Spencer, W. A.

SPENCER

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 9/23/2008 at 16:18:28

W. A. Spencer

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.168, Macedonia Twp.)
W. A. Spencer, editor, Macedonia, was born in Perry County, Ohio, October 9, 1846; his father, Edward Spencer, born in 1818 in Pennsylvania, was a miller by trade, went to the army in September, 1862, and died in a rebel prison near Richmond in June, 1863, having been captured by "Stonewall" Jackson. Subject's mother, Polly (Fowler) Spencer, was born in Ohio, and died in 1854; she was the mother of five children, one of whom died in 1856. Mr. Spencer began on a farm as a hired laborer, and continued as such until going into the army in 1862, when he enlisted in the Seventy-sixth Ohio Volunteers, Col Woods, serving a portion of his time in the Army of the Potomac and the balance in the Army of the Cumberland. he was at the siege of Vicksburg and the battle of Arkansas Post, also in other engagements, serving a period of two years. After leaving the army, Mr. Spencer returned to Ohio; from there, went to Illinois with a younger brother and a sister, making his home at Bushnell. In the spring of 1865, he with his brother, B. F. Spencer, went to the gold mines of Gilpin County, Colo., where they remained till June, 1867, when the Indians drove them out. Mr. Spencer then determined to leave those parts, so he with three other men started in a small boat down the Missouri River, and continued the journey to Leavenworth, Kan., making a trip of about twelve hundred miles, occupying about twenty days. After landing at Leavenworth, Mr. Spencer took a trip through kansas, then returning to Illinois. In March, 1872, he bought a half-interest in the Bushnell "Record," of Bushnell, Ill., with S. A. Epperson, with whom he continued till 1874. He next engaged in real estate and insurance business. In March, 1878, he established the "McDonough Monthly" at Bushnell, Ill., but, on account of the vast number of papers published in the county, this enterprise proved impracticable, and was discontinued. In June, 1880, Mr. Spencer came to Macedonia and started the Macedonia "Tribune," issuing the first paper August 13, 1880. He also established a real estate, insurance and loan agency, and he is now doing a thriving business. Mr. Spencer has had to make his own way in the world since eight years of age, and is therefore a purely self-made man. He married Miss Serilda Steel of Bushnell, Ill., February 8, 1874; she was born February 2, 1855; her father, Graff Steel, was born in Ohio, and is a grain-dealer, living in Illinois; her mother's maiden name was Pontious; she died in 1872. Mr. Spencer is purely a Republican and edits a Republican paper. He was a correspondent of the Chicago "Inter Ocean" during his last five years at Bushnell, Ill. Mr. Spencer's trip on the river gave rise to the story, written by himself, of "A Thousand Miles in a Canoe." He is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge of Macedonia. Mr. and Mrs. Spencer have four children - Walter clyde, Lena Myrtle, Ethel and Helen.