Kate Spencer
- Greg Austen
- Oct 8
- 24 min read
The story of Kate Spencer unfolded for me during a quest to find out more about Edmund Spencer's time in the USA as a young man. In seeking a clue as to why Edmund decided to travel to the USA in around 1898 I noticed that his sister Kate, who was born about 9 years earlier than Edmund and his twin brother Albert, had died in California in 1947 aged 90. This raised the possibility that Edmund's travel to the USA was connected in some way to travels to the USA by his sister and perhaps other members of his family. I also noted that Edmund's brothers George and John both died in the USA. I needed to look further into the stories of Kate, George and John.
Kate (or Kitty as she was usually called) was only age 4 when the Spencer family arrived in New Zealand in 1861. Her sister Lucy was 6. The fact they were close in age meant that Lucy and Katy seemed to have joint duties to assist in looking after the younger children in the family, in particular the twins Edmund and Albert. When they were age 15 and 16 respectively they were both sent to a boarding school in Auckland. At this time the family was living in Thames.
It was in Thames at a social dance at age 23 that Kate met her future husband Joseph James Macky. They married on 10 February 1880 in Thames only six weeks after they had first met. Joseph was 10 years older than Kate and had already been married in his home country of Ireland. His first wife sadly died within only a few months of their marriage.
Joseph was a mining manager. As well as managing mines in Thames he had been a mine manager in Victoria Australia. In his later years he had a land and estate agency business.
Joseph was the third son of the Rev John Macky who was for many years minister of the Presbyterian Church at Otahuhu and was the first moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly of New Zealand. His brother John Macky was an accountant for the Auckland Education Board.
I was fortunate in finding a wonderfully detailed family history site for the Macky Family in New Zealand. The photographs that follow have been copied from that site.
The photo below shows the very nice house that belonged to John and Kate and was situated at 1 Kelmarna Ave, Herne Bay. Sadly the lovely old house shown below had gone many years ago and now there is a supermarket on this large corner site.
Below is a copy of the family information for Joseph and Kitty Macky.
Having found the information on Kate's family I now discovered that her son Eric Spencer Macky had lived in San Francisco for many years. His story then unfolded very quickly for me as he was a very well known artist. His story follows below.
Eric Spencer Macky (known as Spencer Macky)
Spencer Macky was born in Ponsonby on 16 November 1880. He was a very talented artist from a very young age. By age 14 he was attending the Elam School of Art in Auckland. From 1903 to 1906 he attended the National Gallery of Victoria Art School and in 1907 he continued studies at the Academie Julian in Paris.
Spencer moved to the San Francisco Bay area at some stage between 1910 and 1912.
Wikipaedia describes Spencer as a New Zealand born American painter, intaglio print maker, academic administrator and educator.
He taught at the California School of Arts and Crafts from 1913 to 1921, at University of California (Berkeley) and was the Dean of California School of Fine Arts from 1919 until 1935. He was president of the California College of Arts and Crafts from 1944 until 1954. He also founded the Spencer Macky Art School in California 1916.
In my search for information on Spencer and Constance I came upon a publication called California Art Research 1936-37. This contained a long section covering both Spencer and Constance. I have copied some of this information below. It is a long read but is very informative. I have edited out some sections of the original.
SPENCER MACKY
Spencer Macky, painter, educator and art lecturer
is a dominating figure in California's art world. His personality,
precepts and performance have done much to instill
art consciousness in the minds of the public as well as to
encourage his fellow artists in their organized welfare.
Macky is an authority on the history of art, the
progress of the periods, the development of media. He imparts
expert advice in the techniques of the graphic and
fine arts, and is especially adept in oil painting, both in
his work and in his teaching.
His wife, Constance Macky, says "He is a born
teacher and taught me much in my early art school years/'
He knows the difference between mere seeing and perception,
as he finds constantly new approaches to old truths in teaching
the fundamentals of art. He feels that the real comprehension
of form can only be taught by painting form, that
words are inadequate, despite the many tomes written on "how
to paint."
