Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/661

Rh to his countrymen us interpreter till he was killed by the savages in 1622. He left in manuscript a “Relation of Virginia.” It was first owned by Dawson Turner, and bought by Lilly, the bookseller, in whose hands it remained ten years. Henry Stevens then bought it for James F. Hunnewell, of Charlestown, Mass., who had a small edition printed privately (London, 1872).  SPENCE, John, physician, b. in Scotland in 1766; d. in Dumfries, Va., 18 May, 1829. He was educated in the University of Edinburgh, but, owing to impaired health, was not graduated. In 1788 he came to this country, settling in Dumfries, Va., as a private tutor, and, having regained his health, entered upon the practice of medicine in 1791. He was active in introducing vaccination into the United States, and acquired distinction in his profession. The University of Pennsylvania gave him the degree of M. D. in 1828. His correspondence with Dr. Benjamin Rush in 1806 was published in the “Medical Museum of Philadelphia.” He also contributed to the “Medical Repository” and the “American Journal of the Medical Sciences,” and left several manuscripts on medical subjects.  SPENCE, John Selby, senator, b. near Snow Hill, Worcester co., Md., 29 Feb., 1788; d. near Berlin, Worcester co., Md., 24 Oct., 1840. His ancestors came to Snow Hill from Scotland about 1680. He was educated at district schools in Worcester and Somerset counties, received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania about 1809, and practised his profession in Maryland until his death. After serving in the legislature he was elected to congress as a Democrat, serving from 1 Dec., 1823, till 3 March, 1825, and again from 5 Dec., 1831, till 2 March, 1833. He was elected U. S. senator to succeed Robert H. Goldsborough, serving from 11 Jan., 1837, till his death, which occurred at the country-seat of his family near Berlin.—His brother served in the legislature, and was chief justice of the 4th judicial circuit of Maryland, comprising the lower counties: and another brother,, was the author of “Early History of the Presbyterian Church” (Philadelphia, 1838).—His nephew, Thomas Adam, lawyer, b. in Accomac county, Va., 20 Feb., 1810; d. in Washington, D. C., 10 Nov., 1877, was graduated at Yale in 1829, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practised in Snow Hill, Md. He was elected a representative to congress as a Whig and served from 4 Dec., 1843, till 3 March, 1845. In 1872-'7 he was assistant attorney-general for the U. S. post-office department.  SPENCE, Robert Traill, naval officer, b. in Portsmouth, N. H., about 1785; d. near Baltimore, Md., 26 Sept., 1827. He became a midshipman in the U. S. navy in 1800, and was serving under Decatur on the captured Tripolitan gun-boat, “No. 8,” when, on 7 Aug., 1804, she was blown up by a hot shot that was sent through her magazine. After the explosion, with her stern blown to pieces and under water, Spence kept on loading the long 26-pounder gun forward, fired it, and, with his crew of eleven survivors, gave three cheers, and, sitting astride his piece and waving his cap, went down into the water, but was rescued. His father, Kieth Spence, purser of the U. S. frigate “Philadelphia” when she grounded and was captured, as a prisoner in Tripoli was witness of his son's valor. Robert was made a lieutenant in 1807 and master-commandant in 1813. He was highly commended by Com. Rogers for his promptness and ingenuity in laying obstructions in the way of the British fleet off Baltimore, 30 Sept., 1814, and was

made a post-captain in 1815 at the age of twenty-seven. In 1822, on the “Cyane,” as the senior American naval officer in the West Indies, he issued a protest against Francisco Morales, who had threatened death to Americans in the Spanish Main—an act as much applauded at home as it was effective at the time and place of danger. In Africa he built the first fort at Mesurado, in Liberia. He was ordered to command the West India fleet in 1826, but died before sailing.—Capt. Spence's sons, and, were afterward in the diplomatic service of the United States, the former being minister to Turkey under President Pierce, and the other secretary of legation, and afterward envoy to Persia. His sister became the mother of James Russell Lowell.  SPENCER, Asa, soldier, b. in Salisbury, Conn., in September, 1747; d. in Fort Covington, N. Y., in 1828. The first ancestor of the Spencer family, William, came from England to Cambridge, Mass., in 1631, and again in 1633 with his brothers, Thomas and Jared. William and Thomas were among the first settlers of Hartford, Conn., the former being a landed proprietor, a select-man of the town, and a deputy of the general court of Connecticut in 1639. He prepared the first revisal of the laws of that colony, and died in Hartford in 1640. His descendant in the fifth generation, Asa, served throughout the war of the Revolution, and was under Gen. Anthony Wayne at the storming of Stony Point. He early espoused the principles of Democracy under Thomas Jefferson.—His son, James Bradley, soldier, b. in Salisbury, Conn., 26 April, 1781; d. in Fort Covington, N. Y., 26 March, 1848, was an early settler of Franklin county, N. Y., raised a company for the war of 1812, and served as captain in the 29th U. S. infantry at Plattsburg. Subsequently he was county judge and surrogate, and held other local offices in Fort Covington, served in the legislature in 1831-'2, and was elected to congress as a Democrat, serving from 4 Sept., 1837, till 3 March, 1839.—Another son, Abner Peck, settled with his father and brother at Fort Covington, was captain in the 29th U. S. infantry in 1812, and, remaining in the army, was appointed military governor of Arkansas.—James Bradley's son, James Clark, jurist, b. in Fort Covington, Franklin co., N. Y., 29 May, 1826, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1848, and practised in his native town and in Ogdensburg until 1865, serving as U. S. district attorney for four years. He then removed to New York and entered into partnership with Charles A. Rapallo. From 1869 till 1872 he was a judge of the superior court of New York, afterward practising law until 1883, when he was appointed an aqueduct commissioner.—William's descendant in the fifth generation, Ambrose, jurist, b. in Salisbury, Conn., 13 Dec., 1765; d. in Lynns, N. Y., 13 March, 1848, was educated at Yale and Harvard, where he was graduated in 1783. He studied law under John Canfield, of Sharon, Conn., and settled in Hudson, N. Y., where he was appointed city clerk in 1786. He was elected to the assembly in 1793 and in 1795 to the state senate, serving until 1798, when he was re-elected for four years. He was the author of a bill, which became a law, to abolish capital punishment in all cases except those of treason and murder, substituting imprisonment and hard labor. He also secured the erection of a state prison near New York city. In 1796 he was appointed assistant attorney-general of Columbia and Rensselaer counties, and in 1802-'4 he was attorney-general of the state. In 1804 he became a justice of the supreme court, of which he 