Beyond Fiction

Today, I want to take a moment and talk to you all about the Spangler surname. I’ve not really done a lot of research on my Spangler side but I do know that there are quite a few famous Spangler’s so it is the most logical surname to talk about!

Spangler was originally Spengler and it is of German heritage. It originates in Bavaria, one of the largest and oldest of the German states. Spengler was an occupational surname for metal worker. It derives from the German word spange, a clasp or buckle the sort that a metal worker might make.

I’m not sure how common the Spangler surname is. I don’t run across a lot of Spanglers in the phone books and even in everyday life. I live in the area my father was raised in but you can look in the phone book and there are only like three Spanglers, one of them being me. Of course, if I were in Pennsylvania it might be a different story!

There are quite a few famous folks with the Spangler surname. Some are not ones you would brag about and others I laugh about! My one joke about my surname is that Spanglers make Dum-Dums! (The Spangler Candy Company!) That’s why my children are so goofy!

One of the most infamous is Edmund Spangler, who was convicted of being involved in the Lincoln assassination. He denied all the charges even until the day he died. He left a letter after his death strongly denying ever having been involved. I have not been able to trace him to any of my lines, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t fit in somewhere.

Other famous Spanglers are:
Abraham Spangler who owned the farm where the Battle Of Gettysburg was fought
Oswald Spengler who wrote “The Decline Of The West”
Colonel J. L. Spangler who the city of Spangler, Pennsylvania was named after
James Murray Spangler who invented the vacuum cleaner
Arthur Spangler who began operation of The Spangler Candy Company
Albert Donald Spangler who was a professional baseball player
Earl Spangler who was once president of the Hershey Candy Company
Donald Hays Spangler who had a battleship named after him
C. D. Spangler who was once president of the University Of North Carolina
(this info was taken from The Spangler/Spengler Family Genealogy Page!)
Some or all of these may be related to me but I have yet to prove any of this!

Of course, I must make a passing comment about Randy Seaver. In a recent comment he noted that he was related to the Spanglers in York, Pennsylvania. Perhaps he might be one of the most famous of the Spangler relatives! Once again, I have not been able to trace that portion of my Spangler line.

As you can tell, I have a lot of work to do on this line but it offers a lot of promise of very interesting folks! Heck, all my known relatives are very interesting but I can’t wait to find out more about the rest of the clan!

Don’t forget, next time you see a Dum-Dum (sucker) you can think of me!