Spurlin centenarians and longevity claims

Genealogical databases often give very long lifespans because two people with the same name get merged or a birth year is mis-transcribed. An elderly person's reported age can also differ between censuses, obituaries and gravestones. The claims below are reported as their sources give them, with any census or vital records found so far set beside them.

Andrew Jackson Spurlin (died 1923)

Andrew Jackson Spurlin's WikiTree profile and Find a Grave memorial give his dates as 30 June 1817 – 19 February 1923, which would make him 105.^[1][2] An obituary transcribed on the memorial, from the Grayson Gazette as reprinted in The Landmark (Statesville, North Carolina) of 8 March 1923, gives his birth as 30 June 1816 and his age as 106.^[2] Census transcriptions for Grayson County, Virginia, tell a different story. They record him as 30 years old in 1860 and 39 in 1870, which puts his birth around 1830 and his age at death near 92.^[3][4]

The obituary's other ages are also high. It calls his widow Nancy "now 103," but the 1870 census gave her age as 34. Her Find a Grave memorial, drawing on the 1900 census, dates her birth to June 1835.^[2][4][5] It gives his brother Eli's age as 86, while Eli's memorial dates his birth to 1841, which would have made him 81.^[2][6] For the full record, including his disputed Civil War service and 1911 pension, see the entry on Andrew Jackson Spurlin.

Phoebe Spurlin Moxley (died 1920)

Phoebe Spurlin's Find a Grave memorial gives her birth year as 1816 and her death as 6 November 1920, "aged 103–104." It places her grave in Prathers Creek Cemetery, Laurel Springs, Alleghany County, North Carolina. The memorial calls her a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Jones) Spurlin and says she married William Moxley about 1832.^[7]

Her WikiTree profile was generated automatically from a GEDCOM file. It also uses 1816, but its imported source notes quote records that disagree with one another:^[8]

These records put her age at death anywhere from 96 to 104. The import note on the profile says it found "multiple copies" of her birth date and used 1816.^[8]

Mary Spurlin (claimed 1846–1953)

Mary Spurlin's WikiTree profile gives her birth as 5 December 1846 in Shelby County, Indiana, and her death as 22 February 1953 at Ash Grove ("Ashgrove"), Shelby County, Illinois. That would make her 106. Apart from the FamilySearch Family Tree, its only cited record is an 1850 census entry for a Mary Spurlin in the household of Silas Spurlin in Redding Township, Jackson County, Indiana. It also contains the note "There was no such marriage!"^[9]

The profile names a son, Oliver, born 24 June 1865 and died 29 April 1952.^[9] A Find a Grave memorial for Oliver Charles Morton Spurlin has the same dates. It says he was born at Windsor, Shelby County, Illinois, and died at Salem, Illinois, aged 86. Its biography calls him the son of "Miss Mary Spurlin," a daughter of James P. and Martha Ann (Goodpasture) Spurling, but gives no dates for Mary.^[10] James P. Spurlin's own memorial gives his dates as 1816–1894 and his place of death as Shelby County, Illinois.^[11] No death record for Mary has been found for this entry.

Spurling-variant claims

Spurling is a separate surname, but a Find a Grave search for "Spurlin" also returns Spurling graves. Two of the oldest Spurling claims found that way are listed here because each memorial records two conflicting ages.

• Nancy J. (Murphy) Spurling (Kentucky). Her memorial gives her dates as 25 December 1819 – 7 November 1925 (aged 105). It puts her grave in the Spurlington United Methodist Church Cemetery in Spurlington, Taylor County, Kentucky.^[12] An obituary transcribed there, from The News-Journal of 12 November 1925, calls her the widow of James Spurling of Merrimac. It gives her age as "106 years, 10 months and 13 days," one year more than the memorial's dates allow, and it names Union Ridge as the burial place.^[12] See the entry on Spurlington, Kentucky.
• Minnie H. "Arta" Wiggins Spurling (North Carolina). Her memorial's headline dates are 15 September 1842 – 12 November 1950 (aged 108), with burial at Kistlers United Methodist Church Cemetery in Lawndale, Cleveland County.^[13] A death-record abstract quoted in the same memorial gives her birth as 15 September 1844 and her death as 16 November 1950, which would make her 106.^[13]

A nineteenth-century claim in print

In 1907 the Hopkinsville Kentuckian described Rev. James Utley Spurlin, then over 83, as "strong and well preserved" and the second-oldest Baptist preacher in Kentucky (see James Utley Spurlin).^[14]

Modern centenarians

• Dorothy Lee (Spurlin) Vines (1921–2023). In November 2021 the Andalusia Star-News marked her 100th birthday. It reported that she was born on 16 November 1921 in Andalusia, Alabama, the first of five children of Charlie and Mary Alice Spurlin. Her father owned the Texaco Spurlin Auto Company on East Three Notch Street.^[15] She and her first husband, Nolan Lee, served as home missionary pastors. After his death she married Hugh Vines, a veteran and fellow minister, at 89.^[15] Her funeral home obituary says she died on 18 April 2023 in Conyers, Georgia, aged 101.^[16]
• Carl Spurlin Dekle (1922–2022). Spurlin was his middle name. The Florida Marine veteran turned 100 in June 2022, and FOX 13 reported that he died less than two months later (see Carl Spurlin Dekle).^[17]
• Linda Ilona Spurlin (1921–2022). Her Find a Grave memorial gives her dates as 20 July 1921 – 16 May 2022 (aged 100). She died in Carlton County, Minnesota, and is buried in Maple Grove Cemetery, Cloquet.^[18]