Beyond Fiction

Wow, I can’t believe that I am still writing about this! It seems that since I posted about this that I’ve just been able to find more and more about the descendants of Martin. Not enough to make contact with anyone yet but I do feel I am getting closer. I just felt it was time to update my finds on this line.

In my last post I detailed about finding some info on his granddaughter Stella and I have posted most of what I found on her and her husband. I reconsidered on posting the articles about the murder-suicide and another article about her son and brother. I just didn’t think it would be appropriate and it wouldn’t win any points if I did ever find any of her descendants. Today, I want to let you all know what I have been able to find on some of Martin’s children, thanks to my research trip to Clarksville, Texas on Friday. Knowing the full names of some of Martin’s children and knowing the birth dates has helped me to get a little closer to seeing this line come to fruition. Here is what I have on the children of Martin Isaic Spangler:

• Nancy Ellen Spangler - this is the actual name of Ella Spangler, the mother of Stella Mae Ferguson. Knowing her full name hasn’t helped yet, but I am hoping to find more on her soon. I do have her birth date now so that may help and I know that she remarried after her husband’s death to someone named Robinson.
• Henry Spangler - Henry is still somewhat of a mystery. I couldn’t find any birth info on him on my research trip so I am still uncertain of him. I did find a marriage for an H. J. Spangler on my trip so I obtained it and I am hoping that it will be him.
• Dora Lee Spangler - Having her complete name, birth date and the name of her husband hasn’t helped much. I still can’t find her in the 1930 census and I can’t find anything about her husband because he used what I suspect is a nickname on the wedding license. I still hold out hope though.
• Eva Spangler - Eva is just like Henry. She is a total mystery. No birth record, no death record, no records of any kind.
• John Carl Spangler - This is one of the ones that I have had some success on thanks to my trip on Friday. Knowing the complete name and birth date helped me to look him up in the SSDI and from there to find him in the death records of Oregon. I even managed to find an article about him arriving in California on the USS Cossatot. I’ve got a request in to RAOGK and hopefully an obituary will give me some more clues.
• Cecil Lolo Spangler - She is still a mystery but at least I have a name for her now. Before I only had Unknown Spangler because I couldn’t make out the writing in the 1910 Census. I believe I had an SSDI hit on her but I am not totally sure yet.
• James J. Spangler - James is the trifecta for Eva and Henry. A total mystery!
• Charles Morris Spangler - Knowing his complete name has led me to find his SSDI record and hopefully I can obtain an obituary through RAOGK to fill in some of the blanks. I do know that he died in Clark County, Indiana now!
• Lonnie Lawrence Spangler - Lonnie is the youngest of Martin’s children and lets me know that Martin was still around in 1913. The SSDI lets me know that Lonnie died in San Bernardino County, California and will hopefully help me to find more about him through an obituary. One nice thing about studying Lonnie has been that I have been able to find his mother’s maiden name through the California Death Records on Ancestry. Now I can call her Laura Luallen instead of Laura (?).

So, there you have it. I’ve gone from having a list of first and last names with no middle names and guesstimates of birth dates to having quite a few full names, birth dates, death dates and some info on the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Martin Isaic Spangler. Quite successful so far and I believe I will be able to find more soon.

Hmm, maybe I should post an article about another elusive ancestor? It seems to help get the old juices flowing and get the info to coming in!

Have a great week everyone!