Open minded and progressive in his teaching, Macky
makes of art a living experience. Awake to the advantages
of vocational training, he believes, in certain instances, in
fitting students for those commercial arts which impinge on
the fine arts. His optimism, extreme kindliness, energy and
understanding of life endear him to students and friends
alike.
ANCESTRY
The painter's father, Joseph J. Macky, was born in
Londonderry, Ireland, in 1847, the son of Scotch-Irish parents,
of the landed gentry. When nine years old, Joseph,
with his father, sailed from Ireland to New Zealand, where
they settled. On his sixteenth birthday he volunteered for
service in the Otahuhu Cavalry in the Maori War. At the age
of seventeen he sailed around the Horn to Ireland to claim
an inheritance. Life as a gentleman of leisure palled within
a few years, and after extensive travels in the Holy Land,
Egypt and Germany, he left Ireland and lived in London. There
his youth, breeding, high spirits and fine singing voice
contributed much toward his social career and success in the
creative world of art and letters.
After ten full and happy years in London, Joseph
Macky returned to New Zealand, where on February 10, 1880 he
married Kate Spencer. Of this marriage Eric Spencer Macky
was born, on November 16, 1880.
Spencer Macky.'s grandfather,Rev. John Macky, M. A.
was a Presbyterian minister of Trinity College, Dublin. He
was graduated with highest honors in Greek and Hebrew, at
eighteen years, and had to wait until he was twenty-one to
be given his degree.
Note; The suggestion below that Kate's father Thomas Spencer was an artist photographer is information that is not supported by anything I have seen about him. The reference to a long line of squires of Knossington is not correct and the date of the building of the Whale-bone house is the early 1800s not 1610. It is interesting to see reference to Kate as a published poet.
Kate Spencer's father, Thomas Spencer, was born of
a long line of Squires of Knossington, England and was one
of the first artist-photographers in England. Kate was born
in 1857, in the old "Whale-bone" House, Knossington, near
Sapcote. The house was built in 1610. When Kate was four
years old, Thomas Spencer, carried away with a love of adventure,
migrated with his young family to New Zealand.
Kate Spencer Macky's life has been that of a scholar and a poet.
Much of her poetry has been published. She has a great interest
in people and is a deep Bible student. Today, at the
age of eighty, she still finds pleasure in reading, studying
and writing on religious subjects.
THE ARTIST'S EARLY YEARS
In a typical pioneer New Zealand home, which grew
from simple to well-appointed, Macky, the oldest of a family
of six, passed his early childhood. His cultured, kindly
parents gave him a happy atmosphere and fostered his drawing
ability. At the early age of fourteen the boy showed unusual
facility, for he won a scholarship for drawing in a contest
of three thousand contestants.
This scholarship entitled Spencer Macky to tuition
at the Elam School of Art in Auckland, where he studied on
Saturdays, while he was enrolled at the Auckland College. At
the Elam Art School, he found encouragement from teachers
and students/ so that there he decided upon an art career.
Later he studied with C. F. Goldie, New Zealand's leading
painter of Maori life, recently returned from the Academie
Julien in Paris.
In the years 1899 to 1901 young Macky profited by
the master's instructions and, on the side, did arresting
work as a cartoonist on the Auckland Weekly News. He also
received notable recognition when he won a Gold Medal for
painting at the Auckland Society of Arts Exhibition.
AUSTRALIAN ART EDUCATION
In November, 1902, Macky left New Zealand for
Australia where, at the ago of twenty-two, he enrolled in
the National Gallery School of Painting, Melbourne, working
there from 1903 to 1906 under Bernard Hall. There Macky
met his future wife, Constance L. Jenkins, an outstanding
scholar in the art classes. Macky's unusual ability to
concentrate and work allowed him to finish the regular seven
year art course in three years. He won many awards during
these years— the ones he most valued were first prizes for
life painting and drawing. He also won second prize for
portraiture, and was second in a competition for a traveling
scholarship. In January, 1906 he sailed fron Australia for
his home in New Zealand, where he spent the greater part of
the year studying portraiture.
