(a.k.a. Anthony Spade)
February 7, 2006 (updated April 29, 2014)
This history of our patriarch, Anton Späth (a.k.a. Anthony Spade, Sr.) was compiled primarily through the research efforts of Bruce Allen Spade with contributions by Harry Alston Spade, Jr., Sylvia Spade-Kershaw, John Albert Spade, and countless other Spade family members and other historians, both German and American.
According to the late Bruce Allen Spade, "The name SPADE did not exist until about 1800, and then only in America. Now it is all over the world. The names "Späth" and "Spaeth" (the same) are rather common historically in both Baden and Wüerttemberg, Germany.
Explaining the many different spellings, John Albert Spade wrote, “There were no established rules regarding spelling of any kind until the 19th century. In the United States it was Noah Webster, for the most part, who established spelling protocol at the beginning of the 19th century. His first complete compendium was published about 1843, and a few years later the Merriam brothers bought up the publishing rights and printed the first Merriam-Webster Dictionary establishing rules of spelling. It still took decades for the rules to be adopted by the general public. In Germany, there was no attempt at all until 1880 to establish rules of spelling, and the debate for reform continues to this day. So you can understand the problem we encounter with the spellings. For example, we find "Zyriak," "Zyriac," "Cyriack," "Cyriac," and "Ciriack" being interchangeable.”
Working with Wendelin Irslinger, a German historian in Germany who has done historical research in Germany for over twenty years, Bruce Allen Spade finally traced both Anton’s and Rosina’s roots back to their parents and grandparents in Germany. For years, the Baden Emigration Index before 1866 was an incomplete and misleading film. Then a web site came online, still incomplete, but they updated and added to it until Anton and his siblings finally showed up. (Source: Baden Emigration Index, http://auswanderer2.lad-bw.de/auswanderer/deutsch/index.htm)
The research continues. Please email us at ajohnspade@yahoo.com if you have additional information about Anton or Rosina Dorothea Wolf Späth/Spade.
Anton's Birthplace
ANTON SPÄTH, a.k.a. “Anthony Spade,” “Antoni Spade,” “Anton Spaeth,” “Spadt,” and “Anthony Spade, Sr.,” was born at home on May 16, 1831 in the hamlet of Wolfhag (Oberkirch) Baden in what is now Germany. He was the son of ZYRIAK SPÄTH and FRANZISKA HAAS. He died at the age of 70 on September 26, 1901 in Everett, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. He was buried September 29, 1901 in the Snyder Dunkard Cemetery in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. Anton was christened in the Catholic Church.
ANTON married ROSINA DOROTHEA WOLF, a.k.a. “Rocine,” “Rosa Delita,” “Rosa Dora,” “Rose,” “Rose Anna,” “Rosanna,” “Rosana Doroda Wolfe,” “Roseanna,” and “Rosie,” on November 13, 1855 in the court house in Shrewsbury, York County, Pennsylvania. ROSINA was the daughter of JAKOB WOLF and ROSINA DAIß (DAISS). She was born at home on April 9, 1832 in Hausen, Murrhardt, Neckarkreis (updated 4/29/2014--we previously thought she was born in Hausen, Ob Rottweil, Schwarzwaldkreis, Wüerttemberg) in what is now Germany and died at the age of 87 on March 18, 1920 in Emmaville, Fulton County, Pennsylvania. She was buried in the Cherry Lane Brethren Church Cemetery. On her emigration application to come to America, she indicated a Protestant denomination. At this time, we do not know if they knew each other in Germany or if they met in America.
Our patriarch, Anton, was born at home on May 16, 1831 in the hamlet of Wolfhag (Oberkirch) Baden in what is now Germany. We have located a copy of his baptism record in the Catholic Church parish of Oberkirch (St. Cyriakus) and his emigration records, as well as other documents. They report that searching for genealogical records in Wüerttemberg was relatively easy, locating people living in Baden prior to 1866 was difficult, and finding them in Bavaria is next to impossible.
