Quarterly Journal of the Spencer Historical and Genealogical

Volume 34, No. 1
Quarterly Journal
of the
Spencer Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc.
February 2010
This page intentionally left blank.
SPENCER HISTORICAL and GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, INC.
Founded 1978 as The Spencer Family Association
The objectives of the Spencer Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc. (SHGS) are to encourage and promote
the accurate recording of family data, vital statistics, and individual accomplishment of both direct family
descendants and those related to or otherwise associated with a Spencer line, and also to install, in Spencer
descendants, a sense of pride in their ancestral lineage. Membership is open to descendants of any and all
Spencer lines, and associated lines.
Journal Material. Interested persons are invited to submit material to be considered for publication
in Le Despencer, the quarterly journal of the Spencer Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc., which is
electronically published in February, May, August and November and distributed to all members. Articles
and Queries for publication should be submitted to Terri Spencer #1882, Editor; PO Box 150242, Alexandria,
VA 22315; email [email protected] at least four weeks prior to the first of the month of publication.
Queries are published at no charge to members and a fee of $2.50 per query for nonmembers. Make
checks payable to SHGS, Inc. The Society disclaims responsibility for the accuracy of material submitted by
contributors, or errors therein, which is the sole responsibility of the contributor. Articles do not necessarily
reflect the views of SHGS, Inc., its Officers, Board of Directors, Staff or Editor of this journal. Each contributor
is responsible for his/her article not violating existing copyrights. Written permission to publish copyright
material will be obtained by the contributor, giving SHGS the right to use the material, and such written
permission will accompany the material submitted for publication.
Genealogical Data. All genealogical data for the SHGS Database should be sent to Sharron S. Spencer
#1478B, Computer Data Manager; 3214 Wintergreen Court, Grapevine, TX 76051-4241; email datamanager@
spencersociety.org. Lineage should start with the earliest *proven* Spencer ancestor, with sources cited, but
not earlier than the 1500s, and go down through the Spencer line to the member’s generation. Data may be
submitted via U.S. Mail, either in GEDCOM format or hard-copy Family Group Sheets, or via email. Please include
your SHGS membership number on all correspondence.
Correspondence to officers and staff should include the complete name, address, email address, and
membership number of the submitter. Correspondence requiring a reply via postal service should include a
stamped, self-addressed envelope.
Membership and Changes of Address. Membership is on a yearly basis, with multiple year memberships
available. Renewal checks/money orders in US Dollars and address changes should be sent to Deborah M.
Diekema #1999, SHGS Registrar; SHGS, Inc.; 68281 Birch St., South Haven, MI 49090-9780; email registrar@
spencersociety.org. All renewals and address changes must be received by last business day of the month
preceding the publication of Le Despencer. Please provide both old and new addresses, with zip codes and
membership numbers. Renewal dues are payable on the first day of the expiration month.
Annual Membership Dues. Membership dues are subject to change without notice.
One Year USA/Canada
One Year Non-USA
Three-Year USA Only
Single Member
$20.00
$25.00
$50.00
Member and Spouse
$25.00
$30.00
$65.00
Junior Memberships through age 17 are available for a one-time fee of $5.00. Membership is acknowledged with a membership
certificate and are available to descendants of members. These memberships are intended to help create interest in family history.
Junior membership applications are available on the membership page of the SHGS website at www.SpencerSociety.org.
Copyright © 2009 Spencer Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc., 123 Vail Street, Michigan City, IN 46360-2543
Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s
President’s Letter
1
Letter from the Editor
Reunion 2010
2
Some Missouri Spencers
4
Some Notable Spencers
8
2010 SHGS Officer Elections
9
3
Cmdr. Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr., USN
12
The Inevitable Laws of Genealogy
13
Platt Rogers Spencer
14
The Incredible Microwave Oven
15
Percy Spencer and His Itch to Know
16
P. L. Spencer, Raytheon, Autobiography
19
Gramps
25
Christopher Miner Spencer
30
The Quest: Finding My Spencer Roots, Part II: The Discovery
Spencer Discussion List and Message Board
31
From the Registrar
45
le Despencer Data Submission 46
SHGS Board of Directors and Staff
47
45
Marion Gerald “Jerry” Spencer #1487
Spencer Historical &
Genealogical Society, Inc.
President
3214 Wintergreen Terrace
Grapevine, TX 76051
817.488.6168
[email protected]
www.SpencerSociety.org
February 2010
This year will require more action than last because it is a reunion year and an election year.
Anyone who is interested in helping to keep this organization alive and kicking should make
yourself available for office, either elected or appointed office. The places to be filled by election this year are: president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. All are two-year terms.
The registrar’s office is a four-year term and it will be up for election in 2012. Appointed
offices are librarian, data manager, historian, I.T. consultant, Indiana Corporate Agent and
editor/webmaster. Duties of the elected offices are published in this edition of le Despencer.
If you are interested to serve in any of these positions, please inquire right away.
The bi-annual SHGS reunion will be held in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in September. Allison Sovetsky and her parents, Barbara and Gardner Spencer, are hosting the meetings and
planning the activities. I am quite sure that any assistance offered will be graciosly accepted.
Allison’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Details may be found elsewhere
in this publication.
Jim Hills, our current IT consultant and past registrar, has asked to be relieved of his duties
because of health problems. Jim has provided immeasurable service to this organization for
many years and he will be missed greatly. Jim’s expertise as a programmer and all around
computer genius has made it possible to keep track of our membership records for many
years, and he has passed on much of his knowledge to Debbie Diekema who has taken over
the registrar’s job with Jim’s help.
This will be my last year to serve as your president and I look forward to a renewed and
improved organization under the leadership of an inspired and active person. It is up to the
members to find that person. I appointed Debbie Diekema, Sharron Spencer and Mary Post
as a nominating committee and I am sure that they would appreciate contact from anyone
interested in serving in any position.
Best wishes,
M.G. “Jerry” Spencer, P.E. #1487
President, SHGS
1
FROM THE EDITOR
7 Ultimate. My computer was compatible with an
upgrade, so I started it that afternnon, and it was still
running by the time I went to bed around midnight.
The next morning, I discovered that the upgrade had
stalled, and I couldn’t abort it. I called Microsoft, and
their ensuing advice caused a full system crash. As a
result, I lost everything on my computer. I wasn’t too
concerned, since I have six external drives. However, I
soon discovered that somehow the system crash took
my primary backup drive with it.
Winter in northern Virginia isn’t supposed to be like
this. Prior till December 19th, I had shoveled snow
(or sneaux, as we Cajuns call it) only once before in
my life, and I hoped never to do it again. I received
20” of snow at my house during a 24-hour period
from January 19-29, another six inches in late January, 30” February 5-6, and another foot a few days
later. I have since shoveled more snow than I ever
hope to see again, but I doubt Mother Nature will
cooperate. I hope you have fared better this winter.
February did send one good thing my way: my beloved Saints won the Super Bowl!
The February issue has a contribution from an
individual whose membership to SHGS is “in the
mail.” George “Rod” Spencer, Jr. is the grandson of
Percy LeBaron Spencer, the man credited with the
invention of the microwave oven. I hope you enjoy
reading Rod’s recollections of his grandfather, as
well as Percy’s own words about his technological
discoveries.
Allison Sovetsky has provided updated information
on the SHGS 2010 reunion, which can be found on
page 3.
SHGS officer elections are coming up this year. Please
review the officer descriptions and responsibilities
on pages 9-11 and consider running for one of these
positions.
On January 21st, I decided to upgrade my primary
desktop computer from Windows Vista to Windows
I started a file recovery program in hopes of recovering some of the million files on the drive. As of a few
minutes ago, the program has been running for 845
straight hours, with 171 hours projected till finish.
Perhaps it will finish by Spring. Lesson learned: Back
up your backups!
The new Spencer member website was on the backup drive, and while I hope it’s recoverable, I didn’t
want to wait forever for the file recovery program to
finish. I put together a very quick-and-dirty member
website, which is basically empty, and it is there that
I am putting all issues of le Despencer. Though not
nearly as nice as the one on the crashed drive, it will
suffice until I can recover the other files and replace
the website. The member website is http://members.
spencersociety.org. There will be no login and password until the other site is recovered.
On a related note, most of the links in this issue of le
Despencer do not work because the program I use to
develop the journal has a problem. I will fix them as
soon as I get a chance and upload the corrected version at that time. However, I have been working 1420 hours a day this year, and have only left my house
once since February 4th. Therefore, I’m going to give
myself a breather after my next project is finished,
then will take care of outstanding SHGS issues. I appreciate your understanding until that time.
I hope you enjoy this issue, and would appreciate receiving more articles from the membership.
Terri Spencer #1882
Editor, le Despencer
[email protected]
2
SHGS Reunion 2010
Spencer-Pierce Little House
http://www.historicnewengland.org/visit/homes/little.
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
htm (see image)
Join us for the 2010 SHGS Reunion, to be held SepThis features an imposing architectural jewel, a late
tember 23rd-26th in historic Portsmouth, NH. The
seventeenth-century major house built as the counreunion will take us to several destinations that are
try seat of wealthy Newburyport merchants. It is also
a foster farm in partnership with the Massachusetts
relevant to various Spencer genealogical lines. ExpeSociety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, with
rience some of New England’s treasures: the farms,
farm animals that may be visited year round.
mills, and even culinary treats that make the area
such a special place to visit.
Lowell Boot Mills
http://www.nps.gov/lowe/index.htm
Hotel Information:
Anchorage Inn, Portsmouth, NH
http://www.anchorageinns.com
Group rate: $89.99 (plus tax) per night and includes
continental breakfast. Please indicate you are with the
Spencer Reunion.
Some of the planned activities include:
Old Berwick Historical Society
http://www.obhs.net
“Spencer descendants may be especially interested
in our small display of archaeological artifacts from
home of Humphrey and Lucy Chadbourne, who operated a sawmill in the late 1600s. Humphrey’s sister
Patience was married to Thomas Spencer (c. 15961681) and lived nearby, and our exhibit focuses on
timber cutting, sawmilling and the life of this remarkable and elite family on the 17th century frontier.”
Many New England families moved from farms to
work in the mills. Explore what it was like to work in a
New England mill through numerous exhibits.
Bus transportation will be provided to destinations in
Massachusetts.
Reunion registration: $110/per person (includes activities listed above). The reunion is a flat rate and should
attendees not be interested in attending a particular
event, the flat rate still applies.
For more information, contact Allison Spencer at
[email protected]. Please put 2010 Spencer
Reunion in the subject line of your email.
Visit the reunion site on Facebook – search for “Spencer
Historical & Genealogical Society Reunion 2010”.
New England Clambake Bake
http://www.fostersclambake.com
Enjoy a traditional New England Clambake. Meal
includes New England clam chowder, steamed clams
and mussels, corn on the cob, roasted red potatoes and
onions, rolls and blueberry crumb cake. Choose from
any of three entrees: lobster, chicken, or vegetarian.
Cambridge MA walking tour
Visit one of the towns of the infamous four brothers.
This is a go-at-your-own-pace tour of historic landmarks of Cambridge.
3
Some Missouri Spencers
Contributed by Margaret J. Kelly #1872
Part One -- Background
Joseph Spencer of Lee County, Virginia, had several sons of record. They were: John, Isaac, Aaron, and Moses.
Records and DNA connecting these Spencers to Joseph are abundant. In addition, there existed a William
and a Williamson or Williams Spencer, one or both undoubtedly sons of Joseph. Claims have been made of a
Joseph, Jr. and an Abraham as sons of Joseph, but there are insufficient records to verify these claims.
Joseph’s son Aaron married Rachel Daugherty, daughter of Joseph Daugherty, a documented member of
the Lee County farming community and a Revolutionary War soldier. This family came into Lee County from
Montgomery County, Virginia, as did Joseph Spencer and a number of other families in this area. Joseph
Daugherty was married three times; Rachel was born by his first wife whose name is unknown.
Aaron was quite a successful young man, and acquired a number of tracts of land, on which he farmed. It is
possible his wife Rachel brought some dower funds into the marriage which helped Aaron get off and running
on his accumulation of land, horses, etc., the signs of wealth at that time in the Lee County farming community.
Aaron and Rachel had a number of children. They were: John, Elijah, Mary, Elizabeth, Isaac, Jacob, Rachel,
Aaron and Abraham. This list of Aaron’s children is proved by several legal documents in the Lee County court
records.1 Of these, John, Aaron, Jacob and Abraham left Lee County and established themselves in the state
of Missouri.
Aaron Spencer did not live to be an old man; he died possibly of typhoid fever in 1822. His will is in the records
of Lee County.
Part Two
John and Abraham Spencer
John appears to be the eldest of Aaron’s sons. John married Henrietta Harris, a daughter of Charles Harris
and Priscilla Collins Harris, neighbors of Aaron Spencer. A John Spencer who very likely is this John, son of
Aaron, begins to appear on the Lee County tax lists of 1828. A John Spencer, one male 20-30, married with
young children, appears on the 1830 Lee County census. Moses Spencer, another of Joseph Spencer’s sons
and a brother of Aaron’s, also had a son John Spencer, and it is a bit difficult to keep the individuals correctly
identified. On some records, there appears the name John M. Spencer and on others John W. Spencer. The
writer believes these were writing variations of the same name and that these two names both indicated John
Spencer, son of Aaron.
In 1833 John Spencer and his wife Henrietta and Elijah Spencer and his wife Polly (Mary) and Abraham sell to
George W. Young (husband of Elizabeth Spencer, sister of these Spencers), “all and severally our claims to the
following tracts or parcels of land which we as the heirs and legatees of Aaron Spencer decd claim. . .”. John
continues to appear on various tax records of Lee County through 1843. In 1842 John Spencer sells to Benjamin Baker “a certain tract of land lying and being in the county of Lee on the north side of Wallen’s Ridge..”.
1. For documentation of facts contained in this article, please see the book “Joseph and His Coat of Many Colors, an Examination
of Genealogical Records Concerning Joseph Spencer of Lee County, Virginia” by this writer, available through the Spencer Historical and Genealogical Society, or contact the writer at [email protected].
4
Some Missouri Spencers - Cont’d
Contributed by Margaret J. Kelly #1872
after this time, John appears no more in Lee County, VA, records and is next seen on the 1850 Missouri census
in Sullivan County, District 96. He is shown as being 47 years old, with wife “Ritter” (Henrietta) and six children
—Millie, 24, Aaron, 21, Rebecca, 19, Charles, 17, Elijah, 13, and Isaac, 9.
John Spencer also did not live to be an old man. He died sometime between 1850 and 1860; the 1860 Sullivan
county census shows his widow Henrietta , occupation “farmeress,” with three of her children still at home -Elijah, Isaac, and Rebecca.
An article in “The Complete History of Sullivan County, Missouri” (Crumpacker, Gladys Wells; Vol. 1, p. 546)
states that John Spencer and Henrietta came to Missouri via covered wagon in 1843, perhaps along with other
members of the Collins and Harris families. Others of these families came to Sullivan County, Missouri, from
Lee County, Virginia, at later times; all these families did not come together or at the same time. They did,
however, congregate to others of their families in this same area, and a long association between these families, along with the Kelly family, and complete with several intermarriages, took place in the years to come.
A family story passed on to the writer by mother Essie G. Weber tells that this farming community in Sullivan
County, in those early years, was short of school teachers for the children. To remedy this situation, all men of
adequate education were required to spend a few months out of a year teaching school. John Spencer probably did his duty in this respect.
Aaron, a son of the above John Spencer, was the great-grandfather of this writer. He married Sarah Elizabeth
Kelly (known as “Sally” ), daughter of Mathias Kelly and Abigail Sturgill Kelly, a family from Big Stone Gap, Virginia, not far from the Yokum Station area of Lee County, where the Spencers lived. This Aaron Spencer took
part in the Home Guard during the Civil War. He was a farmer and also a Justice of the Peace and a school
teacher, for which occupations he earned about $20.00 a month.
Elijah, another of son of John and Henrietta, served in the Civil War on the side of the north. He was taken
prisoner at the battle of Shilo and imprisoned at Corinth, Mississippi. He was later released and served on
Sherman’s march to the sea, of Civil War note.
A family story concerning this Elijah -- Elijah had, in his later years, a bad cataract on one eye. He reportedly
read the newspaper for the rest of his life with one eye -- refusing to wear glasses or undergo any medical
treatment for the cataract.
It is interesting to note that this Elijah was an uncle of the grandmother of this writer, on the side of her father,
Aaron Spencer. On the side of her mother, Sarah (Sally) Elizabeth Kelly Spencer, the grandmother had another
uncle who fought for the South. He was killed as a very young man in Missouri, a casualty of Quantrelle’s raiders.
