The Cecil H. Spigener story unfolds at follows:
At some point in the late 50's, we all were attending the Perris 5th Street SDA church one Saturday when a lady came up to my parents and identified herself as "Mamie Spigener". She was alone but stated her husband, Cecil H. Spigener was at home (since he was not SDA) and invited us over for a meal and to meet him after church. It was on that Saturday afternoon that we met cousin Cecil Spigener. My dad and him talked for ours and found they did not know any common relatives, had heard rumors of other relatives and only heard of few common names of relatives by marriage. Cecil Spigener was also from St. Louis Mo and it became clear that his dad was a cousin of Harrison H. Speiginer. Cecil disclosed that there had been problems with the white Spiginers not accepting the mixed Cherokee Speiginer's and the family split from the white Alabama Speiginers and moved to Arkansas then to St Louis. Cecil also mentioned that he had heard that the white Speiginers dropped the e (i.e., Spiginer) or replaced the second i for an e (i.e., Spigener) to remain separate from the mixed Cherokee Speiginer brothers. Cecil's name was clearly from one of the Spiginer men that was white only, but he was still mixed.
I do remember there was a lot of teasing back and forth regarding which spelling was right (Speiginer vs. Spiginer vs. Spigener) and although that question were never answered or agreed on, from that day we understood we had relatives alive and of color from Harrison H. Speiginer's side. A few weeks later, Uncle Louis came out to met cousin Cecil during the week since it was hard for Uncle to make such a trip from Pomona without special arrangements. One of my most memorable pictures was viewing this cousin with a completely bald head, shorter small frame but a golden brown/bronze complexion. As best my memory can serve me, Cecil was about 19 years older than my dad (if so, he would have been born about 1894-5), was from Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri and had just retired and moved from Los Angeles to Perris, California. I am not sure about his death but it may have been during the late 60's or early 70's.
I hope this story serves as a good starting point and leaves the family energized for more family history. Please be reminded that this website is intended for ALL family and although I my not get all details right or remember all dates, I intend this to be a collaborative effort and a positive step in the direction of sharing Speiginer Family history.
