Don organized the
AZGenWeb and was its first State Coordinator. He was also
the brainchild of the USGenWeb’s Digital Map Library. I
was unable to find an obituary for him, however I did find two
messages of introduction he wrote to an email list. In the
absence of any other biographical data, I present to you Donald
L. Spidell....
...In His Own Words
From: "Donald L. Spidell"
Subject: Introduction:
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 1997 21:49:00 -0700
Hello all,
I guess it is about time I introduced myself, as I have been a
lurker on this list for some time.
I am Donald LeRoy Spidell, also known as Grandalph on the chat
channels. I was
born in St. Joseph, Missouri, and we moved to Phoenix, Arizona
when I was in the
8th grade. My father had severe rheumatoid arthritis, and his
doctor said "move",
so we did. I have been interested in science and science fiction
since I was in
grade school. After high school, in which I majored in
pre-pre-med, (we had a
very good high school) I did not have the money for college, and
I had no skills, so I enlisted into the Army as a Medical Lab Tech. During the
first three years
of Army life, I spent two years in Germany. At that time, I was
not interested in
genealogy, but I did study the German language.
After my enlistment, I got out to go to Brigham Young
University. I was not a Mormon at that time, but I did become one later. The starting
date on my Book of
Remembrance is 15 November 1963. And I have been actively
engaged in genealogy
since then. My first major project which is still a passion of
mine is a one name
study on the Rohrer surname. For a long time, I was one of the
major researchers
on the Rohrer surname, and for a while, I think I was the
world's foremost
authority on the subject. However, I met my wife at BYU, we
married in the Salt
Lake Temple, and I went back into the Army, as I didn't have the
money for an
education and a family.
While in the Army, I worked my way up the ranks through Nursing
Assistant, to Licensed Practical Nurse, to Senior Paramedic. During that time
I was stationed in such places as Ft. Meade, Maryland; an excellent place for me
to study the Maryland Germans, visit all of the research sites of Washington
County and Frederick County, Maryland, The Maryland Hall of Records, and
all of the major research areas of the Washington, D.C. area. While I was a
child, I always dreamed of having a library card to the Library of Congress, and
I actually did have one for number of years.
I took correspondence courses from Brigham Young University in
Genealogy, and for
working on those courses, I chose the Finch surname. So I got
involved in my
second one name study, "Finch".
I also got sent back to Germany for another tour. And I was able
to do some research on the Marburger surname while I was there. I must
confess, that I am almost involved in a one name study of the Marburger family, as
well.
Then I got stationed in Viet Nam, and I dropped out of genealogy
for a while. When I picked up the study again, I found that another person
had taken up most of the work I had done on the Rohrer surname, and he was writing
the book of all
books on the name. I had put an add in the Genealogical Helper,
and he contacted
me, so we got together, and I was able to help him a lot with
his book. I was
perfectly happy to let him do all the work of putting the book
together, as long as my name and address was in it somewhere. As it turns out, I
get a lot of
recognition in the book, and I have received some major family
contacts from it.
Then I was chosen through five written tests and three oral
boards as one of 60 people out of 2000 applicants to go to the first US Army
Physician Assistant Course. I graduated from the course, and I have been working as
a PA since then.
I started out in Computer Genealogy with a TRS-80 Model I, and a
database program
written in BASIC called, Genealogy On Display. I have had
several computers since
then, and now I have a Pentium 120. My computer database is PAF.
And I am the
Host of three USGenWeb Counties, see below.
What is my connection to Nova Scotia? My fourth single name
study, the Spidell surname. When the Speidels migrated to the new world, one of the
brothers went to
Pennsylvania, and one of them went to Lunenburg. Anybody with
any direct connection to any spelling variation of the Speidel surname is a
cousin of mine,
as the Speidel surname is one of the unique ones that originates
in only one
common progenitor. The Common Progenitor is General Haddeng, who
in the year 52
AD in Schwebia developed the wedge form of small unit combat
tactics. He used the
wedge formation in an important battle for his king, and he
defeated his king's
enemies. For this service to the king, he was given the
honorarium of the name
Speidel (wedge) and the arms of three silver wedges on a field
of red.
I would like to have all people who are direct descendants of
the Speidel surname
to be registered in my database, and those who are active
researchers of the
surname to be included in my mailing list, and on my list of
Speidel contacts on
a web page for the family which I am developing.
Hope this wasn't too long for you, but it is hard to get 53
years, including 20 years in the Army and 30 years of genealogy research into just a
few words.
May the patron saint of genealogy grant to you the breakthrough
for which you
have been dreaming.
Don
From: Donald L. Spidell
Subject: Re: Introduction:
Date: Wed, 09 Apr 1997 19:24:26 -0700
I kind [of] notice I left a few things out.
I have taught genealogy classes for the adult extension division
of the University of Texas, Killeen, Texas, Ft. Hood Campus. I have
taught genealogy classes several times in Sunday School for the LDS and
I have been a genealogy coordinator for the LDS Church at the ward level for
a number of years. I have also worked in the LDS Family History Centers for
about 8-10 years.
All of my Finch and Rohrer family files are on the Ancestral
File.
Right now, I live in Safford, Arizona in Graham County at the
foot of the beautiful Mt. Graham.
Don
