Family of Joseph M. SPENCER and Mary Susan RHODES

Husband:	Joseph M. SPENCER (1843-1887?)
Wife:	Mary Susan RHODES (1844-1913)
Children:	Eugenia "Jennie" Elizabeth SPENCER (1867-1949)
	Rosa Belle SPENCER (1870-1949)
	James "Bud" Jackson SPENCER (1873-1951)
	Lucy Jackson SPENCER (1876-1918)
	Richard Thomas SPENCER (1879-1950)
	Mamie Goode SPENCER (1881-1969)
Marriage	2 Sep 1866	Stokes County, North Carolina

Husband: Joseph M. SPENCER

Name:	Joseph M. SPENCER
Sex:	Male
Father:	John Alexander SPENCER (1821-bef1907)
Mother:	Martha H. SMITH (1817?-bef1900)
Birth	2 Sep 1843	Stokes County, North Carolina
Death	1887 (app) (age 43-44)	Rockingham County, North Carolina
Burial		Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church

Additional Information

Death

Cause: Drowned while trying to rescue a small child in a mill pond.

Wife: Mary Susan RHODES

Name:	Mary Susan RHODES
Sex:	Female
Father:	-
Mother:	-
Birth	5 Dec 1844	Rockingham County, North Carolina
Death	28 Nov 1913 (age 68)	Snow Creek, Stokes County, North Carolina

Child 1: Eugenia "Jennie" Elizabeth SPENCER

Name:	Eugenia "Jennie" Elizabeth SPENCER
Sex:	Female
Birth	30 Nov 1867	Stokes County, North Carolina
Death	17 Jan 1949 (age 81)	Forsyth County, North Carolina

Child 2: Rosa Belle SPENCER

Name:	Rosa Belle SPENCER
Sex:	Female
Spouse:	John Franklin SHELTON (1862-1949)
Birth	2 May 1870	Stokes County, North Carolina
Death	11 Aug 1949 (age 79)	Forsyth County, North Carolina

Child 3: James "Bud" Jackson SPENCER

Name:	James "Bud" Jackson SPENCER
Sex:	Male
Spouse:	Minnie Lee Dora SMITH (1879-1979)
Birth	24 Sep 1873	Stokes County, North Carolina
Death	28 Sep 1951 (age 78)	Forsyth County, North Carolina
Burial		Spencer Family Cemetery, Lawsonville, North Carolina

Child 4: Lucy Jackson SPENCER

Name:	Lucy Jackson SPENCER
Sex:	Female
Spouse:	Lewis Thomas PRIDDY (1872-1872)
Birth	Jun 1876	Stokes County, North Carolina
Death	2 Nov 1918 (age 42)	Stokes County, North Carolina

Child 5: Richard Thomas SPENCER

Name:	Richard Thomas SPENCER
Sex:	Male
Spouse:	Stella M. WATKINS (1893?-1958)
Birth	15 Jul 1879	Stokes County, North Carolina
Death	22 Jun 1950 (age 70)	Peters Creek, Stokes County, North Carolina
Burial		Spencer Family Cemetery, Lawsonville, North Carolina

Child 6: Mamie Goode SPENCER

Name:	Mamie Goode SPENCER
Sex:	Female
Spouse:	Andrew Jackson SHELTON (1872-1943)
Birth	15 Dec 1881	Stokes County, North Carolina
Death	24 May 1969 (age 87)	Stokes County, North Carolina

Note on Husband: Joseph M. SPENCER (1)

Joseph became a soldier with the Confederate Army at the age of eighteen. According to a family story, he was assigned guard duty for two nights in succession. When the third such assignment was given him, he objected. However, he was still sent back to stand duty in a field of wheat. Word was received, meanwhile, that attack was imminent; but, due to his objection, Joseph Spencer was not notified when other guards were called back in. Thus, he was cut off from his own forces. In an effort to protect himself, he built a barricade of wheat shocks. However, he was taken captive by the Northern forces and was kept prisoner until the war ended.

Note on Husband: Joseph M. SPENCER (2)

Joe and Mary lived with thier childern in Rockingham County, near Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church, until Joe's death. He was buried at Shiloh at the age of 44.

According to family members, Joseph died after diving in a mill pond in an effort to save a small child. He had been in a weakened condition

following the war, when he had sustained injuries. It was felt that this contributed to his death.

Following the death of her husband, Mary and her six children returned to Snow Creek Township in Stokes County and, with the pension from her husband's Confederate service, bought the Frazier farm of

approximately 200 acres. Her brothers, Joel and Dick Rhodes, and her brother-in-law, William, assisted Mary Spencer in buying the

property and moving her family back to Stokes.

Note on Husband: Joseph M. SPENCER (3)

The older son, James Jackson, called "Bud," was fourteen years old when they moved back to Snow Creek. In order to help support his family, he worked for Jackson Moore for twenty-five cents a day for

two years. His wages were paid in meat, flour, meal, and other family needs. Even though one daughter, Jennie, had been crippled by polio during the time they had lived in Rockingham, the family managed to

live and farm the acreage, some which still remains in the Spencer family.

Memories of Mary R. Spencer by her grandchildren relate that she was a "fine figure of a woman." Her home was always spic and span, surrounded by flowers, and enclosed by a neat paling fence. Her granddaughter, Ethel Moore, recalls her being a "wonderful cook.

Even after she had a stove to cook on, she still preferred to cook on the fireplace." A grandson, Forest Spencer, remembers that she was the only woman he had ever seen who could carry a bucket of water from the spring in each hand and one of top of her head at the same time.

Note on Wife: Mary Susan RHODES (1)

Move to Stokes County around 1850.

Note on Wife: Mary Susan RHODES (2)

Her farther Richard Sanford Rhodes died of illness while a POW during the Civil War.

Note on Wife: Mary Susan RHODES (3)

During Civil War Mary and another sibling attempted to hide the family mule in the woods from the Yankee soldiers. However, they were overtaking and a soldier took their mule but gave them his worn-out mule in return. They claimed that their new mule turned out to be better than their original mule after they brought it back to health.