Spencer was born in East Haddam, Connecticut Colony. Spencer was the son of Isaac and Mary (née Selden) Spencer.[2] He was the great-grandson of Gerard and Hannah Spencer, who were part of the first settlers of East Haddam in 1662.[1]
Bas relief sculpture on the memorial to Spencer located in East Haddam, CT (dedicated 1904)
By the time the American Revolution began, Spencer had advanced to Brigadier General of Connecticut’s militia, and in April 1775 he led them to support the Siege of Boston as the 2nd Connecticut Regiment. In June, when these units were adopted into the national army, he was made a brigadier general in the Continental Army; he was amongst the first eight Continental Army brigadier generals so appointed.[3]
In 1776, Spencer was promoted to major general in support of William Heath in the Eastern Department.[4] The following year his military career became difficult. He cancelled a planned attack on British forces in Rhode Island and was censured by the Continental Congress. He demanded a court of inquiry and was exonerated, but when the controversy was resolved, he resigned his commission on January 14, 1778.[5]
Spencer first served on the Connecticut Council (or Connecticut State Senate) in 1776. Free of military responsibility, the state sent him as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1779. In 1780, he was returned to the council, and served there until his death.[3] From 1784 until his death, he was also a judge of the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors.[6] After the Revolutionary War he became eligible for membership in the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of Connecticut.[7][8]
Personal life
August 2, 1738, Joseph Spencer married Martha Brainerd (1716–1754), with whom he had five children.[9]
Hannah Spencer (1767–1843), who married Rev. Ichabod Lord Skinner (1767–1852)[10][11]
Betty Spencer (born 1770), who married Selden Warner.[9]
Nehemiah Spencer (1772–1839), who married Betsey Swan (died 1853)[12]
Spencer died on January 13, 1789, in East Haddam and was buried in Millington Cemetery west of the Millington Green section of East Haddam near where he lived. Later he and his wife were re-interred at the Nathan Hale Park of East Haddam and a monument was erected in his honor.[3]
^Metcalf, Bryce (1938). Original Members and Other Officers Eligible to the Society of the Cincinnati, 1783-1938: With the Institution, Rules of Admission, and Lists of the Officers of the General and State Societies. Strasburg, Va.: Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc. p. 293.
