SIXTH GENERATION

38. William Foulke SPENCER ⁽³³⁾⁽¹¹⁷⁾⁽¹¹⁸⁾⁽¹¹⁹⁾⁽¹²⁰⁾ was born on 31 Dec 1833.⁽¹²¹⁾⁽¹²²⁾ He was the last descendent of Edward and Eleanor Foulke born in the house of their son Thomas Foulke. The house was built in 1734 (William F. Spencer being born at the end of its first century), a few feet from the first house built and occupied by Edward and Eleanor. (source: Letter of April 26th, 1898, from William Foulke Spencer, then visiting Venice, to the 1898 Foulke Reunion, listed in the reunion book.) He died in 1920.⁽¹⁰²⁾ William Foulke Spencer (I), was the last child of the Foulke and Spencer families born in Thomas Foulke's house, on Edward and Eleanor Foulke's land, at Penllyn, Gwynedd, Pa. He left Pennsylvania for Cincinnati, Ohio, before 1860 (age 26), when he married Christiana Bradley of Philadelphia.

His first two daughters (1861 & 1864) were born in Cincinnati, and the remainder of the children (1866 - 1873) were born in Richmond, Indiana.

"He was reported to be a pacifist, as all Quakers were, and to have had some activity in what was called the underground in bringing the black slaves up into the North during the war." (Philip Boyd letter)

After the war, he was initially an attorney: His earliest known business was, ca. 1865-66, "Washburn & Spencer, Attorneys at Law". A business card, in the possession of William F. Spencer V (1998), indicates the business was at No. 298 Main Street, Richmond, Indiana, and that, while John M. Washburn was "Late of Wabash, Ind.", Wm. F. Spencer was "Late of Cincinnati, O."

His older brother George also moved to Richmond, Ind. some time after he sold the Thomas Foulke house in 1854. (At least one son was born there, in 1866.)

He worked for George T. Grant making furniture, later forming his own furniture company, Haynes, Spencer, & Co. Haynes, Spencer took over manufacturing business from George Grant including the famously elaborate secretarial desks designed by Wooten. Purchasers included Jay Gould; one of the desks is in the Smithsonian Museum. Haynes, Spencer, & Co. failed in 1892 due to a fire, and business conditions.

Later that year, he founded the Richmond School Furniture Company, making desks, blackboards, etc. and the American Lawn Mower Company, sharing facilities. Its foundry work for the metal frames needed the natural gas recently found further north, and he moved the company to Muncie, Ind. in 1902 to take advantage of its inexpensive abundance.

"It was there [at the Muncie headquarters of the American Lawn Mower company) where I first remember seeing him as a tall handsome man with a full white beard. ... During the latter part of his life after his wife, Christiana, passed away [i.e. 1910-1920] he turned the business over to his sons William F. II and George M. Spencer. He then traveled frequently in Europe where he seemed to have a great satisfaction in going to the usual tourist countries and writing home about it." (Philip Boyd Letter)

His son-in-law, Robert Butler Kersey (1861 - 1945, husband of eldest daughter Elizabeth Errickson Spencer), and his sons George Moreland Spencer (1871 - 1938) and William Foulke Spencer II (1873 - 1950) were involved in the businesses throughout their lives. Their children, Robert Spencer Kersey (1900 - 1965) and William Foulke Spencer III (1908 - 1945), also worked in the business.

The Richmond School Furniture Company was active into the mid-twentieth century. The American Lawn Mower Company is still (1998) run by the Robert Evans Kersey (1938 - ) in Muncie.

He was married to Christiana BRADLEY (daughter of Thomas BRADLEY and Maria LESHER) on 17 Jan 1860.⁽¹²³⁾⁽¹²⁴⁾ Christiana BRADLEY⁽³³⁾⁽¹⁰²⁾⁽¹²²⁾⁽¹²⁵⁾ was born on 20 Jan 1835.⁽¹²⁶⁾⁽¹²⁷⁾
She died on 5 Mar 1910 in Muncie, Delaware Co., IN.⁽¹²⁸⁾ The 1860 Bible indicates Christiana was "of Philadelphia Penna." William Foulke SPENCER and Christiana BRADLEY had the following children:

+57 i. P53
+58 ii. P54
+59 iii. P55
+60 iv. P56
+61 v. P57
+62 vi. P11

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