***Every effort has been made to be as accurate as possible;
however, some information has no verifiable sources.
Please consider what you find here as a "place to start"
rather than as proven information.***
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The Sprankle-Sprenkle-Sprinkle Family Online
Introduction
Thank you for visiting my site and taking the time to read this introduction. Before we begin, I would like to mention two things. First, to answer a question many people ask, I have not written a book and I do not plan to write a book. "Book" is the term used by Family Tree Maker for the format you see here. The second thing I would like to mention is that when writing about the family, I often use the Sprinkle spelling in the "generic" sense to incorporate the many spellings we have for this surname (see more on spelling, below).
That said, this "Book" is an on-going work and the information in it could never have been put together without the help of many, many Sprinkle researchers. Sprinkle researchers are a great group of sharing people. What you see here is my humble attempt to compile the information that has come my way from so many generous researchers and integrate it with my own research.
The following families are included in this "Book:"
(1) Descendants of the three "known" York Co., PA Sprinkle immigrants: Michael, William & "Peter"
(2) Descendants of the "mystery line" of Johan Henrich Sprenckel & Gretta Gottigorn, who lived in Maryland
(3) Descendants of the "mystery line" of James Benjamin Sprenkle (now known to be the son of the equally mysterious John Sprenkle of Franklin Twp., Adams Co., PA)
(4) Descendants of the "mystery line" of George W. Sprinkel of Madison Co., VA, who was born in 1812 in Rockingham Co., VA.
(5) Descendants of George Lewis ("Louis") Sprinkle & Margaret Vanner, later immigrants who settled directly in Illinois
(6) Descendants of the "mystery line" of John Willis Sprankle & Cora Greenfield of Collinsville, Madison Co., IL who moved to Pittsburg Co., OK.
(7) Descendants of the "mystery line" of James Sprinkle of Yazoo Co., MS, who was born about 1850. James is an African-American Sprinkle.
I have "known" in quotes above because we only have evidence of two original York Co. men, Michael and William. However, there are hundreds and hundreds of Sprinkle descendants with North Carolina connections who are not descendants of the immigrants Michael or William. We believe the North Carolina branch traces back to a third immigrant. Family tradition calls this third immigrant Peter. Michael and William owned land together, which suggests a close relationship. They were probably brothers, but we can't be sure. We'd like to think that "Peter" was a third brother; however, again, we don't know.
I use the term "mystery" (above) because we have not determined how to attach these lines. What we do know, thanks to the Sprenkle DNA Project, is that descendants of Michael, William, "Peter" and the mystery James Benjamin are related. DNA testing cannot tell us how closely they are related, but it does tell us they are from the same family. We always felt that the Johan Henrich line was also connected. One member of the Johan Henrich family participated in the DNA Project and the results did not match the Sprenkle Profile; however, we really need to find another participant before we can be sure there is no connection. The George Lewis line does not match. No one from the John Willis, George W. or James families has participated.
York Co. Background You may have heard a story about five or six Sprenkle brothers coming to this country in the early 1700's and settling in York Co. We would love to know how this tale began. We cannot account for that number of "immigrants." More than likely someone noticed records from the late 1700's for sons of the immigrants Michael & William and mistakenly thought they were the 1st generation rather than the 2nd.
The earliest known records for the immigrant Michael date to 1723-1726. Those records show that he lived in Conestoga Twp., Lancaster Co. The earliest record which mentions William dates to 1739 and relates to property purchased at an earlier (but unknown) date jointly by Michael and William. Michael and William later moved west from their original property in Lancaster Co. across the Susquehanna River to land in what was then also Lancaster Co. but is now York Co. Michael owned land in what is now West Manchester Twp. William's home was in York Twp. and his property extended into what is now Springfield Twp.
Caution No. 1 - European Ancestors You may have seen at various sites on the internet that the father of the Pennsylvania immigrants was Johan Heinrich Sprenckel of Germany, who was the son of Johan Peter, who was the son of Peter Sprenckel, etc. and etc. Please note that link hasnot been established and probably does not exist. Do not add those generations to your pedigree. You are fooling yourself if you do. Please help us stop this "myth" by contacting site owners or leaving a "post-it" note at the site when you see these extra generations.
Caution No. 2 - Connections Please don't assume that everything you find here is 100% correct. What you find in this "Book" represents my best effort at sorting through and compiling the information that has come my way. We would love to have an identifiable primary source for each and every entry, but that is not possible; instead, family tradition, preponderance of evidence, and analysis often come into play. Use what you find here as a "place to start" your own research. And here's where you come into the picture. . .if you discover I've made an incorrect connection (e.g., attached an individual to the wrong parents, "married off" someone to the wrong person, given someone the wrong child), please let me know. I won't be offended. I encourage corrections. That is precisely why I have uploaded this "Book" to the internet.
In some cases, we have not been able to prove that a given person was indeed a child of a particular set of parents. We have our theories, but we cannot prove them. At the urging of some of the subscribers to the Rootsweb Sprinkle List, I decided to make the "connection" for a few of these individuals. In these cases, in the AKA field I have added verbiage such as "not proven to be a son." Please note that this caution appears only in the Index; it is not visible in the Reports. If you question a connection, be sure to check the Index.
Spelling The descendants of Michael, William & "Peter" have come to use various spellings for their surname, including: Sprankel, Sprankle, Sprenckel, Sprenkel, Sprenkle, Sprinkle, Sprinkel, Sprinkles, Sprengle and Springle. Many families used a series of spellings over the years. The earliest records tend to show Sprenkel or Sprengel.
I have tried to enter each individual using the spelling they most often used. However, many descendants used a series of spellings over the years, especially in the "early days." That often makes it hard to find someone in the index. Thus, to help find individuals in the index, particularly for the earlier generations, those descendants who used a spelling other than Sprinkle are indexed twice: first under the spelling they more commonly used and second under the Sprinkle spelling. If you discover I have not used the "preferred" spelling for your family, please let me know. I will be happy to change it.
(Note: Most modern-day descendants are only indexed under the spelling they use; but some have that spelling + Sprinkle. When I first started adding names to my database, I gave everyone who used a different spelling the Sprinkle AKA. Later I discovered that really wasn't necessary for modern-day descendants but those Sprinkle AKA's are still in my database. If you notice your relative is AKA'd with Sprinkle and you know they never, ever spelled their name Sprinkle, don't worry, it's simply a hold-over from my older system. If you let me know, I'll remove it.)
Can't Find Your Ancestor? Some of you reading this may be descendants of Michael, William & "Peter" or one of the "mystery" lines mentioned above but cannot find your family in this "Book." My personal database includes many "unconnected" Sprinkles of all spellings who are not uploaded to this site. My goal is to connect these "strays" to their proper families. If you don't find your family, please contact me and I'll check my full database for you.
I also have a number of family groups of African-American descent in my database. I would like to expand this portion of my database and welcome your input. Please let me know if you have information or are descended from one of the African-American families. One branch is included in this database.
Final Comments Due to the huge size of this "Book," I have not included any narrative notes or sources in the Reports. Please contact me directly if you need source information.
Please take some time to review your lineage. Send your comments, corrections and additions to me at MLSopp@ix.netcom.com and I will be happy to update the "Book". Most of all: Enjoy!
