Beyond Fiction

I like to try to research my collateral lines in order to find out more about my direct ancestors. For my maternal side it wasn’t all that hard because my grandfather only had 3 sisters and 1 brother and his brother never married! His oldest sister died giving birth to her first child. His next oldest sister’s granddaughter is one of those who helped to get me started in my genealogical journey and his youngest sister is also easy to chronicle as I have been able to stay in touch with her grandson.

My father’s side is a little different story! My paternal grandfather had 8 brothers and 4 sisters! Most of my research on his siblings has been fruitful but there is a couple who have become my biggest brick walls! I’d like to feature one of his brothers today. Maybe someone will happen upon this post and be able to help me out.

The oldest child of James Isaic Spangler and Mary Ellen Deacon was Martin Isaic Spangler. What I know about him I have been able to gather from my cousin who has done some research on the Spangler side. Not a lot is known about him and what I have is mainly gathered from census records. There is quite a bit of information that my cousin has that doesn’t quite match with the census records but I will take the census records at their word and go from there. I am first able to find Martin in the 1870 U. S. Census in Arkansas.

It shows his age at 2, which leads me to assume that he was born in either 1867 or 1868. There’s really nothing more to assume here!

In the 1880 U. S. Census, we find that everything still checks out. His age is given as 12 and that keeps with what the 1870 census gave. Of course, there are numerous siblings added here. Still, there is nothing more to build on!

The 1900 U. S. Census in Texas gives us a lot more information! Here we see that Martin is married and has 4 children. The interesting thing here is that it gives his birth date as January of 1864, which makes him 36 years old. That doesn’t float right with the earlier census information. I wonder why that is? Nonetheless, we have learned a little more about Martin from this census.

The 1910 U. S. Census in Texas is very hard to read. I’ve tried to enhance the image but I have had no luck. From the looks of it, I believe that the age given on this census is 50 years old! Seems like ol’ Martin had a tendency of adding a few years, huh?

The 1920 U. S. Census in Texas shows that Martin is no longer around. I did manage to find his wife, Laura living in Dallas Co., Texas with a couple of the children. I can assume that somewhere between 1910 and 1920 Martin died and that is why he isn’t around anymore. I can, however, determine that one of his daughters, Dora, married someone named Neal as her last name is Neal and she has a son named Neal! I don’t know why her husband isn’t listed her though.

The 1930 U. S. Census shows that Laura has now moved to Seminole Co., Oklahoma. She has 3 sons and a daughter-in-law living with her. Another interesting fact is that Laura now shows her age to be 57, compared to 43 in 1920. Isn’t it strange how folks aged on the census? The 57 matches better with her age given in 1900 census when it says she was born in October 1873!

So, there you have it. This is the mystery that is Martin Isaic Spangler. I have been able to ascertain some of his children, a couple of their marriages and at least one grandchild. None of that has given me any leads as to where any of his descendants are now! I have searched many of the Texas databases and found no record of his death. I’ve found no records of Laura’s death. I have no idea what Laura’s maiden name is.

Any ideas on next steps for finding more information?