Württemberg

The progenitors of the Clark County Imles, Christoph Frederick and Anna Maria came from the German state of Württemberg, today part of Baden-Württemberg, created in 1952 by merging three states formed after the second world war. It was once a duchy in the Holy Roman Empire, but became a kingdom when the empire was dissolved in 1806. Christoph’s ancestors had lived in the area for centuries, for at least eight generations of Imles. Württemberg, an agricultural area with orchards, grains, hops, and vineyards, had a long history of producing red wines, and Christoph Frederick was one of the many inhabitants tending vineyards.

What's in a name?

What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

~William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Immlin Crest (J. Siebmacher, Wappenbuch, 1701).

The Imle name and its variations has been traced back to the middle 1500s, almost fifty years before Will S., of England, wrote his famous lines. Among early Imles, the name often appears as “Ihmle” and “Imlin” and may be related to the archaic German word “Imme” (“bee”), from Middle High German “Imbe” (“bee; swarm of bees”), from Old High German “Imbi” (“swarm of bees”). The Immlin family of Heilbronn (about twenty miles northeast of Horrheim and Gündelbach) has a crest that shows three insects, which appear to be bees in the Immlin window at the church of St. Kilian in Heilbronn but are said in Rietstap’s 19th-century book Amorial General to be horse flies (Fr “Taons”). Of course Rietstap was Dutch and was writing in French so there may be a problem in translation at some point.

Window in Church at Heilbronn with Immlin
crest (2010). (Photo by Elizabeth (“Liz”) Smith.)

A drawing of what is said to be the Imle family crest has been passed down by family members in Germany; however, no crest for a family with the spelling "Imle" is found in German heraldry.

Imle “family crest” (Jörg Imle).

In Germany “Imle” is pronounced “ĭmlā.” When the Clark County Imles immigrated to America, the spelling did not change, but the pronunciation did, becoming (“īmel”). Most other Imle immigrants changed the spelling, keeping the pronunciation similar, this probably being the source of the American names “Emly” and Emily. (The similar names “Imlay” and “Emlay” are Scottish.)

Readers: I need your help. Can anyone tell me the origin of the drawing of the Imle "family crest" or who Jörge Imle is?

The Early Imles

The Imle family was traced back to 1558, almost to the time of Martin Luther (1483-1546), by John Friedrich Karl Imle of Bonn-Rhein, Germany between 1924 and 1939. In 1949 John Friedrich translated his results into English and sent the materials to Ernest Paul Imle, grandson of Cristoph Frederick Imle, founder of the Clark County Imles. Ernest, who was living in Costa Rica at the time, sent the materials on to his brother John Frederick in San Antonio, Texas. John then transcribed the tree from longhand and prepared a graphical reproduction, which he distributed to his aunts and uncles in December 1949 and whose transcription is shown below.

There are several problems with this history. First, no primary sources are cited, though such sources were used in the construction. Presumably, this information is available in the information first sent to Ernest; however, this material has not yet been located. Second, many of the original given names for German residents have been converted to the English. Until such time as the original names can be determined, the names used on the chart are given here. A third problem is that the last name is not always given, and, since a number of variants were used prior to 1700, there is no assurance, in these cases, that the name used was that of the father, although this has been assumed here. Finally, the family names of the female members of the family are not given before about the year 1700. The common practice was to not record a woman’s family name on a record of marriage.

If you know of the whereabouts and/or availability of the supporting information supposedly sent to Ernest Paul Imle by John Friedrich Imle of Bonn, please let me know.

In 1558

At Horrheim, near Gündelbach, Württemberg, Germany

lived

Horrheim with St. Clemens Church (2011).

I.  ENDRISS (ANDRAES) IMLIN and his wife BARBARA

II.  [Children of ENDRISS IHMLE and BARBARA]

HANS (JOHN) IHMLE

b. Feb. 13, 1558, at Horrheim

d. Before 1623, at Horrheim

Third marriage, Date and

place not on record

ANNA (N.N.)

