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Historic Photo

A portrait of the Spencer family taken in May 1892. Edward is pictured on far left, back row, at age 17.
  

Spencer Family.

Annie Bethel Bannister, born in Henry County, and Edward Alexander Spencer met while both were students at Virginia Theological Seminary and College in Lynchburg. Edward was one of 11 children in a prominent African-American Lynchburg family whose home place was located at 1321 Pierce Street. Edward's father Warwick Spencer Sr. (far right, sitting) owned a corner store, Calloway and Spencer, on Pierce Street. Four of the Spencer brothers, including Edward, eventually built homes close together and near to the homeplace. Edward built a Queen Anne-style house after he and Anne were married in 1901. The couple moved into the new home in 1903.