83. William Foulke SPENCER
(98)
(182)(183)
(184)(185) was born on 31 Dec
1833.(186)
(187) 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.
(167) 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.
(188)(189)
Christiana BRADLEY(98)
(167)(187)
(190) was born on 20 Jan 1835.(191)
(192)
She died on 5 Mar 1910 in Muncie, Delaware Co., IN.
(193) The 1860 Bible indicates Christiana was "of Philadelphia
Penna." William Foulke SPENCER and Christiana BRADLEY had the following
children:
+104 i.
P53
+105 ii.
P54
+106 iii.
P55
+107 iv.
P56
+108 v.
P57
+109 vi.
P11
Return to Table of Contents