Before I tell you about Naaman Spencer, let me explain who the Spencers are to our family. Our original immigrant ancestor is Gerrard Spencer who was born in England in 1614 and immigrated first to Massachusetts and later settled in Haddam,CT. It is from his descendants and siblings descendants that make up the Spencers in America.
I first came across Naaman Spencer through our 3rd great aunt Eunice Amanda Stewart. Eunice is the daughter of our common 3rd great grandparents Ira Stewart and Amanda Smith Stewart. Eunice married William Stephenson Jenkins and William's brother,James Henry,married Naaman's daughter Lucinda Spencer. Naaman's Find A Grave obituary gave me more information to connect him to our family. The obituary mentions that he was born in Hartford County,CT and came first to Elkhorn Grove, Carroll County,IL in 1838 with his son Allen B Spencer. So this meant that he was living very close to our great great grandfather Hiram McNamer.
I pulled the 1840 census for Carroll County and found both A Spencer and Hiram McNear. They are listed very close to each other in the census. The 1840 Census combines the whole county and doesn't breakdown by township. And the census takers handwriting is terrible. I corrected Hiram's last name to McNamer.
Naaman's obituary also mentions that he later moves his family to Eagle Point,Ogle County,IL. And he is living very close to our 3rd great uncle John Wilcox Stewart family and Michael O'Kane who's son Edwin O'Kane marries our 2nd great aunt Nellie McNamer. If you look at our Ancestry tree in Naaman's son Naaman Jr along with Jasper Davison are issued a patent for a gang-plow. He manufactured and sold the Defiance Gang Plow. So Naaman Jr. is in direct competition with John Deere. There is a plaque west of Polo,Il on Telegraph Road on the site of the plow factory.
I was also able to go back another generation through Find A Grave to Naaman's father Michael Spencer. There is an interesting letter that has been posted on his Find A Grave Memorial. From Michael Spencer, I was able to go back another generation and that's when it got interesting.
Michael Spencer's grandparents are John Spencer and Mary Hubbard. Let me stop there and explain how the Hubbard family is related to us. Our original immigrant Hubbard ancestor is George Hubbard who also was born in England and settled in Haddam,CT. George Hubbard was born in 1601 and arrived in Haddam about 1635. Our common 5th great grandmother Mary Hubbard is a descendant of George Hubbard and she married our Capt. James Smith.
It was time for me to pull our my One Thousand Years of Hubbard History book by Edward Warren Day, to find out how Naaman Spencer's great grandmother Mary Hubbard fits into our family. Mary is born in 1713 and dies in 1802. It turns out that this Mary Hubbard is our 2nd cousin making Naaman Spencer our 5th cousin, several times removed for both. Mary Hubbard's husband is John Spencer, our 3rd cousin. The Hubbard History book covers the years 866 to 1895. I use it frequently to trace the family lines.
Naaman Spencer Sr
Naaman Spencer Jr
