Wordless Wednesday - Harold Rudolph Spurlock

Harold Rudolph Spurlock

1928-1982

(my half-first cousin, once removed)

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Wordless Wednesday - Virginia Faye Spurlock

Virginia Faye Spurlock

1936 - 2001

(my half-first cousin, once removed)

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - How Many Children/Grandchildren in Your Birth Surname Line?

Randy Seaver of GeneaMusings.com has provided this exercise for this week’s fun:

1. Consider your Birth Surname families - the ones from your father back through his father all the way back to the first of that surname in your family group sheets or genealogy database.  List the father's name, and lifespan years.
2. Use your paper charts or genealogy software program to create a Descendants chart (dropline or graphical) that provide the children and their children (i.e., up to the grandchildren of each father in the surname list).
3. Count how many children they had (with all spouses), and the children of those children in your records and/or database.  Add those numbers to the list.  See my example below!  [Note: Do not count the spouses of the children]
4. What does this list of children and grandchildren tell you about these persons in your birth surname line?  Does this task indicate areas that you need to do more research to fill out families and find potential cousins?
5. Tell us about it in your own blog post, or in a comment to this post, or in a comment on Facebook or Google+.

Here's my Spurlock line!

Ransom Spurlock (1807-1896) had 10 children and 62 grandchildren

• Three children had no offspring
• One child had 19 children
• Remaining six children had an average of just over seven children each

John F. Spurlock (1850-1945)

John Fedrick Spurlock (1850-1945) had 19 children and 63 grandchildren

• Two children did not live to adulthood
• Remaining children averaged 3.7 children each

Jasper Jackson Spurlock, Sr. (1876-1940) had 4 children and 7 grandchildren

• One son had no children
• Other three children had an average of 2.3 children
• Other two sons had only daughters

Jasper Jackson Spurlock, Jr. (1912-1978) had 3 daughters and 7 grandchildren

• Three daughters had an average of 2.3 children

With the exception of my great-grandfather John F. Spurlock, family size seems to be about average for the time periods in which each man lived.

I have researched my Spurlock lines fairly well. Several of Ransom's children died before their children reached adulthood; widows remarried and information is scarce on a couple of the families. I continue to conduct descendancy research on a fairly regular basis, picking up bits and pieces of information about the collateral families.

My father had only daughters, so my own Spurlock line has "daughtered out" with no male children to carry the surname forward.

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Wordless Wednesday - Edward Harold Crawley

Edward Harold Crawley

1908 - 2004

(my first cousin, once removed)

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Semi-Random Research

Randy Seaver, of Geneamusings.com, has provided the following mission for this week’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:

1. We're going to do a little bit of Semi-Random Research tonight...what is your first name? [This is the easy part!]
2. Go to your family tree database of choice (you know, like RootsMagic, Reunion, Ancestry Member Tree), and determine who the first person in your alphabetical name index is with a surname starting with the first two letters of your first name (e.g., my first name is RAndall, so I'm looking for the first person with a surname starting with RA).  [If there are no surnames with those first two letters, take the surname after that letter combination.]
3. What do you know about this person based on your research?  It's OK to do more if you need to - in fact, it's encouraged!
4. How are you related to this person, and why is s/he in your family tree?
5. Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook Status post or Google+ Stream post.

This semi-random research mission has provided me with source citations for information in my genealogy database. Here's how I got them!

1. My given name is Denise.
2. The first person in my database with a surname beginning with “De” is John Richard Dean, born on 29 May 1865 in Arkansas, and died 5 March 1956 in Polk County, Missouri. I am not related to this individual; according to my database, he was the husband of my 2^nd cousin 4 times removed Mary Isabella Hammontree.
3. Since there are no sources listed for any of the information about John Richard Dean or Mary Isabella Hammontree, it’s clear that I entered this information as a “newbie genealogist” before I realized the need for accurate source citations.
4. I did find a photograph of John and Mary’s grave marker on Findagrave which includes full dates of birth and death for each of them.
5. I did not locate a record to verify their marriage on 26 November 1886 in Greene County, Missouri. However, I did find a census record for John R. Dean in the 1900 census with his wife Belle and four children. The birth information for John and Belle is consistent with the information on the tombstones; the enumerator noted that they had been married 14 years which is consistent for an 1886 marriage.
6. My genealogy database now includes the source citations for the information found! Yay!

