Spenlinhauers of Bernwiller.

Updated 12 July 2013

Thibáud Spenlinhauer was from a large family of Spenlinhauers from Bernwiller, a small village in Haut-Rhin, Alsace, France. In 2010, the population was just 642. Thibáud’s father Joseph was the butcher in Bernwiller. Joseph Spenlenhauer was born 20 January 1770 in Hégenheim, France, a village located about 35 km southeast of Bernwiller and very close to the borders of Germany and Switzerland. During that time the spelling of Spenlinhauer evolved from the “e” Spenlenhauer version to the “i” Spenlinhauer spelling. Joseph’s father was Baltbasan Spenlenhauer. 

The earliest documentation of Joseph Spenlenhauer’s residence in Bernwiller is 1 June 1810 when a daughter Therese was born to Joseph and his first wife Magdeleine Urban. Magdeleine was born about 1781. She and Joseph had four children together. In addition to Therese, they had a daughter Madeleine who was born about 1804 in la Bourg, France, Joseph who was born about 1808, and Jean who was born 13 April 1812 in Bernwiller and died 14 April 1812. Magdeleine Urban died five days after Jean died, on 19 April 1812. Later Joseph and Magdeleine’s daughter Madeleine would die unmarried at age 24 in Bernwiller on 8 December 1828.

On 13 September 1812 Joseph married for a second time, to Marguerite Gensbittel who was 19 years his junior. She was born 13 February 1789 in Burnhaupt le Bas, the younger daughter of Thibáud Gensbittel and Marguerite Dietrich. At the time of their marriage she was working as a servant while Joseph continued to be employed as a butcher. Together they would have nine children, all born in Bernwiller. They were as follows: Thiebaud, born 28 Janaury 1813 and died 22 June 1814), Gertrude (born 16 May 1818), Agattae (born 18 February 1820), Jean (John) (born 16 December 1823), Ignace (born 22 June 1825), Antoine (born 13 June 1827), Thibáud (born 24 August 1828) and Barbe (born 8 March 1830). 

A Madaleine Spenlinhauer was also born 10 April 1824. The recording of her birth lists her mother as “Demoiselle” Marie Anne Spenlinhauer, presumably a single woman. Her relationship to the family is unknown but this is the only “Spenlinhauer” birth during this period of time in Bernwiller that is not a child of Joseph and Marguerite. At some point Madaleine married Laurent Brandenburger and relocated to Paris where she died in Ivry-Sur-Seine on 30 June 1876. She had at least two children, Jean Brandenberger, born 20 November 1856 and Rosine who married Emile Louis Ingand on 5 August 1875 in Ivry-Sur-Seine.

The other unknown Spenlinhauer in Bernwiller during this time are noted in the death of Vital Spenlinahuer, age 4 months who had been born in Burnhaupt le Bas and was the natural son of a Catherine Spenlinhauer who lived in Bernwiller.

The eldest of Joseph and (his first wife) Magdeleine’s children, Joseph Spenlinhauer would marry Caroline Keller in Bernwiller on 26 July 1837 in Bernwiller where he would continue the family business as the town butcher. Caroline was the daughter of Jacques Keller and Francoise Miette. Joseph and Caroline had twelve children together, eleven of them daughters. Four of their daughters died as infants or young children. Their children, born in Bernwiller, included Marie Caroline (born 29 April 1838 and died 23 June 1840), Joseph (born 28 June 1829), Caroline (born 14 October 1840), Louise (born 10 April 1842 and died 3 February 1857), Francoise (born 24 February 1844), Ovile (born 11 June 1845 and died 3 October 1846), Marie Agatte (born 6 February 1847), Marie Madeleine (born 9 April 1849), Marie Ovile (born 21 October 1850), Marie Alexandra (born 1 April 1852), Marie Agatta Josephine (born 26 June 1854), and Marie Louise (20 March 1857 and died 20 April 1857).

Thibáud Spenlinhauer married Marie (Mina) Elisabeth Wilhelmein Frye in Bitschwiller, which is northwest of Bernwiller. She was born in the Grand Duchy of Baden on 17 April 1849,  the daughter of George Frye who was living in the Grand Duchy of Baden. Her mother, Emma Gautier, was deceased, having died 27 July 1861. Their marriage took place at the Eglise de Bischwiller on 9 January 1869 when Thibáud was 40 years old and Minnie was 19. Thibáud and Mina’s first child, Madelaine, was born on 17 January 1869, eight days after their marriage. Later in life Madelaine would go by the name Lily or Lillian. Lily also claimed to have been born in Paris and christened at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. This seems unlikely since Thibáud and Minnie had just been married a few days before her birth in Bitschwiller.  The Franco-Prussian war broke out in July 1870 and tensions had already been running high between Germany and France for several years, leading to the possibility that Thibáud, a French military man, would be called back to active military service, which is exactly what occurred.

