He succeeded his father as an innkeeper at the Black Horse Inn, two doors west of the Court House Square. Baltzer and his brother Rudolf were original members of the Sun Fire Company of York, formed in January, 1771. Compared with present methods and appliances for extinguishing fires, the old bucket brigades, military in drill, and the primitive apparatus, were unique and picturesque. Baltzer served in the Pennsylvania Militia during the American Revolutionary War. "We do admit George Eichelberger, Michael Hahn, Baltzer Spangler, Rudy Spangler, and Geo. Stake to raise a Company of Militia in York Town, as soon as thirty have signed to chuse officers of the Company, the said Company to be a part of the first Battalion, and we direct the said Company to be raised - provided that they take no Person in that Company who may have signed the last association in Captain Lukens or Captain Irwins Companies - as witness our Hands this 27th Day of December 1775 Jas. Smith Col. Batt. Thos. Hartley, L't Coll Mich'l. Swoope Major Joseph Donaldson Major We the Subscribers do hereby associate as a Company in the first Battalion of York County Militia as soon as thirty have signed, a Captain two Lieuttenants and two ensigns to be chosen - and we do hereby promise and engage to comply with and adhere to the Regulations Articles and Resolutions of the Assembly of the Province entered into for the Government of the Associators of Pennsylvania, which said Regulations are to be annexed to the Association and to be binding. As witness our Hands this 27th Day of December 1775. Capt. George Eichelberger 1 Lt. Mich'l Hahn 2 Lt. Baltzer Spengler Jacob Eichinger, ab. Anthony Ritz Michael Graybill George Moul Nicholas Bernhard Jacob Schreiber, ab. Samuel Nelson Jacob Durang, ab. Johannes Kunckel, ab. Lodwig Hetick Johannes Wolff, ab. Georg Flarar, ab. James Warley, ab. George Geesey, ab. Henry Zimmerman Caspar Muller, ab. Lorentz Schmahl, ab. Jos. Bonde Jacob Schenck Jacob Schneider, ab. John Maguire, ab. Jacob Rudisill Jun, ab. Finken Imfelt Michael Kopenhover Jacob Miller, ab. James Jones Michal Weider Jacob Funk Nicholas Upp. Michal Ruger George Spangler Jacob Schram, ab. Michael Welsh Johannes Flender Martin Brenneiser Peter James Clerck, ab. George Craff Rudolph Spengler Henrich Rauch, ab. Johannes Welsh, ab. John Fisher James McCullagh Johannes Pick, ab. Stophel Shelley Georg Fritzlen, ab. Lutwig Weisang George Myer Frederick Youce Jacob Neuman On the adjoining page of the above document are the additional names: Frederick Aderholdt, John Rose, John Water and Christian Slagle. The Sergeants were; Bonde, Youce, Moul and Hedick; Corporals: Ritz, Funch, Neuman and Brenneiser. In the following year, 1776, Baltzer Spengler, Jr. was elected 1st Lieutenant of the Fourth Company, George Michael Spengler, Ensign; Christian Stake 1st Lieutenant of the Fifth Company and Rudolph Spengler, brother of Baltzer, Jr., Captain of the Sixth Company. These companie constituted a portion of the five battalions that marched to New Jersey in 1776 to form the "Flying Camp." Baltzer Spengler, Jr., was one of the Committee of "Freeholders and Inhabitants" of Yorktown, organized December 16, 1774, for the purpose of procurring "the earliest intelligence of any material transactions" concerning the English oppression of their compatriots in Boston. They devised measures for raising a fund to defray the expense of communication intelligence and alleviating the wants of the poor at Boston. This committee, upon the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, was known as the "Committee of Safety," and rendered most invaluable and effective services in raising and arming troops in the cause of American independence; for, as Col. Thomas Hartley said, "the York District had armed the first in Pennsylvania and had furnished more men for the war and lost a greater number of men in it than any other District on the Continent of the same number of inhabitants." Baltzer Spengler, Jr., was 2nd Lieutenant of Captain George Eichelberger's Company in 1775, known as the Fourth Company. York was not incorporated during the first forty-six years after it was laid out. On the 24th of September, 1787, it was charted as the "Borough of York," and Baltzer Spengler was one of the first assistant Burgesses after the incorporation. President George Washington visited York on July 2, 1791. He met by a delegation from York that included; Gen. Henry Miller, Major John Clark, Col. Thomas Hartley, Lieut. Colonels David Grier and John Hay and Hon. James Smith. Washington was quartered at the inn run by Baltzer Spengler, Jr., two houses west of Court House Square.
Baltzer was born at
York, York Co., Pennsylvania, on 16 April 1735. He was the son of
Johan Balthasar Spengler and
Mary Magdelena Ritter. He married
Christina Messerschmidt. Baltzer died on 1 August 1798 at
York Co., Pennsylvania, at age 63. His body was interred in August 1798 at
York Co., Pennsylvania. The inscription on his tombstone in German reads,
"Zum Andenken Des Baltzer Spengler's Der Ein Zartlicher Gatte Ein Nachsichtsvoller Vater Ein Gutter Burger Gewesen Und Den 1st August 1798 Im 64ten. Jahr Seines Alters Gestorben Ist."
The translation reads as: In Memory of Baltzer Spengler He was an Affectionate Husband An Indulgent Father A Good Citizen And Who Died the 1st of August 1798 In the 64th Year of His Age..