b. Not on record, Horrheim

d. Not or record

LUDWIG (LEWIS) IMLIN

b. Aug. 6, 1561, at Horrheim

d. Not on record

MAGDALENA IMLIN

b. Not on record

d. Not on record

III.  [Children of HANS (JOHN) IHMLE and ANNA]

CONRADT IHMLE

b. 1598, at Horrheim

d. unknown

BARBARA IHMLE

b. 1601, at Horrheim

d. unknown

ELIAS IHMLE

b. 1608, at Horrheim

d. unknown

LUDWIG (LEWIS) IHMLE

b. Feb. 19, 1609, at Horrheim

d. Aug. 23, 1688, at Horrheim

First marriage, Jan. 24, 1630

at Horrheim

ANN KNITTEL

b. no record, at Horrheim

Second marriage, date unknown, probably at Pressburg on the Danube

CATHERINE (N.N.)

b. not recorded

d. not recorded

IV.  [Children of LUDWIG IHMLE and ANN KNITTEL]

ANNA

b. 1631

HANS

b. 1633

MARIA

b. 1634

All were born at Horrheim and there is no

further record. Presumed that the children

perished along with the mother during the

30-years war. Ludwig Ihmle then moved to

Pressburg (now Bratislava) where he married again.

[Children of LUDWIG IHMLE and CATHERINE (N.N.)]

JOHN GEORGE

b. 1640, at Pressburg

d. ? at Pressburg

TOBIAS IMLIN

b. June 12, 1646, at Pressburg

d. Sept. 29, 1693, at Horrheim

Married October 26, 1669, at Horrheim

ANNA MARIA HAAS

b. March 3, 1649, at Horrheim

d. ? at Horrheim

JOHN GEORGE

b. Unknown

d. 1649, at Pressburg

V.  [Children of TOBIAS IMLIN and ANNA MARIA HAAS]

TOBIAS IMLE

b. Nov. 24, 1670, at Horrheim

d. Mch. 19, 1755, at Gündelbach

First marriage, 1701,

at Gündelbach

ANNA HENSLER

b. 1681, at Gündelbach

d. 1703, at Gündelbach

Second marriage Jan. 22. 1704, at Gündelbach

ANNA CATHERINE LEUCHT

b. 1679, at Gündelbach

d. 1724 at Gündelbach

3^rd  marriage

BARBARA SCHAFER

b. 1692, Gündelbach

d. 1759, Gündelbach

CATHERINE

b. 1671, at Horrheim

d. unknown

JOHN

b. 1673

d. ?

Married, ?

_____ BEST

JOHN LEONARD

b. 1675

d. soon after birth

ANNA MARIA

b. 1677

d. ?

ELISABETHA

b. 1679

d. ?

LEWIS

b. Dec. 12, 1680

d. ?

m. Catherine Stöhrer

at Ensingen, near

Horrheim

MARGARETHA

b. 1683

d. ?

DANIEL

b. 1685

d. 1685

DANIEL

b. 1685

Nothing further known

VI.  [Children of TOBIAS IMLE and ANNA HENSLER]

One Child

b. 1703

d. 1703

[Children of TOBIAS IMLE and ANNA CATHERINE LEUCHT]

ANNA MARIA

b. Nov. 16, 1705, at Gündelbach

d. 1784, at Gündelbach

JOHN JAMES

b. May 10, 1708

d. Mch. 8, 1783

Family died out

Feb. 5, 1831

at Gündelbach

JOHN LEONARD IMLE

b. Jan. 24, 1712

d. Aug. 21, 1785

at Gündelbach

Married Jan. 24, 1741, at Gündelbach

ANNA BARBARA SCHRÖTHENHEIMER

b. May 2, 1720, Gündelbach

d. Dec. 12, 1771, Gündelbach

TOBIAS

b. Nov. 24, 1714

d. July 13, 1767

Family died out

in 1896 at

Gündelbach

CHRISTOPH

b. May 29, 1715

d, ?

m. Jan. 18, 1749

to Christine Schneck

at Sersheim, near

Horrheim. Nothing

further known.

[Children of TOBIAS IMLE and BARBARA SCHAFER]

