Nicholas Spencer (bef. 1633 - abt. 1689)

Born before 19 Sep 1633 in Cople, Bedfordshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Frances (Mottrom) Spencer — married 1662 in Coan Hall, Northumberland County, Virginia

Descendants

Died about 23 Sep 1689 after about age 56 in Westmoreland County, Colony of Virginia [uncertain]

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Biography

Col. Nicholas Spencer was a member of the aristocracy in British Isles.

Nicholas Spencer is a Qualifying Ancestor of the Jamestowne Society

Nicholas Spencer was a Virginia colonist.

Nicholas Spencer of Nominy in Westmoreland Co. in Virginia.

First Burgess for Northumberland, Virginia - 1645
House of Burgesses - 1666 to 1676
Secretary of State, Virginia -1679 to 1689
Acting Governor of Virginia - 1673 to 1674

Son of Nicholas Spencer and Mary Gostwick.

Birth

Born: Cople, Bedfordshire, England.

Baptised: 19 September 1633 in Cople Parish, Bedfordshire. ^[1][2]
The exact date of birth is unknown.

Nicholas Spencer moved from London to Westmoreland County, Virginia, in the 1650s, where he served as agent for his cousin John Colepeper, 1st Baron Colepeper. Colepeper had inherited his father's share of ownership in the Virginia Company in 1617, a one seventh proprietor.

On his arrival in the colony, Spencer secured an appointment as a customs collector, in addition to his post as the administrator of his cousin's Virginia estates.

He later served as the first Burgess for Northumberland County, Virginia in 1645, and presided over the county court for for years.

Was a member of the House of Burgesses 1666- 1676; and Secretary of State 1679 until his death in 1689.

On the departure of his cousin Thomas Colepeper 2nd Baron Colepeper, in 1683, Nicolas was named Acting Governor (1683–84), in which capacity he served until the arrival of Governor Francis Howard, 5th Baron Howard of Effingham.^[3]

Spencer's role as agent for the Colpeppers helped him and his friend Lt. Col. John Washington, ancestor of George Washington, secure the patent for their joint land grant of the Mount Vernon Estate.

Because of the early deaths of his brothers, Spencer was the only surviving son of his father Nicholas, and so inherited extensive family estates in Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire.

Spencer was also left land by other early prominent settlers in Westmoreland County. In a deposition of 1674 by Lt. Col. John Washington, for instance, who was related to the Pope family of Popes Creek, Washington testified that in his will of June 24, 1674, Washington's kinsman Richard Cole had left all his Virginia lands to Nicholas Spencer. Washington "declareth that hee hath heard Mr. Richard Cole Deceased declare that hee had made a will, and given his whole estate to younge Mr. Nicholas Spencer and further saith not."

Marriage and Children

Married: Frances, the daughter of Colonel John Mottrom of Coan Hall of Northumberland County, Virginia on 18 July 1662, in Coan, Northumberland, Virginia, British Colonial America. ^[4]

They named one of their sons, Mottrom, after John Mottrom. another son William, returned to England for schooling and remained there, serving as a Whig Member of Parliament for Bedfordshire. He married Lady Catherine Wentworth, daughter of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Cleveland. Following the early death of William, his brother Nicholas Jr. returned to England to succeed to the family estates. They also had sons John who died in Virginia in 1708, Francis, who inherited Mount Vernon and died 1720, and a possible daughter Lettice.

Children mentioned in his will and his brother Williams will:
1.William
2. Mottrom Spencer
3. Nicholas
4. John Spencer
5. Frances Spencer

Mottrom Spencer the son of Nicholas gifted his sister, "Letticia Barnard," a Mourning Ring, of one pound price, in his will dated October 24 1691, Virginia. There are no other mentions of Lettice in documents or deeds she may have been his wife Anne's sister. Often when a will was written, daughters who were daughters in law, grandchildren who were living in the household, were mentioned as my son or daughter.

The family lived on a 6000 acre plantation called "Nominy" in Westmoreland County in Virginia.

Death

Died: 23 September 1689, in Westmoreland, Virginia, British Colonial America, at the age of 56.^[5]

Will: April 1688, proved 15 January 1699.

Buried: Pebworth, Gloucestershire, England

Will

 Nicholas Spencer of Nominy in Westmoreland Co. in Virginia 25

April 1688, proved 15 January 1699. To my son William Spencer, now

in England, all the lands, houses and tenements unto me in England

appertaining or belonging, either as I am now the only surviving son of my

father Nicholas Spencer Esq.^r dec’d, and also as heir to brother Wil-

liam Spencer Esq.^r. Dec’d or by the last will and testament of my said brother

   William Spencer, the lands &c lying in the town of Cople in Bedfordshire.

I also give to him my lands in Barford and in Blunham and St. Neets

in Huntingdonshire and at Codham Hall, Essex. To my wife, Mrs.

