Thomas Wilson Spence

Thomas Wilson Spence was born in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland, in September 1846. He emigrated with his family to the United States in the midst of Án Gorta Mór or the Great Famine of 1845–1848. His family located at Chillicothe, Ohio, where he was raised and educated. After completing his common school education, his family relocated to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in 1865. Spence quickly returned to Ohio, however, and attended Ohio Wesleyan University. After a year, in 1867, he entered Cornell University. He studied the classical course and graduated as valedictorian in 1870.{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/historyofmilwauk01cona/ |title= History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895 |year= 1895 |last= Conard |first= Howard L. |volume= 1 |publisher= American Biographical Publishing Co. |pages= [https://archive.org/details/historyofmilwauk01cona/page/424 424–425] |accessdate= August 20, 2022 }}

While at Ohio Wesleyan, Spence joined the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and transferred to Cornell with several fraternity brothers. At Cornell, he was "the fourth founder" of the New York Alpha chapter of Phi Kappa Psi. He was also a founding member of Cornell's Irving Literary Society.

After graduating, Spence returned to {{nowrap|Fond du Lac}} and began to study law in the office of Coleman & Thorpe. He was admitted to the bar in 1872 and began practicing law in {{nowrap|Fond du Lac}}. In 1875, he formed a partnership with his former teacher, James Coleman, creating a firm known as Coleman & Spence. Coleman had also been postmaster at {{nowrap|Fond du Lac}}, and Spence was appointed the new postmaster in 1879. That partnership continued until 1880, when Coleman moved to Washington, D.C., to become a partner for U.S. senator Matthew H. Carpenter. Spence formed a new partnership with a recent pupil, Joseph W. Hiner, in a firm known as Spence & Hiner.{{Cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/historyoffonddul00chic/ |title= History of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin |year= 1880 |publisher= Western Historical Company |pages= [https://archive.org/details/historyoffonddul00chic/page/584/ 584], [https://archive.org/details/historyoffonddul00chic/page/819 819], [https://archive.org/details/historyoffonddul00chic/page/861/ 851] |accessdate= August 20, 2022 }}

While prospering in his legal career, Spence also became active in politics as a member of the Republican Party. He was elected to two terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly, serving in the 1877 and 1879 sessions.{{cite report|url= https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/M5OPLGPK5IGWV8X |title= The Legislative Manual of the State of Wisconsin |year= 1877 |publisher= State of Wisconsin |chapter= Official Directory |page= [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AM5OPLGPK5IGWV8X/full/AELDN2XJAYYIVM8B 461] |accessdate= August 20, 2022 }}{{cite report|url= https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/5DJONKDAHJSWD86 |title= The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin |year= 1879 |publisher= State of Wisconsin |chapter= Biographical Sketches |page= [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/A5DJONKDAHJSWD86/full/APQ2YM37M2ZS758E 492] |accessdate= August 20, 2022 }} He represented {{nowrap|Fond du Lac}} County's 3rd Assembly district, which then comprised just the city of {{nowrap|Fond du Lac}}. He also presided as chairman of the Republican State Convention in 1884.

In 1884, Spence left {{nowrap|Fond du Lac}} and moved to Racine, Wisconsin, to partner with Joseph V. Quarles, whose previous partner, John B. Winslow, had just been elected Wisconsin circuit court judge. In 1888, they moved to Milwaukee to expand their practice, and admitted Joseph's brother, Charles Quarles, as a third partner. The firm was then known as Quarles, Spence & Quarles and became one of the leading law firms in Wisconsin.

The firm of Quarles, Spence & Quarles still survives, in some respects, in the 21st century. Borgelt, Powell, Peterson & Frauen S.C. traces its origins to the 1881 firm of Quarles & Winslow, the predecessor of Quarles, Spence & Quarles. The name of the firm remained Quarles, Spence & Quarles until 1957.{{cite web|url= https://borgelt.com/ |title= Borgelt, Powell, Peterson & Frauen S.C. |accessdate= August 20, 2022 }}

{{Blockquote|Mr. Spence's sudden death occurred in the Wisconsin Supreme Court chambers at Madison. He was one of the attorneys in a case which was being argued and he was sitting at the attorneys' table. He suddenly fell across the table and when attendants reached his side he was dead. Although he had been one of the most active and best known lawyers in Wisconsin, he had not mixed in politics since the days when he practiced in Fond du Lac. Although pressed many times to be a candidate for office he had always refused.}}

Two years after counselor Spence's death, it was written in the History of Wisconsin:

