This family was in Moundville very early. We hope to learn more about them. The John Spendiff family seems to have lived north of Moundville near Ellis.

G. Amos Spendiff, a locomotive fireman from Ellis, was instantly killed in an unusual train accident on January 15, 1907 . Spendiff had been leaning out the window of a train engine as it passed over the Drywood Bridge near Arcadia , Kansas . The Weekly Post used the headline, “His Head was Crushed Off” and then used a sub-heading that was equally graphic, “Skull Battered into Pulp and the Poor Man’s Brains were Scattered Over the Body and Cab Window.” The newspaper also told that Spendiff was the son of the late John Spendiff who had lived near Ellis. His mother was a sister of A. D. Vandiveer of Nevada . Amos Spendiff was not quite 20 years old at the time of his death and was buried in Welborn Cemetery .

John Voss wrote:

Pollard Vandiveer had a daughter named Nancy who married John Spendiff in 1870. John and Nancy Spendiff had a daughter named Glessner who married my uncle, Edward Voss. The Spendiff and Voss farms were side-by-side, located about a mile west of Ellis, Mo. It seems that there were two Vandiveer brothers that married Spencer sisters. John Spendiff and Nancy Vandiveer had a daughter, Glessner, that married John's uncle.

John shared the photos below taken in Welborn Cemetery.

The Spendiff graves are located just north of the Cedar tree in Welborn Cemetery to the right of the driveway James & Julia Spendiff John and Nannie Vandiveer Spendiff Amos Spendiff (see train tragedy above) The obituary to the right is for Emma Spendiff Baker from the Nevada Daily Mail of July 12, 1907. The obituary states that she would either be buried in Deerfield or Welborn. She is in Welborn Cemetery, not far from the Spendiff's and Vandiveer's. Her dates are October 7, 1875 - June 28, 1907.

Contact us if you know more about this family or have any photo scans that we can add.

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