Spurlins in the Congressional Record

A GovInfo search of the Congressional Record, the Congressional Serial Set, the Statutes at Large and related collections returned 141 documents matching "Spurlin" in September 2026.^[1] A narrower search of the Serial Set, the Statutes at Large and the private laws returned 124 records.^[2] Many hits are incidental, such as relatives named in memorial tributes or names buried in long printed lists. The main items are below.

Tributes

• Frances Spurlin: Representative Martha Roby honored her on December 9, 2013, on her retirement after 27 years as a constituent services representative for Alabama's 2nd district.^[3] See Frances Spurlin.
• Nella Spurlin: On June 25, 2009, Representative John Carter of Texas congratulated this Temple High School German teacher. The Southwest Conference on Language Teaching had named her Regional Teacher of the Year, and she was a candidate for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages national award.^[4]

Military nominations

The Senate prints lists of officers nominated for appointment and promotion in the Record. Officers surnamed Spurlin appear in several of them:

• Air Force: Stephen L. Spurlin, on regular-appointment and promotion lists in 1995, 1999 (to major) and 2003 (to lieutenant colonel)^[5][6][7]; John F. Spurlin, on a 1996 Regular Air Force list^[8].
• Army: Dale F. Spurlin, on a 1996 Army promotion list and a 2002 list for promotion to lieutenant colonel.^[9][10]
• Navy: Lawrence E. Spurlin, on a 2010 list for promotion to lieutenant commander and a 2021 Navy Reserve list for promotion to captain.^[11][12]

These lists give only name and grade, so this article adds no other details about the officers.

Private pension acts for two Indiana veterans

In the early 20th century Congress passed omnibus "private" acts that granted or raised pensions for named Civil War veterans and their dependents. Two Spurlins who had served in Company D of the 33rd Indiana Volunteer Infantry appear in them. For their family background, see Spurlins of Shelby County, Indiana.

Joshua F. Spurlin

The Senate Committee on Pensions reported on his case (bill S. 2192) in January 1910. According to the report, he enlisted on August 16, 1862, served to the end of the war, and was honorably discharged on June 10, 1865.^[13] He was then drawing $30 a month for general debility, rheumatism and heart disease. Nasal catarrh with near-total deafness in both ears was also accepted as a service disability, but the law did not allow rates above $30 to be combined. The committee therefore said he was getting no pension for "a very grave disability incurred in service and line of duty."^[13] Medical examiners had found him unable to do any kind of labor and in need of help dressing. The report gave his age as 69 and recommended $40 a month.^[13] The House Committee on Invalid Pensions adopted the Senate report as its own and recommended that the bill pass.^[14]

• An act approved February 21, 1910 (chapter 55; Private No. 9) raised his pension to $40 a month.^[15]
• An act approved August 7, 1914 (chapter 240; Private No. 111) raised the rate to $50.^[16]
• Earlier attempts appear in the Senate's printed lists of private claims. A bill for an increase of his pension (S. 5483) was referred to the Pensions committee in the 57th Congress, and another (S. 1902) in the 58th. The lists show no report or Senate action on either.^[17][18]
• The government's 1883 list of pensioners shows a Joshua F. Spurlin at Lewis Creek, Shelby County, Indiana, drawing $4 a month for nasal catarrh under an allowance first granted in August 1882.^[19]

Ithamar Spurlin

An act approved August 7, 1914 (chapter 237; Private No. 108) raised the pension of "Ithamar Spurlin, late of Company D, Thirty-third Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry" to $40 a month.^[20] Papers printed for the House in a contested 1870 congressional election include the Shelby County board of canvassers' certificate, dated October 13, 1870. It lists Ithamar Spurlin as the county's elected sheriff.^[21]

Other 19th- and early 20th-century documents

The Serial Set reprints many long administrative lists. Entries naming Spurlins include the following, in date order.

• 1835 poll lists, North Carolina. The House Committee of Elections printed the poll lists from the disputed August 1835 election in North Carolina's 12th congressional district (Newland vs. Graham). A Hicks Spurlin appears among the Rutherford County voters. A Hugh Spurlin appears among the votes cast at "Swaneno" (Swannanoa) in Buncombe County.^[22]
• 1858 invalid pensioners. An Interior Department list of invalid pensioners names Josiah C. Spurlin, a private from Union County, Georgia. The list, which covers invalid pensioners admitted since March 1849, gives his pension as $96 a year from September 25, 1857, under the act of May 13, 1846.^[23]
• 1860 Capitol dome. A statement of payments for the new dome of the U.S. Capitol, covering the work up to February 17, 1860, records $27.84 paid to James Spurlin for "cleaning bricks."^[24]
• 1866 presidential pardon. The Attorney General's final list of pardons granted to former Confederates includes Josiah C. Spurlin of Georgia. He was excluded from the amnesty proclamation of May 29, 1865, as a "rebel postmaster." The list says he was recommended by Governor Johnson and pardoned on July 5, 1866.^[25] It does not say whether he was the Union County pensioner of 1858.
• 1872 Enforcement Act indictments. In 1872 President Grant sent the House reports from U.S. attorneys on prosecutions under the Enforcement Acts of May 31, 1870, and April 20, 1871, which were aimed at Ku Klux Klan violence. The North Carolina report lists 37 people convicted or pleading guilty. It follows them with a longer list of people "indicted for violations of the same provisions," which closes with the total "981 persons indicted."^[26] The indictment list includes Benj. Spurlin, Crayton Spurlin and a John M. Sperlin. It gives no counties or outcomes for individual defendants.^[26]
• 1880 Southern claims. The tenth and final report of the Commissioners of Claims lists North Carolina cases that were barred because the claimants had not pursued them. Among them is claim No. 4549, from Matthew Spurlin of Rutherford County, for a horse valued at $150.^[27]
• 1883 pension roll, Iowa. Besides Joshua F. Spurlin, the 1883 list of pensioners has a John Spurlin at Liscomb, Marshall County, Iowa. The entry gives $14 a month, an original allowance dated April 1877, and the category "minor children."^[28]
• 1884 suspended land entries. An Interior Department list of suspended public-land entries includes the homestead entry of Elizabeth Spurlin at the Montgomery, Alabama, land office. Her final proof had not been made in time; the reason recorded was "ignorance." The entry was confirmed in the year ending June 30, 1884.^[29] See Federal land patents to Spurlins.
• 1904 Indian depredation judgment. On April 18, 1904, the Court of Claims gave judgment for Mary J. Spurlin, administratrix of William R. Spurlin, deceased, in an Indian depredation claim. She had claimed $1,120 and was awarded $815.^[30] The Senate's 1905 list of private claims shows the payment handled as an amendment to House bill H.R. 15054, recorded as passed with an act date of April 27, 1904.^[18]
• 1908 soldiers' home. The annual report of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers lists an L. Spurlin, private, Company G, 3rd Tennessee Mounted Infantry, with four months of Civil War service. Born in Tennessee, he was admitted on October 8, 1907, at age 65, with a $12 monthly pension. He died at the home's Mountain Branch in Tennessee on May 11, 1908.^[31]
• 1942 claims schedule. A General Accounting Office schedule of claims sent to Congress includes $16.75 to "Spurlin Funeral Home," payable from the Veterans' Administration's salaries-and-expenses appropriation. The schedule does not give the firm's location.^[32]

The search also returned documents that were not transcribed for this article. They include the Official Register of the United States (1885–1894), Army and Air Force registers from 1951 to 1971, quarterly reports of the Clerk of the House (1985–1994), annual reports of the Commissioner of Patents, and House and Senate journals.^[2]