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Wordless Wednesday - Jewell Florance Spurlock

Jewell Florance Spurlock

1915-1997

(my grandfather's half-sister)

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Wordless Wednesday - Gus Hobson Spurlock

Gus Hobson Spurlock

1899-1968

(my grandfather's half-brother)

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Spin the Ancestor Roulette Wheel!

Yesterday Randy Seaver of Geneamusings.com posted an “Ahnentafel Roulette” challenge for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun; the mission this week:

1. What year was one of your great-grandmothers born?  Divide this number by 125 (use a calculator!) and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."
2. Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an "ahnentafel" - your software will create this - use the "Ahnentafel List" option, or similar). Who is that person, and what are his/her vital information?
3. Tell us three to five facts about that person in your ancestral name list with the "roulette number."
4. Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook status or a Google Stream post, or as a comment on this blog post.
5. NOTE:  If you do not have a person's name for your "roulette number" then "spin" the wheel again - pick another great-grandmother, a grandfather, a parent, a favorite aunt or cousin, yourself, or even your children!

I love playing Ahnentafel Roulette, so even though I’m a day late, here’s my submission:

My paternal great-grandmother Sarah Belle Forshee was born in 1856. Her birth year divided by 125 is 14.848, rounded up to 15.

On my pedigree chart, #15 is my maternal great-grandmother Ruth Franklin.

• Ruth Franklin was born 12 March 1851 in Ohio, probably Union County, the eldest child of Joseph Franklin and Rhoda Cary, and died 28 August 1914, in Parsons, Labette County, Kansas. She married David A. Snider on 5 January 1871 in Union County, Ohio.
• Ruth had eleven children—nine sons and two daughters. Her eldest daughter, Myrtle Arminta Snider, was my grandmother.
• Ruth and David moved from Ohio to Kansas in 1880. They were enumerated in the census in Leesburg Township, Union County, Ohio, on 17 June 1880, but their fifth child Byron Lee was born in November 1880 in Kansas.
• Ruth was the great-granddaughter of Luther Cary, a soldier in the Revolutionary War; it is through this line that I joined the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.
• Ruth (Franklin) Snider shared her mitochondrial DNA with her daughter Myrtle (Snider) Yawman (my grandmother), her granddaughter Beaulah (Yawman) Sherrell Spurlock (my mother), and me and my sisters, Deanna and Jennifer. I had only a son, but her mitochondrial DNA continues down to the daughters and granddaughters of Deanna and Jennifer.

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Wordless Wednesday - W. T. Spurlock and Lewis Butler

Digital image. Original photograph held by Cheryl Chaney Beaver, [ADDRESS
WITHHELD FOR PRIVACY], Lone Grove, Oklahoma, 2011.

From Mamie Olive (Martindale) Spurlock's Scrapbook,

her oldest son,

William Taft Spurlock (1908-1974)

with his stepson Lewis Butler (1937-2012)

c1942

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – A 100 Word Genealogy Challenge

Randy Seaver of GeneaMusings has come up with another great challenge:

1. This SNGF is based on the 100 Word Challenge (http://100wc.net/) that school children are participating in around the world.  They are given a word or phrase to write a story about in one hundred words.
2. Write a short 100 word story using the phrase ",,,the most interesting ancestor I have..." in 100 words.  [Hint:  If you write it in a word processor, you can use Tools > Word Count (or similar) to count words]
3. Share the story with all of us by writing your own blog post, writing a comment on this blog post, or put it in a Google Plus Stream or Facebook Status or Note.  Please leave a comment on this post so others can find it.

For this exercise, I am going to choose Rhoda (Cary) Franklin as my most interesting ancestor. One of my maternal 2nd great-grandmothers, she was the daughter of Ephraim and Matilda (Gandy) Cary. She was born probably 9 January 1833 in Union County, Ohio. At the age of 16, she married Joseph Franklin. Rhoda and Joseph had five children who lived to adulthood. Rhoda was institutionalized in 1870 for what was described as “melancholia from the death of a child.” She was released two years later. I have never been able to find a death date or burial location for her.

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Wordless Wednesday - Abie

Digital image. Original photograph held by Cheryl Chaney Beaver, [ADDRESS
WITHHELD FOR PRIVACY], Lone Grove, Oklahoma, 2011.