EUROPEAN ART STUDIES
In February, 1907, Macky left home for Paris,
where he studied for three years under Jean Paul Laurens, at
the Academie Julicn. He endured the usual rigors of the
art student in Europe, visited the galleries, made brief trips
to other countries and museums. He also exhibited in the
Salon des Artistes Francais in Paris.
Occasional long visits to Italy, Ireland and England
and summer's spent in painting the flsherfolk of
Northern France provided Macky with material for many of his
studies, which were sold and ultimately provided for his
passage to America, where he arrived in 1910. Before he
sailed from England, he had lived and worked for a while in
London.
SETTLES IN CALIFORNIA
November of 1910 found Macky in California, in the
San Francisco Bay City of Oakland. Here he arranged with
Rabjohn and Morcom Art Store to display a modest card stating
he was at liberty to receive art pupils. The response
was immediate and he soon conducted large classes in the
Albany Block. His jovial manner and unbounded enthusiasms
coupled with his recent Continental training attracted many
students, some of whom are now well known California painters.
Macky's teaching did not interfere with his career
as a painter. During this time he painted many portraits,
among them, Miss Arundel,which he named "Girl in Riding Costume"
and exhibited with the San Francisco Art Association.
This canvas first brought his work to the attention of local
critics.
MARRIAGE
On August 21, 1912 Spencer Macky and Constance L.
Jenkins were married in Berkeley, at the home of relatives.
She had traveled far from the days of their art schooling in
Melbourne, Australia; for she had gone to Paris on a three
year art scholarship, and to other European countries, and
had returned to Australia before she came to California.
Among Macky's many art pursuits in the early years
of his marriage were stained glass church window designs for
Dombrick and Croll, in Oakland. He also continued to teach,
and the following year, 1913, conducted classes at the California
Art League, the San Francisco Architectural Club and
the California School of Fine Arts' summer session. He also
gave eight years to his classes in the California School of
Arts and Crafts, in Oakland, 1913-1921. Much of his time
was given to portraiture during his years of intensive
teaching.
THE MACKY ART SCHOOL
The Macky's prestige as capable artists grew during
the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San
Francisco, when Mr. and Mrs. Macky painted twelve large decorative
panels of Australian themes for the Australian and
New Zealand Buildings. Also their oil paintings appeared in
the Exposition's Palace of Fine Arts. Macky's canvases were
"Mother and Child," "Portrait" and "Alice."
In the latter part of 1916 this energetic couple
opened their own art school in the Studio Building on Post
Street in San Francisco. It was soon enlarged to accommodate
their many classes by removal to the "Artists' Building,"
535 Sacramento Street. Mrs. Macky ably assisted her husband
in teaching despite the fact that two small sons now took
her care. Donald was then three and Lloyd a few months
old. In an article of June 23, 1917, the Wasp said of the
Macky's School;
"E. Spencer Macky, and associated with him his
wife, Mrs. Constance Macky, will together conduct
the night classes in painting and drawing
from life and antiques, as well as day classes
in portrait painting. They both studied in
Paris and since their arrival in San Francisco
have won for themselves enviable reputations
as artists and teachers.
"The art school they have been conducting for
the past few years has been the most successful
private institution ever built up in San
Francisco. * This school will be merged with
the School of Fine Arts and the, resultant
amalgamation will undoubtedly be a valuable
one to the community."
In 1917 the newly named and reorganized California
School of Fine Arts, rooted in the old Mark Hopkins Art Institute,
opened with the Mackys as part of the faculty. It
has since fulfilled its promise of becoming an educational
factor in making San Francisco a center for art students,
second to no other on the Pacific Coast and equal to
many other world art centers.