ANTON'S parents were Ziriak Späth (a.k.a. “Cyriak”) who was born between 1801-1802 in Wolfhag and died on February 27, 1858 and his first wife, Franziska Haas who lived in Wolfhag, Baden. Franziska was the daughter of Anton Haas and Franziska Panther. Franziska (Anton’s mother) was born in 1806-1807 in Grimmersbach (Ödsbach) and died on March 14, 1837. They were married on November 24, 1828 in Oberkirch. Anton was the second son of six children. He also had an older brother named Josef (a.k.a. “Joseph”), a younger brother named Ziriak (a.k.a. “Cyriak”) and two younger sisters named Franziska and Theresia (a.k.a. Theres). We also see Spaeth substituted for Späth.
Anton’s paternal grandparents were Joseph Späth who died in 1832 and Magdalena Hodapp who died after 1833. Anton’s father (Ziriak) had two sisters, Barbara and Katharina, and a younger brother, also named Joseph, who was born on April 7, 1808 and died 1884 in Wolfhag. Joseph married Maria Anna Walz. They had eleven children in Wolfhag, (one named Joseph, of course). At least four of these children emigrated to America in 1875.
Anton’s home in Wolfhag was of wooden construction and was one-story high with a barn, a cow shed, four hog pens and two cellars under a roof. In the barn was a wine press. When Anton was about six years old, his mother died after childbirth with her sixth child, Barbara Späth. Barbara was stillborn on March 11, 1837, and Franziska died three days later on March 14, 1837. Anton and his four brothers and sisters of this marriage, all emigrated to America where they all settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, except for Anton who settled in Pennsylvania: Anton in 1851; Josef (a.k.a. “Joseph”) and Franziska in 1852; and Ziriak, (a.k.a. “Cyriak”) and Theresia (a.k.a. “Theres”) in 1854.
Less than two months after Anton’s mother, FRANZISKA, died his father married Maria Anna Bähr (short courtship, as Bruce points out), and they had another thirteen children. We believe that seven of these half-brothers and half-sisters to Anton lived and that some of them came to America. Four things are of note about Ziriak Späth’s family and this second set of children:
Anton’s March 11, 1851 emigration document was submitted to the Grand Ducal District Office. It was completed by his father, Zyriak. It indicates that Anton’s parents are the vinedresser (one who has vineyards and sells wine) Zyriak Späth and Franziska Haas Späth. The document declares that Anton, aged 20, is experienced in farming and viniculture and wants to emigrate over Strasbourg and Havre (France) to America where he hopes to find a better living. The document has Anton asking that his father care for his property of 700 Gulden that he inherited from his mother who had passed away. (Note: The rate of exchange was about 2.5 Guldens to $1. Bruce Allen Spade wrote that he saw a contract where someone bought a house for 400 Gulden in the 1870s, so adjusted for inflation and in present-day dollars, this was a tidy inheritance from Anton’s late mother). In the document Zyriak mentions that Anton wants to emigrate with other young people, that he has no objections, that he will provide his son with traveling expenses from his 700 Gulden inheritance and that Zyriak will manage the rest of Anton’s inheritance until his son comes of age.
On March 14, 1851 Zyriak and Anton appeared before the Grand Ducal High Bailiff Pfister to hear Anton’s request for permission to emigrate to America. Anton was granted permission and was told that he would receive a passport once he presented a legal ship contract for passage to America.
We assume that a relative took them on a carriage to the railroad station in Strasbourg where they would have taken a train to Le Havre, France. We believe he might have contracted with one of these “travel” agencies to book passage to America.