Frances Spencer, during her natural life, all my lands, houses and tene_

ments in the Neck of land called Kingcopsco (sic), i.e. all the lands I

bought of Mr. Richard Wright, Mr. James Hardige, and the lands I

bought of Richard Awburne, formerly William Newberrie’s lands; then to

my son Motrom Spencer and his heirs forever. To my son Nicholas all my

lands lying at the head of Nominy, being the lands I bought of Mr. Foster

and Mr. Hawkins, and the lands I bought of Mr. Manley, and also the lands

I took up, relapsed, from Thos. Dies. To my son John all the right and

title I have or may have unto the land lying near Pope’s Creek, escheated

in the name and to the use and benefit of my son John; also all the lands I

bought of Mr. William Horton and Capt. John Lord and the land I bought

of Jacob Reny and the lands I bought of Mr. John Froadsham, the Survey

of all the last aforesaid lands lying near unto Coll^o W^m Pierces lands and

Dwelling seat.

“I give and bequeath unto my son Francis Spencer and his heirs for ever

that moiety of five thousand acres which upon a division shall fall to my

Lott, being a tract of land lying and being in joint tenancy between Cap^t

Lawrence Washington and myself, with condition that noe advantage of

survivorship shall be taken of either side.”

 To my dear and beloved wife all her jewels and wearing apparel. To

my son Motrom Spencer five hundred pounds sterling, to be paid him at

his age of one and twenty by my son William out of the rents of my lands

and houses in England. As to my personal estate in Virginia, be it plate,

household goods, cattle, horses and sheep, as also my English servants,

Negro slaves, tobacco and grains of all sorts, as also my tobacco debts and

money debts due to me in Virginia, my debts and Legacies being first paid,

I do will and bequeath unto my beloved wife, Mrs. Francis Spencer, my

son Nicholas Spencer, my son John Spencer and my son Francis Spencer

to be equally divided between them, but to remain entirely together, and no

division made there up until all my debts and legacies be fully satisfied and

paid with the present years’ crop, &c.

 I nominate and appointment son William Spencer executor of my last will

and testament of all my Estate in England, and my wife Mrs. Frances

Spencer, my son Nicholas and my son John Spencer executors as to my

estate in Virginia; and I nominate an appointment singular good friends

Coll. Isaac Allerton of Matchotick, Cap.^t Georgia Brent of Stafford Co. and

Cap^t Lawrence Washington, Feoffees in trust &c giving forty shillings

to each of them, to buy mourning rings, and to Coll. Isaac Allerton my

riding horse called Hector.

 Wit: George Luke, Thomas Hobson, Junior and Natha Webster.

 Letters issued 15 January 1699 to John rust of All Hallows Lombard

St., silkman, to administer the goods &c according to the tenor and effect

of the above will.^[6]

I transcribe documents exactly as they are written without corrections. This includes punctuation, spelling, and format. Eileen Bradley

The Spencer-Washington grant was divided in 1690 between Colonel Spencer’s widow, Frances Mottram Spencer (died c.1727), and John Washington’s son Lawrence Washington. (1659–1697/98). Mrs. Spencer chose the western half of the grant which bordered on Dogue Creek, or Epsewasson Creek as the Indians had called it, and Lawrence Washington took the eastern half on Little Hunting Creek.^[7]

The Cople estates were sold to the Duchess of Marlborough after the death of Francis, but the plantations in Virginia, by contrast, remained intact, descending through a female line.^[8]

Notes

HENRY OWEN, Esq., married at Arundel, Sussex 26 August 1565 ELIZABETH RADCLIFFE, daughter of Humphrey Radcliffe, Knt., of Elstow, Bedfordshire, by Isabel, daughter and heiress of Edmund Hervey. They had one daughter, Jane.

Jane Owen, married William Gostwick (Gastwick). Sir William Gostwick, 1st Baronet, died 19 Sept. 1615. They had seven sons, Including Edward, Knt. [2nd Baronet] (Footnote # 29), and four daughters.

Sources

1. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V52T-QQK : 20 September 2020), Nicholas Spenser, 1633.
2. ↑ The Parish Register of Cople 1561-1812. Bedfordshire County Record Office 1935.
3. ↑ Tyler, Lyon Gardiner. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1915226?origin=crossref Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. Volume I. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company 1915. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008.Page 53
4. ↑ Married Well and Often: Marriages of the Northern Neck of Virginia, 1649-1800; Ancestry Sharing Link
5. ↑ [http://www.jamestowne.org/spence---stegg.html Spencer,
6. ↑ The New England Historical and Genealogical Register,: Volume 45 1891. Genealogical gleanings in England. pg. 68. By New England Historic Genealogical Society Staff. Boston. .Published by the Society 1891. Heritage Books Inc. https://books.google.com/books?id=Jj8rDwmlYtgC&pg=PA67&lpg#v=onepage&q&f=false
7. ↑ “List of the Colonial Secretaries.” The William and Mary Quarterly 10, no. 3 (1902): 167–75. https://doi.org/10.2307/1915226. 1679 to 1689.
8. ↑ SPENCER, William (aft.1663-1705), of Cople, Beds. History of Parliament

• Wikipedia:Nicholas Spencer

National Archives. Founders Online. To George Washington from Thomas Hanson Marshall, 11 April 1770 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-08-02-0221

Quick reference with citations. Ancestry. Contributed by Lisa Wright. https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/1576625?h=4de24d

Jstor https://www.jstor.org/stable/1921497?seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents
Refers to John Mottrom.

See also:
Royal Ancestry by D. Richardson Vol. III p. 529. https://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/i427.htm#s28256 I searched the index and found a Nicholas Spencer born 1570 wife Jane but not a Nicholas from this line.

U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970