No. 43 Annie Eleanor Spencer

no-43-annie-eleanor-spencerAccording to Audrey Mae’s artistic cemetery map diagram and her gravestone numbering system, Annie Eleanor Spencer’s gravestone is Gravestone Number Forty-Three.  Using her Smith-Corona typewriter in the 1980s, Audrey Mae typed the following mini-biography of Annie Eleanor Spencer, a tenth-generation Spencer in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Annie is one of the three daughters of Richard Augustus (gravestone No. 42) and Lottie Lees (née Gadsby) Spencer (shared gravestone No. 42).

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Gravestone markings show Aust as name of family on gravestone No. 43.  Annie Eleanor (née Spencer) married Harold Aust. The web site author has no information on Harold Aust or his family of origin.

Richard Augustus, Annie’s father, is the first son of John Johnson Spencer and Anna Maria (Mar-eye-ah) Spencer and the older brother of William J. B. Spencer, Audrey Mae’s, Edith Anna’s and John Edward’s father.

Audrey Mae’s gravestone and generational numbering system for Richard Augustus (“Uncle Rich”) and Lottie Lees (née Gadsby) Spencer’s family:

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Only two of the three daughters of Richard Augustus and Lottie Lees have gravestones in the Spencer Family Cemetery.  They are Annie Eleanor (gravestone No. 43) and Amy Lees (gravestone No. 43).

A report on the Descendants of Deacon Richard Spencer and Roby Tarbox give us the following information.  “Richard married Lottie Lees on 4-16-1903.  Lottie was born in England 10-30-1878.  She was the daughter of Harrie and Sarah A. Gadsby.  Richard and Lottie had three children. Their daughter Amy Lees (b. 2-6-1904) married Albert Capelli on 6-22-1929.  Richard and Lottie’s daughter Leah Marian was born 9-17-1907 and their daughter Annie Eleanor was born 6-7-1909.”

Additional information about Lottie and their three daughters from “Glimpses of the Past: Morning Conversations with Audrey Mae”  at age 92 years in 2004: “She married Rich.  All she had to do was bring her money over here. She had a lot of money, but she had to leave the money in England.”…”They (Rich and Lottie) had Amy, Leah Louise, and Girlie.  I always love the sound of Leah Louise. What a pretty name.  The three girls lived in the city and went to school at Auburn in Providence. They came home in the summers. Richard drove a train, so he was never home. I think he was only home on the weekends. He drove an old fashion auto that he drove to the country.  The auto had only one other seat.”

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Spencer’s Corner: Division, Crompton and Shippeetown Roads Intersection

Uncle Rich and aunt Lottie and their three daughters lived in the Spencer house at Spencer’s Corner in East Greenwich, R.I. Descendants believe that uncle Rich, aunt Lottie and their girls inherited the Spencer house and farm land on Spencer’s Corner, Division, Crompton and Shippeetown Roads Intersection.  Richard Anthony(“Uncle Rich”) died twenty-three years before aunt Lottie. The name Lottie Lees is the markings on their shared gravestone No. 42. However, from the information above,  it appears aunt Lotties’ birth name was Lottie Lees Gadsby.

Additional recollections of Audrey Mae at age ninety-two from “Glimpses of the Past: Morning Conversations with Audrey Mae” in 2004: Aunt Lottie used the front door only when her three daughters came home.  The three daughters lived upstairs and Richard had a small corner room downstairs.  The front door opened to a big hall and stairs and each family had their section of the house with their (front) door shut. Ed (Audrey Mae’s brother) and Jenny lived downstairs.”

In the late twentieth century, one (or two) of Uncle Rich and Aunt Lottie’s daughters would send money to Audrey Mae for cemetery upkeep.  Audrey Mae (née Spencer) MacDonald died in 2007, just shy of her ninety-fifth birthday.  Audrey Mae’s youngest son, Vaughn, now takes major responsibility for the upkeep of the cemetery property.

Spencer, Johnson, Goff, Tarbox, Lees Gadsby and Aust descendants, if you have any additional information on Annie Eleanor (née Spencer) Aust, please add a comment to this web site and the web site editor will add this to the site. Thanks.”