Emigrating to America
We have located and translated a copy of Anton’s emigration document requesting governmental permission to emigrate to America. If you read German, you can click on this link to see the actual document (click "back" to return):
Anton's German Emigration Application
Direct German Ancestors of Anton Späth to his 2nd Great Grandparents (half-brothers and half-sisters not included)
Life in America
After arriving in America through the port of New York on April 24, 1851, we believe Anton first settled in Somerset County, New Jersey. On September 19, 1854 he filed an Intent for Naturalization in Somerset County, New Jersey. It states Anton was living in Peapack, Bedminister Township. We’re not sure how long he was there. It also explicitly states that he was previously a subject of the Duke of Baden. For some unknown reason, he did not become a fully naturalized American citizen until June 14, 1887–some 32 years later (Spade procrastination?) in Fulton County, Pennsylvania. Following is a transcription of the hand-written legal filing of his intent to become a naturalized citizen.
Somerset County S. S. Be it remembered that on this 19th day of September A.D. 1854 before me Henry D. Johnson Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas in and for the County aforesaid personally appeared Antoni Spade, a alien a native of Germany now residing in the village of Peapack, Township of Bedminister, County of Somerset, and State of New Jersey aged about Twenty Three years who being duly sworn on his solemn oath doth depose and say that it is bona fide his intentions to become a Citizen of the United States of America and to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign Prince, Potentate, State or Sovereign whatever and particularly to the Duke of Baden of whom he was before a subjectAnthony Spade's Actual Application for NaturalizationSworn before me this
19th day September
Antoni Spade
A.D. 1854
Henry D. Johnson, ClerkState of New Jersey
Somerset CountyJ. William A. Schomp
There is a fourteen month gap during which we don’t know where Anton lived (September 15, 1854 - November 13, 1855). Did he go on to Ohio from New Jersey and then to Pennsylvania? The marriage record of Anton and Rosina indicates they lived in Railroad, a small town near Shrewsbury. The town of New Freedom is near there as well, and that’s where their first son, John George SPADT, was born in 1856. (Note: The evidence for the family using “Spadt” is mostly memories passed down from the older generations. There isn’t much documentation for it.)
Anton and Rosina lived in York County, but were somehow missed in the 1860 Federal Census. The 1870 Federal Census finds them in Fulton County as “House #78 Family #77 Brush Creek Township.” We need to research where house number 78 may have been. Death certificates for their older sons indicate they lived in York County for several years, Stewartstown being mentioned on Christian Wilhelm’s death certificate. According to obituaries of their sons, Anton and Rosina came to Brush Creek Township, Fulton County, Pennsylvania from York County, Pennsylvania in 1866 or 1867 which was after the Civil War. Veryl McClain Spade told Eileen Joan Eickhorst Carpenter who then told Harry Alston Spade, Jr. that the family took the train to Bedford and then walked to the Brush Creek Valley. A reason for the move is not known, but Warren Arthur Spade, one of Christian's sons, said they got into some of sort of trouble in York County and headed into the mountains west of Chambersburg.
The first main spade residence in Pennsylvania was once located along Spade Rd. in Emmaville, Pennsylvania according to Joe Arthur Spade. It is no longer standing. One of the homes Anton, Rosina and family occupied is still in the Spade family and is currently occupied. It is located in Fulton County. We have verified that the Spade family did live in it in the late 1800s. On a Brush Creek Township map from 1916, the residence appeared to be occupied at that time by Chester Spade. We believe that later his brother, Grant Franklin Spade, owned the property.
One land deed shows Anton Spade was granted property by Charles Grove June 13, 1870. This is on file at the Fulton County court house along with other things, such as naturalization papers, etc. There is a lot of research that needs to be done at the Fulton County Court House.
In the June 1880 Federal Census, Anton was a married 49-year-old farmer (Family History Library Film 1255133, NA Film # T9-1133, p.14A). The 1880 Federal Census listed his wife as: Rocine [sic] A. Spade, age 48, of Wirtemberg, Germany. (Note: The Federal Census takers often wrote down the name as they heard them and with immigrant interviewees, mis-spellings were common.) Anton and his family were living in the Brush Creek Township of Fulton County, Pennsylvania.
