William Granville

William Granville Spencer was born at Rouchel Vale in 1858.  We only know fragments of his life. 
Although only 12 years old when his four older brothers acquire Cuttabunda there are references to him travelling to and from Cuttabunda and Rouchel in the 1880’s.
In 1886 he took a Homestead Lease over 10,240 acres  immediately to the east of Cuttabunda. At the same time his younger brother Edward took a similar lease to the adjoining property.
On 6th December 1887 his neice May (Mary Spencer daughter of Thomas Jnr and Rebecca Hooper) wrote in her diary. “Today poor uncle Willie takes his final departure from the Vale. .....poor Miss McGregor will miss her darling very much.” 
Grace McGregor was the teacher at the school located at St Johns Church which was on the Spencer property. In fact the only photograph we have of William is him standing in the back of a photograph of the school yard. 
William and Grace married at Singleton in 1891 and had two children. William died suddenly (reportedly of a heart attack) at Cuttabunda in 1894 before the birth of his second child. He was only 36. 
William is buried at Cuttabunda in an unmarked grave. (Most likely he had a wooden grave marker which has disappeared in the more than 120 years since his death.)
Grace McGregor lived most of her life in Quirindi where she was a teacher and Post Mistress. She died in Griffith in 1942.