Sponsler - Richard Sponsler

My name is Mike Sponsler. I too met Mary Lou Wiles once when my brothers and I visited Greene County from our homes in Illinois (I live in Ohio now) to do genealogy research in the mid 80's. We visited Mary Lou and Roy in their home and we talked genealogy and had lots of laughs. She did a little research for me thereafter and commented how much fun she had when we visited. Later I got a job in Jasonville and lived in Terre Haute from 1990-2000.

I have been researching my Greene County roots since the early 80's. Names Researching: SPONSLER, SMITH, ROGERS, ELEXSON.

My great grandfather Richard Sponsler is in the 1850 and 1860 censuses of Greene County. The following children are listed Susan, Lucy, Henry, Mary E., Margaret and Lizzie. A 15 year old Jonas Sponsler was living with him in the 1850 census, but he is too old to be his son. Richard owned a farm near Midland. He was married to Lucinda Jones in Tuscarawas county Ohio in 1844. Lucinda died or they were divorced shortly after 1860. We are not sure. We did see a reference to Lucinda's death in 1863 in a book by a man named Bonham, and according to the book she is buried in Lebanon cemetery near Midland, but we have never seen her name in an index of interments. Richard married Emily A. Smith Rogers thereafter, but we cannot find a marriage record for Richard and Emily or a death or cemetery record for Lucinda. We believe Emily was born in Indiana about 1839-40. We believe Emily's mothers maiden name was Elexson. Emily was first married to a Davis E. Rogers who died in the civil war. She had a son named Davis E. Rogers, Jr. In 1862 Richard sold his Greene county farm and they moved to Illinois settling in Springfield until thier deaths.

A railroad stop and former coal tipple is in Greene County named Sponsler. It is on the Indiana and county official maps, but nothing is there today...maybe a couple of houses and a cemetery. There is an old coal slurry pond called the Sponsler pond also in that area. According to land records I looked at in the Greene co. courthouse, no Sponsler ever owned land in that area, so I have no idea why it bears that name.

We have had a break through that I thought I'd share with you. Much of it concerns brothers of my Greene county ancestor, Richard Sponsler who actually moved to Martin county, but some must have moved to Greene as well given the town of Sponsler that was named after the land owned by another William Sponsler. We haven't had time yet to digest this information and read all of the copies in detail provided by Peggy Ann Brown, a genealogical researcher in New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas County, OH who found William Sponsler, left a widow Elizabeth, but below are the highlights.

William and Elizabeth were the parents of Richard Sponsler my great grandfather who lived in Greene near Midland. We have found out 3 of his brothers also moved to the region, settling in Martin County and another in Sullivan. A Jesse Sponsler also moved from Tuscarawas county to Sullivan IN, but we are not sure who his father was because he was not mentioned in the administered estate of William.

Below is the documentation of Richard's relationship to William and Elizabeth: According to the estate administration date, William died on or before Nov. 21, 1848. A property deed was found that indicates the following heirs Richard Sponsler, Jacob Sponsler (later of Defiance OH), Andrew Sponsler (later of Sullivan Co. IN), William Sponsler (later of Martin Co. IN), Michael Sponsler (later of Martin Co. IN), Henry Sponsler (later of Martin Co., IN), and sisters - Sarah Sponsler Buffington, Marie Sponsler, Harriet Sponsler, Margaret and possibly Mrs. Thomas H. Brown of Ashland County, OH).

Also the researcher refers to a deed that was to satisfy Warrants for Military Services. She speculates William was maybe in War of 1812.

We have seen a reference on the Mormon site, where a William Sponsler (Sponseller) married an Elizabeth Sowers in 1816. We don't know if this is our William and Elizabeth.

We hope this helps other who may be researching Greene and Martin county connections.

Mike and Doris Sponsler Columbus, Ohio

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