Audrey Mae SpencerSpencer Historical CemeteryHenry Straight / William Spencer Family Cemetery
Vaughn Historical CemeterySpencers of East Greenwich, RI
Life on the Farm
28 August 2004

Heather: Didn’t aunt Mandy live with Grandma when she was aged?

Audrey: Yes, Mother took care of a lot of persons. She took care of Grandpa’s mother, Anna Maria, (when Anna Maria was aging.) Anna Maria had (a medical condition) where liquid would run off her legs because of all the years she stood in front of that hot old fashion stove, cooking and canning every summer. She would can every summer all summer. She would can all of the crops that Richard grew in the garden and send them all to Richard.  …  and Grandma (Mary Jane [née Vaughn] Spencer) bandaged Anna Maria’s (pronounced Mar-eye-ah’s) legs daily and took care of her.

 

28 August 2004

Heather: That was when you lived on the homestead?

Audrey:  Yes, I was just a little girl when my grandmother died. I would stand there in front of that big box thing and I knew it was my grandmother.

28 August 2004

Heather: What did you know about your aunt Lottie?

Audrey: 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.

28 August 2004

Heather: I wonder why. Why did the money have to stay in England?

Audrey: I don’t know.

28 August 2004

Heather: She never got her money! Did they have any children?

Audrey: Yes, they had Amy, Leah Louise, and Girlie. I always loved 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.

Aunt Lottie used the front door only when her three daughters came home. The three daughter 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 and Jenny lived downstairs. My brother (John) Ed was named after his grandfather, John Johnson Spencer.

My brother Ed was Anna Maria and John Johnson’s only grandson* (that lived to adulthood). Grandpa had two daughters, Edith and me, and one son, John “Ed”. (John Edward had no sons.) Richard had three daughters, Amy, Leah and Girlie. (Alfred) Ernest had Marjorie and Richard* who died when he was a boy, around twelve years old, from a heart attack or heart problem.

* This appears to be incorrect.  AudreyMae was 92 years when she made this comment, and this last sentence does not appear to be accurate.  Alfred Ernest’s son, Richard, has a gravestone in the Spencer Family Cemetery on Middle Road.  His gravestone is on one side of Alfred Ernest’s stone and his two daughters’, Deborah’s and Jane’s,  gravestone is on the other side of Alfred Ernest’s stone.  Alfred Ernest’s (“Uncle Ern’s”) son, Richard, grew to adulthood. Richard and two of his daughters are in the Spencer family cemetery.  Was Audrey confused with the sad fact that her brother’s, John Edward’s, first grandchild died at age 12 from a heart condition? Or did the scribe not read her notes correctly? Was Audrey actually talking about the two different grandchildren?

More research is needed.  If any web site reader has more information about this, please add a comment to this site.  Thanks.

28 August 2004

Heather: Mother, that is so sad to hear about a child who dies. In Grandma’s family, she had four sisters Margaret, Martha, Susan and Rachel, and two brothers, Eben (short for Ebenezer) and Walter. Didn’t Walter die young?

Audrey: Yes, Walter was small and always in a rocking chair. He died as a child.* Well, Heather, my arm is getting tired.

*Is this accurate?  Vaughnhistoricalcemetery.org give other sources recording Walter living to adulthood.

If any web site reader has more information, please add a comment and web site author will add this for clarification.  Thanks.

24 October 2004

Heather: What did you like most in your life?

As a child? Playing with my doll.  I adopted Edith’s dolls. I had them after Edith. Then Anna Jane got the dolls. They probably all broke with her.  She was reckless. She didn’t sit and hold them.  She was running around and throwing them up in the air.

I’m very alert today.  I’m reading books.

Vaughn (was here).

Everything around here (Alpine Nursing Home) looks so nice. I’m lucky. I don’t have any pain at all.

24 October 2004

Heather: Tell me something about your grandfather, John Johnson Spencer.

He had a beard. He was all right.  I didn’t talk with him.  (In those days) “Children should be seen but not heard.”

24 October 2004

Heather: What work did you do in the home when you were a child?

Didn’t like washing dishes.  Didn’t have to do it too much. Don’t remember ever having to do any chores, outside of feeding the dog.

24 October 2004

Heather: Living these nearly 100 years, what made the greatest change in your life?

“Electric Lights!!! It was so bright and I could see everything.  I didn’t have to carry a kerosene lantern or fill the lamp.  I was afriad to light the lantern.  (With electric lights) all I had to do was turn the lights on!

(Oh) time for my lesson!  (scheduled activity at Alpine Nursing Home)

[Heather:  I’ll call next Saturday.  Love you, Mother.]

 

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