Wednesday, September 30, 2015

52 ANCESTORS, 52 THEMES, No. 39, Unusual: Ammiruhamah Spencer

This year's challenge by Amy Crow is another weekly blog based on Themes. Last week's theme was Favourite Place, and this week is "UNUSUAL".  I ran across a most unusual name last week, and here he is:  Ammiruhama Spencer.  I've also seen his first name spelled as Ammi Ruhama, but that likely shows he might have been called "Ammi" from Ammiruhama.

Ammiruhamah Spencer is the 7th great-granduncle of my children. I have not been able to find many details for him at all, despite his unusual name.  He was the youngest of 5 children as follows.

Michael SPENCER (1648-1723) and Rebecca SWEETMAN (1649-1723?) married 7 Dec 1671 in Salem, Massachusetts, the couple moving first to Cambridge MA, then to Rhode Island where they died.  Their children were apparently born in Cambridge MA:
   1.  Rebecca, b. 4 Nov 1673
   2.  Susanna [direct ancestor], b. 6 Apr 1680; m. in East Greenwich R.I. on 4 Oct 1708 to John OLIN (leading to the RICE family); 4 children
   3.  Michael (jr.), b. 16 Apr 1682
   4.  Thomas, b. 3 Feb 1687/88
   5.  Ammiruhamah, b. 11 Jul 1690, d. 28 Aug 1725; m. 3 Oct 1717 in East Greenwich R.I. to Rachel Lawrence; 2 known children.

Children of Ammiruhamah and Rachel, born in East Greenwich R.I.:
   1.  Elizabeth, b. 23 Sep 1718
   2.  Michael, b. 2 Feb 1719/20

Some of the above information came from a book found on Family Search: "The Four Spencer Brothers - Their Ancestors and Descendants" by Rowena Spencer; with the first 9 chapters researched and written by Donald Lines Jacobus. Rhode Island Vital Records, and Massachusetts Vital Records, filled in several gaps.

All I "know" about Ammiruhamah are the details of his parents, siblings, birth place and date, marriage place and date, spouse, and his death place and date.  His death may have been sudden - he was aged only 35 years. It is not clear if Rachel, his spouse, also died young, or if she married once again.  I have not found any further marrige records for a Rachel Spencer.

And I also have not found records for the two little children; Elizabeth and Michael are quite common names, and there are several distinct lines of Spencers in New England.  So far I have not teased out any details, nor found any guardian records; they would have been 7 and 5 years of age respectively.

If you know anything about Ammiruhamah and his family, I would be so pleased for more details. Contact me at my address at the bottom of the page, or in the Comments section.

Lately, my Blogger account seems not to allow me to "reply" to your comments, most of the time. Do know that I value your comments immensely. You make my day! Thanks for stopping by to read my weekly post.

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Welcome!

Family, friends, and others - I hope you enjoy these pages about our ancestors and their lives. Genealogy has become somewhat of an obsession, more than a hobby, and definitely a wonderful mystery to dig into and discover. Enjoy my writing, and contact me at celia.winky at gmail dot com if you have anything to add to the stories. ... Celia Lewis