Abraham Spencer, son of Aaron, son of Joseph, arrives in the records of Lee County, Virginia, in 1825, when
he and his brother Elijah Spencer buy a one hundred acre tract of land bordering the land “where the widow
Spencer lives and Moses Spencer.” Abraham is shown on some tax records in Lee, but usually the land tax on
this 100 acre tract is ascribed to his brother Elijah. He is listed along with other offspring of Aaron and Rachel
on a court action against their guardian Nimrod Chrisman concerning the failing securities of this guardian,
and requesting that the guardian be made to appear in court to answer charges.
5
Some Missouri Spencers - Cont’d
Contributed by Margaret J. Kelly #1872
In 1833, Abraham, along with Elijah and John, sells land to George W. Young. There is no indication that he is
married at this time. Abraham does not appear on the 1840 Lee County census; possibly he was on the road
to elsewhere. He surfaces next in Sullivan County, District 96, on the 1850 Sullivan County, census. His occupation is listed as “wagon maker.” He is listed as being age 42 with a wife Nancy, age 44, children Emily, 19,
William J., 16, Matilda, 13, Isaac N., 11, and James, 9. Wife Nancy and daughter Emily are shown as having been
born in Kentucky so perhaps Abraham lived in Kentucky for a time. It is also possible that wife Nancy was from
Kentucky and had daughter Emily from a previous marriage.
Part Three
Jacob and Aaron Spencer
Jacob Spencer, son of Aaron, married Rebecca Sturgill, a first cousin of the writer’s great-great grandmother
Abigail Sturgill Kelly, wife of Mathias Kelly. Jacob first appears on Lee county tax records in 1834, taxed on two
horses. He appears again in 1836, taxed on one horse. In the coming years, he is shown on many Lee County
tax records. In 1838 he has acquired one hundred acres of land on Wallen’s Creek, apparently bought from
his brother Elijah, now in Kentucky, and George W. Young, a brother-in-law. In 1840 he and his wife Rebecca
sell to Mary Ann Hobbs (a sister) and husband his full claim to three tracts of land left to him by his father
Aaron Spencer. This land was “north of the Camp Branch.” Jacob continues to be taxed on one hundred acres
in Yokum’s Station; this evidently the Camp Branch land. In 1841 Jacob and Rebecca sell to Elkanah Flanary
their “full claim. . . of one hundred and fifty-four acres that Aaron Spencer died seized of. . .” Jacob Spencer and
George W. Young sell to John Skaggs a tract of sixty-five acres one the north side of Wallen’s Ridge.
Shortly after these sales Jacob relocates to District 96 of Sillivan County, Missouri. From there he pays tax on
fifty acres of his Yokum Station, Lee County, Virginia, land. He pays tax on one hundred acres of Yokum Station
land in 1843 and 1844. The writer has no more records of Jacob’s activities in Lee County.
In 1850 Jacob Spencer and his wife Rebecca are shown on the Sullivan County census -- Jacob, age 34, Rebecca, age 32, children Richard W., age 9, Louiza A., age 7, Jonathan B, age 5, Willard H. P., age 2, Robert H., age,
one month.
Other records exist which follow Jacob. He reportedly had the middle name of Evin. At some point in time
after 1860 he and family relocate to Jasper county, Missouri. In addition to the children shown on the 1850
census, the following children are of record: Mary Ann, David Alexander, Nancy D. J. and Rachel E. A son William P. died at the age of two months.
Neither Jacob nor Rachel lived to be very old. Jacob died in 1874 and Rebecca in 1875 and are buried at the
Avilla Cemetery in Avilla, Jasper County, Missouri. Genny Schrader, a descendant of the Jacob family, has
Jacob and Rebecca’s family Bible, in which some births and deaths are written. It is interesting to note that
nobody ever seemed to know what the middle initials of “H.P.” in the name of Jacob’s son Willard stood for.
Similarly, a son of Richard Watson Spencer, son of Jacob Evin, who was named Jacob Evan, had the initials “I.
B.” hooked onto his name somehow, and this individual was simply known as “IB” all his life.
Jacob Evan, or “IB” as he was called, took part in the Oklahoma land race. Out of his successful race, he received
a grant for land in El Reno, Canadian County, Oklahoma. The land race he was in was called the CheyenneArapaho land race. For a time, he and his wife Fanny lived in an earthen dug-out until Jacob could get a house
6
Some Missouri Spencers - Cont’d
Contributed by Margaret J. Kelly #1872
built.
A family story tells about Fanny sitting on the front step of her newly-erected house, holding one of her babies. A group of Indians rode up and stopped in front of the house, looking at Fanny and the baby. One of the
Indians dismounted and took the baby from Fanny. She was terrified that the Indians would go off with her
child. But instead, the Indian who held the baby took a stick and held it up to the bare foot of the baby. Then
he handed the infant back to Fanny and the Indians went on their way. The next day, the Indians returned,
and the one who had held the stick to the baby’s foot handed Fanny a tiny pair of mocassins the Indians had
made for the baby. The stick was evidently his way of measuring the infant’s foot!
At some point in time, Jacob moved himself and his family back to Missouri. There he became a prominent
citizen, making a name for himself breeding excellent mules and high-grade horses in Linn County, where his
parents, Richard W. Spencer and his wife had moved to from Jasper County.
Aaron Spencer, son of Aaron, is rarely seen in the Lee County records. He is perhaps the youngest of the senior
Aaron and Rachel’s sons, and apparently lived with his mother for a number of years. Rachel, now a widow, is
frequently seen in the tax records with one adult male in her household and several horses.
In 1838 Rachel Spencer and Aaron her son sell some property. In 1840 Aaron Spencer sells to James Flannery “a certain tract or parcel of land. . . On the south side of Stocker’s Nob it being the said Aaron Spencer’s
undivided ninth of a tract of land containing one hundred acres that his father deceased bought of John B.
Flannery and also two fifty acre entries adjoining the same tract.” Aaron is included with Jacob and Rebecca
Spencer in 1841 selling land to Elkanah Flannery. Aaron is not shown with a wife at this time. He is on the
personal property list of 1842. Neither Rachel nor son Aaron are seen in the Lee County records again as far as
the writer followed those records.
Aaron Spencer appears on the census of 1850 Sullivan County, Missouri, District 96. He is listed as age 30,
wife Elizabeth, age 21, and daughter Sarah, one year. He appears again on 1860 Sullivan County census with
additional children James, William, Elizabeth, George, and Catherine. He is a farmer with 1,600 acres of land.
Other records of these Missouri Spencers exist, land documents, etc., but this article provides a background
for those who may be interested in this Spencer group.
7
Some Notable Spenc e r s
Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer (18741965)
British Prime Minister, First Lord of the Admiralty,
Prime Minister of Defense, and member of Parliament. (Winston Churchill’s ancestor, George Spencer,
had changed his surname to Spencer-Churchill in
1817 when he became Duke of Marlborough, to
highlight his descent from John Churchill, 1st Duke
of Marlborough.)
Spencer, Jane (1826-1900)
Lady Jane Conyngham; Lady of the Bedchamber to
Queen Victoria.
Spencer, Joseph (1714-1789)
American lawyer, soldier, and statesman from Connecticut. During the Revolutionary War, he served
as a delegate to the Continental Congress and as a
major general in the Continental Army.
Spencer, Percival Lawon
British photographer.
Spencer, Albert (1892-1975)
7th Earl Spencer, Viscount Althorp
Spencer, Percy Lebaron (1894-1970)
American inventor (see article in this issue)
Spencer, Ambrose (1765-1848)
American lawyer and politician
Spencer, Peter (1782-1843)
Born a slave in Maryland; became founder of the first
independent black Christmas Church in the United
States.
Spencer, Aubrey George (1795-1872)
First Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Newfoundland and Bermuda; Bishop of Jamaica.
Spencer, Christopher Miner (1833-1922)
American inventor (Spencer repeating rifle)
Spencer, David D. (1799-1855)
American editor and politician.
Spencer, Platt Rogers (1800-1864)
Developer of Spencerian penmanship.
Spencer, Richard (1796-1868)
American politician from the State of Maryland.
Spencer, Diana Frances (1961-1997)
Princess of Wales
Spencer, Selden P. (1862-1925)
United States Senator from Missouri; member Missouri House of Representatives; U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals judge.
Spencer, Donald Clayton (1912-2001)
American mathematician.
Spencer, Sir Stanley (1891-1959)
20th centry British artist.
Spencer, Earl Winfield Jr. (1888-1950)
Pioneering U.S. Navy pilot; first commanding officer
of Naval Air Station-San Diego; first husband of Wallis, Duchess of Windsor
Spencer, Thomas (1852-1905)
Co-founder of British retailer, Marks and Spencer.
Spencer, Emerson “Bud” (1906-1985)
American athlete; winner of gold medal in 4x400
relay at the 1928 Summer Olympics.
Spencer, George Lloyd (1893-1981)
Democratic United States Senator from the State of
Arkansas.
Spencer, Herbert (1821-1903)
English sociologist and philosopher.
Spencer, Timothy Wilson (1962-1994)
Serial killer (the “Southside Strangler”).
Spencer, Walter Baldwin (1860-1929)
British-Australian biologist and anthropologist.
Spencer, William J. (1867-1933)
American labor leader.
Spencer, William Robert (1769-1834)
English poet and wit (son of Lord Charles Spencer).
8
SHGS
2010 Officer Elections
2010 is an election year for the Society. Positions up for election this year are President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. All are two-year terms. The nominating committee consists of Debbie Diekema, Sharron
Spencer, and Mary Post. Please let them know if you are interested in serving in one of these positions.
PRESIDENT (approximately 40 - 50 hours annually)
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Preside over any and all meetings of THE SOCIETY and the Board of Directors.
Convene the Board of Directors at least once annually to conduct the affairs of THE SOCIETY.
Appoint a member to fill the term of any vacated office in THE SOCIETY.
Appoint a committee to select the site and plan the biennial reunions. Final approval of the site rests
with the Board of Directors.
Prepare and mail a President’s Letter to the Editor of the quarterly journal by the 15th of the month
prior to the established publication dates.
Appoint a Nominating Committee at least twelve months prior to the biennial SHGS Reunion to select
a slate of candidates to run for office.
Respond promptly to all communications directed to him or request the Secretary to respond on his
behalf.
Appoint a member who is a legal resident of the State of Indiana as a Resident Agent to act for THE
SOCIETY in all legal and tax matters.
Request an audit of the financial records of the organization be conducted thirty days prior to the of
his term of office. If a president serves more than one term, an audit shall be conducted thirty days
prior to the expiration of each term.
Contact, within 15 days of receiving the quarterly journal, each person whose article was published in
the journal expressing appreciation for their participation and encouraging them to do so again.
Review financial reports with Treasurer and closely monitor income and expenses to insure a positive
annual cash flow for THE SOCIETY.
Be a signatory on all SHGS financial accounts.
VICE-PRESIDENT (approximately 1 hour weekly and an additional 4-6 quarterly for reports)
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Perform the duties of the President in the absence of that officer.
Assume the office of President should that office become vacant for any reason, and serve for the duration of the term.
Serve as Membership Chairman with specific responsibility for recruiting new members, retention of
existing members and follow-up contact with delinquent members. He/she may appoint a committee to
assist him/her.
Within a week of receiving New Member information from the Registrar, send a “Welcome to SHGS” Email or card to each new member. Email shall be used when the new member has that capability.
Prepare Junior Membership Certificates and furnish same to junior members with a “Welcome to SHGS!”
card.
Respond to prospective members requesting information about SHGS within a week of said request.
Email shall be used when the prospect has that capability. The response should thank them for their
interest, and include an SHGS brochure/membership application.
Maintain a supply of SHGS brochures/membership applications with current information and provide to
9
SHGS 2010 Officer Elections - Con’t
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Board Members within a week of request. E-mail may be used.
Serve as back-up in the Secretary’s absence to insure timely mailing of New Member packets.
Attend Board Meetings called by the President.
SECRETARY (Approximately 1 hour monthly - additional time required during elections.)
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Notify the membership, via the quarterly journal, of the date, time and location of all General Membership Meetings as convened by the President.
Record and preserve the Minutes of all General Membership and Board of Directors meetings convened
by the President, Vice President, or Immediate Past-President when acting on behalf of the President.
Furnish a copy (via email) of Board Meeting minutes to each Board member within 30 days of the meeting. Email Board Meetings are exempt from this requirement.
Submit a copy of the Minutes of all General Membership Meetings to the Editor for publication in the
quarterly journal.
Correspond with members and non-members as required, and answer all correspondence directed to
the Secretary. Mail sympathy cards to deceased members family.
Prepare and mail an “SHGS Orientation Package” to all new members within a week of receipt of new
member information from the Registrar. This package shall include a “letter of Welcome” from the President of THE SOCIETY.
Maintain on file a current version of THE SOCIETY Constitution and Bylaws and Make appropriate changes as approved by the membership and /or Board of Directors. Provide a copy to new Board Members.
Receive and count all ballots and report the voting results to the President and other members of the
Board.
Attend Board Meetings called by the President.
TREASURER (Approximately 1-2 hours weekly; additional4-6 hours processing time for end of quarter and
annual Reports, 4-6 hours to review and to complete the annual Federal tax return.)
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Receive all incoming moneys and deposit same within 5 business days of receipt in a
bank account in THE SOCIETY’S name. Record each deposit in the member’s name in THE SOCIETY’S
financial records system. (Those records have been maintained in QUICKEN for many years).
Pay out funds to clear all monetary obligations of THE SOCIETY as authorized by the
President or the Board of Directors in a timely manner so as not in incur a late payment
penalty, interest, etc. All monetary obligations shall be paid by check unless otherwise
authorized by the Board of Directors.
Maintain a set of books (assets, liabilities and savings), for THE SOCIETY based on the CASH system of accounting.
File the annual Federal tax return as required for all U.S. Corporations.
Maintain supporting financial records required for Federal tax and audit purposes for at least a period of
seven years.
Email an abbreviated financial report including a summary of receipts and expenditures by account for
the month to the President by 15th of the following month
If directed by the Board of Directors, the Treasurer shall be bonded at the expense of
THE SOCIETY, and shall furnish written evidence of such bond to the Secretary for retention in SHGS files
within 30 days of taking office. (Current Treasurer is not bonded).
Send quarterly and annual financial reports to the editor for publication by the 15th of the month following the close of the quarter.
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SHGS 2010 Officer Elections - Con’t
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Maintain an inventory of all capital equipment purchased with SHGS Funds, to include
the date of purchase, description of the item, cost, and location of the item. Currently (1/2010), there are
no un-depreciated assets held by the Society.
Insure that the signature cards for all SHGS financial accounts are current. There shall be 2 signature cards
issued for each SHGS savings or checking account, one for the Treasurer and one for the President.
Attend Board Meetings called by the President.
Nominating Committee Contacts:
Debbie Diekema
[email protected]
Sharron Spencer
[email protected]
Mary Spencer Post
[email protected]
11
CMDR EARL WINFIELD SPENCER, JR., USN
Henry C. Spencer #75
Many of us have long known that the first husband of the Duchess of Windsor was a SPENCER. I now have
traced him to the Haddam, Connecticut family with this lineage: Ensign Gerard1, Nathaniel2, John3, Ithamar4,
Amos5, Isaac6, Nathan7, Earl Winfield Sr.8, Cmdr. Earl Winfield SPENCER Jr. USN9.
Commander Win Spencer was born in Kansas in 1888, the eldest of four borthers and two sisters. Their mother
was British from the Island of Jersey, their father was of Virgil, Cortland County, New York, later moving to Kansas, and lastly to the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, Illinois. Earl Sr. was a member of the Stock Exchange
and made a comfortable living.
Win Spencer Jr. graduated with the Class of 1910 from the Naval Academy, ranking 115th in the class of 131,
described in the USNA “Lucky Bag” yearbook—”a voice like Caruso. . .brimming with happy spirits,. . .a ‘merry
devil’. . ., and a good comrade”. He trained for the Navy Flying Corps at Pensacola where he met Wallis Warfield who wrote her mother—”I have just met the world’s most fascinating aviator!” Lieut. (j.g.) Earl Winfield
Spencer, Jr. was as handsome and as burly as a fighting bull. His uniform seemed to strain to confine his energy, and the gold wings above his left breast pocket—they were only the twentieth that the Navy had ever
awarded—seemed to sparkle with his personal electricity. To Wallis Warfield, the beaux of Baltimore looked
drab and like earthbound barnyard fowl compared to this eagle.
After their marriage in Baltimore November, 1916, with a honeymoon at White Sulphur Springs, the Spencers
were back at Pensacola, Florida. Wallis soon discovered that the man she had married was not the one she
had engaged. Spencer was a drunkard; a later wife would brand him “a drunken bum”. The Declaration of War
on 6 Apri 1, 1917 saw Spencer promoted to full lieutenant, with orders to command the Naval Air Station at
Squantum in Quincy, Massachusetts. During the war he had many such posts, and in each he did excellently.
