A native of Dundas, Ontario, Joseph Spencer graduated from McGill in Applied Science in 1874. After postgraduate studies in geology and mineralogy at Gottenberg University (M.A., Ph.D. 1877) and King's College, Halifax (M.A. 1880), Spencer taught at Hamilton Collegiate Institute (1877-1879) and King's College (1880-1882). From 1882 to 1887, he was Professor of geology and mineralogy as well as director of the Museum of Geology and Natural History at the University of Missouri. In 1888 he moved to the University of Georgia, and from 1890 to 1893 combined teaching duties with those of State Geologist. The later part of his career was devoted to independent research.
David Jerome Spence was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1873. He studied architecture at M.I.T and at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He moved to Montreal around 1900 and became a member of l'Association des Architectes de la Province du Québec in 1901. He established architectural firms with Samuel Arnold Finley from 1901-1912, and F. David Mathias from 1937-1952. Between 1940 and 1945, while Mathias was called to war, the firm practised under the name of Spence, Mathias and Burge. He operated an architectural firm under his own name from 1913-1937.
