Ceramic pots date back to Loffler family in 1700s

On the same 2013 trip to North Carolina (see previous post), I located two beautifully preserved ceramic pieces in a display case in a museum in Raleigh. They were verified by a docent as being passed down through the Loffler (Spoon) family from the 1700s. These sugar pots also are documented in the book "Ceramics in America," of which I have a copy. Other than a crack in the lid of the yellowish pot, they appear to be in remarkably good shape.

According to the book, these items and the 1779 confirmation certificate of John Spoon were acquired during an auction in Guilford County some years ago. What a find!

John Spoon (1766-1849): A treasure discovered

One of the most significant Spoon ancestors we share is John Spoon, who was born Johannes Loffel/Loffler on July 17, 1766 in Guilford County, North Carolina. He was the first of our direct ancestors to be born in America, the son of Johannes Loffler (1722-1785) -- one of three brothers who sailed to America from Germany on separate trips in the mid-1700s.

As I began to research John, I came across a photocopy of his confirmation certificate from 1779. I have copies of both the German script and the English translation, as you can see in the attached photos. It always fascinated me to know that I had seen an original German document from one of my ancestors. I was never sure who found this certificate and if the original survived, however.

Until one day in 2013 during a research trip to North Carolina, that is.

I knew our ancestors lived in Guilford County and neighboring Alamance County, about an hour from Raleigh in a rural area of North Carolina. I had made previous trips there and found many Spoon headstones in local cemeteries. On this particular trip, I decided to make a trip to a museum in nearby Winston-Salem to see what I could find.

On a guided tour, we came into a room that had many similar certificates framed and hanging on the walls. Could I be lucky enough to find John Spoon's original certificate there, I wondered? I shared my anticipation with the group as we searched the walls, but John's certificate was nowhere to be found. Disappointed, I followed the group into the next room, which was filled with antique furniture from that time period.

As I entered, I spotted an old hope chest in the center of the room, with a spotlight shining on a framed certificate. To my amazement, it was the original John Spoon confirmation certificate! Stunned, I studied it carefully and had my photo taken with it. The tour guide had no idea how the museum acquired the certificate or why it was the one chosen for special display in that room. You talk about divine intervention ... I stopped and said a prayer of thanks, right there.

I have also visited John's grave at the Low's Lutheran Church Cemetery in Guilford County. Attached is a photo of the headstone of my gggg grandfather. I can't wait until I can return to North Carolina in search of more treasures.

Jake Spoon: Horse thief or simply a cow-punching cowboy?

Was he really a horse thief, and which ancestor actually is Jake Spoon?

This remains somewhat of a mystery, but it certainly makes for good conversation. A story handed down through the Spoon generations speaks about a cowboy who lived in Texas and was infamous for stealing horses from Indian territory in Oklahoma. Some speculate that the character Jake Spoon in the "Lonesome Dove" book and movie was based on our Spoon ancestor. Larry McMurtry, the author of the book, isn't saying, although he grew up in that area of Texas.

There are two most likely Spoon ancestors who were the Jake Spoon of cowboy folklore. One is John M. Spoon, born in 1866 in Arkansas. Descendants of John M. often tell the story of Jake Spoon and believe John M. was that person.

This narrative comes from Debby Spoon Looney, the great granddaughter of John M. Spoon:

"I don't know how true the story about John Spoon being a horse thief is. It may just be a stab my grandpa made at a dad he hated. I just found it all so interesting that the movie 'Lonesome Dove' had this character Jake Spoon, who was being chased by Sheriff July Johnson for accidentally killing somebody in Ft. Smith, Arkansas and was ultimately hung for being a horse thief. The Ft. Smith area is where my great grandfather John M. and grandfather Harry Frederick Spoon and siblings were living at that period of time.

"I have researched the making of the movie several times. It is said that author used some factually events in his story, but the story itself is totally fictional."

The other Spoon ancestor who might possibly by the Jake Spoon we speak of is Jacob Andrew Spoon, who was born in 1864 in Illinois and died in 1922 in Menard, Texas. The Facebook page "Traces of Texas" reports the following:

"Many Texans know that there was a character named 'Jake Spoon' in Lonesome Dove, the book and TV miniseries, with Robert Urich playing the part of Jake in the miniseries. But most Texans probably do not realize that there was a real life Jake Spoon who, though he was also a trail-riding cowboy, was quite different from ex-Ranger Jake Spoon in the story. The real life Jake Spoon was born in 1864 and, as a young man, made 10 trips up the trail, driving cattle from Texas to Kansas. He died on a cot in his front yard in Menard, Texas, in 1922, and is buried in the Pioneer Rest cemetery there."

There is no mention of this Jake Spoon being a horse thief. His identity as a trail-riding cowboy is confirmed through the above photo, however.

We may never know whether Jake Spoon really was a horse thief or which man the movie character may refer to, but it remains one of the most interesting stories in Spoon family history.

A new life in North Carolina

1779 confirmation certificate of John Spoon, who was born in 1776

Although it was fast becoming a popular route, the path followed by John Spoon and other members of his party as they headed south must have been a rugged and lonely road. The one thing that kept them going was the promise of good farm land available in North Carolina, much of it reasonably priced by the agents of an opportunistic land owner named Henry McCulloch. A settlement referred to in 1750 land documents as McCulloch Tract 11 was most likely home to the Löffler/Spoon brothers, since it covered portions of Orange and Randolph counties (land that later became parts of Guilford County and Alamance County), in which the brothers are listed as residents in the ensuing years.

The trip to North Carolina carried the immigrants through Virginia on the only road south at that time, the Great Wagon Road. It ran through a valley nestled between the Appalachian Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains. This road was first carved through the rugged landscape by wild animals searching for food and attracted to the salt licks in the area. Native Americans later traveled the animal pathway, which became known as the Great Warrior Path because of its frequent use by the Iroquois Indian tribe to assault other bands of woodland natives. Years later, when settlers from Europe began using the overgrown footpath, this became the main route of mass migration south. Foot traffic gave way to simple carts, then two-wheeled carriages, then Conestoga wagons. The Treaty of Lancaster officially recognized this path – which by that time stretched 700 miles and was traveled by tens of thousands -- as the Great Wagon Road in July, 1744.

We don't know whether our ancestors walked, rode in carts or traveled in Conestoga wagons, but somehow they arrived in Big Lick -- which in 1882 became Roanoke, Virginia -- and took the southeastern fork in the road. The final leg of their trip, covering some 80 miles or so, took them to McCullough Tract 11 in the wide-open spaces of northwest North Carolina.

All three Löffler/Spoon brothers arrived in this region eventually. We don’t know exactly when Adam and Christian settled there; perhaps they arrived before John. The names of all three appear in land documents by the 1770s, however.

Our Spoon ancestors ended up on land that is now right on the border of Guilford and Alamance Counties, just a few miles east of Greensboro and just south of Interstate 85. Various surviving land deeds from that time period describe Spoon family property lines in approximately the same area, on land watered by Beaver Creek to the west and Stinking Quarter Creek to the east. Originally a part of Orange County’s greater boundaries, the land is now for the most part in Guilford County, which has a rich history of its own.

Established in 1771, Guilford County actually was settled primarily in the late 1740s and 1750s. The county originally encompassed a large northwestern portion of North Carolina. It extended from the Virginia-North Carolina border south about 75 miles, a huge chunk of land roughly 50 miles wide. At that time it included what is now Randolph County, which separated in 1779, and Rockingham County, which separated in 1785. Today its central metropolitan area is Greensboro, a city of more than 155,000. In the Revolutionary War era, Guilford County and neighboring Orange County was part of a vast wilderness inhabited by perhaps a few thousand hardy souls.

The first mention of John the Immigrant in North Carolina is in the Orange County deed book dated March 29, 1772. It describes the sale of land by “John Spoon and Sarah his wife of Orange, planter, to James McCarrol of same, 60 pounds, 100 acres.” The document was signed by John Spoon in German, probably meaning he used the name Johannes Löffler.

Researchers are not sure when John married Sarah, his second wife. Some believe his first wife, Sally, died before John left Pennsylvania. We are certain, however, that John and Sally had one son, Adam, born in Pennsylvania, and that John and Sarah had at least two children born in North Carolina.

