He attended Suffield Academy and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1893.

[3] He worked in Windsor Locks for the J. R. Montgomery Company, a textile manufacturing firm, from 1893 to 1900.

[5] Spencer was a lifelong resident of Suffield and served as the town treasurer for 33 years starting in 1900.

[3][4] Spencer was a long-time trustee (1933–1949) and chair of the board (1943–1949) of the University of Connecticut.

Spencer planted about a thousand oak and maple trees along Suffield highways.