My Genealogy Hound

FRANK G. SPENCER, the only son of Gilbert and Eveline (Gay) Spencer, is a prominent grape grower of the town of Ripley. His vineyard is forty acres in extent. He was born near the banks of historic Lake Erie, upon which waters Commodore Perry, September 10, 1813, gained his world-renowned victory over Barclay, November 6, 1837, the precise location being about one and one-half miles northeast of the village of North East, in Erie county, Pennsylvania. His grandfather was Orange Spencer, who came to Chautauqua county and settled in Sherman prior to 1827. He was born in Otsego county, this State, July 30, 1765. As may be inferred from the date of his coming, he was one of the first settlers in the town mentioned and took up a large tract of land and upon it built the first grist-mill in that section. The second saw-mill erected also belonged to him, which he operated in partnership with his son-in-law, Eliab Skeels. Orange Spencer was an ordained Baptist minister, and on August 29, 1827, he organized the first Baptist church of Sherman with thirty members. He was the first minister that ever preached in Sherman and officiated as the first pastor to the church he organized. They held their meetings from house to house and in the school-houses until 1842. In 1844 the charge dedicated their new meeting-house. Orange Spencer is said to have been a man of great spiritual power and preached with fervency that attracted admiration and carried conviction. In 1830 he removed to North East, Pa., where he also organized a congregation. When a very young man he entered the Colonial army and served in the Revolutionary war. He was a follower of Hamilton and Adams in politics, and died January 10th, 1843, in North East, Pa. His wife was a Miss Bostick, who left at her death four sons and two daughters. The maternal grandfather was Rodolphus Gay, of Herkimer county, N. Y. Gilbert Spencer was born in Otsego county, this State, in 1804, and came to Chautauqua county while in the prime of life. He followed agricultural pursuits, and later moved to North East, Pa., where he died in 1876, aged seventy-two years. The Republican party entered the field for public favor while Mr. Spencer was in the vigor of his manhood and he allied himself with it. Prior to its inception his politics are not mentioned. Early in life he joined the church that his father did so much to strengthen, and remained its votary throughout his life. He married Eveline Gay October 30, 1825. She is yet living, aged eighty-two years, in the home her husband left at North East. Mrs. Spencer brought to her husband two sons, Frank G. and Loomis B., who died at the age of seven months, and four daughters, Sarah A., first married Jefferson Henshaw (now dead), and is now the wife of Milton Munson, a prosperous farmer living in the town of Portland; Cordelia is the wife of Harry Munson, who follows a like occupation in the same town; Mary lives at North East, Pa., where her husband, Milton Colt, is a carpenter and joiner; and Anna resides with her husband, Alonzo Lewis, at Fredonia, this county, He is a well-known milk dealer there.

Frank G. Spencer early learned to hold the plow, and by the time he had reached young manhood was qualified to run a farm for himself. He was educated in the district schools and acquired such education that coupled with his natural ability has enabled him to secure himself a property of sixty-eight acres. He is a republican in politics.

On March 23, 1859, he married Elizabeth Newbury, of Ripley, N. Y., who is a daughter of John A. Newbury, of Ripley. They have one child, a daughter, named Lois Ann, who was born June 26, 1879.