JOHN CANFIELD SPENCER was born in Hudson, New York, on 8 January 1788; entered college at Williamstown, Massachusetts, transferred to Union College, Schenectady, New York, and graduated with honors in 1806; became secretary to Governor Daniel D. Tompkins, 1807; studied law in Albany and was admitted to the bar, 1809; married Elizabeth Scott Smith, 1809; moved to Canandaigua, New York; entered the practice of law there and became a master of chancery, 1811; was appointed brigade judge advocate on the northern frontier, 1813; was postmaster at Canandaigua, 1814; became assistant attorney general and district attorney for the five western counties of New York, 1815; served in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1817�1819; was a member of the committee that reported unfavorably on the affairs of the National Bank; was nominated but defeated for the U.S. Senate; served in the state assembly, 1820�1822; served in the state senate, 1825�1828; became special prosecutor to investigate the disappearance of William Morgan, author of a manuscript on Masonic rituals, 1829; again served in the state legislature, 1831�1833; moved to Albany, 1837; edited an English edition of De Tocqueville�s Democracy in America, 1838; was secretary of state of New York, 1839; served as Secretary of War, 12 October 1841�3 March 1843; proposed a chain of posts extending from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to the Columbia River; urged that the government adhere to field commander arrangements by compensating the Creek Indians who were removed; lost his son Philip, who was executed for attempted mutiny aboard the brig Somers, 1842; was nominated to the Supreme Court but rejected by the U.S. Senate, 1844; died in Albany, New York, on 18 May 1855.

John C Spencer