Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Spencer, G F 1822 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com February 26, 2006, 1:20 am

Author: History Grundy County 1882

G. F. Spencer, farmer, P. O. Gardner, was born December 7, 1822, in New York, 
and is the son of George and Laura Hatzel Spencer, natives of New Hartford, 
Conn., and parents of six children - Adaline, Lydia, G. F., Norton, Anna and 
one deceased. Mr. Spencer's mother died when he was eleven years old, and he 
was bound out to Joseph B. Roe until he was sixteen, when he was employed at a 
small salary by Mr. Roe. At eighteen, he hired out at $11 per month. In the 
fall of 1850, he came to Grundy County, Ill., and purchased his present farm 
of 160 acres, which was then mostly raw prairie. With logs from the grove he 
erected a cabin, about 16x24 feet, in which he lived. He began breaking the 
soil with an ox-team and the pioneer breaking-plow. With this same team, he 
hauled grain some distance. He was married, in 1851, to Eliza, daughter of 
Mahlon and Abigail Crane, she being one of nine children - Alice, the wife of 
Reed Keepers; Libbie; and Ida, the wife of Philip Southcomb, of Morris. The 
spring after his marriage, he was chosen one of the petit jurors for this 
county, and, after having been kept two weeks at Morris, when he would like to 
have been cultivating his crops, he was dismissed at 4 o'clock on Saturday 
evening; he walked all of the way home; when he came to the foot log across 
the stream near his home, at 10 o'clock, when all was dark, he found that the 
rain had raised the branch about two feet above the one log bridge; he knew 
from the channel that the water was over ten feet deep, and that, should he 
fall in, he would, in all probability, be drowned; he was bound for home, and 
at once "cooned" the log on all fours, his head only being above the water 
while passing over. This is only one of many such scenes which this pioneer 
experienced. When he built his cabin, he constructed a brick chimney, which 
was a curiosity to the neighbors, who often called out when passing, "take in 
the brick." In this building, the Methodist and other organizations held 
meetings. Near by Mr. Spencer 's residence was located one of the first 
schoolhouses in this part of the county, the construction of which was largely 
due to the efforts of our subject. The father of Mrs. Spencer is residing with 
them, at the age of eighty-eight. Mr. S. has been Assessor and Justice of the 
Peace.

Additional Comments:
Source: History of Grundy County, Illinois. (1882) Chicago: O.L. Baskin & Co. 
Historical Publishers.

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