Two daughters

Nothing further known

VII.  [Children of JOHN LEONARD IMLE and ANNA BARBARA SCHRÖTHENHEIMER]

JOHN SIMON IMLE

b. Dec. 8, 1741, at Gündelbach

d. Mch. 23, 1796, at Gündelbach

First marriage 1769 at Gündelbach

ROSINA FRITZ

b. 1722

d. 1769 in childbirth

Second marriage Sept. 19, 1769 at Gündelbach

MARIA BARBARA MAJER

b. Dec. 14, 1743, at Gündelbach

d. Apr. 2, 1813, at Gündelbach

JOHN MICHAEL

b. June 20, 1743, at Gündelbach

d. June 2, 1803, at Gündelbach

JOHN

b. Nov. 7, 1745, at Gündelbach

d. Nov. 11, 1754

EVA CATHERINE

b. Jan. 10, 1752, at Gündelbach

d. Mch. 27, 1763, at Gündelbach

VIII.  [Children of JOHN SIMON IMLE and MARIA BARBARA MAJER]

REGINA ELISABETH

b. June 11, 1770

d. Jan. 13, 1855 at Gündelbach

JOHN FRED (FRIEDRICH)

b. Mch. 17, 1773, Gündelbach

d. Jan. 11, 1813, at Kowno*

in the retreat from Napoleon’s

expedition to Russia

*Now Kownas, Capital of Lithuania

CATHERINE BARBARA

b. Feb. 29, 1776, Gündelbach

d. ?

m. _____ Schmied at

Schützingen, near

Gündelbach

LUDWIG (LEWIS) IMLE

b. Jan. 22, 1779

d. Jan. 16, 1856

at Gündelbach

First marriage, 1807, at Gündelbach

Eva Flensbach

b. 1771

d. 1802

No children

Second marriage, Feb. 17, 1808 at Ochsenbach, near

Gündelbach

CHRISTINA DOROTHEA BEST

b. Nov. 7, 1773, at Spielberg, near Gündelbach

d. Feb. 29, 1828, at Gündelbach

SUSANNA

b. Apr. 24, 1782

d. ?

m. _____ Albrecht at Mühlacker

SABINE

b. Oct. 27, 1786

d, ?

m. _____ Ott at Gündelbach

IX.  [Children of LUDWIG (LEWIS) IMLE and CHRISTINA DOROTHEA BEST]

LEWIS

b. 1809, at Gündelbach

d. 1809, at Gündelbach

CHRISTOPH IMLE

b. May 5, 1810, at Gündelbach

d. Mch. 22, 1882, at Schützingen, near Gündelbach

at the home of his daughter

Frederike

Married Nov. 25, 1834, at Gündelbach

MARIA BEATA SOMMER

b. Feb. 18, 1813, at Zaberfeld

d. Jan. 9, 1874, at Gündelbach

X.  [Children of CHRISTOPH IMLE and MARIA BEATA SOMMER]

MAGDALENE FRIEDERIKE

b. Aug. 27, 1835

d. Oct. 6, 1835

SON

b. 1836 stillborn

JANE

b. Oct. 2, 1837

d. June 22, 1848

CHRISTOPH FRED IMLE

b. Sept. 30, 1842

at Gündelbach

d. Nov. 10, 1925

at Marshall, Ill.

Emigrated with wife

and 5 children to

USA in 1881

Married May 17, 1869, at Weissach

ANNA MARIA REICHERT

b. Nov. 12, 1849, at Weissach, near Gündelbach

d. May 1, 1925, at Marshall, Ill

FREDERIKE CATHERINE

b. Oct. 21, 1845

at Gündelbach

d. May 27, 1922

at Schützingen

m. Fred Kirschler

at Schültzingen

6 daughters; 1 son

CHRISTINA

b. July 23, 1840

at Gündelbach

d. Oct. 1, 1926

at Derdingen

First m. to Bernhard

Daniel, Derdingen

3 sons; 1 daughter.

Second m. to Fred

Strobel (?), Derdingen

3 sons

SON

b. 1848

stillborn

JOHN KARL IMLE

b. Jan. 16, 1850

d. Feb. 18, 1929

at the home of

daughter Paula

at Milan, Italy

Married March 7, 1874, at Karlsruhe (Baden)

FREDERIKE CATHERINE FOLL

b. Aug. 24, 1853, at Sulzbach (Murr) Württemberg

d. Aug. 24, 1922, at Karlsruhe (Baden)

MARIA BEATA

b. Dec. 19, 1852

d. Sept. 16, 1929

at Terre Haute

Married, Feb. 15, 1874, at Gündelbach

Emigrated to the U.S.A with 7 children in 1885

JOHN FRED WALTER

b. ? at Gündelbach

d ? at Terre Haute

JAKOB CHRIST

b. June 13, 1857

d. Feb. 1, 1931

at Güglingen

m. at Karlsruhe

1 adopted

daughter

AMERICAN BRANCH OF IMLE FAMILY

XI.  [Children of CHRISTOPH FRED IMLE and ANNA MARIA REICHERT]

MARIE C.

b. Aug. 18, 1870

at Gündelbach

d. Sept. 25, 1899

at Marshall, Ill

m. Christian Kern of

Hinterweiler, near

Rentlingen(Württemberg);

3 daughters

FRED C. IMLE

b. Jan. 25, 1872

at Gündelbach

d. Dec. 26, 1940

at Marshall, Ill.