From Mamie Olive (Martindale) Spurlock's Scrapbook:

her middle son, my uncle,

Arthur Bryant Spurlock (1911-1951)

c1940

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - The Rivers of my Ohio Ancestors

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings has presented a map-based challenge for this week's edition of Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. The mission this week is to: 

1)  I posted The"Rivers of America" Map yesterday, and demonstrated how to find the downstream course of a river in the United States, or the upstream watershed area of a river.  Please refer to that blog post. 2)  This week, your Saturday Night Genealogy Fun mission is to make a map using the National Atlas map (at http://nationalatlas.gov/streamer/Streamer/streamer.html) showing the downstream course of a river that one of your ancestors may have traveled on.  What does it tell you?  What did you learn?  Did they live at other places on that river, or downstream of that river?
 3)  Tell us about it in a blog post of your own (please show us the map you created - use an image snipping tool or take a screen shot), or make a comment here on this post, or write a Facebook status or a Google+ stream post. 

Some of my maternal ancestors—the Gandy, Cary, Franklin, and Snider families—settled along Bokes Creek in Union County, Ohio. Here is the map of the downstream trace:

I was a little surprised to learn the outlet for Bokes Creek is the Gulf of Mexico.

The site allows you to generate a stream trace detail report with lots of interesting information about where the trace travels along its route. Here is some of that data for Bokes Creek:

The Snider family migrated from Ohio to Kansas in the late 1800s. It is possible that they traveled the Ohio River on their journey west.

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Wordless Wednesday - Maude Alberti (Martindale) Thompson and Children

Digital image. Original photograph held by Cheryl Beaver Chaney, [ADDRESS
WITHHELD FOR PRIVACY], Lone Grove, Oklahoma, 2011.

From Mamie Olive (Martindale) Spurlock's Scrapbook,

her older sister and her children,

Maude Alberti (Martindale) Thompson, Walter Ivan,

Edwin Albert, Verna Mildred, and Maymie Kathleen

circa 1910

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Amanuensis Monday - 1880 Deed - M.D.L. Spurlock to S.V. Harrell - Claiborne Parish, Louisiana

On his TransylvanianDutch blog, John Newmark defines an amanuensis as “a person employed to write out what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.” For more information about this daily blogging prompt, see John’s post Amanuensis – Why?.

I have amassed quite a collection of scans of handwritten documents related to my ancestors—primarily marriage records, deeds, and wills. As I have been transcribing these documents, it occurred to me that most of these documents were not actually written by my ancestors, but rather dictated to someone else, and then transcribed by a clerk into official records.

M.D.L. (Marcus D. Lafayette) Spurlock was the oldest son of Ransom and Ellender (Vickers) Spurlock to survive the Civil War. From the records  it appears he was a party to numerous land transactions in the years following the war. In this deed, he sells 80 acres to Miss S. V. Harrell. There were several Harrell families in the 1880 census in Bienville and Claiborne parishes, but I have not been able to identify this particular Harrell woman.

Here is my transcription as well as an image of the deed as it appears in the Claiborne Parish record books:

“M. D. Spurlock

DEED TO

S. V. Harrell

Filed Nov. 23/80

State of Louisiana     )

                                    (

Parish of Claiborne   )

August 12, 1880. Know all men by these presents that I, M.D.L. Spurlock, of the parish and state aforesaid in and for consideration of the sum of three hundred dollars have this the 12 day of August bargained, sold, transfered and delivered and do by these presents bargain, sell, transfer and deliver to Miss S. V. Harrell a certain piece of land known and described as, to wit:

The North half of the North East quarter of Section 25 of Township 19 North of Range 6 West, containing 80 acres more or less

The said S. V. Harrell to have and to hold the same forever.

Attest signed:                                                             Signed:

            John Vanhooser                                                        M. D. L. Spurlock

            W. M. Lugner

State of Louisiana     )

Parish of Claiborne   }

Before me, the undersigned authority came and appeared John VanHooser who on oath deposes that the maker of this deed signed the same on the day it bears date for the purposes there stated.

                                                                                    Signed:           John VanHooser

Sworn to and subscribed before me Nov. 23, 1880.                      J. R. Ramsey, Dy.Clk.D.C.

A true record Nov. 23, 1880                                                             J. R. Ramsey, Dy.Clk.D.C.”

Source: Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, Conveyance Records, M: 125, M.D.L. Spurlock to S. V. Harrell, 

23 Nov 1880; FHL microfilm 265,983.  

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – The Date My Father Was Born

Randy Seaver of GeneaMusings has issued the following  mission for this week:

1)  What day of the week was your Father born? Tell us how you found out.

2) What has happened in recorded history on your Father's birth date (day and month)? Tell us how you found out, and list five events.

