His name is listed as John and James; Sporer, Spohrer, Spore, Spoar, Sporr, and Spoier in various records.
He was baptized as John Nepomuk Sporer on 21 Nov 1818 in the Altenberg Catholic Church.
John Spohrer arrived in New York aboard the Marie on 28 Jul 1846 at age 27. The ship had sailed from Bremen, Germany; and with him was Katharina Gumler.
John and Catherine were married about 1847 in Honesdale, and were listed in the 1850 census as John (31, GER), a laborer, Catherine (28, GER) and George (1, PA).
The family history written by Joan Sporer and provided by Donald Sporer reads:
“John was born in 1819 or 1818; Katharina in 1820 - both in Hanover, Germany. They married in Germany and then decided to come to America. During their 42 day sailing trip, Katharina bore unnamed twins who died and were buried at sea. When John and Katharina arrived in New York City; they knew no one. They went directly to Honesdale, PA where they were befriended by Mr. Cole; probably because Katharina’s sister was already established there.
They received a land grant in Cherry Ridge Township, PA. The Sporers stayed with Katharina’s sister and brother-in-law, the Brunners, in Texas Township (in East Honesdale) and every day crossed the river and walked to Cherry Ridge to work on their land. They cleared all the acreage of trees and rocks, with stone walls being built between the fields by the following two generations. They then built the barn and finally, in 1858, the house. This farm was passed on to John’s son and his wife, John and Christina Sporer, and then passed on to John’s grandson and his wife, George and Alice Sporer. The original house was torn down in 1947.
John and Katharina started dairy farming and raised eight children: Joseph, Christina, Catherine, Margaret, Mary, John, Michael, and Theresa. The Sporers both died in Honesdale, PA - John on 22 Feb 1904 and Katharina in 1909 (sic).”
A bio from The History of Scranton and Its People:
“John Sporer, born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1818, died in 1905. He came to the United States in 1845, when a young man of twenty-seven years, and after being employed a short time in New York moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania, where he worked on the Delaware and Hudson Canal. Abandoning labor of this kind, he purchased a farm in Cherryridge Township, Wayne County, and there engaged in farming operations until his retirement in 1893, his death occurring at the advanced age of eighty-six years.
John Sporer married Kate Gumler, a native of Bavaria, Germany, and had children: 1. George, died age sixteen years. 2. Christina, married Joseph Dink, of Honesdale, Pennsylvania, and is the mother of: (sic) Christina, Joseph, John, Michael, and William. 3. Kate, deceased. 4. Margaret, married and lives in Honesdale. 5. Mary, married Frank Dukes of Scranton, Pennsylvania and has issue: Lizzie, William, Florence, Robert, Frank, Henry and Marie. 6. Michael, of whom further. 7. Theresa, married John Steggner, a merchant of Honesdale, Pennsylvania, and had children: John, Frank, Noah, Robert, and Edwin.”

The story says they immigrated in 1853, but his citizenship papers and census records show it to be 1846. In addition 3 of his children were born in Pennsylvania before 1853. He filed Naturalization papers in Honesdale on 9 Feb 1853 and his citizenship was granted 8 Sept 1856.
In 1857 he purchased 38 Ac in Cherry Ridge Twp from Johnson de Boer.
He is listed as James Spoier in 1860 (44), a farmer from Hanover, with $800 of land (which, according to the family history, he obtained the land via a land grant) and $300 pers property. He has 7 children, all born in Penn.
In 1870 he is listed as John Sporer, a farmer with his wife and children Mary, John, Mike, and Theresa. He had $3,000 of land and $500 of personal property. He and his wife were from Bavaria, but all the children were born in PA.
In 1876 he purchased another 22 Ac from Stephen Torrey for $278.
In 1880 he is listed as John Sporr (63) with his wife Catherine (60), both born in Bavaria. With them are son Michael (20) working as a farm laborer, and daughter Teresa (17) in school.
He sold all 60 Acres of land to his son John in 1888 for $2,000.
1900 listed as John Sporer (Sporr?) with his wife in the household of Joseph and Christina Dink as the father and mother-in-law. He is 81, born Apr 1819 and married 53 years with 8 children, 6 of whom were living (guessing that Joseph George and Catherine were dead). It also shows that he immigrated to the US in 1846 and was naturalized. He was listed as a farm laborer, unemployed 12 months of the previous year.
The family history written by Joan Sporer lists his death as 22 Feb 1904, which is confirmed by his
John Sporer, an old and respected resident of Union Hill, died at his home on Monday afternoon, Feb 22, 1904 of a complication of diseases, aged nearly 86 years. He was born in Germany and came to America in 1853 (sic) and for a time lived on a farm in Cherry Ridge and later removed to Honesdale, where he had since resided. The funeral will be held at St Magdalen’s church, Thursday morning at nine o’clock, Rev William Dassel officiating. Interment in the German Catholic cemetery. Deceased was a charter member of the St Joseph’s society of Honesdale and the organization will attend the funeral in a body. Besides his widow he is survived by six children, Mrs Joseph Denk, Mrs John H Stegner, Mrs George Denk of Honesdale, John Sporer of Cherry Ridge, Michael Sporer and Mrs Frank Dux of Scranton; also thirty-five grand children and nine great grand children.