History of the Spoon Family

By Doug Spoon

PREFACE

Family history research has always fascinated me, but never more so than when I began work on this second edition of the story of the Spoon family.

As interesting as the facts uncovered for the first edition were, it soon became evident over the course of the last few years that much of the story was still untold. The motivation to add to an already fascinating story came on a trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. There, in 450-year-old church documents written in German, was the answer I’d been looking for – the origin of the Spoon family, which so many of us had only been guessing at for all these years.

For one thing, I learned that the original surname was not Loeffel, but Löffler, as you will read in these pages. I learned much about the family’s hometown in southern Germany and is rich history. This helped me confirm a relationship to the family members who first traveled to America, enabling the family history to reach back many more generations than the first edition of the book did.

As a result, we now have the account of a family that has been traced back to the 1500s and is linked generation by generation directly to my son, Darren Wesley Spoon, the last male of this line with the Spoon surname. Most of the additional information for this second edition is found in the first few chapters, although much detail has been added to later chapters as well.

I would like to thank Wanda Drown, Donna DeMayo, Laura Frost Nugent and Marilyn Spoon for their contributions, not only for the first edition but in adding information for this second edition. Wanda provided many of the names, dates and documents that helped get me started. Throughout my research, she has continued to update me with facts and remembrances, filling in the blanks and digging out valuable old photos. I’m also grateful to all of them and to Mari Jane Jackson-Hildenbrand for providing family priceless family photos from their personal collections.

This project would not have been complete without the assistance of many professional and amateur genealogists who helped me learn many interesting facts about our earliest ancestors in this country and in Germany. I am especially indebted to the staff at the Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City; Michael Boyles, a distant cousin from North Carolina who has an extensive Spoon family history of his own; Arthur Erickson, genealogy librarian at the Greensboro, N.C. public library; the Guilford County, N.C. Genealogical Society; the State of North Carolina Dept. of Cultural Resources; Phyllis Walters of the Plainfield, Ind., public library; Stephen E. Towne of the Indiana State Archives; and Bill Nelson, a resident of Amo. Ind., who answered my inquiry on the internet, discovered the location of Henry Spoon's grave in Amo Cemetery and visited it, describing the surroundings and headstone to me.

I am also grateful to my wife Kristen, who has a true appreciation of the value of genealogy and who has encouraged me throughout this project.

CHAPTER 1: The Löfflers of Hohenhaslach

Deep in the heart of southern Germany, nestled in the rolling hills just northeast of the Black Forest in the state of Baden-Württemberg, lies the village of Hohenhaslach.

Today this small town and its neighboring municipality, Saxonia Home, make up a quiet rural community of some 16,000 villagers. It is part of the greater community of Sachsenheim in Ludwigsburg County. Stuttgart is approximately 25 miles to the southeast, with Munich another 225 miles further east. This mountainous region is known as the northern Kraichgau, an area bordered by the Rhine River to the west and the Neckar River to the north.

Home to small businesses, tradition-rich churches and a popular soccer club, Hohenhaslach is perhaps best known in the region for its lush vineyards. For centuries, workers have toiled in its fields to make Hohenhaslach one of the country’s most successful wine producers.

It is also the first known homeland of the family Löffler, which we have come to know in modern times by the surname Spoon.

The German translation of “spoon” is “Löffel,” and genealogists interpret the surname Löffler to mean “spoon maker.” This suggests a possible occupation for our Spoon family ancestors. Further evidence indicates that family members were involved in food preparation of some kind. A 1736 church record from nearby Sinsheim identifies a man since proven to be a Spoon ancestor as Leonhard Löffler, “citizen and baker at Hohenhaslach.”

The man referred to in that church document is listed in Hohenhaslach baptismal records as Hans Leonhard Löffler, born Feb. 17, 1677. Hans, also referred to as Johannes, is the earliest ancestor with a proven direct connection to the Spoon family at this time. Even so, church records in Hohenhaslach indicate that the Löffler family lived in that village at least as far back as the mid-1500s.

As Werner Holzhäuer, a current resident of the town, wrote in correspondence with the author, “An ancient Hohenhaslach family was called Löffler.”

Information about the Löffler family in Hohenhaslach can be found in a microfilm entitled “Evangelische Kirche Hohenhaslach” (Protestant church records of Hohenhaslach) at the Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah. This microfilm of the original German church documents reveals many references to the name Löffler, with naming customs and generation gaps suggesting that we have many ancestors in the area dating back well before Hans Leonhard Löffler.

These records begin in the 1550s, which was probably the time the church in Hohenhaslach was established. Historians note that the Reformation had come to the area around 1555, with shifts in political power establishing most German communities as one of two religious faiths: Roman Catholic or Lutheran.

It is likely that prior to that time, no organized church in the area remained intact long enough to preserve such records. It is also possible that church records were destroyed during the centuries of religious and political upheaval that preceeded the 1500s.

The village of Hohenhaslach dates back to the ninth century, when a land owner named Ruther Lorsch gave property in a region known as Hasalahe to a local monastery. The name Hohenhaslach was first mentioned in historical documents in the year 1283. In 1356, Count Heinrich von Vaihingen bequeathed his entire possession – which included Hohenhaslach and Donkey Castle Mountain, possibly the site of the monastery – to the house of Württemberg. The village had begun to prosper as a quiet community of vineyards by the 16th century.

It is in the first few pages of the records of the Lutheran church in Hohenhaslach that the first entry of the name Löffler is found. On Oct. 13, 1566, a boy named Martin Löffler is listed as the newborn son of Jeronimus Löffler and his wife, the former Anna Berg. It is likely that the dates entered in the church records are those of the actual baptism rather than the birth. Baptisms were performed soon after the birth of a child, however, so for our purposes we will refer to the date listed as the birth date.

There is no further mention of Martin Löffler in the church records of Hohenhaslach. For now, we must assume that either Martin had no children or that he moved away from the area. Since we know that our ancestors were still living in Hohenhaslach more than 100 years later, it seems likely that the Spoon family descended from another member of the Löffler family. Fortunately, the author didn’t have to look far to find one.

Church records list the July 29, 1571 birth of a boy named Jeronimus Löffler. The entry is made under the date Oct. 1, the day of the baptism. Obviously, this is not the same Jeronimus as the one mentioned earlier, but it certainly could be his nephew and a cousin of Martin. The first name of the father in the church document is difficult to read; neither the author nor a translator at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City were able to decipher the handwritten German script. As mysterious as this entry in the church documents is, it very well could be the oldest surviving record of a Spoon ancestor.

One thing is certain – the name of Jeronimus’ mother, Katharina Hauber. The name Hauber, clearly legible on the document, is a famous name in the history of Hohenhaslach. Johann Hauber, a Dr. of Theology, is pictured holding a Bible in the book “Hohenhaslach im Zeitlauf der Geschichte,” a history of the village available at the Family History Library. He is listed as the father of Michael Hauber, a pastor in Hohenhaslach in the 1650s.

Another prominent Hohenhaslach citizen who was certainly a descendant of Katharina is Eberhard David Hauber (1695-1765). After studying at Germany’s Tubigen University, he received the degree of Dr. of Theology in 1727. At the request of King Christian IV of Denmark, Hauber moved to Copenhagen in 1746 to serve as a priest at St. Petri Church. According to a biography of Hauber, “Because of his great knowledge and authorship, he became a member of the Royal Scientists’ Society and was promoted in 1753 as consistorial advisor. His private library contained 16,000 to 17,000 books; he had a famous collection of Bible translations of almost every language on earth.” Hauber is buried in the St. Petri Church graveyard.

Given the religious fervor of her descendants, it is likely that Katharina Hauber and her husband raised young Jeronimus in a loving home with scriptural teachings. Obviously, they attended church in Hohenhaslach. In the records of that church is listed the May 10, 1573 birth of twin sons, Wolfgang and Hans, to the same “Unknown” Löffler and Katharina Hauber.

Assuming that this branch of the Löffler family includes our direct ancestors, we focus on Hans as the next generation in the line that ultimately leads to the Spoons. The recorded births in 1593 and 1595 of Margaretha and Agnes Löffler, respectively, both list a father named Hans (the mother’s name is not listed). Four other children during this time period are listed with a father named Hans; unfortunately, the first names of the last three children in this family, born in 1600, 1607 and 1611, are illegible. The author has determined that one of these children is the father of the next generation in our line of direct ancestors. This is virtually certain, because there are no documents listing any other Löfflers in Hohenhaslach during this time. Until we have confirmation, we will assume for purposes of this book that it is the “Unknown” Löffler born June 6, 1611.

Suggesting that the first name of that child was Hans (or Johannes) would be a good guess. Why? Because the patriarch of the next two generations had that name. Hans Leonhard Loffler, born Feb. 17, 1677, is listed in the Hohenhaslach church records with a father named Johannes. The author could not find a birth record for a Johannes Löffler around 1640-50, the approximate time Hans Leonhard’s father would have been born. But the church record of Hans Leonhard’s birth proves that such a man did exist, and a birth date around 1640 could make this Johannes Löffler the son of the “Unknown” Löffler born in 1611 and the grandson of the Hans Löffler born in 1573.

Granted, this is all supposition until we find more detailed information. This, however, we know for sure: Hans Leonhard Löffler, born in Hohenhaslach in 1677, is confirmed as a Spoon ancestor. The story of his children and their journey to America is well documented and will be told in these pages. It would be another 100 years before the surname was changed to the Americanized “Spoon,” but as a member of the fifth documented generation of the Löffler family in Hohenhaslach, Hans Leonard already was part of a rich family heritage.

CHAPTER 2: The final years in Germany

Researchers aren’t sure why the Löffler family moved from its longtime homeland of Hohenhaslach about 35 miles northwest to the town of Sinsheim. We aren’t sure exactly what year the move took place, either. It appears to have been in the 1720s, after Hans Leonhard Löffler fathered three sons.

The first reference to Sinsheim is an entry in the book “Burgert’s 18th Century Emigrants from the Northern Kraichgau.” A Sinsheim Lutheran church document dated June 8, 1736 records the marriage of Johann Adam Löffler to Anna Margaretha Trinckel. Johann is listed as an apprentice potter and son of “the late Leonhard Löffler” of Hohenhaslach.

This is the same Johann Adam Löffler born in 1711 in Hohenhaslach. Microfilmed church records in Salt Lake City do not include births from this time period, so we don’t know Johann Adam’s exact birth date. The year was determined from the age he listed on a ship’s passenger list years later. He had a younger brother, Johann Christian, born in 1713. Following the custom of that time and to avoid confusion, we will refer to the brothers by their middle names, Adam and Christian.

The boys’ mother was named Barbara (maiden name unknown). The only evidence we have of this is a 1717 Hohenhaslach church record listing her death at age 31 from tabes (emaciation or starvation). This suggests that the family was living in modest conditions at best, perhaps with little food. We know, however, that somehow the Löfflers carried on. Even though Hans Leonhard Löffler was left a widower with two young sons, we know from ship’s passenger lists and the family history records of many Spoon relatives that he had one more child.

Johannes Löffler (we know of no middle name) was born in 1722. The name of his mother is not known, and we have no record of a second marriage for Hans Leonhard. But the church record listing Barbara Löffler’s death in 1717 justifies the claim made in many Spoon family histories that Johannes was a half brother to Adam and Christian. The identity of Johannes’ mother, as well as the final days of Hans Leonhard in Hohenhaslach, remain a mystery.

At some point before 1736, Adam Löffler relocated to Sinsheim. His brothers either came with him or followed him at some point. Perhaps they left for new beginnings following the death of their father, or maybe they simply sought the opportunities a larger town offered.

Today, Sinsheim is a city of 32,000. It maintains its historic feel with the remains of a castle on the hill and quaint dwellings nestled in a valley bordering Elsenz Creek. At the same time, it is known for its automobile manufacturers and is home to a large auto and technology museum. Its history dates back to the year 770, when it was first named in official documents as “Sunnisheim.” About the year 1000, a group of Benedictine monks established residence on a hill outside the village. The cloister buildings, still standing today, are now used as a youth hostel. Most of the town burned to the ground in 1689, but reconstruction was well underway by the time the Löffler brothers arrived.

Another possible motive for their move to Sinsheim is religious persecution. It is well documented that the fight for religious freedom in many parts of Germany was forcing many to flee their homeland during this time period.

