So, I said I was going to start going through my genealogy and, in a sense, I have. I must admit that I started to unpack some of my files and I quickly stopped when I realized that I didn’t even know who some of these folks were! Scary trying to pick up your research when it’s been packed up for 2 years!
Anyways, I decided I would check out Family Search and see what was going on there. As usual, I punched in my Dad’s name and did a search to see what I could find. I found a couple of new records that are from a new database, “Texas Birth Records, 1903-1934“. I’m excited to see what I can find in this collection.
When I began looking at what I found, it was quite interesting. I’ve seen a copy of my Father’s Birth Certificate before. I’ve often wondered about it because it looks like it says David Franklin Spangler, Jr. but then the Franklin is scratched out and above it is written “Isaic” and the “Jr.” is also scratched out. I’ve often wondered about how this could be accepted since there were so many alterations to it! Well, according to the original, my Dad’s name was Dave Spangler, Jr. and there were no changes made to it until Oct. 1941 when his dad decided to make a change to it. On that day he changed it to read “David Isaac Spangler” and the addendum was added to the original.
The interesting part is that on the same day there was also a change made to my Aunt’s Birth Certificate. My Aunt Irene is my Dad’s twin sister. Her original Birth Certificate has her as Ora Spangler but on that day in 1941, her father changed it to “Ora Irene Spangler”.
So now I have new questions. What prompted this change? They were both approaching there 13th birthday so maybe that had something to do with it. Did my Dad actually go by “Jr.” until then? Why would they add the “Isaac” and “Irene” to the names? The “Isaac” I can understand as my Great-Grandfather was James Isaic Spangler but where does the “Irene” come in?
There’s only one person I can think of who might possibly know the answer to this. Unfortunately, this isn’t a good time to ask her as she recently lost her daughter and the funeral is today!
I do need to try to contact her though. It’s not earth shattering info but if I do want to seek answers, the window for that is closing!
I’ll write back and let y’all know my results later.
