By Julie Huebel, PCHA
The family highlighted in this week’s article was chosen because I found the photo and was intrigued by its story. I figured if I wanted to know more that maybe you would too. In the photo is Frank A. Springer and brothers, Frank and Pete Reinke. R is for Reinke…Thomas Reinke was born in 1845 near Posen, Germany. He had arrived in the U.S. just four years prior at age 26 onboard the “Holsatia” on March 15, 1872, at the New York port, having left from Hamburg, Germany on February 28, 1872. He spent his first two years in Chicago, then Dodge County, Wisconsin. While in Dodge County, Thomas Reinke (1845-1923) and Anna Peters (1856-1901) married in 1876. They moved to Pierce County in 1877 settling in the Farmhill area south of Elmwood,
Thomas was a bricklayer and stone mason. Thomas’ daughter Christine (Christie) spoke of when her father built the beautiful brick, Catholic Church in Plum City. He had three crews working for him and on weekends they all stayed at their family farm. In 1909, Thomas constructed a hardware store on main street in Elmwood for his son Jacob to run, “Thomas Reinke & Son Hardware” and the family ran it for 65 years, this would later become T & S Hardware (owned by Tom and Sharon Weber, currently owned by the Weix family). After Jacob passed away, his sister Christie ran the store until 1974, she told a reporter upon the store being sold, “It has been my life.” Thomas also had built the tavern next door that is now the Sandbar for his son Pete, in 1904.
Tom Reinke, great-grandson of the original Thomas Reinke referred to in this article shared a story back in 2016 regarding this photo: “The story that Christie told me was that once her father, Thomas Reinke, had arrived in America in 1872 he would write to his siblings back in Prussia and over a period of several years’ time would bring over to this country some of his eight brothers and sisters. One of those brothers was named Martin. Not sure when Martin arrived in America but after living with the family for a while he ran off. Martin had been gone for approximately 20 years when family members had somehow discovered his whereabouts out on the west coast. Pete Reinke, owner of the tavern right next door to the hardware store, assembled a couple of people to go with him to California and meet the long-lost brother of his father, Thomas Reinke. Pete undoubtedly would have returned back home with much news and many fascinating stories to share with everyone. One of those two people who traveled with Pete to the west coast was Pete’s own brother Frank Reinke an architect who at the time was living in Ogden, Utah. Also traveling with Pete was an Elmwood resident by the name of Frank A. Springer a banker for the Elmwood State Bank who served as its president for many years. Pete, Frank Reinke and Frank A. Springer met up with Martin Reinke, Thomas Reinke’s brother, in San Francisco. The photo shows the four of them gathered by a rock formation on April 15, 1910, at Mt. Tamalpais State Park. Mt. Tamalpais State Park is located a short distance north of the Golden Gate Bridge.”
Tom Reinke (the younger) visited our office in Elmwood last year driving a 1965 Cadillac De Ville that previously belonged to his great-aunt, Christie Reinke. He brought with him some Reinke family photos that he let us scan for our archives. The story Tom provided with the photo, refers to his great-grandfather helping his siblings come to the U.S. I wasn’t able to find many concrete records on his siblings, but here is what FamilySearch.org has for their family tree: a sister Floriana married to Jakob Sioda, Rose that married August Stabnow died in 1941 and is buried in Minnesota, Frank passed away in 1913 and is buried in North Dakota, Joseph died in 1949 and is buried in Elmwood’s Catholic Cemetery, Alexius (1840-1866), and then Martin (b. 1857) that went out west. I wasn’t able to find Martin in any records to piece together his story after his brother’s family lost track of him. If someone has done more research on this family and was able to better track down Thomas’ siblings, please do let us know.
Locals may also be familiar with the surname, Reinkey, with a “Y.” Descendants I’ve spoken with claim no relation between the two families.