The Thirty Years’ War, a series of battles between 1618 and 1648, was the final step in a military attempt to settle the religious division the Reformation had caused. One of the great conflicts of early modern European history, the Thirty Years’ War led to the destruction of many villages and countless deaths. As a result, few church records before 1650 survive to this day.

On one side of the conflict was the House of Austria, which included the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperors Ferdinand II and Ferdinand III, together with Philip IV of Spain. These rulers sought to re-establish the Catholic church throughout Europe. They were opposed by several nations, including Denmark, Holland, France and Sweden, many representing the Calvinist and Lutheran faiths.

Perhaps most of all, however, the conflict became a civil war in Germany, where various principalities took up arms against each other, some for and others against the Habsburgs. It was an ugly period in German history and a costly one for followers of the Lutheran faith. In the years following the end of the war, Lutherans received minimal privileges in practicing their religion. While Catholic and Reformed congregations flourished, Lutherans found few opportunities for organized worship. Under the terms of the Palatine Church Division of 1705 in the Palatinate region of the northern Kraichgau, 5/7 of the parishes became Reformed and 2/7 became Catholic. None were established as Lutheran. In order to preserve the faith, Lutherans were forced to raise funds in other parts of Germany. Their small congregations struggled to survive.

The three sons of Hans Leonhard Löffler were part of this persecuted group of Lutherans. Whether for this reason, for other reasons unknown to us for perhaps for a combination of both, Sinsheim became a favorable option for them. Located in a more populated area, it offered the security of an established Lutheran church, as the 1736 marriage record of Adam Löffler proves. It was also closer to the Rhine River, a means of travel already being used by Germans migrating north to the Netherlands. In search of a place to practice their religion freely, many had heard of the opportunities available in America. Word of a settlement of German Lutherans in the colony of Pennsylvania was received with enthusiasm. Ships full of German immigrants left the port of Rotterdam (Netherlands) for America on a regular basis.

By the time of Adam’s wedding in 1736, his younger brother Christian had already set out for a new life in a new land.

Following the lead of many Germans fleeing their homeland, Christian set sail on the Rhine River, a scenic trip north and west to Rotterdam. There he boarded the ship Samuel, bound for America. Risking the months-long journey with its virtual guarantee of dangerous storms and exposure to disease, Christian became the first of our ancestors to set foot on American soil. He disembarked from the Samuel at the port of Philadelphia on Aug. 17, 1733. His signature can be found on the passenger list from the journey.

We have no record of any correspondence between Christian and his brothers in Germany, and we don’t know why the three didn’t travel together. Perhaps Adam and Johannes waited for Christian to send word from America before they decided their own fate. At any rate, we know that Adam and his wife Anna Margaretha followed the same route shortly after their marriage, arriving in Philadelphia on the same ship Samuel, captained by one Hugh Percy, on Aug. 30, 1737.

Perhaps it was decided that Johannes was too young to make the journey with either of his brothers. After all, he was only 11 when Christian set sail and 15 when Adam left. Finally, at the age of 25, the youngest of the Löffler brothers made the long journey, sailing out of Rotterdam on the ship Restauration, Captain James Hall in charge. The name Johannes Löffler is one of the first to appear on the passenger list of the Restauration, which arrived in Philadelphia on Aug. 9, 1747 .

This youngest brother, the last of the Löffler immigrants to leave Germany for the promised land, has a special place in the history of the Spoon family. For Johannes Löffler represents the next generation in the direct line of ancestors of our Spoon family tree.

CHAPTER 3: “John the Immigrant”

Johannes Löffler must have thought he had sailed right into the land of opportunity when he walked off the ship Restauration that summer day in 1747. America was still nearly 30 years from becoming the United States, but already the colonies offered immigrants the kind of freedom most had scarcely dared to dream about. Pennsylvania, which offered the same type of climate and natural surroundings as their homeland, particularly appealed to German immigrants of that time.

Pennsylvania was granted a charter as a British colony in 1681, but the history of the white man in the region more realistically dates back to 1708. In that year, Conestoga Indians living in the area complained to the Provincial Council in Philadelphia about the conduct of five Europeans who had built a house along the Potomac River. One of the Swiss, a man named Franz Ludwig Michel, explained that he had been sent by his countrymen to search for a suitable tract of land. Despite efforts by the Provincial Council to curtail the construction, the efforts of the Swiss eventually led to the settlement of the area by immigrants from Switzerland, Germany and Holland.

One of the crafts for which the German immigrants were well known was the construction of the Conestoga wagon, a covered wagon named for the Indians native to the area. This drew the attention of Benjamin Franklin, who secured a large number of wagons for use by the colonial forces during the French and Indian War in 1755. This represented a new appreciation of the Germans by Franklin, who just four years earlier had written, “Why should the Palatine boors be suffered to swarm in our settlements and, by herding together, establish their language and manners to the exclusion of ours? Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a colony of aliens?”

Neither the opposition of native Indians nor the early complaints of colonists like Franklin could stop the settlement of the area by the Germans. The immigrants became known as Pennsylvania Dutch, a term taken from the translation of the word German (Deutsch) and the fact most of these immigrants came to America via Holland. Until recently, many Spoon descendants believed that the family was originally from Holland, knowing only the story of the ship’s arrival from Rotterdam.

It is likely that Johannes and his brothers first lived in Lancaster County, an area settled by a colony of Swiss Mennonites. Immigrants from the mountains of Switzerland, they settled first in the German Palatinate region before moving on to Holland, England and finally to America. Followers of Menno Simons, they believed in the complete separation of church and state – a belief that caused them tremendous grief in Europe. Beginning in 1710, they began to settle this area of Pennsylvania together with a group of Swiss settlers who were followers of Jacob Ammon – a group today known as Amish. These people, known for their strict domestic discipline and distinctive form of clothing, can still be found in Lancaster County today.

The most detailed evidence of a Löffler brother in Lancaster County involves Adam, who is listed three times in the records of the Lancaster Trinity Lutheran Church, one of the oldest churches in a U.S. inland city. Twice in 1743, Adam donated gifts to the church – a napkin for the baptismal table and pews for the chapel. Adam appears to have been a very active member of the congregation, which is known as a major force in the establishment of the Lutheran faith in this country. Under the direction of Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America, and the Rev. John Casper Stoever, members of Trinity Lutheran Church contributed greatly to a population that quickly spread to other parts of colonial America.

Very little is known about Johannes Löffler’s time in Pennsylvania. Most of the information on this subject comes from the research of Michael Boyles, a dentist in Winston-Salem, N.C. Taking information provided by his ancestors and after studying documents in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, Boyles has pieced together a likely scenario regarding Johannes’ early years in this country.

First, Boyles notes that Johannes Löffler was soon known in American documents by the name John Spoon, the English translation of his name. This supports the research of many others who have found evidence that the Löffler brothers first changed their surname to Löffel, then adopted the English meaning by changing the name to Spoon. Since many other John Spoons followed in future generations of the Spoon family tree, Boyles refers to the former Johannes Löffler as “John the Immigrant.”

Boyles acknowledges that it appears John the Immigrant spent the least amount of time of the three brothers in Pennsylvania before moving south. He has, however, uncovered some interesting facts. First, John Spoon married a woman named Sally (maiden name unknown). The couple had a son named Adam. Sources indicate that John the Immigrant also worshipped in a Lutheran church, perhaps the same congregation as Adam, with Henry Melchoir Muhlenburg as his pastor

According to family records and Boyles’ research, John Spoon left Pennsylvania sometime in 1763 to start a new life in North Carolina, a colony where land was readily available and affordable to immigrants. He traveled in a group that included Michael Shoffner, Adam Moser and his nephew Fredrick, and a man named George Fogleman – whose surname would become a significant part of the Spoon family history in the coming years. All appear to have been members of the same Lutheran congregation.

They were lured by yet another promise of a home where they could practice their religion and pursue their lifestyle without fear of persecution. Joining other German Lutheran immigrants who had perhaps grown weary of the crowds pouring into Lancaster County, John Spoon headed for North Carolina and a new chapter in Spoon family history.

CHAPTER 4: A new life in North Carolina

Although it was fast becoming a popular route, the path followed by John Spoon and other members of his party as they headed south must have been a rugged and lonely road. The one thing that kept them going was the promise of good farm land available in North Carolina, much of it reasonably priced by the agents of an opportunistic land owner named Henry McCulloch. A settlement referred to in 1750 land documents as McCulloch Tract 11 was most likely home to the Löffler/Spoon brothers, since it covered portions of Orange and Randolph counties (land that later became parts of Guilford County and Alamance County) in which the brothers are listed as residents in the ensuing years.

The trip to North Carolina carried the immigrants through Virginia on the only road south at that time, the Great Wagon Road. It ran through a valley nestled between the Appalachian Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains. This road was first carved through the rugged landscape by wild animals searching for food and attracted to the salt licks in the area. Native Americans later traveled the animal pathway, which became known as the Great Warrior Path because of its frequent use by the Iroquois Indian tribe to assault other bands of woodland natives. Years later, when settlers from Europe began using the overgrown footpath, this became the main route of mass migration south. Foot traffic gave way to simple carts, then two-wheeled carriages, then Conestoga wagons. The Treaty of Lancaster officially recognized this path – which by that time stretched 700 miles and was traveled by tens of thousands -- as the Great Wagon Road in July, 1744.

We don't know whether our ancestors walked, rode in carts or traveled in Conestoga wagons, but somehow they arrived in Big Lick -- which in 1882 became Roanoke, Virginia -- and took the southeastern fork in the road. The final leg of their trip, covering some 80 miles or so, took them to McCullough Tract 11 in the wide-open spaces of northwest North Carolina.

All three Löffler/Spoon brothers arrived in this region eventually. We don’t know exactly when Adam and Christian settled there; perhaps they arrived before John. The names of all three appear in land documents by the 1770s, however.

Our Spoon ancestors ended up on land that is now right on the border of Guilford and Alamance Counties, just a few miles east of Greensboro and just south of Interstate 85. Various surviving land deeds from that time period describe Spoon family property lines in approximately the same area, on land watered by Beaver Creek to the west and Stinking Quarter Creek to the east. Originally a part of Orange County’s greater boundaries, the land is now for the most part in Guilford County, which has a rich history of its own.

Established in 1771, Guilford County actually was settled primarily in the late 1740s and 1750s. The county originally encompassed a large northwestern portion of North Carolina. It extended from the Virginia-North Carolina border south about 75 miles, a huge chunk of land roughly 50 miles wide. At that time it included what is now Randolph County, which separated in 1779, and Rockingham County, which separated in 1785. Today its central metropolitan area is Greensboro, a city of more than 155,000. In the Revolutionary War era, Guilford County and neighboring Orange County was part of a vast wilderness inhabited by perhaps a few thousand hardy souls.

The first mention of John the Immigrant in North Carolina is in the Orange County deed book dated March 29, 1772. It describes the sale of land by “John Spoon and Sarah his wife of Orange, planter, to James McCarrol of same, 60 pounds, 100 acres.” The document was signed by John Spoon in German, probably meaning he used the name Johannes Löffler.

Researchers are not sure when John married Sarah, his second wife. Some believe his first wife, Sally, died before John left Pennsylvania. We are certain, however, that John and Sally had one son, Adam, born in Pennsylvania, and that John and Sarah had at least two children born in North Carolina.

The first of these was a son, named Johannes like his father but also known as John Spoon. “John the Younger,” as he is referred to by Boyles, was born on July 17, 1766. The German equivalent of his surname used at the time was Löffel, as is seen in a 1779 confirmation certificate. The document, handwritten both in German and English and now in Boyles’ possession, includes the words to the hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” along with the inscription, “Come here my children and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. John Spoon, 1779.”

John the Younger was a teenager when his father died. Although researchers are not sure of John the Immigrant’s exact death date, we know from an entry in the Orange County deed book that it happened by 1785, probably earlier. On Sept. 22, 1785, Sarah Spoon received a portion of land from a neighbor as part of an estate settlement. In that document, Sarah is referred to as the widow of John Spoon and a reference is made to “Sarah Spoon and orphan heirs.”

This land is described as being “on the waters of Stinking Quarter.” Boyles, who has walked the shores of this creek many times, insists it does not stink. It is definitely there, however, and the locals know this was once the site of the old Spoon homestead.

As Boyles describes it, “From Highway 62 (heading south from U.S. 85) near E.M. Holt School, turn onto Kimesville Road. Travel about three miles, turn left onto Euliss Road, go a half-mile and cross the south prong of Stinking Quarter Creek. Look to your right. That’s it. But don’t expect an old house – that’s long gone.”