He was a born instructor, organizer, administrator—which is why he never had the duty he wanted—overseas
in the combat zone.
Armistice Day found him in San Diego, a lieutenant commander in charge of the expandinq air station on
North Island. His record there was outstanding. His biq regret was that he had not been in combat as was his
younger brother, Dumaresque Spencer, a graduate of Phillips Andover and Yale Colleqe Class of 1917. Dumaresque had enlisted in the Naval Aviation Corps, but was released to join the LaFayette Flying Corps, training
in France where he was killed in combat on 22 January, 1918; posthumously awarded the Croix de
Guerre with bronze star.
With service (1918) in Washington at the Bureau of Aeronautics the marriage of Wallis and Win began to go
down hill rapidly. Separated in 1921, and later divorced, Spencer had three more marriages. He retired from
the Navy as a Commander. Too old for reclal to active duty in 1940, he died in 1950 in the presence of his
fourth wife.
References:
1. National Cyclopedia of American Biography
2. The Windsor Story, by Bryan and Murphy
3. The Royal Family Quiz and Fact Book by T. B. Benford
4. Flora Clark M/S G1-N2 publ. by SFA in 1987
5. USNA Records
Editor’s Note: Originally published in the April 1990 issue of Le Despencer. Photo added by Editor.
12
The I ne v i ta bl e L aw s of g e n e a lo g y
The records you need for your family history were in the courthouse that burned.
John, son of Thomas, the immigrant whom your relatives claim as immigrant ancestor, died on board ship at the
age of twelve.
The public ceremony in which your distinguished ancestor participated when the platform under him collapsed
turned out to be a hanging.
Records show that the grandfather, whom the family boasted, “He read the Bible at four years and graduated from
college at sixteen,” was at the foot of his class.
Your grandmother’s maiden name for which you’ve searched for years was on an old letter in a box in the attic all
the time.
When at last you have solved the mystery of the skeleton in the closet the tight-lipped spinster aunt claimed, “I
could have told you that all the time.”
You never asked your father about his family because you wren’t interested in genealogy while he was alive.
The family story your grandmother wrote for the family never got past the typist. She packed it away “somewhere”
and promised to send a copy but never did.
The relative who had all the family photographs gave them to her daughter who had no interest in genealogy and
no inclination to share.
A great-uncle changed his surname because he was teased in school. He moved away, left no address, and was
never heard from again.
Brittle old newspapers containing the info you desired have fallen apart on the names and dates and places.
The only record you find for your great-grandfather is that his property was sold at a sheriff’s sale for insolvency.
The portion of the index you need is continued in the next issue, only the publisher died prior to publication.
When you find the obituary for your grandmother the information is garbled. Her name is exchanged with her
daughter’s, the whereabouts of her sons is unknown, the date for her father’s birth indicates he was younger than
she.
The only surname not found among the three billion in the Mormon Archives is yours.
The vital records director sends you a negative reply, having just been insulted by a creep calling himself a genealogist.
The four-volune, 4,800 page history of the county where your great-grandfather lived is not indexed.
Copyright 1986 Heritage Quest
Originally published in the October 1990 issue of Le Despencer.
13
P l at t R o g e r s S p e n c e r
7 November 1800—16 May 1864
Submitted by Terri Spencer #1882
Platt Rogers Spencer, calligrapher and orignator of the Spencerian system of penmanship, was born on November 7, 1800 in Fishkill, Dutchess County, New York. His father,
Caleb, was a farmer and soldier of the Revolution, who died in 1806. After his father’s
death, the family moved to Jefferson, Ashtabula County, Ohio, an unsettled area.
Young Platt was passionately fond of writing, and despite the lack of paper, practiced
using birch bark, sand, ice, snow, the flyleaves of his mother’s Bible, and by permission
of a cobbler, upon the leather in his shop.
Platt taught his first writing class in 1814. He was a clerk and bookkeper from 1816
till 1821, then from 1821 until 1824 studied law, Latin, English literature, penmanship, taught in a common
school, and wrote up merchants’ books. He contemplated preparing for the ministry, but because of inherited alcoholism aggravated by the prevalent drinking customs, he fell and his plans were changed. Platt then
taught in New York and Ohio.
In 1832 he became a total abstainer, and was, as he believed, the first public advocate in this country of that
principle, for which he labored during the remainder of his life. Soon after his reformation he was elected to
public office, and was county treasurer twelve years. He was instrumental in collecting the early history of
Ashtabula county, and was deeply interested in American history. He early engaged actively in the anti-slavery
movement and was an advocate of universal liberty. Through his work and influence as a teacher, by his system of penmanship, through his pupils, and by his public addresses and encouragement, he was instrumental
in founding the business colleges of the United States and in promoting their growth and development.
In the winter of 1864 Mr. Spencer delivered his last lecture before the
business college in Brooklyn, New York, and gave his last course of lessons
in the business college in New York City. His first publications on
penmanship were issued in 1848 under the name of ”Spencer and Rice’s
System of Business and Ladies’ Penmanship,” later published under the title
of ”Spencerian or Semi-Angular Penmanship.” His other publications on
penmanship appeared from 1855 till 1863. The ”New Spencerian
Compendium,” issued in parts, was completed in 1886.
Platt Rogers Spencer Gravesite
14
The I n c r e d i bl e M i c r o wav e O v e n
By Terri Spencer #1882
Most of us use our microwave oven every day. My
first microwave was somewhat large; I remember
thinking that it would get little use in my house! After
all, I was raised in Cajun country, and we used a stove
and oven to cook, and even made our gumbo roux
from scratch—a tedious, and sometimes daunting,
process.
In November of 1982, shortly after receiving my new
microwave, I returned home from work to prepare an
early Thanksgiving dinner for friends who were relocating to another state. To my dismay, I discovered
that my turkey was still frozen, and I had 11 dinner
guests arriving in less than three hours!
As panic began to set in, the UPS delivery guy showed
up with an unexpected package, and in the box was—
miraculously—a microwave cookbook, sent to me by
my sister as “lagniappe”. Normally, I wouldn’t have
trusted a microwave turkey recipe, but this cookbook
was by an old family friend—now famous—the late
Tony Chachere. Besides, I was desperate!
I followed Tony’s recipe for microwave turkey, and
it turned out to be one of the best turkeys I’ve ever
cooked, though wasn’t the last I prepared in a microwave. Unfortunately, my current microwave ovens
are too small to cook a large turkey, but I still remember that day in 1982 as if it were yesterday. I’m still
amazed that the cookbook arrived when it did, and
along with my new microwave oven, it saved the day,
though not Tom Turkey.
I have since used my microwave almost every day—
to heat water, steam-cook in-the-bag vegetables,
cook frozen dinners, and even defrost meat. It’s hard
to remember the time before this remarkable invention became part of our daily lives, but have any of us
really thought about how this invention came about?
A friend, knowing I was looking for new material for
Le Despencer, told me that a Spencer had invented
the microwave oven. I set out to learn about the genius behind this remarkable invention. I had no first
name, but Googled the name “Spencer” and “microwave oven”, and found quite a lot of information.
Luckily, I also found the email address for Percy Spencer’s grandson, George “Rod” Spencer, Jr.
I contacted Rod by email, and received a very prompt
reply. Rod graciously provided me with information
and photographs on his grandfather, from whom he
has apparently inherited his gifts of innovation and
creativity.
What follows will be told in the words of Mr. Percy
Spencer, his grandson, George (Rod) Spencer, Jr., and
through the use of other referenced material.
For 30 years George “Rod” Spencer has been recognized as a catalyst for innovative change in corporations large and small. He has created and practically
applied improved software techniques and software
management practices in a wide variety of markets.
His unique approach addresses both the practical
science and human issues of organizational change,
by building on an intimate understanding of the client’s offering and the people who provide it through
hands-on involvement with training and pilot efforts.
Rod has shared his inspirational message to “Move
Forward” at speaking engagements at the 1999 Inductions at the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame, The
History Channel, BBC Radio, covered by National
news media, as well as numerous local events at business forums, pubic schools.
Rob states that most accounts report that the microwave oven invention was inspired by a melting
chocolate bar. In fact it was a peanut cluster bar. His
grandfather carried one around to feed his “friends”,
the chipmunks and squirrels that would visit him as
relaxed outdoors.
As Rob says, it’s something you won’t see in a book. . .
Rod is in the process of becoming a member of SHGS, and it is
our hope that he will continue
to contribute to this publication.
Gobble, gobble!
15
Percy Spencer and His Itch to Know
How a self-educated Maine farm boy, filled with insatiable curiosity,
became one of today’s most respected experts in the complex field of electronics
P
ERCY SPENCER is the nosiest man I have ever known. Now 63, he still has an
intense, small boy’s compulsion to explore every wonder in the world around him.
The results of his relentless curiosity have touched the lives of each of us.
Recently I walked into his office at the Raytheon Manufacturing Co. in Waltham, Mass.
‑—an office befitting the senior vice-president of one of the nation’s largest electronic’
manufacturers. “Hi, Don,” the stocky, shirt-sleeved Down-Easter shouted from behind
his desk. “Where’d you get the shoes?”
The moccasin-type shoes weren’t that different, but I knew Percy. Were the shoes
comfortable, he asked. Would they wear? Why were they stitched like that? In a minute I
had one shoe off, so that he could examine it. He wanted to know just how it was made.
The story is typical of Percy Spencer’s direct, homey approach, which he brings even to
the miracle world of modern electronics. One day a dozen years ago he was visiting a
lab where magnetrons, the power tubes of radar sets, were being tested. Suddenly, he felt a peanut bar start to cook in
his pocket. Other scientists had noticed this phenomenon, but Spencer itched to know more about it.
He sent a boy out for a package of popcorn. When he held it near a magnetron, popcorn exploded all over the lab. Next
morning he brought in a kettle, cut a hole in the side and put an uncooked egg (in its shell) into the pot. Then he moved
a magnetron against the hole and turned on the juice. A skeptical engineer peeked over the top of the pot just in time
to catch a faceful of cooked egg. The reason? The yolk cooked faster than the outside, causing the egg to burst.
Spencer had discovered that you could cook with high-frequency radio waves. He got a patent on the “radar range,”
one of the 225 he holds. The new device will cook a sirloin steak in one minute, a plump Thanksgiving turkey in little
more than half an hour. Used for some time in restaurants, Pullman diners and ocean liners, radar ranges are now being
produced for the home.
This constant curiosity helped Percy Spencer turn an underprivileged childhood into an especially privileged one. Born
in Howland, Maine, a remote rural community, he was twice orphaned when a child. His father died when he was 18
months old, and soon his mother left home, turning Percy over to an aunt and uncle. The uncle was like a father to him,
but when Percy was only seven, this second father died.
Percy didn’t waste time feeling sorry for himself. He was too busy learning a country boy’s chores - how to chop wood,
hoe, saddle a horse, help with the preserving, skin a deer, saw a straight line and improvise solutions to the problems of
survival, a skill famous as “Yankee ingenuity.”
When he was 12 he trudged off to the spool mill in the cold, gray Maine dawn and worked till after sundown. Four years
later his curiosity led him into something new. The local paper mill was to be electrified. Although he had no formal
knowledge of electricity (in 1910 few people knew much about it), Percy signed on as one of three men to install the
system. Learning entirely by trial and error, he emerged a competent electrician.
When, in 1912, the Titanic sank, the heroism of the wireless operators sparked the boy’s imagination. He joined the Navy
to learn wireless telegraphy. He did not mention his limited education when. The Navy sent him to its radio school. “I just
got hold of a lot of textbooks and taught myself while I was standing watch at night,” he explains.
He has kept up this practice of self-education all his life-”solving my own situation,” he calls it. There is no count of
the hundreds of nights he has spent painfully working out problems in trigonometry, calculus, chemistry, physics,
16
Percy Spencer and His Itch to Know
Cont’d
metallurgy and other areas of learning.
Discharged from the Navy, he went to work for the Wireless Specialty Apparatus Co., of Boston. Spencer’s insatiable
curiosity is still remembered by his co-workers. In those days the whole shop would often keep going until midnight
to finish an order. After the others had left, Percy would stay behind to test and examine the day’s production. “Many’s
the time the gang would come back in the morning and find Percy still there,” one of his friends recalls. “He had stayed
up all night just to find out how things worked.”
He learned so well that he became a wireless-equipment production boss in World War 1, and was sent out on troubleshooting missions by the Navy when he was barely old enough to vote. Then, during the late ‘20’s and ‘30’s, he worked
with the growing Raytheon company. His experiments brought him into contact with many of the best physicists at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One of them told me, “Spencer became one of the best tube designers in the
world; he could make a working tube out of a sardine can.
In 1929 Spencer was experimenting on photoelectric vacuum tubes when one developed a small leak. Many another
scientist had arrived at same spot - and discarded the tube. Spencer didn’t. Curious to know the consequences of the
leak, he soon discovered that the tube’s photoelectric quality had increased ten times. This was a major step in the
development of the modern TV camera tube.
When the Nazis marched into Poland in 1939, Percy Spencer became a man possessed. For the next seven years he
worked every day, including Sundays and holidays. His power-tube division at Raytheon expanded from 15 employees
to more than 5000 when the war ended. In addition to training huge groups of men and women, he rode herd on the
construction of new buildings, argued for priorities on materials, fought for the latest equipment.
Largely because of his legendary skill and ingenuity, Spencer won for Raytheon the contract to produce working
models of combat radar equipment for M.I.T.’s Radiation Laboratory, which had mobilized scientists from all over the
nation to work on the project. Next to the Manhattan Project, it had the highest World War 11 military priority.
While the Battle of Britain was raging, the United States had received a model of a microwave (high frequency)
magnetron from the British. Potentially, this was a weapon of incredible effectiveness, for the magnetron is the power
tube, which is the heart of a radar set. The problem was how to mass-produce it. The vital tube had to be machined out
of solid copper with tolerances of less than ten thousands of an inch. It took a master machinist a week to finish just
one - and thousands were needed to help the RAF against the Luftwaffe.
Spencer sweated night and day, driving himself and his workers, to speed up production. When his first “maggies” were
flown to England, the RAF kill rate shot up. When we entered the war, 15 of Spencer’s radar sets, - sensitive enough to
spot German U-boat periscopes, were installed in U.S. bombers. They proved amazingly effective.
By this time Spencer had heckled and badgered production up to 100 a day. He was still unsatisfied. On each trip
through his plant he tried to figure ways to speed things up. At last, he sweated out a solution.
Instead of carving the magnetron out of solid metal, Spencer, using a machine any semi-skilled worker could operate,
stamped thin cross-sections of the tube out of copper and silver-solder. These were then piled alternately, one atop the
other, and cooked into, a single piece on an ingenious conveyer-belt oven he designed. As a result of the new method,
production of magnetrons jumped to an astounding 2600 a day.
Next, Spencer invented a process which greatly increased the magnetron’s efficiency, and designed several major
refinements which made radar sets far more effective in combat. For his work he won the highest honor, the Navy can
give civilians: the Distinguished Public Service Award.
17
Percy Spencer and His Itch to Know
Cont’d
Talking about this feat, an M.I.T. scientist explained to me how Spencer operates: “The educated scientist knows many
things won’t work. Percy doesn’t know what can’t be done. Like Edison, he will cut and fit and try and throwaway and
try again.”
Since the war Spencer has kept up his incessant rounds of the plant, poking his nose into everybody’s business, cutting and fitting and throwing away. He has continued to improve his magnetrons, has in- vented microwave diathermy equipment with the cooperation of the Mayo Clinic. He has kept his power-tube division of Raytheon in the black
throughout postwar economic gyrations. Every morning he gets to the plant before the night shift knocks off at 7 a.m.
He listens intently to any night-shift workers who come to his office. “I let my people know I care,” he explains. “When
you work nights you think nobody cares what you do. I know; I used to be there.”
Spencer takes an almost aggressive interest in the people who work for him. On one of his plant inspection trips he noticed that a new employee wore a hat all the time, in doors and out. When Spencer found out the man was bald, he said,
“Come with me.” At the office of Raytheon president Charles Francis Adams, he flung open the door on the startled Adams, who is as bald as his great-great-grandfather, the second President of the United States, and his great-grandfather,
the sixth U. S. President. “See,” Spencer bellowed, “he isn’t ashamed of not having hair!”
Dr. Vannevar Bush, who has known Percy since he was a young man, after chuckling over several Spencer stories, warned
me not to underestimate the homespun Down- Easter. “He has the respect of every physicist in the country, not only for
his ingenuity but for what he has learned about physics by absorbing it through his skin. He is not merely a good experimenter and a good designer; he has become, in his own right, one of the recognized individuals in a very difficult field.”
