Gerard Spencer (bef. 1576 - bef. 1625)

Born before 20 May 1576 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Alice (Whitbred) Spencer — married 10 Nov 1600 in Upper Gravenhurst, Bedfordshire, England

Descendants

Died before 1625 at about age 48 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Michael Spencer [send private message], Stephen Schauer [send private message], Edward Nelson [send private message], Margaret Simons [send private message], Joan Jakubowski [send private message], Peter Spencer [send private message], Julie Waters [send private message], Paul Regan [send private message], and Peter D Beattie [send private message]

Biography

Gerat was baptized on May 20, 1576, at Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England, the son of Michael Spencer and Elizabeth.^[1] He was the first of their children to be baptized at Stotfold, and his name was recorded as "Gerat," but his name is spelled Gerard at the baptisms of his own children.

Jarrard married Alice Whitbred, daughter of John Whitebread and Eleanor, on 10 Nov 1600 in Upper Gravenhurst, Bedfordshire.^[2][3][4] (Alice Whitebred was born between 1578-1580 in Bedfordshire, (there is no baptism registered in Upper Gravenhurst) and was buried May 20, 1646 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire - source? There is no such burial in the Stotfold parish register)

Jarrard SPENCER and Alice WHITBREAD had the following children:

1. William SPENCER was baptized on October 11, 1601, in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England.^[5] He died after May 4, 1640 in Hartford, Connecticut.
2. Elizabeth SPENCER was baptized on October 31, 1602, in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England.^[6]
3. John Spencer was baptized on January 22, 1603/4 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England.^[7]
4. Henry SPENCER was baptized on 11 Aug 1605 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England.^[8] He died young before 20 Oct 1607 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England.
5. Thomas SPENCER Sgt.. was baptized on March 29, 1607, in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England.^[9] He died September 11, 1687, in Hartford, Connecticut.
6. Richard SPENCER was baptized on 11 Dec 1608 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England.^[10] He died young before 6 May 1614 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England.^[11]
7. Infant SPENCER was born before 24 Mar 1609/10 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England. He died before 24 Mar 1609/10 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England.^[12]
8. MICHAEL SPENCER was baptized on May 5, 1611, in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England.^[13] He died about 1653 in Lynn, Massachusetts.
9. Ensign Gerard Spencer was baptized on 25 Apr 1614 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire,^[14] and died on 29 Jun 1685 in East Haddam, Middlesex Co CT.

Gerard demised 25 acres of land in Stotfold by feoffment to his brother Thomas Spencer on 22 July 14 James I [1616].^[15]It's not known if this was his entire holding of land in Stotfold. Thomas conveyed the land to his son-in-law Simon Spencer, husband of his daughter Margaret, in 1630 who onsold it in 1634.

It seems quite possible that Gerard and his family moved from Stotfold some years before the emigration of his sons to New England; perhaps to London after he had sold his farmland in Stotfold, where his brother Richard had become a prosperous haberdasher (will below).

William, Thomas, Michael, and Gerard (not John), migrated to New England about 1632.

Jarrard Spencer must have died before March 17, 1645/6, the date of his brother Richard's will.^[16]