According to Boyles, an old house near the corner of Kimesville Road and Euliss Road is the renovated former residence of Shoffner, who traveled with the Spoons from Pennsylvania. Boyles’ grandparents lived in that house at one time. He says records indicate Shoffner was by far the wealthiest in the group that traveled to North Carolina in 1763. He speculates that John the Immigrant moved south to work for Shoffner and found he could get his own land grant.

By 1785, John the Immigrant was dead. No one knows where John Spoon, aka Johannes Löffler, is buried. Boyles believes he may have died in the Revolutionary War. Boyles says there is a tombstone bearing the name of John Spoon, “native of Germany,” at Low’s Lutheran Church cemetery in Guilford County. He is not certain John is actually buried there, for if John was killed in combat, this could simply be a commemorative grave marker.

Even if this is the case, the “original” John Spoon left to his descendants a legacy of perseverance and religious conviction that is seen in many Spoon family members in the generations that followed.

CHAPTER 5: The Spoon family spreads its roots

George Fogleman, who accompanied John the Immigrant on the long journey from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, was another early pioneer in the German migration. Born in Widdern, Germany in 1746, George arrived as a child with his family on the ship Shirley at Philadelphia in 1751. In the first few years following his migration to North Carolina, Fogleman married Catherine Curtis, another German immigrant. On Sept. 3, 1766, the couple welcomed into the world a daughter, named Maria Eva.

Eve Fogleman was baptized on May 26, 1782, the first recorded baptism of an Evangelical Lutheran in North Carolina. Records indicate she spent a happy childhood on what her father called “the old plantation,” which spanned both sides of the Stinking Quarter Creek. In George Fogleman’s will, written in 1785 and executed after his death in 1805, Eve inherited “a spinning wheel, a bed and bed clothes, an iron pot, and as much pewter as I give to either of my daughters when they left me,” plus two cows.

In about 1786 she married John “the Younger” Spoon, son of the man who had been such a faithful traveling companion to her father. Researchers aren’t sure whether they received part of their parents’ land or purchased their own, but apparently John made a good living. According to a family history written by Ruth Spoon Sharp, great great great granddaughter of John Spoon, he “came to Orange County and became the owner of vast lands there that later were carved into Alamance County.”

Ruth Sharp also wrote about fond memories of Sundays and holidays spent at the “old homeplace,” which was sold by the Spoon family in the 1930s. Presumably, this was the same property that had been in the family since John the Immigrant first arrived in the 1760s. It is truly remarkable that people like Michael Boyles still know the location and visit it often.

John and Eve and their parents lived during a memorable era of American history. There's little doubt they were affected by, and perhaps even participated in, the Battle of Alamance -- a fight between the militia and rebel farmers upset about the policies of royal Governor William Tryon. That battle was fought in May 1771, just a few miles east of where the Spoon farm was located. Today, a 40-acre battlefield park marks the site of the event.

A few miles to the northwest lies the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, site of one of the last significant battles of the Revolutionary War.

On March 15, 1781, a group of colonists -- including many local farmers -- valiantly battled the British forces of Lord Cornwallis. Although the British forced the locals into retreat that day, Cornwallis' troops suffered so many losses through gunfire exchanges and hand-to-hand combat that they withdrew to Virginia, where Cornwallis later surrendered in Yorktown.

John Spoon and Eve Fogleman had seven children. The couple’s third child, born Oct. 16, 1793, was named David Sylvester Spoon. David was a member of the first generation to adopt the American surname Spoon from birth instead of the native family name Löffler. He is also the author’s great great great grandfather and a man about whom very little is known in the short time he spent on this earth.

CHAPTER 6: A life cut short

Nothing is known about David Spoon’s childhood years, but it is assumed he helped work the family farm and, like most other men in rural colonial communities, chose from among the women in the few neighboring families for a mate. On Feb. 22, 1820, he married Margaret (known as Peggy) Greeson, whose ancestors came from the same region of Germany as the Spoons and most of the other settlers of Guilford County.

David and Peggy Spoon lived on land deeded them by Peggy’s father. It was a 150-acre parcel bordering Beaver Creek, which crosses what it is now Highway 61 at a point near the intersection of Highway 62, just a few miles southeast of Greensboro. Making use of the rich soil and nearby water source, the Spoons diligently worked a farm that annually reaped harvests of wheat, corn and other crops.

Peggy's great grandfather, Isaac Greeson, sailed from Rotterdam on the ship James Goodwill, arriving in Philadelphia on Sept. 11, 1728. His trip south as one of Guilford County's first settlers was surely a difficult one, but it appears Isaac carved out a productive life once he got there. Land grant documents from Sept. 11, 1762 show an Isaac Grayson (probably Greeson) as the owner of 907 acres. And Salisbury District Court Minutes from March 1763 show that one Isaac Creson (probably Greeson) was naturalized (under British rule, of course).

Isaac Greeson died in 1768, leaving a wife and five children. One of those, a son named Jacob, had six children of his own, including Peggy's father, also named Isaac. Like his pioneering grandfather, this Isaac Greeson is portrayed in state documents as a land owner of considerable stature. In a land deed dated Aug. 29, 1820, Isaac gave a large parcel of land to David Spoon, probably as a wedding gift. The boundaries of that parcel were described in terms perhaps unfamiliar to us, but in standard language for that time period. According to the land deed, the property bordered Beaver Creek and ran from an oak tree north 48 degrees east two poles to a hickory tree, then north 80 degrees east 96 poles to another oak tree, then south 34 degrees east 108 poles to a red oak tree, etc. A "pole" was a standard surveyor's unit of measure equal to 16.5 feet -- the distance between fence poles on property boundaries of that time period.

Starting their family on that plot of land, David and Peggy Spoon had three sons -- Henry, Turly and David Jr. With reasonably wealthy and influential families supporting them on both sides, the couple appeared to have a bright future together. But on Oct. 10, 1823, just six days short of his 30th birthday, David Spoon died.

The cause of David's death is not known to researchers. He is buried in the Low's Lutheran Church Cemetery near where he lived. Low's Lutheran Church, organized in 1771, was originally a log structure used by both Lutheran and German Reformed congregations. Today it is a beautiful modern brick building located on the original site, on state Highway 61 near its intersection with Highway 62, about six miles south of Interstate 40 (which is also Interstate 85 at that point).

Behind the church, in the north half of the cemetery among the oldest graves, is the grave marker for John Spoon, born July 19, 1766, died March 11, 1849. His wife Eve is also buried there. A few graves down the row is a headstone bearing the first name "DAVID" and a last name partially worn away by the forces of nearly 180 harsh North Carolina winters. The first three letters are no longer legible, but the last two letters are "ON." Beneath the name are the dates that match those of David Spoon: Born Oct. 16, 1793, died Oct. 10, 182-. Although the last number of the year is illegible, this certainly seems to match his 1823 death date.

David left behind three infant sons who, according to state law at that time, were legally considered orphans. Because women were homemakers and not considered capable of providing for their children without a spouse, widows generally were forced to place their minor children under the care of a male guardian -- usually an uncle, grandfather or family friend. This was the case with Henry, Turly and David Spoon Jr. -- all apparently under the age of 4 when their father died. In guardian documents ranging from 1830 to 1842, John Spoon Jr. is listed as the guardian of the three minor sons of the late David Spoon.

Researchers assume John Spoon Jr. was a brother of David Spoon. In an 1821 Guilford County land deed, John Spoon Sr. and John Spoon Jr. are listed as joint grantors of land to another family. This leads to speculation that John Spoon Jr., apparently being roughly the same age as David Spoon because of his status as guardian of three minors, was the brother of David Spoon and that John Spoon Sr. was their father. John Spoon Jr. would be the John Spoon, born 1808, who is listed as one of John “the Younger” Spoon and Eve Fogleman’s seven children.

Peggy Greeson Spoon certainly maintained contact with her sons and probably lived very close to them, yet apparently she didn't grieve over the loss of her husband for too long. On Sept. 24, 1824 -- less than a year after David's death -- Peggy remarried to Jacob Amick, the member of another prominent local family. In an 1830 court document, Peggy and Jacob Amick were awarded 150 acres of land from the estate of David Spoon. In this document, the land was described as a "plantation."

We will probably never know how the death of their father while they were infants and the apparent shuffling between families affected the Spoon children. We do know, however, that this was the beginning of a troubled life for Henry Spoon, the next generation in our direct line of ancestors.

CHAPTER 7: An "orphan" son tries to carry on

Born in 1821, exact date unknown, Henry Spoon appears to have had a difficult life from the very beginning. His father, David Spoon, died in 1823, so Henry probably had little or no memory of him. Henry and his brothers, Turly and David Jr., were in 1830 placed in the care of John Spoon Jr., assumed by researchers to be their uncle. From that time until 1842, when he turned 21, Henry is listed as a ward of John Spoon Jr., living in Guilford County. By this time his mother had long since remarried, leaving her "orphan" children in the care of a relative.

There are indications that John Spoon Jr. provided a good life for Henry, Turly and David Jr. during their youth. Each year he filed documents claiming profit on the sale of corn and wheat crops to be used for their care. It certainly does not appear that young Henry and his brothers were neglected or abused.

But considering what happened later in Henry's life, one wonders just how well he endured his childhood and young adult years.

Shortly after he was legally declared an adult, Henry left North Carolina. One can only speculate about his reasons for doing so, but apparently Henry followed the lead of a large group of immigrants who had previously left Guilford County and moved northwest, settling in central Indiana. This appears to have been some sort of organized effort, probably accelerated by word sent back to friends and relatives in North Carolina, because many of these immigrants ended up in the same region of Indiana and settled an area that soon became known as Guilford Township.

The surrounding area was officially designated Hendricks County in 1824 in honor of Indiana Gov. William Hendricks. Just a few minutes' drive west of Indianapolis using the modern transportation we have today, the heart of Hendricks County was in those days a good little buggy ride from the city that would one day become famous for its 500-lap auto race.

We're not sure exactly what year Henry Spoon arrived in Indiana, but it was sometime between 1842 and 1846. One thing we know for certain -- once he got there, Henry made friends fast.

Court records show that on Sept. 17, 1846, at the age of 25, Henry married Rebecca Medaris in Hancock County, just east of Indianapolis. He is next found in the 1850 census for Hendricks County. Those records list Henry as a farmer with a personal value of $400, a decent bankroll in those days. Also listed as residing in his household are Rebecca Spoon, age 26 and a native of Virginia; Sarah Jane Spoon, just one year old; and William Amick, 26, a "farm operative" from North Carolina.

William Amick probably was a stepbrother to Henry, since he shares the same surname and home state as Peggy Greeson Spoon's second husband, Jacob Amick. It seems likely that Henry and William grew up as childhood friends and decided to strike out together for a new life in Indiana. After Henry married Rebecca, William was welcomed into the Spoon household as a farm hand.

Unfortunately, this is the last we hear of Rebecca, William and young Sarah Jane.

Hendricks County records show that on May 23, 1858, Henry married Sarah Catherine Reitzel, daughter of prominent local land owner David Reitzel, like Henry a native of North Carolina. We have no idea what happened to Henry's first wife, Rebecca, or his daughter, Sarah Jane. We do know that Henry soon started a new family, however. In the 1870 Hendricks County census, he and his new wife are listed as the parents of six children: Ellen, 11; Nancy, 7; Oliver, 5; John, 3; and twins Marietta and Rose Zetta, 1. Henry, still listed as a farmer, this time has real estate valued at $1,600 and personal value of $250.

It appears Henry worked a small farm in the southeast corner of Clay Township, a neighboring township to Guilford in the fledgling county of Hendricks. The small parcel of land is shown on a map of that era between larger lots belonging to Adam Reitzel and David Reitzel, whose real estate was just across the border into Franklin Township. As David Spoon's father-in-law had done for him several years before, it appears Henry's father-in-law gave or sold part of his farm land to the man who promised to provide for his daughter.

Within Clay Township were several smaller towns, some of which have survived until today and some that are now merely spots on an old map. Amo, close to the center of Clay Township, is today a town of about 450 residents located a few miles west of Clayton (pop. 700). Pecksburg, a bit to the east of Amo, was the location given for the Spoon and Reitzel farms in the mid-1800s. Today it is a ghost town, little more than the remains of some buildings at the intersection of Reeves Road and Clayton Road by the railroad tracks.

