Surname Saturday – Ancestor #5 – Mamie Olive MARTINDALE

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 grandmother, Mamie Olive MARTINDALE, was born 26 September 1884 in Colmanville, Carter County, Missouri, and died 7 January 1971 in Houston, Harris County, Texas.[1] She was the fourth child of Ambrose B. and Sarah Belle (FORSHEE) MARTINDALE.[2]

She married Jasper Jackson SPURLOCK 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]

Shortly after the birth of their youngest child, her husband left her and headed west. He never returned. Although it is believed that he married again, Mamie never did.

Mamie’s father, A. B. Martindale, died during the influenza epidemic of 1918.[8] Mamie and her children were enumerated in her mother’s household in the 1920 census.[9] Her mother died in 1923.[10]

In 1930, Mamie was enumerated with her three youngest children in Houston, Harris County, Texas. She was employed as a waitress in a school cafeteria.[11] Her oldest child, daughter Dorothy Belle, had married Walter Magee on 31 January 1924.[12]

Mamie is buried in Forest Park Cemetery, Lawndale, Harris County, Texas.[13]

I did not know my grandmother. When I was about 12, we went to Texas to visit family but we spent more time with the family of my dad’s first wife than we did with Gram. When she died in 1971, only my father and sister Jane went to the funeral. I have photocopies of the pages from her scrapbook which show that she was actively involved in church activities. She was apparently an avid reader as she had library cards for both the Houston Public Library and the Corpus Christi Public Library. I believe she had a companion, “Aunt Mary,” with whom she lived in her later years.

Here are some of the things I need to research about my grandmother:

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. 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.
4. Family tradition is that A. B. Martindale gave each of us children property. According to the 1930 census, Gram owned her home at the time, but I have not researched Harris County deeds to see what transactions are recorded.
5. It is possible that there might be more information about her in the records of the various churches with which she was affiliated.
6. I need to interview my cousin Jean to see what she can tell me about Gram.
7. I need to see if I can locate any other of her grandchildren to share information.

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[1] Harris County, Texas, death certificate no. 03613 (1971), Mamie Olive Spurlock; Texas Department of Health, Austin. 

[2] 1900 U.S. census, Nacogdoches County, Texas, population schedule, Justice Precinct 6, enumeration district (ED) 47, sheet 15B, dwelling 265, family 267, household of Bryan Martindale; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 Nov 2009); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623, roll T623_1661. 

[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 (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] Texas State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, death certificate 41191 (1918), A. B. Martindale; digital image, Footnote.com, Texas Death Certificates (http://www.footnote.com/documents/19419207/texas_death_certificates/ : accessed 20 Apr 2010). 

[9] 1920 U.S. census, Harris, Texas, population schedule, Justice Precinct 1, enumeration district (ED) 120, sheet 32A, dwelling 681, family 695, household of Sarah Martindale; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 Dec 2009); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T625, roll T625_1812; Page: 32A; Enumeration District: 120. 

[10] Texas State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, death certificate 4483 (1923), Sarah Belle Martindale; digital image, Footnote.com, Texas Death Certificates (http://www.footnote.com/documents/19419207/texas_death_certificates/ : accessed 2 May 2011).  

[11] 1930 U.S. census, Harris County, Texas, population schedule, Houston, enumeration district (ED) 144, sheet 15A, dwelling 311, family 336, Mamie O. Spurlock; digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 Jan 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T626, roll 2351.

[12] FamilySearch database, Family Search (www.familysearch.org : accessed 24 Aug 2011), Walter Magee-Dorothy Spurlock marriage (1924). 

[13] Harris County, Texas, death certificate no. 03613 (1971), Mamie Olive Spurlock; Texas Department of Health, Austin. 

© 2012 Denise Spurlock