The theme for this week, assigned by Amy Johnson Crow, is "Black Sheep"! Well, I don't really know of any "black sheep" in our family! So, I am going to share some information about a cousin on my mom's side of the family who raised sheep! Her name is Billie Fred Spurlock Jones Williams. Here is a picture of Billie Fred and me, and I am bottle feeding a "black" faced sheep!
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I guess I am about 5-6 years old here, so it would be about 1959 when this was taken.
At this time, Billie Fred was unmarried. |
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Agnes (Spurlock) Clark, my mother's mother, had nine siblings. Of these, two died as infants and eight grew to adulthood. In my mother's generation, only four grew to adulthood. The four adult cousins were Edith, Margaret, Dorothy Nell (my mother) and Billie Fred. Here are Agnes's siblings, in birth order, and their children:
Agnes's oldest brother, Charley, had a son, Charles B., who died in infancy, 1918-1919, and a daughter, Margaret, born in 1920, just a few months older than mother.
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| Grave marker for Charles B. Spurlock |
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| Death Certificate for Charles B. Spurlock |
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| Margaret Spurlock Pembroke LeMarr |
Aunt Mag, married, raised a step-daughter (Evelyn Dale McMullen), but never had children of her own.
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Maggie (Spurlock) McMullen
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| Evelyn Dale and her dad, George H. McMullen |
Aunt 'Manda (Spurlock) Petty had only one daughter, Edith who was about 8 years older than my mother.
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| Edith Petty Davis |
Another sister, Doylie (Spurlock) Wallace, had a daughter, Susie Ruth, who only lived to be two years old, 1920-1923.
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| Doylie (Spurlock) Wallce |
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| Obit for Susie Ruth Wallace |
Next was Fred, who was Billie Fred's father.
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| Fred is standing - 1918 |
Agnes was next and had only one daughter, Dorothy Nell, my mother.
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| Agnes (Spurlock), Dorothy Nell (Clark Springer) and Elmer Clark |
A younger sister of Agnes, Elsie Belle (Spurlock) Aday, had a son who was born May 9, 1932 and died in infancy.
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| Elsie Spurlock (front) |
Aunt Ark, the youngest of the siblings who lived to adulthood, never married or had any children.
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| Arkie Spurlock |
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Here are 3 of the 4 cousins, Dorothy Nell (my mother), Billie Fred and Edith (holding son Bobby)
and Grandma Jennie Spurlock in the background. About 1935. |
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Here are Billie Fred, Aunt Ark and Margaret.
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Fred F. Spurlock and Martha Effie (Holleman) Spurlock were married November 7, 1923 in Waxahachie, Ellis County, Texas and Billie Fred was born September 29, 1925 also in Waxahachie.
In the 1930 census, Billie was 4. Fred was a repairman with the State Highway Department and Effie was a homemaker. By 1940, Billie was 14 and Fred worked as a custodian at the Waxahachie Library, while Effie was a saleslady at a retail clothing store. In both censuses, they were renting a house in Waxahachie. Starting in 1941, through his retirement in 1962, Fred was the Sexton for the Waxahachie City Cemetery.
Billie probably graduated from Waxahachie High School about 1943.
I am not sure if this is from high school, or if perhaps she graduated from college, also.
On March 18, 1966, Billie married Charles Howell Jones in Parker County, Texas. I am not sure how long this marriage lasted or what happened to Mr. Jones, because on June 17, 1973, Billie married Raymond A. Williams in Ellis County. This was also a short-lived marriage and ended in divorce on March 26, 1976, also in Ellis County.
I know very little more about Billie Fred. Even though there were only 4 Spurlock cousins, they were not close, as they grew older. The only one that I knew very well, and that I visited with my mother, was Edith Petty Davis, and her mother, Aunt 'Manda!
Billie died July 30, 1987 in Waxahachie.
I remember one time that I was visiting my grandmother, Minnie (Ramer) Springer at the Renfro Nursing Home in Waxahachie, as I was leaving, I saw a nameplate on a door I was passing. I believe it said "Billie Williams". But, I did not think fast enough to investigate whether it might have been my cousin, Billie Spurlock Williams!
'Til next time!
#52Ancestors
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