It was here that Henry Spoon, in his late 30s and working on his second marriage, began to decide that there might be more to life than harvesting crops. References made to him during that time list two occupations -- farmer and "trader." According to sources describing his character in documents that will be quoted later in this book, Henry soon became obsessed with gathering wealth. Whether simply trading crops and selling farm goods or dealing in something less virtuous, Henry apparently was consumed with making money.

What happened between that time and Henry's untimely death just a few years later is a sad story of alcoholism, spousal abuse and alleged mental illness. But to fully understand how the Spoons survived this tragic chapter in family history, one must first take a closer look at the incredible woman Sarah Catherine Spoon was, as well as the noble and courageous Reitzel family from which she came.

CHAPTER 8: True German pioneers

We may never fully appreciate the way Sarah Catherine Reitzel faced the challenges of life. But thanks to a detailed family history left for us by one of her relatives, we can see how she inherited her determination.

In his account entitled "The Reitzel Family'' and passed on to Spoon family members in the 1960s, Lyman O. Adams traces the family back to Germany nearly 300 years ago. Johannes Adam Christian Reitzel served as an officer in the Spanish War of Secession and was made a baron in Germany in 1722. This was a time of upheaval and considerable change in many European nations. The birth of Great Britain through the unification of England, Wales and Scotland altered the balance of power in Europe, and families began to reconsider their way of life.

Adam Reitzel I, the baron mentioned previously, probably was too ingrained in the German culture to pull up roots. But his son, Adam Reitzel II, decided to strike out in search of a new life. In 1755, he left the family home in Westphalia, far up the Rhine River, and set sail for America with his wife Margaret and their son Adam Reitzel III, who was less than 4 years old at the time.

In order to pay for the passage of his family across the Atlantic, Adam Reitzel II worked on the ship throughout the first part of the journey. Unfortunately, he was not an experienced sailor. During a storm at sea in the middle of the trip, Adam was ordered to climb up into the rigging of the ship to help trim the sails. Before he could finish the job, the raging waters tossed the boat so severely that Adam fell overboard and was lost at sea.

Adam's wife Margaret, devastated by the loss of her husband and facing a life alone with a toddler in a strange land, suffered the fate of many passengers who couldn't afford the trip without providing services in exchange. Upon arrival of the ship in Charleston, a port in South Carolina, Margaret's services were sold at auction to pay the balance of her passage across the ocean. As the story goes, Margaret Reitzel was sold to a South Carolina land owner for cash and an unknown quantity of tobacco. There is no record of how long she was forced to work as an indentured servant or whether she was separated from her child during that time. One can only imagine what a cold, hard life it must have been.

When her time of service was completed, Margaret was allowed to take young Adam III and leave. All she knew at the time was that some relatives lived near Liberty, North Carolina, an area just a few miles southeast of the Guilford County farm lands of the Spoons. Seeing no alternative, Margaret started out on foot in the direction of Liberty, more than 200 miles to the north. The trip covered a treacherous stretch of land marked by swamps and stagnant waters. Malaria and yellow fever had already claimed many victims in that wilderness region. We don't know what time of year this trip was made, but only springtime would've been anywhere near comfortable. Summer in that region is unbearably hot and winter brings bone-chilling cold.

In a journey that must have taken weeks, Margaret soon became tired and discouraged. Twice along the way, she abandoned young Adam and continued her journey, apparently thinking she'd never make it with the child in tow. Each time, however, she repented and returned to get her son. The story does not say whether she left the child in the care of others on those occasions or simply left him wandering by the side of the road.

Finally, Margaret and her son reached the outskirts of Guilford County, where they settled with relatives. Adam Reitzel III grew to manhood and married Katrina Moretz. They had a son, Henry, who married Catherine Moser and became the father of 13 children. One of these was David Reitzel, who was born Nov. 21, 1806 in a fast-growing community near Liberty.

On April 1, 1830 -- while Henry Spoon was a 9-year-old living under the care of John Spoon Jr. a few miles away -- David Reitzel married Deborah Marshall. A year later, the Reitzels became one of the early North Carolina pioneers to strike out for Hendricks County, Indiana. Then on April 22, 1834, Deborah Reitzel gave birth to a daughter, Sarah Catherine, in Pecksburg.

The couple had 10 children before Deborah died in 1849. David remarried to Suzannah Leitzman on Mar. 4, 1858 -- less than three months before his third oldest child, Sarah Catherine, married Henry Spoon.

By this time, David Reitzel had acquired a substantial piece of farm land in Hendricks County. His daughter, a faithful member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Pecksburg, had what she thought was a solid marriage to a man who would care for her and her children the rest of her life. Little did she know how severely her faith would be tested in the years to come.

CHAPTER 9: Troubled times in Indiana

No one really knows what happened to Henry Spoon in the years during and immediately following the Civil War. We do know that by the time he married his second wife, Sarah Catherine Reitzel, he was 37 years old in 1858. Since we have no record of his first wife Rebecca or their infant daughter Sarah Jane after the 1850 Hendricks County census, it's possible that the stress of a divorce or a death had emotionally scarred Henry before he ever reached the altar a second time. Perhaps he was adversely affected by the war, although he was surely too old to have served in the military at that time. Maybe he carried emotional scars from a childhood without a father, or perhaps he simply became too fond of the bottle.

The reasons for Henry's problems are merely speculation. The final years of his downfall are well documented, however, if one digs deep enough.

The first sign of trouble we see in Henry's life came in 1869, when he was institutionalized at the Indiana Hospital for the Insane. A 100-acre complex of brick buildings and gardens opened in 1848 on the outskirts of Indianapolis, this facility was later renamed Central State Hospital and was closed in 1994, serving since then as a museum. The first record of Henry Spoon's stay there, according to Indiana State Archives records, was a commitment paper dated April 5, 1869 and signed by Henry's father-in-law, David Reitzel.

At the time, Henry and Sarah Catherine had been married 11 years. The couple had six children, including twin girls -- Mary Etta and Rose Zetta -- born just weeks before, on Feb. 28. The only indication given on that first commitment form was the comment, "Papers represent this man's insanity at three months, five or six months at most. He has been reputed insane three or four years in his neighborhood." His behavior was described as "restless and noisy, aggravated at night." His age, for years a subject of debate because of conflicting records, was listed as 53.

There is no record of the date when Henry was released from the Indiana Hospital for the Insane. All we know is that he was committed a second time on Nov. 18, 1873, this time with William Reitzel, his brother-in-law, signing the papers. In contrast to his wife's staunch religious beliefs, Henry's religion was listed as “none.” His form of mental disorder was described as "mania, periodical (acute)," having lasted "three months this time." The cause was described as "intemperance." He was also listed as "homicidal -- threatened wife." Adding to the confusion about his age, Henry's age at his previous commitment two years earlier was listed this time as 51, not 53.

It appears that throughout this ordeal, Sarah Catherine Spoon made every effort to stand behind her troubled husband while trying to raise six children on her own in his absence. There is a notation that she visited Henry in the hospital on Jan. 15, causing no change in Henry's behavior other than the note, "He was extremely anxious to go home."

A doctor's evaluation of Henry around that time described him as suffering from insanity caused by "intemperance in living, irregular habits, with the excessive use of coffey and alcohol." Nonetheless, Henry was eventually released. Now described in hospital documents as both a farmer and a trader, Henry apparently was well known around town for his greed, drunken behavior and abuse of his wife and children. There is no arrest record indicating physical violence involving family matters, but this is alluded to in 1877, during yet another stay in the Indiana Hospital for the Insane.

After being committed a third time, this time by his son-in-law Columbus Pierce, Henry was described this way by Dr. C. L. Lawrence: "I have been acquainted with Henry Spoon for eight years and know him to be a very disagreeable man. At this time, his treatment of his family -- children especially -- amounts to cruelty and his remaining at large (would be) dangerous."

There is no doubt that Henry's wife and relatives believed they had no choice but to keep Henry confined in the state hospital. Sarah Catherine, struggling to raise six children and keep a farm running, could hardly be expected to expose herself and her children to this kind of danger. If this situation had taken place today, Henry might be sent to a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center or a psychiatric ward for therapy. But in the 1870s, lacking the medical knowledge we have now, doctors simply locked their patients up and monitored them to see if the problem would go away.

While the doctors waited, their patients often lived in the most deplorable of conditions. One shudders to think what Henry went through during his stays over nearly a 10-year period at the Indiana Hospital for the Insane.

For decades, the hospital confined its worst inmates -- those who screamed incessantly or were otherwise disruptive -- to the basement, or the "dungeon" of the hospital. In 1870, hospital superintendent Dr. Everts was so appalled by the wretched living conditions and conduct of employees he witnessed, he appealed to the governor for help. Among his statements: "Basement dungeons are dark, humid and foul, unfit for any kind, filled with maniacs who raved and howled like tortured beasts, for want of light, and air, and food, and ordinary associations and habiliments..."

According to Everts, inmates were forced to sleep on beds of straw thrown on iron cots. Repairs to the hospital were rarely made, leading to "abundant leakages" and rotten floors. Kitchen areas were infested with cockroaches.

Apparently, Everts felt he had no control over the conditions because of the limited state funding provided. But despite his pleas, nothing was done. Frustrated and defeated, Everts resigned in 1872. Not until 1880 did the Indiana legislature appoint an investigating committee to review charges of staff misconduct at state penal and charitable institutions. Helping lead to the eventual improvement of the facility was a series of pamphlets published by Albert Thayer, a former hospital inmate, in which former patients told their horror stories. These pamphlets had compelling titles like "Indiana Crazy House" and "The Rough Diamond" and were illustrated with frightening sketches depicting living conditions in the hospital.

Change did come. Unfortunately, it came too late to save Henry Spoon.

On Aug. 3, 1877, Henry decided he couldn't take it anymore. With another inmate, Henry plotted his escape from a fourth-floor window of the room in which he was lodged. An article in the Danville Union describes how Henry, using a rope made of bed clothes, tried to descend the four stories and escape. Henry made it about halfway down before the rope broke, sending him crashing to the ground. A few hours later, he was dead.

In the Amo Cemetery, under the 12th headstone in the seventh row from the east end, lies the body of Henry Spoon. The stone is in the shape of a shaft, with a book on top engraved with a verse that is no longer legible. Only the death date, once again conflicting with Henry's documented birth year of 1821, is readable: Aug -- 51 yrs, 10 mo., 22 days.

One can only hope that, finally, Henry is at rest.

CHAPTER 10: A new generation perseveres

Somehow -- probably due primarily to the incredible faith and strength of Henry Spoon's long-suffering wife, Sarah Catherine -- the Spoon family endured Henry's tragic final years and survived even more heartbreak to forge the bond that remains strong to this day among its descendants.

It wasn't easy. After Henry's death in 1877, Sarah Catherine Spoon was left on an Indiana farm to care for five children, ages 8-16. The oldest of the six Spoon children, Margaret Ellen, was on her own, having married local resident Columbus Pierce two years earlier. It was up to Sarah to do her best in raising the others, relying on friends and relatives to provide support and trying desperately to make sure her children didn't dwell on the tragic manner in which her husband died.

Eventually, Sarah found a new partner in life. On June 3, 1883 she married Hiram Rhoades near Pecksburg, Indiana, the place she had called home all her life. It was a new beginning for a woman who had been the victim of spousal abuse and her husband's alcoholism long before such issues were identified and treated in mainstream society. Yet once again, fate dealt Sarah a cruel blow.

Less than four months after Sarah and Hiram were married, typhoid fever struck the Spoon household. As was the case with so many diseases which in that era were not easily treated, the illness took a heavy toll. On Nov. 23, 1883, Hiram Rhoades died from the disease. Just three days later, 14-year-old Rose Zetta -- one of the twins and the youngest of the family -- also passed away. Most of the other family members were sick for weeks before recovering.

According to the Dec. 13, 1883 edition of the Hendricks County Republican, "The condition of the afflicted Spoon family is somewhat improved. For 13 weeks, sickness has held its sway in the family. Five of the family have been protracted with malignant typhoid fever; two of them have died and one remains very sick. The friends and neighbors have done everything in their power to mitigate their suffering and add to their comfort."

Devastated, Sarah relied on her faith in God and held the family together. In 1885, she left behind the bad memories and what was left of the Hendricks County farm and boarded a train for Kansas, where her daughter Margaret and son-in-law Columbus Pierce had moved some time earlier. Once again, the Spoon family was on the move westward. The four surviving Spoon children still living at home were by now young adults: Nannie (25), Oliver (23), John (21) and Mary Etta (16). Yet there was no doubt that their mother remained the guiding force in the family.

