Excerpt from Historical Sketches Relating to Spencer, Mass, Vol. 2: 1902The subject of our sketch is distinguished as the only Spencer man ever elected to the United States Congress. He was the only son of Phineas Jones, a soldier of the Revolution, who came from Charlton and settled about 1786 on the original John Graton farm near what is now known as the Stiles reser voir. The farm was lot number twenty-five as shown on the proprietor's map of Spencer and joined the Leicester line. Mr. Graton was the third settler in town, coming here, it is supposed, in 1723. His farm has been known in recent years as the Ebenezer Proctor place. Here Phineas Jones Jr. Was born, April 18, 1819, the youngest of a family of fourteen children and the only one to develop into sturdy man or womanhood, the others dying in childhood or in the early years of life. Phineas Jones Sr. Not only was a well-to-do farmer, but he also kept hotel. His house was on the old South County road from Worcester to Southbridge and Connecticut bv wav of Leicester center, and before the advent of the railroad, the stage coach and the two four and six horse teams laden with freight dailx going and coming, made life along the route am thing but monotonous and in wide contrast with the quiet and stillness of the present day. It is interesting to note that when this road was first lo cated, according to the original record at the registrv of deeds in Worcester, not a point of compass was given, not a record of distance, simply directions from tree to tree the whole route.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.