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W. H. Spurlin (Tipton County, Indiana, preacher)

Rev. Wilford H. Spurlin (1833–1919) was an Ohio-born farmer and Separate Baptist preacher who cleared a homestead in Tipton County, Indiana, after 1872. He is profiled in an 1898 county biographical history, and 1915 and 1919 obituaries tie him to the Spurlins of Shelby County, where his brother Ithamar was sheriff.

Sourcing: mixed 1 book · 3 genealogy · 1 news

Family background

The Biographical and Genealogical History of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton Counties, Indiana (1898) includes a sketch of W. H. Spurlin. It says his parents were Joshua and Hester (Lemon) Spurlin, "of Irish and German descent, respectively."[1] According to the sketch, the Spurlins had lived in Pennsylvania and then moved to Ohio, where Joshua was born. Joshua's brothers were Jonathan, Jesse, Henry and Tunis. In 1834 Joshua became "one of the pioneers of Shelby county, Indiana."[1]

Obituaries transcribed on the Shelby County Indiana Genealogy & History website confirm the link to the Spurlins of Shelby County, Indiana. The 1915 obituary of Ithamar Spurlin, a former sheriff of Shelby County, lists "Wilford Spurlin, of Tipton" among his surviving brothers, and the same collection names Ithamar's parents as Joshua Spurlin and "Mrs. Esther Spurlin".[2] These names match the parents given in the 1898 sketch.[1]

Life

The sketch gives W. H. Spurlin's birth as 16 June 1833 in Butler County, Ohio. He married Sarina Lamar, daughter of Robert Lamar of Shelby County, in 1854. In 1872 he bought land in Tipton County that had "a cabin and a few acres cleared."[1] It says he cleared 120 acres himself and owned 190 acres at home plus another 40-acre tract.[1] He belonged to the "Separate" Baptist church for 38 years, began preaching around 1864 and was ordained the next year. He preached to three or four congregations until his health failed.[1] He was a Democrat and a regular delegate to party conventions. The sketch says his race for township assessor during the Civil War ended in a tie.[1]

Death and burial

WikiTree identifies him as Wilford H. Spurlin (16 June 1833 – 19 March 1919).[3] Three 1919 notices record his death:

  • The Tipton Tribune obituary of 20 March 1919 names his parents as Joshua and Hester (Layman) Spurlin, a different spelling of the mother's maiden name from the 1898 sketch's "Lemon".[2]
  • A Shelbyville notice of the death of the Rev. Wilfred H. Spurlin "at his home in Tipton" calls him a brother of Joshua Spurlin of Colescott Street and of Ithamar Spurlin.[2]
  • A Kokomo Tribune notice of 26 March 1919, transcribed on his Find a Grave memorial, calls him "one of the pioneer preachers of the Baptist church in Tipton county". It says his funeral was held at Tipton, with burial in the old Randolph cemetery west of Oakford.[4]

WikiTree's profile cites the same Find a Grave memorial, which places the grave in Randolph Cemetery, Kokomo, Howard County.[3][4] The memorial links him to his wife, spelled there as Serena LeMar Spurlin (1835–1920), and to four children who died young between 1873 and 1885.[4]

The Herald of Gospel Liberty printed an obituary in 1915 for Rachel Spurlin, "daughter of Tunis and Lovina Spurlin." She was born near Cincinnati on 5 December 1833, married Sampson Burns in 1853, and died near Clifford, Indiana, on 13 May 1915.[5] Tunis is named in the 1898 sketch as a brother of Joshua Spurlin, which would make Rachel a first cousin of W. H. Spurlin. That link is an inference from the two sources.[1][5]

See also

  • Spurlins of Shelby County, Indiana · Genealogy strong
    Spurlin families settled in Washington Township, Shelby County, Indiana, in the 1830s. Several of them served in the 33rd Indiana Infantry during the Civil War, and Ithamar Spurlin was elected county sheriff in 1870.
  • W. H. Spurlin (Georgia pioneer) · Genealogy mixed
    W. H. Spurlin was a Confederate veteran born in Shelby, North Carolina, who settled in Pulaski County, Georgia. His descendants spread through Worth County, Sylvester and Valdosta.
  • Spurlin cemeteries · Places weak
    A roundup of burial grounds named for the Spurlin family on Find a Grave: eight Spurlin cemeteries in Arkansas, Tennessee, Indiana, Kentucky and North Carolina, plus Spurlington- and Spurling-named cemeteries and the graves of notable Spurlins.
  • Spurlin clergy and ministries · Culture mixed
    A roundup of ministers, preachers and religious workers surnamed Spurlin, from nineteenth-century Baptist and Presbyterian pastors to present-day ministries, drawn from church histories, denominational records and local news.

References

  1. ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ Biographical and Genealogical History of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton Counties, Indiana (1898) — Internet Archive Book
  2. ↑ ↑ ↑ Obituaries - Spurlin / Spurling — Shelby County Indiana Genealogy & History — Transcribed obituary of Ithamar Spurlin, Shelbyville Republican, July 20, 1915; 1919 death notices of Rev. W. H. Spurlin Genealogy
  3. ↑ ↑ Wilford H Spurlin (1833–1919) (Spurlin-206) — WikiTree Genealogy
  4. ↑ ↑ ↑ Rev Wilford H. Spurlin (1833–1919) — Find a Grave Memorial — Kokomo Tribune notice, 26 March 1919 Genealogy
  5. ↑ ↑ The Herald of Gospel Liberty, 10 June 1915 (obituary of Rachel Spurlin Burns) — Internet Archive News

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Last reviewed 2026-09-24.