Richard Anthony (“Deacon”, b.5-11-1798–d.12-19-1889) and Roby (née Tarbox, b.7-15-1798–d.12-5-1876) Spencer.

 Richard Anthony was the fourth son and sixth child of John and Huldah (née Johnson) Spencer.  With Richard marriage to Roby, the Tarbox and the Whitford ancestry came into the Spencer line. Roby was the daughter of Joseph Tarbox and Esther Whitford.

Roby (née Tarbox) Spencer married Richard Anthony (“Deacon”) Spencer on April 3, 1817 in Exeter, Rhode Island. Roby and Richard had eight children, Richard Anthony (b.9-1-1817), Audra Eleanor (b.5-16-1819), John J. (b.10-1837 died when small), Esther Amanda (b.6-17-1828 died 7-25-1833), Joseph Jason (b. 8-27-1821), William Augustus (b. 4-21-1824), Huldah Evaline (b.3-8-1833) and Esther Amanda (b.1-21-1835) named after her sister who died in childhood.  When the first Esther Amanda died as a child, the parents named their next baby with the same name, Esther Amanda. This Esther Amanda who often wrote under the initials E.A.B. became the Spencer genealogist of her generation. Her papers are still in the possession of Spencer descendants today (2013). Unfortunately, John J. died in infancy and Esther Amanda died in childhood. Apparently that was not uncommon to name the next child after the child who died.  J.R. Cole’s History of Washington and Kent Counties published in 1889 records the names of the six children who lived to adulthood but does not records the names of the two children who died young.  Cole only mentions that two died in infancy.

Newspaper article in poor condition-Date of article unknown-re Richard Anthony (“Deacon”) Spencer

Richard was always called Deacon Richard because he was Deacon of the Frenchtown Baptist Church for fifty years. Richard and Roby are buried in the Spencer family cemetery (aka E.G.No.9) on Middle Road.  Continue reading →

Richard Anthony (b.9-1-1817–d.5-27-1845) and Ann Almy (née Tarbox, 2-13-1823–d.11-24-1904) Spencer

Richard Anthony, the first son of Richard Anthony (“Deacon”) and Roby (née Tarbox) Spencer, married  Ann Almy (née Tarbox) on September 18, 1842. She was the daughter of Hiram and Eunice Tarbox. According to “Spencer Genealogy”, printed material in E.G. library,  the couple was “married in New York City”.  Richard died at age twenty-seven and left one child, Anna Maria (pronounced Mar-eye-ah) , who was born in Versailles, Connecticut.  She had just turned one year old when her father died. The child was raised in East Greenwich with the extended Spencer family.  Audrey Mae (née Spencer) MacDonald, the carrier of the Spencer oral tradition, had no knowledge why Richard Anthony’s daughter was born in Connecticut and not East Greenwich.  East Greenwich had been the birth place of all Spencers since 1679 when the first English baby born in East Greenwich was a Spencer!

According to Audrey Mae’s gravestone numbering system, Richard Anthony’s gravestone in the Spencer family cemetery is between his father, Richard Anthony’s (“Deacon’s”) gravestone number six and his daughter, Anna Maria’s (pronounced Mar-eye-ah’s) gravestone number eight. Continue reading →

Anna Maria (pronounced Anna Mar-eye-ah, b.5-23-1844–d.9-25-1913) and John Johnson  (b.5-27-1842–d.4-19-1925) Spencer

Anna Maria (Mar-eye-ah) Spencer

Pvt. John Johnson Spencer, Lt. Greene’s Co., 1 Reg’t New England Cavalry

Anna Maria (pronounced Anna Mar-eye-ah), an eighth generation Spencer in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, was the daughter of Richard Anthony and Ann Almy (née Tarbox) Spencer.  Anna Maria and John Johnson Spencer were married on August 13, 1871 by Reverend George Northrop in Exeter, Rhode Island.  To distinguish this John Spencer from the other John Spencers, Audrey Mae always referred to him as John Johnson, using both his first and middle name. His middle name, Johnson, was his great-grandmother’s, Huldah’s, family name.  However, Esther Amanda (née Spencer) Briggs wrote on page 29 in her notebook that his nickname was John “Ace”. Web site author does not believe that Audrey Mae knew that John Johnson was called  John “Ace” as Audrey Mae never spoke of her grandfather’s nickname.  Anna Maria (Mar-eye-ah) and John Johnson had three sons, Richard Augustus (“Rich”), William J.B. (“Will”) and Alfred Ernest (“Ern”) Spencer. John and Anna Maria raised their sons at the Spencer house on Spencer’s Corner (Division, Crompton and Shippeetown Road intersection of East Greenwich, R.I.) Their middle son, William J.B. Spencer was the father of Audrey Mae, Edith Anna and John Edward (“Ed”).

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Anna Lucia Evarone (b.3-17-1921–d.4-6-1923) and infant brother Frank Evarone (b.5-19-1926–d.5-21-1926) were the first and third child of Edith Anna (née Spencer)  and Frank (b.8-22-1898–d.12-29-1986) Evarone. Frank, the children’s father, was born in Italy and came to America when he was seven years old. He did not speak English when he arrived. His parents and he settled in Providence, R.I. Edith Anna (6-12-1898–12-8-1991), the first daughter of William J.B. and Mary Jane (née Vaughn) Spencer was the first Spencer in Rhode Island since the 1600s to marry outside of the Yankee tradition, move away and raise her children outside of the ancestral homeland area of Rhode Island.   Frank met Edith at a dance in Providence, Rhode Island.  Frank and Edith lived with Frank’s parents in Providence when they were first married. Their first child Anna Lucia–named after her paternal grandmother, Anna Luccia and her maternal great-grandmother, Anna Maria–died of spinal meningitis when she was two years old.  Anna Lucia died at Rhode Island Hospital on April 6, 1923 as there was no medicine for that illness at that time in history. In 1926 Edith and Frank’s first son, Frank, Jr., was born and lived only two days. Anna Lucia and infant Frank are buried in the Spencer family cemetery (E.G.No.9) on Middle Road in East Greenwich, R.I.

Audrey Mae’s eldest daughter’s Memoirs written in 2003 : “A sadness that never left Mother was her sister’s, Edith’s, first child dying at age two. Mother still cried whenever she thought of Aunt Edith’s child.”

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