Spencer, Guinilda Ethelia.

The creator of the journals was Guinilda Ethelia Mummey. Ms. Mummey was from a prominant Baltimore family. Her journal contains many contributions from family, clergy and prominent merchants suggesting that members of her family were also merchants.

Most interesting are the contributions from a young man then 25 years old named Edward Spencer. Spencer was a merchant and, in 1833, was married to Guinilda. In 1834 Guinilda gave birth to Edward Spencer who would grow up to become one of Baltimore's "brightest luminaries in the literary world."

After attending Princeton, young Spencer wrote for Scribner's, Harpers, and many of the top newspapers in the northeast. Spencer made his career with the Baltimore Sun. His play, "Kit the Arkandad Traveler" was a significant hit.

Upon young Spencer's death in 1883 the New York World obituary claimed, "Mr. Edward Spencer was one of the most talented and versatile men of the south. He was a man of encyclopedic information and of a powerful imagination."

From the description of Mummey commonplace books, 1825-1828 (Johns Hopkins University). WorldCat record id: 611020058