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FEW families in this country can trace a more authentic record of their European
ancestry than can the Spoffords. The name appears in the Doomsday Book," which is a record of the lands of
England, as parceled out after the conquest, by William, Duke of Normandy, in the year 1066. Gainel, son of Orm,
was Lord of Thorparcb, on the River Thorpe, in Yorkshire, England, and was murdered, in the year 1064, by Earl
Tosti, the Dane. From him the Spoffords of Yorkshire were descended.
In 1638 John Spofford emigrated to this country from Yorkshire and settled in Massachusetts, and it is from him
that Elmer Pearl Spofford, the subject of this sketch, is lineally descended. He was born in Deer Isle, Me., February
8, 1863. His father was Frederick Pearl Spofford, a prosperous merchant and ship-owner, who died in 1870, leaving
the care and education of the children to the mother.
She educated her son at Westbrook Seminary and by private tutors. He taught school for three years, and then commenced
the study of law in Portland, and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Maine, and the Circuit Court
of the United States for the District of Maine, in April, 1886. He immediately entered upon the practice of his
profession in Portland, where he remained about a year, and then removed to Deer Isle.
In September, 1888, he was elected the State's Attorney for the County of Hancock. He performed the duties of the
office with faithfulness and ability, and in 1890 he was re-elected for a second term by a large majority.
In September, 1892, at the age of twenty-nine years, he was elected a member of the Senate of Maine, from Hancock
County, and took his seat, as the youngest member of that legislative body, the following January. He was appointed
a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs and other important committees, and being a ready speaker and forcible
debater, he at once took an active part in the consideration and discussion of proposed legislation.
His address on the life and character of James G. Blame, delivered before the Senate on the day of Mr. Blame's
funeral, has received wide and favorable comment.
In June, 1887, be was married to Miss Leonora A. Rich, of Boston.
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