{{Short description|American businessman (1840–1918)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Joseph Spiegel | image = Joseph_Spiegel.jpg | birth_date = 1840 | birth_place = Abenheim, Germany | death_date = September 13, 1918 | death_place = Chicago, Illinois, US | burial_place = Rosehill Cemetery | relatives = {{nowrap| Marcus M. Spiegel (brother)<br /> Hannah G. Solomon (niece)<br>Fay Lanphier (daughter-in-law)<br> Polly Spiegel Cowan (granddaughter)<br> John Patrick Spiegel (grandson)<br> Paul Cowan (great-grandson)<br> Geoffrey Cowan (great-grandson)<br> Spike Jonze (great-great-grandson)<br> Sam Spiegel (great-great-grandson)<br> John Michels (great-great-grandson)<br> Gabriel Cowan (great-great-grandson)<br> Alix Spiegel (great-great-granddaughter) }} | known_for = Spiegel catalog | children = Sidney Spiegel<br> Modie Spiegel<br> Arthur Spiegel | spouse = Matilda Liebenstein }}
'''Joseph Spiegel''' (1840 – September 13, 1918)<ref name=ImmEntrep>{{Cite web | first=Frederic | last=Kopp | website=German Historical Institute – Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present, volume III | title=Modie J. Spiegel (1871–1943) | date=February 18, 2014 | url=http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=140 }}</ref> was the founder of the Spiegel catalog,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/18/business/big-credit-default-rate-forces-spiegel-bankruptcy-filing.html | newspaper=The New York Times | title=Big Credit Default Rate Forces Spiegel Bankruptcy Filing | first=Tracie | last=Rozhon | date=March 18, 2003}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first= Winston|last=Williams | title=The Metamorphosis of Spiegel | newspaper=The New York Times | date=July 15, 1984 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/15/business/the-metamorphosis-of-spiegel.html?pagewanted=all }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-mar-18-fi-spiegel18-story.html | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | title=Catalog Retailer Spiegel Seeks Chapter 11 Protection | date=March 18, 2003 | agency=Reuters}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2003/10/05/flirting-ok-you-dont-start-with-the-breasts/ | newspaper=Chicago Tribune | title=Flirting: OK, you don't start with the breasts | first=Irene S. | last=Levine | date=October 5, 2003 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117140258/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-10-05/features/0310050548_1_flirting-joseph-spiegel-spiegel-catalog | archive-date=November 17, 2015}}</ref> a Civil War veteran,<ref name=CT>{{cite news | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2003/03/13/spiegel-battles-to-turn-page-on-its-troubles/ | newspaper=Chicago Tribune | title=Spiegel battles to turn page on its troubles | first=Lorene | last=Yue | date=March 13, 2003 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117032935/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-03-13/business/0303130250_1_credit-cards-newport-news-catalog-retailer-s-performance | archive-date=November 17, 2015}}</ref> the younger brother of Union Army Colonel Marcus M. Spiegel,<ref name=ImmEntrep /> and patriarch of the Spiegel family.
