Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/663

Rh  by congress at the instance of Gen. Washington on 22 June, 1775. Taking offence when Gen. Israel Putnam, a younger officer, was appointed over him, he was about to retire from the army, but, deciding to remain, served near Boston until its evacuation, and then marched with his division to the defence of New York. On 9 Aug., 1776, he was appointed major-general, and opposed the evacuation of New York. Gen. Spencer was ordered in 1778 to take command at Rhode Island, which was surrounded by Admiral Sir Peter Parker. The British army having taken possession of Newport, Gen. Spencer assembled a large force at Providence, but the enterprise proved a failure, and, after remaining in the vicinity for several weeks, the militia was dismissed. Gen. Spencer was censured for the failure of this expedition, but a court of inquiry attributed the result to forces beyond his control. He resigned on 14 June, 1778, in consequence of an order of congress to inquire into the reasons for his failure, and afterward appeared but little in public life.—His brother, Elihu, clergyman, b. in East Haddam, Conn., 12 Feb., 1721; d. in Trenton, N. J., 27 Dec., 1784, was graduated at Yale in 1746, and, with a view to becoming a missionary to the Indians of the Six Nations, studied their dialect and prepared himself for this office under the Rev. John Brainerd and Jonathan Edwards, accompanying the latter to the Indian conference in Albany in 1748. He was ordained on 14 Sept., 1748, and, after laboring in western New York, was appointed pastor of the Presbyterian church in Elizabeth, N. J., in 1750, holding this charge until 1756, when he was called to the Presbyterian church of Jamaica, L. I. About 1758 he was appointed by Gov. James De Lancey chaplain of the New York troops that were forming for service in the French war, after which he labored in the contiguous congregations of Shrewsbury, Middletown Point, Shark River, and Amboy, N. J. In 1764 he was sent by the synod of New York and Philadelphia with the Rev. Alexander McWhorter on a mission to organize the irregular congregations of North Carolina, which district they again visited in 1775 at the request of the Provincial congress of that colony. As he had contributed to the cause of independence, the Tories were embittered toward him, and on one occasion burned books and papers of his that had fallen into their possession. From 1769 until his death he was pastor of the Presbyterian church in Trenton, N. J. He was frequently called “Readymoney Spencer,” from his facility in extempore address. From 1752 until his death he was a guardian of Princeton college. The University of Pennsylvania gave him the degree of D. D. in 1782. In 1759 he wrote a letter to the Rev. Ezra Stiles, afterward president of Yale, on “The State of the Dissenting Interest in the Middle Colonies of America,” which was published and attracted attention.  SPENCER, Aubrey George, colonial Anglican bishop, b. in London, England, 12 Feb., 1795; d. in Torquay, England, 24 Feb., 1872. He was the eldest son of William Robert, who was well known in England as a wit and poet of society, and his brother, George Trevor, was bishop of Madras in 1837-'49, and chancellor of St. Paul's cathedral. London, in 1860. After receiving his education at Oxford he held several curacies in England, and was appointed archdeacon of Bermuda in 1824, bishop of Newfoundland in 1839, and bishop of Jamaica, W. I., in 1843. He published a volume of “Sermons on Various Subjects” (London, 1827), and numerous fugitive poems.  SPENCER, Cornelia Phillips, author, b. in Harlem, N. Y., 20 March, 1825. She is the daughter of the Rev. (q. v.), who was professor of mathematics in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was educated there, and married James M. Spencer, of Alabama, who died in 1861. Mrs. Spencer has contributed to current literature, and is the author of “The Last Ninety Days of the War” (New York, 1807). She is now (1898) writing a “History of North Carolina.”  SPENCER, Francis Elias, jurist, b. in Ticonderoga, Essex co., N. Y., 25 Sept., 1834. When he was twelve years of age his parents removed to Plainfield, Ill. Hearing exciting accounts of the wealth that was to be acquired in California, he removed to that state in 1862 and located at San José, where he has since resided. Soon after his arrival he began the study of the law, was admitted to the bar in 1858, and soon secured an extensive practice. In 1861 he was elected district attorney of Santa Clara county, which office he filled until March, 1866. Desiring to make a specialty of land practice, he studied the Spanish language and made himself thoroughly familiar with the legislation of Spain and Mexico regarding real property. In 1871 he was elected to the lower branch of the legislature as a Republican, and was made chairman of the judiciary committee. In that capacity he was of great assistance to his colleagues in shaping the code legislation of the session. At its close he retired from political life. In 1879 he was elevated to the bench of the superior court of Santa Clara county, where he still (1898) remains. For a number of years he was a member of the board of fund commissioners of the city of San José, and was mainly instrumental in settling its title to the large body of its Puebla lands. He has recently been appointed a trustee of the Leland Stanford, Jr., university, California.  SPENCER, Frederick R., artist, b. in Lennox, Madison co., N. Y., 7 Jan., 1806; d. in Wampoville, N. Y., 3 April, 1875. He had some instruction at the American academy, New York, and about 1830 settled in that city. In 1837 he was elected an associate of the National academy, and in 1846 he became an academician. His portraits were generally successful, and he had many well-known sitters, among them Robert E. Launitz, Thomas Thompson, and Zadock Pratt. The National academy owns his portrait of Edwin White.  SPENCER, George Eliphaz, senator, b. in Jefferson county, N. Y., 1 Nov., 1836; d. in Washington, 19 Feb., 1893. He was educated in Montreal, and was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1856. Two years later he was secretary of the Iowa senate, and in October, 1862, he entered the National army as assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of captain. In the autumn of 1863 he recruited the 1st Alabama cavalry, of which he became colonel, and during Gen. William T. Sherman's march to the sea he commanded a brigade of cavalry under Gen. Judson Kilpatrick in the Army of the Tennessee. He received the brevet of brigadier-general of volunteers on 13 March, 1865, and resigned from the army on 4 July of that year. In May, 1867, he was appointed register in bankruptcy for the 4th district of Alabama, and he was also chosen U. S. senator from that state as a Republican, serving with re-election from 25 July, 1868, till 3 March, 1879. Alter he had left the senate he was active in the prosecution that led to the exposure of the star-route frauds, and in furthering the legislation that reduced letter postage to two cents. In 1881 he was appointed commissioner of the Union Pacific railroad, and he had since engaged in ranching and