William Spong Biographies & Genealogy

44 William Spong Biographies

William is my 3rd great-uncle, twin brother to my 2nd great-grandfather, Daniel Spong. They were born late in 1827 in Stourmouth Kent, and baptized on January 2nd, 1828. They were the sons of George Keel Spong (1801-1873) and Sarah White (1801-1887). Like Daniel, in 1841 William (both aged 13) was still at home with his father, though at least one of their brothers had already left home, while their mother, and sister, Eliza, were visiting her brother in Womenswold, Kent. In 1851, I found a William Spong, working as a footman in a household in Ecton, Northamptonshire. This stumped me at first, as Ecton is more than 150 miles from Stourmouth and it was unusual in that period for people to stray so far from their birthplace. However, this William gave his place of birth as Stourmouth, Kent and no other William Spong born in Kent of the correct age appeared in the census. was this my 3rd great-uncle? It seems likely, but begs the question, how did he come to get a job so far from home? That he was in service is not unexpected, but in Northamptonshire is a bit of a puzzler. He was serving in the household of Ambrose Ested, and his wife, Eleanor, so I did some research about them. One detail I noted from the final column of the census return was that Ambrose was “deaf and dumb”, and, according to a brief profile of him, he was educated at the London Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, the same school at which William’s younger sister was studying in 1851. While Ambrose had graduated years earlier, perhaps he still had ties with the school and it was through this connection that William found his placement. Either way, by August of 1857, William was living in London, where he married Mary Bull, in the Parish Church of St. Martin in the Fields. Within a few months, Mary was expecting their first child, Mary Ann (one of many, many Mary Anns on both sides of my family tree during the 19th century), who was born in July of 1858. William’s occupation is noted as grocer. By the time Emma was born in September 1860 the family was living in the Brown Bear Inn at 65 Broad Street, where William was a labourer. The following year, in the 1861 census, his occupation has changed to Licensed Victualler, a business in which he remained, until his retirement in the late 1870s. Over the next few years, the young couple had three more children, though, the second-youngest, Walter, died in the autumn of 1857. He was barely two years old, while Henry Francis (born 1862) and Edward (born 1867) would emigrate to Australia in the late 1880s. Henry worked as a ship’s steward starting in the mid-1880s. Their sisters, Emma and Mary Ann, however, stayed near their parents and married men in the pub/victualling business. Sometime between 1871 and 1881, William retired and moved his family from Bloomsbury across the river to Wimbledon. He would have only been around 50 when he did so. It’s possible that he had injured himself – I imagine the job was physically demanding one, hauling beer kegs etc. Or maybe he he had earned enough money to live comfortably. Interestingly enough, he declares himself a retired wine merchant in the 1881 census, a change from licensed victualler. Had he left the Brown Bear and moved into selling wine before his retirement? Over the next decade, Mary died in 1889 and his sons emigrated to Australia, while his younger daughter Emma died in 1902. It seems William remained closest to his daughter, Mary Ann, who married Edward James Worth – she and her sons Albert and William were with him in the 1891 census, though it’s not clear if they were living with him permanently or just visiting. In 1901, William was still living at the house on Montague Road in Wimbledon,29 however the Worth family was no longer with him. They had moved a few streets over, to a house on Victory Road. This was our last documented glimpse of William before his death in 1905. According to the National Probate Calendar, he died on March 28 at St. Thomas’ Hospital in Surrey. The notice also states he was still a resident of 15 Montague Road. He was 77. To read William's full biography, see this link:

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William B Spong Sep 29, 1920 - Oct 8, 1997 Portsmouth, Virginia

William B Spong of Portsmouth, Portsmouth City County, VA was born on September 29, 1920, and died at age 77 years old on October 8, 1997.

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44 William Spong Biographies

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