Submitted by: Cathy Millburn
THOMAS COLE SPENCER
Thomas Cole Spencer, b February 28, 1860 in Prince
Albert County, Virginia, d August 18, 1943 in Marlin, Falls County, Texas and
buried there in Calvary Cemetery ‑ was one of five children of Henry F. and
Josephine (Boyd) Spencer of Virginia. He came to Marlin, Falls County, Texas
with his parents and siblings after the Civil War, and grew up in Marlin.
On April 9, 1889 in Falls County, Texas, Thomas was
married to Laura Augusta Finley, b May 18, 1873 in Alabama, d August 29, 1964 in
Marlin and buried there in Calvary Cemetery ‑ a daughter of Amanuel Alexander
and Katherine (Johnson) Finley.
Thomas and his brother, Richard Boyd, were
welltrained by their father in the lumber business, and continued the operation
under the name, R. B. Spencer Lumber and Mercantile Company. Forty‑four lumber
businesses were established, and Thomas moved from one location to another to
manage them.
In 1916, Thomas retired from the lumber business, and
after a year in Dallas, moved back to Marlin to operate a Boarding House. His
first location was in the old Peterson home, located on Oakes Street, where the
Baptist Educational Building now stands. Later, Thomas bought the Sewell Rooming
House at 317 Winter Street, near the Marlin City Library, and operated the
Spencer Boarding House until it burned in 1939.
Thomas and Laura (Finley) Spencer reared nine of eleven children to adulthood:
Arthur Raymond Spencer ‑ a twin, b August 15, 1891 in
Dublin, Texas, d November 24, 1938 in Michigan ‑ married Gladys William of
Michigan.
Thomas Hunter Spencer ‑ a twin, b August 15, 1891 in
Dublin, Texas, d May 18, 1964 in Houston, Texas ‑ married Gladys Blanchette of
Kansas City, Missouri.
Thomas Boyd Spencer, b June 26, 1895 in Hico, Texas, d 1966 ‑ married Olepta
Phelps, and was in the lumber business in Dallas, Texas.
Henry Fletcher Spencer, b December 25, 1897 in
Marlin, Falls County, Texas ‑married Mary Alma Bruton. He retired at Beaumont,
Texas in 1963.
William Wilkins Spencer, b November 4, 1900 in
Marlin, d April 15, 1958 ‑ married Annie Jackie Bryant. He owned a lumber yard
at Whitney, Texas; and was in the Cash Building Materials Lumber Company in
Marlin with his brother, Oscar, after working as bookkeeper at Rush, Gardner,
and Bartlett, and at the Prison Camp in Mexia during World War II. His widow
lives in a nursing in Waco, Texas in 1986.
Oscar Rupert Spencer, b August 19, 1903 in Marlin, d
October 10, 1964 ‑ was unmarried. Oscar owned and operated a picnic and bathing
resort at the Falls on the Brazos, was associated with Nehi Bottling Works,
worked in Galveston during the Korean War, was associated with a brother, Thomas
Hunter Spencer, in the lumber business in Houston‑returning to Marlin in 1944,
where he and William Wilkins Spencer operated the Cash Building Materials Lumber
Company on Bridge Street in Marlin from 1955 to 1959, and he managed a family
Chicken Broiler House on his property at the Falls. When William retired, Oscar
operated his Whitney Lumber Yard until 1962, when he also retired and returned
to Marlin to live with his mother and sister, Gussie Lee Spencer, in the he
had purchased in 1939. Oscar was a Methodist, and a member of the Fire Station
Men's Sunday School Class.
Gussie Lee Spencer, b February 6, 1907 in Stamford,
Texas ‑ returned to Marlin with her parents in 1916. In 1927, she was employed
at Torbett's Hospital, where she worked for fifty‑two years ‑ including the
period when it became Torbett‑Hutchings‑Smith Memorial Hospital. For 34 of those
years, she was Head of the Insurance Department. She continues to reside in the
she shared with her brother, Oscar, and her mother; and she was joined in
1969 by her widowed sister and her son, Mary Catherine (Spencer) Mossman and
Burton C. Mossman, III.
Mary Catherine Spencer, b March 9, 1909, d 1986 in
Marlin, Falls County, Texas‑was a 1934 graduate of Rice University, Houston. She
was principal of the Lamar Elementary School near Perry, Texas for four years,
taught one and a‑half years at Mooreville, and three years in Marlin Elementary
School. In 1937, Mary Catherine moved to Roswell, New Mexico, where she taught
math in the Junior High School for two years. On May 26, 1939, she was married
to Burton Charles Mossman, Jr., b September 7, 1906, d February 23, 1943 in a
plane crash at Lisbon, Portugal during World War II. Burton's family were
ranchers, and his father was Captain of the Arizona Rangers. They had one son,
Burton Charles Mossman, III, b October 30, 1941 in New Mexico, who graduated
from Marlin High School and attended Texas Christian University and The
University of Houston before joining the U.S. Air Force for four years. He is
now Chief Engineer for Wear Radio and Communications in Temple, where he lives
with his wife, Mary Lou (Allen) Mossman, and three step‑children, Amy, Leslie,
and Austin. Mary Lou is the Librarian in Temple Elementary School.
Forest Henry Spencer, b November 16, 1915 in Itasca, Texas, attended San Marcos
State Teachers College and graduated from Sam Houston University, Huntsville,
with a B.S. degree in Music. "Hal" served in the U.S. Army Air Corps (1941‑1945)
as First Sergeant Band Leader. He was a Band Director in Huntsville, Arp, and
Center before returning to Marlin, where his Marlin High School Band won many
Regional and All‑State Band honors for twenty‑six of his twenty‑nine years'
service. In 1958, the Marlin High School Band, with Hal as Director, was invited
by Cotton Bowl officials to perform in the pre‑game and Halftime shows on New
Year's Day. He retired in Marlin in 1974. On September 19, 1941, Hal was married
to Maudell Johnson, b July 18, 1912 in Waco, Texas, d August 6, 1972 and buried
in Calvary Cemetery in Marlin. She was a teacher in Marlin Elementary School.
Hal is a Deacon in the First Presbyterian Church of Marlin. He and Maudell had
one son, David Johnson Spencer, b ca 1946, who married in 1966 to Bonnie Briggs
‑ daughter of Hiley and Virginia (Spear) Briggs, Sr., of Marlin, Texas, and they
had Timothy Spear Spencer, b August 4, 1967 in San Diego, California. Hal
continues to reside in Marlin with his second wife, Ruby (Darden) Whitley
Spencer, b February 15, 1915.
Copyright Permission granted
to Theresa Carhart for printing the biographies of these Falls County Families
to this Web page.
"Families of Falls County", Compiled and Edited by the Falls County Historical
Commission, page 424 column 1 and 2 and page 425 column 1 and 2.
Member of Falls County Historical Commission.