Brother's Will

Richard Spencer Gentleman of London, with a codicil bearing date 29 May 1646, proved 8 June 1646. To Thomas SPENCER, son of my brother Thomas Spencer, all my copyhold lands and tenements by me purchased of the creditors of Walter Marston, situated in Kingsbury Street near St. Albans, in the county of Hertford, in the parish of St. Michael. To Daniel SPENCER, of London, grocer, son of my brother John Spencer, deceased, all those eight messuages or tenements &c. lately by me purchased of John Gearing, grocer, from and after the decease of Margaret Greene of London, widow, situated in the parish of St. Margaret Lothbury in London. To Sarah BLAND and Hannah BLAND, daughters of my sister Catherine Bland deceased, and to Elizabeth TOMLYNS, widow, daughter of my brother Jarrard (Gerard) Spencer, deceased, my messuage or tenement situated in Grace Church Street, near the great Inn called the Crosse Keys, late in the tenure of William Toone or his assigns, to be equally divided between them, by the rents, issues and profits thereof during their normal lives. And after the decease of the said Elizabeth Tomlyns and Hannah then I give and devise the said messuage(house) and tenement unto the said Sarah BLAND and her heirs forever. To the said Daniel SPENCER, all my lands and tenements in the counties of Kent and Essex, he to pay unto Anthony SPENCER and Jarrard SPENCER, sons of my brother Thomas Spencer deceased, now in or near London and at the disposing of Elizabeth CARTER, their aunt, the sum of thirty pounds yearly during their natural lives, i.e. ten pounds per annum to the said two children or their guardians in the minorities, or the survivor of them, and ten pounds apiece to the said Anthony and Jarrard, to be paid unto them and their guardians by half-yearly payments as the rents of the said lands and tenements shall grow due after my decease. Item: I give and bequeath unto Jarrard Spencer, Thomas Spencer, Michaell Spencer, sons of my brother Jarrard Spencer deceased, the sum of fifty pounds a piece, and unto the children of William Spencer, son of my said brother Jarrard Spencer deceased, to be divided between them equally, the sum of fifty pounds, to be paid unto their guardians, and within two years next after my decease. To Thomas Martyn and Mary his wife, now dwelling with me, the remaining terms to come in my dwelling house and the hangings and pictures in the two rooms thereof, with all partitions in the upper rooms of it or elsewhere. To Edward Terry vintner (winemaker or seller), my kinsman, one hundred and thirty pounds which he oweth me by bond. And I bequeath unto him and Elizabeth his wife, my sisters' daughter, thirty pounds, within three years &c. The rest to Daniel Spencer whom I make and ordain sole executor.

Witness: John Norburie, William Norburie Twisse, 79

^[17]

A Michael Spencer emigrated to America in or before 1635 and was at Lynn in 1638. He died prior to November 1653. The Essex County (Mass) Court records show that he was the nephew of Richard Spencer of London. The same records also prove that Garrard Spencer was Michael's brother. Consequently, Garrard must also have been Richard's nephew and the son of Jarrard Spencer, the subject of this profile.

Note

Since the publication of Goodwin's Genealogical Notes in 1856, the early wife of Gerard who was the mother of his children has always been named Hannah. The present compiler follows these authorities, though confessing that he has not seen an original or quoted contemporary record so naming her. Still, such a record may exist. The Four Spencer Brothers - Their Ancestors and Descendants.

Joan Hills Was NOT Married To the Father of the American Immigrants

There are some genealogies out there showing Joan Hills as a second wife to the father of the American immigrants, Gerrard Spencer, after Alice Whitbread. (Note, he is Michael > Gerrard.) These folks have mixed up our ancestor with his nephew, Gerard Spencer, who is Michael > Thomas > Gerrard. He is the Gerard who married Joan Hills and never came to America.

In 1903 the Rev. John Holding, M.A., then Vicar of Stotfold, co. Bedford, England published The Spencers of Bedfordshire.

Despite a lack of formal arrangement, the book is a mine of information. The most prominent family of the Spencer name in Bedfordshire had their seat at Cople in the 16th and 17th centuries, and a good account is given of this family, tracing it back to one Thomas Spencer who was living at Eton in 1433. Several other groups of Spencers in various parishes and towns are included, but their connection, if any, with the Spencers of Cople does not appear. Herein, so far as we know, the ancestry of William, Thomas, Michael, and Gerard Spencer is for the first time set forth, though some years earlier the noted antiquary, Henry F. Waters, had found mention of the four brothers in the will of their London uncle Richard Spencer, and had published this in the New England Hist. and Gen. Register and in 1901 included it in his Genealogical Gleanings in England.

In recent years the parish registers of Stotfold and Edworth have been included by F. G. Emmison in his Bedfordshire Parish Registers Series. Careful comparison has been made between these and the entries as printed by the Rev. Mr. Holding, resulting in some corrections and in the addition of two or three important entries.

Since both the parish records and the Wills which prove the ancestry have appeared fully in the sources indicated, it is deemed unnecessary to repeat them here, except as reference is made to them in the pedigree of the family which follows. It is not felt that Mr. Holding established the parentage or origin of John Spencer, great-grandfather of the four emigrant brothers, hence we start our account with him.

Mr. Holding says:

"I do not think that religion or religious persecution had anything to do with their leaving England. Men engaged in commerce at that time could, and did, prosper, but the lot of agriculturalists, owing to heavy taxes on the land of an exhausting and harassing nature, was pitiable in the extreme, and almost intolerable. The political atmosphere of England at that time was so dark and threatening that we cannot wonder at such men leaving for better prospects and a more cheerful sphere of enterprise across the sea."

