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628 was chief justice from 1819 till 1823. In 1808 he was chosen by the legislature, with Peter J. Munro, to prepare and report such reforms in the chancery system of the state as they should deem expedient. Judge Spencer possessed energy, resolution, and high legal attainments, and was a master of equity jurisprudence. He served as a presidential elector in 1809. He was the warm friend of De Witt Clinton, but separated from him on the question of the war of 1812, and in that year was active in the struggle to prevent the charter of the six-million bank. He was a member of the State constitutional convention of 1821. After he resumed the practice of law in Albany he held various local offices, and was mayor of that city in 1824-'6. He was then elected to congress, serving from 7 Dec., 1829, till 3 March, 1831, and during his term united with William Wirt and other philanthropists in endeavoring to arrest the injustice of the government toward the Cherokees. In 1839 he removed to Lyons, N. Y., where he engaged in agriculture. He was president of the Whig national convention in Baltimore in 1844. The University of Pennsylvania gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1819 and Harvard the same in 1821. His last public act was to address a letter to his fellow-citizens in opposition to a proposed amendment to the constitution providing for an elective judiciary with brief terms of office. His decisions are contained in the “New York Supreme Court Reports. 1799-1803,” edited by William Johnson (3 vols., New York, 1808-'12), and “New York Chancery Reports” (1814-'23). See “Memorial” of Ambrose Spencer (Albany, 1849).—His son, John Canfield, lawyer, b. in Hudson, N. Y., 8 Jan., 1788; d. in Albany. N. Y., 18 May, 1855, was graduated at Union college in 1806, and in 1807 became private secretary to Gov. Daniel &emsp; D. Tompkins. He was admitted to the bar at Canandaigua in 1809, became master in chancery in 1811, judge-advocate-general in the army on the northern frontier in 1813, postmaster of Canandaigua in 1814, and assistant attorney-general for western New York in 1815. In that year he was also made district attorney. He was then elected to congress as a Democrat, serving from 1 Dec., 1817, till 3 March, 1819, and during his term was one of a committee to examine the affairs of the U. S. bank, and drew up its report. Fifteen years afterward, when Gen. Andrew Jackson was using this report against the bank, Mr. Spencer was found among its friends. In 1820-'1 he was a member of the state house of representatives, serving in the first year as speaker, and in 1824-'8 he was a member of the state senate, being a leader of the Clinton faction. In 1827 he was appointed by Gov. De Witt Clinton one of the board to revise the statutes of New York, and took an important part in that task. Joining the anti-Masonic party, he was appointed special attorney-general to prosecute those that were connected with the abduction of William Morgan, but resigned in May, 1830, having involved himself in a controversy with Gov. Enos T. Throop. In 1832 he was

elected to the legislature, and in 1839-'40 he was secretary of state and superintendent of common schools. He was appointed U. S. secretary of war on 12 Oct., 1841, and on 3 March, 1843, was transferred to the treasury department, but, opposing the annexation of Texas, resigned on 2 May, 1844, and resumed the practice of law. He served on many state commissions and aided in the organization of the State asylum for idiots. In 1840 he was made a regent of Union college, which gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1849. He published an edition of Henry Reeve's translation of De Tocqueville's “Democracy in America,” contributing a preface and notes (2 vols., New York, 1838), and also, with John Duer and Benjamin F. Butler, a “Revision of the Statutes of New York” (3 vols., Albany, 1846). See “Review of John C. Spencer's Legal and Political Career,” by Lucien B. Proctor (New York, 1886).—Another son of Ambrose, William Ambrose, naval officer, b. in New York in 1793; d. in New York city, 3 March, 1854, was appointed midshipman in the U. S. navy, 15 Nov., 1809, became lieutenant on 9 Dec., 1814, commander on 3 March, 1813, and captain, 22 Jan., 1841, and resigned on 9 Dec., 1843. He was acting lieutenant in Com. Thomas Macdonough's victory on Lake Champlain, 11 Sept., 1814.—Another son of Ambrose, Theodore, clergyman, b. in Hudson, N. Y., 24 April, 1800: d. in Utica, N. Y., 14 June, 1870. He entered the U. S. military academy, but left it to study law, and, beginning to practise in Auburn, N. Y., became district attorney for Cayuga county. Afterward he studied theology, was pastor of the 2d Congregational church in Rome, and preached also in Utica. Retiring from active work, owing to impaired health, he was made secretary of the American home missionary society for central and northern New York. He was the author of “Conversion, its Theory and Process Practically Delineated” (New York, 1854), and other theological works.—Thomas's descendant in the sixth generation, Ichabod Smith, clergyman, b. in Rupert, Vt., 23 Feb., 1798; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 23 Nov., 1854, was graduated at Union in 1822 and was principal of the grammar-school in Schenectady, N. Y., until 1825, and of an academy in Canandaigua, N. Y., until 1828. After studying theology he was licensed by the presbytery of Geneva in 1826, and on 11 Sept., 1828, was appointed colleague pastor, with the Rev. Solomon Williams, of the Congregational church in Northampton, Mass., remaining until 1832. He then became pastor of the 2d Presbyterian church of Brooklyn, N. Y., which charge he held until his death. From 1836 till 1840 he was professor extraordinary of biblical history in Union theological seminary, New York, of which institution he was a founder. In 1830 he was offered the presidency of the University of Alabama and in 1832 that of Hamilton. The latter college gave him the degree of D.D. in 1841. His best-known publication is his “Pastor's Sketches,” which passed through many editions, and was republished in England and France (2 series, New York, 1850-'3). After his death appeared “Sermons,” with a memoir by the Rev. James M. Sherwood (2 vols., 1855); “Sacramental Discourses” (1861); and “Evidences of Divine Revelation” (1865).—Jared's descendant in the fourth generation, Joseph, soldier, b. in East Haddam, Conn., in 1714; d. there, 13 Jan., 1789, joined the northern army in 1758, and was major in the 3d Connecticut regiment under Col. Nathaniel Whiting. He served as lieutenant-colonel in the two following campaigns, rose to the rank of colonel, and was one of the eight brigadier-generals