Biography - Henry R. Spencer
HENRY R. SPENCER is a native of Addison county, Vermont, and was born on the
8th of May, 1833. He was a son of Stephen and Catherine Spencer. Stephen
Spencer was born at Bennington, Vt., of English parentage, and was educated
in the schools of his native state. In 1829 he was married to Miss Catherine
Walker, daughter of Johnson Walker, an old resident of the state of Vermont.
Mr. Spencer and wife had five children, only two of whom are now living. In
the fall of 1833 he left the lovely scenes of his childhood for the Great
West, and after loading his family in a wagon, with some others, started for
Illinois, where they arrived on the 28th October, 1833. He immediately after
settled in township 10, range 13, Greene county, at the base of the bluffs
on the Illinois river bottom. The following year he built a good, commodious
brick house, which at that time was the finest and best house in the county.
Mr. Spencer was in rather comfortable circumstances when he came to
Illinois, and he purchased a fine tract of land. He was among that hardy
class of New Englanders who inherit purity of principles, energy, and
economy, and was a fair example of the Yankee character, possessing these
qualities in a high degree. He had what could be classed, for that day, a
liberal education, and was a man who, by his careful reading, kept well
posted on the current topics of the day. At the time of his settling on the
Illinois bottom there was no system of education, and to obviate that
difficulty, for the benefit of his own and others' children of the
neighborhood, he built a brick school house at his own expense. He was a man
of great kindness of heart, and his liberality was felt far beyond the
limits of his own family. In the case above referred to, he was planting the
seeds of education which should be developed in future generations, and
spread their influence far and wide. Who can tell what results have grown
out of the building of that brick school house, and those destined yet to
grow out of it in time to come, long after the hand which reared it was
mouldered to dust and the present generation shall have passed away? He
evinced the purest patriotism in the war of 1812 by promptly enrolling
himself among the defenders of our imperiled liberty, and took part in the
contest of Plattsburg. Mr. Spencer was generally of delicate health. Their
only daughter is the wife of Vilroy Robbly, residing within a short distance
of the old homestead. Mr. Spencer died at his residence on the 26th of
November, 1846. Mrs. S. is still living, at the advanced age of
seventy-three years, and residing with her son.
The subject of this memoir received his early education in the common
schools of Greene county. While yet a very young lad, he took an active
interest in farming. At about the age of twenty-three he was married to Miss
Laura A. Smead, by whom he had four children, one of whom is deceased –
three sons yet living. It was not to be his privilege to live long with the
partner of his early youth, for the withering stroke of death fell upon that
household, so peaceful and happy, and took away his beloved wife on the 12th
of December, 1863. On the 9th November, 1865, he was married to Miss Etta
Woodcock, daughter of Edmund and Susan Woodcock, formerly from Westmoreland
county, Pennsylvania, and it was there that Mrs. Spencer was born, February
21, 1839. They have had three children, and fortunately, all are living.
After his marriage, Mr. Spencer's father deeded him a portion of the home
place, which enabled him to succeed quite well in the commencement of life,
and now he ranks among the large and successful farmers of that portion of
Greene county. He has a farm of upward of twelve hundred acres, which, for
grazing purposes and the growth of wheat, corn, and greaa, can hardly be
surpassed by any lands in the state. Mr. Spencer has always lived the quiet
and industrious life of a farmer, never aspiring to any other position than
that of a neat and excellent agriculturist, which, by his long training and
adaptation, he thoroughly understands. He knows how to manage the affairs of
a farm to secure the greatest amount of profits. In politics, as becomes a
true son of the "Green Mountain State," he was first a whig, and then a
republican, imbibing these great principles as naturally as the free air he
breathed in childhood among his native hills. His first vote was cast for
Gen. Fremont, in the contest of 1856, and he has voted at each succeeding
presidential election.
Extracted 07 Sep 2018 by Norma Hass from Atlas Map of Greene County Illinois, 1873, page 51.
