Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


A. J. SPENCER, 
 
a farmer near Long Beach, has been closely identified with the best interests of 
Los Angeles County since 1876. He is a native of the "Keystone State" and was 
born in Warren County, September 3, 1824. Mr. Spencer traces his origin back to 
the English, and is the youngest and only living child in a family of thirteen 
children, the son of Abner and Betsey (Lawrence) Spencer, natives of New York 
State. His father was a worthy citizen and tiller of the soil. He died in Oil 
City, Pennsylvania, aged eighty-six years, having been born February 7, 1777. 
The subject of this sketch had the advantages of the common schools of his 
native State. He is one of the few natural-born musicians, and has taught vocal 
music. On the 13th day of March, 1845, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah 
B. Olliver, a native of England, born March 24, 1826, and the daughter of John 
and Mary (Chapman) Olliver. They came to America when Sarah was but a child, and 
located in Syracuse, New York, where Mr. Olliver farmed and gardened for a 
number of years, when he moved from Syracuse, New York, and subsequently to 
Warren County, Pennsylvania. He died in Cedar County, Iowa, at the residence of 
his son, George C. Olliver. Mr. and Mrs. Spencer have had an interesting family 
of nine children, all living but the oldest. They are: Delwin W. who died in the 
hospital at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, having enlisted in Company D, One Hundred 
and Eleventh Pennsylvania Infantry; Ellen A., now the wife of H. W. Timmons; 
Jane H., wife of John T. Narramore; Clara S., wife of Richard King; Flora B., 
wife of C. K. Matteson; Sumner L., who married Neoska M. Garrison; Elmer E., 
Willoughby D. and Myrtle A. Both Mr. Spencer and his wife are highly esteemed 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is one of the true benefactors of 
the race, kind to the suffering, and helpful to those in need. The hospitality 
of his home has been shared by many, and he has a welcome for all. Mr. Spencer 
has recently erected a very neat and commodious residence on his land near Long 
Beach. The location is one of the most beautiful on the coast, overlooking, as 
it does, the town and the ocean with its shipping beyond. The writer's attention 
was called to quite an interesting fact in connection with the nursery business 
as conducted by Mr. Spencer in San Bernardino County. He relates that he grew 
8,000 peach trees from the seed, thirteen feet high in six months. This fact was 
attested to by hundreds who came to see it. Many leading journals in this 
country and in England published accounts of this. The London Times and News had 
thousands of letters seeking information of this wonderful country, all 
expressing astonishment that such a thing was possible.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 631
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler