Wernhardt Spainhour (1688 - 1737)

Born 19 Feb 1688 in Muttenz, Switzerland

Husband of Elsbeth (Spittler) Spainhour — married Jun 1714 in Basel, Switzerland

Descendants

Died 3 Mar 1737 at age 49 in Muttenz, Switzerland

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Biography

Biography from http://www.fmoran.com/spainhr.html ©, 2001-2007 Faye Jarvis Moran and Elizabeth H. Harris

The Spainhour ancestry is known back to Arbogast Spanhauer (1578-1631) and his wife Anna Wartman (1580-1631) of Muttenz, Switzerland. Their son Hans Spanhauer (1614-1675) married Elisabeth Süss or Suss (1610-1653), and had a son Wernhardt Spanhauer (1651-1713) as well as five daughters. Wernhardt married Barbara Seiler (1656-1708), daughter of Arbogast Seiler and Barbara Dietler of Muttenz. We begin our file with the children of Wernhardt and Barbara, several of whom immigrated to America.

Children of Wernhardt Spanhauer and Barbara Seiler

• Catharina Spanhauer (1680?-?) m. Hans Jacob Pfau
• Barbara Spanhauer (1683-1733) m. Hans Jacob Urbin
• Johannes Spanhauer (1685-1761?) m. Maria Pfirter
• Wernhardt Spanhauer (1688-1737) m. Elisabeth Spittler or Spitteler (1690-?)
• Niklaus Spanhauer (1690-?) m. Ursula Schaub
• Elisabeth Spanhauer (1692-?) m. Heinrich Brodbeck (1692-?)

Available evidence is conflicting on whether Catharina was the oldest child, born ca. 1680, or the youngest, born ca. 1693, and on whether Johannes died in 1731 or 1761.

Wernhardt died in 1737. His widow and her four children, who were young adults, left Switzerland in May 1740, traveled on the Rhine to Rotterdam, then to England, and finally arrived in Philadelphia aboard the Friendship in August 1740. Niklaus Spanhauer, Wernhardt's brother, was on the same ship. The passenger list of the Friendship records Heinrich, Jacob (presumed to be Werner) and Cloyce (Claus, or Niklaus) Spanhauer. Wernhardt's sisters Elisabeth and Catharina also immigrated with their husbands. Niklaus Spanhauer married in Ursula Schaub in Switzerland and reportedly had at least two sons, Jacob and Matheus, who presumably immigrated with their parents.

Barbara Spanhauer probably died soon after their arrival in Pennsylvania. Her mother Elisabeth Spittler Spanhauer is reported in some sources to have died in 1759, but it has also been suggested that she may have died prior to 1748, when Heinrich Spanhauer returned to Switzerland to claim an inheritance from his grandfather to his mother. Did he make the trip on her behalf because she was unable to travel herself, or was he claiming it as her heir?

Children of Wernhardt Spanhauer and Elsbeth Spittler

• Barbara Spanhauer (1715-1717)
• Johann Heinrich Spanhauer (1716-1788) m. Elizabeth Lum (1719-1788)
• Wernhardt (Werner) Spanhauer (1719-1787) m. 1) Verona Wister (1728-1751), 2) Elizabeth Lohner (1723-1790)
• Anna Spanhauer (1720-1803) m. Heinrich Tschudi, remained in PA
• Barbara Spanhauer (1723-ca. 1740)
• Hans J. Spanhauer (1724-1725)
• Elisabeth Spanhauer (b. & d. 1726)

Early records in America variously spell the name Spoenhauer, Spenhower, Spoonhour or other ways. By late-19th century the family in North Carolina had adopted the modern anglicization of Spainhour. Other variants among contemporary descendants include Spainhour and Spainhoward.

Some studies of this family give Wernhardt's name as Jacob or Jacobus Wernhardt, probably based on the ship's record cited above. Trisha Bradford reports that the Swiss birth record has only Wernhardt. Is there any other documentation for Jacob as a first or baptismal name? or is this an error in the immigration record?

Sources

• Source: S95 Text: http://www.muttenzdescendants.org/

• http://www.fmoran.com/spainhr.html

• Wernhardt Spainhour in the U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900..Source number: 56.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: EH1..Source Information..Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 [database on-line]..https://www.ancestry.ca/discoveryui-content/view/1140708:7836?ssrc=pt&tid=107523541&pid=130083716101