Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/469

 SPENCER

SPENCER

child, Julia, was married in 1885 to James Lee Love, associate professor of mathematics at the University of North Carolina, subsequently in- structor in mathematics in Harvard university. Mrs. Spencer made her home with her daughter in Cambridge, Mass., after 189-4. Her life was spent mainly in literary work. In recognition of her loy-dl service to the University of North Carolina in the years succeeding the civil war, she received from that institution the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1895, the first woman in the soutli to be so honored. Slie is the author of: The Last Ninety Days of the Civil War (1866); First Steps z'?i JVorth Carolina History (1888); Centennial Catalogue of the University of North Carolina (1889); and numerous contributions to periodical literature.

SPENCER, George EHphaz, senator, was born in Jefferson county, N.Y., Nov. 1, 1836. He was educated in Montreal college, Canada; re- moved to Iowa where he was secretary of the state senate in 1856, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1857. He served in the Federal army as captain and assistant-adjutant-general, 1861- 63; recruited a regiment which was made the 1st Alabama cavalry, U.S. volunteers, in 1863, of which he was commissioned colonel; commanded a cavalry brigade, under Gen. Judson Kilpatrick, Army of the Tennessee, on Slierman's grand inarch; was brevetted brigadier-general for " gal- lantry on the field," March 13, 1885; resigned from the army, July 4, 1865, and settled in prac- tice in Decatur, Ala. He was U.S. register in bankruptcy, fourth district of Alabama, in 1867; w;i3 elected a Republican senator from Alabama under the reconstruction act, taking his seat, July 25, 1868, and was re-elected in 1873, his sec- ond term expiring March 3, 1879. He was chair- man of the committee on military affairs in the 45th congress; was pi'ominent in the exposure of the star-route postal lines in 1881 and in the estab- lishment of two-cent letter postage in 1883. The last years of his life he spent on a ranch in Nevada, where he had large mining interests. He was married in 1863 to Bella Zilfa, who was born in London, Eng., March 1, 1840. and came to this country at an early age. She is the author of: "Ura, The Lost Wife" (1864); " Tried and True, a Story of the Rebellion (1866), and " Sur- face and Depth" (1867). Shedied in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Aug. 1, 1867, and he was married secondly, ill 1877, to a daughter of William Loring. Gen. Spencer died in Washington, D.C.. Feb. 19. 1893.

SPENCER, Jesse Ames, educator, was born in Hyde Park, N.Y., June 17. 1816. He was graduated from Columbia. A.B., 1837, A.M., 1840, and from the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1840. He was admitted to the diaconate, June 28, 1840, and

advanced to the priesthood by Bisliop Benjamin T. Onderdonk, July 28, 1841. He was rector of St. James's church, Goshen, N.Y., 1840-42. He spent the next winter abroad, because of ill- health, and on his return devoted himself to liter- ary work, but went abroad again, 1848-49. He was secretary and editor of the Protestant Epis- copal Sunday School Union and Church Book society, 1851-57; rector of St. Paul's cliurch at Flatbush, N.Y., 1863-65; professor of Greek lan- guage and literature in the College of the City of New York, 1869-79, and professor emeritus, 1879- 81. He was custodian of the Standard Bible of the church. He received the degree of A.M. from Trinity in 1854, that of D.D. from Columbia in 1852 and from Trinity in 1872. He is the author of: The Christian Instructed in the Ways of the Gospel and the Church (1844); History of the Reformation in England (1846); The East: Sketches of Travel in Egypt and the Holy Land (1850); History of the United States from the Earliest Period to the Death of President Lincoln (1856-69): Greek Plays {1870): The Young Ruler who had Great Possessions, and other Discitssions (1871); Sketch of History of the Protestayit Episcopal CJmrch in the United States (1878); Five Last Tilings: Studies in Esch at ology (188'7). He edited the New Testament in Greek, and other books. He died in Passaic. N. J., Sept. 2, 1898.

SPENCER, John Canfield, cabinet officer, was born in Hudson, N.Y., Jan. 8, 1788; son of Ambrose Spencer (q.v.). He was graduated at Union college in 1806, was admitted to the bar in 1809 and in 1811 was made master in chancery. He was judge-advocate-general in 1813 and as- sistant attorney-general for western New York, and also district attorney in 1815. He served as a Democratic representative from New York in the 15th congress, 1817-19, as a member of the New York assembly in 1820-21, and as state senator, 1824-28. He was a member of the board that revised the state statutes in 1827, and until 1830 was attorney-general specially appointed to prosecute the masons supposed to be connected with the abduction of William Morgan. He was again a member of the New York assembly in 1832 and was secretary of state, 1839-40. He was secretary of war in President Tyler's cabinet, 1841-43, and secretary of the U.S. treasury, 1843-44, when he resigned because of his opposi- tion to the annexation of Texas. He was a re- gent of the University of the State of New York, 1840-95, and in 1849 received the degree of LL.D. from Union college. He edited, with John Duer and Benjamin F. Butler, a Revision of the Stat- utes of Neiv York (3 vols., 1846). L. B. Proctor wrote a '• Review of John C. Spencer's Legal and Political Career (1886). Secretary Spencer died in Albany, N.Y., May 11, 1895.