Edith Anna (b.6-11-1898–d12-8-1991) , John Edward (b.8-15-1904–d.4-26-1988), Audrey Mae (b.3-19-1912–d.3-11-2007)
William J.B. and Mary Jane (née Vaughn) Spencer’s three children are in the tenth generation of Spencers in the East Greenwich area of Rhode Island. All three children have carried on the Vaughn and Spencer oral tradition to their own children. Edith Anna (née Spencer) Evarone is buried at Holy Cross cemetery, Culver City, California. John Edward Spencer is buried in Lot 29 and Audrey Mae (née Spencer) MacDonald is buried in adjoining Lot 50, Rathbun cemetery, corner of Washington Street and Knotty Oak Road, Coventry, R.I. Their parents, William J.B. and Mary Jane and other Spencer and Vaughn descendents are also buried in this perpetual care cemetery in Coventry. Audrey Mae’s oldest son, Spencer, purchased these adjoining burial lots–Lot 50 & 29–for the MacDonald/Spencer/Vaughn descendants.
The Last Spencers on the Farm
@ 1915: William J.B. & Mary Jane’s three children, Edith, the elder daughter, John Edward and Audrey, the younger daughter in front of a shed on the Spencer homestead
William J.B. and Mary Jane (née Vaughn) Spencer, the last Spencers on the farm on Middle Road, sold the farm and moved to an upscale neighborhood on the trolley line in Coventry, Rhode Island. Their younger daughter, Audrey Mae, born 1912, was the last Spencer baby born on the Spencer homestead, as the descendents referred to the farm, even as late as 2006. William and Mary Jane’s (aka Mae) older daughter, Edith Anna, in the 1920s moved to California with her husband and was the first Spencer since the 1600s to raise her children outside of Rhode Island. To the family’s great and lasting sorrow, they left their first son, Frank, Jr., as an infant and their first daughter, Anna Lucia,* as a two-year-old in the Spencer Family Cemetery before leaving for California with their second daughter, Gloria Mae. Audrey Mae’s and Edith Anna’s brother, John Edward, was the last male Spencer in this line to carry forth this Spencer surname, but the Spencer name lives on today with male descendents, from California to Rhode Island, carrying on the name Spencer as a first or middle name.
*The web site author remembers a conversation she overheard between her maternal grandparents, William J. B. and Mary Jane (née Vaughn) Spencer. The date was around 1953. Her grandmother asked her grandfather if he had mowed Anna Lucia’s (pronounced Anna Seal) grave this week, and he assured her that he would get to the mowing by the end of the week. When Audrey Mae’s daughter asked her grandparents “Who is Anna Seal”?, she was gently told that “we don’t talk about this. You can ask your mother.” Web site author does not know if her grandparents were trying to shield her from the sad truth of a child dying or if the discussion was too painful for them. Apparently, discussions that were too painful were not talked about or perhaps discussions about death were not talked about. Or perhaps both reasons are correct.
“Spencer descendants, if you have any additional information on the three children, Edith Anna, John Edward (“Ed”) and Audrey Mae, please add a comment to this web site and the web site editor will add this to the site. Thanks!”