Thomas Wilson Spence (September 2, 1846 – February 23, 1912) was an Irish American immigrant, lawyer, and politician.

Spence rose to legal prominence in Milwaukee, and died of a heart attack in the chambers of the Wisconsin Supreme Court while making oral arguments.

He emigrated with his family to the United States in the midst of Án Gorta Mór or the Great Famine of 1845–1848.

After completing his common school education, his family relocated to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in 1865.

After graduating, Spence returned to Fond du Lac and began to study law in the office of Coleman & Thorpe.

In 1888, they moved to Milwaukee to expand their practice, and admitted Joseph's brother, Charles Quarles, as a third partner.

Although he had been one of the most active and best known lawyers in Wisconsin, he had not mixed in politics since the days when he practiced in Fond du Lac.

Cornelia was the sixth child of Montgomery Tallmadge and his wife Nancy Ann (née Eastman).

[9] The Tallmadge family was descended from Thomas Talmadge, an English immigrant who came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1631.