Joseph Spencer

Joseph Spencer (October 3, 1714 – January 13, 1789) was an American lawyer, soldier, and statesman from Connecticut.During the Revolutionary War, he served both as a delegate to the Continental Congress and as a major general in the Continental Army.

Spencer was born in East Haddam, Connecticut.Spencer was the son of Isaac and Mary (née Selden) Spencer.He was the great-grandson of Gerard and Hannah Spencer, who were part of the first settlers of East Haddam in 1662.

He was trained as a lawyer and practiced until 1753, when he became a judge. He was active in the militia, serving in King George's War and as a Lieutenant Colonel of the Middlesex militia in the French and Indian War.

Bas relief sculpture on the memorial to Spencer located in East Haddam, CT (dedicated 1904)

By the time the American Revolution began, Spencer had advanced to Brigadier General of Connecticut’s militia, and in April 1775 he led them to support the Siege of Boston as the 2nd Connecticut Regiment. In June, when these units were adopted into the national army, he was made a brigadier general in the Continental Army; he was amongst the first eight Continental Army brigadier generals so appointed.

In 1776, Spencer was promoted to major general in support of William Heath in the Eastern Department. The following year his military career became difficult. He cancelled a planned attack on British forces in Rhode Island and was censured by the Continental Congress.He demanded a court of inquiry and was exonerated, but when the controversy was resolved, he resigned his commission on June 14, 1778.

Spencer first served on the Connecticut Council (or Connecticut State Senate) in 1776.Free of military responsibility, the state sent him as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1779. In 1780, he was returned to the council, and served there until his death.

August 2, 1738, Joseph Spencer married Martha Brainerd (1716–1754), with whom he had five children.

• Martha Spencer (1739–1739/40), who died young.
• Martha Spencer (c. 1740), who married Joseph Cone, Jr. (b. 1735).
• Anne Spencer (b. 1746).
• Joseph Spencer, Jr. (1750–1824), who became a surgeon and served as an aid to his father during the Revolution.
• Nehemiah Spencer (b. 1752)

After his first wife's death in 1754, he married Hannah (née Brown) Southmaid (1730–1808), with whom he had eight more children, including:

• Isaac Spencer (b. 1759), who served as Connecticut State Treasurer from 1818 to 1835.
• Jared Spencer (1762–1820), a twin who was a Yale graduate and an attorney who married Ann Green (1768–1855) in 1789.
• Mary Spencer (b. 1762), a twin who married Turner Miner.
• Seth Spencer (b. 1765)
• Hannah Spencer (1767–1843), who married Rev. Ichabod Lord Skinner (1767–1852)
• Betty Spencer (b. 1770), who married Selden Warner.
• Nehemiah Spencer (1772–1839), who married Betsey Swan (d. 1853)

Spencer died on January 13, 1789 in East Haddam and was buried in Millington Cemetery west of the Millington Green section of East Haddam near where he lived.Later he and his wife were re-interred at the Nathan Hale Park of East Haddam and a monument was erected in his honor.

Descendants

His granddaughter through his son Joseph, Elizabeth Spencer, was married to General Lewis Cass (1782–1866), had been governor of the Michigan Territory and a United States senator from the state of Michigan, and served as secretary of state under President James Buchanan.5 time Great-Grandchildren James M Reed, Esq, Director & Shareholder Hall Estill, Tulsa OK, Nancy (Reed) Stanton, Macomb, MI & Larry R, Reed, US Immigration Customs Enforcement, Retired.