The first of these was a son, named Johannes like his father but also known as John Spoon. “John the Younger,” as he is referred to by Boyles, was born on July 17, 1766. The German equivalent of his surname used at the time was Löffel, as is seen in a 1779 confirmation certificate. The document, handwritten both in German and English and now in Boyles’ possession, includes the words to the hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” along with the inscription, “Come here my children and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. John Spoon, 1779.”

John the Younger was a teenager when his father died. Although researchers are not sure of John the Immigrant’s exact death date, we know from an entry in the Orange County deed book that it happened by 1785, probably earlier. On Sept. 22, 1785, Sarah Spoon received a portion of land from a neighbor as part of an estate settlement. In that document, Sarah is referred to as the widow of John Spoon and a reference is made to “Sarah Spoon and orphan heirs.”

This land is described as being “on the waters of Stinking Quarter.” Boyles, who has walked the shores of this creek many times, insists it does not stink. It is definitely there, however, and the locals know this was once the site of the old Spoon homestead.

As Boyles describes it, “From Highway 62 (heading south from U.S. 85) near E.M. Holt School, turn onto Kimesville Road. Travel about three miles, turn left onto Euliss Road, go a half-mile and cross the south prong of Stinking Quarter Creek. Look to your right. That’s it. But don’t expect an old house – that’s long gone.”

According to Boyles, an old house near the corner of Kimesville Road and Euliss Road is the renovated former residence of Michael Shoffner, who traveled with the Spoons from Pennsylvania. Boyles’ grandparents lived in that house at one time. He says records indicate Shoffner was by far the wealthiest in the group that traveled to North Carolina in 1763. He speculates that John the Immigrant moved south to work for Shoffner and found he could get his own land grant.

By 1785, John the Immigrant was dead. No one knows where John Spoon, aka Johannes Löffler, is buried. Boyles believes he may have died in the Revolutionary War. Boyles says there is a tombstone bearing the name of John Spoon, “native of Germany,” at Low’s Lutheran Church cemetery in Guilford County. He is not certain John is actually buried there, for if John was killed in combat, this could simply be a commemorative grave marker.

Even if this is the case, the “original” John Spoon left to his descendants a legacy of perseverance and religious conviction that is seen in many Spoon family members in the generations that followed.

'John the Immigrant'

Johannes Löffler must have thought he had sailed right into the land of opportunity when he walked off the ship Restauration that summer day in 1747. America was still nearly 30 years from becoming the United States, but already the colonies offered immigrants the kind of freedom most had scarcely dared to dream about. Pennsylvania, which offered the same type of climate and natural surroundings as their homeland, particularly appealed to German immigrants of that time.

Pennsylvania was granted a charter as a British colony in 1681, but the history of the white man in the region more realistically dates back to 1708. In that year, Conestoga Indians living in the area complained to the Provincial Council in Philadelphia about the conduct of five Europeans who had built a house along the Potomac River. One of the Swiss, a man named Franz Ludwig Michel, explained that he had been sent by his countrymen to search for a suitable tract of land. Despite efforts by the Provincial Council to curtail the construction, the efforts of the Swiss eventually led to the settlement of the area by immigrants from Switzerland, Germany and Holland.

One of the crafts for which the German immigrants were well known was the construction of the Conestoga wagon, a covered wagon named for the Indians native to the area. This drew the attention of Benjamin Franklin, who secured a large number of wagons for use by the colonial forces during the French and Indian War in 1755. This represented a new appreciation of the Germans by Franklin, who just four years earlier had written, “Why should the Palatine boors be suffered to swarm in our settlements and, by herding together, establish their language and manners to the exclusion of ours? Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a colony of aliens?”

Neither the opposition of native Indians nor the early complaints of colonists like Franklin could stop the settlement of the area by the Germans. The immigrants became known as Pennsylvania Dutch, a term taken from the translation of the word German (Deutsch) and the fact most of these immigrants came to America via Holland. Until recently, many Spoon descendants believed that the family was originally from Holland, knowing only the story of the ship’s arrival from Rotterdam.

It is likely that Johannes Löffler and his brothers first lived in Lancaster County, an area settled by a colony of Swiss Mennonites. Immigrants from the mountains of Switzerland, they settled first in the German Palatinate region before moving on to Holland, England and finally to America. Followers of Menno Simons, they believed in the complete separation of church and state – a belief that caused them tremendous grief in Europe. Beginning in 1710, they began to settle this area of Pennsylvania together with a group of Swiss settlers who were followers of Jacob Ammon – a group today known as Amish. These people, known for their strict domestic discipline and distinctive form of clothing, can still be found in Lancaster County today.

The most detailed evidence of a Löffler brother in Lancaster County involves Adam, who is listed three times in the records of the Lancaster Trinity Lutheran Church, one of the oldest churches in a U.S. inland city. Twice in 1743, Adam donated gifts to the church – a napkin for the baptismal table and pews for the chapel. Adam appears to have been a very active member of the congregation, which is known as a major force in the establishment of the Lutheran faith in this country. Under the direction of Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America, and the Rev. John Casper Stoever, members of Trinity Lutheran Church contributed greatly to a population that quickly spread to other parts of colonial America.

Very little is known about Johannes Löffler’s time in Pennsylvania. Most of the information on this subject comes from the research of Michael Boyles, a dentist in Winston-Salem, N.C. Taking information provided by his ancestors and after studying documents in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, Boyles has pieced together a likely scenario regarding Johannes’ early years in this country.

First, Boyles notes that Johannes Löffler was soon known in American documents by the name John Spoon, the English translation of his name. This supports the research of many others who have found evidence that the Löffler brothers first changed their surname to Löffel, then adopted the English meaning by changing the name to Spoon. Since many other John Spoons followed in future generations of the Spoon family tree, Boyles refers to the former Johannes Löffler as “John the Immigrant.”

Boyles acknowledges that it appears John the Immigrant spent the least amount of time of the three brothers in Pennsylvania before moving south. He has, however, uncovered some interesting facts. First, John Spoon married a woman named Sally (maiden name unknown). The couple had a son named Adam. Sources indicate that John the Immigrant also worshipped in a Lutheran church, perhaps the same congregation as Adam, with Henry Melchoir Muhlenburg as his pastor

According to family records and Boyles’ research, John Spoon left Pennsylvania sometime in 1763 to start a new life in North Carolina, a colony where land was readily available and affordable to immigrants. He traveled in a group that included Michael Shoffner, Adam Moser and his nephew Fredrick, and a man named George Fogleman – whose surname would become a significant part of the Spoon family history in the coming years. All appear to have been members of the same Lutheran congregation.

They were lured by yet another promise of a home where they could practice their religion and pursue their lifestyle without fear of persecution. Joining other German Lutheran immigrants who had perhaps grown weary of the crowds pouring into Lancaster County, John Spoon headed for North Carolina and a new chapter in Spoon family history.

A sketch shows depicts Benjamin Franklin buying Conestoga Wagons

Our ancestors' final years in Germany

An artist's sketch shows the town of Sinsheim as it looked in the 1600s

Researchers aren’t sure why the Löffler family moved from its longtime homeland of Hohenhaslach about 35 miles northwest to the town of Sinsheim. We aren’t sure exactly what year the move took place, either. It appears to have been in the 1720s, after Hans Leonhard Löffler fathered three sons.

The first reference to Sinsheim is an entry in the book “Burgert’s 18th Century Emigrants from the Northern Kraichgau.” A Sinsheim Lutheran church document dated June 8, 1736 records the marriage of Johann Adam Löffler to Anna Margaretha Trinckel. Johann is listed as an apprentice potter and son of “the late Leonhard Löffler” of Hohenhaslach.

This is the same Johann Adam Löffler born in 1711 in Hohenhaslach. Microfilmed church records in Salt Lake City do not include births from this time period, so we don’t know Johann Adam’s exact birth date. The year was determined from the age he listed on a ship’s passenger list years later. He had a younger brother, Johann Christian, born in 1713. Following the custom of that time and to avoid confusion, we will refer to the brothers by their middle names, Adam and Christian.

The boys’ mother was named Barbara (maiden name unknown). The only evidence we have of this is a 1717 Hohenhaslach church record listing her death at age 31 from tabes (emaciation or starvation). This suggests that the family was living in modest conditions at best, perhaps with little food. We know, however, that somehow the Löfflers carried on. Even though Hans Leonhard Löffler was left a widower with two young sons, we know from ship’s passenger lists and the family history records of many Spoon relatives that he had one more child.

