Elizabeth Whitbread, 11th Great Grandmother

September 28, 2013 — ancestors, Brits, Elizabeth Whitbread

Elizabeth Whitbread

My 11th great-grandmother married into the Spencer family. Her son Gerard went to America.

Gerard Spencer, baptized at Stotfold, co. Bedford, 20 May 1576, died before 1646; married at Upper Gravenhurst, co., Alice Whitbread or Whitbred, who belonged to a family of some prominence. It seems quite possible that Gerard and his family moved from Stotfold some years before the emigration of his sons to New England; perhaps to London, where his brother Richard had become a prosperous haberdasher.

The English surname of “Spencer” derives from the Latin word dispensator, which means a storekeeper or shopkeeper. In medieval times, a feudal lord would employ a dispensator to have charge of his possessions and to oversee distribution and sale of supplies to the serfs, peasants, and tenant farmers who worked his land. In essence, a dispensator was something like a steward. This Latin term gave rise to the occupational family names of “Dispenser,” “Spencer,” “Spenser,” “Spence,” “Spens,” “Spender,” etc. Since there must have been thousands of dispensatori, there are naturally a large number of unrelated Spencer families. Even though he was the servant of a feudal lord or a king, a dispensator often himself would be of noble or knightly rank. The two best known medieval English families bearing a form of this surname were the Dispensers, Earls of Winchester, and the Spencers of Althorp, Northamptonshire, ancestors of the present Earls Spencer, who were the family of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, formerly known as Lady Diana Spencer. The Earls Spencer are also closely related to the Spencer-Churchill family, which includes the famous British Prime Minister Sir Winston Spencer-Churchill. During the Renaissance, an unscrupulous herald manufactured a spurious genealogy tracing the Spencers of Althorp back to the Dispensers of Winchester, but that fictitious genealogy was long ago debunked — there is no proof nor any reason to believe that the Spencers of Althorp had anything to do with the old Earls of Winchester.

Elizabeth Whitbread (1538 – 1599)

is my 11th great grandmother

Thomas Spencer (1571 – 1631)
son of Elizabeth Whitbread
Thomas Spencer (1596 – 1681)
son of Thomas Spencer
Margaret SPENCER (1633 – 1670)
daughter of Thomas Spencer
Moses Goodwin (1660 – 1726)
son of Margaret SPENCER
Martha Goodwin (1693 – 1769)
daughter of Moses Goodwin
Grace Raiford (1725 – 1778)
daughter of Martha Goodwin
Sarah Hirons (1751 – 1817)
daughter of Grace Raiford
John Nimrod Taylor (1770 – 1816)
son of Sarah Hirons
John Samuel Taylor (1798 – 1873)
son of John Nimrod Taylor
William Ellison Taylor (1839 – 1918)
son of John Samuel Taylor
George Harvey Taylor (1884 – 1941)
son of William Ellison Taylor
Ruby Lee Taylor (1922 – 2008)
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor

6. Gerald Spencer ³ (Michael S.², John¹) was baptized on 20 Apr 1576 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, Eng ³ and died before May 1646 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, Eng ¹.

Documented events in his life were:

1. Mention in Will, Inv. or Prob.; 17 Mar 1644/45; London, Eng ³. Cited as the father of Jarrard, Thomas, Michaell Spencer who each received �50 in the will of their uncle Richard Spencer. Also father of William Spencer, deceased, with the legacy going to William’s children.

Gerald married Alice Whitebread ^1 5, daughter of John Lawrence Whitebread and Eleanor Radcliffe,  in Upper Gravenhurst, Bedford, England ¹. (Alice Whitebread was born between 1578-1583 in Bedfordshire, Eng ^1 5 and died about 1646 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, Eng ¹.)

Children from this marriage were:

+ 15 M    i. Ensign Gerard Spencer ^1 2 3 was baptized on 25 Apr 1614 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, Eng ³ and died on 29 Jun 1685 in East Haddam, Middlesex Co., CT ¹.

   16 M    ii. William Spencer ^1 3 was baptized on 11 Oct 1601 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, Eng ³ and died on 4 May 1640 in Hartford, Hartford Co., CT ¹.

Documented events in his life were:

1. Mention in Will, Inv. or Prob.; Bef 20 Nov 1628; Upper Gravenhurst, Bedford, England ⁵. Received legacy in the will of his grandmother Eleanor (Radcliffe) Whitebread.