Married November 24, 1897, at Marshall, Ill.

CLARA JOSEPHINE COLDREN

b. Nov. 3, 1876, Marshall, Ill.

CHRISTIAN KARL

b. Aug. 1, 1875

at Gündelbach

m. first Rosa Holsworth

m. second M.

Finkbeiner, 1910, at

Marshall, 2 sons;

2 daughters

GOTTLOB WILLIAM

b. Feb. 26, 1878

at Gündelbach

m. Clara Schröder

of Terre Haute

4 sons; 1 daughter

ADAM C.

b. Apr. 2, 1880

at Gündelbach

m. Olive Geisert

of Marshall

2 sons; 2 daughters

BERTHA

b. Dec 26, 1882

at Marshall

d. 1889

at Marshall

ANNA

b. Aug. 28, 1884

at Marshall

m. Eugene Miller

of Marshall

5 sons

WILLIAM

b. Jan 18, 1888

at Marshall

m. Fairy Gard

of West Union

2 children

1 died in 1923

HERMAN

b. Mch. 27, 1894

m. Eva Manhart

of Marshall

2 daughters

1 killed accidentally

XII.  [Children of FRED C. IMLE and CLARA JOSEPHINE COLDREN]

JOHN FREDRICK IMLE

b. Dec. 1, 1899

at Ernst, Ill.

m. Ferne Collier

of Houston, Texas,

July 23, 1938, at

Houston, Texas

Live in San Antonio,

Texas

One Son

SUSAN MARIE IMLE

b. Nov. 9, 1901

at Walnut Prairie, Ill.

m. Victor Ernest Shafer

of Menomonie, Wisc.,

June 20, 1923, at

Donna, Texas

Live on farm near Menomonie, Wisc.

Four daughters – one

deceased

EDGAR FREMONT IMLE

b. Mch. 30, 1904

at Ernst, Ill

m. Anne Lillian Gallion

of Natchitoches, La.,

May 19, 1933, at El

Paso, Texas

Live in El Paso, Texas

Three daughters

LOUISE ANNA IMLE

b. Mch. 11, 1906

at Ernst, Ill

m. Forrest G. Scott

of Billings, Montana,

on April 18, 1936,

at Chicago, Ill.

Live in Seattle, Washington

No children

ERNEST PAUL IMLE

b. Oct. 15, 1910

at Ernst, Ill

m. Portia Mary Mollard,

of Philadelphia, Pa.

on Nov. 27, 1947, at

San Jose, Costa Rica.

Live in Turrialba, Costa Rica

One son

HARRY ROBERT IMLE
b. Oct. 7, 1913

at Ernst, Ill,

m. Mary Elizabeth Schiltz

of Clay Center, Kansas,

on Jan. 14, 1938, at

Clay Center, Kansas

Live at Alliance. Nebraska

Two daughters; one son.

THE PRESENT SURVIVING GERMAN BRANCH OF THE IMLE FAMILY

XI.  [Children of JOHN KARL IMLE and FREDERIKE CATHERINE FOLL]

EMIL ALBERT IMLE

b. May 26, 1875

at Karlsruhe

Lives at Dresden

m. Mch. 5, 1905

at Dresden

VALLY MEINHOLD

b. June 17, 1884

at Klingenthal

d. Jan. 19, 1946

at Dresden

GUSTAV ADOLPH IMLE

b. 1876

at Karlsruhe

d. 1877

J. FRIEDRICH KARL IMLE

b. Dec. 30, 1877

at Karlsruhe

Lives at Bonn/Rhein

(The author of this family history.)

Graduate Civil Engineer;

Former Burgomaster of

Bonn; in Marine Artillery

In World War I.

