1. SPICER
2. SPICER
3. SPICER
4. 1. SPICER

Lanklyn Sylvester Spicer 1884 1970

Lanklyn Spicer was my great-great grandfather, and his name fit as he was a very tall lanky man and I am told he had a wonderful twinkle in his eyes. He lived up north on a farm in Bruno Minnesota. He grew beautiful roses and was quite proud of them.

Lanklyn came from a large family, with nine brothers and sisters. As a young boy, Lanklyn’s family frequently moved by covered wagon back and forth from Nebraska, where he was born, to Minnesota. The reason for these frequent moves was due to the various Indian ‘uprisings.’ In 1895 on the family’s last journey back to Minnesota, Lanklyn’s younger brother Nathan contracted diphtheria and passed away near the city of Winnebago. Lanklyn’s family settled in Faribault, Minnesota before permanently setting in Sandstone, Minnesota.

According to his sister Evelena, Lanklyn had a wonderful sense of humor and was quite a prankster. He and his siblings all learned to play various instruments, Lanklyn learned to play several instruments quite well, and the family often entertained themselves with 'concerts.'

Lanklyn grew up on the family farm but had the Spicer wanderlust and eventually left home to see what life had to offer off the farm. He surprised his family when he returned to the farm in 1909 with a new bride, Estella Mae O‘Connell. In 1912 Lanklyn’s brother’s family came to visit Lanklyn’s growing young family including a son recently born. Joy turned to sorrow when it was discovered that the visiting relatives had brought ‘the fever’ with them. Lanklyn’s wife and new born son caught the fever and the child soon passed away. The local undertaker left a small white box out on the deserted street in front of Lanklyn’s home. After fetching the box, Lanklyn and Estella said their goodbyes and placed their infant inside. Securing the lid, Lanklyn then placed the box back out in the street to be picked up by the undertaker for burial.

Life was hard at the turn of the century but Lanklyn managed to support and raise 8 children. As a farmer Lanklyn didn’t have modern conveniences such as tractors and reapers, the land was plowed while walking behind a horse or mule and water was ‘drawn’ from a well he had to dig. Wood had to be chopped for fuel to heat the house and cook meals. Vegetable gardens were essential and were hoed by hand. Meat was raised and hunted to feed the family.

Lanklyn was a quiet man, at least in his later years, who enjoyed spending his evenings sitting in his easy chair reading his Bible and watching the small green tree frogs that would cling to the glass of the big picture window he sat beside.

1. Cecil William SPICER b. 10 Jan 1910, Pine Lake, Pine County, Minnesota; d. 15 May 1974, On the Amtrak train enroute to Pasco, Washington; bur. 18 May 1974, Coon Rapids, Anoka County, Minnesota.
2. Thelma SPICER b. 25 Aug 1911, Pine County, Minnesota; d. 17 Dec 1991, Sandstone, Pine County, Minnesota; bur. 1991, Sandstone, Pine County, Minnesota.
3. Baby boy SPICER b. 1912, Pine County, Minnesota; d. 1912, Pine County, Minnesota; bur. 1912, Pine County, Minnesota.
4. Cora Igsli SPICER b. 27 Oct 1913, Brook Park, Pine County, Minnesota; d. 9 Nov 1913, Brook Park, Pine County, Minnesota; bur. 19 Nov 1913, Pine County, Minnesota.
5. Faith Oralie SPICER b. 19 Oct 1914, Pine Lake, Pine County, Minnesota; d. 14 Aug 2001, Moose Lake, Carlton County, Minnesota; bur. 19 Aug 2001, Minnesota.
6. 2. Robert Claude SPICER b. 29 Oct 1920, Pine Lake, Pine County, Minnesota; d. Jan 2001, Moose Lake, Carlton County, Minnesota; bur. Jan 2001, Minnesota.
7. Baby boy SPICER b. 29 Oct 1920, Pine Lake, Pine County, Minnesota; d. 29 Oct 1920; bur. 1920.
8. Bryan Monroe SPICER
9. Elaine SPICER
10. Baby boy SPICER b. 29 Oct 1920, Pine Lake, Pine County, Minnesota; d. 29 Oct 1920; bur. 1920.