{{Blockquote|... the important law firm of Quarles, Spence & Quarles, with offices in the Sentinel Building at Milwaukee. The interested principals in this firm are all able representatives of the second generation of their respective families in the legal profession in Wisconsin, since each of the members is a son of a distinguished Wisconsin lawyer, the fathers of the present members having likewise been associated in their practice. William C. and Joseph V. Quarles, Jr., are sons of the late Judge Joseph V. Quarles, who was one of the leading members of the Wisconsin bar and who served with distinction as United States Senator and United States District Judge. Thomas H. Spence, the other member of the firm, is a son of the late Thomas W. Spence, whose name is one of marked prominence in connection with the history of Wisconsin jurisprudence.{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/wisconsinitsstor05ushe/ |title= Wisconsin, its Story and Biography |last= Usher |first= Ellis Baker |year= 1914 |publisher= The Lewis Publishing Company |volume= 5 |page= [https://archive.org/details/wisconsinitsstor05ushe/page/1205/ 1205–1206] |accessdate= August 20, 2022 }}}}

Thomas Spence married Maria Cornelia Tallmadge, of Granville, Wisconsin, in 1874. Cornelia was the sixth child of Montgomery Tallmadge and his wife Nancy Ann ({{nee}} Eastman).{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/historyandgenea00rixgoog/ |title= History and Genealogy of the Eastman Family of America |last= Rix |first= Guy Scoby |year= 1901 |page= [https://archive.org/details/historyandgenea00rixgoog/page/529 529] |accessdate= August 20, 2022 }} The Tallmadge family was descended from Thomas Talmadge, an English immigrant who came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1631.{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/talmadgetallmadg00intalm/ |title= The Talmadge, Tallmadge and Talmage Genealogy |year= 1909 |publisher= The Grafton Press |last= Talmadge |first= Arthur White |page= [https://archive.org/details/talmadgetallmadg00intalm/page/289 289] |accessdate= August 19, 2022 }} The Talmadge family contained many prominent figures in American history, including Cornelia's great grandfather Benjamin Tallmadge, who was a significant spymaster for George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, who served as governor of the Wisconsin Territory, was a second cousin (twice-removed).

Thomas and Cornelia had one child, Thomas Henry Spence, who graduated from Yale in 1899 and became a partner in his father's law firm.

{{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin Assembly, Fond du Lac 3rd District Election, 1876}}

| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 7, 1876

{{Election box winning candidate with party link|

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = Thomas W. Spence

|votes = 1,469

|percentage = 50.52%

|change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Democratic Party (United States)

|candidate = S. S. Bowers

|votes = 1,439

|percentage = 49.48%

|change =

}}

{{Election box plurality

|votes = 30

|percentage = 1.03%

|change = -49.23%

}}

{{Election box total

|votes = 2,908

|percentage = 100.0%

|change = +38.28%

}}

{{Election box gain with party link no swing |

|winner = Republican Party (United States)

|loser = Democratic Party (United States)

}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin | title=Wisconsin Assembly, Fond du Lac 3rd District Election, 1878}}

| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 5, 1878

{{Election box winning candidate with party link|

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = Thomas W. Spence

|votes = 1,055

|percentage = 48.68%

|change = +0.23%

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Democratic Party (United States)

|candidate = John Bunnell

|votes = 605

|percentage = 27.92%

|change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Greenback Party

|candidate = James Fitzgerald (incumbent)

|votes = 507

|percentage = 23.40%

|change = -28.15%

}}

{{Election box plurality

|votes = 450

|percentage = 20.77%

|change = +17.67%

}}

{{Election box total

|votes = 2,167

|percentage = 100.0%

|change =-2.87%

}}

{{Election box gain with party link no swing |

|winner = Republican Party (United States)

|loser = Greenback Party

}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Reflist}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-par|us-wi-hs}}

{{s-bef|before = Lambert Brost }}

{{s-ttl|title = {{nowrap|Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly}} {{nowrap|from the Fond du Lac 3rd district}} |years= January 1, 1877{{spaced ndash}}January 7, 1878 }}

{{s-aft|after = James Fitzgerald }}

{{s-bef|before = James Fitzgerald }}

{{s-ttl|title = {{nowrap|Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly}} {{nowrap|from the Fond du Lac 3rd district}} |years= January 6, 1879{{spaced ndash}}January 5, 1880 }}

{{s-aft|after = John F. Ware }}

{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Thomas Wilson}}

Category:Republican Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly

Category:People from Dungannon

Category:Politicians from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

Category:Irish emigrants to the United States

Category:Cornell University alumni

Category:Wisconsin lawyers

Category:1846 births

Category:1912 deaths

Category:19th-century American lawyers

Category:Burials at Rienzi Cemetery (Fond du Lac, Wisconsin)

Category:19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature