Individual Details

Some have traced this line quite far back, others express doubt that it is correct. All five of the children came to America - possibly both parents deceased.

The marriage record is in the England Marriages, 1538-1973 on MyHeritage.com

Gerard's grandfather said to have been John Spencer (1500-1558) of Edworth, Bedford and wife Anne. His parents - Michael Spencer (1533-aft 1599) of Edworth, and wife Elizabeth. Gerard had a brother Richard whose will was proved 8 Jun 1646 mentioning Gerard's children.


Colonial Families of the United States of America, Volume III, "Spencer Family"
p.536
Gerard Spencer, B. 1641, d. 1685. Emigrated to America, 1638, from Stotfold, England, and settled in Cambridge; removed to Hartford, Con.. Was Captain of train band and served as member of the General Court of Connecticut, 1674-75, 79-80, 83. Served in King Philip's War. Son of Gerard, b. 1576, who was the son of Michael, who was the son of John, d. 1558, who descended from the Spencers of Southmylls (established by investigation of Rev. John Holding, M.A., Cantab., Vicar of Stotfold), who were descended from Robert de la Spencer, Steward to William the Conqueror, 1066




Two different Gerard Spencers married Alice Whitbread and Johanna Hills

FHL patron and Spencer descendant John Hedman of Utah hired the professional services of Legacy Family History, Inc. to review the family of Gerard Spencer (bp. 1576), which was quite jumbled up in Family Search. They produced a report dated 20 Jul 2016, which John graciously posted as a "Memory" on Family Search on Gerard's page. The report reviewed the various published accounts and Stotfold Parish records of this family, which all confirmed that Gerard was married to Alice Whitbread with whom he had several known children baptized in Stotfold, Bedfordshire between 1601 and 1614. Nothing new was found in this research from most previously published accounts, nor were parish burial records found for either Gerard or his wife Alice. In confirming the family's vital data in the parish records, the researcher reported the following additional family belonging to a Gerard Spencer in Stotfold, who the researcher assumed was the same man who had previously married Alice Whitbread. The report was as follows for which I, Kerry Petersen, have added some additonal comments in [ ]:
"While none of the histories mention it, marriage records of Stotfold reveal that Gerard Spencer married a second time after Alice’s death. He and Johanna Hills were married on 4 August 1628 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England. Further research is needed in Stotfold’s parish records, because Family Tree shows Alice’s burial date as 20 November 1628, which is a few months after Gerard’s marriage to Johanna Hills. This burial date may be incorrect, because it does appear that the marriage of Gerard and Johanna pertains to your ancestor, Gerard Spencer (b. 1576). Stotfold’s christening records reveal seven children for Gerard and Johanna, as follows:
1. Ann Spencer. Family Tree claims she was baptized 14 January 1631 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England, although no christening record was found for her in FamilySearch’s databases. [Note: The research firm surprisingly missed the Stotfold records for Anne bp. 14 May 1629 and Elizabeth bp. 14 Jan 1630/1 and bur. Sep. 1632.] [Father reported as "Gerard Spenser" for both daughters.]
2. Ursula Spencer. Baptized on 18 April 1633 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England. [Father reported as "Gerard Spenser."]
3. Mary Spencer. Baptized on 11 September 1635 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England. [Parents reported as "Gerard and Joan Spenser."]
4. Sarah Spencer. Baptized 21 July 1639 and died 31 July 1639 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England. Twin of Elizabeth Spencer. [Parents reported as "Gerard and Joan Spenser."]
5. Elizabeth Spencer. Baptized on 21 July 1639 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England. Twin of Sarah Spencer. [Parents reported as "Gerard and Joan Spenser."]
6. Richard Spencer. Baptized on 5 November 1643 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England. [Father reported as "Gerard Spencer.]
7. John Spencer. Baptized on 4 April 1646 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England. [Father reported as "Gerard Spenser."]"
In analyzing the above conclusion of a second marriage for the Gerard who married Alice Whitbread, the research conclusion seems hasty, unsupported, speculative at best -- and probably not realistic. The more likely solution is that there was a different Gerard married with Joanna Hills for the following reasons:
1. The researcher did not address the problem of the duplication of the child's name Elizabeth in both sets of families. The Elizabeth born 1602 in the first marriage with Alice was alive until at least March 17, 1645/6 as shown in the entry for Timothy Tomlins (her husband) in "The Great Migration Begins," by Robert Charles Anderson. Even though not impossible, it would be very unusual for Gerard to then name two different daughters with the same name Elizabeth, 1631 and 1639, in the second set of children; twice because Elizabeth 1631 died in 1632.
2. The researcher did not address the March 17, 1645[/6] will of Gerard's brother Richard Spencer, Gentleman, who apparently died without a wife or children in London. An abstract of this will is found in the book "The Thomas Spencer Family of Hartford, Connecticut in the Line of Samuel Spencer of Cromwell, Connecticut 1744-1818," comp. by Frank Farnsworth Starr for James J. Goodwin, Hartford, Conn., copy in Connecticut Historical Society Library, Hartford, CT, pp. 6-8. "Jarrard" (Gerard) was mentioned as "deceased" in conjunction with Richard making bequests to the five surviving children of Gerard and Alice -- Jarrad, Thomas, Michael, William (deceased), and Elizabeth who was the widow of ___ Tomlyns. Note that these are all the surviving children of Gerard and Alice and even though some were residing in British Colonial America at this date, Richard was detailed enough to have also included the immigrants in his bequests. Richard also lists the various children of his other siblings besides those of Gerard. What is missing from this will is any mention of any of the children of the second family of the Gerard who married Johanna Hills. From the will we also know that Gerard was deceased at the latest on March 17, 1645/6. The last child with Joanna was born in April 1646 -- while it is possible that the child was born posthumously to Gerard's death, it seems unlikely that while Richard was so detailed and generous with all of the other children of Gerard, he would have been so callous as to have not mentioned a single one of the many children the same Gerard supposedly had with Johanna who would have all been minors and in more need of Richard's generosity than Alice's children who were all adults and spread over two continents.
3. The researcher does make mention of the fact that there are no confirmed entries of the burials of Gerard or of Alice (Whitbread) Spencer. In a subsequent report dated Aug. 29, 2016, by the same researcher which is also attached as a "Memory" to Gerard Spencer, the researcher further states that no confirmed date was found for Alice and that all reports thus far are simply manufactured by rookie family historians. If Johanna Hills was really a second wife in Stotfold, where both sets of children were baptized, then Alice's death would be in the same parish. The most likely scenario, as some Spencer books allude to, is that the first Gerard and Alice had moved away from Stotfold. The additional research report is as follows:
"First, there was a question as to the death date of Gerard’s first wife Alice and his marriage date to his second wife Johanna Hills. In Family Tree, it showed that Alice died on 20 November 1628 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England, yet Gerard supposedly married Johanna Hills a few months prior, on 4 August 1628 in Stotfold. Parish registers of Stotfold were examined, and Gerard’s marriage date and place to Johanna Hills was confirmed as 4 August 1628. Yet no burial record for Alice was found on or near 20 November 1628. This date must be in error, since Alice would have died before her husband remarried. A cemetery record was found for Alice on Find A Grave, which claims she died on 14 April 1628 in Elstow, Bedfordshire, England, yet was buried at St. Mary, Whitechapel, London, England.12 This burial date makes much more sense, but Elstow is 57 miles north of London, making a London burial seem unlikely. Nevertheless, burial records of St. Mary Whitechapel were searched to see if this could be right. Alice Spencer was not found in them.13 She was likewise not found in Elstow’s burial records, though they seem to be missing all entries for the year 1628.14 But a burial date of 14 April 1628 in Elstow makes sense with known information about the family. An e-mail was sent to the Find A Grave contributor to see if she has documentary evidence of the burial location in Whitechapel. She responded and said her information came from various family trees on the Internet, all of which have questionable or no documentation.
4. If both Gerards were in fact the same man, then Gerard would have married Johanna Hills at age 46 and the last child would have been born just a little over a month of his 70th birthday. Though not impossible, it is not a pattern of age one finds in this area and era for man to be having such an extensive additional family.
Conclusion:
Even though there is no dispute in the construction of the two families, the thesis of one Gerard being both men seems to weigh heavily on the unlikely or conjectural side. The more likely solution would seem that they are two different men, but probably related as cousins due to the similarity of the name. In fact, further extraction into the baptisms of Stotfold reveals another Gerard Spencer, bapt. Sept. 20, 1601, to a father named Thomas Spencer, who is the brother to both Richard and Gerard. (See https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&query=%2Bsurname%3Aspen*~%20%2Bbatch_number%3AP00377-1&treeref=L84V-N68&offset=0).
In following this line of reasoning, at least two publications indicate that it is correct that the Gerard, son of Thomas bp. 1601 is the man who married Johanna Hills. This same Gerard is also mentioned as a son of Thomas in the 1645/6 will of Richard cited above indicating he was very much alive at that time. Surprisingly, the hired researcher quoted above made mention of the publications in the schedule of sources consulted for the report; however, their analysis was too narrow to pick up on the more accepted and likely solution. The two publications are as follows:
1. FHL book 929.273 Sp33 "The Spencers of the Great Migration," by Jack Taif Spencer and Edith Woolley Spencer (Gateway Press, Baltimore; 1997) vol. 1, partial excerpt of full transcript in the notes of the earliest Spencer, p. 61: "Gerard Spencer; b. (bapt.) 20 Sept 1601 at Stotfold; m. Joan Hills on 4 Aug 1628 at Stotfold. Joan was bur. at Stotfold on 12 Aug 1649. (Four Children)."
2. "The American Genealogist," 27:161: "The

Christen	20 May 1576	Saint Mary's Parish, Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England
Marriage	10 Nov 1600	Upper Gravenhurst, Bedford, England - ALICE WHITBREAD
Death	Bef 1646

Spouse	ALICE WHITBREAD (1578 - 1628)
Child	WILLIAM SPENCER ( - 1640)
Child	Living
Child	John Spencer (1603 - 1646)
Child	Henry SPENCER ( - )
Child	Thomas SPENCER (1607 - 1687)
Child	Richard SPENCER (1608 - )
Child	[Son] SPENCER (1610 - )
Child	Michael SPENCER (1611 - 1653)
Child	Gerard SPENCER ( - 1685)

Father	Michael Spencer (1530 - 1599)
Mother	Elizabeth (Spencer) (1540 - )