Joshua Austin Spencer (May 13, 1790 in Great Barrington,

Berkshire County, Massachusetts Berkshire County (pronounced ) is a county on the western edge of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of the 2020 census, the population was 129,026. Its largest city and traditional county seat is Pittsfield. The county was founded in ...

– April 25, 1857 in Utica, Oneida County, New York) was an American lawyer and politician from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Life

He was the son of Eliphalet Spencer (1760–1832) and Triphena (Austin) Spencer (1756–1825). He removed at a young age to

Greenfield Greenfield or Greenfields may refer to: Engineering and Business * Greenfield agreement, an employment agreement for a new organisation * Greenfield investment, the investment in a structure in an area where no previous facilities exist * Greenf ...

Greene County, New York Greene County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 47,931. Its county seat is Catskill. The county's name is in honor of the American Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene. History ...

, and became a clothier, carpenter and joiner. In 1808, he removed to

Lenox Lenox may refer to: Places in the United States * Lenox, Alabama * Lenox, Georgia * Lenox, Iowa ** Lenox College, former college in Hopkinton, Iowa * Lenox, Kentucky * Lenox, Massachusetts, a New England town ** Lenox (CDP), Massachusetts, the m ...

, Madison County, New York, studied law there in the office of his brother Gen. Ichabod S. Spencer (1780–1857), was admitted to the bar and practiced in partnership with his brother. In 1814, he married Clarissa Phelps (1788–1818), and they had two children. In 1819, he married Electa C. Dean (1796–1881), and they had eleven children. In 1829, he removed to Utica, and practiced law in partnership with State Senator

William H. Maynard William Hale Maynard (November 23, 1786 – August 28, 1832) was an American lawyer, newspaper editor and politician from New York. Life He was born on November 23, 1786, in Conway, then a town in Hampshire County which in 1811 became a part ...

who died in 1832. Spencer was United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York from 1841 to 1845. In October 1841, he appeared for the defence in the trial of

Alexander McLeod Alexander McLeod was a Scottish-Canadian who served as sheriff in Niagara, Ontario. After the Upper Canada Rebellion, he boasted that he had partaken in the 1837 Caroline Affair, the sinking of an American steamboat that had been supplying Wi ...

on a charge of murder in connection with the ''Caroline'' Affair, and secured McLeod's acquittal. He was a member of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

(5th D.) in

1846 Events January–March * January 5 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Country with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. * January 13 – The Milan–Venice railway' ...

and

1847 Events January–March * January 4 – Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the U.S. government. * January 13 – The Treaty of Cahuenga ends fighting in the Mexican–American War in California. * January 16 – John C. Frémont ...

. He was

Mayor of Utica This article contains a list of mayors of the city of Utica in the U.S. State of New York, in the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country prim ...

in 1848. He was buried at the Forest Hill Cemetery, Utica.

Sources

''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 135, 145 and 431; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)
''Annual Obituary Notices of Eminent Persons''
by Nathan Crosby (Boston, 1858; pg. 341ff)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Joshua A 1790 births 1857 deaths New York (state) state senators United States Attorneys for the Northern District of New York New York (state) Whigs 19th-century American politicians People from Great Barrington, Massachusetts Mayors of Utica, New York