Contact Deanna C. West for questions or additions to this document.
Contact
information
Vicky Kelley is also studying this family group and she can be reached
at vicekelley@earthlink.net
This study basically pertains to Wilbur and
Melissa (Harris) Spooner and the associated families of Kelley, Buchan and
Noble. Presented in this study are the generations preceding Wilbur and also
his children and their descendents.
I am not sure how this William Spooner and his sons, John and William Spooner connect to the other Spooner families in Ashtabula County, Ohio. Many of My Spooner ancestors arrived there several decades before this family. However several of the descendents of this family lived and died here in LaPorte County, Indiana.
William Spooner appears on the 1860 census. He and his wife, Mary are living with son, John Spooner and wife Hannah (Rasey) Spooner on page 10A, Plymouth Township, Ashtabula, OH. John's brother William and his wife Louisa (Rasey) Spooner also appear on this page, along with Chester Rasey.
John married Hannah Rasey 13 Apr 1856 in Ashtabula, OH. And William married Hannah's sister, Louisa Rasey on 20 APR 1856 in the same county. Their father, Chester Rasey, is living just a few houses away from his son in laws and daughters. Note on Chester Rasey: He was the son of Silas and Hannah (Garnsey) Rasey. Chester's wife was Julia Ann Norton and they were married in Fredonia NY 21 Feb 1833.
1860 Census - John Spooner family.
Hannah and John have no children at this point. Only his father and mother living with him.
1860 Census - William Spooner family
William and Louisa have Wilber 3, Emily E 2 and Frank 10/12
Spooner family moved to Allegan County Michigan sometime between 1867 and 1870.
1870 Census for Allegan County and John's family.
Shows John 42, Hannah, 36, Willis 8 and Mary 3.
John's daughter, Mary, will eventually wed Clarence W. Alden and in Allegan County in 1887. They will live with her parents and can be found in Allegan County in the 1900 census.
1870 Census for Allegan County and William's family.
William 40 and Louisa 32 have Wilber 14, Emily 11, Riley 9, Warren 7,
Ira 5, Arthur 3, and Mary 1/12.
Missing from this census is son Frank who
appeared as being 10/12 in the 1860 census.
William would die around 1-Dec-1872 of Bilious Fever. His widow Louisa would then marry a Benson Thompson in 1874 in this same county. No further investigation was done on this family after Louisa's marriage to Benson Thompson. See Allegan County web site for more on this family.
There is also a William Spooner living in Allegan County and he is 84 years of age in 1870. This could possibly be the grandfather of Wilbur.
1880, either the name has been misspelled to the point of non-recognition or they missed them in the census. I could find no evidence of this family.
Additional information concerning Spooner children of William in Allegan County:
Emma Spooner married Charles R. Goodroad in 1880 in Allegan County.
Riley Spooner m. Eva Bell Richards in Allegan County, Michigan on August 16, 1881.
Some of the Spooner family moves on and we next find Wilbur and his children in the 1900 census
Insert - Note from descendent Vicky Kelley at vicekelley@earthlink.net
Vicky is researching the Spooner family.
"My grandma was a Spooner
and she married my grandpa who was a Kelley. I'm also looking for his family,
but he was from St. Clair Co. MI. No one knew his side because he ran away from
home at a very early age and never talked of them. He died when I was very
young (1954) he is buried in LaPorte, Ind.
Wilbur & his wife Melissa, (Harris) but I do have there marriage cert. my aunt's and uncles don't remember, There is an Arthur Spooner buried in Kalkaska County and I found a picture of a Roy Spooner, to my dad, on the back it said from Uncle Roy Spooner. I do not know if they traveled with the logger's as grandma did or what. My grandma was a cook in a logging camp. She married my grandpa in Kalkaska County, MI in 1914.
1900 Census John Spooner, William's brother remains in Allegan County.
Wilbur and his family head for Berrien County where he had married his wife in 1891 in Coloma Michigan. In fact, Wilbur and Melissa (b. Dec 1867) are living in Watervaliet Township, Coloma Village, Berrien County Michigan in the 1900 census on page 273A. There we find their children, Robert L. - b. June 1892 - hard to read,
Arthur L, son, b. Oct 1895, Evla L. b. Jan 1896, and Phoebe M. b. May 1899.
