Oh Abiram, How I Have Searched

After almost two decades, I was unable to uncover the identity of the parents of my 3^rd great paternal grandfather, Abiram Spencer (1812-1871). I’ve wrote stories about where he lived, how he made a living, his strong support for the Union during the Civil War, his election to the Hartford city council, and even had a copy of his wedding photograph with his beautiful wife Annie (Bottom of page: Posts and photograph).

I looked for any trace of Abiram across the Northeast states, every corner of Connecticut, Ohio (CT Western Reserve), and (heck) even the islands of Caribbean! Births, deaths, marriages, wills, land grants and found absolutely nothing.

Until a 5^th cousin – 1x removed popped up, on Ancestry.com, as being a DNA match to me. His 5^th great grandfather Daniel Spencer Jr. (1738-1818) of Hartford, Connecticut had two sons, Daniel and William. The DNA match descended from Daniel.

Daniel Jr.’s son William had a son named Abiram! I confirmed that William was the father of (my) Abiram through William’s will (above) where he notes his “beloved son Abiram.” Note: William’s full name is Joseph William Spencer, the name Joseph comes from a sibling that died in infancy. He used the name William in all of the documents associated with him.

I now have eight new generations of Spencer’s (below) to research and hopefully many stories to tell!

William Spencer (1780-1851) – Lois Hoskins (1780-1860)

Daniel Spencer Jr. (1738-1818) – Sarah Lord ((1743-1819)

Daniel Spencer Sr. (1705-1780) – Elizabeth Stiles (1705-1803)

Obadiah Spencer Jr. (1666-1741) – Ruth Kelsey (1669-1767)

Obadiah Spencer Sr. (1638-1712) – Mary Desborough (1641-1709)

Thomas Spencer (1607 – 1687) – Sarah Bearding (1623-1685)

Thomas Spencer (my 9th gg), was one of four brothers who emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1633, first living in Cambridge and moving to Hartford, CT in 1660 where — 152 years later, his 5th great grandson Abiram was born!

Gerald Spencer (1576-1645) – Alice Whitebread (1571-1628)

Michael Spencer (1531 – 1599) – Elizabeth ?