An annotated
Bibliography of Spruill Resources
My Spruills were primarily in Washington and Tyrrell Counties in North Carolina. Therefore, my knowledge of Spruill resources for other areas is limited. If you know of a printed resource that would be helpful to your fellow Spruill researchers, please send me the bibliographic information and I will post it on this page. If you are willing to do lookups in any Spruill resources available to you, please let me know and I'll post that information here as well.
Cox, Clarice S. Gabriel Spruill of Carroll County Georgia Descendants and Allied Families (Decorah, Iowa: The Anundsen Publishing Co., 1984)
Records the descendants of Gabriel and Ann Mann Spruill and includes some early records of the Spruill family. This book has an index and several pictures of Spruills.
Davis, Elizabeth L. and Ethel W. Spruill. The Story of Dunwoody Its Heritage and Horizons 1821-1975 (Atlanta, Georgia: Williams Printing Company, 1975)
Dunwoody is located in DeKalb County, Georgia. Ethel Warren Spruill is the second wife of Stephen Thomas Spruill. For more information about this family, see the Spruill Center for the Arts. There are several Spruill pictures in this book, unfortunately it has no index.
Durrill, Wayne K. War of Another Kind A Southern Community in the Great Rebellion (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990)
This book describes in detail the disintegration during the Civil War Southern Plantation society in Washington County, North Carolina. Several Spruills are mentioned. There are extensive footnotes and a wonderful bibliography. If your Spruills lived in this county during the Civil War, this book is a must have!
Family Bible of Nolia and Nina May (Holbrook) Spruill, Family Puzzlers, 19 Apr 1997, No. 1487, pg. 19
Lambeth, Mary Weeks. Memories and Records of Eastern North Carolina (Nashville: Curley Printing Co., 1957) - this book is out-of-print and very hard to find.
Mrs. Weeks is the granddaughter of Mrs. Mary Frances Spruill Davis, who is the daughter of Gen. Hezekiah G. Spruill of Tyrrell and Washington Counties in North Carolina.
Lemmon, Sarah McCulloh editor. The Pettigrew Papers Volume I (Raleigh, North Carolina: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, 1971)
Lemmon, Sarah McCulloh editor. The Pettigrew Papers Volume II 1819-1843 (Raleigh, North Carolina: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, 1988)
"The rich manuscript collections of Pettigrew family papers in the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and in the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh yield important information and insights on planter life in eastern North Carolina."
Volume I is out of print and hard to find. Volume II may be ordered from the North Carolina State Archives. There is a Volume III expected which will bring the story of the Pettigrews up to the death of James Johnston Pettigrew at Gettysburg in July, 1863. Several Spruills are mentioned throughout both volumes.
Melson, James William. Benjamin and Nancy Spruill (Columbia, North Carolina: privately printed by the author, 1964/65) (I belive there is a copy in the NC State Archives.)
From the acknowledgement page: "The compiled lineage of Benjamin and Nancy Spruill is brought down from Doctor Godfrey Spruill (1650/1718/19) to the descendants of Benjamin and Nancy Spruill..."
From the dedication page: "This record is compiled for and dedicated to Mrs. John W. Melson and to Mrs. Thomas F. O'Brien, Jr., my wife and daughter, who were Helen Ralph Spruill, the daughter of Thomas Sanderson Spruill and his wife mable Ralph Spruill, prior to her marriage to John William Melson of Columbia, North Carolina, the son of Alonzo Melson and his wife Mary Pledger Melson; and Kay Spruill Melson, the daughter of John W. and Helen S. Melson, prior to her marriage to Thomas Franklin O'Brien, Jr., the son of Thomas Franklin O'Brien, Sr., and his wife Mary McCready O'Brien of Charlotte, North Carolina."
There is a reference section in the back of the book, by chapter. There is no index.
Modlin, Elizabeth, Helen Jones and Shirleyan Phelps editors. Washington County, NC: A Tapestry (Winston-Salem, NC: The Josten Printing Company, 1998)
This book is a project of the Washington County Bicentennial Committee. It is based on the unpublished manuscript, The Story of Washington County, NC, of John W. Darden which was completed 1 Jan 1950. It is a wonderful history of the county and includes many pictures of places and families. The book is 697 pages with index. Click here for information on ordering this book. The Spruills have always been a prominent family in Washington County and are generously represented in this book.
Redford, Dorothy Spruill. Somerset Homecoming: Recoverng A Lost Heritage (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1988) - the folks at Somerset tell me that the book is being revised and reprinted and will be available in 2000)
"What started as the simple desire to tell her daughter about her own family's history--inspired by Alex Haley's Roots--became for Dorothy Spruill Redford a ten-year odyssey into the past. Her journey culminated trimphantly on August 30, 1986 when she brought together over two thousand descendants of the slaves who worked and lived at Somerset Place, an antebellum plantation in Washington County, North Carolina... Somerset Homecoming is the rich and compelling story of the Somerset Place slaves, who built the plantation over two hundred years ago."
This book has no index.
Simpson, Bland. Into the Sound Country A Carolian's Coastal Plain (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1997)
The sound country of Eastern North Carolina is one of America's most beautiful and underexplored areas. Into the Sound Country is an affectionate, impressionistic, and personal portrait of the coastal plain by two natives of the region, writer Bland Simpson and photographer Ann Cary Simpson. The North Carolina branch of the Spruill family figures into the book at several points, and Bland Simpson is a direct descendant of Doctor Godfrey Spruill and Joanna Spruill.
The book is available from the University of North Carolina Press. For more information, see the UNC Press website: http://sunsite.unc.edu/uncpress/newsbytes/.
Weisiger, Benjamin B. III compiler. Henrico County Virginia Deed 1677-1705 (1986; reprint, Athens, Georgia: Iberian Publishing Company, 1996)
Yerby, Catherine Spruill. "Our Family History," Tyrrell Times October 1996, Tyrrell County (NC) Genealogical and Historical Society, p. 35.
Catherine Yerby and her son Thomas are the ones who went into the swamp in 1963 and found the grave of Colonel Hezekiah Spruill (born 1732, died 1804). Mrs. Yerby did extensive research into the Spruill family. Her daughter, Virginia, still lives in Columbia, NC, and has her mother's research.
I have all of the above books in my personal library and am willing to do limited lookups in the ones that are indexed. Please note that I work full time and manage several other web pages as well as volunteer with several local genealogical societies so it may take me a few days to answer your request. Please specify which book(s) you would like me to look in.
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