Spencer’s genius has received formal recognition as well. He is now a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the Institute of Radio Engineers and holder of an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Massachusetts. Such honors have a special meaning in today’s complex scientific world. For Percy Spencer, the
orphan who never went beyond grammar school, has amply demonstrated that nothing is beyond the grasp of a man
who wants to know what is going on, and who feels a sense of responsibility for doing something about it.
Source: Murray, Don, Reader’s Digest, August 1958, page 114. Provided by
George “Rod” Spencer, Jr.
18
P. L . S P E N C E R
RAYTHEON
November 15, 1925-June 1, 1959
T
he following are my grandfather’s
recollections of his involvement
with Raytheon from 1925 to 1959.
The content was scanned and
electronically interpreted from the
original work. This document also
includes the original images of these
pages at the end.
—George R. Spencer Jr. (Rod)
P. L. Spencer
January 25, 1960
My employment with Raytheon began
on November 15, 1925. The background of my being hired
by Laurence Marshall was due to the repetitive suggestions of my brother, Al. Spencer, and C. G. Smith. The final
decision to join Raytheon was made somewhat earlier in
the month when I had occasion to pass through Boston on
my way to the Great Lakes where I was doing field work for
the Submarine Signal Company.
My experience prior to joining the group had been first my
apprenticeship in the machine shop in Maine, then with an
electrical contractor, electrifying the pulp and paper mill. I
joined ·the U. S. Navy for the opportunity of learning wireless telegraphy as it had been dramatically popularized
by the sinking of the Titanic. After my discharge from the
Navy, I worked for about a year with the American Soda
Fountain Company on Congress Street in Boston, on a job
called “hydraulic engineering”.
The Wireless Specialty Apparatus Company, which had
gotten its start in Boston with contracts to equip the United Fruit Company’s great white fleet with wireless equipment, advertised for experienced wireless technicians. I
secured employment with this company and progressed
up to superintendent of their manufacturing activities.
After three years I left this company to join the American
Radio and Research Corporation in Medford. This company
had undertaken contracts similar to those that had been
performed by the Wireless Specialty Apparatus Company,
and at the suggestion of the heads of the Radio Division
of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, I transferred to the
American Radio and Research Corporation. I spent a
few months in Atlanta, Georgia where
the Signal Corps’ headquarters were
during the First World War, to correct
and make acceptable equipment that
had been made by this company. On my
return to Boston the opportunity to go
back to work for the Navy at the Boston
Naval Shipyard, developed. During the
period I was employed by the Navy
in a civilian capacity I installed radio
compass and radio transmitting stations
in the First Naval District. In connection
with this work I became acquainted
with the Submarine Signal Company’s
executives and because they had no one
experienced in radio work they made an
arrangement with the Navy Department
for a leave of absence of one year for me to assist them in
the installation of equipments on the light ships and shore
stations which they maintained as an aid to navigation. At
the end of my leave of absence they asked me to stay on as
part of the Sub-Sig staff and offered me the management
of their Norfolk office. However, before I took over the
Norfolk office work, I completed more installations and
repairs on some costal light ships. I would note at this
time that while at American Radio and Research, I had
become familiar with gas tubes and vacuum tubes, in
general. These intrigued me and I would welcome any
opportunity to get into this field. The job that Laurence
Marshall offered me was such an opportunity.
In the first few months with the predecessor of Raytheon,
American Appliance Company, I took over the tube
engineering work at the Champion Lamp Works in
Danvers where gaseous rectifiers were being made for
the B eliminator trade, which made possible the operation
of radio sets from a light socket. It was at this plant
that I became quite familiar with the physics of the gas
rectifier and by observation determined that they could
.be improved. The necessity for improving them came
quite suddenly, as RCA who had been supplying radio set
manufacturers with a tube known as the 112A requiring
only 135 volts plate came out at this time with a tube
known as the 171A that required 180 volts plate. This
made the existing B - Eliminators obsolete unless a tube
could be provided that by a lower conducting voltage
would result in higher output of B-Eliminators, namely
180 volts.
19
P. L. SPENCER
RAYTHEON
November 15, 1925-June 1, 1959
I was successful in making such a tube by altering its
physical shape and enhancing its tendency to approach
a conducting voltage more nearly to that of the arc.
On submitting this particular shape which was conical
rather than a cylindrical flat top shape to the Laboratory
in Cambridge, C. G. Smith immediately proceeded to
try and improve its coating material to further improve
its performance. When completed the tube was known
as the BH tube - the prior one was known as the B tube.
Business developed so fast with this product that it became
necessary to establish a factory for its manufacture and
a two-story building was obtained on Carlton Street in
Cambridge. It became my brother’s responsibility to run
this manufacturing operation. Once this was established I
returned to the Lab. in the Suffolk Building in Cambridge,
working with C. G. Smith and several others, our work
being to improve and develop other type of rectifiers.
A demand for a tube that would rectify sufficient current to
operate a series filament radio became pressing. Having
learned the possibilities of maintaining an arc type of
discharge in an inert gas, I used this principle to develop
a tube known as the BA which would deliver 400 ma.
and operating at a conducting drop in the vicinity of 20
volts. This was a clean development of my own and with
no interference. It became a very popular tube, in much
demand, and greatly increased our possibilities in the field
of home radios. However, its life span was not too great
as RCA had begun the development of AC heater types
of tubes for radio sets that did away with the necessity of
series filament requirements. Nevertheless, the tube had
been adopted for several industrial applications and a fair
volume continued for some years in these applications.
Under Laurence Marshall’s philosophy of operation, I
had complete freedom in the tube work and during this
period added to our line in the gas tube field voltage
regulator types, kino lamps and then a line of photocells,
in the latter of which we became a volume supplier as
we had introduced some types superior to any of those
existing. The production of these tubes together with
mercury rectifier tubes, developed by me, and which
also became products for the production people, were
transferred to the Newton plant, after its establishment,
to what was known as the HX Department. It was at this
time that Marshall sent me to Newton to assist with the
engineering work, principally because I had convinced
him that we could increase our sales of receiving tubes
that we were manufacturing by making a line of amateur
tubes, as a large part of our sales was from service men
who were amateur radio operators. This proved to be
true; also proved to be a profitable business in its own
right. We were the first to add this line of tubes specifically
for the amateur radio operators. I had the amateur
tubes, photocells and other special tubes operating at
a very profitable situation when Marshall discovered a
new genius, Jim LeVan, a Harvard graduate with a good
background in physics, whom he installed in the Laboratory
at Cambridge. Some of the rectifiers I had been working
with had great potential for power applications and
Marshall had got the “bug” of making electric arc welders
by rectification rather than by motor generators. So back
to Cambridge he sent me to work for the new Laboratory
manager, LeVan. This was a very unhappy situation for
me. However, there were not many opportunities in the
vacuum tube field at this time, so reluctantly I went to
Cambridge with LeVan, where I enlarged the laboratory
to accommodate the requirements that the large mercury
rectifiers would necessitate. Money was getting short
with the Raytheon Inc. The need of income became
apparent, other than that existing, so other activities were
started. One of them was making rectifiers for broadcast
radio transmitter applications, rebuilding of radio
transmitter tubes and tubes for special applications. One
of the special applications was the timing of traffic signals.
The Automatic Signal Company in Connecticut needed
such a tube. This tube I developed and established as a
production type for this company at that time. The large
welder rectifier objective was obtained and successful
tubes were made up to 600 amp. output. Welders were
built; they performed well. They had some very desirable
characteristics that gave better performance than the
motor generator type. However with its introduction
into the field motor generator, people promptly cut their
prices in half, which made it impossible for the rectifier
type to compete, so this became a dead issue. However,
in working with rectifiers of the mercury type we learned
to introduce another means of starting a discharge rather
than the contact resistance type, known as the ignitron.
We called this tube our goositron initially, as it was
(goosed) started by high voltage and low current rather
than the high current required by the ignitron. A number
of these were made and applied to resistance welding
applications but never became a volume product. During
this work our observations indicated that another type of
control of mercury tube was possible, that had not existed
before, and had a transverse magnetic field that forced
electrons in the discharge to a collector which acted as a
grid. This tube was known as the permatron and had as its
major advantage the non-necessity of the grid being tied
back to the cathode source. In other words, it could be
operated by the complete isolated circuit or mechanical
movement of a magnet. We became involved with patent
interference with this tube by MacArthur of general
20
P. L. SPENCER
RAYTHEON
November 15, 1925-June 1, 1959
Electric but we established our priority and obtained the
necessary patent for its production.
Going back to the rectifier for the arc welder we moved
the production of this tube to the new plant. known as
the Howell Button factory. that we had purchased in
Waltham. This was after we had acquired the Acme Delta
Company, whose principals were Dr. Dellenbaugh and
G.E.M. Bertram. Their acquisition had. been the result
of our success in the amateur tube line parallel to their
success in the amateur magnetic components line. I
became aware of this as the result of having them build
for me personally. radio transmitting equipment for two
police departments, namely Newton and Medford. Their
business then consisted largely of magnetic components
of this type together with audio components for public
address and theatre sound equipment. As I had a
personal contract to equip the Reece Company with one
of the largest public address systems of its time. I had this
company build this equipment for me.
With the advent of metal tubes, Raytheon decided to
go into their production. Marshall decided this was an
engineering problem which called for my assistance. Back
to Newton again, and one of the first things we discovered
in metal tube manufacturing was that the electric
resistance welding as used required large ignitrons and
thyratrons that were unattainable. We could however
obtain the welders themselves. Another job on going back
to Newton was to design, copy and improve the tubes
used in electric welding equipment, such as the thyratrons
and ignitrons in order that we could successfully make
metal tubes. This I did and it included two power types of
ignitrons and three types of thyratrons. Having produced
these thyratrons and ignitrons for ourselves it seemed
sensible to offer them on the market which we did and
enjoyed a reasonable sale for a period of time.
The various activities that I have related in the foregoing
paragraphs resulted in profitable products and established
a reputation for Raytheon doing creative work in the
vacuum tube field. In the amateur tube line we designed
many tubes that were “firsts” in the field. Among them the
zero bias class B amplifier tube, power pentodes, power
tetrodes. and UHF twin triodes. one of which became
our largest volume tube for military application for the
Receiving Tube Division in World War II. This was the type
RK-34.
Referring back to the Newton operation, the HX
Department, as it was known, had for its products, photo
cells, amateur transmitting tubes, special rectifier tubes
and tubes especially designed for mobile radio. The
volume for photocell business was quite substantial with
such customers as Pacent, Weber, General Talking Pictures,
and MGM. This was in the early days of the talking movies.
Rather than being just a support for the sales of receiving
tubes it became in itself a profitable operation. Getting
back to the development work we were doing in the
Suffolk Building in Cambridge, one very important tube
resulted from the previous work I had done to create the BA
tube for series filament operation. This was a much smaller
version of the rectifier operating on the same principles
namely, an arc in an inert gas. This was developed for
use in the automobile radio power supply, eliminating
the storage battery drain that the filament rectifier
required. It was known as the type OZ4. We introduced it
to the Newton plant and it rapidly became a major item,
greatly increasing the sales volume of receiving tubes for
automobile receivers, as we were reluctant to supply the
OZ4 unless the customer bought the full complement of
receiving tubes as well. I think it cap be honestly stated
here that we would have been out of the radio receiving
tube business had not this tube been developed. In fact,
it was one of Raytheon’s most profitable tubes ever to be
produced in the receiving tube line.
Among other contributions to the improvement of
manufacturing receiving tubes was the introduction
of storage welders. The requirement for this kind of
welding became apparent when beam type pentodes
and tetrodes were brought out in the receiving tube line.
Beam pentodes and tetrodes required perfect alignment
of the control and screen grid wires. With the existing
resistance type of welding the application of heat to the
weld resulted in the annealing of the fine grid wire at the
weld. Thus the grid wires could be deformed and bent out
of alignment in handling. It was at this time that I made
storage welders by using a mercury tube to discharge the
stored energy in condensers that supplied the current for
the weld. This eliminated the annealing of the grid wires
at the weld junction. They would then remain rigid and
stay in place. This greatly improved the yield of these
types of tubes. The storage welding equipment that we
manufacture today in the Commercial Division has as its
origin this storage welder that we made at that time.
Another tube that was developed for a personal hobby,
known as the RK-61, was made because of my involvement
in model plane-making with my sons. The radio controls for
these planes were interesting and added to the enjoyment
of their operation. With existing receiving tubes, several
were required to obtain sufficient power to operate the
controls. This in turn meant a heavy battery load. We
21
P. L. SPENCER
RAYTHEON
November 15, 1925-June 1, 1959
conceived the idea of making a triode with rather high mu
and introducing an atmosphere of argon gas of sufficient
pres sure to become ionized when it received a radio
signal. When ionization occurred the tube then became
the equivalent of a thyratron and enabled it to deliver
milliamps rather than microamps. This was sufficient
power to operate the relays for the controls. Working
with me at that time was a chap named Myers who later
obtained a position at Carnegie Institute, Department
of Terrestrial Magnetism with Dr. Vannevar Bush, who
was then President of the Institute. They had started
the development work on what was known then as a
proximity fuse for 3” and larger shells. They felt if this could
be developed they then had a defense against aircraft as
it would explode in reasonable proximity to the plane,
similar to shrapnel, making direct hits unnecessary. Myers
who was working on the project with Bush remembered
the tube I had made for the model airplane controls so
Bush through one of his physicists made contact with me
and we undertook the modification of this tube for their
purpose as it would have some advantage in the number
of tubes and batteries that we had in the model plane. The
problem was to ~e it withstand thousands of g’s as the shell
had terrific rotational speed, and enormous centrifugal
force would develop. I had not progressed far with this
work when I turned it over to my brother, Al Spencer, who
was then with the Company, to carryon the work, as we
had obtained a contract to do tube work for the Radiation
Laboratory and the development of the magnetron and
its associated tubes for radar. Our selection for this role
was due to the recommendation of Professor E. L. Bowles
of M.I.T., which resulted in a visit to us by Dr. Rabi, W.
Hanson, Lawrence and other top members of the team.
Proximity fuse tube work was successful and Raytheon
got the credit for its development. However, we did not
obtain a reasonable share of the production.
Having been associated with Vannevar Bush for a number
of years, and particularly when he was giving directions
to the Laboratory in Cambridge, as mentioned before,
he was familiar with the gas field work I had performed.
At about the same time we were actively engaged in the
magnetron development and improvements, Dr. Bush
sent another physicist to have me work on a gas discharge
device for discharging condensers that were charged up
to several thousand volts, the discharge being initiated by
a probe electrode. This work was so secret at the time that
I was not permitted to do the work in the plant. I secured
another man to help me and furnished a laboratory for
him for this purpose in his residence in the Lynn woods
area. Neither this man nor myself knew what the enduse of this device was for until after the firing of the first
atomic bomb in the southwest United States. We did,
at that time, become familiar with the requirements for
this particular gas discharge device but not in any detail.
Later, after the Military use of the bomb in Japan we were
permitted to bring our work into the plant at Waltham,
and continued to make this device for some time. There
was a problem in handling them as they contained radio
active material and the people who worked with them
had to be safeguarded. Later a major change was made
in the device and the manufacturing of it went elsewhere.
Shortly after this another man arrived with a bomb
problem. This bomb was known as the “Sock Bomb” which
was fired by a change in atmospheric pressure, that is at
a given altitude it would explode. The object was to have
it put in the tail of the plane by saboteurs so that when
it reached a predetermined altitude the tail of the plane
would be destroyed. This bomb has been credited with
the success of the allies at EI Alamein, as a number of the
planes exploded shortly after takeoff and the others were
all grounded, thereby not providing air support eeded in
this important engagement.
The magnetron and its associated tube work was a very
top secret project and when I and a very small group were
properly cleared we were shown the magnetron that the
British had developed for their radar and were asked to
produce some of them. The technique of making these
tubes as described to us was awkward and not practical.
We adopted our own ideas which we considered much
simpler and with fewer complications and we were
successful in eliminating gold soldering of the covers to
the body, better methods of copper to glass seals, etc.
Once we became familiar with the magnetron we saw
many opportunities to improve it and uring this period we
did what was known as strapping the magnetron, which
was tying the cavities together to eliminate standing
waves between cavities, therefore greatly increasing its
efficiency. A secondary emitting cathode I also made
and introduced a tunable tube that could be put in
the same magnet as that of the “non-tunable, thereby
eliminating the requirement for so many magnetrons to
get frequency spread. This also simplified the installation
of a new magnetron as the fixed frequency tube required
the complete re-alignment of the transmitting equipment
unless it was exactly the same frequency as the previous
one. With the tunable variety it was only necessary to tune
the magnetron, cutting time down to seconds rather than
quite a few minutes, which was important in the field.
