My Genealogy Hound

SAM. W. SPENCER, coal-operator, Glenshaw, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1837. His paternal ancestors were inside the city during the siege of Derry, Ireland, near which city his grandfather, John Spencer, was a dry-goods merchant. Samuel Spencer, father of Sam. W., was born near Derry, Ireland, in 1796, and came to America at the age of eighteen and located in Philadelphia. In 1821 he was sent (as a partner) to Pittsburgh with a stock of goods by George McClelland, a merchant of Philadelphia, and in a short time became a well-known merchant of Pittsburgh. For many years he was a director of the Bank of Pittsburgh, and a member of session of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, of which church he was treasurer. He died March 12, 1856. His second wife was Mary J. Condell, of Philadelphia, who died in 1840, leaving two children, Thomas and Sam. W. The latter was educated in Pittsburgh, and after the war he became general manager of William Sample’s dry-goods house, Allegheny, and later for McCrum, Glyde & Co., of Pittsburgh. Previous to the war he was a merchant in Zanesville, Ohio, ten years. He volunteered under President Lincoln’s first call for troops at the opening of the war, was captain of Co. C, 78th Ohio regiment, under Gen. Grant, at Fort Donelson, but resigned after losing his health; he volunteered again under call of the governor of Ohio in raids of Kirby Smith and Morgan. Mr. Spencer has been twice married; his first wife was Elizabeth Peters, daughter of Adam Peters, of Zanesville, Ohio, and she died, leaving one child, Elizabeth, now the wife of Rev. F. S. Brush, of Ohio. Mr. Spencer’s present wife is Mary S., daughter of T. W. Shaw, of Glenshaw, and they have two children, Sarah S. and Charles A. Mr. and Mrs. Spencer and daughter are members of the Presbyterian Church of Glenshaw, in the organization of which he was elected a member of session. He is a republican. During the last five years he has been manager of the Glenshaw Coal company, employing from thirty to forty men, and giving steady work to the miners throughout the entire year.