Johannes Löffler (we know of no middle name) was born in 1722. The name of his mother is not known, and we have no record of a second marriage for Hans Leonhard. But the church record listing Barbara Löffler’s death in 1717 justifies the claim made in many Spoon family histories that Johannes was a half brother to Adam and Christian. The identity of Johannes’ mother, as well as the final days of Hans Leonhard in Hohenhaslach, remain a mystery.

At some point before 1736, Adam Löffler relocated to Sinsheim. His brothers either came with him or followed him at some point. Perhaps they left for new beginnings following the death of their father, or maybe they simply sought the opportunities a larger town offered.

Today, Sinsheim is a city of 32,000. It maintains its historic feel with the remains of a castle on the hill and quaint dwellings nestled in a valley bordering Elsenz Creek. At the same time, it is known for its automobile manufacturers and is home to a large auto and technology museum. Its history dates back to the year 770, when it was first named in official documents as “Sunnisheim.” About the year 1000, a group of Benedictine monks established residence on a hill outside the village. The cloister buildings, still standing today, are now used as a youth hostel. Most of the town burned to the ground in 1689, but reconstruction was well underway by the time the Löffler brothers arrived.

Another possible motive for their move to Sinsheim is religious persecution. It is well documented that the fight for religious freedom in parts of Germany was forcing many to flee their homeland during this time period.
The Thirty Years’ War, a series of battles between 1618 and 1648, was the final step in a military attempt to settle the religious division the Reformation had caused. One of the great conflicts of early modern European history, the Thirty Years’ War led to the destruction of many villages and countless deaths. As a result, few church records before 1650 survive to this day.

On one side of the conflict was the House of Austria, which included the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperors Ferdinand II and Ferdinand III, together with Philip IV of Spain. These rulers sought to re-establish the Catholic church throughout Europe. They were opposed by several nations, including Denmark, Holland, France and Sweden, many representing the Calvinist and Lutheran faiths.

Perhaps most of all, however, the conflict became a civil war in Germany, where various principalities took up arms against each other, some for and others against the Habsburgs. It was an ugly period in German history and a costly one for followers of the Lutheran faith. In the years following the end of the war, Lutherans received minimal privileges in practicing their religion. While Catholic and Reformed congregations flourished, Lutherans found few opportunities for organized worship. Under the terms of the Palatine Church Division of 1705 in the Palatinate region of the northern Kraichgau, 5/7 of the parishes became Reformed and 2/7 became Catholic. None were established as Lutheran. In order to preserve the faith, Lutherans were forced to raise funds in other parts of Germany. Their small congregations struggled to survive.

The three sons of Hans Leonhard Löffler were part of this persecuted group of Lutherans. Whether for this reason, for other reasons unknown to us or perhaps for a combination of both, Sinsheim became a favorable option for them. Located in a more populated area, it offered the security of an established Lutheran church, as the 1736 marriage record of Adam Löffler proves. It was also closer to the Rhine River, a means of travel already being used by Germans migrating north to the Netherlands.

In search of a place to practice their religion freely, many had heard of the opportunities available in America. Word of a settlement of German Lutherans in the colony of Pennsylvania was received with enthusiasm. Ships full of German immigrants left the port of Rotterdam (Netherlands) for America on a regular basis.

By the time of Adam’s wedding in 1736, his younger brother Christian had already set out for a new life in a new land.

Following the lead of many Germans fleeing their homeland, Christian set sail on the Rhine River, a scenic trip north and west to Rotterdam. There he boarded the ship Samuel, bound for America. Risking the months-long journey with its virtual guarantee of dangerous storms and exposure to disease, Christian became the first of our ancestors to set foot on American soil. He disembarked from the Samuel at the port of Philadelphia on Aug. 17, 1733. His signature can be found on the passenger list from the journey.

We have no record of any correspondence between Christian and his brothers in Germany, and we don’t know why the three didn’t travel together. Perhaps Adam and Johannes waited for Christian to send word from America before they decided their own fate. At any rate, we know that Adam and his wife Anna Margaretha followed the same route shortly after their marriage, arriving in Philadelphia on the same ship Samuel, captained by one Hugh Percy, on Aug. 30, 1737.