A year later, all but Nannie moved to Osborne County, Kansas, just north of Luray, a farming community on the vast Kansas plains. Luray lies in the north central part of the state, a few miles north of what is now Interstate 70. Today it is a city of 261 people in Russell County.

To those of us who grew up in overcrowded Southern California, Luray is, basically, in the middle of nowhere. In the 1880s, it was for many the edge of the frontier, an exciting land of opportunity.

It was not always a safe haven. Margaret Ellen, the oldest Spoon child and the one who had first moved from Indiana with her husband, died at age 34, only eight years after her family had followed. Her cause of death is unknown. The other Spoon children prospered, a fitting testament to the gritty determination of their mother.

John, as we shall read later in this book, became a successful farmer in the Luray area and eventually moved to California. His brother Oliver also farmed the land successfully and later in life managed a productive citrus fruit ranch in Raymondsville, Texas, where he died in 1941 at the age of 79.

Mary Etta, who lost her twin sister at age 14, went on to become Dr. Mary Beatty, a chiropractor who lived to the ripe old age of 86. She didn't even begin her chiropractic studies until after the death of her husband, Boyd Clark Beatty. Mary Etta died at the home of her son-in-law and daughter, Milan and Nina Hitchcock, in Savannah, Missouri in 1955. Besides her daughter, she left behind daughter-in-law Dr. Louisa Beaty (widow of Mary Etta's only son, Homer Beatty), and nine grandchildren.

Little is known about Nannie Caroline Spoon. We have only a notation that she married a man named Boggs (date unknown), that she too became a doctor, and that she died April 23, 1930, at the age of 70.

Nannie outlived by only six years her mother, a matriarch who deserves a special place in the Spoon family history. Sarah Catherine Reitzel Spoon Rhoades died in Luray on April 7, 1924, just 15 days short of her 90th birthday.

"All her life, she bitterly denounced evil with righteous indignation," an obituary author wrote about her. "She loved her Savior first of all and always tried to do his will."

In doing so, she worked hard to raise her children under trying circumstances. One of those was John Alvin Spoon, the next generation in the direct line from our ancestors.

CHAPTER 11: Farm life in Kansas

When John Alvin Spoon moved with his mother, brother and sisters from Indiana to Kansas in 1885, he was 21 years old -- virtually the same age his father Henry was when he made a similar relocation some 40 years before. From that point on, however, the two led very different lives. Relying on his solid work ethic and knowledge of livestock and agriculture, John became one of the most successful farmers in Kansas and was, by all accounts, a model citizen until his death in California at the age of 88.

Born Feb. 24, 1864 in Amo, Indiana, John was 13 when his father died trying to escape from the Indiana Hospital for the Insane. If John carried any emotional scars with him later in life, he never showed it. From the day he set out for Kansas, John Spoon pursued life with a sense of adventure that inspired those around him.

In a letter written to his hometown newspaper in Luray in 1945, long after he had moved to California, John recalled his train trip to Kansas, saying, "I left Plainfield, Indiana 60 years ago with a fine bird dog for my brother-in-law, who lived in Waterville, Kansas. The dog made the trip in the baggage car, with enough tips to satisfy the baggage man."

Within days of stepping off the train, John struck out on his own. Soon he had a job on a local farm, clearing the corn field. After working as a farm hand there and later on another farm stacking wheat, John rejoined his family at its new home in Luray, where his brother Oliver was handling the farm chores and his mother Sarah Catherine was, as always, the hard-working homemaker. According to a biography of John published in the Lucas Sentinel years later, he used the $11 he had saved doing odd jobs to purchase a quarter interest in a small bunch of hogs and went into partnership with Oliver running the family farm.

Times were tough in the next few years, but in 1892 the brothers' hard work paid off. Taking advantage of a good corn and wheat crop and livestock fattened up on the plentiful buffalo grass, John made a $900 profit that year. From that point on he began to purchase more livestock and soon had enough money to buy 130 acres of rich farm land. On April 16, 1893, he married Laura Jane Smith, a teacher who lived with her parents in a two-story stone house not far away from the Spoon farm.

Laura, born Sept. 15, 1871 in Chariton, Iowa, came from a Southern background. Her mother, Mary Persila Patrick, lived much of her life in her native Alabama. Her grandfather, Thomas W. Patrick, died in 1864 as a Rebel soldier in a prison camp during the Civil War. Once united with John in matrimony, Laura gave up her job as a teacher to become a homemaker and mother.

The farm of John and Laura Spoon was located a short distance from the Sarah Spoon farm, about two miles south of Cheyenne, described by John as "a small burg out in the country. They had a rural phone office, a store, a blacksmith shop and a church up on the hill." It isn't even shown on today's maps. John built a small house on the land and went to work farming the land and raising livestock. He and Laura also began their family, welcoming their first child on March 20, 1894 -- a daughter, Carrie.

In April of 1895, on land he rented adjacent to his farm, John planted 175 acres of corn. Working with a team of four horses and employing just one farm hand for a short time, he harvested a crop of 7,000 bushels of corn. The job was completed about the time the couple's second child, a son named Cleo Harvey, was born on July 26.

John's knowledge of the farm industry continued to pay off. In 1898, he used part of his profits to buy another 160 acres of land. The next year, on July 26, 1899, Laura Faye was born. Shortly thereafter, construction began on a large two-story house that was completed in the summer of 1900 at a cost of $1,500. It was beautifully furnished and was a comfortable dwelling for the growing Spoon family. The first Spoon child born there was Floyd Otto, who came into the world on June 10, 1900.

Adding alfalfa to his crop, John discovered this to be the best feed for his hogs. Fattening them on alfalfa and corn, John sold $4,600 worth of hogs between 1894 and 1900. One carload of his hogs brought the top price in the Kansas City market around the turn of the century. A Lucas Sentinel article described the Spoon farm as being "a fine residence, with a large and roomy barn and numerous other outbuildings, and supplied with windmills, feed mills and everything that makes an up-to-date ranch or farm."

Apparently, John Spoon was known throughout the community as a model citizen as well as an excellent farmer. In the same newspaper article, he is described as "a man of high character, religious and capable. He is an active worker in the church and a man everyone trusts, of kindly disposition, generous to a fault and faithful in all his duties. He came here a mere lad, without money and without friends, and has made himself one of the most respected and prosperous men of this country."

As the years went by, John's success as a farmer multiplied. Soon he owned more than 100 head of cattle. At the same time, his family continued to grow. Alvin Lee Spoon was born Oct. 4, 1902. Adrian Oliver Spoon was born May 7, 1904. And the last member of the family, Clifford Valentine Spoon, was born Feb. 14, 1911.

Soon the older Spoon children began to strike out on their own. Carrie attended college in Salina, about 50 miles to the east, where she met a young man named Delbert Hartley Hooker. His parents had recently joined the increasing number of families moving to the west coast, settling in Alhambra, a suburb about 10 miles east of Los Angeles. After marrying in 1918, Hartley and Carrie B. Spoon Hooker moved to California, beginning a Spoon migration westward that soon involved most of the family.

First, however, came the winds of war. Just as Carrie and her new husband were preparing to move out west, the United States was sending young men to Europe to fight in World War I. Cleo Spoon, now 22 years, old, was among those brave soldiers. Taking a break from his job as a teacher in the local schoolhouse, Cleo left home one cold January morning in 1918 and traveled to nearby Salina to a U.S. Army recruiting station. That was the beginning of an adventure that led him to France, where he served as an Army mechanic. Decades later, Cleo still had the helmet and gas mask he was issued, tucked away among the many treasures his grandchildren delighted in examining. In those later years he never volunteered information about the war unless asked , but at the time he sent home entertaining letters that reveal the great sense of humor he possessed.

The first letter Cleo sent home to Kansas described a layover in Denver while his unit was being processed. It included this passage:

"While waiting in Denver, about 4,000 in number, all the stenographers, bookkeepers and all the other women that worked there came out about three stories above and began to have sport with us. They cheered us when we sang, throwed kisses at us, when finally some of the boys found a way up. They loved them around awhile when the police found their way up and told the boys to get the hell out of there and the girls to get to work and stay there."

Cleo closed that letter by asking his family members to "let Edna read this." Presumably, Edna was a love interest back home.

Back in Luray, John continued to work the farm, making a comfortable living for his wife Laura and the five children still at home. Floyd, 18 by the time his older brother Cleo left to join the army, worked hard on the farm but was already developing a similar sense of adventure. Eventually, he spent time working oil wells and was an amateur inventor. Alvin, 16 at the time, had already quit high school once but returned that year, only to quit again after getting a bad case of the flu. Adrian, 14, and Clifford, 7, enjoyed the life of a Kansas farm boy when they weren't busy with chores or studying in a one-room school house.

Laura kept busy tending house and writing creative letters to Cleo, matching his humor word for word. In one 1918 letter, she cut out pictures from cards and newspapers and pasted them in place of certain words to tell her son what was happening back home. Using drawings of rain and snow, Laura told Cleo, "Such weather I have never seen since 1886. The barn and cattle shed and implement shed were blown full. The boys had to dig two heifers out of a drift. Papa was about sick during the storm and Floyd just came in handy. I think we will have papa in the notion to go to (a big picture of California)."

Soon Faye married Forrest Applegate, with whom she lived on a Kansas farm the rest of her life. But while Faye was adamant about remaining in the place of her birth, the seeds of change were rapidly being planted in the minds of the other Spoons.

Carrie soon began to send home correspondence singing the praises of sunny Southern California. She had found work as secretary to the president of the Los Angeles Medical School of Ophthalmology and Optometry. John and Laura were already intrigued by dreams of California living, having visited friends in San Diego and San Francisco in 1915.

Meanwhile, Cleo continued to write home with army stories. One of his training locations was Augusta, Georgia, where he wrote, "Don't ever come down here and try to find me. The Kaiser himself couldn't." Again he mentioned Edna, to whom he was writing privately.

Receiving training as a motor mechanic, Cleo soon arrived at one of his last stops before heading overseas -- Charlotte, North Carolina, a city less than 100 miles from the farm where his great grandfather David Spoon had grown up. Apparently, Cleo was not fond of his ancestors' homeland. "Oh, mama, come get me," one letter began. "Walking from the train over here, you couldn't walk with your head up like a solider. You had to watch where you were going, it was so rutty and cut up."

At this point, Cleo's letters began to indicate more than one love interest back home. "Do you have any idea when that Edna Moss is going to have her picture taken and send to me?" he asked in a letter dated April 21, 1918. Yet in the same letter he wrote, "Alta C. gets her school back at $65 per (month). Pretty good." This is a reference to Alta Carswell, a local teacher Cleo would eventually marry -- once he finally settled on one woman.

Cleo never forgot his siblings in his letters, either. "That Alvin is the craziest nut I ever had write to me," he said in one letter. "I thought I would die when I read his letter. Make him write more of them." And this: "Tell that Floyd if he can't write to send his breath on a ribbon so I'll know that he is alive, at least." Cleo also loved directing comments to "babe," youngest brother Clifford. In closing one letter, he wrote, "Ask babe if worms are snakes' puppies?"

It was likely one of the older brothers, however, to whom he directed a July 1918 letter that began, "Dear Bro, come to NY for the women. Oh boy! This camp is lousy and such pretty ones you never cast a lamp on, you get weak in the knees right off the bat. And talk about shape -- they are built from the ground up."

It was clear even then, however, that Cleo had a soft spot in his heart for Alta Carswell, whom he wrote was hoping for a teaching job in Idaho but instead decided to teach in Luray. Soon after his return from France, Cleo began seeing Alta exclusively. On Aug. 27, 1920, they were married in Superior, Nebraska.

The Carswell family immigrated to America from Scotland. Alta's great grandfather, John Carswell, was born in Glasgow on Feb. 14, 1795 -- 102 years to the day before her own birth in Lawrence, Nebraska. Together with his wife Elizabeth and their sons John, Robert and David, John Carswell sailed on the ship Tropic to America, arriving in New York on June 17, 1837. Robert Carswell married Margaret B. Edgar in 1852, and one of their eight children was David Carswell, born Feb. 22, 1860. David married Pearlie Shelton on April 19, 1888, and nine years later Alta (no middle name) Carswell was born as the fifth of 10 children.

