Henrietta Horton was born on March 15, 1815 in Decker Township, New Jersey. Henrietta’s brother, William, worked for a timber buyer in Pennsylvania who brought him to the household of Jesse Spencer to await the breaking up of ice. William became good friends with Spencer’s son, Hiram. Hiram later joined William’s crew, and the two boys paid a visit to the Horton home, where Hiram met Henrietta. They fell in love, and in 1836, Henrietta married Hiram Spencer in McKean, Pennsylvania. They lived briefly in a cabin Hiram built on his father’s land in Pennsylvania. They had a son, Amza Lewis (b. August 7, 1838), in Pennsylvania. The family later moved to Lafayette County, Wisconsin. Here a second son, James H (b. March 27, 1840), was born. Only months later, Hiram died in a work-related accident.
On July 31, 1841, Henrietta gave birth to Hiram’s daughter Elizabeth Janette. Shortly after, she married family friend George Renwick of Scotland in 1842. They moved to Jo Daviess County, Illinois. George raised Henrietta’s two sons, and he and Henrietta went on to have 12 children together in Nora, Jo Daviess: Walter B (b. 1843), Lewellyn J (b. 1844), Robert Bruce (b. 1846), Harriet V (b. 1847), Margaret Isabel (b. 1848), Lavina H (b. 1849), Mary E (b. 1852), Jane S (b. 1854), Charles Fredrick (b. 1855), Joseph F (b. 1856), John G (b. 1851), and Sarah Frankie (b. 1858).
Amza Lewis, Henrietta’s son by Hiram Spencer, was a Civil War hero who fought in the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, the Seige of Vicksburg, Hatchie, and all through the Atlanta campaign. He was taken prisoner by the Confederates after the fall of Atlanta, and subsequently spent a few weeks at Andersonville Prison. Her son James became a farmer in Lafayette, Winnebago County, Illinois.
Moonrise Over Lafayette County, Wisconsin
Henrietta’s Daughters
Henrietta, matriarch and mother of 15, died in Rush, Jo Daviess, Illinois on October 23, 1891 at the age of 76. She is buried with George Renwick at Chelsea Cemetery, Jo Daviess Co., Illinois.
Henrietta and George Renwick Gravestone
