The Stuff of Legend: Thomas "Big Foot" Spencer

The first person I ever discovered in my family tree that had a Wikipedia page was the Reverend John Mayo, who was the first pastor of the 2nd Church of Boston (a century later it would be known as the "Old North Church"). Little did I know at the time that having Wikipedia-people in my family tree was not going to be a rare or unusual occurrence.

With so many ancestors traceable to 17th century Massachusetts and Virginia, the likelihood of running into folks who were important enough to merit a Wikipedia article is pretty high. Not that these people were necessarily admirable, mind you. Some of them I do admire (John Adams, my 3rd cousin, 8x removed, for example). Many of them, not so much.

One of my most "colorful" ancestors doesn't actually have a Wikipedia page, but probably should. His name was Thomas Sharpe "Big Foot" Spencer. He was one of the early white settlers in Tennessee. According to the legend, he lived for at least one winter inside a giant hollow sycamore tree! That was around Bledsoe's Lick (today known as Castalian Springs in Sumner County). There's even a monument where the sycamore once stood!

And of course there are tall tales. One man who knew him said this about him:
“Thomas Spencer was remarkably fond of bear meat,” A.W. Putnam recalled. “(He) could find and kill more bears, and fatter ones, than any other two hunters.” 
Putnam also recalled that Spencer routinely “greased his meals with a pint of bear’s oil.”

And then there's this:

Spencer also got into the occasional fight. On one occasion, Spencer picked up another man and tossed him over an 8-foot-tall fence. The man calmed down and politely asked Big Foot if he could throw his horse over the fence as well.  [Quoted from an article in the Williamson Herald.]

"Big Foot" Spencer was the grandson of my 7G Grandfather, Abraham Spencer (1700-1762), which makes him my 1st cousin 7x removed. He came to Tennessee right around 1776, which also happens to be the year his father died. He helped the settlers when he could, but like any good Longhunter, he kept to himself and was also respected by the Indians (the legends always say that). He was known for his size, his amazing strength, and of course his hollow tree. Despite the fact that he was "respected by the Indians," he was killed by them in Crab Orchard, Tennessee, in 1794 (perhaps in a skirmish at the end of the Chickamauga wars). Crab Orhard is where you'll find this roadside marker on Route 70:


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thomas Pittman: Licking Creek to Gnaw Bone

 Thomas Pittman, son of William Elias, was born in 1809 at Licking Creek, Pennsylvania, and died 84 years later near Gnaw Bone, Indiana. His father took the family to Monroe County, Ohio, somewhere around 1820. Monroe County had only just been organized in 1815, and in the 1820 census it has just 4,645 people. Monroe County is about 210 miles due west of Licking Creek. Licking Creek was in Bedford County at that time, and in the same 1820 census Bedford County had over 20,000 people. Perhaps the Pittmans were something like the Boones, and wanted only to go where they were no longer in sight of another man's chimney smoke.  The road they would have taken might well have been the famed National Road . Construction had begun in 1811, following part of the old Braddock trail to Pittsburgh. By 1818 it had been completed to Wheeling (about 50 miles north of Monroe County). In Green township the Pittman Family, William Elias and the children, settled down to farm the land and put down ro
Read more

New series

 The Spencer and Pittman lines are the two longest streams in my family river system, with other family names representing tributaries or feeder-streams in that system. The Spencer line starts with Abraham Spencer (my 9th great), an early settler in Virginia, while the Pittman line begins with Richard Pitman (aan 8th great), who came to New Jersey a little later in the 17th century. I don't know much about these two men, to tell you the truth, but I propose to begin a series of portraits of these Spencers and Pittmans, down through the generations, collecting together whatever I may know or suspect about them, their spouses, their children, etc. I hope these portraits will be interesting to anyone doing research in these family lines.
Read more

Moms

 My mother was born in 1932 in Brown County, Indiana. Her name at birth was Patricia Pittman . Her mother was Ethel Rebecca Morris , born in 1909 in Zenas, Jennings County, Indiana. Ethel's mon was Ella Mae Biddle , born in 1878, also in Jennings County, Indiana. Ella's Mae's mother was Lucretia Morris , born in 1843 in Ripley County, Indiana. Lucretia's mother was Anna Meadows . Anna was born in 1800 somewhere in Virginia. Anna's mother was Malinda Garten , born in 1770 in Orange County, Virginia. Malinda's mother, born in 1748 in Virginia, was Mary Goodall . Mary's mom was Susannah Parke , who was born in New Kent County, Virginia, in 1700. Susannah's mom was Mary Calder , born in Virginia in 1666. And finally, Mary's mom, Elizabeth Calder (maiden name unknown), was born up in Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1640.
Read more