Family talk:John Spencer and Ethelrede Baker (1)

Christian Baker vs Ethelrede Baker

This family page was created to distinguish it from the family of John Spencer and Catherine Baker. These are two distinct lines but due to the name similarities it has caused obvious confusion. Until the creation of this file, all previous family pages named John Spencer and Christian Baker were actually referring to John Spencer and Ethelrede Baker. Whether the volume of work by Jack Taif Spencer is considered the definitive material on the Spencer family, I am unsure. Nevertheless, because of the comparative analysis of the early genealogies on this family the authors have persued, it serves as a starting point for untangling the Spencer lines.

In The Spencers of the Great Migration, page 23, the author writes under the subheading of "The Trap for Scholars of the Spencer Genealogy":

"...many lineages developed by genealogists of the past failed because of two women who occupied central positions in the descending line for the Spencers of South Mylls. These two women were Ethelrede Baker and Christian Baker. Both women were married to a John Spencer, but one of these men was John Spencer of Kempston and the other was John Spencer of S. Mylls. Because of this similarity, a majority of early lineage charts were derailed...

"One of the first examples of the Baker mixup was repeated by Vicar John Holding in 1903 when he reprinted the chart for the Spencers of South Mylls from the Visitation of Bedfordshire, 1634..."

--Ronni 10:25, 28 November 2008 (EST)

Supposed Genealogy of John Spencer and Ethelrede Baker

1. John Spencer of South Mylls, Bedfordshire (ca 1500 - 1568) was the son of Robert of South Mylls (b. abt 1460), who was the son of John of South Mylls (b. abt 1434)
2. John Spencer (ca 1500 - 1568) married Ethelrede Baker
3. The children of this union were:
   1. William of South Mylls who married Isabel Osborne
   2. Robert of St. Albans who married 1) Frances Foster and 2) Unknown Smyth
   3. John of London who married 1) Unknown Tichborne and 2) Margaret Green and possibly 3)Ann Clark

--Ronni 10:25, 28 November 2008 (EST)