William Spencer is sometimes erroneously conflated with William Spence (burgess), another early Virginia colonist who also lived on Jamestown Island. William Spence came to Virginia in the First Supply mission to Jamestown in 1608. Spence was member of the first assembly of the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1619. Spence is sometimes identified as Ensign William Spence or Ensign Spence. He, his wife and his young daughter, Sara, or Sarah, avoided the Indian massacre of 1622, but Spence and his wife were reported "lost" at the census of February 16, 1624. Their daughter was placed with a guardian by the General Court at Jamestown by early 1625.