It seemed to me impossible to ever make the desired
requirements of the magnetron in the then method
of manufacture, which was machining copper blocks,
22
P. L. SPENCER
RAYTHEON
November 15, 1925-June 1, 1959
drilling and reaming the cavities and slotting them to
very accurate dimensions. In fact, it would take so much
equipment and so many skilled people that the possibility
of any volume was negligible. It was then I conceived the
idea of stamping out sheets of copper, stacking them with
silver separators and putting them through a controlled
atmosphere furnace to result in a finished anode block.
This was successfully accomplished, producing a much
more precise block, because if the dies were precise the
product was perfect. Whereas, with their method you
were at the mercy of human skill for each and every
anode you made. This method enabled us to produce in
a plant that had been originally laid out for the maximum
possibility of 100 magnetrons a day, in excess of 2000/
day, with resultant better performance and higher yields.
The plant to which I refer was provided us by the Navy
as a result of the work we had done in Newton that
demonstrated our competency in this field. It likewise
made possible the opportunity for us to build surface
radar, in which we became the largest supplier in World
War II.
Coupled with the magnetron as a requirement for radar
was local oscillator klystrons, pulsing tubes, clipper tubes,
TR tubes of a number of types and many characteristics.
These we manufactured in volume. One outstanding
achievement of the local oscillator klystron was the
method of making it by machine operation rather than
by hand, as had been done by Western Electric. As this
tube also had been a bottleneck we devised the method
of making envelopes with the grid discs sealed in a single
machine operation and we were able to manufacture it
in a volume equivalent to the magnetron volume. The
planning of the Navy-provided tube plant was carried
on during the time we were developing the magnetron
and local oscillator klystron in the Newton plant. This
meant long hours, seven days a week over a long period
of time. Everyone seemed inspired to work in this
manner during this period. I think it is well known what
Raytheon’s achievements were in World War II. With the
end of the war, we found ourselves with zero business in
the microwave tube field. However many development
contract proposals were advertised. We submitted bids
on all of these development proposal requests and
because the other companies, such as RCA, G. E. and
Western Electric were more interested in getting back into
their own commercial business, they did not go after this
development work. Because of the lack of other bidders
on the proposal requests we found ourselves awarded all
of them. This was far more work than we could accomplish
in any reasonable time with the staff of engineers that
were available to us. It was necessary for us to work out a
priority arrangement acceptable to the Services, in order
that we might satisfactorily complete those most urgent.
We, of course, added to the engineering staff whenever
we were able to attract competent engineers. It was in this
period that I got the idea of cooking with microwaves and
diathermy with microwaves. The microwave-diathermy
proved to be popular and also profitable to us. The
Radarange has been slow in development and acceptance
but appears to be gaining popularity. It did however bring
recognition to possible potential applications in the use
of this frequency for a variety of heating applications.
Marshall who was inherently a promoter, sometimes
called “entrepreneur”, started several major projects. One,
the microwave communication link to New York which
was successful in performance but not in promotion; two,
entering into the television situation followed. He obtained
an assignment of Channel 2 to Raytheon. These projects
were eating money up very fast and had to be abandoned
for lack of capital. For a considerable period of time the
Power Tube Division was the only real source of income, as
the Receiving Tube Division had not regained its position
in the market. At about this time he (Marshall) acquired
the Belmont Radio Company in Chicago together with the
Russell Electric Company, neither of which turned out to
be contributors of profit to the Corporation. The Company
was in a very shaky position financially when Marshall was
ousted as President and Mr. Adams came aboard.
The Korean War again stimulated the production
requirements for magnetrons, and associated tubes
for radar. At this point the Air Force became the major
procurement agency of the Military for our power tube
products. We were successful in obtaining a contract
to build some of the improved higher power types of
magnetrons that had been developed in the labs. in the
period between the end of World War II and the advent
of the Korean war. This contract for high power tubes
included the Government furnished equipment necessary
for their manufacture, which we were permitted to build
and install at NO PROFIT. The value of these equipments
amounted to $8,000,000. However, we did have to agree
to supply know how to General Electric and Westinghouse
in order that they might become second sources for the
types we were making under this contract. It was then
necessary to build a new Power Tube building to house all
of the equipment. This Raytheon did with its own capital
at a cost of about $2,800,000. The building was built, the
equipment installed and production was started with no
loss of time that would cause delinquency on our part. Our
Patent Department had established our magnetron patent
position strong enough to work out an arrangement with
23
P. L. SPENCER
RAYTHEON
November 15, 1925-June 1, 1959
the Government whereby they would pay us 2-3/4 per
cent for any magnetrons supplied the Government or
Military end-use by other than our licensees. By this time
Raytheon had obtained one hundred and thirty-eight
patents on my inventions. Patents were obtained on
a variety of items other than those in the vacuum tube
field, such as microwave atomic welding, thermospheres,
welding shields, microwave cooking, microwave
dyathermy, manufacturing methods, processes, cathode
improvements, getters and gettering methods, etc. There
were many able contributors to the success of our various
projects. Many competent engineers and managers
developed who made possible the success of our efforts.
To name a few: N. B. Krim, H. F. Argento, W. C. Brown, W. M.
Thompson, P. Derby, E. Shelton, R. Hanson, N. Kather, A.
White, D. B. Haagensen, R. Schmit, L. Clampitt, E. Dench,
W. Driscoll, R. Hergenrother, and many others.
became Senior Vice President and a member of the Board
of Directors at Raytheon, receiving hundreds of patents
during his career. Because of his accomplishments,
Spencer was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal
by the U.S. Navy and has a building named after him at
Raytheon. He was inducted into the Inventors Hall of
Fame in 1999.
Percy Spencer died at the age of 76 on September 8, 1970.
The Microwave and Power Tube Division which was an
outgrowth of the laboratory I maintained in Newton has
operated for a period of seventeen
years always with a very satisfactory
profit and with acknowledged
leadership in the field~ In 1958,
the Division was permitted to
put back some of its profits in the
establishment of a microwave
Tube Laboratory of a quality not
exceeded by anyone in the field, for
the purpose of attracting physicists,
engineers and their supporting
technicians to perpetuate, create,
and initiate business in this field. I
must not deny the pride I have in
the fact that the Company gave
my name to this Laboratory. I feel
sure that with proper management
this Division can continue to be
successful. There also have been
added capable marketing people
and competent engineers, and the
field of uses and applications of
microwave tubes is broader than
ever.
P
ercy LeBaron Spencer was born In Howland, Maine
on July 9, 1894, and was orphaned at a young age.
Although he never graduated from grammar school, he
The following article, “Gramps”, is a work-in-progress by
Rod Spencer, who writes about his grandfather, famed
inventor Percy Spencer.
24
prominently displayed in etched brass, on stained wood,
that is laser signed by the CEO or authorized chieftain,
when not busy inventing Web-based refrigerators.
How an orphan from Maine because the
Modern Age Edison and one of the
Century’s Greatest Inventors
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill once said “Men occasionally
stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves
up and hurry off”. Indeed, the press of the crowd is strong.
All rights reserved
So why are you still reading? Perhaps you are “not most of
them”. I’m guessing that for you that etched plaque is not
enough. Perhaps this stumbling pause-of-truth intrigues
you.
—Terri Spencer, Editor
A book? Do I know what I am doing? I am not a istinguished
author. My writing style was first cast by authoring
engineering specifications.
Consider this story an examination of such pauses. It is
not only a celebration of Gramp’s pause when a candy bar
melted, but of your pause when you came up with that
idea.
So how can I be sure that what I write others would care
to read?
I remember Mrs. Perry, my English teacher at Pollard Junior
High School in Needham, Massachusetts. Often we would
start her class with a game. She would hide some object
around the classroom, always in plain sight. We could not
see it, yet it was right in front of us.
Copyright © 2002 by George R. Spencer Jr.
Well, I’m guessing that you also are unsure. You know
what I mean. Remember that idea you had a while back?
What ever became of it?
At times, we all have self doubt. It is taught as we are
graded, evaluated, “performance reviewed”, and salary
ranked. We learn that our place is the fifth seat from the
left, student number M212, employee number 73547, and
that “Vision is not part our job assignment”. Whether you
flip burgers at McDonalds, or design complex systems,
the Wilson Reading/Salary
Review/Approved Design
Process must be followed,
and “We really don’t want
to hear about new ways of
doing things”.
Every day, those who “tune-in” are provided with lessons
of great achievement, and opportunities to apply them.
The lessons are not structured, the rules are not written
down. There is no process to follow. The opportunities are
closer than you might think, and usually in plain sight, but
far from obvious. And oh, popularity is not the goal.
So why am I so sure you are
interested in what I have
to say? Because I learned
how to “tune in” and to
examine that pause from
an unexpected source, and
you can too.
Yet someone makes these
decisions. The refrigerator
with the “built in web
access” so we can “look up
the number of calories in
that can of Coke” (debuted
on CNN earlier today,
February 9th, 2002) is
someone’s brain child.
I learned because 90 years
ago two teenage brothers
paused. They were the
orphaned sons of an
itinerant textile worker
from Howland Maine. One
decided that he knew how
to electrify his employer’s
Gramps afloat on Lake Sunapee. Up on the stern is probably one of
mill.
The other was
his
pals,
John
Day.
Gramps
owned
a
place
up
in
Bradford
New
Hampcurious
why
the furnace
So most of us stop here—
shire
where
us
kids
would
have
great
fun
causing
a
ruckus.
door buckled when it was
with a rather pessimistic
heated. I learned that what
view. We read our Dilbert
to take solace in our common plight. We “Move along by we can do is not limited by what we have done, and that
getting along” and are careful to “not rock the boat”. We the most important invention we can all pursue is that of
are rewarded by becoming “Employee of the Month”, a fact reinventing ourselves.
25
GRAMPS
by George “Rod” Spencer
You may know this first teenager as the inventor of the
Microwave Oven - but I knew him as Gramps.
comfortable. My job at EDS was comfortable. For a while.
I had spent the long weekend putting together a web site
for the office. It was a volunteer (a.k.a. unpaid) effort. It
was a pleasure to put together local imagery to help bolster
the position the office within the corporation. Given their
location, and certain “Dot Desires” by corporate, I had the
idea that positioning the office as a “techno-art centre” was
good strategy. I even wore a collarless black shirt to get in the
“art-eest” mood.
Local management was initially most impressed. But when
the site started to attract the prospects of more work, and a
more substantial position, the sounds of rice bowls became
deafening. I was informed most ardently by a supervisor that
such work “is expected” of the employees.
Employee relations took a nose dive when I inquired as to the
relative ranking of “is expected” and “is appreciated”.
I knew she lived in Peterborough somewhere. During
bicycle rides at lunch I would wonder where exactly.
Visit from General Bradley
Left to right: Lawrence Marshall, General Omar Bradley, Charles
Adams, two unknown gentlemen, and Gramps on the right. On
the table are various microwave apparatus providing success in
various forms to all participants.
So put your Dilbert down. I believe Gramps has something
It was a wonderful commute. I would leave from my home in
Merrimack, New Hampshire, and travel west to Peterborough.
Work at EDS started at around 8:00, so I left the house around
7:15. I would zap a cup of coffee for the trip, and travel west
on Wilson Hill Road, hook up with the Route 101 bypass, and
pass over Temple Mountain.
One would guess that most of the picture postcards from
New Hampshire were taken along the route.
On the right is a sign that reads “Welcome to Peterborough,
a Good place to live”. The town still looks like it did in 1950. I
sometimes had breakfast at Noones, a little restaurant where
everyone seems to know one another. You see, there are no
McDonalds in Peterborough. No Wendy’s, Burger King, Home
Depot, or Mall. But America’s largest and oldest Art Colony is
there. The stationary store displays its products in wooden
cabinets, with a friendly sales clerk standing behind. The
Post Office has decorative oak partitions. Peterborough is
Her name is Lorna Marshall. I she recently had her 100th
birthday. She is the Widow of Laurence Marshall, the key
Founder and first President of Raytheon. I was told that
the Marshall’s were hugely successful from his leadership
in growing Raytheon.
When my Dad passed away a few years ago, I inherited his
boxes of memorabilia from Gramps and the early days of
Raytheon. There were personal items, such as a Valentine
from Louise Larson (Granny), SWL/QSL Radio Greeting
Cards from around the world, a Christmas card from
Mr. and Mrs. Vannevar Bush. Boxes of letters, one from
Gilbert H. Hood, of the Hood Milk Company, another from
JFK, many from the Navy, a personal letter from Herbert
Hoover, pictures of vacuum tubes and Gramps with
General Omar Bradley, a letter from William R. Hewlett,
another from David Packard, hundreds of letters from the
founders companies we all know.
I did not dig too far, perhaps it reminded me too much of
Gramps. Perhaps I wanted to put Raytheon behind me.
I did find one 6 page pamphlet; the original “Brief History
of Raytheon to 1956.” It begins:
The story of Raytheon began on a morning early
in 1922 when two young engineers (Laurence K.
Marshall and Charles C. Smith), walking up the
hill toward Tufts College, decided to combine their
talents and go into business for themselves.
Later, in 1974, Otto J. Scott wrote “The Creative Ordeal -
26
GRAMPS
by George “Rod” Spencer
The Story of Raytheon”. Its 430 pages begin with a quote
from John Godfrey Saxe:
founders of Dot Coms. The Garage Dot Com view of the
world requires the investors not only posses Preferred
equity, but voting rights. Technologist apparently require
such “Parental Supervision”. That somehow the taint of
“Wing Nut Knowledge” impeded good business reasoning.
Unless you are appointed a God, don’t bother create.
So what was it like back then in 1920? What did the
number one Corporate President Mr. Marshall think of
Gramps? What personal skills did it take back then to get a
huge success started and grown? How was this separation
between the Long View of Business and the myopic view
of design maintained? He had passed away years ago, but
I had hoped Lorna could, in some measure, tell me.
And so, I reasoned, somewhere between 1956 and 1990
the creative spirit grew from the enthusiasm of college
graduates, into becoming an ordeal, eventually into the
divine purview of Corporate Gods.
Although confined to a wheel chair, she is a most pleasant
person with an engaging smile. She retains a spark of
enthusiasm that I imagine served her well as the wife of
an entrepreneur.
I readily admit during my years at Raytheon I was fortunate
to meet the smartest people I perhaps ever will meet. But
somehow there, like in many corporations, a collection can
achieve less than the sum of its contributing parts. And so
I left, and perhaps some portion of my brain thought that
an answer may be back here in Peterborough, in 1950land.
I was told that Gramps and Larry were friends, but I was
unsure about the depth of that friendship, until I saw her
hand.
And although I did not find it at EDS, perhaps I was not
wrong.
It is made out of distinct layers laminated together. And
in its center there is no diamond. Instead there is a cavity
made from a number of holes arranged around in a circle.
‘Tis wise to learn; ‘tis God-like to create.
For many, today’s view of most large corporations may
best be written by Scott Adam’s, the author of Dilbert.
Perhaps today’s corporate tome might begin:
I finally met Lorna in the fall of 2001 thanks to the
encouragement of Norm Krim, perhaps Gramps’ closest
living friend.
I was there to understand Gramps’ role in Raytheon. Sure
I have the facts, the dates, and the quarterly reports.
And I knew Gramps was a highly technical person. I was
informed by Raytheon’s management that, “Why yes, he
was the fifth employee here”. But what I was looking for
was the personal story.
Since 1970, my years at Raytheon, in most of its
subsidiaries, and later at EDS, demonstrated by example,
that a certain separation must be maintained between
management and design; That intellectual curiosity is an
enigma of thought among the geeks, and not the suits;
That the reserved, slightly aloof, “but the door is always
open” crowd knew a secret - a secret unknown to those
who dealt with the shape of design within cubicles with
no such doors; That to business, the details of design were
just that - details, whatever they may be.
During my own exploits, I had learned that this separation
is also maintained between the Venture Capitalist and the
On her finger is a gold wedding ring, a most unusual ring.
I had never met her before, but I knew the shape of that
ring.
The ring on her finger, given to her by her husband years
ago, was certainly custom made. It contains a single idea.
It is the shape of the design that made Raytheon. Its cavity
resonates with a spark that not only heated my coffee, but
changed the course of history during World War II. A shape
inspired from a stack of coins in Gramps’ pocket.
A shape of a technology that a husband and CEO gave as a
sign of his greatest affection.
And so I pulled out those boxes of personal and Raytheon
memorabilia and began to read...
I think everyone who dwells in technology can point back to
an occurrence as a child that set their techno-gears in motion.
As for me, I recall a great many disassembled things around
the house. It seems that a fascination with disassembly
predated my ability to reassemble.
What I recall most fondly were those visits from Uncle Jimmy.
27
GRAMPS
by George “Rod” Spencer
He was amazing because he had the talent to make cool
things.
