Robert Parker Spurlin (Berryville dentist)

Dr. Robert Parker Spurlin (1879–1948) was a Kentucky-born dentist who practised in Berryville, Arkansas, from 1903 and served on its town council. His son, Dr. R. P. Spurlin Jr. (1914–1993), was appointed in 1940 as director of the Arkansas State Board of Health's newly budgeted dental-hygiene sub-division.

Sourcing: mixed 2 book · 3 genealogy · 2 government

Robert Parker Spurlin (13 February 1879 – 23 June 1948), known in print as Dr. R. P. Spurlin, was a dentist in Berryville, Arkansas, from 1903.^[1]^[2]

Early life and education

According to the Centennial History of Arkansas (1922), R. P. Spurlin was born in Lyon County, Kentucky, on 13 February 1879, the only child of Rev. J. H. Spurlin and Ida (Porter) Spurlin. His father was a Baptist minister, and his paternal grandfather was the Kentucky preacher James U. Spurlin. The book describes his maternal grandfather, Robert Porter, as a New Orleans-born physician who served on the personal staff of Gen. Robert E. Lee.^[1] Find a Grave gives his full name as Robert Parker Spurlin and his birthplace as Lamasco, Lyon County.^[2] He graduated from Ohio Valley College at Sturgis, Kentucky, in 1898 and completed the course at the Kentucky School of Dentistry in Louisville in 1902.^[1]

Dentist in Berryville

After practising for a short time in Paragould, Arkansas, Spurlin settled in Berryville in 1903. By 1922, the Centennial History says, his practice was "very extensive", and he belonged to the state and national dental associations. He had also served on the town council, and he raised Jersey cattle on a 100-acre farm about a mile from town.^[1] The book lists him as a Baptist, a Mason and a Knight of Pythias, and a Republican. It says he married Carrie D. Epperson of Owen County, Kentucky, in 1905 and that they had three children.^[1] Find a Grave records his wife as Carrie E. Epperson Spurlin (1876–1966) and gives the year of marriage as 1904.^[2]

His father, Rev. John H. Spurlin, moved to Berryville in 1902 and was preaching at the town's Baptist church in 1922. His mother died in 1908.^[1] Find a Grave records the father's death on 6 January 1923. Father and son are both buried in Berryville Memorial Cemetery.^[2]^[3]

R. P. Spurlin Jr.

His son, Dr. Robert Parker Spurlin (3 August 1914 – 1 June 1993), was also a dentist. Find a Grave records him as a veteran buried in Berryville Memorial Cemetery under a stone inscribed "D.D.S.", and styles him "Robert Parker Spurlin IV".^[4] A 1950 article on public-health dentistry in Arkansas calls him "Dr. R. P. Spurlin, Jr. of Berryville". It says that a director's post for a sub-division of dental hygiene at the Arkansas State Board of Health was budgeted in January 1940 and that he was appointed to it on 25 March 1940. The sub-division ran a program that by 1941 sent dental clinicians and trailers into the counties. The director and all four clinicians were called into military service in 1942. After his demobilization in March 1946 Spurlin rejoined the Board of Health, recommended training a dental health educator, and then resigned to enter private practice.^[5]

Dr. Spurlin Circle

Berryville's community center stands at 601 Dr. Spurlin Circle, but city sources do not say which Dr. Spurlin the street honors.^[6] A 2015 state walking-tour script mentions Dr. Spurlin's upstairs dental office downtown in the 1960s, which was after the elder Dr. Spurlin's death in 1948.^[7]^[2] See Dr. Spurlin Circle (Berryville, Arkansas).

See also

Dr. Spurlin Circle (Berryville, Arkansas) · Places mixed
Dr. Spurlin Circle is a street in Berryville, Arkansas. The city's Berryville Community Center stands there at 601 Dr. Spurlin Circle. The street honors a local Dr. Spurlin; a family of Spurlin dentists practised in Berryville from 1903, though no published source says which of them the street is named for. A later practice on North Main Street, Spurlin Family Dentistry, has been run by a dentist of another name.

Spurlin dental practices · Companies mixed
Two dental practices use the Spurlin name: Spurlin Family Dentistry in Berryville, Arkansas, which in 2017–2019 was the office of dentist Eldon Thompson Jr. (Spurlins practised dentistry in Berryville from 1903), and S. Jill Spurlin, DMD, in Enterprise, Alabama.

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 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.

Notable Spurlins · People strong
An index of notable people surnamed Spurlin, with related Spurling-surname figures listed separately as variants.

Spurlin businesses and brands · Companies mixed
An overview of companies, products, patents and trademarks bearing the Spurlin name, from a 19th-century Alabama jewelry store and a mid-century Oklahoma farm-equipment dealer to today's builders and funeral homes, concentrated in the US South, especially Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia and North Carolina.

Spurlins in academia and science · People strong
A roundup of scholars, scientists and faculty surnamed Spurlin, including the Enlightenment historian Paul Merrill Spurlin, the Hercules cellulose chemist Harold M. Spurlin and the literary scholar William J. Spurlin.