Monthly Archives: August 2004

Audrey: It is a beautiful day today out here. It is nice and warm. Doug visited and he looks good. He and Vaughn are going (to Nova Scotia) because Doug is looking up the geneology of the MacDonalds. Of course, we had aunt Mandy write all about the Spencers before she died.

Audrey: I don’t know how old she was when she started or whether someone before her had started this. I know she kept it going.

Audrey: Yes, Mother took care of a lot of persons. She took care of Grandpa’s mother, Anna Maria, (when Anna Maria was aging.) Anna Maria had (a medical condition) where liquid would run off her legs because of all the years she stood in front of that hot old fashion stove, cooking and canning every summer. She would can every summer all summer. She would can all of the crops that Richard grew in the garden and send them all to Richard.  …  and Grandma (Mary Jane [née Vaughn] Spencer) bandaged Anna Maria’s (pronounced Mar-eye-ah’s) legs daily and took care of her.

Audrey:  Yes, I was just a little girl when my grandmother died. I would stand there in front of that big box thing and I knew it was my grandmother.

Audrey: She married Rich. All she had to do was bring her money over here. She had a lot of money, but she had to leave the money in England.

Audrey: I don’t know.

Audrey: Yes, they had Amy, Leah Louise, and Girlie. I always loved the sound of Leah Louise, what a pretty name. The three girls lived in the city and went to school at Auburn in Providence. They came home in the summers.

Richard drove a train, so he was never home. I think he was only home on the weekends. He drove an old fashion auto that he drove to the country. The auto had only one other seat.

Aunt Lottie used the front door only when her three daughters came home. The three daughter lived upstairs and Richard had a small corner room downstairs. The front door opened to a big hall and stairs and each family had their section of the house with their (front) door shut.

Ed and Jenny lived downstairs. My brother (John) Ed was named after his grandfather, John Johnson Spencer.

My brother Ed was Anna Maria and John Johnson’s only grandson* (that lived to adulthood). Grandpa had two daughters, Edith and me, and one son, John “Ed”. (John Edward had no sons.) Richard had three daughters, Amy, Leah and Girlie. (Alfred) Ernest had Marjorie and Richard* who died when he was a boy, around twelve years old, from a heart attack or heart problem.

* This appears to be incorrect.  AudreyMae was 92 years when she made this comment, and this last sentence does not appear to be accurate.  Alfred Ernest’s son, Richard, has a gravestone in the Spencer Family Cemetery on Middle Road.  His gravestone is on one side of Alfred Ernest’s stone and his two daughters’, Deborah’s and Jane’s,  gravestone is on the other side of Alfred Ernest’s stone.  Alfred Ernest’s (“Uncle Ern’s”) son, Richard, grew to adulthood. Richard and two of his daughters are in the Spencer family cemetery.  Was Audrey confused with the sad fact that her brother’s, John Edward’s, first grandchild died at age 12 from a heart condition? Or did the scribe not read her notes correctly? Was Audrey actually talking about the two different grandchildren?

More research is needed.  If any web site reader has more information about this, please add a comment to this site.  Thanks.

Audrey: Yes, Walter was small and always in a rocking chair. He died as a child.* Well, Heather, my arm is getting tired.

*Is this accurate?  Vaughnhistoricalcemetery.org give other sources recording Walter living to adulthood.

If any web site reader has more information, please add a comment and web site author will add this for clarification.  Thanks.