Albert Teare was born Patrick 1866 and died 1885. He was a fisherman, aboard the Tartar in 1881 with James Cubbon, age 73.

tree2

 

 

Joseph Benjamin Teare, my great grandfather was born in 1872 in Patrick. In 1891 he was the oldest child still living with his parents at Kerroodhoo, Foxdale. He was a lead miner like his father. He arrived at Ellis Island, New York on 16 Apr 1896 aboard the “Teutonic” sailing from Liverpool; he traveled with Thomas Garrett 27, Fred Quine 25, and Wilfred Shimmin 21, all listed as Manx miners. He came back to the IoM and married Eleanor Jane Clague at Patrick Parish 01 Jun 1899 before returning, without his wife on his second voyage to the US on the S.S. Servia in 1900: passenger index shows that his 2 brothers (Thomas and Ambrose) are in Ishpeming, Michigan. On this trip he traveled with John McQuiggan, 25, Irish from Foxdale, who was previously in U.S. in 1892 for 2 years and was going to Ishpeming to visit his nephew. Joseph and Eleanor had two children whilst in Ishpeming, Robert Edward (called Eddie) born 1903 and Eva Elizabeth born 1906. The family moved to Cuyuna, Minnesota in 1911 and then to Crosby, Crow Wing County, Minnesota in 1912. By 1930 the census shows Joseph is still an iron ore miner. Eva, a schoolteacher, is living at home. She never married. Robert married my grandmother, Louise Marion Simpson in 1930 in Brainerd, Crow Wing County, Minnesota and the newlyweds lived in Crosby; Robert was a grocery deliveryman. Robert and Louise had three children, all born in Crosby: Robert Edward born 1931, Joseph Moses born 1932 and John Richard (my father) born 1934. My grandfather died when the children were young in 1937 and my grandmother, her mother Alice Simpson and the three boys moved to Philadelphia. Robert grew up to be a butcher, Joseph was an airline mechanic and my father John an insurance salesman.

John Teare jr. now lives in West Virginia. This story gives so many insights into where families started out and then end up in the world and the work they did. Also the voyages made between USA and IoM, in both directions. The number of marriages recorded to people with Manx names, even after leaving the island, is fascinating and fits with contemporary accounts of early Manx immigrants to the USA which show how they settled in the same areas, they spoke Manx and were considered clannish.

Teare

The name Teare comes from the Isle of Man and is derived from the Scottish name MacIntyre. In the early years of the 20th century the Manx economy was in decline due to the collapse of the fishing catch and Dumbells Bank crash in 1900. As a result many young men and women left the island looking for work and better opportunities. Teare is not a common name and estimates suggest there are now about 700 Teare’s  in the UK (including the Isle of Man) and between 5-600 in the USA plus another 100 in each of Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

This site is being developed to bring together all things Teare – family and social history, unusual facts and stories and anything else related to the name.

I look forward to hearing from you, please tell your Teare friends and relatives about the site and share your stories and anecdotes.

Mike