The Spangler Family Reunion is held on the 3rd Sunday in August at Double Shoals Baptist Church in Lawndale, North Carolina. This has been going on for 103 years. Or so. The 100th anniversary of the Spangler reunion was celebrated in 2007. The reunion actually started out as a birthday party sometime in the early 1900s for Barbra Hendrick Spangler. Originally the party was held at Barbra's home. Barbra died in 1914, but the reunion of the family members continued circulating around several homes and dates. In 1947, the reunion had outgrown everyone's homes so it was moved to Double Shoals Baptist Church where is it still held every 3rd Sunday in August.
Barbra Spangler's birthday was the origin of the Spangler reunion, but the Spangler family that gathers are decendants of Spengler's who came to America from Germany in the 1700's. The spelling of the name changed somewhere along the way, but it is clear that the Cleveland County Spanglers decended from farmer Absalom Spangler. Barbra married Absalom's son, Jonathan Spangler, in 1856. Barbra and Jonathan were both 19 years old when they married and I can only imagine the hopes and dreams they had when they started off their lives together living a farm life in Lawndale. There are many stories of all the challenges that came their way over the years, but they were determined and strong people who kept their faith and family together through it all. They had five children, four boys and a girl, and the generations that followed are those who still get together every August in Lawndale.
The Spanglers were a very prolific family. At the 100th Anniversary of the reunion in 2007, there were over 400 Spangler relatives in attendance. That was a really big year. This year there were about 250 people present. It's a lot to keep up with, so the organizers developed a way to help everybody understand how they were connected. Barbra and Jonathan's five children and all those who follow were given different colored name tags. The Spanglers are very sociable people so they even have a name tag color especially for Guests. Our family name tag color is Blue since we are decendants of Barbra and Jonathan's son, Jim. It is always interesting to see people that I didn't realize were related and the tag colors really do help to figure out the connections.
The reunion begins at Noon with everyone gathering in the sanctuary of the church. There is a short business meeting and then a program. Carl Spangler presides over the meeting and Theresa Spangler Lowe brings everyone up to date on births, deaths and marriages that have occurred since the last reunion. Theresa has done an amazing amount of work on Spangler history. She has published a history of The Spanglers and a book of Spangler and other letters written during the Civil War. She has researched many court records and visited many gravesites to learn dates and other information from the tombstones. This year, she read a poem called The Dash. The theme of the poem is that what really matters in a person's life is not the birth or death date on their tombstone, but what happens during the dash.
The reunion program always ends with everyone standing and singing the hymn Blest Be The Tie That Binds. It's a great ending to that part of the reunion because alot of times you find yourself wondering why you make the effort to go to the reunion in the first place. But, when you are reminded of what your ancestors lives must have been like, and that they had hopes and dreams and fears and struggles just like we all do; standing and singing with extended family does give you a feeling of courage and strength and peace.
Next comes what everyone has been anticipating - the food. The Spanglers are good cooks. Period. The food at the Spangler reunion is always good. Traditionally, everyone brings their most special homemade dish for the Spangler reunion. My grandmother, Vada Spangler Crowder, was a really good cook. And so was her sister, Veva C. They had a little running battle about who had the best cucumber pickles or pie or whatever they had brought that year. Mama always takes ham biscuits and sometimes homemade pimiento cheese sandwiches. Mama and Daddy couldn't get there this year, but last minute Libby and I decided to go. I really mean last minute because we decided about 10:30 Sunday morning, so there wasn't alot of time to fix homemade food. I had several kinds of fruit so I cut that up to make a fruit bowl. Libby decided on fried chicken that she acquired and brought to my house. We put the fried chicken in a big cast iron chicken fryer and sprinkled a little red and black pepper over it. When we arrived at the church a little late, the reunion was already in progress. So, we slipped into the fellowship hall and put our dishes on one of the two long tables full of everyone's special recipes. We giggled because we really are both pretty good cooks and have many specialities, but this year, we had to rely on quick and doable or miss the reunion altogether.
All of the Spangler reunion food was delicious and it was fun catching up with folks. Also, it turns out people really like fruit and fried chicken. After the meal, we went to collect the fruit bowl and frying pan and both were completely empty.
It was a thought provoking day at Double Shoals Church and I am so glad that Libby and I decided spur of the moment to celebrate the tie that binds.
Blest Be the Tie That Binds
I am guessing everyone knows how to cut up fruit and acquire fried chicken, so instead of a recipe - here are the words to the hymn:
Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.
Before our Father’s throne
We pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one
Our comforts and our cares.
We share each other’s woes,
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.
When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.
This glorious hope revives
Our courage by the way;
While each in expectation lives,
And longs to see the day.
From sorrow, toil and pain,
And sin, we shall be free,
And perfect love and friendship reign
Through all eternity
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