Thibáud had a career in the French Army and participated in three military campaigns. The first was the Italian campaign of 1859 as a member of the 64th regiment. He received a medal of merit for his conduct in that campaign. Known as the Second War of Italian Independence, this campaign was fought by Napolean II and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia against the Austrian Empire. The war waged from 29 April 1859 until 11 July 1859. He next participated in the Mexican Campaign, as a member of the 69th regiment. Thibáud was eventually honorably discharged from the military on 31 December 1868 in Paris but he was recalled to service for the Franco-Prussian war in 1871. It was during this interim period that he married Mina, and Madelaine was born. He was twice commended for conspicuous service while under fire. On 22 May 1871 he was presented with a letter of recommendation by the mayor of Burnhaupt-le-Bas in Haut-Rhin which mentions his wife Wilhelm Mina and their daughter Madelaine. After the 1871 defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian war, Alsace was incorporated into Germany, likely catalyzing Thibáud’s decision to move to the United States to start a new life.

In 1871, the young family determined to immigrate to the United States and departed Europe from Hamburg, Germany. A record of their names and appropriate ages appear on the ship manifest for the Thuringia which departed Hamburg, Germany to arrive in New York, New York on 13 June 1871 when Madeleine would have been two years old. 

Along with Mina and their young daughter Madelaine, Thibáud arrived in the United States. Thibáud and Mina would eventually have ten children, but only their first child, Madelaine, was born in France. The last documentation of them in France was dated 22 May 1871 and the first evidence of their presence in the United States is their arrival in New York 13 June 1871. Mina was pregnant prior to their departure to the United States and their son Frank’s birth was recorded in Springfield, Massachusetts on 11 September 1871. The first appearance of the Spenlinhauer name in the Northampton, Holyoke and Chicopee, Massachusetts Directory is in 1873-1874. According to his obituary, Thibáud and Mina first settled in West Springfield or East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, prior to settling in Holyoke. Although at the time of their son Frank’s birth in Springfield, they are listed as residents of the Town of Holyoke. There are no records of Thibáud and Mina between 1871 and 1873 however there is a John Spenlinhauer who lived in Springfield, Massachusetts for several years before and after Thibáud arrived. John was a butcher while Thibáud’s occupation was always noted as a carpenter once he started working in the United States. John Spenlinhaur was Thibáud’s older brother Jean, the likely reason Thibáud had selected the Holyoke-Springfield area as their United States destination.

Upon arriving in the United States, the Spenlinhauer’s known residences were as follows:

• 1873-1874  Spelinghouse, D., carpenter, h. East, n. Sargent

• 1875-1876 Spenlinhauer, Tebo, laborer, house 233 Park street

• 1876 Spenlinhauer, Theobald, carpenter, r. 233 Park

• 1882 Spendelhauer, John, carpenter, house 229 Park

• 1885 Spendelhauer, Dippold, emp C. Ranger, house 181 Park

• 1890 Spendelhauer John Dippold, emp Casper Ranger, house 23 Hamilton

• 1895 Spendelhauer, John Dippold, emp Casper Ranger, h 185 Park

• 1900 Spendelhauer, Theobald, h 97 Race• 1910 Spenlinhauer, Theobald, h 97 Race

• 1911 Spenlinhauer, Theobald, h 97 Race

Although the Holyoke City Directory shows the Spenlinhauers living at the above addresses, they do not appear in the 1880, 1900, or 1910 census records at the above addresses, or anywhere else. This could either be attributed to sloppiness on the part of the census takers or perhaps a language barrier since Mina did not speak English. Her language in later censuses is noted as German. 

After settling in the United States, Mina and Thibáud had nine more children: Frank J., Ida A, John E., Mary L. (known as May), George, William J., Minnie, Esther, and Cora Belle (known as Carrie).

Thibáud became a naturalized U.S. citizen on 4 October 1884 in Holyoke, Massachusetts. His naturalization documents list his hometown as Niederbronn, Germany which had been a commune of the Bas-Rhin in France.  He died 11 August 1915 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Holyoke, Massachusetts.  Mina, who as a widow lived with her daughter Minnie and her husband Homer Rainault, died 8 February 1928 and is buried alongside Thibáud. 