3)  What famous people have been born on your Father's birth date?  Tell us how you found out, and list five of them.

4)  Put your responses in your own blog post, in a comment on this blog post, or in a status or comment on Facebook.

My father, Jasper Jackson Spurlock, Jr., was born on 12 March 1912 in Jacksonville, Cherokee County, Texas.

He was born on a Tuesday. To find out, I used the Genealogy & History Research Assistant app that I have on my phone.

To answer the next question, I googled “March 12 in history” and selected the second result which took me to HistoryOrb.com. The site listed 182 historical events. After perusing the list, I selected the following:

·         1959 – The U.S. Congress approves Hawaii statehood
·         1894 – In Vicksburg, Mississippi, Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time
·         1860 – Congress accepts preemption bill – free land in the West for colonists
·         1755 – First steam engine in America installed to pump water from a mine
·         1664 – First naturalization act in American colonies

The same site listed 284 famous birthdays on March 12 including the following individuals who were born in the same year as  my father:

·         1912 - James McKay, lord provost of Edinburgh
·         1912 - Kylie Tennant, novelist (Battlers, Lost Haven)
·         1912 - Paul Weston, Springfield Mass, orchestra leader (Jim Nabors Hour)
·         1912 - Irving Layton, Canadian poet (d. 2006)

To round out the list of birthdays, I would include the Girl Scouts who were founded on March 12, 1912. Because they shared the same “birthday,” Daddy always thought he should be named an honorary Girl Scout!

[Source: “This Day in History for 12^th March,” HistoryOrb.com (http://www.historyorb.com/day/march/12 : accessed 13 July 2013)]

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Wordless Wednesday - A. B. Martindale's Sons

Digital image. Original photograph held by Cheryl Chaney Beaver, [ADDRESS
WITHHELD FOR PRIVACY], Lone Grove, Oklahoma, 2011.

From Mamie Olive (Martindale) Spurlock's Scrapbook,

her three brothers:

Robert Ellis Martindale (1875-1946)

Arthur Bryant Martindale (1887-1961)

Walter Ivan Martindale (1883-1958)

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Amanuensis Monday - Marriage Documents for Isaac Eaton and Phoebe Hall - 1768

On his TransylvanianDutch blog, John Newmark defines an amanuensis as “a person employed to write out what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.” For more information about this daily blogging prompt, see John’s post Amanuensis – Why?.

I have amassed quite a collection of scans of handwritten documents related to my ancestors—primarily marriage records, deeds, and wills. As I have been transcribing these documents, it occurred to me that most of these documents were not actually written by my ancestors, but rather dictated to someone else, and then transcribed by a clerk into official records.

Last week I posted the will of Samuel Hall, my 6th great-grandfather. That document provided me with the given name of his wife and the names of two sons. 

This week I am sharing the consent that Samuel signed to permit his daughter Pheobe Hall to marry Isaac Eaton, along with the marriage bond. These documents, now 245 years old, were probably at least 200 years old when they were microfilmed.

The consent reads:

            “Mr. John Froobek liveing in North Carolina in Roan County

I send these few lines to you to Seartify[?] you that I am satisfied that the be[?] hear of Isaac Eaton shall have my dater [daughter] faby [Phoebe] hall to wed [three smeared words] and if you will  [smear] grant him lisens [license] for the same you will oblige me Samuel hall

                        Deted Novenber [sic] 27, 1768”

Source: North Carolina, Rowan County, Marriage records, consent of Samuel Hall,
 Isaac Eaton-Faby (Phoebe) Hall, 27 Nov 1768;
digital images, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 2011 Nov 26).

And here's the bond:

“Isaac Eaton  }

    to                 }

Pheoby Hall   }

Marige Bond.

dated 27^th Nov. 1768

[reverse side]

Seald & deliverd        }           Isaac Eaton

in the Presence of      }             Wm M^cConnell

John Frobock                                      George Gray.”

Source: North Carolina, Rowan County, Marriage records, 

bond, Isaac Eaton, 27 Nov 1768; 

digital images, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org: accessed 2011 Nov 26).

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Wordless Wednesday - House at Williamsville

Digital image. Original held by Cheryl Chaney Beaver, [ADDRESS WITHHELD
FOR PRIVACY], Lone Grove, Oklahoma, 2011.

From Mamie Olive (Martindale) Spurlock's Scrapbook,

labeled "House at Williamsville"

A. B. Martindale and his family lived at Williamsvillle, Missouri, 

in the late 1880s to the early 1890s.