ART ORGANIZER
It was during these years that Macky became active
in the San Francisco Art Association and first organized
the "Artists' Council" of the San Francisco Art Association,
which became a forum for the viewpoints of the artists and
their relation to the public. Macky's membership in the Art,
Letters and Music section of the Commonwealth Club of San
Francisco led to many developments in local art, including
a survey of art organizations, and the assisting of Edgar
Walter, the sculptor, in the proposal to form an Art Commission
to be incorporated in the new City Charter, a board to
foster the city's aesthetic Drestige.
Macky's teaching went on tirelessly. He developed
original methods to reach the varied talents of his many
types of students. During the summer of 1917 he instructed
the art classes of the University of California ending
August 3, and on August 13 he began to teach his fall classes
in the - California School of Fine Arts. In addition to
his exacting teaching duties, .he painted several fine canvases,
including a portrait of "Ruth Chatterton," the actress,
and a study,."Lady in Gray."
The next three years marked a reconstruction period,
following the termination of the World War. As chairman
of the Artists' Council, Macky called a meeting of artists,
musicians, writers and architects of the city and proposed
that a War Memorial should be created which would place
emphasis upon the arts of peace rather than the arts of war.
The present War Memorial Building,which houses a theatre and
the San Francisco Museum of Art is the outcome of that meeting.
In June 1919 Macky's canvas, "Boy with Kite" was
reproduced full-page in the International Studio magazine.
During the same summer Macky took a vacation trip to St.
Louis, Cleveland, Detroit and Denver museums and schools to
gain the feeling of current American art and educational
methods. In 1919 Macky was honored by an appointment as
Dean of the Faculty of the California School of Fine Arts.
TRAVELING EXHIBITIONS
In 1920 both Spencer and Constance Macky sent many
paintings on traveling exhibitions. One collection was compiled
by E. H. Furman,when he took recent work by California
artists to the Bishop Galleries, Honolulu. Macky's canvas
"Alice" was purchased by the Bishop Galleries for their permanent
collection.
In May 1921 the artist sent work to the Auckland
Society of Fine Arts, (New Zealand). Among these which excited
comment was "Egyptian Girl," purchased by the gallery;
"Boy with Kite," "Golden Girl" and "Portrait of a Naval Officer."
A year later Macky revisited New Zealand and was
feted and acclaimed by art lovers and friends. During this
trip he painted a portrait of his mother, which he later exhibited
in San Francisco.
In 1928 Macky again went abroad and studied current
trends and schools in France, England, Holland and
Spain. When he returned the new art school building was well
toward its completion, with its patio type Spanish buildings
and tower, rising on a sunny slope of Russian Hill overlooking
San Francisco Bay.
THE ARTIST TODAY
Macky in 1937 is still experimenting. The problems
of painting to him are always a challenge to the individual
necessity of the work in hand. To find the technique suitable
for the pigments in their necessary limitations is the
unending search of the artist.
The Mackys' son, Donald, who is an architect and
sculptor, has just been commissioned to design the sculptured
gates for the main entrance to the 1939 Golden Gate
International Exposition, to be held in San Francisco.
Today both Spencer Macky and his artist wife are
actively teaching and painting working together as they have
done in the many years since they first met at art school in
Melbourne. As one of the outstanding couples in the art life
of California,the Mackys enjoy the friendship of art patrons,
artists and many others who are aware of the creative arts.
CONSTANCE MACKY
Constance Macky, the artist-wife of Spencer Macky,
is a California portrait painter of pre-eminence in her own
right. She also shares with her husband the ever expanding
adventure of teaching art. Their large classes in paintings
and drawing at the California School of Fine Arts, Russian
Hill, San Francisco, foster the new art of the Pacific alope,
in a disciplined and enthusiastic manner.
