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John Spurlin (1780–1851)

John Spurlin was a North Carolina-born pioneer who married Mary Willey in Ashe County in 1810. WikiTree dates him 1780–1851, places his death in Christian County, Illinois, and makes him a son of Zachariah Spurling of Surry and Ashe counties and a grandson of Jeremiah Spurling Jr. of Fairfax County, Virginia. Other records do not fit those dates, and a different John Spurlin (1780–1851) died in Christian County, Kentucky.

Sourcing: weak 8 genealogy · 2 reference

Life

WikiTree says John Spurlin was born in 1780 in Wilkes County, North Carolina, and died in 1851 in Christian County, Illinois[1]. He married Mary Willey in 1810 in Ashe County, North Carolina[1]. Ashe County was split off from Wilkes County in 1799[2].

Family

The WikiTree profile names his parents as Zachariah Spurling and Elizabeth[1]. Zachariah's own profile gives his birth as about 1749 in Fairfax County, Virginia. It cites a Zachariah Spurling in Surry County, North Carolina, in the 1790 census and a Zachariah Spurlin in the Morgan district of Ashe County in 1800[3]. John's siblings are listed as Zachariah, Jeremiah, Jennie (Spurlin) Phipps, Susannah and Daniel[1]. His children are listed as Polly Annie (1816–1898, who died in Iowa), Andrew Jackson (1817–1923), William (1830–1864), Kessiah, Parmelia Amelia and Eli (1841–1929)[1]. Andrew Jackson Spurlin's own WikiTree profile likewise names John Spurlin and Mary Willey as his parents[4]. Born near Sparta, North Carolina, he became a farmer and miller in Grayson County, Virginia,[5] and is the subject of a separate entry, Andrew Jackson Spurlin (1817–1923).

WikiTree places Zachariah as a son of Jeremiah Spurling Jr. of Truro Parish, Fairfax County[3]. The Find a Grave memorial for Jeremiah Jr. also lists a Zachariah Spurlin Sr. (1747–1836) as his son[6]. The same first names (Jeremiah, Zachariah, Keziah or Kessiah) recur in the Virginia family (see Jeremiah Spurling of Colonial Virginia).

DNA evidence

The FamilyTreeDNA Spurlin surname project's Lineage 1 includes a tester who traces his paternal line to "Zachariah Spurlin, b. 1747 d. Ashe Co. NC 1836". His published 37-marker results differ at only three markers from those of a tester descended from Jeremiah Spurling of Virginia[7]. The same lineage includes a descendant of "Big John" Spurlin of Lincoln County, North Carolina[7]. This supports a shared paternal origin for the Ashe County and Virginia families. It does not confirm the individual links in the online trees.

Caveats and conflicting evidence

The WikiTree profile was created by a 2014 GEDCOM import, and its only listed source is Ancestry member trees[1]. Some details do not fit well together. The children were born in Ashe County as late as 1841, but the profile puts John's death in Illinois. It also gives his wife Mary Willey a birth year of 1796 and a death in Ashe County in 1842[1]. The profiles of Zachariah Sr. and of his son Zachariah Jr. give the same death date, 20 August 1837, in Ashe County, which may mean the two men have been confused[3][8].

Records of Andrew Jackson Spurlin describe his father differently. His Find a Grave memorial says his parents are "believed to be" a John Spurlin, an early Sparta farmer who died before 1860, and Polly Willey, who died in 1842.[5] His obituary, reprinted in The Landmark (Statesville, North Carolina) on 8 March 1923 and transcribed on the same memorial, calls him the son of a John Spurlin "who lived to the ripe old age of 96 years."[5] That does not fit the 1780–1851 dates on John's WikiTree profile.[1] The same obituary also gives Andrew's own age as 106, well above the ages in the 1860 and 1870 censuses (see the entry on Andrew Jackson Spurlin).[5]

Find a Grave also has a memorial for a different John Spurlin (1780–1851), likewise born in North Carolina, who died in Christian County, Kentucky; his place of burial is unknown.[9] That memorial names two wives, Sinah Meacham and Rebecca Utley (1788–1858), and sons James, Archabald (so spelled), Noel, Andrew and Benjamin. This is the Christian County family of the preacher James Utley Spurlin.[9] The shared birth and death years, and a county named Christian in each state, make the two men easy to confuse. No source seen for this entry shows whether the dates and death place on the imported WikiTree profile belong to the Ashe County man.

Significance

If the WikiTree account is right, John Spurlin's path from the Virginia and North Carolina backcountry to Illinois by mid-century is typical of how Spurlin families spread. Several of his brother Zachariah's children, as listed on WikiTree, died in Lawrence County, Indiana[8]. Ancestry.com's census summary says Indiana had more Spurlin families than any other state in 1840[10].

