Sarah Jane (Evans) Spencer (1854 - 1934)

Born 26 Feb 1854 in Pike IL

Ancestors

Wife of William Henry Spencer — married 23 Dec 1880 in Hannibal MO

Descendants

Died 9 Oct 1934 at age 80 in Pierre SD

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Biography

Sarah Jane "Jennie" Evans was born 26 Feb 1854^[1] to Sarah M. Stewart and John Evans.

Jennie met William Henry Spencer at the home of her dying cousin Frank Stewart in Payson, Illinois, where Jennie had offered to help relatives clean the house. Frank asked William Spencer, a good friend, to spend Saturday nights with him. They were married 5 months later on 23 Dec 1880 in Hannibal, Missouri.^[2][3]

Two years after their marriage, Jennie and William moved to Dakota Territory. They first settled in Rockport^[4] in Hanson County and in 1884 moved to Potter County where they lived for eleven years.

In 1895, the Spencers with their three children moved to Sully County, where the couple lived continuously the rest of their lives on a ranch in Fairbank.^[5]

Jennie died 9 Oct 1934 in at the hospital in Pierre, South Dakota following a stroke several days before her death.^[6]

At the funeral, daughter Fern told her four year old daughter that her mother was now in a more comfortable bed.

Jennie Spencer- Sect. 1, Blk. 98, Lot 1^[7]

Sarah Jane Evans and William Spencer m. 23 Dec 1880^[8]

Research notes

In 1860, John Evans (40, b. OH, farmer) was head of household with Sarah M. Evans (34, b. OH), P.R. (E.R.?) Evans (Male, 17, b. IL, laborer), J.S. Evans (Male, 16, b. IL), S.A. Evans (Male, 12, b. IL), S. J. Evans (Female, 7, b. IL), and Elizabeth Evans (3, b. IL).^[9]

In 1870, ER Evans (24, b. IL, farmer) headed the household in Clay, MO (Ralls County) with siblings Stuart (22, b. IL, farmer), Samuel, Mary (18), Jane (16), Lizzie (14), and Annie (10).^[10]

Jennie Spencer grew up in Mark Twain country; she would not sit and eat with a Black; she respected but looked down upon them.^[11]

Jennie was the financial manager; her husband William said she had better financial sense than any Spencer.^[12]

Jenny Spencer would say “Go away you little plaster” when it was hot and her youngest daughter tried to snuggle up to her.^[13]

Grandma Evans: born in Illinois; moved to Missouri; grew up in Hannibal; moved to Dakota Territory 1884 with four month old baby; eyes blue as garment; 11 years in Potter Co.; dusty furniture (ne?)ver clean; gardener; liked the out-of-doors; always protected self from sun; thin, nervous; good sense used the phrase "Hotter than Topheth" (a section of the Valley of Hinnom used by Canaanite worshippers to burn their own children alive as sacrifices)^[14]

Gladys Pyle remembers the day Jennie, "all alone in the house, fell and broke her hip, dependent on her pioneer ingenuity to get help. She crawled or pulled herself over to the door frame and pulled her up on it to the phone to (was it) Bessie Bagby who was in central office someplace and asked for help. Dr. McClauren called me (I was in Pierre at the time) and asked me if I would ride out to the ranch with him as he had just received word of her accident. Of course, I went and asked if the ambulance would follow or if it was ahead. 'Ambulance!' he said. 'No one could ride over that 40 miles in a rough riding ambulance.' Then I asked how he would bring her back. 'Just wait and you will see' was his answer. "By the time we had reached the ranch (William Spencer) had come back from looking after a fence line in the furthest pasture. Dr. asked him to fill two grain sacks with about half a load of hay, not packed down. They placed them in the back of the car, between the seats, lower at one side than the other. Then he asked (William) to help lift his wife into the back seat. He was on the further side of the car and (William) the other side. They lifted Mrs. Spencer in without pain and she rested well all the way into Pierre. I suppose the Dr. had given her some sedative but the real early pioneers had nothing for such situations unless it was a drink of whiskey. "Even years later when your own mother broke her hip at the ranch she either felt no pain or pretended as soon as they found a sofa pillow for her to slip under her hip, while Johnny Shiflet drove to town. Someone of you children must have been with her as she had someone with her send for Doe in his cottage after she had slipped on the ice of the door of her little trailer house which she had at the ranch. Lack of medical aid must have been a major problem for the early pioneers."^[15]

Jennie met her great aunt Elizabeth (Simpson) Evans at a family reunion.^[16] Jennie also met Givens/Givins cousins, descendants of Rebekah (Evans) Givin, (probably at the same family reunion)^[17]

The Howard Family of South Dakota lists Sarah Jane Evans as being the daughter of Sarah Stewart (of Washington Co., PA) and John Evans. Sarah Jane’s maternal grandparents are listed as Mary Cooper and James Stewart (born in Ulster, County Tyrone, came to America in 1811) and James Stewart’s mother is listed as Elizabeth Hemphill.^[18]

Jennie grew tomatoes and replanted the seeds of good tomatoes; she was an immaculate housekeeper and would rightly get upset after someone tracked in the house after she scrubbed the floors; Zelia and Fern would talk with their mom all day when they visited Fairbank (to catch up on news).^[19]

Jennie's daughter Fern noted on the back of a photo of Jennie's uncle Charles Campbell Stewart (1824-1901) and his second wife that Fern's parents first met at the couple's house.^[20]

Jennie was buried in white silk sent to her from China by her long absent son, Roy.^[21]

Sources

1. ↑ Sarah M. Stewart Bible
2. ↑ Loose family notes by Ed Trever.
3. ↑ Sarah M. Stewart Bible
4. ↑ The Howard Family of South Dakota #1
5. ↑ 18 Oct 1934 obituary in "The Onida (SD) Watchman"
6. ↑ 18 Oct 1934 obituary in "The Onida (SD) Watchman"
7. ↑ Onida, SD Cemetery
8. ↑ Bible originally owned by Sarah M. Stewart
9. ↑ 1860 Newburg, IL (Pike) census)
10. ↑ 1870 Clay, MO (Ralls County) census
11. ↑ Remberances by her granddaughter Margaret
12. ↑ Remberances by her granddaughter Margaret
13. ↑ Memory of daughter Fern as related to her daughter Margaret
14. ↑ Notes of her granddaughter Margaret
15. ↑ Gladys Pyle circa 1983 letter to Bill Barber
16. ↑ Fern Barber Dec. 17, 1940 letter Fern Barber to Zelia Howard
17. ↑ Fern Barber family Bible
18. ↑ The Howard Family of South Dakota
19. ↑ Enid Howard Hyde's personal recollections as relayed to Edward Trever
20. ↑ https://www.wikitree.com/photo/jpg/Stewart-35607-1
21. ↑ source needed but referenced by Harlow Hyde in a spreadsheet he created.

See also:

• Family notes
• 18 Oct 1934 obituary in "The Onida (SD) Watchman"
• The Howard Family of South Dakota
• Sarah M. Stewart Bible
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111311771/sarah_jane_jennie_-evans-spencer