| 1. |  Judge Walter Spooner was born in 1720 in Acushnet, Bristol County, Massachusetts; died on 26 Oct 1803 in Acushnet, Bristol County, Massachusetts; was buried after 26 Oct 1803 in Long Plain Cemetery, Acushnet, Bristol County, Massachusetts. Other Events:
- Group: Veteran or Patriot of Revolutionary War
- FamilySearch ID: L9G8-B93
- FindaGrave Memorial ID: 113582637
Notes:
From FindaGrave:
Esquire. He is the son of Seth and Rose (Clark) Spooner, Age 81
Description of stone from 1995 Ancient Long Plain cemetery information:
Slate, 20"W x 36"H x ?? thick, head at tip with Memento Mortis across top of head. There are several lines of epitaph at the bottom which are illegible.
He married first, Allthea Sprague on December 2, 1748 in Dartmouth Massachusetts.
~~~ Their children ~~~
Alden Spooner 1750 ~ 1844
Seth Spooner 1752 ~ 1815
Rose Spooner 1753 ~ 1819 married
...Ebenezer Perry
Sarah Spooner 1755 ~ 1844 married
...Josiah Sampson
Elizabeth Spooner 1758 ~ 1793
Abigail Spooner 1764 ~ 1795
He married second, Mary Peck, daughter of Captain Pollipus and Sarah (Hammond) Peck.
He married third, Margaret Davis, widow od William Davis and daughter of Jonathan and Ruby Taber.
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Notes on Walter Spooner:
In 1741, his father, by standing surety for a brother-in-law, was obliged to give up his inherited farm, near the present Friends' meeting-house at Acushnet. A tract of uncleared land was purchased on the "Long Plain", so called, now in Acushnet, on the borders of Rochester, and in his nineteenth year the son helped to clear an acre of ground to erect a house, which is still standing. The house which he built in later years, and which was his family residence, is also standing near by.
His first public occupation was as Selectman of the town of Dartmouth, in 1759; this office he held for thirteen consecutive years, and also for later periods. In 1761 his was chosen a Representative to the General Court, and so continued for nine years. In 1769 being elected a member of the Council of the Province, his name, in company with Bowdoin, Hancock and Otis, was rejected by Governor Bernard; but in 1770, he was admitted to the Council, and held his seat for seventeen years. He was one of the Councilors who took their seats in the first Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, in November 1774, in place of those arbitrarily appointed by the King in defiance of the Charter.
In June 1775, he was chosen chairman of a committee of three sent by the Mass. Legislature to Lake Champlain, to inquire into the improtance of holding Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and the method by which these posts should be maintained; also to examine into the spirit, capacity, and conduct of Co.. Benedict Arnold, then commander at Crown Point, and to order his immediate return to Mass. if they should think proper. Arnold is said to have been hightly indignant at these instructions, and accounts are preserved of an outrageous attempt instigated by him to seize the Commissioners and rob them of the money which they carried for the pay of the troops. Spooner was a man of remarkable venerable appearance, and hsd been, at one time during the war, President of the Council. he was on the committee appointed in March, 1776, to draft the address to the General on his entrance into Boston just after the evacuation by the British.
In 1778, he is said to have attended Gen. John Sullivan in an unofficial capacity as an adviser in his notable attempt to dislodge the British from Rhode Island.
On March 27th, 1781, he was appointed by Gov. Hancock, Chief Justice of Court of Common Pleas for his native country.
He was a delegate to the Mass. Convention of 1788, which ratified the Constitution of the US, and one of the Presidential Electors for the first and second terms of George Washington. In 1791, he was Chairman of the Mass. Commissioners appointed to adjust the boundary line between that State and Rhode Island.
Judge Spooner was not connected with any religious denomination. While at home he was a devout and regular attendant at Friends' Meeting, and probably held a similar belief: thus on becoming a member of the council he affirmed, instead of taking, the oath; yet while in Boston he is said to have attended the preaching of Rev. Dr. Mayhew. Like the less strict party of the Quakers, he believed that defensive war might be justifiable and proper.
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At his death, the Columbian Courier, the only paper then published in New Bedford, gave the following:
~ Died in this town October 26, 1803, after a short illness. Walter Spooner, Esq., in the 82 year of his age. Judge Spooner was an early and active friend of the American Revolution, and both before and after the establishment of out Independence, filled several important stations under the Government, with honor to himself and usefulness to the State; and after being induced by increasing age to retire from more busy cares of public life, was at the two last periods for the election of President and Vice President of the United States chosen one of the Electors of this Commonwealth."
The Boston papers also noticed his death as the loss of a patriot and statesman well known in the political history of Massachusetts.
A summary of his character would be interesting, but his deeds are his memorial. He had abundance of good sense, but no graces or elegancies of speech or pen to mark him. Those who knew him trusted him, and relied on his judgment; one of his colleagues in the Council has left it as his testimony that, "after Samuel Adams this was the most clear-headed and far-seeing man he had ever known." When party lines were drawn after the settlement of government, he was an earnest Federalist.
... Reference: Records of William Spooner of Plymouth, MA & his descendants Thomas Spooner, 1883
Group:
Revolutionary War Patriot or Soldier.
FamilySearch ID:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L9G8-B93
FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/113582637
Walter married Allathea Sprague on 2 Dec 1748 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts. Allathea (daughter of Noah Sprague and Sarah Hammond) was born on 24 Mar 1725/26 in Rochester, Plymouth County, Massachusetts; died on 12 May 1789; was buried after 12 May 1789 in Long Plain Cemetery, Acushnet, Bristol County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
Children:
- 2. Hon. Alden Spooner
 was born on 2 Mar 1749/50 in Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts; died on 28 Sep 1844 in Fairhaven, Bristol County, Massachusetts; was buried after 28 Sep 1844 in Long Plain Cemetery, Acushnet, Bristol County, Massachusetts.
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1720 - 1803 (83 years)
Hon. Alden Spooner 