==Biography== Spiegel was born to a Jewish family, the son of Regina (née Greenebaum) and Moses Spiegel, a rabbi.<ref name=ImmEntrep /> In September of 1848, his family (himself, three sisters, and his parents) emigrated from their small village in Abenheim, near the city of Worms in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, to the United States via France, fleeing growing anti-Jewish sentiment, revolutionary turmoil, and the fear that the government would punish them for the revolutionary activities of their firstborn son Marcus Spiegel, who had participated in an unsuccessful uprising against government troops in the state of Baden with Franz Sigel's liberal-democratic Landsturm regiment.<ref name=ImmEntrep /> They settled in the Jewish community on the Lower East Side of Manhattan where his father Moses sold needles, thread, and cloth.<ref name=ImmEntrep /> His mother died in 1849 and his father reverted to being a rabbi and teacher.<ref name=ImmEntrep /> His brother – who the family thought was dead – immigrated to the United States in 1849 but soon moved to Chicago, as did two of his sisters: Sarah Spiegel married Michael Greenebaum, the owner of a chain of hardware stores in Chicago; and Theresa Spiegel married Henry Liebenstein, a successful Chicago furniture merchant, in 1865.<ref name=ImmEntrep />
Joseph Spiegel worked as an apprentice in several retail stores in New York until 1862, and in 1863 he enlisted in the 120th Ohio Volunteers. He served in General Ulysses S. Grant's army in Louisiana where he acted as sutler to his brother's regiment,<ref>{{cite book |last=Delo |first=David M. |date=1998 |title=Peddlers and Post Traders: The Army Sutler on the Frontier |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kYnMa08DwdIC&pg=PA122 |publisher=Kingfisher Books |pages=122–123 |isbn=9780966221817}}</ref> witnessed his brother's death in battle, and was later captured and sent to the prisoner of war camp at Camp Ford, Texas, where he remained until May 1865.<ref name=ImmEntrep /> He returned to Chicago where he entered the furniture business with his brother-in-law, opening a small furniture shop on Wabash Avenue named ''J. Spiegel and Company'' which sold Liebenstein furniture.<ref name=Winnetka>{{Cite web|first=Tane |last= Beecham|title= Winnetka's Spiegel Family: Installment Credit Pioneers |website=Winnetka Historical Society|url=https://www.winnetkahistory.org/gazette/winnetkas-spiegel-family-installment-credit-pioneers/ }}</ref> In 1870, he assumed control of the Liebenstein business after marrying Liebenstein's niece, Mathilde Liebenstein.<ref name=Winnetka/> The Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed his business, although he was able to quickly restart since most of his inventory had been stored at his undamaged house, which led to a boom as fire victims needed to repurchase furniture.<ref name=Winnetka/> In 1886, his sons, Modie and Sidney, joined the business.<ref name=Winnetka/> In the 1890s, as wealthy clientele moved to the suburbs and were replaced by immigrants, Spiegel shifted the company's strategy from selling high-quality furniture on a cash-only basis to cheaper furniture on credit.<ref name=Winnetka/> In 1903, his son Arthur joined the business and Spiegel started their mail order catalog business, becoming the first company to sell furniture by mail.<ref name=Winnetka/> By 1925, the fashion and furniture retailer had 10 million customers.
==Personal life== thumb|right|200px|Spiegel's grave (center) at Rosehill Cemetery
Spiegel married Mathilde Liebenstein, the niece of his business partner, Henry Liebenstein.<ref name=Winnetka/> They had three sons, Modie Spiegel (b. 1871), Sidney Spiegel (b. 1872), and Arthur Spiegel (b. 1884),<ref name=Winnetka/> and three daughters.<ref name=ImmEntrep /> His son Sidney married the model Fay Lanphier. His grandson, Sidney M. Spiegel Jr. co-founded the Essaness Theatres chain with Edwin Silverman in 1929. One great-grandson, Paul Cowan, was a journalist, and another great-grandson, Geoffrey Cowan, is an academic and writer.
Joseph Spiegel died at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago on September 13, 1918, and was buried at Rosehill Cemetery.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-joseph-spiegel-funeral-t/184217333/ |title=Joseph Spiegel Funeral to Take Place Tuesday |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |page=15 |date=1918-09-15 |access-date=2025-11-02 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book |last1=Smalley |first1=Orange A. |last2=Sturdivant |first2=Frederick D. |date=1973 |title=The Credit Merchants: A History of Spiegel, Inc. |url= https://archive.org/details/creditmerchantsh00smal/ |location=Carbondale, IL |publisher=Southern Illinois University Press |isbn=9780809305896}}
==External links== *[http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/image.php?rec=707&entry=140 Immigrant Entrepreneurship: "Joseph Spiegel Portrait"] {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiegel, Joseph}} Category:1840 births Category:1914 deaths
Category:Sutlers Category:Merchants from Illinois Category:Jewish American military personnel Category:American people of German-Jewish descent Category:Emigrants from the Grand Duchy of Hesse to the United States Joseph Category:19th-century American businesspeople Category:Burials at Rosehill Cemetery