Spalding Family

Three families are represented in this collection of letters and other family materials: the Family of Miranda Sexton Spalding which include Sexton and Bartlett family members; the Family of William P. Spalding which include Spalding and Paine family members; and the William P. and Miranda Sexton Spalding Family.

Sexton and Bartlett family biographical sketches

"Addison" (Joseph Addison) Sexton (1810-1902). Brother. Connecticut-born Presbyterian minister and teacher. Moved from Connecticut to New York in 1830, where he worked and attended college, graduating in 1835. He was at Yale Divinity School, 1836-39, and Andover Theological Seminary, 1841. He served pastorates in Manchester, New York, 1842, and Greenport, New York, 1843-45, before moving South to New River, Louisiana, 1846-50. In 1850, he returned North, where he served pastorates in Connecticut. In 1856, he married and spent most of the rest of his life teaching: first in Connecticut, 1856-63, and then in New York, mainly at Cooper Union. In 1902, he was killed by a robber.

Alfred M. Sexton (1815-1895). Brother. Connecticut-born Alabama merchant. Moved to Greene County, Alabama, in 1836, where he clerked in his brother-in-law's store. In 1838, he took over operation of a store in Newbern, Alabama, and in 1842, he married Henrietta Airey of Greene County, Alabama. When the store failed in 1855, he became head of the boarding department of a girls school in Summerfield, Alabama. During the war, he clerked in a Selma, Alabama, store, and after the war, tried cotton farming in 1870-71 without success. Then, he became head of the stewards and boarding department of a girls school in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Charles Sexton, Jr. (1809-1842). Brother. Connecticut-born storekeeper and bookkeeper. He tried various business ventures in Amherst, Connecticut, Baltimore, Maryland, and Savannah, Georgia. He died in Georgia in 1842.

Charles Sexton, Sr. ( -1864). Father. Connecticut farmer and store owner. Born in Somers, Connecticut, he spent most of his life in Ellington, Connecticut. In 1860, he and his wife, Mary Bartlett Sexton, moved to the home of his son, Addison, in Norwichtown, Connecticut, and in 1861, to the home of his daughter, Mary Sexton Spalding, in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Edwin Sexton (1814-between 1895 and 1901). Brother. Connecticut-born storekeeper and farmer who spent most of his life in Illinois and served in the Union army. He moved from Connecticut to Illinois in 1839 and lived most of his years in Augusta. Fervently pro-Union, he served in Col. L. Delanos Calvary, 2nd Illinois Volunteer, 1861-64.

Hannah Sexton ( -1848). Cousin. School teacher in Alabama and Connecticut. Went to Greene County, Alabama, to teach from 1838 to 1841. Returned to Connecticut where she also taught school.

Henry M. Sexton ( -1866). Brother. Connecticut-born itinerate Methodist preacher and Swedenborgian evangelist. He taught school in New York, 1843-46, and went South in 1849. Not liking the South, he returned north where he spent the rest of his life serving small congregations and distributing religious literature: in Ohio, 1850-55, and in Illinois, 1856-66.

John M. Sexton ( -1873). Brother. Connecticut-born Alabama merchant and Confederate Army veteran. Moved to New York in 1839; taught school in Connecticut, 1840-41, and clerked in New York during 1842. In 1846, he moved to Alabama where he taught school and operated a colportage business. A bachelor, he served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. In 1863, he was captured and wrote letters to his family on his experiences. Subsequently, he was exchanged and lost a leg in the service of the Confederacy. After the war, he wrote of how the conflict had divided the family and of the lives of family members who remained in the South.

Lorenzo Sexton (1812-1892). Brother. Connecticut-born Alabama merchant and planter. Husband of Ann R. Gray Sexton, widow of an Alabama planter and mistress of Oakland plantation. From 1831-37, he was a musician (fiddler) and civil servant in Florida. In 1838, he moved to Greene County, Alabama, where he served as his brother-in-law's (Amos Lively) partner in a general store. The following year, he married Mrs. Ann R. Gray (1797- ) of Havanna, Alabama, the widow of a wealthy planter and close friend of his sister, Mrs. Mary Sexton Lively. He spent the rest of his life as a planter despite difficulties during the changing economic and racial situation of Reconstruction.

Mary B. Sexton Lively (1816-1891). Sister. Connecticut-born wife of Southern merchant in Alabama, Texas, and Illinois. Went to Alabama to teach school in 1835. Married Amos Lively of Havanna, Greene County, Alabama, in 1836. He ran a general store, first by himself and then with his brother-in-law, Lorenzo Sexton (Sexton and Lively). In 1839, the business failed, and in 1845, they moved to Mobile, Alabama, where he operated a boarding house. Still suffering from financial distress, they moved to Texas in 1852, where he worked for Chism in the cattle business and she taught school. During the war, they tried raising cotton, and in 1865, moved to Illinois. They lived in Illinois for four years, but returned to Texas in 1869. Their son Henry died on Auguxst 27, 1869. Other children were James and Alice. Mary left her husband in 1870 and came back to Illinois.

Mary Bartlett Sexton (1786-1865). Mother. Married Charles Sexton, Sr., in 1808 (see his sketch). Her family was originally from East Windsor, Connecticut.

