Samuel Bemis, the second settler of Spencer and grandson of Joseph Bemis, who came from England and settled at Watertown in 1640, built a log cabin near this site in 1721 and later the first framed house in town. A man of courage, fortitude, and fidelity, he acquired a handsome estate through industry and reared a family of eight children whose numerous descendants bore an honorable part in the town's history. For his virtues and for helping lay the foundation of a prosperous community, he and his wife, Sarah Barnard, were held in grateful remembrance by their descendants. Samuel Bemis died in 1776 at age 84 and was buried in the old cemetery, where his headstone still bears an inscription honoring the rude forefathers who came where only beasts of prey or men as wild and fierce as they dwelt and built towns and cities there.