Frances Alice Mae [Miller] Spruce (1873-1949)
Frances Alice Mae Miller, who went by Fannie, was born March 15, 1873. She is my great-great grandmother, the maternal grandmother of my father.
Born in Kanawha City, West Virginia, the daughter of Henry Bateman and Nancy Virginia [Book] Miller. Census and other records have her living most of her young and early married life along the Kanawha River, primarily in Cedar Grove, but also in Cabin Creek, Kanawha City, and briefly in Charleston. She married George Hunt Pendleton Spruce on January 4, 1889, in Gallipolis, Ohio (or did she :-)
Image from the Ohio, County Marriage Records, 1774-1993,
listing the marriage date as February 25, 1895
Typically, in my genealogy research, I would defer to an official document, like the one pictured above. In this case, however, I have to believe the date taken from our own family records is more accurate. Family lore has that Fannie married at the age of 15, which would be true for the 1889 date. This has been passed down through an anecdote from my grandmother who says that after being told that she could not do something because she was only 15 years old, grandma replied to effect of "it wasn't fair, you were married at 15" to which Fannie responded "that was because I didn't have a mother there to stop me". Our records, listing the Jan 4, 1889 date for their marriage, were created in 1940 by my grandparents while they were living with Fannie at her house at 2222 W. Washington St., Charleston. Also, the 1889 date is eleven months before the birth of their first son, which would also add some credence to the earlier date. Given the social standings of both the Miller's and Spruce's at the time I find it unlikely they lived together and had three of their children out of wedlock.
George Hunt Pendleton Spruce and the house they shared at 2222 W. Washington St.
Another interesting fact about Fannie is the house at 2222. I have always known that when she died, the house was left to my grandmother (Margaret, her youngest child) with certain provisions for another daughter (Virginia, or Aunt Diddy) to remain in a second story apartment above a garage in the back of the lot. I have not determined when the Spruce's purchased the house, but I did come across documents that show that a lien on the house (1916) was in Fannie's name exclusively, and that after it came to term (1919) the deed was signed over to directly to her.
Pictured with three of her grandchildren in the early 1940's. My dad is the baby in her arms.
Fannie died on May 29, 1949, in Charleston, West Virginia, at the age of 76, and is buried in Sunset Memorial Park in South Charleston, WV, next to her husband, and among a number of her siblings, children, grandchildren, and their families.
Obituary from “God’s Revivalist and Bible Advocate”, Vol LXI. No. 28, a weekly Holiness newspaper printed in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 21, 1949:
Spruce. Mrs. Fanny M. Spruce, widow of G.H.P. Spruce, went Home to be with the Lord, May 29. She was born March 15, 1873, and passed away at her home at Charleston, West Virginia. Surviving are all six of her children, who are residents of Charleston, fifteen grandchildren, and fifteen great-grandchildren; two sisters-in-law, Mrs. Annie Miller of Cedar Grove, West Virginia, and Mrs. Mollie Spruce of Kokomo, Indiana, who are the two surviving links with her and her husband’s generation; and a number of nieces and nephews.
She and her husband were pioneers in the Kanawha Valley, in the Scriptural Holiness Movement. The were instrumental in bringing holiness preachers into southern West Virginia as early as 1902. The also, a few years later, were the means of establishing a holiness camp at Charleston, and gave the first $100.00 to get this camp established. Joseph Smith was one of the workers. They never tired in their labors for the Lord in this field. Many testimonies to their holy lives are given by older Christians of this valley. Her husband passed to his reward December 1, 1936, and since that time she has been active in the Holiness Movement and in the Church of the Nazarene, of which she was a member, and had not ceased in her testimony or in living for Jesus.
Funeral service was conducted on May 31, 1949, in the South East Church of the Nazarene, Rev. Ralph Schurman officiating. She was buried in Sunset Memorial Park by the side of her husband."
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