Perhaps it was decided that Johannes was too young to make the journey with either of his brothers. After all, he was only 11 when Christian set sail and 15 when Adam left. Finally, at the age of 25, the youngest of the Löffler brothers made the long journey, sailing out of Rotterdam on the ship Restauration, Captain James Hall in charge. The name Johannes Löffler is one of the first to appear on the passenger list of the Restauration, which arrived in Philadelphia on Aug. 9, 1747 .

This youngest brother, the last of the Löffler immigrants to leave Germany for the promised land, has a special place in the history of the Spoon family. Johannes Löffler represents the next generation in the direct line of ancestors of our Spoon family tree.

Arrow points to the signature of Christian Loffler (spelled Loffel here) on 1733 passenger list

The Lofflers of Hohenhaslach

Hohenhaslach, Germany, native homeland of the Spoon family ancestors

Deep in the heart of southern Germany, nestled in the rolling hills just northeast of the Black Forest in the state of Baden-Württemberg, lies the village of Hohenhaslach.

Today this small town and its neighboring municipality, Saxonia Home, make up a quiet rural community of some 16,000 villagers. It is part of the greater community of Sachsenheim in Ludwigsburg County. Stuttgart is approximately 25 miles to the southeast, with Munich another 225 miles further east. This mountainous region is known as the northern Kraichgau, an area bordered by the Rhine River to the west and the Neckar River to the north.

Home to small businesses, tradition-rich churches and a popular soccer club, Hohenhaslach is perhaps best known in the region for its lush vineyards. For centuries, workers have toiled in its fields to make Hohenhaslach one of the country’s most successful wine producers.

It is also the first known homeland of the family Löffler, which we have come to know in modern times by the surname Spoon.

The German translation of “spoon” is “Löffel,” and genealogists interpret the surname Löffler to mean “spoon maker.” This suggests a possible occupation for our Spoon family ancestors. Further evidence indicates that family members were involved in food preparation of some kind. A 1736 church record from nearby Sinsheim identifies a man since proven to be a Spoon ancestor as Leonhard Löffler, “citizen and baker at Hohenhaslach.”

The man referred to in that church document is listed in Hohenhaslach baptismal records as Hans Leonhard Löffler, born Feb. 17, 1677. Hans, also referred to as Johannes, is the earliest ancestor with a proven direct connection to the Spoon family at this time. Even so, church records in Hohenhaslach indicate that the Löffler family lived in that village at least as far back as the mid-1500s.

As Werner Holzhäuer, a current resident of the town, wrote in correspondence with the author, “An ancient Hohenhaslach family was called Löffler.”

Information about the Löffler family in Hohenhaslach can be found in a microfilm entitled “Evangelische Kirche Hohenhaslach” (Protestant church records of Hohenhaslach) at the Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah. This microfilm of the original German church documents reveals many references to the name Löffler, with naming customs and generation gaps suggesting that we have many ancestors in the area dating back well before Hans Leonhard Löffler.

These records begin in the 1550s, which was probably the time the church in Hohenhaslach was established. Historians note that the Reformation had come to the area around 1555, with shifts in political power establishing most German communities as one of two religious faiths: Roman Catholic or Lutheran.

It is likely that prior to that time, no organized church in the area remained intact long enough to preserve such records. It is also possible that church records were destroyed during the centuries of religious and political upheaval that preceeded the 1500s.
The village of Hohenhaslach dates back to the ninth century, when a land owner named Ruther Lorsch gave property in a region known as Hasalahe to a local monastery. The name Hohenhaslach was first mentioned in historical documents in the year 1283. In 1356, Count Heinrich von Vaihingen bequeathed his entire possession – which included Hohenhaslach and Donkey Castle Mountain, possibly the site of the monastery – to the house of Württemberg. The village had begun to prosper as a quiet community of vineyards by the 16th century.

