Hannible Hamlin Spencer, 1860-1945    

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: 5 November 1860, Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa  

Death: 30 May 1945, Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: None.

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: Unknown.

Disclaimer: These lines have not been officially proven by NSDAR standards

Hannible Hamlin Spencer was born November 5, 1860, in Des Moines,Polk County, Iowa, to farmers Alexander Spencer and Sarah Lang. He had two older siblings, Elizabeth and Commodore Edwin. By 1870, Hannible was living with his parents and older brother in Jackson, Kansas.

Sometime before 1890, Hannible married Lena Margaret Rice. Their first daughter, Leota Pearl, was born in 1890 in Dayton, Columbia County, Washington. Their second daughter, Hazel Alice, was born in March 1891 in Seattle. In May 1897, Lena filed for divorce. That December, she married John Lloyd and took her two daughters to live with them in Meadowdale, Snohomish County, Washington. It appears that Leota and Hazel did not maintain a close relationship with their father, as they began using their stepfather’s surname, though John Lloyd never legally adopted them.

On November 20, 1897, Hannible remarried in Seattle to Icia Hite, daughter of Ashbel and Alice Hite of Seabeck. They had no children together. In the 1910 census, Hannible and Icia were living in Seattle in the household of Ashbel Hite, along with Alice Hite, George Hite, Robert Hite, and Margaret Wilson. By 1920, Hannible and Icia were residing off Seabeck Road in Crosby.

Throughout his life, Hannible worked in a variety of occupations. While living in Iowa, he was listed as a farmer. After moving to Seattle, he worked as a blacksmith and forger. Later, in Seabeck, he returned to farming and also worked as a faller in the logging industry.

Hannible died at his home in Seabeck on May 30, 1945. The cause of death was recorded as “general debility, senility without dementia.” His obituary named only his wife, Icia, as his survivor and did not mention his daughters, who were still living at the time.

He was cremated at Woodlawn Crematory. According to Fred Just’s notes and plot map, his ashes were placed near the graves of his in-laws, Ashbel and Alice Hite.