Biography of Major Frank Maury Spencer
Galveston, Texas 

Contributed by: Frank Spencer (<spencer@swbell.net)
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         Major Spencer  was the district attorney of Galveston and  Harris 
counties.  He  was elected in 1872, reelected in 1878,  retained by the 
constitution of 1876, and then reelected making fourteen consecutive years 
he had been in that position. From 1866 -1867, he served as notary public in 
Galveston under appointment of Governor Throckmorton. In March of 1903, 
Governor Lanham appointed him Judge of the Tenth Judicial District. Major 
Spencer was born in Montgomery county, Maryland, February 1, 1835, and died 
July 14, 1907 at his home, 1026 Winnie, Galveston, Texas. His father was 
George D. Spencer, of German and English descent, a native of Bucks county 
Pennsylvania, a farmer and merchant. His father was a prominent man in his 
county, but lived quietly, and died in 1867. Major Spencer's mother was Mary 
Caroline Bacon, daughter of Samuel Bacon, a merchant of Washington, D.C., 
where she was born and educated. Mary Caroline had three siblings, a sister, 
Ann McCutchen, and two brothers, Samuel Bacon, president of a line of ships, 
and  Peter F. Bacon, a merchant of Washington.
At fifteen years of age Major Spencer left home and engaged as clerk in the 
grocery store of his uncle Samuel Bacon, in Washington, D.C., studying law at
night. Wishing for more time to devote to study, he sought, and through the 
influence of his friend, Congressman James B. Clay, obtained a clerkship in 
the Land Office. The Commissioner of the Land Office was Thomas Andrews 
Hendricks who, in 1885 served as vice-president under President Grover 
Cleveland. Major Spencer, with other clerks, formed a law class and moot 
court, over which Thomas A. Hendricks presided. Thomas A. Hendricks 
successors were Wendell Phillips, a distinguished lawyer, and Edwin 
McMasters Stanton who became Secretary of War under President Lincoln. By 
such methods Major Spencer obtained his law education. He was admitted to 
the bar in 1860 and commenced the practice of the profession shortly before 
the Civil war.
Major Spencer, from his first leaving home, earned the money that paid for 
his education and was just ready to embark in business, when the Civil  war 
interrupted his plans. In 1861 he crossed the Potomac, from his home in 
Washington, D.C., on the last conveyance that they allowed to pass. He went 
to Richmond, Virginia where he met the Confederate Representative from Texas,
Honorable William B. Ochiltree, and formed a law partnership with him. When 
Congress adjourned Major Spencer went to Jefferson, Texas, with his partner,
to have a State to hail from, and joined Colonel Crump's Battalion of Cavalry
at Jefferson (afterwards dismounted.) That Battalion, was combined with 
others to form a Brigade and commanded by Brigadier-General M.D. Ector. 
Under Brigadier-General M. D. Ector's command they appointed Frank M. 
Spencer Major and Commissary of the Brigade. It was contrary to general 
orders for Commissaries to fight. The Major did fight, in the battles of 
Richmond, Kentucky, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, in the retreat from 
Chattanooga, in and around Atlanta, and in many skirmishes. He was with the 
Army at Cuba Station, near Meridian, and left it when it was about to 
surrender, to join the Texas forces, hoping the war would continue in that 
state. However, he soon saw that all was lost.
In 1866, he returned to Washington, D.C. to visit his mother and settle his 
affairs, his mother dying soon after his arrival. Major Spencer left 
Washington, D.C. and went to Demopolis, Alabama, where he married Miss Flora 
McDonell, February 5, 1866. Flora was born in Louisiana and educated in 
Demopolis. John McDonell, her brother, was a correspondent of the New York 
papers. Colonel Simeon Wheeler, her uncle, was a prominent lawyer of 
Demopolis, a native of Virginia, and once a member of the Virginia 
Legislature.
Major and Mrs. Spencer had ten children, Frank Wheeler, Bessie Annabelle, 
Maury McDonell, Flora Watts, Mary Caroline, George Harcourt, Hugh Brooke, 
Walter Pinkney, Davis Arden and Frank Maury. All were born in Galveston 
except Bessie who was born in Washington County, Texas, and Frank Wheeler 
the first born, was from Alabama. Hugh Brooke died at the age of five years 
and eight months, and Frank Maury died at the age of four. " Into each life 
some rain must fall."
Major Spencer had always been a democrat, as his father was. He had served 
in State conventions from Galveston, made speeches on political questions, 
and had always taken a deep interest in the welfare of his party. He was 
ambitious of eminence in his profession and had attained it. Probably they 
retained no lawyer of his age in the State on more celebrated cases As a 
speaker he possessed remarkable powers, amusing and charming his audiences at
will. 


Original Biography; The Encyclopedia of the New West;
Researched and Amended by Frank Maury Spencer, Jr. 1996, "Great Grandson"

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