2. Residence; Bef 7 Jan 1632/33; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA ⁶. William Spencer is listed as an Inhabitant � no date given. but probably before the 7 Jan 1632 date given to items on p 4

3. Lands Recorded – Granted; 7 Jan 1632/33; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA ⁷. Common Pales devided as ffollo:– William Spencer 12 Rod

4. Lands Recorded – Granted; 2 Mar 1632/33; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA ⁸. Granted William Spencer the fwampe on the other fide the Creeke.

5. Oath of Freemanship/Allegiance; 4 Mar 1632/33; Massachusetts Bay Colony, MA ⁹.

6. Lands Recorded – Granted; 5 Aug 1633; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA ¹⁰. Lotts granted for Cowyardes:– William Spencer 3 Roods

7. Town Office; 3 Feb 1633/34; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA ¹¹. James Olmfted & William Spencer chosen as two of the five men to order business for the town.

8. Town Service; 1 Sep 1634; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA ¹². ffurther it is ordered that George St^ [ ] William Spencer fhall measuer out al^ [ ] ^ranted by the Towne and have IIId the Ac^ [ ] [ ] fame.

9. Lands Recorded – Granted; 1 Dec 1634; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA ¹³. Granted William Spencer that Corner of ground by Jofeph Myats between the Swamps to bee fett out by John Haynes Efqr.

10. Town Service; 3 Feb 1634/35; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA ¹⁴. chosen to survey town lands: James Olmfted & William Spencer [plus 3 others]

11. Town Service; 8 Feb 1634/35; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA ¹⁵. Townsmen present at the town meeting:– William Spencer.

12. Town Service; 20 Aug 1635; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA ¹⁶. It was ordered that William Spencer and George Steele fould meafuer all the meaddow ground and undeuided belonging to the Newtowne: and when it is Meafuered and deuided to euery man his proportcion there are to: meafuer every mans feuerally and Caufe ftakes to bee fett at each end and to haue three pence the Acker for the fame and whofoever fhall not pay for the meafueringe within one yeare then the ground to returne to them for meafueringe.

13. Lands Recorded – Granted; 20 Aug 1635; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA ¹⁶. ffurrther it is ordered that the fame [the meaddow ground and undeuided belonging to the Newtowne] fhalbee deuided acordinge to every mans seuerall proporcion herevnder written vntell it bee all difpoffed of viz:– William Andrews 2�

14. Town Office; 23 Nov 1635; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA ¹⁷. William Spencer chosen one of the nine men to �order busffiness of the whole Towne for the year following� also ordered that the Towne booke fhalbee at William Spencers house.

15. Town Service; 7 Dec 1635; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA ¹⁸. Townsmen present at the town meeting:– William Spencer. William Spencer & Mr. Bambrigg to view the fence about the ground between the swamps [to be erected by land holders] and decide if it is sufficient.

16. Town Service; 4 Jan 1635/36; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA ¹⁹. Townsmen present at the town meeting:– William Spencer. William Spencer & Thomas Hofmer charged with seeing that a foot bridge is built over the Creek at the end of Spring street

17. Lands Recorded; 8 Feb 1635/36; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA²⁰. The Names of Thofe men who haue houfes in the Towne at this prefent as onely are to be acconted as houfes of the Towne:– William Spencer – 2; also in the Weftend:– William Spencer – 2

18. Mention in Will, Inv. or Prob.; 17 Mar 1644/45; London, Eng ³. His children received a legacy in the will of his uncle Richard Spencer of London, England.

19. Probate; 24 Jun 1650; Hartford, Hartford Co., CT ²¹. This Courte taking into Consideracon the estate of William Spencer deceased with the Information of the ourseers In the presence of Thomas Spencer Brother to the said William, iwth the Consent of the wife of William Edwards: the doe Judge that 30� is as much as the estate heere will bare to be sequestred for the use of the Children, wch is to bee paid to them according tot he will of the said William Spencer, provided that suffitient security bee giuen in to the Satisfaction of the ourseers for the payment of the debts of the said William Spencer, and the aforesaid Sum of 30� to the said Children as aforesaid: And prouided allso that whatsoeuer Shall bee paid heere or in England of any Estate due to the wife of the said William Spencer while Shee was the wife of William Spencer, or that Shall Come from Concord: two thirds thereof Shall be and remaine to the propper vse of the Children aforesaid.