I am not sure when this photograph was taken.

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Amanuensis Monday - Samuel Hall, Rowan County, NC - Will 1793

On his TransylvanianDutch blog, John Newmark defines an amanuensis as “a person employed to write out what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.” For more information about this daily blogging prompt, see John’s post Amanuensis – Why?.

I have amassed quite a collection of scans of handwritten documents related to my ancestors—primarily marriage records, deeds, and wills. As I have been transcribing these documents, it occurred to me that most of these documents were not actually written by my ancestors, but rather dictated to someone else, and then transcribed by a clerk into official records.


Samuel Hall, my paternal 6th great-grandfather, wrote his will on 20 February 1793 in Rowan County, North Carolina. In it, he names his wife Elizabeth and two sons, Abraham and George. He names no daughters although he had at least one, my 5th great grandmother, Phoebe Hall, who married Isaac Eaton.

I found two provisions in his will especially interesting. The first was that he itemized how much Indian corn, wheat and pork was to be provided each year for his widow Elizabeth. The second was that son Abraham was to receive a cash bequest, either in hard money or trade, and with interest from the date of his death until paid.

Here is my transcription followed by digital images of the will as it appears in the Rowan County records.

“In the name of God Amen! The 20^th Day of February AD 1793. I Samuel Hall of Rowan County & State of N Carolina, farmer. being very frail in body but of perfect mind & memory thanks be given to God; therefore calling to mind the mortality of my body & knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die do make & ordain this my last will & test. that is to say principally & first of all I give & recom[m]end my soul to God, & my body to the earth to be buried in a christian like & decent manner, at the discretion of my executors, not doubting but at the general resurrection I shall receive the same again by the mighty power of God. And as touching such worldly estate wherewith it had pleased God to bless me in this life. I give devise & dispose of the same in the manner & form following.

First I will that all legal demands against my estate be paid of[f] as soon as conveniently it can be done.

Item I give & bequeath unto Elizabeth my dearly beloved wife all my household furniture, together with two cows & one horse creature, & four head of sheep, these to be fed or supported on the plantation at the expence of my beloved son George Hall, who is also to furnish her the said Elizabeth Hall with a comfortable dwelling house, & furnish or provide for her annually twenty five bushels of Indian corn, ten bushels of wheat, & one hundred & fifty pounds of good pork during her widowhood.

Item I also give & bequeath unto my dearly beloved son Abraham Hall the just & full sum of thirty pounds hard money N. Carolina currency, the said sum be paid either in money, or trade at hard money rates, the same to carry interest from the day of my decease, until it is paid.

Item. I also give & bequeath unto my beloved son George Hall all my lands & tenements, the same to be to him, his heirs & assigns for ever. I also, make, constitute, ordain & appoint my beloved sons Abraham Hall, & George Hall the only executors of this my last will & test: And I do hereby utterly disallow, revoke & disannull all & every other former test: wills, legacies, bequeaths & executors by me in any way before this time named, willed, bequeathet, ratifying & confirming this & no other to be my last will & test. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal the day & year above written.

Signed, sealed, published by                                     his

the said test: as his last will & test                Samuel  X   Hall {seal}

in the presence of us.                                                 mark

Isaac Eaton jun.

Jese Willcockson.

John Alexander.”

[Source:  North Carolina, Rowan County Wills, 1789-1807, 3:127, Samuel Hall; digital images, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 20 Nov 2011).]

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Create A Gravestone

Randy Seaver, of GeneaMusings, presented the following challenge for today's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:

Your mission this week, should you decide to accept it, is to: 

1)  Create your own gravestone at http://www.tombstonebuilder.com/.  And/or create one for a relative who doesn't have one, or one for an event or significant issue. 

2)  Share your creation with the genea-sphere in your own blog post, on Facebook or on Google+.  Be sure to drop a link in a comment to this post.

There are several other Gravestone generators online - see: 

• John Chandler's Tombstone Generator (http://www.jjchandler.com/tombstone/) 
• Gravestone Caption Generator (http://www.getgreatcodes.com/generators/grave-generator.php/) 
• Gravestone Generator (http://www.satisfaction.com/gravestone/)

I chose to use the third Gravestone Generator because it seemed to have the most design options.

Since lately I have had difficulty being focused in my genealogy research, I thought the following gravestone might be appropriate!



Gravestone Generator

© 2013 Denise Spurlock