It is in the first few pages of the records of the Lutheran church in Hohenhaslach that the first entry of the name Löffler is found. On Oct. 13, 1566, a boy named Martin Löffler is listed as the newborn son of Jeronimus Löffler and his wife, the former Anna Berg. It is likely that the dates entered in the church records are those of the actual baptism rather than the birth. Baptisms were performed soon after the birth of a child, however, so for our purposes we will refer to the date listed as the birth date.

There is no further mention of Martin Löffler in the church records of Hohenhaslach. For now, we must assume that either Martin had no children or that he moved away from the area. Since we know that our ancestors were still living in Hohenhaslach more than 100 years later, it seems likely that the Spoon family descended from another member of the Löffler family. Fortunately, the author didn’t have to look far to find one.

Church records list the July 29, 1571 birth of a boy named Jeronimus Löffler. The entry is made under the date Oct. 1, the day of the baptism. Obviously, this is not the same Jeronimus as the one mentioned earlier, but it certainly could be his nephew and a cousin of Martin. The first name of the father in the church document is difficult to read; neither the author nor a translator at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City were able to decipher the handwritten German script. As mysterious as this entry in the church documents is, it very well could be the oldest surviving record of a Spoon ancestor.

One thing is certain – the name of Jeronimus’ mother, Katharina Hauber. The name Hauber, clearly legible on the document, is a famous name in the history of Hohenhaslach. Johann Hauber, a Dr. of Theology, is pictured holding a Bible in the book “Hohenhaslach im Zeitlauf der Geschichte,” a history of the village available at the Family History Library. He is listed as the father of Michael Hauber, a pastor in Hohenhaslach in the 1650s.

Another prominent Hohenhaslach citizen who was certainly a descendant of Katharina is Eberhard David Hauber (1695-1765). After studying at Germany’s Tubigen University, he received the degree of Dr. of Theology in 1727. At the request of King Christian IV of Denmark, Hauber moved to Copenhagen in 1746 to serve as a priest at St. Petri Church. According to a biography of Hauber, “Because of his great knowledge and authorship, he became a member of the Royal Scientists’ Society and was promoted in 1753 as consistorial advisor. His private library contained 16,000 to 17,000 books; he had a famous collection of Bible translations of almost every language on earth.” Hauber is buried in the St. Petri Church graveyard.

Given the religious fervor of her descendants, it is likely that Katharina Hauber and her husband raised young Jeronimus in a loving home with scriptural teachings. Obviously, they attended church in Hohenhaslach. In the records of that church is listed the May 10, 1573 birth of twin sons, Wolfgang and Hans, to the same “Unknown” Löffler and Katharina Hauber.

Assuming that this branch of the Löffler family includes our direct ancestors, we focus on Hans as the next generation in the line that ultimately leads to the Spoons. The recorded births in 1593 and 1595 of Margaretha and Agnes Löffler, respectively, both list a father named Hans (the mother’s name is not listed). Four other children during this time period are listed with a father named Hans; unfortunately, the first names of the last three children in this family, born in 1600, 1607 and 1611, are illegible. The author has determined that one of these children is the father of the next generation in our line of direct ancestors. This is virtually certain, because there are no documents listing any other Löfflers in Hohenhaslach during this time. Until we have confirmation, we will assume for purposes of this study that it is the “Unknown” Löffler born June 6, 1611.

Suggesting that the first name of that child was Hans (or Johannes) would be a good guess. Why? Because the patriarch of the next two generations had that name. Hans Leonhard Loffler, born Feb. 17, 1677, is listed in the Hohenhaslach church records with a father named Johannes. The author could not find a birth record for a Johannes Löffler around 1640-50, the approximate time Hans Leonhard’s father would have been born. But the church record of Hans Leonhard’s birth proves that such a man did exist, and a birth date around 1640 could make this Johannes Löffler the son of the “Unknown” Löffler born in 1611 and the grandson of the Hans Löffler born in 1573.

Granted, this is all supposition until we find more detailed information. This, however, we know for sure: Hans Leonhard Löffler, born in Hohenhaslach in 1677, is confirmed as a Spoon ancestor. The story of his children and their journey to America is well documented. It would be another 100 years before the surname was changed to the Americanized “Spoon,” but as a member of the fifth documented generation of the Löffler family in Hohenhaslach, Hans Leonard already was part of a rich family heritage.