Barton County, Missouri Biographies-Alfred Spence

History Of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade And Barton Counties, 
Missouri, 1889.  Published by Goodspeed. Pages 948, 949

Alfred Spence, a merchant of Newport, Mo., has been a resident of Barton County since 1872.  
He was born in Kentucky, and moved from there with his parents to Davis County, Iowa, in 
1849, first coming to Golden Grove, where he bought a piece of land and resided until 1873, 
then moved to Round Prairie, where he bought some raw land and improved a farm.  In 1879 he 
came to Newport, and in 1880 established his present business and has served as postmaster 
seven years.  Jonathan and Elizabeth (McLean) Spence were born on Kentucky soil.  The father 
was a farmer throughout life, and in 1849 removed with his family to Davis County, Iowa, 
where he died in 1886 at the age of eighty-one years.  The mother's death occurred in 1880, 
when seventy-five years of age.  They had long been members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The following are their children: William, who was a soldier in the Mexican War, and held a 
captaincy in the late war, died in 1866; Hannah, wife of C. A. Thompson; Thomas; Alfred; Mary 
Jane, wife of George Moore; Malinda, wife of William James;  Anna, wife of Dock Yates, and 
Andrew T.  When twenty-one years of age, Alfred Spence left home to engage in farming in Iowa, 
and in 1858 was married and moved to Grundy County, Mo.; then joined the Third Iowa Cavalry, 
and served four years and three days, participating in the following battles: Moore's Mills, 
Pea Ridge, Vicksburg, Helena, Little Rock, Gun Town, Tupelo, Price's raid through Missouri, 
Independence, Big Blue, Mine Creek, Wilson's Raid, Montevallo, Selma, Montgomery and Columbus.
After the war he returned to Iowa, but in 1867 moved to Cherokee County, Kan., where he resided
until 1872, moving from there to Barton County, Mo., where he owns eighty acres of land and 
some town property in Newport.  He was first married in 1858 to Elizabeth J. Rayburn, a native 
of Indiana, who died in 1862 while her husband was serving in the army, and left two children: 
Jonathan, a teacher of Nevada, Mo.; and Melissa J., the wife of R. H. Fanning of Lamar.  In 
1864 Mr. Spence wedded his present wife, Martha E. Moore, who was born in Iowa, and by her 
became the father of seven children: Louisa, wife of A. Amick, of Barton County; Milton L.; 
Thomas M.; Alfred N.; Martha E.; Anna A. and Emma A.  Mr. And Mrs. Spence are members of the 
United Brethren Church, of which he has been a licensed minister since 1877 and was ordained 
in 1882.  He is a Republican, and has held the office of justice of the peace for six years.

====================================================================
     USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing
         free information on the Internet, data may be used by
         non-commercial entities, as long as this message
         remains on all copied material. These electronic
         pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit
         or for presentation by other persons or organizations.

         Persons or organizations desiring to use this material
         for purposes other than stated above must obtain the
         written consent of the file contributor.

         This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb
         Archives by: Kay Griffin Snow <kgsno@microcore.net>
====================================================================