Eugene Franklin Spoor

By Dovie L. Spoor Hejtmanek
 

Eugene Franklin “Gene” Spoor was born on December 23, 1893, in Buckeye, Texas, and lived in Matagorda County all his life. His grandfather, John Philip Spoor, Sr., second son of Cornelius E. Spoor, was born in Arkansas in 1831. He married Margaret O’Neal, daughter of Zachariah and Margaret Oglethorpe O’Neal on January 17, 1851, at Union, Fulton County, Arkansas, at a ceremony performed by H. P. Williams, Justice of the Peace. She was born in Louisiana in 1833; both of her parents died in Matagorda County. John Phillip, Jr., served in Co. “B”, 24^th Division, Texas Volunteers, during the Civil War, and was captured on November 17, 1863, on Mustang Island. He escaped and was recaptured on December 2, 1863, and sent to New Orleans. He was finally sent to the general hospital in St. Louis on January 2, 1864, for treatment of peritonitis. He moved to Matagorda County in the 1860’s, and they resided on the Cotton Survey near Buckeye and also owned land near Cotulla. He died on a cattle drive near Cotulla in 1885.
 

Philip and Margaret’s children were:

Martha B. (1854-1907) who married James J. Harris (1846-1919)
Margaret Priscilla (1858-1912) who married Charles Phillip Franz (1864-1924)
Mary Jane (1856-1909) who married Peter B. Bundick (1855-1936)
William Henry (1860-1937) who married Mary Ryman (1860-1940)
Anna Laura (1863-1915) who married Andrew August Duffy (1854-1917)
Carrie Isabel (1868-1952) who married David Ross Baxter (1856-1913)
John Philip, Jr., (1869-1935) who married Mattie Duke (1871-1948)
 

Margaret died in 1880 and was buried in Matagorda.

William Henry Spoor was a farmer. He married Mary Ryman who was born in Matagorda. Her father, Balthaser Ryman, came to America at the age of twenty with his parents, Peter and Katherine, and a brother, Johan. They arrived in Galveston in 1845 on the ship Harriet from Germany. They lived in Indianola for about a year before moving to Matagorda.

William Henry and Mary Ryman Spoor lived in the Ashby area; their descendants were:

William Allen (1994-1937) who married Susanna Baldinger (1883-1963) and had Mary Catherine, William Alfred, Henry Allen, and John B.

Addie Laura (1886-1973) who married Harvey Hinkle Foster (1876-1948) and had Mary Ella and Manford

Henry Melvin (1889-____) who married Lydia Edith Parker, and had no children

Eugene Franklin (1893-1971) who married Ethel Margaret Mullens (1909-____) and had Jeannine, Dovie, Elaine and Marilyn

John Grady (1891-1951) who married Lorraine Mann and had June, Lucille, and Dorothy

David Ezzel (1896-____) who married Madeline Lowe and had Donald

Victor Debs (1898-1962) who married Leatrice Jett (1911-1945) and had Neldine and Wallace C.

Cygred Elector (1900-1983) who married Percy Pearson Terry (1888-1959) and had Della and Beatrice.

Gene Spoor and Ethel Margaret Mullens were married on October 28, 1925, in Blessing. She was born in Midfield to George Monroe and Arizona Mullens. Their four daughters attended Ashby, Collegeport, and Blessing schools.

Their daughter Jeannine married Joe Vaut and lived in Pasadena. Their children were Paul and Carol Ann.

Dovie married George W. Hejtmanek and lived on the old home place in Ashby; their children were George, Jr. “Billy”, Ronald and Cheryl.

Elaine married Hugh Winn and lived in Ft. Collins, Colorado; their children were Kenneth and Patsy.

Marilyn married Leo Chambless and lived in Houston; their children were Bryan and Sharon.

Gene was a merchant in his early years, and had stores in Markham, Buckeye and Ashby. After a few years he farmed rice and owned livestock. In 1956 he moved to Buckeye after living most of his life in Ashby. He owned a store there and was also Postmaster until 1971 when is health failed. He moved back to Ashby where he died on December 16, 1971, and was buried in the Ashby Cemetery.
 

Gene was a member of the Masonic Lodge No.411 in Blessing where he served as Master in 1947. He served on the school board of the Ashby School; was on the building committee which organized and built the Ashby Memorial Baptist Church, which was later moved to Markham; and was instrumental in the upkeep and improvement of the Ashby Cemetery.
 

Historic Matagorda County, Volume II, p 510-511
 

Photos courtesy of Ron Hejtmanek
 

Copyright 2012 - Present by the Spoor Family
All rights reserved

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