First marriage Feb. 17, 1908

At Rathenow, near Berlin

MARGARETE ERDMANN

b. July 8, 1875, at Rathenow, near Berlin

d. Nov. 12, 1933, at Bonn/Rhein

Second Marriage

May 20, 1940, at Bonn/Rhein

BERTHA MORIAN

b. May 14, 1899, at Ulm/Danube

no Children

EUGEN IMLE

b. 1879

d. 1879

at Karlsruhe

OTTO RUDOLPH IMLE

b. July 6, 1886

at Karlsruhe

d. July 1, 1916, at

Achiet-le-petit,

France, in World

War I

PAULA GERHARD IMLE

Sept. 9, 1891, at Karlsruhe

m. Dr. Ernest Kölliker, at

Karlsruhe, on Sept. 17,

1918

One daughter – RENATE

b. Aug. 26, 1922 at München (Munich)

m. Dr. Pfaltz, at Basel, Switzerland

One son – Andraes

XII.  [Children of EMIL ALBERT IMLE and VALLY MEINHOLD]

SIGRID

b. Jan. 11, 1907

at Dresden

m. Gerald Fischer

at Cottbus, on

Nov. 26, 1942

ELLEN

b. Nov. 23, 1910

at Dresden

HELGA

b. Mch. 15, 1912

at Dresden

EDELBRAND

b. Feb. 27, 1915

at Dresden

[Children of J. FRIEDRICH KARL IMLE and MARGARETE ERDMANN]

WOLFGANG GOTZ IMLE

b. Mch. 23, 1909, at Rathenow

Doctor of Jurisprudence (Law)

Married June 3, 1938, Koblenz/Rhein

KATERINE GERLING

b. Apr. 11, 1908, at Bonn/Rhein

HARRALD FRIEDRICH IMLE

b. Mch. 24, 1912 at Hagen (Westfalen)

Businessman; Manufacturer of industrial goggles

Married Feb. 24, 1940, at Rathenow

MARGARET ARENDT

b. Mch. 25, 1918, Rathenow

XIII.  [Children of WOLFGANG GOTZ IMLE and KATERINE GERLING]

KLAUS

b. Aug. 13, 1939

at Bonn

GISELA

b. Sept. 6, 1940

in Berlin

ECKART

b. Dec. 15, 1941

HARDMUT

b. Nov. 29, 1943

[Children of HARRALD FRIEDRICH IMLE and MARGARET ARENDT]

PETER

b. Jan. 30, 1941

FEMININE BRANCH OF THE AMERICAN IMLES

XI.  [Children of MARIA BEATA IMLE and JOHN FRED WALTER]

KARL F. WALTER

b. July 29, 1872

at Gündelbach

m. Margarethe Probst,

Jan. 1, 1910

Lives at Caprock, N. Mexico

Two Children:

Margarette

b. 1911 at Caprock

m. John M. Guffin of Caprock

Two Children

Charles

b. 1913, at Caprock

FREDERICH J. WALTER

b. June 24, 1874

at Gündelbach

d. Oct. 24, 1929

(killed by auto)

CHRISTIAN WALTER

b. Sept. 20, 1875

at Gündelbach

m. Christine Nanert,

Terre Haute.

Lives at Carlsbad, N.M.

Two daughters

Mildred

b. Nov. 9, 1900

Alice

b. Oct. 31, 1906

WILLIAM GOTTLOB

b. Apr 9, 1877

at Gündelbach

d. 1883

CHRISTINE

b. Jan. 29, 1879

at Gundelbach

m. Geo Winzenread

Terre Haute.

Two sons

Fred

Vern

WILHELMINA

b. Jan. 31, 1881

at Gündelbach

m. Horace Brogan

on Mch. 7, 1920

Lives in Holtville,

California

Two children

WILLIAM GOTTLOB

b. Apr. 16, 1884

at Gündelbach

m. Nov. 26, 1912

Lives Terre Haute

Three children

Lee Maurice

Margarette

Rosemary

SOPHIA

b. Nov. 2, 1886

at Marshall

m. Nov. 19, 1910

Lives at Holtville,

California.

SON

b. Feb. 19, 1889

d. Feb. 22, 1889

CLARA EDITH

b. Feb. 5, 1896

d. July 22, 1896

at Marshall

Public vs. Private

Writing It All Started in Gündelbach has posed a problem. Owing to privacy and “identity-theft” concerns, modern records are often more difficult to find and use than are centuries-old accounts, and they are certainly more sensitive. That we can choose our friends but not our relatives posed no problem when I wrote Henry the Immigrant about my father’s early progenitors, who have been dead for centuries. But one treads a perilous path when writing of protagonists with still living close relatives and descendants, as in the Imle book. One slip—an ill-chosen phrase, acceptance of a biased story, disclosure of a sensitive tale—and a plunge into acrimony or a family imbroglio can ensue.

