Foreman Spencer b 01
Sep 1784
-Biographical and
Historical Memoirs of Muskingum County, Ohio: Chicago, 1892: the Goodspeed
Publishing Co. Page 571 Re: JOSEPH SPENCER & son, FOREMAN
SPENCER..... Mr. Spencer's father, Joseph Spencer, was a native of Maryland, of
English descent, and was a shoemaker by trade. He was the father of five children:
Foreman, Edward, William, Sarah, and Gracie (who died in Maryland). [Joseph]
Spencer came to Ohio in early life, after the death of his first wife [Margaret
Foreman], and after her son, Foreman, had made a start, built a home and
married. He lived with his son until his death, when seventy-five years of age.
His son, Foreman Spencer was born in Maryland, September 1, 1784, secured but a
limited education, and there learned the trade of a tanner and shoemaker. He
was one of the first settlers of Muskingum County, Ohio, emigrating there, it
is believed about 1800 or 1801, with a family by the name of Tanner, the
descendants of whom are now residing in Zanesville. Mr. Spencer entered land
which is now the farm of his grandson, John Spencer. Muskingum County was then
an unbroken wilderness, and to the best knowledge of our subject there was not
a single settler in it. Mr. Spencer first built a log cabin and here resided
for a number of years. He had entered his land, but had no money to pay for it.
He had a horse, and having some time in which to pay for his land, he mounted
that animal and with some provisions and a sack of oats, he visited Virginia to
borrow $100 of an uncle. He received the money and returned in time to save the
land, consisting of 160 acres. He again returned to Virginia and
married Miss Dorothy Wiseman, of West Virginia, on the Little Kenesaw River.
The fruits of this union were eight children, all of whom lived to maturity:
Wilson, Foreman, Owen, Wiseman, Harriet, Joseph, Elizabeth and Minerva.
Mr. Spencer was a great worker and cleared his land of the heavy timber with
which it was covered. For many years his nearest neighbor was ten and fifteen
miles away, except one family that lived where the covered bridge now is, near
Frazeysburg, and he used to go ten miles to a log rolling. He used to go to the
falls of Licking River for his grist of meal, horseback, and hitch his horse to
the branches of the beech trees waiting sometimes all night to get his grist
ground, and sleeping under the trees. On his way home, he would
frequently miss his cabin, although near it, on account of the thick foliage of
the trees. Here he labored hard, endured all the privation of pioneer days, and
gradually made a fine farm. He cared very little for hunting and did not waste
his time that way, well knowing that the farm was the road to success. He used
to wrap up his children and lay them under beech trees while his wife would
gather brush to keep up a fire so that he could see to grub up the bushes with
his mattock. In this way he worked and delved until he finally owned 600 acres.
His sons, as they grew up, greatly assisted him, which he repaid by giving them
land. Mr. Spencer built a brick house before 1817 and this
was the first brick building in that county. There were none at Nashport,
Irville or Frazeysburg at that early day. He got out the timber on his own
land, burned the brick on his own farm and they are in excellent condition to
this day. He built the house piece meal and the walls are still standing in
good condition. Mr. Spencer gave an acre of land to build the Old
School Baptist Church on, and this still stands and is occupied by them. The
land where Shannon now stands belonged to Mr. Spencer, who founded the town and
which at one time had a general store; a physician, and all the different
trades were represented. He was the first tanner in this township, or in this
part of the county, beginning the business soon after coming here and
continuing it for many years. The money he made in that way assisted him in
paying for his land. He was very careful and economical, and the household
clothing was all raised, spun, woven, and made upon the farm. He used to go to
Taylor's salt works for salt, paying several dollars per
barrel. His faithful wife died at the early age of
thirty-seven. She was an Old School Baptist in her religious belief and a
devout women. About fifteen years afterward, Mr. Spencer
married the widow of Jesse Crannel, formerly a Miss Margaret Evans, and to them
was born one child. Mr. Spencer was one of the foremost men of the
township and took an active interest in its advancement. After rearing his
children and giving land to each, he sold his property in Ohio, and went to New
York City, where he took passage on a sailing vessel for San Francisco. From
there he went to Portland, Oregon and settled thirty miles from that city in
the Willamette Valley on new land which was then a wilderness, and here Mr.
Spencer again made a new home in a new country. During the period
of the great Civil War about 1861 and 1862, his daughter, Harriet Baxter, with
her husband (John Baxter) and seven children, went to Oregon and settled in the
home of Mr. Spencer, who was now an old man and who lived about eight years
after they arrived, dying at the age of eighty-six years. He left a handsome
property of over 300 acres in the Willamette Valley. Mr. Spencer was a very
energetic and a good business man, depending more on his business management
and not so much on hard work the latter part of his life. He was honorable and
upright and his word was as good as his bond.
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