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Thomas Spencer (bef. 1572 - bef. 1631)

Thomas Spencer
Born before in Edworth, Bedfordshire, Englandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married about 1598 in Edworth, Bedfordshire, Englandmap
Descendants descendants
Died before at about age 59 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, Englandmap
Profile last modified | Created 7 Feb 2011
This page has been accessed 4,327 times.


Contents

Biography

Thomas Spencer, was baptised on 12 March 1571/2 at Edworth, Bedfordshire, the son of Michael Spencer and Elizabeth [1] By the time he was 4 his parents had moved to Stotfold, two miles to the south of Edworth.

He married and had children, but his marriage hasn't been found, and his wife's name isn't known, other than Bedford Archives holds the will of Ann Spencer, widow of Thomas, proved in 1636 (copy awaited).

He appears to have moved to the City of London after the birth of Gerard in Stotfold in 1601, where three of his other children were baptised 1605-1611 . He moved back to Stotfold at some stage as he bought 25 acres of farmland from his brother Jerrard in 1616, and was appointed a trustee of an annuity in 1623 - Thomas Spenser, yeoman of Stotfold[2]

He was buried at Stotfold, Bedfordshire on 13 June 1631, as "Thomas Spenser, gent."[3];

With no marriage found and with his wife not named in any baptism of their children, it would seem possible that the "Margaret Spenser, widow," who was buried at Stotfold 19 Dec 1635 was the widow of Thomas, but the Rev. Mr. Holding identifies her as Thomas' daughter who had married Simon Spencer.[4]How did he identify her without finding an earlier burial of her husband Simon?

Children:

i. Gerard, bapt. at Stotfold, 20 Sept. 1601; m. there, 4 Aug 1628, Joan Hills, who was bur. at Stotfold, 12 Aug 1649.[4]

ii. Elizabeth baptised in London 24 Nov 1605

iii. Thomas, received by will of his uncle Richard lands near St. Albans, Herts. Could have been born anywhere between 1599 and 1615. No baptism found.

iv. Anthony, bap City of London 3 Mar 1611, m. at Stotfold, 7 Feb 1632/3, Katherine Hills.[4]

v. Richard, according to Mr. Holding was named in the will of his uncle Richard, but he does not appear in the detailed abstract given by Mr. Waters (supra); hence the existence of such a son in the family of Thomas remains to be verified. There is no reference to a Richard son of Thomas in the PCC copy of the will held at TNA, downloaded by Cooper-13819 21:03, 1 November 2020 (UTC)

vi. Margaret, named as deceased in the will of her uncle Richard in 1646. Bap 2 Oct 1608 City of London. m. 22 Oct 1629,[5] Simon Spencer, son of Thomas and ___ (Halliday) Spencer, of a different Spencer line; left two children who were mentioned but not named in the will of Richard Spencer, of whom one was Anna, bapt. 20 Oct 1630, And a baptism of John on 10 Sep 1633 at Bedford St Mary son of Simon. She may be the Margaret Spencer, widow, who was buried at Stotfold 19 Dec 1635, but the entry could equally pertain to her mother, whose given name is not known.

Whilst the will doesn't say "Margaret Spencer deceased, daughter of my brother Thomas deceased" she's included in a section dealing with two other children of his brother Thomas deceased so it's reasonable to assume that she was either the daughter or the daughter in law of Thomas.

A conveyance dated 2 Oct 9 Charles [1634] proves the relationship however -

i) Simon Spencer, Bedford, maltster, and wife Margaret (one of the daughters of Thomas Spencer, late of Stotfold, gentleman, deceased)
ii) John Rudd, Shephall, Hertfordshire, clerk
consideration - £120

i) agrees to levy fine to ii) of

22 acres and ½ rood arable, 3 acres 3 roods meadow, in common fields of Stotfold
demised to Thomas Spencer by feoffment from Gerrard Spencer of 22 July 14 James I [1616] and conveyed by Thomas Spencer to i) by deed of 30 March 6 Charles I [1630][6]

Research notes

Cooper-13819 20:09, 2 November 2020 (UTC) Just found that Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service holds the will of Anne Spencer of Stotfold, widow of Thomas Spencer proved 29 Feb 1635/6. This looks suspiciously like the Margaret Spencer widow who was buried at Stotfold on 19 Dec 1635. Either way, I need to get it! It should answer a few questions. Watch this space. BARS reduced service due to lockdown. May take a day or three.

Interesting that the 1634 Conveyance refers to a sister(s) of Margaret of whom I have seen no other mention. An Elizabeth dau of Thomas was baptised in the same church as Anthony and Margaret, who I assume is from the same family.

Sources

  1. The Parish Register of Edworth 1552-1812. Bedfordshire County Record office 1931 https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari02bedf/page/1
  2. http://bedsarchivescat.bedford.gov.uk/Details/archive/110185404
  3. The Parish Register of Stotfold 1558-1812. Bedfordshire County Record Office 1948. https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari38bedf/page/39
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 "The Four Spencer Brothers - Their Ancestors and Descendants" Donald Lines Jacobus, M.A., The American Genealogist, vol. 27 pp 83-84 (April 1951) [1].
  5. "The Parish Register of Bedford St Mary" https://archive.org/details/bedfordshirepari35bedf/page/35/mode/1up
  6. Bedfordshire Archives online catalogue. http://bedsarchivescat.bedford.gov.uk/Details/archive/110520882


Merged WikiTree Files

  • WikiTree profile Spencer-2575 created through the import of Spencer Family Tree 4 2002.GED on Nov 28, 2011 by Chet Spencer.
  • This person was created through the import of Acrossthepond.ged on 21 February 2011.
  • This person was created through the import of grant2.ged on 07 February 2011.

