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.

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.

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.

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 show 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.

Furthermore, 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.

And finally, John Frederick Imle Sr., brother of Edgar, had this to say:

at the 1981 Imle reunion in Marshall one Pantley [sic] claimed that his Grandfather - Adam Pantley- who hailed from Grandad Imle’s home town of Gündelbach Württemberg Germany had preceded Grandad’s emigration to America by several years for the express purpose of locating a suitable grape cultural and wine-producing area. He evidently traveled quite widely and eventually came to Clark County & to Snyder where he found the place he was looking for. Back in Germany he influenced Grandad Imle and encouraged his immigration in 1881. Well, that was the first I had ever heard of that episode and as far as I could determine none of the living relatives had any knowledge of it either. The Adam Pantley family did come to America and did settle in Clark Co. near Dennison, Northeast of Marshall. I recall several occasions when we visited them at their farm on a Sunday, but I was always led to believe that these were people whom Grandad met after arrival here - not people he had known in Germany! My father never - nor did any of my uncles or aunts - ever mention that Pantley almost went into the wine business at Snyder, Ill.! Viticulture requires a moderate climate, good drainage and relatively high altitudes for success, none of which prevails in East Central Illinois. It would be fun to run down this rather thin rumor.

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