Cousin Harold Spencer (Harold’s grandmother was Anna Carson
Spencer, sister to our Emma Carson Taylor) writes to me:
Tim Kinsella’s story on ‘The Taylor Brothers Go to College’ mentions,
in his section labeled ‘Other Funny Points That Were Made’, that one of the
prerequisites for entering the Seminary was ‘Penmanship’.
Anna Carson Spencer
Emma Carson Taylor
The Seminary used the Spencerian System of penmanship. I was
instructed, too, in the Spencerian style of cursive writing in the 2nd and 3rd
grades. Here’s a little history of that method of penmanship published years
ago in an edition of ‘le Despenser’, journal of the Spencer Historical &
Genealogical Society Inc.
A young man named Platt Rogers Spencer developed the style
which from 1850 through the 1920s was considered the American de facto writing
style for business correspondence before the introduction of the typewriter.
Platt Rogers Spencer was born in November 1800 in East
Fishkill, Dutchess County, New York. He died in 1854 in Geneva, Ashtabula County,
Ohio and is buried there in Evergreen cemetery.
His father, Caleb, died in 1806 while Platt was still a
small child and his mother moved the family to Jefferson, Ohio in 1810 where he
was raised. He became intensely interested in handwriting, using birch tree
bark, sand, even the fly-leafs of his mother’s Bible for practice. Sheet paper
was extremely scarce then in what was a wilderness area.
By 1815 he was teaching a writing class and was a clerk and
book keeper. Because he did not have a college degree, he relied upon teaching
in the common schools and eventually founded the Spencer Seminary in Jericho,
New York. He had considered entering the ministry, but because of his
alcoholism he never finished ministerial studies. He overcame his addiction and
went on to become a fervent abstainer and advocate for the remainder of his
life.
He was elected to public office in Ohio to the office of
County Treasurer for twelve years. He was instrumental in collecting documents
of the early history of Ashtabula County, feeding his intense appetite for
American history. He was an advocate for the Anti-Slavery movement.
Spencer was instrumental in founding business colleges in
the United States and in promoting their growth and development. He continued
as a teacher and with the promotion of penmanship for keeping business records.
He was closely involved in the founding of Bryant and Stratton Business
Colleges in over 50 cities by some of his students, and gave lectures in New
York City and in other areas in the eastern United States. He even opened
colleges in Geneva and Cleveland Ohio and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.
His publication on penmanship styles appeared from 1848
through 1886, and he collaborated with a Victor Rice to publish Spencerian or
Semi-Angular Penmanship. The New Spencerian Compendium was published in parts,
and was completed in 1886.
His papers are located in the Newberry Library in Chicago,
and in the Spencer Archival Room of the Geneva Ohio Branch of Ashtabula County
Library System. It contains biographical records of Platt and his entire
family. He died 16 May 1864 at age 63 in Geneva (OH). His father, Caleb
Spencer, died in 1806 at Fishkill, Dutchess County, New York.
He who
would be a writer, Fine. Must take a deal of pains. Must criticize his every
line, and mix his ink with brains. -----Platt Rogers
Spencer
Picnic at Uncle Sam Spencer’s in
Springville, NY (1919)
Top Row--unknown, Charles Carson (son of Theo
Carson, brother to our Emma), Harold Spencer (son of Anna Carson and Sam
Spencer)
Middle Row—Ethel Baker Taylor, Lloyd Taylor, Clara
Taylor, Anna Carson Spencer, Leon Taylor, Jane Livingston Carson, Sam Spencer,
Jennie Ford Carson (wife of George Carson, brother to our Emma), Floyd Taylor
and his wife Goldie
Front Row--Helen Spencer, Harriet Spencer, Ruth
Taylor, B.W. Taylor
5 comments:
Harold, thank you so much for this interesting bit of history. I loved the part where young Platt used birch bark and sand and Bible fly-leafs to practice on!
Also, remember readers to click on the family photo. It will make the picture larger and so easier to see the various people in the picture.
Enjoy!
Pat Kinsella Herdeg
It was such an interesting history of the Spencer handwriting. I looked up examples of it on line, and must say that it was fancy with all its flourishes. My Mills handwriting is so plain beside it!
Aunt CB also enjoyed reading this blogstory. Thank you Harold! She also thinks this reunion picture was most likely taken in 1919 as Ruth Taylor would have been able to stand then and not in 1918.
Very interesting. Who would have thought there were different styles of handwriting.
Oh my goodness, this penmanship system is very beautiful but it never would have worked for me! I think that "Penmanship" was always my lowest grade on my report cards. Nowadays, though, I think that most young people can't read handwriting even when it's a much simpler version! But recently I saw an older cousin's writing and realized that he must have gotten all A's in penmanship in grade school. Even many decades later, it still looks like the quality of handwriting the nuns worked so valiantly to teach me.
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