Lillian (Madelaine) Spenlinhauer married Herbert Dean on 13 December 1904 at the First Baptist Church in Holyoke, Massachusetts. She was 34 and he was 38. They lived at 98 Race Street, which appears to be adjacent to where Lillian’s parents lived, at 97 Race Street. Herbert and Lillian’s only child, John Elmer Dean, was born 25 May 1909. Herbert died at the age of 59 on 19 July 1926. Lillian lived with her son and daughter-in-law until her death on 15 May 1966 at the age of 97.

The stories of Lillian’s brothers are less clear. Although Frank Spenlinhauer was born shortly after the family’s arrival in the United States, there are no further records of his existence. The only conclusion we can come to is that Frank died as an infant.

Ida is one of the more interesting members of the family. She married David Lanoue 3 April 1897 and according to the 1910 U.S. census they were still together on 28 June 1900 in Southampton, Massachusetts. According to his tombstone, David died that very same year (1900). In August 1915, when her father Thibáud died, Ida was Mrs. George Blackmore. In 1928, when her mother Mina died, Ida was Mrs. Emory Briggs, living in Lynn, Massachusetts. She died shortly after this time. When her brother John E. Spenlinhauer died in 1953, she is not mentioned as one of his survivors. The same is true when her sister Minnie Spenlinhauer Rainault died in 1959.

 John E. Spenlinhauer married Alice Leahy in 1902.  He worked in the mills of Holyoke including the American Thread Company where he was a foreman. Sometime between 1940 and 1944 he and Alice retired to Wareham, Massachusetts, where he later died. John and Lillian were very close and she named her son John Elmer Dean after him. But at some point they had a falling out because, as a foreman at the American Thread Company, John Spenlinhauer wasn’t able to protect John Elmer Dean from being laid off from his job during an economic down turn. From that day forth Lillian decided to refer to her son John only by his middle name, Elmer. This is reflected in some of his school records where his name is listed as Elmer Dean. Lillian declared she would never speak to John again and that he was not welcome in her house. However, years later he showed up at her door and she welcomed him with open arms. Alice and John had two sons, John E. Spenlinhauer Jr. and Raymond Spenlinhauer and one daughter Lucy Spenlinhauer. Raymond later changed his last name to Spencer. 

Mary, known as May, moved to Lynn, Massachusetts and married John Drysdale. They never had children. May worked in a shoe factory. She was living in a fourth-floor apartment in Lynn when a fire broke out. To save herself from the fire, she jumped from the window and broke her back. She eventually recovered. Her husband John Drysdale died in 1935. Years after John’s death, sometime in the 1960s, she moved back to Holyoke, Massachusetts to live with her sister Lillian and her nephew John Elmer Dean and his wife Cecile Collins. 

At the age of 20 George Spenlinhauer married Hattie Purcell in Hartford, Connecticut. Shortly thereafter he moved to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He was living there in 1908 working as an automobile assembler. By 1910 George and Hattie were back in Holyoke. Hattie was living without George in Holyoke in the 1920 census, suggesting their marriage split up. George married Josephine Frisch 19 July 1922 in Wellsburg, Brooke, West Virginia. George and Josephine were living in Pittsburg by 1942.

Esther Spenlinhauer was married to Arthur Griffin at the time of her father’s death in 1916. Like George Spenlinhauer, they also lived in Pittsburg. They had at least one child, Arthur Junior. By the time her mother Mina died in 1928 she was still Mrs. Arthur Griffin but living in Kansas City, Missouri. By 1953, when her brother John died, Esther was still living in Kansas City, Missouri but her name was Mrs. Russell Bodine, as was still the case in 1959 when her sister Minnie died. Esther and Russell Bodine both died in Kansas City, Missouri in June 1972 at the ages of 92 and 94, respectively. 

William Spenlinhauer also married in 1908, Margaret Crowe. He was a shipping clerk at the time of their marriage and later worked at the local newspaper, the Holyoke Transcript-Telegram. He died in 1921.  

Minnie, who was born in 1889 married Homer C. Rainault in 1913 in Holyoke. Homer was a local celebrity. He owned the Valley Arena, a venue for boxing and wrestling events and other forms of live entertainment. He died around 1944. Minnie, who loved dogs, had a Great Dane and also raised Boston Bull Terriers, died in 1959. 

Cora, known as Carrie, lived with her sister Minnie and Homer, along with their widowed mother Mina on Maple Street in Holyoke in 1920. There was a boarder at the house named Napolean (Paul) Beaudry. Twelve years later, in 1937, Carrie married Paul, who was the owner of Beaudry’s Café on Main Street in Holyoke. Paul died in 1959 and Cora died in 1961.

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