ANCESTRY
Constance Macky (nee Jenkins) was born in Melbourne,
Australia, June 29, 1883, the youngest of the six
children of John S. and Emma Wright Jenkins. Of Scottish
lineage, her parents had come to Australia early in life,
married and established their home there. John S. Jenkins
was born in Elgin, Scotland, where his father had been English
professor at the Elgin Academy, later a Presbyterian
Minister. John S. Jenkins became mayor of Richmond, a city
suburb of Melbourne, Australia. His ability as a civil engineer,
architect, road and bridge builder was well rewarded
in public recognition and financial security.
Constance Macky's mother, Emma Wright, was the
daughter of a miller in Cambridge, England, who came to Australia
as a very young child with her parents., Her personal
ambitions were merged in her hopes for her husband and children.
In the Jenkins household, made up of intelligent, articulate
and kindly people, young Constance was encouraged in
her strong inclination towards drawing and painting. She
states that in those days everyone did a little "parlor art,"
and that often visitors from Scotland would send her paints
and other materials as gifts, to further her art interest.
Soon she developed, past the amateur stage and began to show
marked talent in her art work at high school. She began to
study art seriously at fifteen.
EARLY ART HONORS
When only seventeen, Constance Jenkins enrolled in
the National Gallery School of Painting, in Melbourne, and
from 1900 to 1908 applied her energies wholly to her art
studies, winning yearly scholarships. Her work brought her
honors and mention in all media and classes, of this very
high standard school. Finally, in her last year at the Melbourne
National Gallery School of Painting she won the coveted
"National Traveling Scholarship," which spelled three
years of art study in Europe. She was the first woman student
to receive that distinction. Her canvas that won the
scholarship was called "Friendly Critics" and still hangs in
the permanent collection in the National Gallery of Melbourne.
Previous to this scholarship, she had also won more
prizes than any student in the school, including the first
and second prizes in the 1907 Women's Exhibition. Her canvas,
"Friendly Critics," was reproduced in the International
Studio magazine in London, during 1909.
EUROPEAN STUDIES
Constance Jenkins sailed from Australia in the
later part of 1909 and enrolled at the Academie Julien, in
Paris. Young Macky was also a student there. Visits to the
art galleries, explorations of Paris and its environs, hours
of art discussion and sketching strengthened their interest
in each other. During this happy time, Constance painted
the portrait of Spencer Macky, the handsome art student,
which when shown in the Salon des Artistes won favorable
comment from the Parisian journals.
Trips to Italy, Germany, Holland, England became
part of her scholarship's itinerary. In each country, Constance
ambitiously sketched and painted. With an imposing
collection of drawings and paintings, she returned to Australia
in the early part of 1912. In Melbourne, at Athenaeum
Hall, Constance Jenkins gave her first solo-exhibition, which
encouraged her by favorable publicity and the sale of a number
of canvases.
CALIFORNIA AND MARRIAGE
In 1912, after a visit to New Zealand to her fiance's
family, Constance Jenkins sailed for San Francisco, to
become Mrs. Spencer Macky on August 21, in Berkeley,California,
in a marriage ceremony at the home of relatives. Their
son, Donald was born the following year, and Lloyd, the
younger son, in 1916.
During late 1914 and early 1915, the Mackys collaborated
on decorative panels for the Australian and New
Zealand Buildings in the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915.
These were paintings of native scenes and motifs, done with
effective selection. Their canvases of portrait and figure
subjects also appeared in the Palace of Fino Arts in the
International Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture.
Having now found out about Spencer Macky and in particular that he lived in San Francisco from 1910 until his death in 1958 I could start to establish the position regarding other Spencer family members who were also in the USA. In relation to Edmund he stated during a court case in relation to the registration of his printing press that he had been away from New Zealand overseas including a period in the USA for around 13 years prior to his return to New Zealand in around 1910.