In some other books I have written, I have omitted personal details (but not usually names) for still-living individuals, excepting a very few whose fame or notoriety had already put specifics before the public or who had allowed, perhaps requested, their particulars to be included. But I suspect most Imle descendants want to be included and would be hurt if they were relegated to a name only. On the other hand, I certainly cannot contact everyone for permission to include personal data. Right now, I am traversing a tightrope trying to answer the question “Who and what should I include?”

Comments?

Die Gleichen Haus?

Over the years, Imle descendants have traveled to Gündelbach, Germany, where it all began, and have taken photos of the original Christoph Frederich and Anna Maria (Reichert) Imle house. Unfortunately, I have several conflicting photos of the house. The two which I believe to be most likely correct, were taken in 1967 and in 2010. But I question whether these two photos are of the same house. Perhaps it is just a difference in date or view. What do you think? Do any of you have other photos?

1967

2010

The Immigrants

In 1874, the SS W. A Scholten was put into service by the Netherlands American Steamship Company (later, the Holland-America Line) for regular mail and passenger service between Rotterdam and New York. The ship was a three-masted steamer, capable of traveling at 40 knots and carrying about 700 steerage passengers and 50 first and second-class passengers. The Scholten boasted the most modern conveniences—compartmentalized steerage, providing a little privacy, and two hospital wards, one for men and one for women.

For thirteen years, the Scholten transported (primarily) German emigrants to America. Then, on 19 Nov 1887, the ship left Rotterdam, heading for New York with 230 passengers and crew. At 11 pm that night, in a dense fog, the ship struck the English steamer Rosa Maria, ten miles off Dover. The Scholten sank within an hour with the loss of 150 lives. Many of the dead were German. No lives were lost on the Rosa Maria.

Six years earlier, the SS Scholten had sailed from Rotterdam, docking in New York on 15 Apr 1881. (16 Apr 1881, the date that the passenger list was signed, is often given as the arrival date; however, newspaper articles show that Apr 15 was the actual date.) Among the 707 passengers were a family of seven from Gündelbach, Frederick and Marie Imle and their five children (at that time), Marie, Fredrick, Christian, Gotllieb, and Adam. Had they been part of the 1887 voyage, this posting would likely not exist, nor would we.

 Imles on list of passengers docking in New York City, 16 Apr 1881 on the SS W. A. Scholten.

The Adam Pantle Conundrum

In my last posting I stated that the Adam Pantle family were sponsors of the Christoph and Anna Maria Imle family when they came to the U.S. I may be wrong. I obtained that information from a paper "The Imle Family" prepared by Edgar Imle for the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the Imles to the U.S. In that paper, Edgar stated

They [the Imle immigrants] were sponsored by the Adam Pantle family with whom they stayed for some time after arriving in this county. The Adam Pantle family lived near Snyder (also called Hatton) about six to seven miles south of Marshall, Ill. Later on the Pantle family moved to the Dennison area north and east of Marshall where I recalled having visited them around 1912. It was while living with the Pantles that the Imles bought, in 1881, their first farm near Ernst, Ill., which is about two miles north of Snyder and five miles south of Marshall.

This marker in Dunlap Cemetery, Dennison and other sources clearly
show Adam Pantle's birth year as 1864.  Why "Louise" rather than "Lucy"?
 Evidence indicates that Lucy may have used both names.

Edgar was right about where Adam and his wife lived, but may have been wrong about their role as sponsors or hosts. There are numerous documents showing that the Clark County Pantles (Adam Frederich and his wife to be, Lucy Greiner) did not arrive from Germany until 1887, six years after the landing of the Imles.  It is remotely possible that Adam Pantle traveled twice to the U.S. and that we have only a record for the later voyage (arrival date, 15 Nov 1887), but Adam always gave 1887 (in one case 1889) as his immigration year.

