Ara Spence (February 26, 1793 – May 27, 1866)Leslie P. Dryden, ''Dryden Family & Descendants'' (1999), p. 52.''Maryland: A Guide to the Old Line State'' (1976), p. 445. was a justice of the

Maryland Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Maryland (previously the Maryland Court of Appeals) is the highest court of the U.S. state of Maryland. The court, which is composed of one chief justice and six associate justices, meets in the Robert C. Murphy Courts of ...

from 1835 to 1851. Born in

Worcester County, Maryland Worcester County is the easternmost county of the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 52,460. Its county seat is Snow Hill. The county is part of the Lower Eastern Shore region of the state. It is the only cou ...

, Spence married Anna Maria Robins (1798–1827) on September 30, 1818. After her death, Spence remarried to Priscilla Wilson (1813–1837) on February 20, 1833. She was the daughter of Maryland political figure Ephraim King Wilson. After Priscilla's death, Spence remained a widower until his death. Spence owned the Mansion House at Public Landing, where he "spent a long widowerhood... with his servants and numerous cats". Spence was a slaveowner, and one account has him ordering a lazy and impudent slave boy to be thrown in the bay, only to give the boy a reprieve when he objected that he had not yet had breakfast. Spence's will provided for his slaves "to be freed and transported to Liberia following his death".

References

1793 births 1866 deaths People from Worcester County, Maryland American slave owners Judges of the Supreme Court of Maryland {{Maryland-state-judge-stub