In looking at the records of travel for Spencer's sister Elizabeth Macky I discovered that she had made a two year visit to stay with her brother in San Francisco in the period 1923 to 1925. Spencer had travelled to New Zealand in 1922 and appears to have travelled back to the USA in 1923 with both Elizabeth and his brother John Victor Macky.
The news report below appeared in the NZ Herald of 5 June 1922. It indicates that Macky had last been in New Zealand in 1907. However I note the comments made above by Constance about a visit in 1912 to meet Spencer's family in New Zealand.
Joseph Macky died in 1915 in Auckland. In the following years it seems from our study of census records that Elizabeth, who did not marry, looked after her mother. They shared common house addresses in Auckland in a number of the census records. Around 1935 it seems they moved to San Francisco. Kate died in San Francisco in April of 1947.
In order to continue my search for an answer to how Florence Hardy might have met Edmund Spencer I looked into the two other Spencer brothers who had moved to the USA,
namely George and John Stockdale Spencer.
George Spencer
Edmund's brother George was born in Leicester on 28 June 1858. He died in California in 1937.
George arrived in the US in 1894. He had married Kate Reynolds in New Zealand 1887. They had an adopted daughter named Nessie. The Spencer story indicates that George worked as a Mercantile Manager in Samoa following their marriage. The move to San Francisco is said to have occurred around 1909.
The newspaper story below was published at the time of George's death. It is interesting to note that George had worked for some 31 years in the department of mining at the University of Berkeley. His sister's son Spencer Macky was at the same time teaching at the Art school. George's mining expertise probably arose from his early life at Thames.
John Stockdale Spencer
John like George left New Zealand and never returned. I have copied the summary below from the excellent family story called the Fergus(s) of Moulin, which includes information on the members of the Spencer family.
John Stockdale Spencer was born at Vane Cottage in Otahuhu, Auckland, on 10 May 1863.
He arrived in San Francisco in April 1883 on the SS Sudburn from Sydney (according to his 1923 attempt at Naturalisation). In both the 1923 Intent document and his wife's 1936 Petition his birth year is given (incorrectly) as 1856.
He married Martha Caroline Marshall in Denver, Colorado, on 9 September 1893
He was listed in the 1900 US census as head of the family in Precint 39, Teller, Colorado, with his wife Martha. They were living in their own (owned) home and the household included their children Clyde (6) and Clarence (11 mths), although they had had a total of three children. He was working as a machinist and claimed to have been born in 1860 - this is the first indication of his wandering birth year. He also claimed to have entered the US in 1885 and be Naturalised, which was not true.
John was divorced from Martha Caroline Marshall at Teller, Colorado, on 13 December 1906.
John's second marriage was to Margaret Jennie Harrison on 18 December 1912 at 1628 East 6th St in Portland, Oregon. He gave his age as 56, although he was only 49 at the time.
He was listed in the 1920 US census as head of the family in Metzger, Washington, Oregon, with his wife Margaret. They were living in their own (mortgaged) house with their children Ethel (5), Margaret (3 and 2 mths) and Howard (1 and 6 mths). He was working as a machinist in the auto industry and now claimed to have been born in 1857.
He was listed in the 1930 US census as head of the family at Greenburg Rd in Metzger, Washington, Oregon, with his wife Margaret; the household included their children Ethel (15), Margaret (13), Howard (11), Jesse (10) and George (3). They were living in their own home, valued at $5000 but without a radio. John was still working as a machinist despite his claimed age (73) and now gave his arrival in the US as 1898(!) although he was at least correctly identified as not naturalised.He was naturalised on 21 May 1936 in Portland, Oregon. He had lodged an Intent in 1923, but it would have expired in 1930, so we presume naturalisation finally occurred as a result of his wife's petition.
John died on 8 September 1936 at Multnomah Hospital in Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, at age 73 of entero-colitis and heart disease.He was buried on 12 September 1936 at the Crescent Grove Cemetery in Portland. His death certificate is below.
How did Florence Hardy meet Edmund Spencer?
