14 Facts About Spencer Phips

Spencer Phips was a government official in the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

Spencer Phips's father, David Bennett, was a local physician, and his mother Rebecca's sister Mary was married to Sir William Phips, who became the first governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1692.

Spencer Phips graduated from Harvard College in 1703.

Spencer Phips married Elizabeth Hutchinson in 1707, with whom he had eleven children; five, one son and four daughters, survived him.

Spencer Phips entered politics in 1721, winning election to the provincial assembly.

Spencer Phips was appointed to the governor's council that year, and thus did not take the assembly seat.

From 1714 until 1755, Spencer Phips was recorded as owning five slaves: Tobe, Cuffy, Rose, Zillah and James.

Shirley, not expecting his absence to be as long as it was, instructed Spencer Phips to avoid filling vacancies for offices that the governor made appointments for, and that any appointments he made should expire upon Shirley's return.

Spencer Phips implemented currency reforms advocated by Hutchinson to finally settle the province's longstanding problems with inflationary paper currencies.

In 1756, when Acadians who had been resettled in Georgia were found sailing north, apparently intent on returning to Nova Scotia, Spencer Phips again complained to Lawrence that Massachusetts was unable to handle any more Acadians.

Spencer Phips was one of a group of landowners of a large tract of land on the central coast of modern Maine, then part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

The incident divided the leadership of the colony from its citizenry; Spencer Phips sought to maintain peace with the Abenaki, while the local citizenry believed the killings did not merit punishment.

Spencer Phips ordered the construction of Fort Halifax on the Kennebec River, prompting the Abenakis to increase raiding activity.

Spencer Phips was elderly and ill, and died six months after Shirley left for England.