Claudius Victor Spencer

"...Claudius V. Spencer was born 2 April 1825 in West Stockibridge, Berkshire, Massachuseetts. His mother, Sophronia, died when he was seven years old. Two years later, his father remarried, giving Claudisu a stepbrother named Gilbert who was two and a half years younger.

Claudius drove the first team in his father's wagon company between Wrnter Quarters, Nebraska, and Salt Lake City in 1847.

The Mormon Church was always dear to Claudius.

He served missions to Great Britain. He was given the charge of 350 Saints on the ship Manchester as it sailed from Liverpool to New York in April and May 1861. From June to September 1853, Claudius led a group of 250 saints from Kanesville, Iowa, to Salt Lake. He was a president of the Thirty-Seventh Quorum of Seventy when it was organized and was a stake patriarch at his death.

He was married five limes. His first wife was his cousin, Maria Antoinette Spencer, daughter of Hirum and Mary Spencer. His other wives were Georgjana King, Susanna. Francis Neslen, Louisa King, and Matilda Price..."

SOURCE: The "1845 Diary of Claudius Victor Spencer" by Maurine Carr Ward.