See also

  • Jeremiah Spurling of Colonial Virginia · Genealogy weak
    Three generations of men named Jeremiah Spurling lived in colonial Virginia: a Westmoreland County shoemaker and planter who died in 1725 or 1726, his son (c. 1704–c. 1770), a tenant tobacco planter in Truro Parish, Fairfax County, and a grandson (c. 1745 – c. 1810) of Fairfax County. Many southern Spurlin and Spurling lines trace their descent to this family.
  • Spurlins of Ashe and Alleghany Counties, North Carolina · Genealogy weak
    Spurlins from Fairfax County, Virginia, settled in the Blue Ridge counties of Ashe and Alleghany, North Carolina, in the late 18th century. Descendants served in the 22nd North Carolina Infantry, were merchants and farmers around Sparta and Ennice in the 20th century, and gave their name to three family burial grounds.
  • Andrew Jackson Spurlin (1817–1923) · Genealogy mixed
    Andrew Jackson "Uncle Jack" Spurlin (died 1923) was a North Carolina-born farmer and miller in Grayson County, Virginia. His grave memorial and obituary made him 105 or 106, but the 1860 and 1870 censuses put his birth around 1830.
  • James Utley Spurlin (Kentucky Baptist preacher) · History strong
    Rev. James Utley Spurlin (1824–1909) was a Baptist preacher in western Kentucky for about 65 years and the first pastor of Sinking Fork ("Brick") Baptist Church in Christian County. In 1907 the Hopkinsville Kentuckian called him the second-oldest Baptist preacher in the state. He died near Sinking Fork on 30 October 1909. His son John H. Spurlin and grandson Lindsay Spurlin were also preachers; a great-grandson, J. T. Spurlin, organized a church in Juneau, Alaska, and another grandson, R. P. Spurlin, was a dentist in Berryville, Arkansas.
  • 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.
  • Spurlin Family History in America · History mixed
    An overview of Spurlin and Spurling families in America, from colonial Virginia and New England through southern and western migration, Civil War service, and published genealogies.
  • Sperling/Spurling DNA surname project · Genealogy mixed
    FamilyTreeDNA hosts a volunteer-run Y-DNA surname project, 'Sperling Spurling', for Spurlin, Spurling, Sparlin, Sparling, Sperlin, Sperling, Spirlin and Spirling lines. Its largest group links descendants of Jeremiah Spurling of Virginia with descendants of 'Big John' Spurlin of Lincoln County, North Carolina.
  • Daniel Spurlin (Hardin County, Iowa, pioneer) · History strong
    Daniel Spurlin (1807–1868) was a North Carolina-born blacksmith who settled in Union Township, Hardin County, Iowa, in 1851. He was killed in a sleigh accident on his way home from church meetings, is buried in Hauser Cemetery at Whitten, and county histories and newspapers record his family.
  • Spurlin family lines by state · Genealogy weak
    A state-by-state guide to the main Spurlin and Spurling family lines in the United States, from colonial Virginia and North Carolina to Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Texas and Indiana, with the sources behind each link.
  • Spurlins of Christian County, Kentucky · Genealogy mixed
    Spurlin families from North Carolina were in Christian County, in western Kentucky, by about 1800. Later generations included a line of Baptist preachers who served churches around Hopkinsville and in neighbouring Trigg County, and the county has a Spurlin Cemetery north of Hopkinsville.

References

  1. ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ John Spurlin (1780–1851) (Spurlin-100) — WikiTree — GEDCOM import; sourced to Ancestry member trees Genealogy
  2. ↑ Ashe County, North Carolina — Wikipedia Reference
  3. ↑ ↑ ↑ Zachariah Spurling (1749–1837) (Spurling-225) — WikiTree — Cites the 1790 and 1800 censuses on FamilySearch Genealogy
  4. ↑ Andrew Jackson Spurlin (1817–1923) (Spurlin-69) — WikiTree — names John Spurlin (Spurlin-100) and Mary Willey as parents Genealogy
  5. ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ Andrew Jackson Spurlin (1817–1923) — Find a Grave Memorial 70743242 — parents "believed to be" John Spurlin and Polly Willey; transcription of his obituary from The Landmark (Statesville, N.C.), 8 March 1923, reprinted from the Grayson Gazette Genealogy
  6. ↑ Jeremiah Spurling Jr. (1704–1770), Memorial 174776382 — Find a Grave Genealogy
  7. ↑ ↑ Spurlin Spurling Sparlin Sparling — Y-DNA Results Overview — FamilyTreeDNA — Marker comparison from the published values Genealogy
  8. ↑ ↑ Zachariah Spurlin (1769–1837) (Spurlin-7) — WikiTree Genealogy
  9. ↑ ↑ John Spurlin (1780–1851) — Find a Grave Memorial — died Christian County, Kentucky; wives Sinah Meacham and Rebecca Utley Genealogy
  10. ↑ Spurlin Surname Meaning & Spurlin Family History — Ancestry.com Reference

#north-carolina #illinois #wilkes-county #ashe-county #pioneers #genealogy

Last reviewed 2026-09-24.