In relation to the question of a connection with Florence Hardy it seems that neither of the above mentioned Spencer brothers lived in a location where they are likely to have met Florence.
My cousin John Hardy has also been searching for an answer to this question and may have established the most likely place and time for Edmund to have met Florence.
It appears from our research that there were two occasions when Florence had travelled to the USA. The first was in the period 1901 to 1906. During these years Florence did an extensive trip overseas. She firstly went to England to meet her Hardy family members and see the places that her parents came from. Then she travelled to the USA and visited the area where her father had spent time before he had met and married her mother. There is a record of Florence travelling from Liverpool to Boston in August of 1902. Florence also studied the US teaching system and obtained a local teaching certificate at Clarksburg which is just south of Sacramento, California. The teaching certificate was dated 28 October 1905. Florence taught at the Public School in Merritt, Yolo County in 1905/06.
Florence stayed in this area for some time before returning to New Zealand in 1906. This was after the great San Francisco earthquake of April 1906. Florence is listed in New Zealand Herald reports of the New Zealanders in the area at the time of the quake. Perhaps her return home was a desire to leave the area in case of further quakes or because of the damage and disruption that had been caused by the quake.
She then taught in New Zealand for several years before taking another trip to the USA around 1910/11. We have found a record indicating that she was staying in Sacramento at a boarding house in 1910 and was working as a teacher of music.
The location Sacramento is important as it is where we know Edmund was located during his time in the USA between 1898 and around 1910/11.
John found the marriage License below which indicates that Edmund married Sadie Anderson in Sacramento on 6 December 1897.
The Census record below from 1893 creates a little bit of confusion for us as it shows Edmund and Mrs Sadie Spencer at a address in Sacramento much earlier than the above marriage date. However a check of the date for this record has revealed that is in fact 1898 not 1893 as suggested in the heading.
The 1900 Census shown below adds to our understanding of Sadie's family. It shows that in 1900 Edmund and Sadie were at the same address. It seems the address is a boarding house and that it is operated by Sadies mother Ellen Anderson who is shown to be the Head of the house with the occupation of Landlady.
Ellen is shown to have 5 daughters including Sadie. At age 24 Sadie is the eldest. Her sisters range from age 22 to 16.
Edmund is described as the son-in-law with occupation of printer and an Immigration Year of 1896 and 4 years in the USA. Sadie is shown as being married for 2 years.
Very sadly Sadie died in 1904. Edmund remained in the USA until around 1911 when he seems to have been back in New Zealand. During this time he seems to have reconnected with Florence who introduced him to Ada and the rest of the Hardy family. Edmund and Ada married in May of 1912. In 1912 Florence is back teaching in the Taotaoroa School near Karapiro.
The record below dated 1910 shows Florence Hardy in Sacramento at a boarding house. Her occupation is recorded as a Teacher and her Industry as Music. Her Immigration Year is shown as 1906 which must relate to her earlier travel to the USA as we know she was back in New Zealand in 1906.
Having got a little more clarity on the matter of how Edmund may have met Florence I next turned my attention to the remaining siblings namely Charles and Lucy Spencer.
Charles Spencer
Charles Spencer was born in Knossington, Leicestershire, on 31 October 1854 and was baptised on 7 January 1855 in Knossington.
I was fortunate in finding a wonderful web site developed by the Tauranga Historical Society which includes information about Charles and examples of superb photography. I have selected some of his images and the information about him which is posted below.
On 9th October 1881 Isabella Spencer gave birth to their first child, a daughter they named Ivy Kate. The portrait above was taken when she was about a year old. Sadly she died only 20 months later, on 12th June 1883, and was buried in Tauranga’s Mission Cemetery, where she is memorialised on her grandparents gravestone.
There are examples of Charles Spencer's photography in a number of collections. Below are examples of Spencer family portraits from a collection held in the Auckland Public Library.
In addition to his photography Charles was operating his pharmacy business as evidenced by the advertisement below.
