Beyond Fiction

Today, I will take a look at the last two U. S. Census records for Gideon Spangler. The reason for this is because there isn’t that much information on these two censuses. Of course, that doesn’t mean that they don’t bring new questions!

1860 U. S. Federal Census

In the 1860 census, Gideon is still living in Alabama. He is in the Third District, Cherokee County, Alabama. Here is a list of the individuals living in Gideon’s household at that time:

• Gideon Spangler – 66 – Farmer
• Barbara Spangler – 63 – Domestic
• Joel Spangler – 25 – Farming
• Elizabeth Spangler – 24 – Domestic
• Catherine Spangler – 3 -
• John C. Clayton – 22 – ??? -

There are two things that need to be taken note of here. First, there is a new child to add to my tree. Her name is Catherine! My cousin has her listed as Gideon’s child but I am curious about that. She’s only 3 so that would mean that Gideon was 63 when she was born and her mother would have been 60!

I’m thinking, just out of pure logic, that this is probably Elizabeth’s child. Of course, for this to be true would mean that Elizabeth had the child out of wedlock and that would be unheard of in these days! Of course, if this was true, then it would explain why Elizabeth, as far as I can tell, never got married.

The one other addition is a John C. Clayton. I can’t make out what his occupation is. Maybe someone with better abilities than me can make it out. It looks like “Day ?” Here is a pic of it:

1870 U. S. Federal Census

In the 1870 Census, Gideon is found living in Township 9, District 8 of Cherokee County, Alabama. The post office location is Sand Rock. Here are the people listed in his household:

• Gideon Spangler – 75 – Farmer
• Barbara Spangler – 70 – Keeping Home
• Elizabeth Spangler – 40 -
• Catherine Spangler – 14 -

So Joel has now moved off and the John Clayton that was living there in the 1860 census has moved on. Could the Civil War have had something to do with that? Was this John Clayton somehow connected to Elizabeth Spangler?

SUMMARY:

I know that the last few posts have not brought a ton of information on Gideon Spangler, but I hope they have given you a glimpse of what I have on him. I’ve added new children to his tree but still have little information that will bring me closer to their identities.

I do feel that I have gained a new insight into Gideon by these posts. I am very hopeful that my posts will reach out to someone who may be able to help me to get further in my research.

I still have the 35 page U. S. Southern Claims file to go through and transcribe so I am not closing this series. I am just temporarily pausing it while I gather new information.

Look for more on this in the future!

Ken

Today, we get a chance to actually see more names associated with Gideon. This should give a little insight into him.

Let’s look at the 1850 U. S. Census for Gideon Spangler:

First off, Gideon is no longer living in Virginia. We now find him in District 26, Cherokee County, Alabama. He is listed with his wife, Barbara and 4 children – Isaac, Elizabeth, Jacob and Joel.

Gideon and his children show to be born in Virginia while his wife, Barbara, shows to be born in North Carolina. This is consistent with what I found on my cousin’s site. With this census, we have the ages of the members of the household so we should be able to approximate the year of birth. Here’s how I read it:

• Gideon 48 – Birth year of 1802
• Barbara – 45 – Birth year of 1805
• Isaac – 18 – Birth year of 1832
• Elizabeth – 17 -Birth year of 1833
• Jacob – 15 – Birth year of 1835
• Joel – 13 – Birth year of 1837

Armed with this information, I now have a few other names I can research. Of course, these names are what my cousin had but, until now, I haven’t focused on them as I hadn’t proven the information yet.

We also find that living right next door to Gideon is a Nathan Spangler. This would be my 2x-great-grandfather, one of Gideon’s oldest children. The 5-year old son listed, James, is my great-grandfather. So, on this one Census page alone I have 3 generations showing!

There is also a Sophie Spangler listed in District 26, Cherokee County, Alabama. This is interesting because she is listed as being born in North Carolina in 1807 and is living with an 11-year old daughter named Elizabeth. Could it be that this is Barbara’s sister who might have married one of Gideon’s brothers and something happened to her husband? Just a curious thing to look in to.

One other note is that there are no other people on this page showing to have been born in Virginia except for at the top of the page. Unfortunately, the last name on the bottom of the previous page is unable to be read so we don’t know if this would be part of Gideon’s family or not! The wife being 23-years old might mean it could possibly be one of Gideon’s family but we really don’t know! Just me pondering a question while I am writing.

One last thing before I go. Let’s compare this household to what I found in the 1840 U. S. Census. In 1840 we had two males under 5, so Jacob and Joel would fit that part. We had one male  aged 5 thru 9, Isaac fits that part. There were two females listed aged 5 thru 9, Elizabeth fits the part of one of them and the other is probably married by now. So, as far as the comparison goes, it fits well. I always like to try to confirm this when I am moving away from one state to another.

That’s it for today. I’ll try to cover the 1860 U. S. Census on my next post!