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I read above re Thomas' first wife being Mary- however, given that Thomas was born c1815, could his first wife been a sister of his second?

Ireland Diocesan and Prerogative Marriage Licence Bonds indexes
First name(s) Thomas
Last name Spear
Year 1839
Diocese Clogher
Spouse's first name(s) Sarah
Spouse's last name Breen

http://www.igp-web.com/IGPArchives/ire/fermanagh/churches/lack-baps.htm

(above from google, some Thomas/Mary Thomas/Jane, other Speer also)

Chris :)

(if anything to help!)

Going by names of Thomas children- I'm thinking these are Thomas' younger siblings?:

Church: FERMANAGH, Births recorded in St. Marys Church

Baptized 17/1/1822 Isabella Catherine dau. of Robert Speir and Anne of Lack
Baptized 7/4/1824 Robert son of Robert Spear and Anne of Lack
Baptized 4/9/1826 John James son of Robert Spear and Anne of Lack
Baptized 21/5/1829 Eliza Mary dau. of Robert Spear and Anne of Lack

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=malise&id=I17672

Wow, Austin, you have been busy. Thank you for this. I'll have to sit down and go through the info you've given me ... wish they didn't give the same names to different generations, it totally confuses me.

I've ordered the death certificates for both the Thomas b. 1815 and Thomas b. 1825. Hopefully the registrant's name will ring a bell and I'll know which is mine, if any.

I've just received the two death certificates for the Thomas b. 1815 and Thomas b. 1825. I think I can rule out the Thomas b. 1825 as he is shown as a bachelor. Thomas b. 1815 looks like a very good candidate. He is shown as a widower, which would fit with his wife Isabella's death in 1897. The registrant is shown as John J. Speer, son, and my Thomas had a son, John James b. 1857.

Can anybody see why this could not be the correct Thomas?

Yvonne, I think the 1815- 1904 is the correct man-

Is there any address given for him on the death certificate? Does the address tie in with the 1901 census that I posted earlier?

It just gives Cronien as the address, which also fits.

If I buy a b.cert from the English GRO, I get a digital image printed on a special certificate page.
Underneath the image is printed:
"CERTIFIED to be a true copy of an entry in the certified copy of a Register of Births in the District above mentioned"

One can also buy a b.cert from the district that now holds the registrar, and the certification is slightly different, but most local offices lack the ability to transfer a digital image (if they have one) onto their certificate pages.

Anyway, GROI (or whatever they now call themselves) and GRONI both sell "uncertified images" of their BMD certs at reduced rates (as does GROS for older images). For Fermanagh pre-partition, I can buy certs via either:
http://www.groireland.ie
http://www.groni.gov.uk
For GROI, the rate for uncertified images is cheaper still if a ref is given.
This ref can be gotten from some commercial sites, and (thru 1958) via:
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408347?collectionNameFilter=false

Although, content-wise, there's no difference in the info on certified & uncertified images, the latter aren't acceptable for some legal purposes, like getting a passport, etc.

Thanks for the info ... always good to know these things.