Even had Adam come earlier, there would have been no "Adam Pantle family" when the Imles arrived. When Adam and Lucy came to the U.S. in 1887, they were unmarried. Traveling separately, they may have first met in this country. They were married 21 Feb 1891 in Terre Haute, where Lucy was living at the time. Plat maps and censuses shows Adam and Lucy with a farm on the railroad track two miles south of Ernst in 1892 and 1900, and a mile north of Dennison in 1910 and later.

Finally, Adam Pantle was born in 1864, which means that when the Imles docked in New York, he would have been only 16 or 17, a very young age to be sponsoring or housing an immigrant family. Perhaps the Imles sponsored and housed Adam Pantle, rather than the reverse.

Comments?

All genealogical data are from primary or reputable secondary sources and never from unsourced online trees. Contact the author to request sources, omitted here to improve readability. Readers may use any posted material for any purpose as long as this source is cited. Most important, I need your help. Please tell me of errors, suggested additions, and photos you can contribute. I need your criticisms, comments, complaints.

Ein Imle Familie Geschichte

I’m back on track with the Imle book, although I am trying to write two books simultaneously (the other on the Tapscotts of Clark County). I hope this works out. Tentatively the Imle book will be titled It Started in Gündelbach, Ein Imle Familie Geschichte—probably far too long, but C’est la vie (or should it be So ist das Leben?).

In 1881, Frederick and Anna Marie Imle lived in Gündelbach, Württemberg, Germany with their five children Maria, Fred, Chris, Adam, and Gottlieb, where they managed vinyards. Not wishing their sons to be drafted into the compulsory German Army they decided to move to America, with the Adam Pantle family as sponsors. (Pantle descendants still live in Marshall and Paris.) The Imle family left Rotterdam, Holland on 26 Mar 1881, landed on in New York on 15 Apr 1881, and made their way west to settle on a farm a few miles south of Marshall.

Frederick bought the farm and he and his sons spent their time tending crops, while Maria tended children, house, and gardens. In time, four more children—Bertha, Anna, William, and Herman—were added to the family.

No one knows for certain how many descendants there are from the nine children. Attending a reunion in honor of the 100^th anniversary of the arrival of the Imles in the United States were 150 people from a dozen states. A recent count from my incomplete database shows 304 descendants plus 176 spouses.

Imle Family Reunion, 12 Jul 1981, Lincoln Trail State Park, Clark County, Illinois.

 My interest in family history was sparked by my mother’s passing around Christmas, 2000, but it was encouragement from Dorothea Maria (Imle) Dunlap, “Dottie Rose,” my mother’s cousin, that that got me going on the Imles. Dottie Rose and several other Imles (in particular, Edgar, author of a magnus opus), had already written large portions of Imle family history. I was asked only to expand their work.

The expansion has turned out to be much more difficult than I had envisioned. First, it has taken on a life of its own to include Imle relatives, history, and geography. Second, Imle descendants have increased geometrically, possibly exponentially. Third, Imles have spread across the United States and outside the country. For over 300 years, the Imles had lived in the same small region of Germany, most of this time in the same town, much of that time in the same house. Then, for 40 years or so after arriving, most remained in and around Clark County. But then the small dispersion became a diaspora and since the 1981 reunion a DIASPORA! The reason is affluence. H. B. Guppy (Homes of Family Names in Great Britain) wrote a passage about the dispersion of affluent Englishmen. It applies equally well to Germans:

“It was the boast of a wealthy old Devonshire yeoman, 150 years ago, that he had never crossed the borders of his native county, and I cannot believe that in this respect he differed greatly from his fellows. From the stationary conditions of their lives, and from the nature of their pursuits and surroundings, they acquired a solid mediocrity of character, to which the long persistence of families in the same locality and in the same station is mainly due. England, in truth, owes much to their lack of aspiration and to their home-loving ways. It is, however, remarkable that the rise of a family into a condition of opulence is, as a rule, shortly followed by its dispersal, until within a generation or two, the home of the name for centuries knows it no more.”

Tracking down the multiplied and dispersed descendants has proven almost, but not quite impossible. These postings will describe this venture and what I find along the way.

All genealogical data are from primary or reputable secondary sources and never from unsourced online trees. Contact the author to request sources, omitted here to improve readability. Readers may use any posted material for any purpose as long as this source is cited. Most important, I need your help. Please tell me of errors, suggested additions, and photos you can contribute. I need your criticisms, comments, complaints.

Battles and Blooms

   
    

The last post said that there would be more on Helen Imle and the Amateis family. Here it is.