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 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. Lechner-18 08:53, 16 April 2012 (EDT)





Memories: 1
Enter a personal reminiscence or story.
4. Thomas Spencer, baptized at Edworth, co. Bedford, 12 March 1571, buried at Stotfold, co. Bedford, 13 June 1631, as "Thomas Spenser, gent."; marriage not found. It would seem possible that the "Margaret Spenser, widow," who was buried at Stotfold 19 Dec 1635 was the widow of Thomas, but the Rev. Mr. Holding identifies her as the daughter of Thomas who had married a Spencer.

Children:

i. Anthony, m. at Stotfold, 7 Feb 1632/3, Katherine Hills. ii. Gerard, bapt. at Stotfold, 20 Sept. 1601; m. there, 4 Aug 1628, Joan Hills, who was bur. at Stotfold, 12 Aug 1649. Children, recorded at Stotfold: 1. Ann, bapt. 14 May 1629. 2. Elizabeth, bapt. 17 Jan 1630/1; bur. 7 Sept 1632. 3. Ursula, bapt. 18 Apr 1633. 4. Mary, bapt. 16 Sept 1635; m. 4 Oct 1659, William Wise. 5. Elizabeth, bapt. 21 July 1639; bur. 31 July 1639. 6. Sarah, bapt. 21 July 1639; bur. 31 July 1639. 7. Richard, bapt. 5 Nov 1643. 8. John, bapt. 4 Apr 1646. iii. Thomas, received by will of his uncle Richard lands near St. Albans, Herts. iv. Richard, according to Mr. Holding was named in the will of his uncle Richard, but he does not appear in the detailed abstract given by Mr. Waters (supra); hence the existence of such a son in the family of Thomas remains to be verified. v. Margaret, named as deceased in the will of her uncle Richard in 1646; according to Mr. Holding, she m. 22 Nov 1629, Simon Spencer, son of Thomas and ___ (Halliday) Spencer, of a different Spencer line; left two children, mentioned but not named in the will of Richard Spencer, of whom one was Anna, bapt. 20 Oct 1630. She may be the Margaret Spencer, widow, who was buried at Stotfold 19 Dec 1635, but the entry may conceivable pertain to her mother, whose given name is not known.

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

posted 28 Feb 2012 by M Lechner   [thank M]
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Comments: 8

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Hi Jack, you added Thomas Spencer (1596-1681) as a son to this Thomas, but please see the opening paragraph on Spencer-732's profile for reasons why we don't have him connected.

Thanks,

Bobbie
PGM Project co-leader

P.S. And let me rephrase this - did you find convincing evidence that the DNA info might be incorrect?

posted by Bobbie (Madison) Hall
edited by Bobbie (Madison) Hall
The only reference to a son Richard seems to be the Rev Holding who claims to have seen it in the 1646 will of Richard Spenser. I have a copy downloaded from TNA and there is no mention of Richard son of Thomas.

I suggest I use the profile of Richard to create a new profile for his brother Thomas, who definitely existed and is named in the same will. (Done with the approval of Richard's PM.)

David

posted by David Cooper (-2021)
edited by David Cooper (-2021)
Spencer-6452 and Spencer-644 appear to represent the same person because: Obvious duplicate
posted by David Cooper (-2021)
Spencer-6452 and Spencer-644 are not ready to be merged because: Further research is needed before merging. Would prefer more than just one matching name to prove that they are same person.
posted by Jack Wise
Spencer-6452 and Spencer-644 appear to represent the same person because: same father, merge proposed
posted by Robin Lee
PLEASE UN-LINK this Thomas Spencer, from showing his son as a Thomas Spencer, Jr. who m. Patience Chadbourne, as THAT Thomas (who m. Patience) has been Proven by DNA Not to be related to Thomas Sr, here on this page, who is of the 4 bros. line, Group 1 of the familytreeDNA Spencer testing, whereas Thomas who m. Miss Chadbourne is of Group 19, so not in any way connected. See FamilyTreeDNA's page of Spencer results at:

https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/spencer/about/results .... So please UN-link Thomas who m. Patience Chadbourne from THIS Thomas, as his son...he's not! Thanks!

posted by Anonymous Spencer
I wonder if this is the correct Thomas Spencer I am more inclined to believe this web site http://www.wescottfamily.com/ps09/ps09_443.html it seems to be based on written accounts of early new england
posted by Susan Lamond
Reference:

C 2/JasI/S34/55

Description:Short title: Spencer v Ford.

Plaintiffs: Thomas Spencer (overseer of the poor of Stotfold).

Defendants: William Ford, Richard Ford and William Allen.

Subject: annuity for charitable purposes issuing out of lands in Stotfold, Bedfordshire.

Document type: [pleadings].

UBP

Date:1603-1625

posted by Robert Spencer

S  >  Spencer  >  Thomas Spencer

Categories: Stotfold, Bedfordshire | Edworth, Bedfordshire