William Spicer had cancer in his face which required many surgeries to remove the cancerous tissue and bone. Due to the surgeries, William's face was horribly disfigured and his sinus cavities were exposed which drained constantly and required frequent dressing changes. Despite severe pain from the facial mutilation(s), and the exposure of his open wounds to bacteria and germs, William survived, albeit miserably, in this condition for many years. His son, Lanklyn also suffered from facial cancer, however, his malignancies were diagnosed in the early stages and less extreme measures of treatment was provided, i.e. burning the malignancies.

William Harrison Spicer made a blackboard for one of the first schools [in Holt County, Nebraska] which is written in "Before Today" a book about the people who settled Holt County Nebraska

The same book states, James Davis and Arina Wyman moved to Minnesota in 1855, a year before Arina Philinda Davis was born. Then moved their family to Holt County, Nebraska in 1878 with 13 children. Yet Arina and William Harrison's daughter, Valerie [Lanklyn's sister] was born in 1875, where I don't know but their 2nd child, Claude was born in 1877 in Atkinson, Nebraska, a year before the book claims Arina Phylinda moved to Holt County, NE with her parents! So it is questionable that Arina Wyman and James Davis moved to Holt County, Nebraska with their 13 children after all.

He was named after his uncle William Harrison, I

William moved his family back and forth between Minnesota and Nebraska on several occasions by covered wagon. On the family's last trip back to Minnesota, William and Arina's 6 year old son, Nathan, contracted scarlet fever and died near Winnebago City, Minnesota. Heart broken, William and Arina carried their small child away from the train and buried him under a small cherry tree on the prairie.

Once the towns people heard that someone on the train had died of the fever they wired to all of the towns and villages ahead to warn them, and the people on the wagon train were shunned and made to stay away from the towns and villages. In later years one of Nathan's brother's went back to Winnebago in search of his brother's small grave in order to place a headstone but was unable to find it.

1. Valerie SPICER b. 21 Mar 1875, near Zumbrota, Goodhue County, Minnesota; d. May 1949; bur. May 1949.
2. Claude Urban SPICER b. 1 Feb 1877, Near Zumbrota, Goodhue County, Minnesota; d. 31 Jan 1967, Harlan, Shelby County, Iowa; bur. Feb 1967, North Branch, Cedar County, Iowa.
3. Geneva Pearl SPICER b. 2 Jun 1882, Atkinson, Holt County, Nebraska; d. 8 Feb 1967; bur. Feb 1967.
4. 4. Lanklyn Sylvester SPICER b. 15 Aug 1884, Atkinson, Holt County, Nebraska; d. 3 Jun 1970, Brook Park, Pine County, Minnesota; bur. Jun 1970, Brook Park, Pine County, Minnesota.
5. Baby Boy SPICER b. 16 Jan 1886, Atkinson, Holt County, Nebraska; d. 16 Jan 1886, Atkinson, Holt County, Nebraska; bur. Jan 1886, Atkinson, Holt County, Nebraska.
6. Morton Cecil SPICER b. 13 Feb 1889, Atkinson, Holt County, Nebraska; d. 23 Dec 1922, Pine County, Minnesota; bur. 1922, Minnesota.
7. Nathan SPICER b. 27 Apr 1891, Atkinson, Holt County, Nebraska; d. 16 Apr 1895, near Winnebago City, Faribault County, Minnesota; bur. 16 Apr 1895, Under a tree near Winnebago City, Minnesota.
8. Zella Enid SPICER b. 29 Dec 1894, Atkinson, Holt County, Nebraska; d. 4 Feb 1973, Redondo Beach, Los Angeles, California; bur. 1973, Redondo Beach, Los Angeles, California.
9. Evelena Joy SPICER b. 10 Jun 1897, Mazeppa, Wabasha County, Minnesota; d. Aft 10 Jun 2002; bur. 2002.
10. William Edward SPICER b. 9 Jan 1899, Mazeppa, Wabasha County, Minnesota; d. Apr 1982, Faribault, Rice County, Minnesota; bur. 1982, Faribault, Rice County, Minnesota.
11. Nannie Bell SPICER