Benjamin Franklin Spalding

SPALDING, SPAULDING, DUNNING, MARSH

Posted By: Ron Harris (email)
Date: 2/26/2013 at 17:13:07

Benjamin Franklin Spalding

Dr. Daniel (seventh generation from Edward) and Fanny Dunning Spalding had three children. Their third child was born on August 8, 1817. They named him Benjamin Franklin Spalding. His father had practiced medicine in New York City and Philadelphia and had served in the army during the War of 1812 as a surgeon. He and his wife finally settled in Bethany, New York, in the beautiful Genesee County where Benjamin Franklin's grandfather had settled. It was here that Benjamin Franklin Spalding was born.

He was another Spalding of restless spirit. Associates described him as a blue-eyed visionary of many speculations and little power to accomplish his dreams. He was outgoing and made friends easily, but his restlessness and eagerness to be constantly active were the traits he was remembered for most. An offshoot of these traits was his desire to put his dreams into the words of poems. Such a poem appears in this anthology.

On August 11, 1840, he married Melissa Marsh of Covington, New York. He and his wife moved to Flowerfield, in St. Joseph's County, Michigan. In 1849, they moved to Dowagian, in Cass County, Michigan. Here, Benjamin Franklin Spalding worked as a merchant under a distant relative. In 1853, they moved to Giard, in Clayton County, Iowa, and set up a lucrative flour mill. This is where he and his wife lived out their lives. Mr. Spalding rose to the office of Deputy U.S. Marshal for Northern Iowa. His name remains in the area on a railroad station of the St. Paul and Milwaukee Railroad.

Benjamin Franklin Spalding's seven children were all born in Giard. The hot-tempered lawman who wrote an occasional poem passed away on December 22, 1862. He left behind a grandson, E. Leslie Spalding, who also wrote poetry.

~from a Spalding poetry anthology published in New Jersey, edited by Edward Belding in 1986

~alternate spelling is Spaulding
~buried in Giard cemetery