The American Dream - The Spreitler Family

The patriarch of our American linage is Lorenz Spreitler.  I must apologize for not possessing any photographs of Lorenz but I am unaware if any even exist.

Lorenz was born on 17 Nov. 1830 at 2:30 p.m. in Rain, Bayern, German,  the  son of Lorenz Spreitler (born 8 Aug 1800), a glazier in Rain, who lived in house 82, and his wife Theresia Lutz.  Lorenz’s grandfather was Erasmus Spreitler a coppersmith who lived in in Rain also.  Lorenz’s father died  on 3 August 1832 at 4:30 am from phthysis, he was  a mere 29 years old according to the church records. Thus the question of his birthdate arises. Lorenz had one brother  Joseph Spreitler (born 21 Sep 1832, he was a barrel painter in 1860 in Schrobenhausen).  Lorenz’s mother Theresia was born 2 Apr 1796, the daughter of Anton Lutz and Theres. She had previously been married to the glazier Andreas Schwab.  During her marriage to Andreas she bore five children (Maria Anna (1816), Veronika (1821), Theres (1823), Cazilie (1826) and Kreszenz (1828).  After the death of Lorenz she married Matthias Hilzensauer and bore a son Mathias (1838).

Lorenz’s parents (Lorenz and Theresia Schwab occured on the 23rd of March , 1930 in the Pfarrie (Parish) of Rain am Lech in Germany.  Witnesses to the marriage were Erasmus Spreitler and Joseph Mayr, the local waggon maker.

Lorenz Spreitler (Patriarch of our American Family)
                Father – Lorenz Spreitler (1800-1832)
               Mother – Theresia Lutz (1797-1858)

               Grandfather – Erasmus Spreitler
                Grandmother – still to be discovered!

It seems our family first appears in Rain am Lech just before 1733. Our journey to uncover our forefathers and foremothers in Germany continues but for the time being let me share our story in America.

The Bark Caroline carefully made her way into the new world as she had done so many times before.   She quietly slipped into a New York harbor bustling with immigrants from across the globe.  Under the waxing crescent moon on that Wednesday some 156 years ago (as I write this in February of 2011)  our family joined the American Dream.  It was May 3^rd and a young 24 year old German immigrant named Lorenz Spreitler had made the long sailing voyage from Bremen. He, like his father before him, was a glazier, and the ships log states he is headed for Pitsburg (sic). Our poorly,  educated guess is that he was heading for Pittsboro, IL to join the German immigrants already building the city.  Alas, how else did he end up in Randolph County, Illinois. Yet we are only making a guess. No history remains of his journey from New York to the Illinois territory. We are left with our knowledge of the past and our gift for glamorization.  

Just a shade of five years from when his American journey began, Lorenz would marry the love of his life. A beautiful, widowed, German immigrant named Katharina Pritz Long.  On the 29^th of May, 1959 Katharina and Lorenz married under the sun filled skies of Randolph County, Illinois. They would take up residence just outside Evansville, Il and remain there for the balance of their lives.

From their holy union would spring forth eight children, American’s by birth:

Elizabeth, Peter, Therese, Caroline, Josephine, Lorenz L, Charles, and Frank.

Shortly we shall continue our story.