Johannes' father had been a day-laborer in Bennwil, Switzerland. As work got scarce, his son Johannes decided to apply for permission to leave for America.  The council had many applications, and the fee was usually too high unless you had special permission. In view of the hard times in Bennwil, permission was granted to all those who applied before Mar 28, 1736. Johannes was granted permission.

m. Catharina Schaffner in a Moravian Ceremony, all the early Spitlers were Moravian and were buried in the Hebron God's Acre cemetary of that group. All Moravian cemetarys are called God's Acre.

Children: Johannes II b.1718, Vronica b.1720,  Jacob Spitler I b.1722, Barbara b. 1728, Hans Jacob b. 1732.

Johannes built his home next to the Swatara Creek, named for the Swatara Indians. It was in a pass named for the Swatara, because they used it as a trail. Within a few years Johannes saw his son-in- law killed by indians, then his son, Johannes, and its said he died the next year of indian torture, meaning that what they did to his family took his life.

 Johannes, his wife Catharina, and their five children, who had all been members of the Reformed Church at Bennwil, joined others in their neighborhood and left to the north for the Rhine River, where they took passage to Rotterdam, then on to Cowles, England. Here they boarded the "Princess Augusta" being among 330 souls who were seeking to better their lives. There were 3 ship's lists for this voyage, the first was Captain Samuel Merchant's list on which he recorded Hance Spietteler age 45, and Hance Spietteler age 17.  The second was a qualifying list where Hans Spiteler and Hans Spitler both signed their names. Its interesting to note that among 130 men on the list, only 75 could write their names. The third list was an oath to the British Crown and they signed their names as Hans Spiteler and Hans Spitller. They landed in Philadelphia on September 16, 1736 and Johannes' youngest son died as they set anchor.  

       The Moravian Missionaries were active in Lancaster Co. PA, and swept the Spittler family into their net, as the family joined the Hebron Society,  in the Bethel congregation. The family was listed as "original members".  They were associated originally with the Hebron  group jointly with the Bethel group, however, one entry in the Hebron Registry gives this account, "absent from communion, July 1758, Catharina Spittler and Louisa Miess, on account of slander, they ought to have become reconciled to each other, but could not, the former was indeed penitent but the latter self-righteous."

       Pioneer women were by nature strong women, and strong mindedness was doubtlessly a part of that quality.

Palatine Immigrants set anchor in America