Saturday, January 21, 2012

Surname Saturday – Ancestor #4 – Jasper Jackson SPURLOCK (1876-1940)


One of my goals for 2012 is to use the Surname Saturday blogging prompt as a way to assure that I spend some time researching each of my family lines and that I have appropriate source citations for the genealogical facts related to my ancestors. I’ve decided to use my ahnentafel report and work back through the generations starting with my grandparents, writing a summary of each ancestor. If you discovered this post through a search engine and find one of your ancestors listed here, please leave a comment to let me know.

My grandfather, Jasper Jackson “Jack” SPURLOCK, was born 24 September 1876 in Louisiana and died 19 April 1940 in Los Angeles, California.[1] He was the oldest child of John F. and Dialtha SPURLOCK.[2]

He married Mamie Olive MARTINDALE on 15 November 1905 in Cushing, Nacogdoches County, Texas.[3] Jack and Mamie had four children:

·         Dorothy Belle (1906-1987)[4]
·         William Taft (1908-1974)[5]
·         Arthur Bryant “Otto” (1911-1951)[6]
·         Jasper Jackson “Jack” (1912-1978)[7]

His early years were spent in Claiborne[8] and Bienville[9] parishes in northwestern Louisiana. As an adult, he moved west, first to Texas[10] and then to Arizona.[11]  By 1914, he was in San Diego, California,[12] and by 1930 in Los Angeles.[13]

After learning to repair clocks by watching itinerant repair men, he received additional training as a watchmaker at the Canadian Horological Institute. He was an active member of the California Horological Association, serving on its technical committee.[14] In the spring of 1940, he was elected as Vice President of the association.[15]

Several challenges remain in my research of my grandfather’s life:
  1. Although the index to the Nacogdoches County, Texas, marriage books refers to a record for the Spurlock-Martindale marriage, the actual record does not appear on the Family History Library microfilm nor is it present in the marriage book in the county courthouse.
  2. The newspaper clipping regarding the marriage found in my grandmother’s scrapbook is undated and from an unidentified newspaper. As with the marriage record, I have been unable to locate identifying information for the clipping.
  3. The 1930 census record indicates that my grandfather married a second time after moving to California. I have been unable to locate a marriage record for him and Wilma Camille (maiden name unknown).
  4. I have not searched for a divorce record for my grandparents. The logical places to look are in San Diego and Los Angeles counties in California (where my grandfather lived) or in Harris County, Texas, where my grandmother lived.
  5. I have not researched all records that may be available in the various locations that my grandfather lived. 



[1] Los Angeles, California, death certificate no. 19-442238 (1996), Jasper Jackson Spurlock; County of Los Angeles, Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. 
[2] 1880 U.S. census, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, 6th Ward, enumeration district (ED) 14, p. 30B, dwelling 266, family 301, household of J. F. Spurlock; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 Feb 2010); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T9, roll 451.
[3] Spurlock, Mamie Olive (Martindale), Scrapbook, ca 1950-1970; privately held by Cheryl Anne (Chaney) Beaver, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Lone Grove, Oklahoma. 2010. Photocopy in possession of Denise Spurlock.
[4] "Texas Death Index, 1964-1998," database, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 7 Jan 1912), entry for Dorothy Belle Magee, died 22 September 1987; citing Death Records, Harris County, Texas; Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics, Texas Department of Health, Austin, Texas.
[5] Texas, death certificate no. 82719 (1974), William Taft Spurlock; digital image, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," FamilySearch Record Search (http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/ : accessed 6 Jul 2011).
[6] Texas State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, death certificate 52346 (1951), Arthur Bryant Spurlock; digital image, Footnote.com, Texas Death Certificates (http://www.footnote.com/documents/19419207/texas_death_certificates/ : accessed 15 Jul 2010).
[7] Carter County, Oklahoma, death certificate no. 02625 (1978), Jasper J. Spurlock, Jr; Oklahoma Department of Health, Oklahoma City.
[8] 1880 U.S. census, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, 6th Ward, enumeration district (ED) 14, p. 30B, dwelling 266, family 301, household of J. F. Spurlock; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 Feb 2010); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T9, roll 451.
[9] 1900 U.S. census, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, Police Jury Ward 1, enumeration district (ED) 2, p. 11A, dwelling 180, family 180, household of John F. Spurlock (continued from previous page); digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 Feb 2010); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623, roll 558. 
[10] 1910 U.S. census, Cherokee County, Texas, population schedule, Jacksonville City, enumeration district (ED) 17, sheet 18-B, dwelling 360, family 374, Jasper J. Spurlock; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 Jan 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T624, roll 1538.
[11] Arizona Directory Co., Los Angeles, Phoenix city and Salt River Valley directory, 1913 : containing an alphabetical list of business firms and private citizens of Phoenix, Buckeye, Glendale, Mesa, and Tempe 474, 486; digital images, Ancestry www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 Sep 2011.
[12] "Business Improving; Jewelry Firm Forced To Increase Its Staff," The San Diego Union, 15 April 1914, p. 3, col. 2; digital images, GenealogyBank (www.genealogybank.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).
[13] 1930 U.S. census, Los Angeles County, California, population schedule, Los Angeles, enumeration district (ED) 424, sheet 2A, dwelling 22, family 39, Jasper J. Spurlock; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 Feb 2011); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T626, roll 148.
[14] "Finds Pleasure at the Bench," Horology: The National Magazine for Advancement in Timekeeping, August 1938, 31.
[15] "Horologists, Jewelers End Conventions," The San Diego Union, 1 Mar 1940, p. 13-A, col. 1; digital images, GenealogyBank (www.genealogybank.com : accessed 6 Jan 2012).


© 2012 Denise Spurlock

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