Feeling right at home in the midwest, Cleo and Alta began to make a home for themselves and resumed their teaching careers. But before 1920 was over, John had decided to take the big step. Taking with him his wife and the three children still living at home -- Alvin (18), Adrian (16) and Clifford (9) -- John Spoon left the land where he had carved out such a wonderful life, setting out for the warm climate of Southern California and a place where he would spend an enjoyable life of retirement.

CHAPTER 12: California, here we come

The San Gabriel Valley, located just a few miles east of Los Angeles, was still in many ways a frontier land of wide-open spaces in 1920. One could walk the landscape through acres of orange trees, pause to watch livestock grazing in the green pastures, or stand on the shore of the San Gabriel River, which runs from the foothills to the Pacific Ocean at Long Beach. Today, meandering alongside the 605 Freeway, the San Gabriel River usually is no more than a trickle of water, its forces held back by the Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale. Centuries ago, the Gabrielino Indians camped on its shores, fishing and hunting the area and living in peace until Spanish explorers arrived.

In 1920, as it does today, the San Gabriel Mission stood proudly in the heart of the valley, a tribute to Father Junipero Serra and the Spanish missionaries who helped settle the land and educate the natives. It was in a fast-growing community named Alhambra, in a house at 213 S. Chapel Ave. about three miles from the mission, that John and Laura Spoon and their three youngest sons began a new chapter in their lives.

Ready to enjoy a life of retirement free of farm chores and snow drifts, John Spoon was anything but inactive upon his arrival in Southern California at age 56. He and his family joined the Alhambra Little Brown Church -- later to be expanded and renamed the Alhambra First Christian Church, which is still in existence today at Fourth St. and Commonwealth Ave. John served faithfully as an elder on the church board and was a member of the church choir.

Folks around Alhambra soon came to know the same personable, dedicated individual John Spoon had been for so many years in Kansas. Meanwhile, his boys worked at finishing their education. While Clifford progressed through grade school, Adrian graduated from Alhambra High School in 1923. His older brother Alvin, who had dropped out twice before, graduated with him that same year. Alvin went to work for the Standard Felt Corporation as a multigraph operator, making $70 per month (paid in gold coin). Later, he became cashier and handled payroll for the company. Adrian got a job with the Post-Advocate, the local newspaper, and eventually bought a division of the Los Angeles Times, in which he supervised a group of distributors. This began a relationship with the daily newspaper business that has spanned four generations of the Spoon family, as will be explained later.

Carrie, happy to be reunited with her family, was making quite a name for herself in the optometry business. Working her way up through the company, she was helping to build a small, struggling school called the Los Angeles Medical School of Ophthalmology and Optometry into what became a modern, nationally recognized institution known today as the Southern California College of Optometry.

Things were going well for all, but the Spoon boys missed their older brothers and sister. They knew Faye would never agree to come to California, but they hoped to convince Floyd and Cleo, who had remained back east with Alta, to move out west. In a letter dated May 19, 1923 and written by Alvin with help from Adrian, they made a strong argument for selling the remainder of John Spoon's property and farm machinery and moving to Southern California.

"Out here you can work at something -- carpentry, painting, truck driving, factory work or salesmanship," Alvin wrote, presumably with Adrian looking over his shoulder and giving advice. "You can make at least $4 per day at any one of those jobs, and if you are good there is no end to the advancement. It will cost each of you between $45 and $60 a month to live out here. It just depends on how radical you are."

The brothers indicated in their letter that their father wasn't as wealthy as he once was, due in part to loans he had made to his sons in Kansas. They told Floyd and Cleo that John Spoon would've been a "rich man" had he listened to friends who advised him three years earlier to sell everything he had in Kansas and invest it in California. Then they closed by telling their brothers to keep the plan a secret so others wouldn't come west and provide competition for jobs and land.

"We didn't tell Carrie and Hartley we were writing this so Carrie can't think dad is helping Floyd and Cleo some more," Alvin wrote. "P.S. Dad OK'd this."

Floyd remained in Kansas, but eventually, Cleo listened. In 1925 he and Alta moved to California with their infant daughter, Wanda Jeanette, born April 19, 1924. Wanda recalls the family’s early days in Alhambra, when they lived with John and Laura Spoon in the Chapel Ave. house.

“I remember my grandmother taking care of me when I had my tonsils out at the Alhambra Hospital, which was on Garfield Ave. and Commonwealth at the time,” said Wanda. “I think I was about 2 years old. The memory is of her is in a nurse’s white uniform. Why, I don’t know. I don’t know that she was ever a nurse, and there probably isn’t anyone else around who would know.”

Eventually, the Cleo Spoon family moved into a house on Huntington Ave. in Monterey Park, a fast-growing bedroom community next to Alhambra, and joined the Little Brown Church. Cleo got a job driving a truck for Ramona Dye Works, a dry cleaning company. Cleo and Alta had a son, Daryl Wayne, born Oct. 23, 1928. Those were good times, Wanda remembers.

“I loved to roller skate around the block, all on sidewalks,” she said about her neighborhood in Monterey Park. “The Monterey Theater was just two blocks away. On Saturday afternoon, we could go see a double feature, cartoons and news for 10 cents.

“Chores around the house were typical, I think. We had no cleaning ladies or gardeners. We had to help do dishes and clean house on Saturdays. What I hated was helping my mother wax the hardwood floors. We used Johnson’s paste was and we had to get down on our hands and knees to rub it on and polish it with rags.”

Wanda attended Ynez Grammar School, Alhambra High School in the ninth and 10th grades, then Mark Keppel High School in Monterey Park when it opened in 1940. She graduated from Keppel in February, 1942, just two months after the U.S. became involved in World War II.

As the years went by, the Spoon family continued to grow as fast as the community in which it lived. On Oct. 29, 1925, Alvin married Sarah McComb, a Michigan native he met at a Halloween party at church. The couple's only child, Donna Lee, was born April 4, 1927. Cleo and Alta had a son, Daryl Wayne, born Oct. 23, 1928. Carrie and Hartley Hooker adopted a son, Delbert. And Clifford, who went to work for the phone company right out of high school, had a new bride, Alice.

Adrian kept busy with his Times dealership but he also soon took a bride, Beulah. Back in Kansas, Floyd Spoon and his wife Ida became the parents of Arlene and Donald. Faye married Forrest Applegate and eventually gave birth to two daughters, Eva Jane and Joyce.

As the children of John and Laura Spoon began to start their own families, a tradition was begun in which all the Spoons gathered each Christmas Eve to celebrate the holidays. The Spoon Christmas party is a tradition that is carried on to this day by the descendants of John Spoon and his children.

“When Donna, Wayne and I were growing up, there were lots of aunts and uncles and just we three, so we got lots of presents,” Wanda said. “Of course we enjoyed seeing all of them together.”

Wanda also recalls family camping trips, when her family would camp together with Alvin, Sarah and Donna in a “big old circus tent” at Huntington Beach. The families enjoyed vacations, she remembers.

“My dad loved traveling and we took many trips, with me complaining,” Wanda said. “Wayne and I fought as brother as sister, but when we were traveling we had a good time together. He put up with a lot from me as a bossy big sister.”

But in the midst of the good times, the harsh reality of death visited the Spoons. On Feb. 1, 1941, Laura Spoon passed away at the age of 69. As John Spoon wrote in a letter a few weeks later, "Laura just lacked two years of reaching the time when we would have celebrated our golden wedding anniversary. But she fought a good fight and was with us six years after her first sickness. She never suffered but little and was up and around most of the time."

Death struck the Spoon family again later that decade. On April 6, 1949, word reached the Spoons in California that Floyd had passed away at the age of 48 in Auburn, Nebraska. A receipt of expenses for his service at the May & Timm Funeral Home shows a total of $512.50. It also shows that Forrest Applegate paid for the entire funeral service, plus an additional $300 sent to Floyd's widow.

Family members in California always kept in close contact with Faye and Forrest despite Faye's opposition to her family leaving Kansas. Such was not the case with Floyd in his later years, however. As Floyd became involved in more and more off-beat projects -- inventions like a new type of laundry basket -- he drifted further away from the family. John Spoon, always a proponent of hard work and smart business sense, seemed at times frustrated by his son's sense of adventure.

Speaking of adventure, there was Carrie, ever the feisty one, with eyes that smiled and a voice that was never quiet. While the others grew more and more attached to the Alhambra community, Carrie moved to downtown Los Angeles, where she continued to build a reputation in the optometry field through her work at the school there.

Hartley, who had made a small fortune in the tool-making business, built a beautiful, spacious home for his wife in a place no one would have expected. On a narrow lot in the middle of a modest community of homes near the recently completed Los Angeles Coliseum, Hartley built an attractive house fronted by iron gates, featuring beautiful tile floors and including a downstairs playroom the Spoon children loved to spend time in. When Laura Spoon's health began failing, she and John lived in the back of the house for a time. At the front of the house was an office used by Adrian to run his Times dealership before he relocated it to Alhambra.

Unfortunately, those joyous times did not last forever. Hartley Hooker began to show an interest in an attractive Italian woman who had recently moved into the neighborhood. Suspecting a romantic relationship, Carrie hired a private investigator and learned of the affair. Hartley moved out and the couple eventually divorced. Carrie later married Roy Asher, another relationship that didn't last.

But to her credit, Carrie was never one to be stopped by adversity -- in her private life or her profession. At one point in 1933, after the optometry school had to vacate its buildings because of a lack of funds, Carrie rented a house for use by the school and worked there without pay. For 13 years she worked from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the college, then from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. at a second job. Later she established the Marshall B. Ketchum Library in honor of the school's founder. She also founded the optometry sorority, Phi Kappa Rho, serving as its president in 1941.

The Spoon "boys" were every bit as active as their older sister during that time.

In 1943, Alvin bought the Monterey Park dealership of the Los Angeles Times, which he operated until his retirement in 1962. About the same time, Cleo retired from his job with Ramona Dye Works, receiving a gold ring for 16 years' service. He too bought a Times dealership, giving the Spoon family three brothers involved in the business -- plus papa John, who helped out with the delivery routes occasionally. But it was another event that year that was described by John Spoon in one of his colorful letters to the folks back home in Kansas.

Clifford, known as "babe" by his brothers and sisters as a boy growing up in Kansas, was to be married for the second time on May 23, 1943 to Helen Mae Butcher, a teacher he met while working for the phone company in San Diego. In order to make it to San Diego in time for an afternoon wedding, Cleo, Alvin and Adrian recruited additional help to get their newspapers ready for delivery. In a shift starting at 3 a.m., they made short work of the deliveries. At 8 a.m., 11 members of the Spoon family piled into two cars and were in San Diego by 12:15 p.m.

Just as they were walking into the church, the Spoons heard a car honk. They turned to see Carrie sitting in a car with a man they knew to be her new boyfriend, an optometrist named Alfred Reidell. All walked in together for the wedding.

"After the ceremony, Adrian, who had his moving picture camera, took pictures as they came out of the church door," John Spoon recalled in the letter. "A large number went to the bride's home for the reception, which was very delightful. The big three-story wedding cake was a sight to behold, and was even better than that with punch, cookies and sandwiches."

Carrie invited the family to her home the following Friday. There, she announced that she and Al Reidell had been married the same day as Clifford and Helen Mae, just a couple hours before.

As World War II came to a close and Alhambra established itself as one of the fastest growing communities in the U.S., the Spoon family continued to grow and prosper. Although tested at times through death, divorce and adversity, the Spoons remained a solid family unit as another generation began to arrive.

CHAPTER 13: Feeling at home out west

Daryl Wayne Spoon, known always as Wayne by his family and friends, took pride in calling himself a native Californian. Born in Monterey Park just three years after Cleo and Alta Spoon moved west with their baby daughter Wanda, young Wayne loved to run and play in the spacious yards of his neighborhood.

Although Wayne was considered quiet and unassuming in his adult life, he had a sense of mischief as a youngster. Once, spurred on by a friend, he ran away from home -- for a few hours. Tall and slender, Wayne was active in the Alhambra First Christian Church as a youth. He also developed a love for photography, a craft he studied at John Muir Junior College after graduation from Mark Keppel High School in 1947.

"We each had our own friends, but we always had each other on the many camping and sightseeing trips our family took," Wanda recalled about her brother in a letter written years later. "I can remember how happy I was to have a little brother to pal around with and probably to boss around. We also loved going to the beach together."

