Joseph Spencer
{{short description|American politician}}
{{other people}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Joseph Spencer
| image = Joseph Spencer, major-general of the Continental troops.jpg
| caption =
| title = Member of the
Connecticut Council
| term_start = 1780
| term_end = 1789
| predecessor =
| successor =
| title1 =
| term_start1 = 1776
| term_end1 = 1776
| predecessor1 =
| successor1 =
| title2 = Member of the
Continental Congress
| term_start2 = 1779
| term_end2 = 1779
| predecessor2 = Oliver Wolcott
| successor2 = Oliver Wolcott
| title3 =
| term_start3 =
| term_end3 =
| predecessor3 =
| successor3 =
| birth_date = October 3, 1714
| birth_place = East Haddam, Connecticut, British America
| death_date = {{death-date and age|January 13, 1789|October 3, 1714}}
| death_place = East Haddam, Connecticut, U.S.
| party =
| alma_mater =
| parents = {{ubl|Isaac Spencer|Mary Selden}}
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Martha Brainerd|1738|1754|reason=died}}
- {{marriage|Hannah Brown Southmaid|1756}}
}}
| children = 13
| relatives =
| profession = Lawyer
| allegiance = {{ubl|Kingdom of Great Britain|United States of America}}
| branch = {{ubl|Colonial Militia|Continental Army}}
| rank = Major general
| serviceyears = {{ubl|1758 (British Militia)|1775–1778 (Continental Army)}}
| unit = 12th Connecticut Militia
2nd Connecticut Regiment
| battles =
{{tree list}}
- King George's War
- French and Indian War
- Battle of Carillon
- Battle of Ticonderoga
- American Revolutionary War
- Siege of Boston
{{tree list/end}}
| awards =
}}
Joseph Spencer (October 3, 1714 – January 13, 1789) was an American lawyer, soldier, and statesman from Connecticut. During the Revolutionary War, he served both as a delegate to the Continental Congress and as a major general in the Continental Army.
Early life
Spencer was born in East Haddam, Connecticut Colony. Spencer was the son of Isaac and Mary (née Selden) Spencer. He was the great-grandson of Gerard and Hannah Spencer, who were part of the first settlers of East Haddam in 1662.
Career
He was trained as a lawyer and practiced until 1753, when he became a judge. He was active in the militia, serving in King George's War and as a Lieutenant Colonel of the Middlesex militia in the French and Indian War.
File:Major General Joseph Spencer Bas Relief, East Haddam, CT - September 2018.jpgBy the time the American Revolution began, Spencer had advanced to Brigadier General of Connecticut’s militia, and in April 1775 he led them to support the Siege of Boston as the 2nd Connecticut Regiment. In June, when these units were adopted into the national army, he was made a brigadier general in the Continental Army; he was amongst the first eight Continental Army brigadier generals so appointed.
In 1776, Spencer was promoted to major general in support of William Heath in the Eastern Department. The following year his military career became difficult. He cancelled a planned attack on British forces in Rhode Island and was censured by the Continental Congress. He demanded a court of inquiry and was exonerated, but when the controversy was resolved, he resigned his commission on January 14, 1778.{{cite web | url=https://www.sarconnecticut.org/historical-sketch-of-joseph-spencer/ | title=HISTORICAL SKETCH OF JOSEPH SPENCER | Connecticut Sons of the American Revolution }}
Spencer first served on the Connecticut Council (or Connecticut State Senate) in 1776. Free of military responsibility, the state sent him as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1779. In 1780, he was returned to the council, and served there until his death. From 1784 until his death, he was also a judge of the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TLtLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR7|title=Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Errors, of the State of Connecticut, in the years 1805, 1806, and 1807|year=1809|volume=2|last=Day|first=Thomas|page=xii-xiii}} After the Revolutionary War he became eligible for membership in the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of Connecticut.{{Cite book|last=Metcalf|first=Bryce|title=Original Members and Other Officers Eligible to the Society of the Cincinnati, 1783-1938: With the Institution, Rules of Admission, and Lists of the Officers of the General and State Societies|publisher=Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc.|year=1938|isbn=|location=Strasburg, Va.|pages=293}}{{Cite web|title=Officers Represented in the Society of the Cincinnati.|url=https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/soldiers-and-sailors-of-the-revolutionary-war/officers-represented-in-the-society-of-the-cincinnati/|access-date=March 14, 2021|website=The American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati.}}
Personal life
August 2, 1738, Joseph Spencer married Martha Brainerd (1716–1754), with whom he had five children.
