Spencer, C. H.

SPENCER, HAYWORTH, DUDLEY

Posted By: Gary Norris (email)
Date: 1/31/2013 at 20:41:08

The History of Poweshiek County, Iowa
Des Moines: Union Hist. Co., 1880.

SPENCER, C.H.—Grinnell Twp—pg 927-8. Cashier of the First National Bank of Grinnell. Among the enterprising men who have built up Grinnell from the nucleus of a village to a city of three thousand inhabitants is Charles H. Spencer, who settled here when the place contained less than twenty five families and who has been thoroughly identified with all its interests. He is a native of Saybrook, Connecticut, is a son of Sylvester Spencer, for many years a notary public and bank clerk, and was born on the 6th of June, 1824. The maiden name of his mother was Elizabeth Clarke, whose father, Ezra Clarke, was a soldier in the Revolution, aiding the Colonies to gain their freedom from the British yoke. The Spencers were from England, three brothers coming over about two centuries ago, one of them settling in New York, and the other two in Connecticut. From one of the latter brothers sprang the branch to which Charles Henry belongs. At the age of twelve years he went to New York City and served as a runner boy in a bank for three years; then went to Great Bend, Jefferson county, in the northern part of the State, and clerked in a store; a few years later became proprietor of the store, remained in that place about twelve years, in mercantile trade, and in the winter of 1856 settled in Grinnell, where for twenty-one years he has been one of the leading business men. After mechandizing here alone for three years, Mr. Spencer went in the drug business, in partnership with Dr. Thomas C. Holyoke, and continued that business connection until the demise of the doctor in 1876. They instituted at an early day a small exchange office, which grew into the First National Bank of Grinnell, organized by Mr. Spencer and others in 1865, and going into operation in March, 1866. He became its cashier, and has held the office ever since, making it not only a very firm, but very popular institution. In earnestness and expedition in business, Mr. Spencer is unexcelled in Grinnell, and the confidence of the people in his honesty is unlimited. Mr. Spencer has been a member of the Congregational Church since 1860, and has at different times held the offices of trustee and treasurer of the society. He has also been treasurer of Iowa College, which is located at Grinnell. He has probably had more money pass through his hands than any other man in Grinnell, and not a dollar of it has failed to be accounted for. A truer or more trustworthy man it would be difficult to find anywhere. Politically Mr. Spencer is a Republican, with Whig antecedents, but as much as possible he has shunned office, though he is now one of the County Supervisors, and has held the office of mayor of this city. On the 6th of February, 1850, Mr. Spencer chose for his life companion, Miss Mary A. Hayworth, of Evans’ Mills, Jefferson county, New York, and they had four children, three of them yet living, two sons and one daughter: Charles H. (who died at the age of sixteen), Henry C. (assistant cashier in the bank), Louis E. (attorney, practicing his profession in this place, and a graduate of the law school in Des Moines), Mary E. (now Mrs. George A. Dudley). Mr. Spencer is generous hearted, very liberal, and a true neighbor, never forgetting the injunction of the Savior to remember the poor. His charities are distributed in the most quiet and private manner. He is also a warm friend of the young, often giving them, in an unobtrusive and most kindly manner, words of advice which are "like apples of gold in pictures of silver."