{"id":174,"featured":1,"modified":"2025-10-06 16:40:53","latitude":43.24329419875601843159529380500316619873046875,"longitude":-78.190547525882720947265625,"title":"Birthplace of Henry Austin Spencer","address":"","thumbnail":"https:\/\/expo.matthewrballard.com\/files\/square_thumbnails\/9db790c6af5747a505b190d4b80a9486.jpg","creator":["Matthew R. Ballard"],"description":"The history of Orleans County\u2019s African American population in the earliest decades of our area is scarce and unknown in many aspects. Some residents may be familiar with the story of Richard Gordineer who, as an infant, was sold by his father to Joseph Grant; Grant eventually settled in the Shelby\/Medina area. After New York abolished slavery in 1827, Gordineer became a free man and a well-respected citizen of Medina. Other stories involve families, like those of Henry Spencer and Jacob Carter, who came to Western New York with local Union army officers at the conclusion of the Civil War.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nSpencer came to Orleans County with Lt. Hiram Sickels of the 17th New York Light Independent Artillery sometime around 1866. After earning enough money working for George Sickels, he brought his wife and children to this area. One of Spencer\u2019s sons, Henry Austin, spent the majority of his teenage years working for Asa and William Howard as an errand boy until he reached adulthood. While he worked, he made his best efforts to attend the local schools, which he attended for approximately three months out of the year. A biographical sketch of Spencer noted that he kept up with his fellow classmates by \u201cburning the midnight oil.\u201d<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nHe attended Miss Mabel Foster\u2019s boarding school in Philadelphia, becoming the first African American admitted to that institution where he quickly became one of the more popular students. Spencer then attended the Brockport Normal School, where he was one of the few African American students at an institution with several hundred students. The impressive young man graduated in 1880, about 10 years after Fannie Barrier Williams became the first African American student to graduate from the school. During commencement week, Spencer was selected as the Gamma Sigma orator, an honor that earned him a full scholarship to the University of Rochester shortly after. It was not the scholarship that was unprecedented, but Spencer\u2019s acceptance to the University, which marked the first time in the history of the institution that an African American was accepted into the institution.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nUpon the conclusion of his schooling, he studied law under the Hon. George H. Smith of Rochester while working to support his family. Spencer was appointed to a position in Albany in the speaker\u2019s room thanks to a former University of Rochester classmate, Hon. James M. E. O\u2019Grady. When S. Fred Nixon assumed the role as speaker of the State Assembly, Spencer was appointed as Nixon\u2019s confidential clerk, a position which he continued to hold through the tenure of the Hon. James Wadsworth, Jr.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nUpon his retirement in 1929, he served in government for over 30 years and worked for a period of time under Governor Alfred E. Smith and other prominent state officials. At the time of his death on September 25, 1935, in Rochester, he was one of the area\u2019s more prominent African American citizens. He was a past grand master of the New York State Colored Masons, an organization that consisted of over 2,000 members across New York.","sponsor":"","subtitle":"","accessinfo":"","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":[],"files":{"https:\/\/expo.matthewrballard.com\/files\/fullsize\/9db790c6af5747a505b190d4b80a9486.jpg":{"id":283,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","title":"Henry Austin Spencer","thumbnail":"https:\/\/expo.matthewrballard.com\/files\/square_thumbnails\/9db790c6af5747a505b190d4b80a9486.jpg","description":"Courtesy of the University of Rochester, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections"}}}