Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/468

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the funds to pay fur llie building^. In 1874, the college beciune a university by amendment of its charter, and he was appointed by the Holston conference its president. In 1886 the name was changed to that of Grant Memorial university, and after the consoli- dation with the Chat- tanooga university, to the U.S. Grant uni- versity. In 1889 he was elected chancel- lor, a position which he held until 1891. In the nineteen years of his administration over 5000 students were enrolled and over 100 prepared for the ministry. In 1893 he founded and ^ ' became chancellor of

the American Uni- versity of Harriman, Harriman, Teun., serving in that position until 1903, when lie resigned. During the ten years of his administration as chancellor and president of the board of regents the institution had phenomenal success. He was a delegate to the general conference of the Meth- odist Episcopal church in 1880-84, and 1888-92. He received the degree of D.D. from Mt. Union college, 1878, and that of LL.D. from Scio college, 1888.

SPENCE, John Selby, U.S. senator, was born near Snow Hill, Md.. Feb. 29, 1788. He was a representative in the Maryland legislature, and a Democratic representative in the 18th and 22d congresses, 1823-25, and 1831-33. In 1837 he was chosen U.S. senator to succeed Robert H. Golds- borough, deceased, for the term expiring, March 3, 1837, and he took his seat Jan. 11, 1837, and was elected for a full term, to expire March 3, 1843. He died at Berlin, Md., Oct. 24, 1840.

SPENCE, Robert Traill, naval officer, was born in Portsmouth, N.H., in 1785 ; son of Keith Spence of Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, wlio settled in Portsmouth as a merchant, and afterward be- came purser of the U.S. frigate PhiladeljjJda, and married JIary. only daughter of Robert and Mary (Whipple) Traill. Robert T. Spence was war- ranted a midshipman in 1800, and served under Decatur in the Tripolitan war, being on gun-boat Numbers when she was destroyed Aug. 7, 1804. He was commissioned lieutenant in 1807, and serv- ed under Commodore Rogers in the war of 1812, being promoted master-commandant in 1813. and past-captain. 1815. When stationed in the West Indies in 1822, he vigorously defended the jeopardized rigiits of Americans, and in 1826 was given command of tlie West India fleet, but

died before having port. lie was inarrieJ to Mary Clare, daughter of Nicholas :MaoCubben and Anne (Jennings) Carroll, of Annapolis, Md., and had several children, including: Car- roll Spence; Charles Lowell Stuart- Spence ; Robert Traill Spence, M.D., and Stephen Decatur Spence. His sister, Harriet Brackett Spence, married the Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D., and be- came the mother of James Russell Lowell. Capt. Robert T. Spence died near Baltimore, Md., Sept. 20. 1827.

SPENCER, Ambrose, jurist, was born in Salisbury, Conn., Dec. 13, 1765 ; a descendant of William Spencer, who came from England to Cam- bridge, Mass., 1631, becoming a landed proprietor of Hartford, Conn., and a deputy of the general court in 1639. Ambrose attended Yale College, and was graduated from Harvard, in 1783 ; studied law with John Canfield. at Sharon, Conn., and practised in Hudson, N.Y. He was married in 1784. to the daughter of John Canfield. He was city clerk, 1786-93 ; a member of the state assem- bly, 1793-95, and state senator, 1795-1804. He submitted and carried through a bill for the abolishment of capital punishment, in all cases except those of treason and murder, and was instrumental in the erection of a state prison near New York city. He was appointed assistant attorney-general of Columbia and Rensselaer counties in 1796 ; M-as attorney-general of New York state, 1802-04 ; justice of the supreme court, 1804-19, and chief justice, 1819-23. He was associated with Peter J. Munro, in the prepara- tion of reforms in the chancery system of the state in 1808 ; was presidential elector in 1809 ; opposed the granting of a charter to the Six Million bank, and was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1821. He practised law in Albany, 1821-29 ; was mayor of the city, 1824-26, and was a representative in the 21st congress, 1829-31. He removed to Lyons, N.Y., in 1839, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by the University of Pennsylvania in 1820, by Harvard in 1821, and by Columbia in 1823. He died in Lyons. N.Y., March 13, 1848.

SPENCER, Cornelia Phillips, author, was born in Harlem, N.Y., March 20, 1825; only daughter of the Rev. Dr. James and Judith (Vermeule) Phillips, and granddaughter of Cor- nelius Vermeule of New Jersey, a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and Elizabeth (Middagh) Vermeule. Her father came to America from England in 1818, taught a classical school in Harlem, N.Y., 1818-26, and was professor of mathematics in the University of North Carolina, 1826-67. She was carefully educated at home by her parents, and was married in 1855 to James Spencer of Alabama, who died in 1861. Her only