According to Frank R. Holmes, in his book, Dictionary of the Heads of New England Families, 1923, he writes the following:

Jared (Gerard) son of Michael, baptized Stratford, Eng., 1576, came to Cambridge, Mass. 1632, with his five sons, of whom John returned to England. Thomas, known as Sgt Thomas, and William removed to Hartford, CT, in 1636. Michael located Haddam, where his father joined him, in 1662. (This information does not to be all true, given the other information we have on the 4 Brothers. Some entries might be correct, tho.)

Mention in Will, Inv. or Prob.; 17 Mar 1644/45; London, Eng 3. Cited as the father of Jarrard, Thomas, Michaell Spencer who each received £50 in the will of their uncle Richard Spencer. Also father of William Spencer, deceased, with the legacy going to William's children

Sources

1. ↑ The Parish Register of Stotfold 1599-1812. Bedfordshire County Record Office 1948; https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari38bedf/page/n10
2. ↑ Upper Gravenhurst Parish Register 1567-1812. Bedfordshire County Record Office 1936. https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari13bedf/page/15
3. ↑ Jacobus, Donald Lines, The Four Spencer Brothers, Their Ancestors and Descendants, The American Genealogist (TAG) Volume 27 (1951), p. 84. https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/american-genealogist-the/image/?volumeId=11884&pageName=84&rId=134762556
4. ↑ Torrey, Clarence Almon. “The Whitbread Family of Gravenhurst, Bedfordshire, England”, The American Genealogist (TAG) Vol. 32 (1956), p. 136. https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/american-genealogist-the/image/?pageName=136&volumeId=11885
5. ↑ "The Parish Register of Stotfold 1599-1812". Bedfordshire County Record Office 1948; https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari38bedf/page/n12
6. ↑ "The Parish Register of Stotfold 1599-1812"
7. ↑ "The Parish Register of Stotfold 1599-1812"
8. ↑ "The Parish Register of Stotfold 1599-1812"
9. ↑ "The Parish Register of Stotfold 1599-1812"
10. ↑ "The Parish Register of Stotfold 1599-1812"
11. ↑ "The Parish Register of Stotfold 1599-1812"
12. ↑ "The Parish Register of Stotfold 1599-1812" https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari38bedf/page/38
13. ↑ "The Parish Register of Stotfold 1599-1812"
14. ↑ "The Parish Register of Stotfold 1599-1812"
15. ↑ Bedfordshire Archives online catalog. http://bedsarchivescat.bedford.gov.uk/Details/archive/110520882
16. ↑ Macdonough
17. ↑ NEHGR July 1891, #45, pp: 231-232

• Macdonough, Rodney. The Macdonough-Hackstaff Ancestry (Press of S. Usher, Boston, 1901) Page 337-8
• Donald Lines Jacobus, "Chapter 1: Spencer Ancestry in England" in "The Four Spencer Brothers: Their Ancestors and Descendants," The American Genealogist, 27 (1951):80-87, at 84-85 (Gerard Spencer), 87; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
• Dictionary of the Heads of New England Families, 1923.
• Clarence Almon Torrey, "The Whitebread Family of Gravenhurst, Bedfordshire, England," The American Genealogist, #127, Vol 32, No 3 (July 1956), p 125-142.
• Descendants of Amuary Raoul D'Albetot, George R. Spencer.Source List Attached [1]
• 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. Attached.

• Kathy Alvis Patterson Family History, compiled by Kathy Patterson.
• Lechner Family History, compiled by Michael Lechner, with my father Ted Harrold Lechner. Lechner Family History.
• FamilySearch Lots of info here, including additional references.
• Geni

Merging Notice

This profile is a work-in-progress. Under the developing rules on historically-significant ancestors over 300 years old we are doing expedited merges. The current manager and contact person is Kathy Patterson but this is under the auspices of the European Aristocratic Ancestors User Group or Ancestors User Group so the actual manager is subject to change. Please join the user group to participate in cleaning up and maintaining these profiles. We need one manager to take primary responsibility for each profile. Alvis-9 20:53, 12 April 2012 (EDT)