Once again, the world was at war. As U.S. forces fought to defend democracy in Europe and the South Pacific, the Spoon family worked hard to maintain their Los Angeles Times dealerships. Cleo, Alvin and Adrian all supervised large groups of delivery boys, and Wayne began to help with the business as he reached adulthood. Then in 1944, the Cleo Spoon family moved to Temple City, a fast-growing community about four miles east of Alhambra.

Founded by San Gabriel Valley pioneer Walter P. Temple in the 1920s, Temple City was a bedroom community of cozy homes set on deep lots. The Cleo Spoon family moved into a white stucco house at 140 S. Oak Ave, on the northeast corner of Oak and Workman avenues and just a block south of the main street through town, Las Tunas Drive. When the address numbering system was updated some years later, the house was listed as 5802 N. Oak Ave. Topped by a red tile roof, the Spanish-style structure was built in the 1930s and sat on a lot that included a large back yard complete with chicken coop.

Wanda was introduced by a friend to her future husband, Joseph Walter Drown. The two met at a gas station where Walt worked at Garfield Ave. and Mission Blvd. in Alhambra.

“My friend told me, ‘You’ll like him. He doesn’t drink or smoke and he only swears when he’s working on his car,’ ” Wanda recalls. “I was 16 at the time. We started dating and I did like him. We didn’t get serious until he went into the service in World War II.”

Walt and Wanda were sitting in Gilmore Stadium in Los Angeles watching a football game when war was declared on Dec. 7, 1941. Walt joined the Air Force in July, 1942. While Walt was on leave on March 10, 1944, the couple were married in Alhambra at Turner, Stevens and Turner Mortuary, which at the time also hosted weddings.

Wanda and Walt were soon off to Wilmington, North Carolina -- another Spoon returning to the family's homeland -- where Walt was stationed in the Air Force. That was after a honeymoon at Lake Arrowhead that Wanda spent with a case of the chicken pox, courtesy of her little brother.

Because Clifford was so much younger than his brothers and sisters and because he didn't become a father until he was in his 30s, his children were roughly the same age as the grandchildren of his siblings. The first child born to Clifford and Helen Mae was a daughter, Laura Dell, born Nov. 16, 1945. Helen Mae continued to teach school and Clifford rose up through the ranks at the phone company, a profession he maintained until the day he retired.

Adrian and Buelah never had any children, but they lived a peaceful life in Alhambra for many years. After living for a time with Carrie in her Los Angeles home, Adrian and his wife bought a house on Story Place, a quiet street in the northern part of Alhambra.

By this time, Alvin and Sarah had purchased a home on First Street near the downtown section of Alhambra. Previously they had twice lived on Sierra Vista Street, just one block east of Chapel Ave. They had also lived for a time with John and Laura Spoon, becoming the first of three Spoon families from that generation to live in "Grandpa" John's house before buying their own home.

Upon completing her education, Donna Spoon left home to begin a career as a teacher. She married Charles A. Randall, a highway patrol officer, and moved to Bakersfield. It was some time before Donna returned to the area to live near her parents, whom she fondly remembers today.

"I remember dad for his common sense and subtle humor, which mom called 'Kansas corn,' " Donna recalled. "I remember him for his wisdom and his good nature in the same way."

After Walt Drown's military service was completed, he and Wanda returned to Southern California and lived for a time with John Spoon in his two-story house on Chapel Ave. By this time, John was in his 80s and his health was failing. He had already stayed for a time with Carrie in Los Angeles and had later rented rooms in his Chapel Ave. home to tenants who helped care for him. Now it was his grandchildren's turn to be caretaker.

While Wanda and Walt were living with John Spoon, their first child was born. Gail Linda Drown came into the world on Oct. 13, 1947. For the next two years, John Spoon delighted in playing with little Gail, whom he considered "the apple of his eye." In 1949, the Drowns moved into a new house they had built on Ardendale Ave. in San Gabriel. Shortly after they settled in, Wanda gave birth to the couple's second child, Sharon Suzanne, on Aug. 26, 1950.

John Spoon was not alone for long, however. As soon as Wanda, Walt and Gail moved out of 213 Chapel Ave., Clifford, Helen Mae and Laura Dell moved in. Soon thereafter, on June 13, 1951, Mari Jane Spoon was born. Mari Jane's room was what she affectionately refers to as "a closet," which was actually a small room sometimes used as an office or for storage when not housing small Spoon children. She wasn't there long, however, because Clifford and Helen Mae soon joined Cleo and Alta in moving to Temple City, purchasing a house on Robinhood Ave. near what is now Live Oak Park.

All the while, John Spoon remained a pillar of the community, serving his church and speaking proudly about his family to anyone who would listen. "I am holding my age real well," he wrote in a 1945 letter. "A woman asked me the other day if Cleo and I were brothers. Some people want to call me a flirt because my hair is curly. But I resent that, because I always deal in plain facts."

John died June 22, 1952 at the age of 88. The house he lived in at 213 S. Chapel Ave., near the center of downtown Alhambra, is gone now. In its place stands a condominium project. John Alvin Spoon is buried alongside his wife Laura in the San Gabriel Cemetery, a quiet little graveyard set back from Roses Road, behind the Church of Our Savior, in the city of San Gabriel just east of Alhambra. The graves of John and Laura can be found in section X, the southeast corner of the back part of the cemetery. They are marked by simple headstones near a small tree, three rows from the south fence.

John Spoon was gone, but he left behind a love for his children and grandchildren and a set of family values that would serve the Spoons well in the many years ahead.

CHAPTER 14: Children of a new era

It was the 1950s, and a phenomenon later known as the baby boom was in full swing. Families were moving into bright new housing projects. Teenagers were listening to strange new music and hanging out at the malt shop. The Spoon family continued to grow and change with the times, all the while maintaining its strong ties with tradition.

Wayne Spoon lived with his parents, Cleo and Alta, when they first moved into the Temple City house on Oak Ave. In January, 1952, he met Marilyn Ann Wolfe, a native of his grandfather John's home state, Indiana, at a young adults’ function at the Alhambra First Christian Church. “I thought he was very nice and thoughtful,” Marilyn remembers.

Marilyn had moved several times across the country during her childhood with her parents, Raymond and Laura Wolfe, and her sister Carol. Nicknamed “Red” as a child because of her red hair, Marilyn worked hard to care for his little sister. She remembers swimming in the Atlantic Ocean one Christmas Day to prove to her family that it could be done. “We nearly froze to death,” she recalls.

Wayne and Marilyn were married on Nov. 8, 1952. “Wayne had the flu really bad and we almost had to change the date,” said Marilyn. They lived for a short time in an apartment a few blocks from the Cleo Spoon home while a small one-bedroom house was built on the back of the Spoon corner lot, facing Workman Ave. The little yellow house at 9459 Workman Ave. where Wayne and Marilyn spent the first few years of their married life is still there today. The foundation of the old chicken coop remains as a part of the sidewalk behind the house.

Wayne worked with his father Cleo in the newspaper business. A common sight was the arrival of paper boys in the wee hours of the morning, sorting stacks of papers in the Spoon garage. If a carrier called in sick or didn't show up, Cleo or Wayne drove their route and made sure the papers were delivered.

Wanda and Walt's third child, Craig Charles Drown, was born Aug. 18, 1954. The Drown children spent their entire youth at the Ardendale home, where Wanda and Walt still live. Behind the house is a spacious patio and yard that have been the scene of many family summer parties. Opposite the patio is the garage, where Walt always has an old car to restore or something to build. Over the years, the yard has been filled with boats, jalopies and a motor home. An avid outdoorsman and master mechanic, Walt went on to build a successful career in the air conditioning business.

On May 15, 1955, Wayne and Marilyn Spoon became the parents of Douglas Wayne Spoon, the author of this book. The author's first memory in life is that of falling off a footstool in the living room of the 9459 Workman house, at perhaps one year old. Early childhood memories include playtime in the yard between the two houses -- an area surrounded by an ivy hedge, a low stone wall and lots of beautiful plants and flowers.

When Wayne and Marilyn learned they were expecting their second child, the little "honeymoon cottage" on the back of the lot began to seem a little cramped. Thus a trade was negotiated -- Cleo and Alta moved into the yellow house and the growing Wayne Spoon family moved into the bigger 5802 Oak Ave. home.

On May 7, 1957, Karen Sue Spoon was born. Marilyn thought she'd take a break between children -- for a few months. She remembers being terrified at the thought of telling her mother-in-law she was pregnant again with a "surprise baby" that fall. She laughs now in recalling the reaction of Alta, who was pleased with the news and cheerfully welcomed the arrival of Cynthia Ann Spoon on June 2, 1958.

By this time, Carrie and Al Reidell were living in Azusa, a little town at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains located about 10 miles east of Temple City. They served the community for many years there with an optometrist office on Foothill Blvd., right in the center of town. Delbert Hooker, Carrie's adopted son, moved to the midwest, where he now lives with his wife BoLetta near Denver. They have two adult daughters -- Cheryl Kaye, born Feb. 26, 1957, and Colleen Rose, born May 28, 1959.

The author has many wonderful childhood memories of life in the Temple City house at 5802 Oak Ave. and the house next to it where "Grammy" and "Paw Paw" lived. Doug Spoon loved to play in the back yard, riding his tricycle and climbing on the swing set. Often he would open the little gate leading to the yellow house in back and wander over to see what Paw Paw was doing.

Cleo Spoon's house, yard and garage were fascinating to a young boy. Standing next to the gate outside the back door of the garage was a large bell on a post about 10 feet high. Swinging that big old bell to make the loudest sound possible was tempting to Doug, who couldn't quite reach it for years.

Outside the back door was an old porch swing. Once inside the house, one was greeted by a symphony of tick-tocks, courtesy of Cleo's collection of clocks. He had them mounted on shelves, sitting on tables, and hanging from hooks everywhere. And they never seemed to chime at the same time, which resulted in a clanging concert lasting 10 minutes or so each hour.

Cleo's garage held the best treasures, however. Antiques of every kind lined the walls, hung from the rafters and were jammed into cabinets. Items were stacked everywhere and old papers were stuffed into drawers. Young Doug Spoon soon learned that Paw Paw never threw away anything -- a fact often bemoaned by Grammy. Doug loved to play old 78 rpm records on Cleo's antique phonograph with the funny big needle. He would spend hours "sharpening" butter knives on an old grindstone, trying to drill holes with a giant hand drill, and helping Paw Paw make ice cream with an old hand-cranked ice cream maker. When Doug's cousin Craig came over, the two were never at a loss for things to do with a treasure of such artifacts all around them.

Cleo invested in the stock market and could often be found studying the stock tables in the newspaper. He was also a longtime member of the Lions Club, first in Monterey Park and then in Temple City. He and Alta were members of the Alhambra First Christian Church, and Alta was active in the Michillinda Woman's Club. They loved to take long trips, visiting many parts of Europe, Africa and South America. They would always come back with trays of slides to show the family.

Cleo began a life of retirement in the early 1960s, when a change in L.A. Times policy eliminated the individual franchising of dealerships. That was fine with Cleo, who was ready to stop working. But it forced his son Wayne to find a new line of work. After going to night school to learn a new trade, Wayne began working as an insurance underwriter, a profession he maintained until his retirement. That wasn't the only change in store for the Wayne Spoon family, however.

In 1964, Wayne moved his family to a five-year-old house across the street, built on the back of a corner lot much the same way as Cleo had done. Wayne and Marilyn Spoon lived at 9462 Workman Ave. for more than 30 years, and Doug Spoon lives there with his family today.

Spoon Christmas parties during that era were always fun and crowded affairs. Doug Spoon remembers Christmas Eve at Clifford and Helen Mae's house, where the kids were ushered into the study to eat on card tables while the adults enjoyed their ham dinner and cups of holiday cheer in the dining room. Doug also remembers sitting on a couch in that house, reading the new Alfred Hitchcock book he had just been given, when Uncle Al walked over -- all 6-foot-6 or so -- patted the boy's head, and asked in that booming voice of his, "How are you, young fella?" Doug also remembers the smile on Aunt Helen Mae's face when she gave him a book, her traditional Christmas gift to him.

Doug's earliest memory of a Spoon Christmas party is of playing on the floor of a big banquet room with a new Tonka Truck he had just received. He was told years later that Aunt Carrie and Uncle Al were the hosts that year, renting a facility because their house was too small for the group. Doug's other early memory of Christmas Eve with the Spoons is of a night at Uncle Adrian and Aunt Beulah's home on Story Place. Doug recalls cheerfully playing with a new tool set on the floor of the living room, in front of a big flocked Christmas tree adorned with red bulbs.