It was interesting to see that Charles was also an agent for Singer Sewing machines. His brother Albert was at one stage also an agent for Singer. He also spent a brief period working for Charles. I note that Charles was following a similar business model to his cousins in Leicester with a range of service offerings within a single shop.
Charles also seems to have collaborated with his sister Kate's husband Joseph Macky. The Gazette notice below shows that they invented a process for improving printing blocks. Brothers Edmund and Albert who were both printers no doubt also had an interest in this invention.
Charles’s married 19 year old Isabella Sellars who was quarter Maori. Her father, Captain Sellars, a well known trader to Tauranga, had married the daughter of Thomas Faulkner, the first white trader to the Bay of Plenty, who had married the daughter of the paramount chief of the area. They had four children, two of whom died in infancy.
When Isabella Sellars was born on 28 August 1863, in Tauranga, New Zealand, her father, Capt.Donald Sellars, was 32 and her mother, Jane Faulkner, was 21. She married Charles Spencer on 9 December 1879, in Tauranga, New Zealand. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 2 daughters.
Charles became a Mormon and determined to outlive his brothers and sisters so that he could be baptised for them when they were dead. However, he was the first of the family to die. Charles died on 29 November 1933 in Auckland at age 79. He was buried on 30 November 1933 at the Purewa Cemetery.
Isabella died on 1 January 1952, in Auckland, at the age of 88, and was buried in Purewa Cemetery and Crematorium, Meadowbank, Auckland.
Lucy Spencer
Lucy Spencer was born in Oakham, Leicestershire, on 7 December 1855 and was baptised on 15 September 1857 in Knossington.
Lucy arrived at Auckland, on 11 June 1861 in the company of her parents and brothers and sisters.
She married Henry Robert Lawry, son of Henry Hassall Lawry and Hephzibah Forsaith, at St John's in Ponsonby, Auckland, on 7 December 1886. Henry was a bank manager.
Lucy was widowed at age 67 on the death of her husband Henry on 13 January 1923.
The information below is taken from the Spencer family story. This story was compiled by a descendant of Lucy from recollections recorded by Lucy.
Lucy’s marriage
When speaking of her sister Kitty’s marriage Lucy once remarked “They met at a dance you know not a very good place to find a husband.” But when we enquired “Then where did you meet your husband?” she replied “Welt, as a matter of fact we met at a dance too!”
Apparently it was a bank dance at Thames and Lucy, who had by now given up dancing, was pestered by one of her brothers to go with him to the dance. In the end she agreed, but sat out the dances. There was another unwilling attender at the dance that night – Henry Lawry, the chief accountant at the bank who had to attend but disliked dancing. As they were both sitting out they got into conversation and found they had much in common.
Whether it was as a result of this encounter, one Sunday evening instead of attending the Baptist service as usual, Lucy went along to the Wesleyan Church instead. Afterwards Henry came up to her and asked to be allowed to see Miss Spencer home as the road was very dark. Lucy’s reply was “I’d rather walk with you in the dark than walk by myself in the light”, words of a song. So off they went.
Henry was very shy and too bashful to offer his arm, but Lucy, accustomed formerly to Society ways, took his arm without thinking. They stopped and talked at the foot of the hill and in later years Henry said he almost asked her to marry him then but hesitated and didn’t. Afterwards he wished he had because soon afterwards she went off to Dunedin to keep house for her brother Percy working there as a bookseller and then she went back to Auckland as her parents had moved there, to Curran Street in Ponsonby, and so they had no time together as an engaged couple. He finally proposed one day when they were out riding together. They were married in the Wesleyan Church in Ponsonby Road on Lucy’s 31st birthday, 7 December 1886.
Lucy died on 16 May 1948 in Wellington at age 92. She was buried on 18 May 1948 at the Karori Cemetery.
Family | Henry Robert Lawry (1853 - 1923) |
Children |
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