Valorus Orlando Spencer (1812 - 1895)

Born 30 Aug 1812 in Canoe Camp, Tioga County, Pennsylvania, USA

Ancestors

Husband of Jane (Kelts) Spencer — married 3 Jun 1839 in Covington, Tioga County, Pennsylvania

Descendants

Died 24 Sep 1895 at age 83 in Lake Worth, Florida, USA

Biography

Valorus Orlando Spencer was born on 30 August 1812 in Canoe Camp, Tioga County, Pennsylvania^[1] about six years after his father Amos, a miller, had moved there from New York. Tioga County was a forested area of northern Pennsylvania, home to many men who worked in the lumber and associated trades.

A letter Valorus wrote to an unidentified relative described some events of his early years: "My Father [in] 1807 Mooved his family to [Tioga County] he built a log house about where the South east corner of the Mill stands where I was born Aug 30, 1812. He had then erected both a Saw Mill and a Grist Mill. And a verry high freshet broke around the east end of the dam and washed down the log house above mentioned. He then built an other one just on the bank west of the Saw Mill where we lived at my earliest reccollection, and where we continued to live untill I was a lad some 12 years old."

Valorus spent his first 59 years in Tioga County, working as a "miller," "joiner," and "millwright" according to various census listings.

He married Jane Kelts (1818 - 1903) in 1839. Their children were:

• Francis M. Spencer (1840 - 1920)
• Louis P. Spencer (~1842 - ~1890)
• Sarah (Spencer) Eames (1844 - 1924)
• Florence (Spencer) Bellows (1847 - 1936)
• Melville Evans Spencer (1850 - 1941)
• Anna Jessie Spencer (1856 - 1946)
• Martha Ardissa (Spencer) Heyser (1860 - 1941).

In 1850, Valorus, age 38, was operating a mill in Richmond, Tioga County. He and Jane had four children.^[1]

In 1860 he was working as a joiner, still living in Richmond with his wife, Jane, now with seven children.^[2]

Around 1878, Valorus moved with his wife and youngest daughter to a relatively unsettled part of Florida, near Lake Worth, enticed by the reports of his son Melville who had settled there earlier. He became the area's first postmaster in 1880, following in his father's footsteps, as his father had been the first postmaster of Canoe Camp in Tioga County, Pennsylvania.

Valorus died on 24 September 1895 in Lake Worth, Florida aged 83. His obituary appeared in The Mansfield Advertiser.^[3] The obituary, written by his son Frank, notes that Valorus was "for more than forty years a zealous member of the Church of Christ (Disciple)..." and "a skillful mechanic in wood and metal..."

Frank also wrote that at the end of his life Valorus "prepared an exhibit for the Atlanta Exposition, consisting of napkin rings, salad forks, spoons, paper knives and toothpick holders, elegantly fashioned of crab wood...also brushes of palmetto and dippers and ladles of cocoanut, and a lot of canes...making a...display of some of Florida's resources..."

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} 1850 United States Federal Census, Pennsylvania, Tioga County, Richmond (Ancestry source, image 29 of 30): Lewis O. Spencer, age 38, Male, Occupation Miller, Real Estate $500, birthplace Pa; head of household including wife and four children image
2. ↑ 1860 United States Federal Census Year 1860; Census Place Richmond, Tioga, Pennsylvania; Roll: M653_1187; Page: 539; Family History Library Film: 805187 Ancestry Record 7667 #5061405 free image on Ancestry 1860 United States Federal Census:

   Name:	V C Spencer
   Age:	47
   Birth Year:	abt 1813
   Gender:	Male
   Birth Place:	Pennsylvania
   Home in 1860:	Richmond, Tioga, Pennsylvania
   Post Office:	Cherry Flatts
   Dwelling Number:	571
   Family Number:	571
   Occupation:	House Joiner
   Real Estate Value:	600
   Personal Estate Value:	600

   Household Members
   Name	Age
   V C Spencer	47
   Jane Spencer	41
   F M Spencer	20
   L P Spencer	18
   S L Spencer
   J F Spencer	13
   M E Spencer	9
   J A Spencer
   Ardisa Spencer	2/12

3. ↑ Mansfield Advertiser, Mansfield, Pennsylvania, 2 Oct 1895, Wed , Page 2 clipping at newspapers.com

See also:

• Historical Society of Palm Beach County