In 1842, Seymour Mills Spencer decided to undertake a life mission to the Maories in New Zealand going via England, while there changed his church affiliation from Baptist to Anglican in order to further his intended work. His daughter, Ellen Thompson Spencer was given to childless dear friends as they did not think she would survive the long 18 month trip. Her parents went without her. "As for Seymour Mills and Ellen (Thompson) Spencer seeing Ellen again, they never did. When they got out to New Zealand, they had quite a struggle getting established and were constantly short of money. When they finally did get some financial and home security they got together some money and wrote to Illinois to get Ellen to come out and stay with them. However, this was 1856, and Ellen had lived with her foster-parents for 16 years, and loved them as her own kin. She felt more at home in America, and said so. So she never came out to New Zealand, and when she married, she did so under the name of her foster-parents, as Ellen T. Furness. Although she never met with her parents again, Lucy Harris (Spencer) and Edward Purvis called on her on their way across the states. I think this was 1869 or 1870. Ellen Benton died 11 Sept 1877 "Lucy Harris Spencer was named after fellow-passenger on the "Louisa Campbell", on which Seymour Mills and Ellen came out to New Zealand from London. There were six children born on the voyage and the other five were all called Louis or Louisa, but Ellen decided she had had quite enough of shipboard life and didn't want her daughter carrying around that name as a reminder. William Charles Colton was named after another missionary who was a friend of the family. Timotheus Hale Spencer got his middle name from Mathew Hale, the "Incorruptible Judge" of the Stuart Period, who was an ancestor on his mother's side. Fredrick Hamilton Spencer got his middle name from a Colonel Hamilton of the 58th Imperial Infantry, who was a friend of the family and Fred's godfather. Ref: Mr. Peter Spencer, "Mahitahi", McLeods Bay, RD 4 Whangarei Heads, Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand, in a letter dated 20 Nov 1986 Mrs. Dorothy E. Purvis, 890 38th Ave., #67, Santa Cruz, CA, letter dated 22 Jun 1979, to Dana R. Spencer. "As a young man, Seymour Spencer wanted to be a missionary and at the age of 21, he attended Kenyon College in Ohio during the school term of 1833-1834. Kenyon College had been established some years earlier by Bishop Philander Chase, as a school for training young priests; a manual labor college where the students worked to defray their expenses. There is no record of further schooling for Seymour during the next several years. In the fall of 1839, when Seymour was 27, the Spencer Family moved to Payson, IL. He may have preceded the others to Illinois as he married Ellen S. Dudley in Quincy Cathedral. The ceremony was performed by Bishop Philander Chase, now bishop of the Diocese of Illinois. Ellen Dudley was a 22-year-old widow, born Ellen Thompson in Philadelphia, PA, 9 Oct 1817. She is said to have been orphaned young and brought to Illinois by her Grandmother. Before coming to Illinois, Seymour had set his heart on going to New Zealand as a missionary. He went to Bishop Chase and asked if he was suitable for the work. As written by Seymour's son many years later in his Reminiscences, the conversation was: Bishop Chase, 'But why do you not go to the red Indians at your very door?' Seymour said, 'I feel that the call is form New Zealand'. Upon receiving a letter of recommendation form the bishop, he applied to the Church Missionary Society of London for work among the Maories. When little Ellen Thompson was five months old, Seymour Spencer was required by Church Missionary Society to go to London to continue his studies at Islington College. The young parents were advised that their baby might not survive the voyages which lay ahead for them, in the sailing vessels of those days. Tearfully, they left little Ellen with a well-to-do childless couple, Mr. and Mrs. James E. Furness, and sailed down the Mississippi River to New Orleans to board a cotton-ship bound for England. It was December1840. That was the last Payson, Illinois would ever see of Seymour and Ellen Spencer. In England, while Seymour attended college, Ellen engaged in parish work and learned all she could about the care of sick and injured, knowing she would have need for such knowledge in the years ahead. After a year in England, the Spencers were sent out to New Zealand with other missionaries, in the sailing vessel, Louise Campbell, on 17 Jan 1842. Ellen was with child--the voyage took four months, and Lucy Harris Spencer, their daughter, was born 8 days before reaching port. Spencer and his wife brought up a family in primitive conditions and spent ten years (at Kariri) spreading education and Christianity and teaching by their fine example and character" Ref: Quote from Tarawera by Eugene and Valerie Grayland When Ellen Stanley Spencer passed away in 1882 at the age of 65, in Maketu, her remains were taken by the Maoris to Lake Tarawera, where the Spencers had lived and labored as missionaries among the Tuhourangis from 1844 to 1870. There, she was buried at Kariri, where the Spencers had made their home the first ten of those years. Four years later, on 10 Jun 1886, the eruption of Mount Tarawera buried Kariri and surroundings under mud and debris, killing 153 persons and destroying Maori villages. The surviving Maoris fled the Tarawera area. When Seymour Mills Spencer died, he was buried in Maketu away from his wife--the gravestone also has his wife's name. His son, Frederick H. Spencer, conceived the idea of building a Spencer Family Mausoleum at Kariri; Seymour's remains were disinterred and taken to Kariri for the dedication ceremonies, 20 Feb 1924. It was not until 1935 that the gravestone was taken to Rotorua. Information on Ellen Thompson Spencer is limited. She grew up in Quincy. On 22 Sept 1864, at the age of 24, she married Daniel C. Benton, a farmer. They are said to have six children--three dying of accidental deaths in childhood. Ellen Thompson (Spencer/Furness) Benton died 11 Sept 1877, at the age of 37, of childbirth complications. A daughter, Anna Benton, married when she was young. That is, there was a wedding ceremony and the newlyweds boarded a train for a wedding trip. . .a woman passenger came to Anna and told her that her groom was fact her husband. This proved to be true, to Anna's disappointment and mortification. After this unhappy experience, Anna became a deaconess and devoted her life to helping others. Lucy Harris Spencer m. Edward Purvis. In 1868, Lucy and Edward, with their first two children, came to the United States to live. Upon arrival, they first went to Quincy to visit the Furnesses. Ellen came in form the country to meet them. At that time, each sister had a little daughter and a little son. In Lucy's words, "When I was a little girl, the chief romance of my life was one day I should meet my far off sister'. Lucy was ill in bed with ague, contracted in Panama. The sisters kept in touch thru correspondence--while the Purvises lived in Missouri, then Nebraska, and finally in Washington.