William Spence

Abt 1832 - 1908  (~ 76 years)

• Name	William Spence
  Birth	Abt 1832	Stewartstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
  Gender	Male
  Death	23 Feb 1908	New York, New York County, New York, USA
  Notes	http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pdfamilytree/speline01.htm#spe18321908a came to the United States in approximately 1868 «u»«b»William SPENCE Biographical Information«/u»«/b» As indicated above, William SPENCE is believed to have arrived in New York from Northern Ireland in approximately 1868. He would have been about 36 by that time, but virtually nothing is currently known about his life before his arrival in the United States. There is a suggestion, posed by an advertisement in 1880, discussed below, that he may have been in the military, specifically in the Royal Artillery for five years, but that remains to be verified. If he did have a military background, however, the fact that he found employment with a military officer and his family is not at all surprising. William SPENCE was by profession a coachman. He is believed to have started out as an ostler (stableman) and then was employed by wealthy families to drive private coaches in New York City and in Newport, Rhode Island. There is an indication that he worked for many years in the employ of the Gibbs family of New York and Rhode Island, specifically Major Theodore Kane GIBBS and his wife, Virginia BARRETT, possibly for as long as from 1868 to as late as 1908. If those dates are accurate, it would mean that William SPENCE worked for the Gibbs family for virtually all of the part of his working life following his arrival in the United States. The length and nature of his service, including the fact that he was needed in both New York and Rhode Island, strongly suggest that he advanced to a position of some importance relative to the use and care of the Gibbs horses. The Gibbs family was one of the most prominent and wealthy in Rhode Island. Theodore Gibbs had been a military hero during the Civil War and spent some time in the military after the war as well. He was the son of William Channing Gibbs and his wife, Mary K. Gibbs. William Channing Gibbs was prominent in public affairs and had been governor of Rhode Island from 1820 to 1824. The Gibbs family maintained extensive stables in both New York and Rhode Island and evidently William SPENCE was involved in the operation of both of them and had frequent contact with both generations of the family. There may have come a time when William SPENCE found it necessary to seek other employment, possibly having something to do with the ill health of Major Gibbs, related to earlier war injuries, that forced him to spend time in Pasadena, California where he was when he died at the age of 68 on January 16, 1909. This is only speculation, but it is based upon the fact that there was an advertisement in «i»The New York Times«/i» on May 23, 1880 describing a "respectable" coachman seeking work who had "been in the Royal Artillery five years" and had the "best testimonials." Interested persons were asked to call at 130 West 28th Street, the address of the apartment at the Gibbs stables where the SPENCE family lived at the time. See "Where Charming Buildings Housed Horses" by Christopher Gray, The New York Times, January 27, 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/realestate/27scap.html?pagewanted=print Regardless of the advertisement, however, it appears that William SPENCE remained employed by the Gibbs family, essentially until his death in 1908. As noted above, William SPENCE's employment by the Gibbs family made it necessary for him to spend time both in New York City and in Newport, Rhode Island, depending upon the needs of his employer. The Rhode Island location may have been open only at certain times of the year since the Gibbs family spent time in New York and also in California. Regarding the New York City location, indications are that Major and Mrs. Gibbs owned an extensive number of buildings on West 18th Street which were used as stables. At least one of the buildings, #130, also had residence facilities and William SPENCE and his family lived there for a period of time. Census records indicate that they were living there in 1880, the year of the advertisement described above. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pdfamilytree/speline01.htm#wspencebio
  Person ID	I64683	Glenn Cook Family
  Last Modified	21 Jun 2013

  
  

  Father	William Spence,   b. Ireland d. Yes, date unknown
  Mother	Mary Hutton,   b. Ireland d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F14086	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Susannah Mary Boulding,   b. 18 May 1845, London Borough of Islington, England d. 5 Jun 1910, New York, New York County, New York, USA (Age 65 years)
  Marriage	31 Oct 1870	Staten Island, Richmond County, New York, USA
  Children	1. William Frederick Spence,   b. 5 Jul 1879, New York, New York County, New York, USA d. 26 Nov 1956, New York, New York County, New York, USA (Age 77 years)
  Family ID	F14085	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	21 Jun 2013

  
  

• Photos

  William Spence There is now agreement among most family members that the picture above is William Spence, but there is no certainty.