- Martha Spencer (1739–1739/40), who died young.
- Martha Spencer ({{circa|1740}}), who married Joseph Cone, Jr. (born 1735).
- Anne Spencer (born 1746).
- Joseph Spencer, Jr. (1750–1824), who became a surgeon and served as an aid to his father during the Revolution.
- Nehemiah Spencer (born 1752)
After his first wife's death in 1754, he married Hannah (née Brown) Southmaid (1730–1808), with whom he had eight more children, including:
- Isaac Spencer (born 1759), who served as Connecticut State Treasurer from 1818 to 1835.
- Jared Spencer (1762–1820), a twin who was a Yale graduate and an attorney who married Ann Green (1768–1855) in 1789.
- Mary Spencer (born 1762), a twin who married Turner Miner.
- Seth Spencer (born 1765)
- Hannah Spencer (1767–1843), who married Rev. Ichabod Lord Skinner (1767–1852)
- Betty Spencer (born 1770), who married Selden Warner.
- Nehemiah Spencer (1772–1839), who married Betsey Swan (died 1853)
Spencer died on January 13, 1789, in East Haddam and was buried in Millington Cemetery west of the Millington Green section of East Haddam near where he lived. Later he and his wife were re-interred at the Nathan Hale Park of East Haddam and a monument was erected in his honor.
=Descendants=
His granddaughter through his son Joseph, Elizabeth Spencer, was married to General Lewis Cass (1782–1866), who also served as governor of the Michigan Territory, a United States senator from the state of Michigan, and as secretary of state under President James Buchanan.
Major General Robert Ernest Noble was Spencer's great-great-great-grandson and became a member of the Society of the Cincinnati.{{cite book |date=1959 |title=Roster of the Society of the Cincinnati |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jM5KAAAAYAAJ&q=%22great+-+great+-+grandson+of+Major+-+General+Joseph+Spencer+,+Continental+Army+.%22 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Society of the Cincinnati |page=90 |via=Google Books}}
References
;Notes
{{reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=
{{cite web|title=SPENCER, Joseph - Biographical Information|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000728|website=bioguide.congress.gov|publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|accessdate=22 September 2017}}
}}
;Sources
- {{CongBio|id=S000728|noid=y }}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.history.army.mil/reference/revbib/addit.htm |title=The Continental Army Bibliography: Additional Regiments |publisher=United States Army Center of Military History |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608052749/http://www.history.army.mil/reference/revbib/addit.htm |archivedate=2010-06-08 }} - bibliography of Spencer's Regiment in the Revolutionary Army
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{find a Grave|10028446}}
- {{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Spencer, Asa|short=x}}
- [https://www.societyofthecincinnati.org The Society of the Cincinnati]
- [https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org The American Revolution Institute]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Joseph}}
Category:Continental Army generals
Category:18th-century American lawyers
Category:Continental Army officers from Connecticut
Category:Continental Congressmen from Connecticut
Category:Members of the Connecticut General Assembly Council of Assistants (1662–1818)
Category:People of Connecticut in the American Revolution
Category:People of Connecticut in the French and Indian War
Category:Military personnel from Connecticut
Category:Justices of the Connecticut Supreme Court
Category:18th-century members of the Connecticut General Assembly