Doug also remembers wandering into a dark room down the hall and being pulled out by one of the adults, who told him it was Uncle Adrian's office. He was told not to disturb anything and to try to stay quiet because Uncle Adrian wasn't well.

A few months later, on April 15, 1964, Adrian Oliver Spoon died. The author never really got to know Adrian, but he comes to life in the stories, letters and photos that still exist today.

The next wedding in the Spoon family came on May 27, 1967, when Laura Dell Spoon married Craig Randall Frost. They became the parents of Steven Craig Frost on May 21, 1970. The author remembers holding Steven on his lap at a Christmas Eve party held at the clubhouse of Park De Anza, a San Gabriel retirement community where Alvin and Sarah lived for a time. The Frosts' second child, Michelle Laura Frost, was born July 25, 1973.

On Feb. 7, 1970, Gail Drown married Ken Jones, her high school sweetheart, in a ceremony at the Temple City Christian Church. The couple soon moved into a small house in the foothill community of Sierra Madre, where they were living when Kevin Alan Jones was born on April 5, 1974.

The year 1970 was a big one in the Spoon family. Besides the wedding of Ken and Gail Jones and the birth of Steven Frost, there was the wedding on July 10 of Donna Spoon Randall and William DeMayo. Donna's second marriage brought her two stepchildren, Doug and Lynn DeMayo. Donna lives with Bill in Corona del Mar, where they have hosted several Spoon Christmas parties.

The next wedding in the family came on Jan. 19, 1974, when Clifford Spoon's youngest daughter, Mari Jane, married Woodward Francis Andrew Jackson, known to everyone as Woody. There was sad news in the family a couple years later, however.

Clifford Valentine Spoon, who took his middle name from his Feb. 14 birth date, passed away on Aug. 12, 1976. The youngest of John and Laura's seven children, the one called "babe" by his brother Cleo so many years before in Kansas, died at age 65. A loyal employee of the phone company for decades and a devoted husband and father, Clifford became the third of the five Spoon boys to pass on.

Meanwhile, the younger generations continued to prosper. Gail and Ken Jones soon outgrew their cottage in Sierra Madre, but they wanted to stay in the scenic foothills. They had a spacious new house built at the top of Skycrest Drive in Pasadena, near the Hastings Ranch development that attracts big crowds each year for its neighborhood Christmas light displays. Looking out the big picture window in the Jones' living room or from the patio outside, one can see across the entire San Gabriel Valley. Many Spoon Christmas parties have taken place there. This is where the Jones were living when their second child, Ryan Craig, was born on July 29, 1977.

Cleo Spoon loved spending time with all his grandchildren and great grandchildren. Unfortunately, time was catching up with him. Doug Spoon remembers taking his father Wayne and grandfather Cleo to a Los Angeles Lakers basketball game in the late 1970s. Their seats were high up in the top deck of the arena. Doug rushed up the steps, forgetting who was with him. When he turned to look back, Cleo was about 20 steps below, pausing to catch his breath and holding onto Wayne. Although the arena seemed warm to Doug, he noticed that Cleo was bundled up in a coat and wore a beret to keep his head warm. For the first time, Doug realized that Paw Paw wouldn't be around forever.

On April 11, 1979, Cleo Harvey Spoon died at the age of 83. Lying in a bed in the intensive care unit of Arcadia Methodist Hospital the day before his death, Cleo did not respond when his grandson Doug came in to say goodbye. Doug sensed that Cleo knew he was there, however, and he could almost see Paw Paw smiling back at him, remembering the happy times and looking forward to the heavenly existence that awaited him.

CHAPTER 15: The California kids grow up

Cleo Spoon didn't live to see the wedding of his grandson, Doug. Three months after Cleo passed away, Doug Spoon married Melissa Mae Durk on July 14, 1979. They met at Cal Poly Pomona, where Doug was pursuing a degree in journalism. Originally an architecture major at Cal Poly, Doug soon decided he was a lot better at writing stories than he was at designing buildings. Thus began a career in the newspaper business that made him the third generation of Spoon men to work in that industry, following in the footsteps of his father Wayne and his grandfather Cleo and uncles Adrian and Alvin.

Doug worked on the other side of the newspaper deadline, however. Long before the paper was prepared for delivery the way Cleo and Wayne used to do it, Doug's job was to report the news. He chose a career in sports writing, beginning with the school newspaper at Cal Poly, the Poly Post, for which he was a sports writer, sports editor, and finally editor-in-chief. While still finishing up his journalism degree, Doug joined the staff at the San Gabriel Valley Tribune in West Covina, a 15-minute drive east of Temple City.

Doug and Missy soon moved into the house at 5802 Oak Ave., where they were living when their first child, Darren Wesley Spoon, was born on March 9, 1981. Darren was the first male great great grandchild of John Spoon, thus assuring the Spoon name would be carried on another generation.

Later that year, Ken and Gail Jones became parents for the third time with the birth of Alison Suzanne on Sept. 12, 1981. The Jones house was a busy place, with Gail trying to keep track of three young children and Ken taking time out from his job as an accountant to participate in the kids' activities. The Drown and Jones families gathered often at both houses and have spent many enjoyable vacations together over the years.

Meanwhile, the Wayne Spoon household was a busy one as well.

Wayne continued to work in the insurance business and remained very active in the Temple City Christian Church, which he joined with Marilyn in 1955. Wayne served faithfully as a deacon, elder, president of the board and in many other capacities. Marilyn was also very active in the church, serving as financial secretary for many years, as well as working for the City of Temple City. Karen attended Pasadena City College, where she received training in the field of medical assisting. She moved into an apartment in Arcadia and went to work for a pediatrician, a profession she held for several years before quitting to start a family of her own.

Cindy also attended Pasadena City College, studying early childhood education, and worked many years as a preschool teacher. Most of those years were spent at Playfactory Preschool, which operated out of the Temple City Christian Church. Cindy loved spending time with her nieces, nephews and cousins when they were toddlers, playing games with them and helping teach them basic skills and lessons of life.

Walt and Wanda Drown also maintained their longtime membership in the Temple City Christian Church. Wanda held offices in the Christian Women's Fellowship and Walt served many years as chairman of the trustees. To this day, he is responsible for most of the maintenance at the church and has rebuilt and maintained the facilities as long as anyone can remember. Craig Drown followed in his father's footsteps by pursuing a career in the air conditioning business.

On Aug. 25, 1981, Carrie Reidell died at the age of 84. A large crowd turned out at White's Funeral Home in Azusa to say goodbye to the first of the Spoon family to move to California, more than 60 years before. The family asked that donations made in her honor be given to the Southern California College of Optometry. She is buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, a hillside cemetery just a few miles south of the San Gabriel Valley.

Another female member of the Spoon family passed away shortly after that. Helen Mae Spoon, a devoted wife, mother and teacher for decades, died on Sept. 7, 1982. Family members fondly recall the gatherings held at Clifford and Helen Mae's spacious brown house at the curve of the road on Robinhood Ave.

Earlier that year, Sharon Drown married Kevin Crean, an environmental biologist she met on a trip to Mexico. They were married Jan. 18, 1982, but the Spoon family didn't get a chance to congratulate them until two months later during a reception at the Jones home. After they exchanged wedding vows in England, where they now live, Kevin left on a business trip to New Guinea and Sharon came to California to await his arrival.

Sharon, a Whittier College graduate and later a special education teacher, inherited two stepchildren from this marriage: Sarah Jane Crean, born Nov. 29, 1974, and Liam David Crean, both Nov. 1, 1977. The Creans travel to the U.S. as often as possible to visit with their family here. Kevin loves to remind Doug Spoon, the sports writer, that the term "football" actually refers to the international sport of soccer, not the game played here in the states with yard markers and goal posts.

Laura Frost stayed busy raising Steven and Michele, while Mari Jane Jackson followed her father's profession and went to work for the phone company. Eventually, Laura moved to the beach, not far from the DeMayo house in Corona del Mar. Mari Jane moved into a house in San Gabriel that she kept after her divorce from Woody Jackson, a house in which she still lives and has hosted Spoon Christmas parties.

Doug and Missy Spoon became parents for the second time on April 5, 1983 with the birth of Megan Marie Spoon. Born with curly red hair, Megan was often compared to the comic strip and film character "Annie" in her early years. Today, she takes great pains each morning to straighten every hair on her head.

In 1984, Alvin and Sarah moved from Park De Anza, where they had lived since 1970, to the California Christian Home, a retirement home in Rosemead. They enjoyed many years there in fellowship with other members of the church and friends they met there. As the only survivor of the Spoon brothers who moved to California in the 1920s, Alvin enjoyed visits with the youngsters who were continuing the Spoon tradition.

Alvin's only surviving sibling, Faye, was involved in a tragic accident around this time on the family farm in Kansas. Now in their 80s, Faye and Forrest Applegate were retired as farmers but still kept some animals and farm equipment. Adamant to the end about maintaining the kind of wholesome existence in which she was raised, Faye never changed her lifestyle. Thus it was that on one fateful afternoon, she was riding in a tractor driven by Forrest when the vehicle veered too close to a stream bed. The tractor overturned in the water. Forrest, pinned underneath the tractor, drowned in the accident. Faye managed to climb free and summon help.

Faye Applegate, the self-appointed keeper of the Spoon Kansas tradition, died on Aug. 27, 1987 at the age of 88.

Faye's death left just three Spoon family members from that generation: Alta, who moved into the nursing center at California Christian Home a few years after Cleo's death; and Alvin and Sarah, who continued to live in the Rose Manor wing of the same facility. Alta's health was failing and she sometimes didn't recognize family members when they visited her, but on her better days her eyes lit up with recognition of the little ones being brought to her bedside.

Alta Spoon died on May 13, 1989. The woman known as Grammy by so many grandchildren and great grandchildren is buried next to her husband Cleo at Rose Hills. Doug Spoon still remembers the way Grammy kept her candy jars filled with the same treats year-round -- horehounds, red hots and walnuts, complete with nut cracker. He also remembers how Grammy would walk across the street to bring him a tray of lunch -- usually a sandwich and homemade chicken soup -- when he was home sick from school and Marilyn was at work.

Alvin and Sarah Spoon followed her in death soon after. Alvin died on Oct. 4, 1994, on his 92nd birthday. Sarah died Nov. 30, 1996. They are buried side by side at Rose Hills, next to Cleo and Alta Spoon and Carrie and Al Reidell. The author fondly remembers Alvin's smile and kind words and Sarah's cheerful disposition. Spoon Hall, the social hall at the Alhambra First Christian Church, is named after Alvin, who spent many hours working there in various positions. Alvin and Sarah were faithful members of that congregation for an amazing 72 years.

Karen Spoon began a new phase of her life on July 20, 1991, marrying Barry Gene Clark, the brother of a high school classmate. Karen moved into Barry's house in Rancho Cucamonga, a fast-growing community about an hour's drive east of Los Angeles. The couple's first child, Heidi Nicole, was born Aug. 25, 1993. Like her cousin Megan, she was born with curly red locks. Heidi was born about three months premature and weighed just 3 pounds, 2 ounces at birth. When she came home after spending five weeks in the neo-natal critical care unit of Arcadia Methodist Hospital, Heidi was greeted as a very special baby indeed. In a recent reunion of "preemie" babies born in that unit, Heidi was crowned princess of the ward.

The descendants of Clifford Spoon were growing in number during this decade. Michele, his granddaughter, married Michael W. Beddoes on June 11, 1994. To this union was born two children -- Michael Cody, born April 24, 1994, and Cheyenne Autumn, born July 20, 1999.

Laura Frost became a grandmother several times in the 1990s. On May 30, 1990, Steven Craig Frost Jr. was born to Steven Frost and Cynthia Bulandr. On Sept. 25, 1994, Joshua Alexander Frost was born to Steven Frost and Chrissy Price.

Wayne Spoon had always hoped to enjoy a life of retirement the way his father Cleo and his grandfather John had. Unfortunately, that retirement was short-lived. Almost from the day he retired from the insurance business in 1992, Wayne experienced health problems. Heart trouble, a broken hip and other ailments plagued him in the ensuing ears and curtailed some of the trips he and Marilyn had planned.

Wayne tried his best to maintain a positive attitude, however, spending time at home watching his grandchildren while Doug and Karen were at work. Darren, Megan and Heidi always had a second home at the W