In the summer of 1958 when I was five, he drove up to our
home in Needham Massachusetts towing a gas powered race
car he had made. I recall being placed in it. It was noisy, a
little scary, and there was some discussion about this lever on
the side. A lever I recall to this day with much clarity, although
at the time it seemed like such a superfluous detail.
hauled away.
Percy walked back toward the treads. It was a giant, but
it seemed that all its complicated parts were about the
right height for a boy to explore. And although his Aunt
pulled him away on that first day, Percy would have weeks
to explore its inner workings with Uncle Henry.
Later Henry would take him for rides around the Logging
Camps in Engineer’s cab. It was a great thrill for young
Percy. They would ride to the portable mills where they
picked up the big sleds loaded with spool bars, and
Later that day, I had the opportunity to learn about
carpentry, as my Father repaired our new fence.
I learned much from Uncle Jimmy.
She was watching the men from MacGregor Spool
Manufacturing hitch up the last of the big sleds
loaded with spool bars. Soon the team of horses
pulled it away. These white birch bars would be
shipped to the Clark Company of Newark, New
Jersey, to become thread spools and bobbins.
She turned back into the kitchen and listened. After New Englanders
a moment she called “Percy, where are you?”.
Travelers on New England highways I-93 in New Hampshire, and route
Three years before, in 1896, young Percy was “taken
in” by this Aunt and Uncle, the Pierce’s here in South
Lincoln Maine. Named for Enoch Lincoln the sixth
governor of Maine, the town was considered a bit
more progressive than most. This was attributed to
“its intelligent and enterprising newcomers”.
495 around Boston may notice the great textile mills of Lawrence, Lowell,
Manchester. They still stand, but most are inhabited by pigeons. On
“roads less traveled”, are the barns that predate them. And gone are the
fields they served. They now are new growth woods filled with stone
walls. New England farming it seems involved a certain facility with
rocks. And granite carries a cragginess that some think rubbed off on the
handlers. Looking back are members of the Colby, Sanborn, Smith, Patten, Cross, and Quimby families.
Percy, now 4 and a half years old, had just opened I had gathered a couple of family albums like this one up at a Antique
the back door to the shed. The air inside was hot Store in George’s Mills New Hampshire. I would guess this album is from
and the smell of coal was familiar. The shed was filled around the 1880’s.
with an immense machine. He had seen it the day
enjoyed a noon meal of the delightful beans and biscuits
before with Uncle Henry and the men around it.
that they served.
Unlike everything else that moved, this giant required no
horses. Instead it was a fascinating collection of moving
chains, bars, fire, smoke, and a really loud whistle.
The Lombard Log hauler was a Steam Locomotive
without a track. It is reported to be the first vehicle to
use a caterpillar style tread (later adopted for Military
and Construction equipment.) For its day, it was quite an
impressive sight when it was working.
It had stopped working the day before, out on the road
in front of their house, and Henry offered to help repair
it. The last of the long line of logs it pulled had just been
They most certainly shared a love of technology. And as
Engineers, they also shared in the sense of importance and
stature, a sense of purpose Percy soon had to carry on his
own. Uncle Henry died when Percy was only 7.
Percy remained in school for only four more years. Although
he seldom mentioned his limited formal education,
throughout his later life would recall the wooden blocks
with which he had learned mathematics.
In 1906, the economic situation at home was tough. He
had a constant enthusiasm for helping with chores around
the house - especially those that involved tools. But help
28
GRAMPS
by George “Rod” Spencer
with chores was no longer enough. So, at the age of 12, he
left school and trudged off to the spool mill. For two years
he would leave in the cold gray Maine dawn and work until
after sundown. Whether it was a the pay or the nature of
the work, the young Engineer needed to move up.
to electrify. Although he had no formal knowledge of
electricity, Percy signed on as one of three men to install
the system.
Learning entirely on his own, he emerged a competent
electrician.
To the Enterprise
Having read two articles in regard to the LomSo at the Age of fourteen he was apprenticed at Fay and bard steam log hauler, I thought you would be interScott’s Machine Shop, Dexter, Maine, where he learned ested in these facts. As a boy I lived in South Lincoln,
the machinist’s trade. He must have remembered his Maine, in which was located the John MacGregor
earlier years with Uncle Henry, for he seemed to posses an Spool Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of
immediate skill with working with machines, and a strong a wide variety of thread, spools, and bobbins. They
desire to learn.
obtained their white birch spool bars from portable
mills both on the east side and west side of the PeWork was not limited to the shop. Throughout these years nobscot River. On the east side the mills were as far
he would upon occasion hunt the local woods. Far from
east as Lake Sysladobis; on the west side their mills
being a sport, the game he would bag were well received
were as far west as Seboeis
at the back door of the kitchen. On one such outing, he
had leaned his rifle against a tree along a pond near the
family farm when debris from an overhanging limb began
dropping into the water. Years later he would recall;
“In looking up . . . I saw a black face in the foliage.
I probably thought at the time it was a fisher, so
picked up the little 38-40 and took a fine bead
between the eyes and fired. A tremendous big
black body came tumbling out of the tree into
the water, and I think I exceeded all records in
returning to my home, as the sight was a little too
much for me.”
In 1904, the MacGregor Company introduced
a Lombard steam log hauler to haul spool bars from
these portable mills, the first one of which was steered
by a horse and driven by a man who rode on the front
end of the log hauler with a sort of shield to prevent
the sparks from the stack falling on him. There was no
occasion for the teamster to walk driving the horse, as
there was no danger to the horse as stated in the last
article of your paper, as the log hauler road had been
built and graded the summer and fall before the log
hauler was put into use. There were no steep hills nor
places where the log hauler and its load could get out
of control.
The second Lombard log hauler was one steered by a
big wheel and made unnecessary the use of a horse,
and a cab of a sort was introduced to further protect
the man steering the log hauler. The front sled under
this log hauler was similar to those of the bobsled rig
used in Maine for transporting logs or pulp wood.
It happened that my stepfather, Henry Pierce, ws the
The first automobile seen by Gramps
mechanic who kept these machines in operable condition. As a boy it was a great thrill to get a ride in the
engineer’s cab to the portable mill, where they picked
This was the last confirmed kill of a cougar in Maine.
up the big sleds loaded with spool bars, and also
Four years later his curiosity led him into something new. where we enjoyed a noon meal of delightful beans
In 1910, a new form of power was being introduced to and biscuits that they served.
The Lumbering Lombard
factories. Electricity provided a more controllable source
of power, without the delays and difficulty of steam. The
Katahdin Pulp & Paper Company mill in Lincoln wished
It is my impression that Lombard was the first one to
introduce the caterpillar tread and the first automo29
GRAMPS
by George “Rod” Spencer
CHRISTOPHER MINER
SPENCER
bile that I saw, as a boy, was built by Lombard, in 1899,
a little steam job. I had a good chance to examine it
because one broke down near our house and was in
our shed for several weeks before it was repaired and
recovered.
The local name given the Lombard log hauler was
“GO DEVIL”.
Percy L. Spencer
Raytheon
Lexington, Mass.
Christopher Miner Spencer, American inventor
and manufacturer, was born June 20, 1833 in
Manchester, Connecticut.
In 1860 he patented a repeating carbine whose
seven cartridges could be fired in 18 seconds. It
was quickly adopted by the U.S. government for
cavalry use, and Spencer built his own factory,
which produced 200,000 Spencer carbines and
rifles during the Civil War. He also patented a
breechloader and a magazine gun. He later contributed considerably to the technology of drop
forging. His innovative screw-making lathes enabled the huge success of his Hartford Machine
Screw Co. (established 1876).
Christpher Spencer died in Hartford, Connecticut
on January 14, 1922.
Source: www.Briticannica.com
30
The Quest: Finding My Spencer R oots
Part II: The Discovery
By Terri Spencer #1882
“I
I
S
never really knew much about my father’s family. . .”
t was with these words that I began Part I of this article, published in the August 2009 edition of Le Despencer.
ince that time, no new discoveries have come to light—though truth be told, I haven’t had any free time to
pursue new information. Third great-grandfather James Spencer is still my brick wall. I often think he will
always be that insurmountable ediface, on par with the Great Wall of China, and that I will never learn more
about him or discover his origins.
James Spencer1 was born about 1775-76, place unknown. According to the late Katherine (Kate) Spencer of
Jonesville, VA, James lived in Norfolk, VA and was perhaps born abroad.
A
round 1794, he married Elizabeth Bolton, daughter of William Bolton and his first wife (unknown). It is
not known where they were married, since no marriage record has been found. However, William Bolton,
a native of Wales, was living in Shenandoah County, VA in 1776. He probably settled in Washington County
sometime before 1794, where on September 16, 1794, he became a landowner.2 Thus, it is relatively safe to
say that James and Elizabeth were married between 1794 and before 1800, since it is known that their fourth
child was born in Washington County in 1802.
J
ames Spencer and Elizabeth (Bolton) Spencer had nine children:3
1. Samuel Spencer
2. Noah W. Spencer, d. 31 Jul 1829
3. Rebecca Spencer
4. William Bolton Spencer, b. 1802 in Washington Co., VA
5. George Washington Spencer, b. 28 Feb1808, Bean Station in Grainger Co., Tennessee.
6. Robert Preston Spencer, Rev., b. 9 July 1810, Sullivan Co., TN
7. Evan Bolton Spencer, M.D., b. 17 Aug 1813 in Sullivan Co., TN
8. Eleanor Spillson Spencer, d. 6 Mar 1886
9. Elizabeth Spencer, b. 1822
W
ashington County lies some 60 miles due east of Lee County. Scott County, VA is to its west, and Smyth
County to its east. The Virginia-Tennessee border bounds its south side, near where Tennessee also joins
North Carolina. Sullivan County, TN—which plays a part in the Spencer family history—lies just below Washington County, VA.
T
wo rivers provide natural pathways between Washington County, VA and Sullivan County, TN. Both are
branches of the Holston River, with headwaters near Rural Retreat. They flow through the valleys sandwiched between the Appalachian and the Blue Ridge Mountains. One is the North Holston River, which mostly parallels the northwest boundary of Washington County. The Holston is an old river, snaking along with
numerous loopbacks and crescents once cut from the surrounding hills.
1. Names in bolded italic denote direct ancestors.
2. Hattie Muncy Bales, Early Settlers of Lee County, Virginia and Adjacent Counties, Volume II (Media, Inc., Printers and
Publishers, Greensboro, North Carolina, 1977), pp. 654-657.
3. Ibid.
31
The Quest: Finding My Spencer Roots
Part II: The Discovery - Cont’d
Terri Spencer #1882
T
he other river running through Washington County is the South Holston River. It lies about 10 miles below
the North Holston River, generally following the contours of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Together they
compose a beautiful land, though one that would have been slow to travel due to their numerous loopbacks.
P
ioneers in the late 18th century followed these rivers southward from central Virginia down past Wytheville,
Rural Retreat, and Saltville. Some pioneers continued on into Tennessee while others turned westward,
winding their way along Daniel Boone’s Wilderness Trail, through Lee County, and on into the Cumberland
Gap—entryway to the storied lands of Kentucky. These pathways give reason to believe that James Spencer
may well have been among these land-seeking pioneers.
T
his region of northeastern Tennessee lying just below Washington County is well known for being the
birthplace of the legendary Davy Crockett. Crockett was about 10 years younger than James Spencer,
though whether they knew each other would be pure conjecture. An 1874 biography of Crockett4 describes
the area in the romantic fashion of the period as it tells how Crockett’s family migrated through this land:
“We can scarcely comprehend the motive which led this solitary family to push on, league after league, farther and
farther from civilization, through the trackless forests. At length they reached the Holston River. This stream takes
its rise among the western ravines of the Alleghenies, in southwestern Virginia. Flowing hundreds of miles through
one of the most solitary and romantic regions upon the globe, it finally unites with the Clinch River, thus forming
the majestic Tennessee.”
N
othing quite so romantic has been passed down about the James Spencer family to understand his motivation and experiences. What is known from history is that during this period the area was active with
pioneering families moving down the valleys below the Appalachians. About 200,000 people seeking new
opportunities had passed along the Wilderness Trail by 1800. History books tell us that many of these pioneering families entered the trails from Augusta County, VA, about 185 miles up the valley from Washington
County. They generally went to Augusta County from the eastern seaboard by way of Charlottesville.
J
ames Spencer was a land owner in Washington Counties in Virginia and Tennessee, and he began buying
and selling land in the late 1700s.
Sept. 14, 1779 George Whealer Smith 640 ac in Sullivan Co in Powells Valley; border: begins at upper
end of “the’’ lower town, at or near the forks of “the” creek, & runs “down”; warrant issued Jan. 31, 1780 by
John Carter; 640 ac surveyed Apr. 26, 1792 for “Joseph Beaird” by Jos Beaird DS; 640 ac entered by George
“Wheler” Smith on entry taker’s report; [for grant see file #I30 in Eastern Dist; MARS 12.14.3.130; warrant
assigned May 22, 1792 by Hugh Ingram, for G W Smith, to James Spencer (Tho King & Lewis Burlson witness) who assigned Sept. 6, 1792 to Joseph Beaird].5
May 9, 1801 James Spencer of Washington County conveyed 100 acres by survey, a patent bearing date
8 February 1795, lying in the Little Valley below Calaham’s land on the north side of the North Fork of
Holston River, to Jacob Hickam for $100 (DBK 2•443), and the same date Jacob Hickam of Washington
County, sold 100 acres, by survey date 8 March 1797, lying on Carmack Creek in Washington County ...
with houses &c, to James Spencer for $100 (DBK 2•442). (Image 1)
4. John C. Abbott, Davy Crockett His Life’s Adventures, 1874,Dodd Mead & Co.
5. Dr. A. B. Pruitt, Tennessee Land Entries: Washington County 1778-1796, Part 2, pp. 204.
32
The Quest: Finding My Spencer Roots
Part II: The Discovery - Cont’d
Terri Spencer #1882
J
ames Spencer essentially traded one plot of land for another.
His new plot of land was nearby and possibly adjacent to the
property of his father-in-law, William Bolton. Jacob Hickam was
probably well known to the Bolton family since Mary Bolton,
one of Elizabeth’s sisters, had married a George Hickam in 1793.
There was a lot of land trading back and forth between Spencer
and the Boltons. In 1803 James sold the land to William Bolton
Jr., Elizabeth’s brother. On March 26, 1805 William Bolton made
out his will and allocated about 50 acres to his minor son Noah,
and made James Spencer the guardian of Noah. In 1808, when
Noah was a 20-year-old adult, his brother James Bolton conveyed
Noah’s 50 acres to James, and then one year later conveyed back
the original 100 acres to James Spencer. These activities, taken
together, seem to suggest that James and Elizabeth arranged
the first trade to be closer to her family but says nothing about
the reasons behind the subsequent trades.
Image 1
September 2, 1803 James Spencer and his wife Elizabeth conveyed 100 acres, surveyed for Jacob Hickam March 8, 1797, lying near Richard Hickam’s line to William Bolton of Washington
County for $100 (DBK 3-106) .
October 5, 1808 James Bolton of Washington Co., VA conveyed
fifty acres of land, part of the land devised to Noah Bolton by
William Bolton, dec’d, to be used for Noah’s use, to James Spencer, guardian of Noah Bolton, a minor (DBK 4-118). (Image 2)
T
he Spencer family soon moved to Tennessee, but retained
their land in Washington County. They first settled at Bean
Station, a stagecoach stop on the Holston River, about 45 miles
northeast of Knoxville. William Bean and Daniel Boone had first
camped at the spot in 1775 while on their way into Kentucky via
the Cherokee Indians’ Great War Path. William Bean returned with
his brother Robert in 1776 and established a permanent station
there.
A
ccording to tradition, James Spencer owned Bean Station,
and while living there he stilled.6 In addition to the stagecoach stop, early settlers had purchased plots of land from the
Bean Brothers, and at least three tavern-inns were in operation.
The Whiteside Inn was built soon thereafter, and would become
the largest inn between Washington, DC and New Orleans, with a
total of 52 rooms, in addition to a parlor, ballroom and wine cellar.
Image 2
6. Source: Miss Katherine Spencer.
33
The Quest: Finding My Spencer Roots
Part II: The Discovery - Cont’d
Terri Spencer #1882
T
he family moved to Sullivan County, TN and lived
on Reedy Creek for several years. Records indicate that James Spencer lost his holdings at Bean
Station in the War of 1812. The next year, while still
in Sullivan County, they sold their land in Washington County, VA. About the same time their next
child, Evan Bolton Spencer, was born on August 17,
1813. In 1816 they bought more land in Sullivan
County, TN, paying $600 for 203 acres (DBK 7-110).
