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

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

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

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

Wordless Wednesday - Love is in the Air #3

Digital image. Original held by Deanna Golden, [ADDRESS WITHHELD FOR
PRIVACY], Portland, Oregon, 2012.

Gloria Jane Spurlock and

Donald Dale Chaney

(my sister and brother-in-law)

20 October 1956

Huntington Park, Los Angeles County, California

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Treasure Chest Thursday - Gram's Wedding Announcement

In her scrapbook, my grandmother Mamie Olive (Martindale) Spurlock pasted the following newspaper announcement regarding her marriage to Jasper Jackson Spurlock in November 1905:

 

I am grateful that Gram saved it because, other than the 1910 federal census on which my grandparents are enumerated as a married couple and an entry in a marriage index for Nacogdoches County, Texas, there is no other record of their marriage.

But why did she save it? My grandfather abandoned her shortly after the birth of their fourth child (my dad) in 1912, and never returned. I have not found a record of a divorce nor a second marriage, but my grandfather was enumerated in 1930 and 1940 with another woman as his wife. He died in 1940.

My oldest sister Jane told me that Gram believed he would return to her one day. Gram never remarried and saved this newspaper clipping for 60+ years. A sad ending to what started as "one of the prettiest weddings of the season."


© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Amanuensis Monday - Kilpatrick-Owens Indenture 1888

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.


Today I'm publishing the transcription of an indenture between Emily C. Kilpatrick and H.T. Owens (one of my paternal 2nd great-grandfathers) recorded in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, in 1888. The seller, Emily Coleman (Morgan) Kilpatrick was the mother of William Thomas Kilpatrick, husband of my paternal great-grand-aunt Mary Ann Spurlock.

The actual date of the sale of this property is unclear. The indenture says it was sold 22 December 1888, but the clerk's statement at the bottom says it was recorded 15 October 1888. Perhaps it was sold in December 1887 and not recorded until October of the following year. There is no way to know when the sale took place without having the actual original deed.

“State of Louisiana   )

Parish of Bienville     )

This Indenter [sic] maid [sic] and entered into on this the 22nd day of December one thousand Eight hundred and eighty eight between Emily C. Kilpatrick of the first part and H. T. Owens of the second part in witness whereof I the said Emily C. Kilpatrick for and in consideration of the sum of Two hundred and fifty Dollars the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged before the sealing and signing of these presents I the said Emily C. Kilpatrick has this day bargained and sold unto the [said] H. T. Owens, all my rights, titles and interest in and unto the following described lands to wit. The South West qua[r]ter of the South East qua[r]ter and the North East qua[r]ter of the South West qua[r]ter and the west half of the North West qua[r]ter of the south east qua[r]ter Section five Township No. Eighteen of Range No. five West containing one hundred acres more or less to have and to hold the ab[?] bargained premises and I the said Emily C. Kilpatrick do warrant and forever defend [?] titles and claims from myself my heirs executors administrators and all other persons unto the said H.T. Owens his heirs, executors and administrators to have and to hold the above bargained premises with all [?] teniments {?] and appartainances In witness whair [sic] of I do hereunto set my hand  and seal in the presence of these witnesses.

                                                                                    Emily C. Kilpatrick

Attest  Isaac Miller                                                    H. T. Owens

            M. A. Miller

I hereby certify the above and foregoing is a true and correct record of original deed This Oct 15^th 1888.

                                                                                    J C Thuss

                                                                                    Dy CDC & Ex Of Recorder[?]”

Source: Bienville Parish, Louisiana, Conveyance Records, 1848-1900, AA: 704, Kilpatrick-Owens indenture, 15 Oct 1888; FHL microfilm 266,016.

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Surname Saturday - Ancestors #34 and #35 - Parents of Ellender VICKERS

Ancestors #34 and #35 are the parents of my paternal 2nd great-grandmother Ellender Vickers.

Ellender married Ransom Spurlock reportedly in Barbour County, Alabama, in 1836. There were numerous Vickers families in southeast Alabama/southwest Georgia/northwest Florida in this general time period, but I have not been able to place Ellender in any of these families.

The clues I have to the possible identity of Ellender's parents are:

1. In the 1850 federal census, there is a Vickers family enumerated two visits away from Ransom and Ellender (Vickers) Spurlock in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. The head of the household is Elleonder Vickers, age 68, female, no occupation, born in Georgia. Also in the household are Green Vickers (23, male, farmer, born in Georgia), Louisa Vickers (21, female, born in Georgia), Joshua Vickers (41, male, laborer, born in Georgia), and Jane Vickers (20, female, born in Georgia).
2. In the 1840 federal census, Joshua Vickers is enumerated in Hinds County, Mississippi, as the head of household of a family two visits away from Ransom Spurlock. The enumeration includes 1 male age 10-15, 1 male age 20-30, 1 female age 10-15, and 1 female age 50-60. This seems to be the same family as the one in Louisiana in 1850. A marriage record for a Joshua Vickers and Nancy Jane Thompson is found in Hinds County, Mississippi, in 1846.

It is possible that this Elleonder Vickers is Ellender Vickers Spurlock's mother and that Joshua is her brother. Green and Louisa are likely also Ellender Vickers Spurlock's siblings, but they could be Joshua Vicker's children from a marriage prior to his 1846 marriage to Nancy Jane Thompson. Ransom and Ellender (Vickers) Spurlock used the given names Green and Joshua when naming sons: first son was named William Green and last son was named James Joshua.

I have not been able to identify these Vickers in any other records after 1850.

Years ago, I was told that Ellender Vickers Spurlock's mother was a Smith before her marriage. I have not been able to find a record of an Ellender Smith who married a Vickers.

Lot of work is needed on this brick wall....

© 2013 Denise Spurlock