Frederick W. Spencer papers

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Frederick W. Spencer was a farmer in Shepherd, Michigan. From at least 1934 to 1938, Will functioned as an oil drilling agent for Phillips Drilling Company of Butler, Pennsylvania. Multiple mid-Michigan counties were explored for oil and gas including Clare, Clinton, Isabella, Gladwin, Gratiot, Ionia, Kent, Mecosta, Missaukee, Montcalm, Newaygo, Ogemaw, Saginaw, Shiawassee, and Washtenaw counties.  Above is an example of one county plat book in his collection. He color coded parts of them and pursued the owners to sell oil and gas drilling rights to Phillips. Here are some examples of various types of records from his collection.

This is one of 3 lists of land owned by Indigenous people that was listed by the US Dept. Of the Interior, Indian Services, as available for lease in 1934, 1936.

Above and below are examples of letters of interest from land owners. Everyone wanted a "Valuable consideration" for access to their land, and this phrase appears on copies of legal documents.




Above is a typical copy of an oil and gas lease. Below is a list of oil well permits from the MI Dept. of Conservation, 1938.


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