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Lilly Martin Spencer Papers
Description: Document deeding property to Giles M. Martin and family in the village of Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, February 24, 1863. Angelique Marie "Lilly" Martin was born in England in 1822 to French parents Gilles Marie Martin and Angelique Le Petit Martin. In 1830, her family left England for New York, where Gilles Martin taught French. The family eventually settled in Marietta, Ohio, three years after arriving to the United States. Spencer was home schooled by her mother and began drawing landscapes and portraits at a young age. She became famous for her domestic scenes, which she was commissioned to paint for housewives and prominent local businessmen in Marietta and later for middle class homes in New York City. During the Civil War, Spencer's work took on a more serious tone and in the later part of the 19th century she began to focus on rural life and detailed landscapes. She studied with Ohio artists Sala Bosworth, Charles Sullivan, and James Beard. Lilly married Benjamin Rush Spencer, an English tailor living in Cincinnati, soon after meeting him in 1844. The couple had 13 children, seven of whom survived. In 1848, the family moved to New York City, where Lilly showed her work at the National Academy of Design and the American Art-Union. Despite her popularity, she did not get enough commissions to support her family and began experimenting with lithographs, eventually becoming one of the most popular producers in New York City. After a brief time in New Jersey, the family moved to a farm in Highland, New York, in 1879, where they lived until Benjamin Spencer died in 1890. Lilly Martin Spencer continued her art career until her death on May 22, 1902. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MSS972_B01F13_01
Subjects: Spencer, Lilly Martin, 1822-1902; Multicultural Ohio--Ohio Women; Art, American--Ohio; Artists; Land settlement--Ohio; Deeds;
Places: Warren (Ohio); Trumbull County (Ohio)