Edward Falles Spence

Edward Fallis Spence (December 22, 1832 – September 19, 1892) was a banker, entrepreneur and property developer who was a member of the California legislature, a Nevada County official and the mayor of Los Angeles from 1884 to 1886.

Personal Spence was born on December 22, 1832, in Enniskillen, Ireland, the son of Gabriel Spence. He was educated there by private tutors, and at the age of 20 he emigrated to America and worked on a farm near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for several months, then shipped to California via the Nicaragua route, arriving in San Francisco in December 1852. He spent some twenty years in Northern California and Nevada, settling in San Jose, California.

After some years spent in San Jose and San Diego, he returned to Ireland in 1872, where he married his second wife, Anna Maria Spence, who was from Five Mile Town, County Tyrone, Ireland. He returned with his bride to the newly established Monrovia. Together they had four children, William Glenn, George Edward, Albert Harry and Kathleen. near Ninth Street, in today's Westlake district, Los Angeles. He was 59 years old. The September 22 obsequies, which began in the family home on Burlington Avenue, were said to be "in point of attendance one of the largest ever held in this city" and the funeral procession to Evergreen Cemetery "one of the largest ever witnessed."

Vocation Spence gained his knowledge of business affairs through assisting his father in the management of the family's large farming tracts and herds of cattle in Ireland. He engaged in mining In Northern California and Nevada, but in San Jose he "controlled an extensive drug business" and then switched to banking. As well, he was one of the organizers of the Commercial Bank of San Diego. and was later the treasurer of that county.

On December 5, 1879, Spence was elected to represent the 3rd Ward on the Los Angeles Common Council, the legislative branch of the city government, and he served until December 10, 1881.

He was mayor of the city from December 9, 1884, to December 14, 1886, and under his mayoralty the city reorganized the Police Department and the Fire Department and placed all the personnel on salary. In his final year as mayor, the city retired its last zanja, or open fresh-water ditch. which was then called Methodist College, and he was on its board of directors. Another source said that Spence had agreed to give the cash sum of $50,000 to fund the telescope project,

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