- FRANK SIMEON SPENCER, a well-known resident and practical farmer of Grand Chute township, who is carrying on general operations on a tract of forty acres, was born April 24, 1852, in County Russell, Canada, a son of Blanchard and Eliza (Smith) Spencer. The parents of Mr. Spencer were natives of Vermont, where the father was born October 3, 1825, and the mother August 16, 1828. Early in life Blanchard Spencer commenced working in the Canadian lumber camps, but in 1854 he came to Wisconsin, locating on a tract of wild land in Outagamie county, and continued to farm in Grand Chute township until February 25, 1869, when he met an accidental death, when a log fell upon him. His wife had passed away in 1853. Mr. Spencer had become well known and highly esteemed during his residence in this section, and served in various township offices and as chairman of the town board. Frank Simeon Spencer received his education in the schools of Grand Chute township and Shiocton, and was seventeen years old at the time of his father's death., He continued to live on the farm for about two years, and then rented it until going to work in the woods, where he was employed until 1875, and in this year purchased the forty-acre tract just adjoining the old family homestead, and here he has continued to live to the present time. He carries on truck and general farming, in addition to dairying, and his hard and persistent labor has brought a gratifying success. He is connected with the E. F. U., and is a Republican in politics, having served for eighteen years as school treasurer of Grand Chute township.
On November 10, 1875, Mr. Spencer was married (first) to Martha Finkel, who was born in Canada and died in 1886, leaving no children. On July 24, 1888, he was married to Miss Olive Rexford, who was born at Shiocton, Outagamie county, May 18, 1862, daughter of Sanford and Mary (Downes) Rexford, the former born November 19, 1834, at Johnsburg, Warren county, New York, and the latter August 5, 1834, at Hartford, New York. Mr. Rexford, who was always a farmer, came to Wisconsin in 1855, and located at Shiocton, buying a farm in Ellington township on which he resided until 1857, at which time he bought the farm that was later known as Rexford's Corners. He lived there the balance of his life, his death occurring January 21, 1889, while his widow survived him eleven years, passing away February 11, 1900. She was married January 29, 1891, to Silas R. Merrill, a retired resident of Neenah. By her first marriage she had three children: Harvey S., a farmer of Shiocton; Olive, who married Mr. Spencer, and Elmer, who is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Spencer have been the parents of three children, namely: Blanche Mary, born May 27, 1890, who married Harry T. Ogilvie, a real estate agent of Madison; Frank E., born May 13, 1893, residing at home, and Rexford L., born April 26, 1895, who is attending the Appleton high school.
|
1852 - 1921 (69 years)
Biography