On June 14, 1887, Anton appeared in the Court of Common Pleas in Fulton County stating he had arrived in New York in March 1851 from Germany and had made application for Naturalization in Somerset County, New Jersey on September 19, 1854. At this hearing, Anton was granted his Naturalization after Dr. William L. McKibbin and N. B. Hixson swore under oath he was a reputable person who had lived in the United States for the past five years and in Pennsylvania for one year.
It is possible Anton and Rosina practiced the Dunkard religion. This was a strict Baptist religion that baptized their members by dunking them three times. Anton was an early and perhaps founding member of Snyder Dunkard Church, located in Bedford County, just over the mountain from their home. The church apparently burned down, although it is not known when. Anthony was buried there.
The family often walked over the mountain on Saturday to attend church, spending the night and returning home Sunday afternoon. The boys occasionally stayed home, during which time they undoubtedly caused a lot of mischief.
The Spade boys had a reputation as a tough bunch. The more upstanding citizens of the area generally kept clear of them. Anthony Spade, Jr., the youngest of the boys, often was the one who started fights, leaving his older brothers to finish them. Warren Arthur Spade said, “The old Spades were ornery. All they did was drink moonshine and fight.”
Franklin Benjamin Spade, a.k.a. “Frank,” reportedly said his father (Anton) was hard on the boys, hitting them in the back of the neck and knocking them across the room when they got out of line.
Veryl McClain Spade, Frank's son, told the following story: “Anthony Spade, Sr. was driving two horses powering a thrashing machine. He was standing on the draw bar covered with an end gate. There was a rain shower and the end gate was slippery. His foot went through the end gate and between the bull gear and a bevel gear. The horses were walking in a circle, turning the bull gear. The bevel gear attached to the draw bar, thus operating the thrasher. The foot was taken off above the ankle to get him out. Three weeks later they knew something was wrong, so they called a doctor. The doctor put him on the kitchen table and gave him some chloroform and whiskey and took the leg off between the ankle and knee. Anthony didn’t like his artificial foot. He chopped it to pieces then made his own wooden stump, which he used until it fell apart and then he made another. Sometime later, Anthony met the doctor who performed the amputation. The doctor remarked how proud he was of the operation, to which Anthony answered, ‘If you knew what you was doing, you would've killed me!’”
There is a 1890 article from a paper in York County detailing Anton and Rosina’s son James Silvester Spade being killed by a train in Shrewsbury. It reads that the family lived in Brush Creek Township for the last 20 years, and that they moved to Shrewsbury in March 1890 with the intention of making that their home. Charles Henry Spade’s first two children were born in York County in 1889 and 1891 respectively.
In the 1900 Federal Census for Brush Creek Township, Anton and Rosina were living on their farm with their son, Franklin Benjamin Spade.
Anton’s Will was signed by him on August 20, 1901, just a month before he died on September 26, 1901. It indicates that he lived in Brush Creek Township, Fulton County, Pennsylvania.
Transcription of the Last Will and Testament of Anthony Spade
Obituary - Anthony Spade (Source: Obituary from Unknown Newspaper)
Anthony Spade died at his home in Brush Creek Valley, Fulton County, Pa. on Friday morning, September 27, 1901 at the age of 70 years, 4 months, and 5 days. He is survived by his wife and ten sons. Funeral services were held in the Snyder Church by Rev. David Clapper and Rev. William S. Ritchey.
(Provided by Harry Alston Spade, Jr.)
Transcription of Anthony Spade's Death Record:
Name: Anthony Spade
Male or Female: Male
Color: White
Age: 70
Married or Single: Married
Place of Birth: Badan, Germany
Occupation: Farmer
Date of Death: Sept. 26, 1901
Place of Death: Emmaville
Cause of Death: Cancer Stomach
Duration of last Illness: 6 months
Place of Interment: Snyder Dunkard Church
Date of Interment: Sept 29, 1901
Name of Father- if Minor:
Name of Mother-if Minor:
When Recorded: Dec. 3, 1901
Link to Anton Späth (a.k.a. Anthony Spade) Grave Site
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