1910 the family is in Wexford township, Wexford County, Michigan ED 152, Sheet 8B. Wilbur's occupation is that of a woodsman, as are his two sons Robert 17 years old and Arthur L 16 years old.
The family has grown again and Leon P a son 6 years of age and William H another son 4 years of age are shown. Melissa states on this census that she has had 8 children of which 6 have survived. But Eva E 18 and Phoebe M (Mae) 10 are doing fine and appear with the rest of the family.
The family remains in the lumber camps and business and move up to Oliver Township, Kalkaska County Michigan between 1910 and 1920. See Kalkaska County census reports.
Spooner and associated families - La Porte County Connections
Wilbur and Melissa Spooner's daughter, Eva Elnora (Nora) Spooner, will marry Joseph Kelley and they will later move to Berrien County, Michigan and LaPorte County, Indiana areas. Elnora will later marry Archie F. Buchan and all three are buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Michigan City, Indiana. Nora (Elnora) died on April 15, 1987 at the age of 91. Carlisle Funeral home was in charge of the arrangements. See Greenwood Cemetery Obituary listings for Nora Buchan obituary and burial location on our site at
http://www.ingenweb.org/inlaporte/cemeteries/greenwood/greenwcover.htm
Elnora's sister, Phoebe Mae Spooner, married a gentleman several years
her senior. His name was George W. Noble and he had 3 children by a previous
marriage: Irene Bertha Noble (married a Volstorf - both buried in Greenwood
Cemetery), Charles born about 1916 and Clifford another son born about 1918.
These three children by a previous marriage are born in Michigan.
Children
(all born in Indiana) of Phoebe and George are Edith born about 1920, Rita b.
about 1921, Alva 1925, Vernita about 1926 and Frank, George's father, a widower
living with George and Phoebe in the 1930 census for Michigan Township,
Michigan City, LaPorte County, Indiana. Frank Noble is 80 years of age. George
W. Noble died at the age of 53 in 1936 and is buried in Greenwood as are
several other family members mentioned here. Pheobe, according to the Hearald
Press dated October 26, 1944, purchased the Renbergers home in Three Oaks,
Michigan. And in May of 1949, Phoebe was initiated into the Rebekah Lodge,
Three Oaks, Michigan. Also in 1949, Phoebe is living on Magnola Streeter in
Three Oaks, Berrien County, Michigan.
Phoebe died in April of 1984.
By the time that Wilbur died on Jan 14, 1946, his wife Melissa has been dead for 18 years and he has 4 surviving children. See Wilbur Spooner's obituary on the Greenwood cemetery site at:
Not mentioned in Wilbur's obit are some of his deceased children. An example of this is Roy (Arthur L.) Spooner who died, Friday, May 7, 1920 of Spinal Meningitis and was buried in Oliver Township Cemetery, Kalkaska County, Michigan on Monday, May 19, 1920.
The last surviving child of Wilbur and Melissa Spooner is William Spooner who died in 1988, burial site unknown at this writing on July 23, 2003.
Sources for this study:
Wilbur D. Spooner obituary, Herald Press, St. Joseph Michigan - Jan 15, 1946
Nora Buchan Memorial Card contributed by Vicky Kelley
Family documentation and knowledge by Vicky Kelley
1860 Federal census Plymouth Township, Ashtabula county, Ohio page 10
1870 Federal Census Township of Grange, Allegan Co., Michigan
1870 Federal Census Township of Casco, Allegan Co., Michigan page 57
1900 Federal Census Allegan Township, Allegan Co., ED 2, Michigan - page 154A
1900 Federal Census, Watervaliet Twp, Coloma Village, Michigan pages 273 A & B
1910 Federal Census Wexford Twp, Wexford Co., Michigan - ED 152 sheet 8B
1920 Federal Census Oliver Township, Kalkaska Co., MI -ED 227 page 249 sheet 1A
1920 Federal Census Oliver Township, Kalkaska Co., MI - ED 227 sheet 2B
1930 Federal Census Oliver Township, Kalkaska Co., MI - ED 40-10 page 31A
1930 Federal Census, Michigan City, Michigan Township, Indiana
1930 Federal Census, Michigan City, Michigan Township, Indiana ED 46-26 Page 171A