Spurlins of early Georgia

Big John Spurlin's children in Georgia

Several early Georgia Spurlins were children of John Spurlin Sr. ("Big John") of Lincoln County, North Carolina, who died in 1822. A 1982 family article by Norman Kent Spurling says his son William (1769–1835) moved to Pike County and his son Levi married Cynthia Brooks in Warren County on 9 December 1815. It says his sons Hugh and Andrew were in Habersham County by 1830.^[1] William's family is covered in Spurlins of Old Hebron Cemetery, Pike County, Georgia.

FamilySearch's tree lists another son, Jeremiah Spurling (10 September 1760 – 20 June 1820), who married Drucilla Baldwin and died at Warrenton, Warren County. That profile lists Georgia headright and bounty land records among its sources.^[2] The 1982 article, which also counts Jeremiah among Big John's children, gives the same dates and marriage but says the couple "settled in Mississippi", where Drucilla died in Hinds County in 1837.^[1] In a 2016 column in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, genealogist Kenneth H. Thomas Jr. identified one of Big John's daughters, Nancy Pickard, as his ancestor. She and her husband left Warren County around 1807 and sold their land to a neighbor named Jeremiah Spurlin.^[3] See "Big John" Spurling and the Spurlin DNA Project.

Early records

Georgia Spurlin profiles on WikiTree include John Jesse Spurlin (4 October 1783 – 6 October 1856), born in Richmond County, North Carolina, who died at Macon.^[4] WikiTree and FamilySearch both make him a son of the Warren County Jeremiah Spurling (1760–1820).^[4][2] Others are John Spurlin (1795–1841), who died in Randolph County, and James A. Spurlin (1802–1887), born in Greene County, who died in Pike County.^[5][6]

WikiTree files the profile of a different Jeremiah Spurlin (1781–1870), who died in Alleghany County, North Carolina, under a "Long Creek Baptist Church, Warrenton, Georgia" category.^[7] That filing may confuse him with the Warren County Jeremiah (see Spurlins of Ashe and Alleghany Counties).

Westward branches

Many Georgia-born Spurlins died further west, according to WikiTree:

• Curren Happock Spurlin (23 March 1793 – 9 August 1878), born in Greene County, died in Clarke County, Mississippi.^[8]
• Green K. Spurlin (about 1795 – 9 June 1860), born in Georgia, died in Lafayette County, Arkansas. The Genealogy.com Spurlin forum has a thread about him.^[9][10]
• William Spurlin (1806–1888), born in Warren County, died in Crenshaw County, Alabama. His sons settled in Coffee County, Alabama (see Spurlins of Coffee County, Alabama).^[11]
• Nancy Ann Spurlin (1780–1852), whose profile gives her birthplace as the "Province of Georgia," died at Vernon, Washington County, Florida.^[12]

Nineteenth-century records

A Georgia Historical Commission marker erected in 1956 at Franklin, Heard County, says the Franklin Baptist Church was organized on December 2, 1842. Its founders included a James Spurlin.^[13] Rev. James M. Spurlin (15 April 1802 – 30 July 1887) is buried at Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery near Woolsey, Fayette County. His Find a Grave memorial says he was ordained in Chambers County, Alabama, in 1842 and served Baptist churches in Randolph County, Alabama, and in Troup and Fayette counties, Georgia (see James M. Spurlin (Georgia Baptist preacher)).^[14] He is a different man from the James Spurlin of the same years buried at Old Hebron Cemetery in Pike County, whose memorial gives different birth and death dates.^[14][15]

Federal lists name a Josiah C. Spurlin in Georgia. An 1858 list of invalid pensioners gives him as a private of Union County, pensioned at $96 a year from September 25, 1857.^[16] The Attorney General's 1867 report on presidential pardons lists a Josiah C. Spurlin of Georgia. He was excluded from the 1865 amnesty as a Confederate ("rebel") postmaster and was pardoned on July 5, 1866.^[17] The documents do not say whether the two entries are the same man.

Later notable Georgians

Twentieth-century Georgia Spurlins include the scholar Paul Merrill Spurlin, born in Fayetteville in 1902 (see Paul Merrill Spurlin). In 1913, O. L. Spurlin of Lawton Street, Atlanta, was called for the jury pool in the Leo Frank trial and was struck by the defense.^[18][19]