Eliza Jane Spurlock

Eliza Johnson was born April 21 1859 in Burlington Iowa to Irena Judd and Asa Clark Johnson. She married John William Spurlock in Des Moines County Iowa 1 Aug 1878. While in Des Moines Iowa, their children, Walter Hershel and Franklin Clement were born. They moved to Jefferson County where John Adrain, Nellie Alice, Ida May and George B and Ethel Leora were born.

They moved on to Schuler, Nebraska following the railroad where John worked and lived near cousins on a farm. John followed his work to Colorado, leaving Eliza to care for their children and farm while he worked in the mountains where the railroad was reaching through the Rockies.

The family moved to Longmont to be near John, then North to Larimer County to a homestead place in the rugged foothills. Eliza cared for the farm animals as well as a rowdy brood of Spurlocks. They played music and joked among themselves for entertainment in the remote rural area. They moved to Belvue Colorado to a home that still stands in the small foothills town.

Eliza suffered from a cancer on her lip and had to have surgery. She moved into town with her daughters to be near physicians. During that time, John became ill and died. Eliza bought a little white clappboard house on the outskirts of town and lived by herself for the remainder of her life.

She attended and was an active force in her Baptist Church and was involved in Prohibition and women's rights. She was fond of and loved by her children and grandchildren, (especially her "boys".)