Earl I Sponable

Genealogy Bargains in their daily emails was offering a free Diary Research Checklist. A quick start hint was to search online for “diary” AND surname AND town/county.

I thought I would give it a try on one of my ancestor’s surnames so I typed “diary sponable.”

The first hint was for Earl I. Sponable papers, 1928-1968: Earl was a chemist, Chief Engineer and Director of research for Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporations and it’s subsidiaries, 1926-1962. 

This hint intrigued me and I proceeded to see if I have Earl in my tree, however, I did not. 

Next, I did a google search on Earl I Sponable and I found an IMDb record that stated he was born on September 18, 1895 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director known for Ben Bernie and His Orchestra (1928), The Dead March (1937) and The First World War (1934). He was married to Marie B Whalen and Maria. He died on November 16, 1977 in Lake Placid, New York, USA.

Since this biography did not list who his parents were, I decided to do a basic search on Ancestry with the above information. 

The Ancestry hints lead me to Earl’s Find A Grave memorial and from there, I following the male parent line up until there was no more links. It ended with Philip Harmon Sponable and his wife Anna Nancy Duesler and I had those two people in my tree. 

My Sponable line goes back to Johannes Spanknable my revolutionary patriot. Earl is the 3rd great grandson of Johannes while I am the 6th great granddaughter of Johannes. 

Earl and his wife Marie B Whalen only had one daughter Catherine and his line ends with her.  

I found a Academy Award page that states that Earl won two Academy awards, one in 1953 – Scientific or Technical Award and the other in 1961 – Scientific or Technical Award. 

What surprises will you find when trying out a quick start hint?