It was purchased from Robert Preston of Washington County VA, likely the namesake of great-great
grandfather, Robert Preston Spencer.
Whiteside Inn
May 18, 1813 James Spencer and his wife of Sullivan County, TN, sold 158 acres of land, lying on Moors
and Carmack Creeks in Washington County, VA to Ephraim Johnston for $442 (DBK 5-233).
May 13, 1816 Robert Preston of Washington County conveyed 203 acres, lying in Sullivan County, TN, to
James Spencer for $600 (DBK 7-110).
By 1819 James Spencer had moved to Hawkins County, TN and on April 24, 1819 he sold 4-1/2 acres, lying on the waters of Reedy Creek in Sullivan County, to John Tyler for $30 (DBK 10-156).
August 17, 1819 James Spencer of Hawkins County conveyed 200 acres, lying on the waters of Reedy
Creek, adjoining John Tyler’s land, to Jacob Drake of Sullivan County for $1200 (DBK 8-142).
S
ometime before 1822 James Spencer moved to Scott County, VA. On June 11, 1822, 100 acres of land
were purchased somewhere on the north side of the Clinch River near where the Old Taylor schoolhouse
stood. Two months later James and Elizabeth sold the land to their new son–in-law, Samuel Pendleton, and
their daughter, Rebecca. Four years later, Rebecca transferred 50 acres back to them, on October 4, 1826 (DBK
3-317). James Spencer lived there until his death, May 14, 1833, and he was buried near where he lived.
On June 11, 1822 Francis Gamble of Hawkins Co., TN conveyed 150 Acres, lying in Scott County on the
North side of Clinch River, to James Spencer for $1300 (DBK 2-355).
August 29, 1822 James and Elizabeth Spencer conveyed the above tract to Samuel Pendleton for $2000
(DBK 2-356) . October 4, 1826 Samuel Pendleton and Rebecca his wife conveyed 50 acres of the above
tract to James Spencer for $500 (DBK 3-317).
I
n 1929 the inscription on James’s tombstone was still legible.7 I have searched for his gravesite, but am unsure of where the old Taylor school house stood. I did find an old cemetery on the north side of the Clinch
River, which a local resident referred to as the “Old Taylor-Carter” cemetery, so it is quite possible that it is his
burial site. It is a small cemetery, with some illegible tombstones. Joseph H. Carter (Confederate soldier), Presley G. Carter (Confederate soldier), Eliza Horton, Susannah Fugate, Joseph Carter (Revolutionary War soldier),
and Nimrod Taylor (Revolutionary War soldier) are amongst the few graves in the cemetery.
7. Hattie Muncy Bales, Early Settlers of Lee County, Virginia and Adjacent Counties, Volume II (Media, Inc., Printers and
Publishers, Greensboro, North Carolina, 1977), pp. 654-657.
34
The Quest: Finding My Spencer Roots
Part II: The Discovery - Cont’d
Terri Spencer #1882
E
R
lizabeth Bolton Spencer survived her husband by 25 years. She died of dropsy on May 16, 1858 at Indian
Creek in Lee County, VA at the age of 82 years. She is buried in the Spencer Cemetery in Lee County, VA. 8
obert Preston Spencer, my great-great grandfather, was a Methodist minister and farmer, and his name can be found on many
marriage records in Scott County. On September 2, 1839, he was
married to Lucinda Flanary in Scott County. VA by John Pendleton.9
Lucinda was the daughter of Silas Flanary II, M.D. and Nancy Ervin.
Doctor Silas Flanary II10 was born in Montgomery County. Silas
was the son of Silas Flanary I of Montgomery County, an early
colonial soldier of the south and part of the “Fighting Flanarys”
that lived in the area at the time. He also served in the Revolutionary War in Captain Enoch Osborn’s Company as “Captain Cilas
Flanery”. The grandfather of Silas II was Thomas, another colonial
Elizabeth Bolton Spencer
soldier of the south. Thomas is listed as a private in Captain John
Canty’s Company under the command of Colonel Richard Richardson’s Battalion of the South Carolina
Militia in the 1759 Cherokee Expedition.
On August 19, 1818, Silas Flanary II purchased 50 acres in Scott County, VA, on the north side of the
Clinch River in the Rye Cove between John Pendleton’s land and Samuel Guthry’s land for $250 (DBK
2-83) He acquired additional land in Scott County, where he reared his family and spent the remainder
of his life.
T
he children of Robert Preston and Lucinda were:
(1) James F. Spencer, b. 1840 (died of wounds received in the Civil War)
(2) Sarah E. Spencer, b. 1842
(3) William Grenade Spencer, b. 18 Feb 1844
(4) Louisa Rebekah Spencer, b. 24 Feb 1848
(5) Robert Wynn Spencer, b. 1 Sep 1850
(6) Nancy H. Spencer, b. Dec 1852; d. 18 May 1943
(7) Emily Orlena Spencer. b. 18 Feb 1855
(8) Cornelia V. Spencer, b. 22 Feb 1857
(9) Emmett Bacon Spencer, b. 1859
10) Victoria Spencer, b. abt. 1861-6
R
obert Preston Spencer served as a Chaplain in the
Civil War, and was reported to be the oldest man
8. The Spencer Cemetery is just west of the junction of county roads 758 and 665 on road 665. Its GPS coordinates are
36º 37’ 43.76” N, 83 º 12’ 22.41” W.
9. Scott County Marriage Book 1
10. Ryan John Flanary, et al, “America’s History of the Flanary’s, The Descendents of Thomas Flanary, Volume One: Silas
Flanary, July 12, 1999, p. 2.
35
The Quest: Finding My Spencer Roots
Part II: The Discovery - Cont’d
Terri Spencer #1882
in the 64th Virginia Mounted Infantry/Cavalry.11 His son, my great-grandfather, William Grenade Spencer,
enlisted in the Confederate Army when he was only 16, and served with the 25th Virginia Cavalry.
G
reat-great grandfather Spencer did not live a long life, dying at age 56 on September 28, 1866. War had
come to Jonesville on December 31, 1863 so there is also the possibility he was wounded during that
clash. A battalion of Union Forces consisting of the 16th Illinois Cavalry and the 22nd Ohio Battery succeeded
in entering town and burning the courthouse before being defeated by CSA General William E. Jones. The
Union forces lost 29 killed and 48 wounded, while 300 went missing.
Among Confederates, four were killed and 12 wounded.
R
obert Preston Spencer is buried in the Spencer Cemetery in Lee
County, VA, as is his wife, Lucinda Flanary, who lived for 29 years
after his death, passing away on May 7, 1895.
W
illiam Grenade Spencer, son of Robert Preston and Lucinda, was
born Scott County, VA on February 18, 1844. He married Elizabeth J. Hurst (often erroneously referred to as Hunt), who was born on
August 2, 1845 in Pulaski County, VA. Eliza was the daughter of Jesse
Thompson Hurst and Mary Jane “Sue” Fugate. “Grenade” and Eliza
had two children:
(1) Sarah “Sallie” Lane Spencer, b. 1 Jun 1867
(2) David Sullen Spencer, b. 14 Dec 1875
N
ot much is known about William Grenade Spencer other than the
fact that he served in the Confederate Army. William, wife Eliza,
and daughter Sarah Lane are listed in the 1870 census in Lee County,
VA. They are listed, with son David Sullen, then age four, in the 1880
census, as living in Wise County, VA. Census results for William Grenade:
U.S. Census: 1870, 9 Sep 1870, Lee Co., VA, Age 26, works on farm, b.
Scott Co., VA, with wife living with her parents. [Family was counted twice in 1870.]
U.S. Census: 1870, 21 Sep 1870, Lee Co., VA, As William Spencer, age
26, works on farm, $200 personal prop., b. Scott Co., VA, with wife
living with her parents.
U.S. Census: 1880, 10 Jun 1880, Wise Co., VA, Age 36, farm laborer
W
William Grenade Spencer
Civil War Record
illiam Grenade Spencer died on February 6, 1894, less than two
weeks shy of his 50th birthday. He is buried in the Nicholas Horne Cemetery in Coeburn, Wise County,
VA. His wife, my grandmother Eliza, was 81 years, 7 months, and 4 days old, when she died of pneumonia
on March 6, 1927. She, too, is buried in the Nicholas Horne Cemetery, though her grave is no longer marked.
11. Mick Cole, http://www.cwreenactors.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3171, February 2, 2007.
36
The Quest: Finding My Spencer Roots
Part II: The Discovery - Cont’d
Terri Spencer #1882
Census results for Eliza:
U.S. Census: 1850, 30 Jul 1850, Pulaski Co., VA, Age 5, b. VA.
U.S. Census: 1860, 6 Jul 1860, Pulaski Co., VA, Age 14, b. VA.
U.S. Census: 1870, 9 Sep 1870, Lee Co., VA, As Eliza J. Spencer,
age 24, housekeeping, b. Pulaski Co., VA, with husband, living
with parents. [Family was counted twice in 1870.]
U.S. Census: 1870, 21 Sep 1870, Lee Co., VA, Age 24, housekeeping, b. Pulaski Co., VA.
U.S. Census: 1880, 10 Jun 1880, Wise Co., VA, Age 34, keeping
house
U.S. Census: 1920, 7 Feb 1920, Floyd Co., KY, Age 74, mother of
head of household (David S. Spencer)
M
y great-aunt Sarah Lane Spencer married T. J. Horne, son of
Samuel and Martha E. Horne, in Wise County on December
22, 1883. She died on February 1, 1915, and is buried in the Nicholas Horne Cemetery in Coeburn, Wise County, VA.
Sarah Lane Spencer Horne
D
avid Sullen Spencer, Sr., my grandfather, was born on December 14, 1875, supposedly in Kentucky. He
married Miss Molly McGuire, who was killed in a fire, then married my grandmother, Mary Ella Pendleton,
in Coalwood, McDowell County, WV, on August 22, 1909.
D
avid and Mary had six sons:
D
(1) Byron Olin Spencer, b. 6 Jun 1910, Coalwood, McDowell Co., WV; d. 15 Aug 1986, Logan,
Hocking Co., OH
(2) Basil Thomas Spencer, b. 13 Jan 1913, Dunham, Letcher Co., KY; d. 15 Feb 2008, Townsend,
New Castle Co., DE
(3) Jack Spencer, b. 7 Sep 1915, Kimball, McDowell Co., WV; d. 11 Dec 1999, Magnolia, Kent
Co., DE
(4) James O’Connor Spencer, b. 9 Feb 1918, McRoberts, Letcher Co., KY; d. 10 Apr 1980
(5) David Sullen Spencer, Jr., b 19 Dec 1919, Wayland, Floyd Co., KY; d. 6 July 1960, New Orleans,
Orleans Parish, LA
(6) Clyde Maurice Spencer, b. 9 Jun 1923, Martin, Floyd Co., KY; d. 10 Jul 1974
avid Sullen Spencer, Sr. is perhaps the most elusive person in my direct ancestral line. Though I finally
saw two photos of him several years ago, documented proof of his existence is almost non-existent. My
grandmother’s bible entry states he was born in Harlan County, KY, and that he also died there. However, the
Commonwealth of Kentucky has no records of him of any kind, though a British cousin obtained an obscure
handwritten birth record from the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives in 1995. To date, the only
37
The Quest: Finding My Spencer Roots
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Terri Spencer #1882
other documented evidence found of his existence is
his WWI draft registration card.
M
y grandmother’s notes state that David Sullen
died in Harlan, Harlan County, KY on October 14,
1928, and is buried in Coeburn, Wise County, VA, no
burial location given. However, according to one of his
sons, my late Uncle Basil Thomas Spencer, David is also
buried in the Nicholas Horne Cemetery. Perhaps one
of the most disconcerting things is that despite having
died in 1928, David is listed as head of household, age
53, in the 1930 federal census taken in Jenkins, Letcher
County, KY. Weird!
David Sullen Spencer, Sr. WWI Draft Registration
M
ary Ella Pendleton was the daughter of George Hiram Pendleton and Alice Serena Eads. She was born
in Max Meadows, Wythe County, VA, the only female of five children. After David’s death she lived in
Kentucky, then moved to Logan, Hocking County, OH, where she married William Evans on July 23, 1937. Her
mother, Alice Serena Eads Pendleton, lived with her daughter after the death of George Hiram Pendleton in
1935. “Gram”, as grandmother Pendleton was known, had beautiful white hair­—and still-smooth skin—when
she died at age 94 on January 20, 1986. Gram is buried in Conkles Hollow, Logan County, OH.
D
avid Sullen Spencer, Jr., my father, only lived to the age of 40. He married my mother, Mary Judith Hargroder in Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, LA, on December 20, 1948. “Judy”, as Mom is known, was born in
Opelousas on December 19, 1920 (exactly one year after Daddy), the daughter of Joseph Clabert Hargroder
and Marie Therese Latour. Daddy was born in Wayland, Floyd County, KY, where his father was the Sheriff.12
He lied about his age in order to join the Army in 1939, and served in WWII campaigns in northern France,
Rhineland, Central Europe, and the Ardennes, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge. He was a First Sergeant when
he was honorably discharged on September 28, 1945.
H
is marriage to my mother was his second, and produced two children—myself, and my younger sister, Judith Ann Spencer, both born in Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish, LA. In 1951 we moved to Chicago,
where we lived for two years before moving to Woodmont, Connecticut. It is there that I started elementary
school, attending for first- and second-grade terms. We returned
to Louisiana, this time to my mother’s hometown of Opelousas,
in June of 1960. Daddy was a quiet, soft-spoken man, and appears to have been loved by all who knew him. David Sullen,
Jr. was employed by the Louisiana Department of Labor when
he died of a cerebral hemmorhage (caused by a brain tumor) in
New Orleans on July 6, 1960. He is buried in Bellevue Memorial
Park in Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, LA.
A
fter Daddy’s death, Mom went back to work, and seven years
later married Murphy Andrew Tabor of Amelia, St. Mary Parish, LA. They divorced after two years, then remarried 13 years
later. Mom’s second husband also succumbed to cancer, on
David Sullen Spencer, Jr.
U. S. Army
12. Source: David Sullen Spencer, Jr. birth certificate.
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The Quest: Finding My Spencer Roots
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Terri Spencer #1882
March 16, 1992. Mom, known as “Miss Judy” to all in her Louisiana
hometown, recently celebrated her 89th birthday on December 19,
2009, and since 1999 has lived in Georgetown, Williamson County,
TX. She lives alone, still drives, plays in several card groups, and volunteers at her church and a local clinic. Mom is—and has always
been—known as a “pistol”. Her step has slowed, but still has a little
strut to it. I’m happy to report that Mom became a DAR member exactly one week before her 89th birthday.
T
hough not of my direct line, I am listing family information on
Evan Bolton Spencer (son of James and Elizabeth) and his family.
Over the past year I have been in touch with several of his descendants, and hope to meet them soon. It is because of these contacts,
and their contributions of photos and family lore, than I want to include family information for Evan and his descendants.
E
van Bolton Spencer13 was born August 17,1813 in Sullivan County, TN and died September 12, 1890 in Lee County, VA. He was a
minister, a doctor, and a farmer. Evan Bolton Spencer moved to Lee
Judy Spencer Tabor, the “Pistol”
County sometime before 1853, moving there from Tennessee. On
November 2, 2009
April 21 1853, he purchased a lot on Main Street in the Lee County
seat of Jonesville (DBK 12-212). He sold that house on November 2, 1853, and together with Robert Preston
Spencer purchased land in the Thompson Settlement Church community (DBK 13-80) on January 29, 1855.
This is the first record of Robert Preston Spencer’s appearance in Lee County. He may have moved there earlier
but no other records have surfaced. They held that land until their
deaths.
D
r. Spencer was married twice, first to Elizabeth Tucker, born in
Hawkins County, TN about 1834, and who died in Lee County, VA
on April 12. 1859. She was the daughter of Hiram and Sarah Tucker.
Dr. Spencer and Elizabeth had three children, all born in Lee County,
VA:
(1) Docia Ann-Fandora Eleanor Spencer, d. 5 Jan1856
(2) Milford B. Spencer, M.D, b. 18 April 1856
(3) Hiram L. Spencer. d. 22 Nov 1858
D
r. Evan Bolton Spencer moved from Tennessee to Lee County, VA,
where on April 21, 1853, he purchased a lot lying on the Main
Street in Jonesville from James M. Pendleton for $422 (DBK 12-212),
and on November 2, 1853, Evan B. Spencer and his wife Elizabeth conveyed a “house and lot” in the town of Jonesville to Stephen S. Crockett of Lee County for $600 (DBK 12-196). After the sale of his town
property, Dr. Spencer moved to the Thompson Settlement Church
Rev. Evan Bolton Spencer, M.D.
