Tombstone Tuesday - Grandma Spurlock 1800-1908

This is the grave marker for Ellender (Vickers) Spurlock, my paternal 2^nd great-grandmother.

Digital image. Copyright Denise Spurlock. 2011.

GRANDMA SPURLOCK

1800-1908

As with the markers for Frances Spurlock Miller and SarahSpurlock Duncan (Ransom and Ellender Spurlock’s oldest daughters), I believe the dates on this gravestone are incorrect.

Ellender is first enumerated by name on the 1850 census; she is recorded as being 29 years of age indicating she was born in either 1819 or 1820. On the 1900 census, the enumerator recorded her birthdate as 1 January 1817. (For some reason the enumerator recorded full birthdates for about half the individuals on the page, the others have just the month and year of birth.)

In my database, I have her date of birth recorded as 30 December 1820; that fact is not sourced (likely something I was told as a newbie genealogist many years ago—the information probably came from a family member). I also have a recorded death date of 11 November 1906, also unsourced. [Note to self: clean up database!]

Ellender and her two oldest daughters are buried in the same cemetery; their gravestones are very similar. It is likely that the markers were made some years after the deaths of all three women. The individual who gave the information to be put on the stones could not have had firsthand knowledge of Ellender’s birthdate and may have been relying on memory for the date of her death resulting in inaccurate information.

© 2011 Denise Spurlock