Michael Spencer (1531 - aft. 1599)

Born 27 May 1531 in Edworth, Bedfordshire, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Agnes (Limer) Spencer — married 20 Jan 1556 (to 23 Feb 1562) in Edworth, Bedfordshire, England

Husband of Elizabeth (Unknown) Spencer — married after 23 Feb 1562 in Bedfordshire, England

Descendants

Died after 18 Nov 1599 after age 68 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Michael Spencer [send private message], Edward Nelson [send private message], Stephen Schauer [send private message], Jack Wise [send private message], Peter Spencer [send private message], and Robert Haack [send private message]

Biography

Michael Spencer, was born at Edworth In Bedfordshire on 27 May 1531 England, the eldest son of John Spencer and Anne Merrill.

Michael Spencer married Agnes (Anne) Limer (Lymer) on 20 Jan 1555/56 in Edworth, Bedfordshire, England.^[1]

Children of Michael Spencer (and Agnes Lymer), all baptised at Edworth:^[2]

i. John, bapt. at Edworth, 20 Apr 1557.

ii. Michael, bapt. at Edworth, 27 May 1558; bur. 15 Apr 1560.

iii. Anne, bapt. at Edworth 24 July 1560.

He was named in his mother's will dated 13 June 1560, proved 21 Apr 1561. She was described as Widow, of Edworth, Beds., and bequeathed Michael the chest that was his brother John's. John Spencer, the child of her son Michael, to have £20; Elisabeth Lymer, to have £4 at marriage (Michael's wife was Agnes Lymer). ^[3]

Agnes the wife of Michael Spencer was buried on 23 Feb 1561/62 in Edworth, Bedfordshire, England. ^[4] She was born in Edworth, Bedfordshire, England. [source?]

Michael Spencer and Elizabeth (Unknown) were married about 1563, although the marriage hasn't been traced.

Children of Michael Spencer, the last two certainly, the others probably, by Elizabeth:

iv. Joan, bapt. at Edworth, 21 Aug 1564.

v. Alice, bapt. at Edworth 30 Aug 1566.

vi. Thomas, bapt. at Edworth 12 Mar 1571/2.

vii. Catherine, m. ___ Bland, and had daus. Sarah and Anne. Either she or one of her sisters was mother of Elizabeth who m. Edward Terry.

viii. Gerard, bapt. 20 May 1576; the first of the children baptized at Stotfold, and recorded as "Gerat," ^[5]

ix. Richard, bapt. 9 July 1580 at Stotfold; d. at London at the end of May or beginning of June 1646.

The profile shows one more child, James, than this biography although it seems very unlikely that he belongs to this family.

He moved from Edworth to Stotfold at some time between 1572 and 1576. Stotfold is a village two miles south of Edworth.

His brother Gerard Spencer of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, made a will dated 8 July 1576, proved 20 May 1577, in which Michael was a beneficiary and executor^[6]

Michael appears to have been living on 18 Nov 1599 when his wife was buried in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, described as the wife of Michael.^[7] Note "wife", not "widow" implying that Michael was still living.

His burial hasn't been found.

Research Notes

• • • Additional Notes from Rev.John Holding***

Michael was the oldest son of John and Anne Spencer. Mr Holding says of him: "We find Anne Spencer in her Will, conveying her interest in the lease to Michael, her eldest son, who must have remained there as long as the lease was in force, and then, if not further confirmed or continued in the tenancy, he must have removed elsewhere. The later event took place, for we find him in Stotfold in 1576, where first evidence of his appearance there is the record in the register of this parish of the baptism of Gerard Spencer, son of Michael and Elizabeth Spencer, May 20, 1576." There is an entry in the church record that on November 5th, 1597, among those present at a church meeting, was Michael Spencer. (Stotfold is situated but a few miles from Edworth.) The first wife of Michael Spencer was Anne Lorimer. They were married January 22nd, 1555. His second wife Elizabeth (Last name not known) Mr. Holding, on page 33, says: "While Richard and Thomas were flourishing in London, Michael and his sons who remained at Stotfold, seem to have been less prosperous, for we find Michale filing a bill in chancery in 1581, and we find Gerard Spencer, his son, and his wife Alice, leasing their land in Stotfold to Thomas, his brother in London, in 1615, and then the next year they conveyed these lands to Thomas. This decadence in this branch of the of the family, no doubt was one great reason for William Spencer, and his brothers, Thomas, Michael and Gerard migrating to New England in 1632."

Sources

1. ↑ "The Parish Register of Edworth 1552-1812". Bedfordshire County Record Office 1931 https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari02bedf/page/n216/mode/1up
2. ↑ "The Parish Register of Edworth 1552-1812". Bedfordshire County Record Office 1931 https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari02bedf/page/n216/mode/1up
3. ↑ "The Four Spencer Brothers - Their Ancestors and Descendants," Donald Lines Jacobus, M.A.
4. ↑ "The Parish Register of Edworth 1552-1812". Bedfordshire County Record Office 1931 https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari02bedf/page/n216/mode/1up
5. ↑ "The Parish Register of Stotfold 1559-1812". Bedfordshire County Record Office 1948. https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari38bedf/page/n8/mode/1up
6. ↑ The National Archives; Kew, England; Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 59 [1]
7. ↑ "The Parish Register of Stotfold 1559-1812". Bedfordshire County Record Office 1948. https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari38bedf/page/n8/mode/1up

• The Four Spencer Brothers - Their Ancestors and Descendants, Donald Lines Jacobus, M.A., The American Genealogist, 27 (April 1951) [2]

• Genealogy of the Spencer Family, Copied from the "Hartford, Conn. Times," Written by B.L.B.

• Spencer Line, Compiled from Church Records of Ebworth and Stotfold, Wills, Chancery Calendar, Conveyances, Hartford Church Records, etc. By Mrs Emily Wilder Leavitt, John Melvin of Charlestown and Concord, Mass., and His Descendants, Press of David Clapp & Son, Boston, 1901-1905.

• "The American Genealogist" vol. 27 pp. 81 82

Acknowledgements

• Spencer-8717 was created by Scott Hufford through the import of Me.ged on Nov 9, 2014.