13. Hattie Muncy Bales, Early Settlers of Lee County, Virginia and Adjacent Counties, Volume II (Media, Inc., Printers and
Publishers, Greensboro, North Carolina, 1977), pp. 654-657.
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The Quest: Finding My Spencer Roots
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community, where on January 29, 1855, he and his brother Robert Preston Spencer purchased a tract of land,
lying in Lee County adjoining Bishop, from Ensley Parrott and his wife Margaret A. of Knox County, KY for
$4450 (DBK 13-80).
A
fter the death of Robert Preston Spencer, in 1869 his heirs sold their undivided interests to Dr. Spencer
(DBK 16. 431). Dr. Spencer later purchased additional land adjoining his original holdings, all of record by
deed. Dr. Spencer built and established his home on the land he had purchased and became a well-known
doctor and prominent citizen, and took his place among the other well-known and well-established citizens
of the community, where he continued his medical practice until his death in 1890. He reared two sons, one by
his first wife, the other by a second wife, who followed in his footsteps and became outstanding in the medical
profession in Lee County, VA.
Deed of Gift
This deed made the 16th day of August in the year one thousand and eight hundred and sixty-six between Robert P. Spencer and Evan B. Spencer, and Jefferson Neff, Evan B. Spencer, Robert P. Spencer, Jonas Wadle, and Charles F. Blakemore, Trustees. Witnesseth that in consideration of the sum on one dollar,
the said Robert P. Spencer and Evan B. Spencer do grant unto the said trustees and their successors for
the use and benefit of the M.E. Church South, all of the right, title, and claim to a lot of land upon which
Spencer Chappel is located, bounded as follows: Beginning with a rock a corner of the Ely and the Bishop tracts, thence South 3 degrees East on a line between Bishop and Spencer thirteen poles; thence East
thirteen poles; thence North 3 degrees west thence West to the Beginning (Editor’s Note: this method of
surveying is known as the “metes and bounds” system).
Witnesses
E. S. Bishop, R.P. Spencer (SEAL)
Wm. B. Spencer, E.B. Spencer (SEAL)
Clerk’s Office Lee County Court, the 18th day of November 1867.
This Indenture of bargain and sale for land between Robert P. Spencer and Evan B. Spencer, of one part,
and Jefferson Neff, Evan B. Spencer, Robert P. Spencer, Jonas Weddle, and Charles F. Blakemore of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, of the other part, was this day proven before me by Elijah S. Bishop and William B. Spencer, the subscribing witnesses thereto, to be the act of the said Robert P. Spencer and Evan
B. Spencer, and the deed is admitted to record.
Teste
Henry J. Morgan. Clerk
Recorded in Deed Book 15
T
here was a school by the name of “Knowledge Hill,” the forerunner of Curry College, located west of the
Curry College location, but it is not known whether this school was located on Dr. Spencer’s land. Dr. Spencer’s home was only a short distance west of the Curry College site.
40
The Quest: Finding My Spencer Roots
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Terri Spencer #1882
T
D
he 1860 census shows Dr. Evan B. Spencer as a resident of Lee County,
VA with son Milford, then four years of age.
r. Evan Bolton Spencer’s second marriage was November 8, 1870, to
Miriam Thompson14, born January 17, 1836. She was the daughter of
William and Catherine Porter (Carter) Thompson. Miriam Thompson was
a teacher in the public schools of Lee County Lee County before her marriage. Dr. Spencer and his second wife had four children:
(4) Willie (William) Lee Spencer, b. 29 Sep 1871.
(5) Melville Summers Spencer, b. 20 Aug 1873.
(6) Flora Katherine Spencer, b. 25 Sep 1875.
(7) Mollie D. Spencer, b. 15 May1878; d. in infancy.
M
ilford B. Spencer15 (son of Dr. Evan B. and Elizabeth) was born April 18,
1856 in Lee County, VA. He was educated in medicine at the Kentucky
School of Medicine, Louisville, from which he graduated in 1889 with the
Miriam Thompson Spencer
degree of M.D. After graduation, he returned to Lee County, VA and became one of the leading and best-known physicians in the county. He settled in Jonesville, the county seat,
where he resided until his death on September 1, 1905. Dr. Spencer played a leading role in the political life
of the town and the county, and represented Lee County in the Virginia House of Delegates. By his death Lee
County lost one of her most able citizens and physicians. Dr. Milford B. Spencer is buried in the family cemetery on the old farm, in the community where he was born.
D
r. Milford Spencer married Amanda M. Flanary on April
20, 1895 in Lee County, VA. Amanda was born May
18,1871, and died November 8, 1910 in Jonesville, Lee
County, VA. She was the daughter of Zion and Phoebe (Parsons) Flanary of Lee County.
illiam Lee Spencer,16 eldest son of Dr. Evan Bolton and
Miriam (Thompson) Spencer), was born September
29. 1871. He attended Curry College in Lee County, VA, and
graduated from the Kentucky School of Medicine in Louisville, class of 1904. He taught at the old Curry College for
Dr. Milford B. Spencer
a year or more, but it is not known whether he taught before entering medical school or after. After graduating from
medical school he returned to Lee County, where he began the practice of his profession.
W
S
hortly after returning to Lee County from medical school, Dr. William Spencer moved from the farm and
settled in Jonesville, establishing his practice and a new home, where he lived with his mother and sister;
he never married. His hobby was collecting war curios and Indian relics and before his death he placed a
collection in the archives of Lincoln Memorial University. His mother, Miriam (Thompson) Spencer, was con14. Ibid
15. Ibid
16. Ibid
41
The Quest: Finding My Spencer Roots
Part II: The Discovery - Cont’d
Terri Spencer #1882
fined to a wheelchair for several years and occupied her time reading and
studying her Bible, and with her needlework did exquisite embroidery.
She died at their home October 9, 1918, during the influenza epidemic,
and was taken back to the old farm for burial. William had a very successful career in both medicine and surgery until he succumbed to the flu
epidemic on October 14, 1918, just several days after his mother’s death.
He is also buried in the Spencer family cemetery in Lee County, VA.
M
elville Summers Spencer17 (son of Evan Bolton) was born August
20, 1873 in Lee County, VA and died June 24, 1954. He is buried in
the family cemetery on the farm. He was married 1902-3 to Amanda Ida
Trent, born October 7, 1883 at Sneedville, Hancock County, TN, daughter of James Austin Trent (son of William Trent and his wife Annie Jones,
daughter of Thomas and Sylvia Jones) and Mary Jane (Greene) Trent
(daughter of Lewis and Nancy (Cantrell) Greene). Melville Spencer was
a farmer and resided at the old Spencer homestead. The original home
was destroyed by fire in 1933, but was rebuilt. A long-time family memDr. William Lee Spencer
ber and local resident told me that Melville Spencer would often sit on
his front porch, surveying the landscape. Once a car would come into
sight, he would start waving and hallo-ing at the occupant(s) and would
continue to wave until the car was out of sight. He was supposed to have been quite a character!
M
elville and Amanda had eleven children:
1. Carrie Lee Spencer, b. 11 Dec 1903; m. John H. Price
2. Mamie Bernice Spencer, b. 23 April 1905, m. Roy D. Wilson
3. William Asher Spencer, b. 6 Sep 1906; m. Nola Hatfield
4. Robert Cornelius Spencer, b. 25 Nov 1908; d. 9 May 1941; m. Bernice
Graham
5. John Houston Spencer, b. 27 Sep 1911; m. Frances P. Niel.
6. Mariam (Miriam) Thelma Spencer, b. 11 Sep 1913; m. Robert L. Brock
7. Nancy Katherine Spencer, b. 19 Jan 1916; m. James H. Love, d. Dec.
1948
8. Samuel Haig Spencer, b. 10 Nov 1918; m. Mary F. Miller
9. Evelyn Ruth Spencer, b. 9 Feb 1920; m. Charles W. Lovd
10. Henry Sumpter Spencer, M.D., b. 23 Dec 1922; m. Lena M. Hale
11. Herbert Paul Spencer, b. 27 May1924; m. Evelyn Clark
F
lora Katherine “Kate” Spencer18, the last surviving daughter of Dr. Evan
Kate Spencer
Bolton Spencer, was born September 25, 1875 on the Spencer homestead,
where she lived until sometime after 1904, when she moved to Jonesville with
her brother and mother. She was educated at Curry College, and was trained and very talented in the field of
elocution. After the death of her mother and brother, William (Dr. Will), she continued to reside in their home
17. Ibid
18. Ibid
42
The Quest: Finding My Spencer Roots
Part II: The Discovery - Cont’d
Terri Spencer #1882
in Jonesville for many years. She was a very active member in the Methodist Church and all the social activities
of the town until she met with an accident which more or less incapacitated her for awhile, but after recovery
she resumed her activities. Katherine Spencer died on April 3, 1968, and is buried in the Spencer Family Cemetery in Lee County, VA.
L
ast year, I was notified by SHGS Data Manager, Sharron Spencer, that the DNA sample submitted by my
Spencer first cousin finally had a same-surname match! This was great news, as it had been five years
since our DNA sample was submitted. Before I had a chance to contact the matching individual, Herbert
Paul Spencer, his nephew contacted me. Carl McArn is the grand-nephew of Herbert Spencer and lives in Atlanta. He told me that family oral tradition is that great-great-great grandfather James Spencer first arrived in
Portsmouth—a first Spencer immigrant—and that his father was a merchant. James supposedly had enough
of the ocean and didn’t want to go back out to sea, so he stayed behind in Virginia. Carl said that another
family tradition is that our Spencer family descends from Nicholas Spencer, though no supporting evidence
has been found. Through Carl, I have also been in communication with Carolyn Pendergast, who is the greatgranddaughter of Melville Spencer. Carolyn, who lives in Knoxville, TN, informed me that a Spencer family
reunion would be held in 2010 and that she hoped I would attend. I look forward to it with great pleasure.
Other than my first cousins, descended from David Sullen Spencer, Sr. and Mary Ella Pendleton, I have never
met any other Spencer family members.
1936 Spencer Family Photo (Courtesy of Carolyn
Pendergast)
Front (kneeling): Evelyn Spencer Lovell, Katherine
Wilson Crawford, Miriam Brock, Sam Spencer
Back: Left to Right: Henry Spencer, Neil Spencer,
Bernice Spencer, John Spencer (behind Bernice),
Bernice Wilson (holding Jenny), Roy Wilson, Herbert
Spencer (in front of Roy), Carrie Lee (Spencer) Price
(holding Heloise), Kate Spencer, Amanda T. Spencer, Melville Spencer, Bill Spencer
T
hrough communications with these newly-found distant Spencer relatives, it seems we continue to get
more questions than answers. There are some common family legends, such as being related to Winston
Spencer Churchill. It was thought by many that the James Spencer family was related to that of Joseph Spencer of Lee County, VA, but DNA tests have disproved that theory.
N
othing is known of James’s parents or any siblings. His descendants have scattered far and wide, and
none still reside in Lee or Scott County. Many people have researched his line, yet none have been able to
glean any additional information. No portraits of James Spencer or Elizabeth Bolton Spencer have ever been
found.
43
The Quest: Finding My Spencer Roots
Part II: The Discovery - Cont’d
Terri Spencer #1882
J
ames is reportedly buried on the “Martha Carter Farm” near the old Taylor school house in Scott County, VA.
I will, on my next trip to southwestern Virginia, once again go in search of his burial place. Should I find it,
perhaps he’ll send me a message somehow, so that I will know what direction to take next. Stranger things
have happened, and I would welcome a sign from beyond the grave. I’ll get my rapelling gear ready. . .
New-Found Spencer Family Members
2009 Spencer Family Reunion, Lee County, VA (Courtesy of Carolyn Pendergast)
Front row: Mara Spencer, Lisette Luton with daughter
Michelle
2nd row: Ida Reed, Ginny Jones, Carolyn Pendergast,
Mary Lynn Geisler, Mary Lou Spencer, Sam Spencer,
Cecelia Hawkins, Herbert Spencer, Gerry Spencer
Back: TRoy Jones, Larry Spencer Sr., Larry Jr., Ed
Hogan, Neal Spencer, Victor Price, Bobby Brock, John
Daniels
McArn
Courtesy of Carl McArn
Carl McArn ‘s Daughters
L-R: Amber, Alicia, and Angela
Courtesy of Carl McArn
Left:
Alicia and Family
(Courtesy of Carl
McArn)
Hospital Photo: Carl McArn with
daughters and new grandson
(Courtesy of Carl McArn)
44
SPENCER Discussion List and SPENCER Message Board
They’re Free!
SPENCER Discussion List
Just a reminder - if you are not already a subscriber to the SPENCER List on RootsWeb, you are missing a
great opportunity to be in contact with numerous Spencer cousins who communicate and try to help each
other resolve various lineage dilemmas.
There are literally thousands of surname lists and county lists to which you may subscribe, including the
Spencer List, and it is a free service of RootsWeb.com. When an individual posts a query to the Spencer
List, it is automatically distributed to everyone who is a list subscriber. Queries and answers are sometimes
rather colorful and interesting, and only those who subscribe receive the postings. RootsWeb’s spam filters
and virus protection are first-class so that is not a concern to subscribers.
To subscribe to the Spencer List, send an email to: [email protected] with the single word
“Subscribe” in the message Subject and the body of the email - nothing else.
SPENCER Message Board
The Spencer Message Board is a place to post queries and browse past postings, and it functions much like
the old bulletin board system when the Internet was first gaining popularity. No subscription is required to
participate in a message board, and posting is simple. It is a free service of Ancestry.com, and it provides
the opportunity to exchange information on various surnames and topics.
To view postings on the Spencer Message Board, go to http://boards.rootsweb.com/ and type “Spencer” in
the surname box.
From the Registrar
There are two important items of note from SHGS Registrar, Debbie Diekema #1999:
• Please submit dues by check or money order only. Do not send cash.
• Keep Deb informed of any address changes, including your email address. All notifications regarding
website changes, membership changes, and publication of le Despencer will be done via email, so make
sure you notify Deb as soon as possible. Contact Deb at [email protected].
45
le Despencer Data Submission
Le Despencer disclaims responsibility for errors made by contributors, but does strive for maximum accuracy. Articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the Spencer Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc. or the editor of Le Despencer. Each contributor in the journal is responsible for his/her article not violating existing copyrights. Permission to publish copyright
materials shall be obtained in writing by the contributor giving SHGS rights to use the material.
Submit all journal material to [email protected]. Accepted text and graphics formats
are as follows:
•.doc, .txt
•.htm, .html
•.wpd, .wps
•.pdf
•.rtf
•.xls
•.bmp
•.png
•.eps
•.psd
•.gif
•.raw
•.tif, .tiff
•.jpg, .jpeg, .jpe
While I will always try to preserve the format of submitted items, it is important to keep in
mind that unlike the previous method of compiling the journal, I use a professional publication program and either cut and paste or retype submitted material.
Please note that graphics files (photos, maps, etc.) are best utilized if sent separately from the
text file. Though I can use the file if the graphic is embedded in the text file, I still have to separate the two in order to place properly into the journal pages.
It is my hope that members will submit articles regularly. Do not hesitate to contact me if you
have any questions.
Thank you!
Terri Spencer #1882
Editor, le Despencer
46
Spencer Historical and Genealogical Society
Founded 1978 as the Spencer Family Association
President
M. G. (Jerry) Spencer #1487A
3214 Wintergreen Court
Grapevine, TX 76051-4241
[email protected]
Vice President
Robert L. “Bob” Sanders #1833
3061 Knotty Pine Drive
Pensacola, FL 32505
[email protected]
Editor and Webmaster
Terri Spencer #1882
P. O. Box 150242
Alexandria, VA 22315-0242
[email protected]
Secretary
Diane Rhine #2109A
12455 Eben Road
Industry, TX 78944-5124
[email protected]
Librarian
Mary Spencer Post #2107A
246 CR 2223 N
Cleveland, TX 77327-1301
[email protected]
Treasurer
Patrick Spencer #0019
2598 7-1/4 Avenue
Chetek, WI 54728-6309
[email protected]
Corporate Data Manager
Sharron Spencer #1487B
3214 Wintergreen Court
Grapevine, TX 76051-4241
[email protected]
Registrar
Debbie Diekema # 1999
68281 Birch St.
South Haven, MI 49090-9780
[email protected]
Indiana Corporate Agent
David H. & Beth Spencer #94
123 Vail Street
Michigan City, IN 46360-2543
[email protected]
Staff IT Consultant
James R. Hills, Jr. #1243A
4622 Banning Drive
Houston, TX 77027-4706
[email protected]
Historian
Leon B. Spencer #472
105 Bryan Street
Prattville, AL 36066-5340
[email protected]
SHGS Website
www.spencersociety.org
For more information, contact [email protected]
47
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Copyright © 2009 Spencer Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc., 123 Vail Street, Michigan City, IN 46360-2543