T.W. Spencer, Photographer, Circleville, Ohio

Several photos I’ve scanned of the Schlotman family are by T.W. Spencer. Mr. Spencer is not a member of our family tree that I’m aware of. But I’ve found that it often helps to date photos by looking into the photographer. Here’s some of what I found.

Detail of a map of Ohio, showing Pickaway, Fairfield, Hocking, Fayette, Ross, Vinton, and others.
(worldmapstore.com)

Thomas Worthington Spencer was born 31 Mar 1816 in Chillicothe, Ross, Ohio to Jesse and Catherine Beidler Spencer. Ross County is south of Pickaway, where he later had his studio. After the death of his father in 1840, twenty-five-year-old T.W. married Caroline Karshner in Hocking County on 20 Jun 1841.

Sources on Ancestry.com have newspaper clippings attached to Thomas W. Spencer about a murder he was accused of committing in Columbus in 1851, at which time he was a cattle dealer. There is no information about the resolution of that case and, if he was convicted, what his sentence was. But, there is a ten year gap in the known children he had with his wife and then a move to Carroll County, Tennessee before 1860, where Thomas worked as a watchmaker. By 1864, T.W. was back in Ohio, where he was a photographer and jewelry dealer on Main Street in McArthur, Vinton, Ohio. Shortly thereafter (1864-1866), he found his way to Circleville in Pickaway County, where he would live the rest of his life. Spencer’s Photograph Gallery was located over May & Conn’s China Store on West Main Street.

In addition to being a jeweler and photographer, Thomas Spencer was an inventor, patenting a time-lock for safes.

Two of Thomas’ sons, Oscar H. Spencer (1843-1928), and Philander Chase Spencer (1847-1912), were also photographers.

Thomas W. Spencer engaged in the photography trade in Circleville until September 1896, when he sold out to G. Edwin Thornton. He died the following year on 25 Jan 1897. Wilson’s Photography Magazine described him as one of the oldest photographers in Ohio. He was buried at Circleville Cemetery.

The Pickaway County Historical & Genealogical Society has a collection of local photos, including some by Spencer.

SOURCES