Ross County OhArchives Photo Person.....Spurgeon, Lafayette "Lafe" 1930s-1950s ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/ohfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ralph Cokonougher rcokon@hotmail.com May 15, 2009, 8:32 pm Source: Old Family Photos. Name: Lafayette "Lafe" Spurgeon Date Of Photograph: 1930s-1950s Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/ross/photos/spurgeon4675nph.jpg Image file size: 100.6 Kb 1. Lafe as a young man. 2. Lafe with his work horse, ready to start farming. 3. Lafe with a steam thresher tractor, ready to start harvesting. Additional Comments: Lafayette “Lafe” Spurgeon was born 22 April 1906 in Pike County, Ohio to Jacob Alexandria Spurgeon (11 June 1859 – 12 Nov. 1938) and Lillie Mae Levy (19 July 1877 – 10 Feb. 1951). He was a farmer who lived most of his adult life in Ross County, Ohio. He never did very well financially, but he did have many friends and was much liked by all who knew him. Lafe had no brothers, and four sisters: i. Harriet Almira "Hattie" Spurgeon, who was born 18 October 1893 in Pike County, Ohio, and died 09 January 1942 in Greenfield, Highland County, Ohio. She married Charles Henry Benson in 1909. ii. Cora Emeline Spurgeon, who was born 26 November 1898 in Pike County, Ohio, and died in 1987. She married Ralph Hoffman on 08 March 1915. iii. Nellie Irene Spurgeon, who was born 12 March 1902 in Pike County, Ohio, and died 04 August 1986 in Greenfield, Highland County, Ohio. She married Glen Ryan on 24 December 1922. iv. Nora Ellen Spurgeon, who was born 05 September 1911 in Pike County, Ohio, and died 30 April 1987 in Greenfield, Highland County, Ohio. She married (1) Harold "Tony" Dwight Hester on 07 September 1926 in Mason County, Kentucky, and (2) Harry Layton Smith on 19 September 1973 in Chillicothe, Ohio. Nora was my grandmother, as well a Lafe’s sister. Lafe was married at one period in his life to Flora Coe, daughter of James and Artimissa (Barfell) Coe. They had no children. Flora was Lafe’s first cousin. Lafe and Flora had a lot of hard times during their marriage. After one particularly barren summer working a farm near Bainbridge, Ohio, in the 1940s or 50s, they ran out of money in the middle of winter. They found themselves isolated in their hillside shack, over two miles from the main road, with no food to eat, no prospects of getting any food, and with snow piling up outside the door. Lafe and Flora discussed leaving their home to go live with relatives until the winter was over, but Flora refused to leave. Lafe knew that they had to either leave or die, but even after the discussion turned into several hours of pleadings and heated arguments, Flora still refused to leave. Finally, Lafe gave up trying to convince his wife to use her common sense, and he did what he had to do. He left. As he went out the door, he angrily advised his wife once more, in his frustration, to follow after him just as soon as she was willing. First days, and then weeks passed. Safely embedded with relatives, Lafe kept watch for Flora, but she was stubborn. More than a month passed, but she never came to Lafe, and he, still angry, never went looking for her. Then one day, a storekeeper in Bainbridge noticed an old female dog hanging around his store. It was clear that the dog was starving, and that the dog had also recently had pups. The storekeeper mumbled to himself, “That looks like Lafe and Flora Spurgeon’s dog. It shouldn’t be here in town in that condition. I wonder if something has happened to them.” The storekeeper notified the sheriff of his concerns. It wasn’t long after that before the county sheriff’s department showed up at Flora’s home for a “wellness” check. What they found shocked them! There was no answer to a knock on the front door, so the deputy sheriffs kicked the snow away, opened the door, and entered. One of the first things that they saw was Flora, lying on the floor, on an old feather ticking. She was dressed only in a light shirt, a pair of men’s trousers, and a pair of shoes. Her body was clearly emaciated from starvation, and she was almost too weak to stand. The old house was freezing. There was no difference in temperature between the outside temperature and the inside. The knee-deep snow drift that the deputies found next to the building’s wood stove testified to the fact that there had been no heat in the structure for quite a while. There was no food anywhere around and the old shack looked like it was going to fall down at any moment. Upon questioning, Flora told deputies that she had been living on a diet of black pepper and snow for the past month. Her dog, back from its desperate trip to Bainbridge, led deputies to her five newborn puppies nesting in a large snow bank just outside. Unlike Lafe, the sheriff’s deputies didn’t have to take “No” for an answer. They also found that, by this time, Flora was a little more willing to leave her home. Since she couldn’t walk, rescue personnel carried Flora on a stretcher for over two miles until they reached State Route 41 and transportation to the Ross County Infirmary in Chillicothe. The infirmary promptly fed, bathed, and placed their new resident in a nice warm bed. She was much improved in condition shortly thereafter. Flora’s dog, and her puppies, were also sent to a nice warm home where they were fed and housed. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that if not for the dog, and the storekeepers concern, Flora would not have been found before she died. Family history does not tell me whether Flora learned anything from her experience about the wages of pride and stubbornness, but one can only hope. As for Lafe, I can only offer conjecture that he was pleased that his wife was finally safe. Lafe was also married to a woman named Ester at one point in his life. I don’t know her maiden name. They also had no children. When I came to know Lafe, he was in advanced middle age. He lived in a shed that had been converted to a small apartment behind his sister Cora’s house. He lived there until he became so old and infirm that he was placed in a nursing home in Greenfield. He died in the nursing home some years later. Lafayette “Lafe” Spurgeon is buried in the South Salem Cemetery in South Salem, Ohio, in the South Salem/Fruitdale/Bainbridge area where he lived his adult life. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/oh/ross/photos/spurgeon4675nph.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ohfiles/ File size: 6.8 Kb