Otis Sexton (circa 1818-between 1895 and 1901). Brother. Connecticut-born Methodist and Baptist minister. Moved to Havanna, Greene County, Alabama in 1838, where he worked for his brother-in-law as a clerk. He went North to New York about 1843 and married a Connecticut woman, but returned South in 1848 as a Methodist preacher. He was in Florida in 1851 and in Alabama in 1853. Returning North in 1854, he served small congregations in Connecticut and New York until 1869 and in Appleton, Wisconsin, thereafter. He was a Methodist minister for most of his career with the exception of 1864-81, when he filled Baptist pulpits.

Samuel Sexton ( -1904). Brother. Youngest child of Charles and Mary Sexton. Until the 1850's, he stayed on the family farm in Ellington, Connecticut. Thereafter, he was a farmer and storekeeper in Connecticut.

Spalding and Paine Family Biographical Sketches

Luther Spalding ( -1825). Father. Doctor. Served in War of 1812 in Connecticut regiment. Graduated from Yale Medical School in 1822. Afterwards, practiced medicine in Stow, Portage County, Ohio, where he died during an epidemic. Married Maria Paine.

Maria Paine Spalding ( -1860). Mother. Born in Connecticut and moved to Ohio with her husband. After his death, she returned to Connecticut. Later, she lived with her daughter, Mary, in New Lisbon, Ohio, at the Soo, and in Canisteo, New York. In 1856, she was committed to a mental institution. After her death, she was buried with her husband in Stowe, Ohio.

Mary E. Spalding Chamberlain (1825- ). Sister. Spent her early years in Connecticut, but returned to Ohio (New Lisbon), where her mother's family was concentrated. Cared for her mother. For awhile, stayed with the William Spalding family at the Soo. In 1856, she married a medical doctor, C.P. Chamberlain, d. 1886-7, and spent the rest of her life in Canisteo, New York.

John Spalding (1820-1887). Brother. Operated mercantile business based at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, with brother, William Spalding. Shortly before the civil War, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, but he returned later to manage on the ship canals at the Soo. His wife was named Achsah. Their cildren were Ella, Charles, and another daughter.

The William P. and Miranda Sexton Spalding Family Biographical Sketches

Miranda Sexton Spalding (1826-1910). Wife of William P. Spalding. Born in Ellington, Holland County, Connecticut, and attended school in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1846, she went South to stay with her sister and brother-in-law and teach music at the Female Academy in Eutah, Greene County, Alabama. She returned to Connecticut, and in 1848, married William P. Spalding, a Connecticut native who had settled at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. She remained at the Soo for most of the rest of her life with the exception of brief stays in the Marquette Iron (1864-1865) and Keweenaw copper (1866-1868) regions of Michigan, in Ruffin, North Carolina (1864-1865) and Keweenaw copper (1866-1868) regions of Michigan, in Ruffin, North Carolina (1869-1874), and at her son's home in Luverne, Rock County, Minnesota (1908-1910).

William P. Spalding (1822- ). Store owner, mining prospector, Civil War veteran, and carpetbagger. Husband of Miranda Sexton Spalding. Born in Connecticut, he spent his first few years in Stow, Portage County, Ohio, but returned to Connecticut at an early age (following his father's death). There, he worked for Fox Brothers store in Hartford, but in 1846, he moved to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, where together with his brother John and Charles Bacon (later Charles C. Child was his partner), he operated a store which sold supplies to miners in the newly-opened mineral fields of Michigan. During the Civil War, he served as Quartermaster o the 27th Regiment, Michigan Infantry, 1862-1864. In 1864, he went to the Marquette Range as a mining supervisor, and after the war, he worked in the Copper Country of Michigan and tried running a plantation in Ruffin, North Carolina. He returned to the Soo and spent much of the rest of his life mineral prospecting.

William Spalding, Jr. --"Willie" (1849- ). Mining prospector. Son of Miranda and William. He attended Michigan Agricultural College and then worked for the federal government and a tobacco manufacturer in North Carolina. About 1880, he moved to Oregon and spent most of the rest of his life prospecting for minerals (largely gold) in Idaho and Alaska. He divorced his first wife by whom he had three children: Myra (from whom there is correspondence since her grandmother, Miranda Sexton Spalding, reared her), Charles (who lived with him for awhile), and Carrie. His second wife, Adelle H., whom he married in 1900, was a regular correspondent.

Alfred Eugene Spalding--"Genie" (1851-1920). Medical Doctor. Son of Miranda and William. Born in Michigan, his parents, in1869, sent him to Canisteo, New York, to attend school and learn medicine from his uncle (Dr. C.P. Chamberlain). He attended the University of Michigan Dental School in 1872-1873 and graduated from Jefferson Medical School in 1874. He practiced medicine in Luverne, Rock County, Minnesota.

Edward Bartlett Spalding (1868-1960). Dentist. Son of Miranda and William. Born at Eagle Harbor in the Copper Country of Michigan, he spent most of his early years at the Soo. He attended the Normal College at Ypsilanti from 1887 to June 1889 and graduated from Dental School at the University of Michigan in 1892. In 1892 he established his dental practice in Detroit. He was president of the Michigan Dental Society and a professional church vocalist. Unmarried until 1909, he was a regular correspondent of his mother.

From the guide to the Spalding Family Papers (microfilm), 1808-1910, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)