On New Year’s Day 1942, just three weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Harold Amateis joined the Navy, serving in WW II as a Radioman 2^nd Class. During the battle of Munda in the Solomon Islands (2 Jul to 5 Aug 1943), Harold, though wounded himself, leaped overboard from his PT boat to save a wounded and unconscious buddy. Before the action was over, Harold received a broken leg and 27 shrapnel wounds. For the rescue of his comrade, Harold received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, the highest non-combat decoration awarded by the Navy.

Sometime around this time, Harold and Helen were married, though we lack an exact date. How a girl from a small Midwest farming community met the east coast serviceman is unknown, but the marriage leads us to our final story.

Rhododendron 'Doris Amateis' (photo by Edmond Amateis).

Like his father, Herman’s brother Edmond was also a sculptor, and was commissioned for a number of important architectural works. Towards the end of his life, however, Edmond became fascinated with horticulture. He developed two rhododendron crosses, one of which he named ‘Dora Amateis’ for his mother, the other ‘Helen Amateis’ for his sister-in-law. Rhododendron ‘Dora Amateis’ has become exceedingly popular among flower fanciers. Rhododendron “Helen Amateis,” less so (sorry Imles).

Harold Amateis passed away in Broward County, Florida, 23 May 1965. Helen lived another thirty six years, dying 16 Jan 2001 in Sun City, Arizona, the only Imle, as far as we know, to have a flower named after her.

All genealogical data reported in these posts are from primary and/or reputable secondary sources, or reliable transcriptions thereof, and never from online trees. Contact the author to request sources, which have been omitted here to improve readability. Permission is granted to use any posted material for any purpose as long as this source is cited.

The Arts

Louis Amateis in Studio (Architect of the Capitol, Washington, DC).

We seldom think much about “The Arts” when speaking of the Imles. Not that they were uncultured, just agrarian, at least the earlier ones. But Helen Imle, daughter of Christian (“Chris”) and Alta Imle, did provide a connection to The Arts when, around the time of the second World War, she married Harold Louis Amateis. For Harold had been born 5 Mar 1908 in DC to Louis and Dora (Ballin) Amateis, an artistic family of greatness and tragedy.

Harold’s father, Louis was born 13 Dec 1855 in Turin, Italy, where he was educated at the Institute of Technology and also the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the latter awarding him a gold medal for his work. After further studies in Paris and Milan, Louis immigrated to the United States in 1882, living first in New York City and then, after marrying, in Washington DC. It was at the nation’s capital that Louis achieved real fame, by his sculptures and by his founding and heading of the School of Architecture and Fine Arts at Columbian (now, George Washington) University. Although best known for the bronze “Amateis Doors” that graced the west front entrance to the Capitol (now on display within the building), Louis also sculpted the Heurich Mausoleum in Rock Creek Cemetery, the Qualities of Womanhood spandrels on Hearst Hall near the National Cathedral, and busts of Chester A. Arthur, Winfield Scott Hancock, General John Logan, and Andrew Carnegie, among others. His Texas Revolution Monument was erected in Galveston, and his Nathan Baldwin memorial, in Milford, Connecticut.

Amateis Doors (Architect of the Capitol).

But the family’s life of fame and fortune included a significant measure of distress. the first child Edmond, died a violent death on 4 Aug 1896 from accidental burns with carbolic acid. (A later son was named “Edmond Romulus Amateis” in his honor.) And at the height of his fame, on 16 Mar 1913, at the relatively young age of 57, Louis died suddenly from a stroke, leaving behind a widow and three sons, Roland Paul, the second Edmond, and Harold, the youngest, who had just turned five.

It was too much for Louis’s widow to take. A year later, on 12 Sep 1914, after setting up some small investments to care for her children, Dora placed a shotgun to her side and pulled the trigger.

Two of the three children were old enough to take care of themselves, but Harold had to be placed in St. John’s orphanage in Washington, DC, where he may have received little consideration. The orphanage, incorrectly claimed that Harold had been born in Italy, with Italian as his first language. 

Our Amateis story does not end here but this is sufficient for now. A continuation will follow.

All genealogical data reported in these posts are from primary and/or reputable secondary sources, or reliable transcriptions thereof, and never from online trees. Contact the author to request sources, which have been omitted here to improve readability. Permission is granted to use any posted material for any purpose as long as this source is cited.