Person:Edward Spencer (23)

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William E Brockway
b.1822 Saybrook, Middlesex, Connecticut, United States
d.1920
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Spouse and Children
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m. 14 Jun 1843
  1. William E Brockway1846 - 1847
  2. Louisa BrockwayAbt 1848 -
  3. Francis Brockway1853 -
Spouse and Children
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m. Abt 1855
  1. Frances Isabel Spencer1856 -
  2. William Edward Spencer, M.D.1860 - 1924
  3. Caroline Spencer1866 -
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Facts and Events
Name William E Brockway
Alt Name Long Bill Brockway
Alt Name Edward W Spencer
Gender Male
Birth[1] 1822 Saybrook, Middlesex, Connecticut, United States
Marriage 14 Jun 1843 Connecticut, United Statesto Louisa H Olmstead
Residence? Abt 1850 Hudson, Columbia, New York, United Statesin jail for counterfeiting
Marriage Abt 1855 to Frances Dawson Mayne
Other Abt 1865 family began using surname Spencer
with Frances Dawson Mayne
Other[2] 22 Oct 1880 Brooklyn, Kings, New York, United Statesarrested for counterfeiting
Death[1] 1920
Burial[1][4] Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut, United Statesheadstone reads "WM. E. BROCKWAY"
[edit]

Research notes

  • thought to have been born William Spencer and adopted at ten months of age into the Brockway family
  • began career of crime as Unknown Ezra's assistant/apprentice in Hudson, NY where the New Haven CT bank notes were printed
  • he was a skilled workman, so his employer sent him to Yale to study electro-chemistry where his professor (Stillman) allowed him to audit classes for free
  • returned to former employer where he engaged in first known forgery
  • was a printer and electrotyper who made exact copies of currency printing plates that fooled the most accomplished forgery detectors and Treasury officials
  • arrested multiple times
    • 1847 and 1848 - thought to have made counterfeit bills of several New Haven, CT banks
    • 1849 - arrested in Hudson, NY for counterfeit bills of the North River Bank
      • Apr 1850 - escaped, but was recaptured in Sep [POUGHKEEPSIE JOURNAL, 13 Apr 1850, p2, and 7 Sep 1850, p2; NEW YORK TRIBUNE, 19 Apr 1850, p1.]
    • 22 Oct 1880 - arrested in Brooklyn, NY for counterfeit $100 National Bank notes and $204,000 worth of $1,000 6% US Gov coupon bonds
    • 26 Nov 1880 - plead guilty and was sentenced to 30 yrs, but sentence was suspended when Brockway agreed to surrender all plates and notes and other counterfeit apparatus and turn evidence on others
    • 10 Nov 1883 - arrested in NYC for forgery of $1,000 Morris & Essex Railroad bonds
    • 5 Mar 1884 - plead guilty and sentenced to five years in Sing Sing, NY Penitentiary
    • 4 Aug 1895 - arrested in Rockaway Beach as part of a counterfeiting ring which included William E Wagner and Abbie L Smith ; in his possession were various notes, which, in an interview with the New York Times, he claimed to be genuine money. In the end, the Secret Service, then under Chief William P. Hazen, recovered $600,000 in counterfeit notes.
    • 7 Mar 1896 - convicted on two counts of counterfeiting by Judge Green ; sentenced to ten years in NY State Penitentiary and pay $1,000 fine
    • 1904 - released slightly early for good behavior.
  • Apparently he did stop his counterfeiting activities and lived the last fifteen years of his life in receipt of a pension from an unnamed source on the condition that he would cease all criminal activities.
  • in between arrests, he lived under the name Edward W Spencer in a brownstone house on Clermont St in Brooklyn with wife Fannie and two children
  • height 6ft 3/4 in ; eyes blue gray ; hair dark brown with beard ; anchor tattoo on back of left wrist ; talks in a low tone ; gentlemanly and well-educated ; occupation stock broker
  • died 1920, location unknown, probably NYC
  • buried in Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven, CT ; headstone reads "WM. E. BROCKWAY 1822-1920"
References
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 [1], in Professional Criminals of America.
  2. ↑ A NEST OF COUNTERFEITORS [2], in Rocky Mountain News (Weekly)
    Vol 22, 27 Oct 1880.

    Washington, October 23. In Brooklyn, New York, today, secret service officers arrested E.W. Spencer, alias Bill Brockway, Charles H. Smith and James P. Owens, charged with being concerned in counterfeiting of hundred dollar national bank notes, also counterfeiting United States one thousand dollar coupon bonds of issue 1861. Smith, confessed he engraved the plate from which the bonds were printed. The counterfeit bonds are in possession of Doyle, in Chicago, He also states he engraved plates for several counterfeit $100 notes which recently appeared. The last engraved was on the Pittsburg National Bank of Commerce. Owens was the printer of these notes and bonds. Smith claims in addition he engraved plates of counterfeit 7-30 bonds- which were put upon the market in 1867, about $85,000 of which had been taken by Jay Cooke & Co. before their character was discovered. Examination of the arrested parties is set down tor Tuesday next. The number of bonds taken from Doyle, in Chicago, will be forwarded to Brooklyn to be used as evidence.

  3.   GXF6-NBQ, in FamilySearch Family Tree
    includes sources, last accessed Jun 2022.
  4. ↑ 135943370 , in Find A Grave
    includes photo, last accessed Jun 2022.
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