Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small has issued a
challenge: write one blog post each week
devoted to a specific ancestor. It can
be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem –
anything that focuses on one ancestor.
When my 4X great-grandparents Mary Elizabeth HINKLE and her husband Jacob Foland
migrated from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to eastern Tennessee in the
early to mid-1800s, they were imbued with the same spirit of optimism that
drove generations before them to leave the old country and board ships sailing
for a new life in the colonies across the Atlantic Ocean.
Did Mary Elizabeth’s father George HINKLE tell her the
story of his great-grandfather’s journey to America? Did he inspire her to feel pride in her
Hinkle roots?
The progenitor of the Hinkles and Henkels in America today
is my 8X great-grandfather Anthony Jacob HENCKEL (1668-1728), son of Georg Henckel (1635-1678) and Anna
Eulalia Dentzer (1640-1700). He was born
in Mehrenberg, Germany in 1668. Anthony
Jacob studied at University of Giessen, a Lutheran college and one of the
oldest schools of higher education in Europe.
It was the same school where his father Georg had studied to become a
schoolmaster.
Anthony Jacob was ordained a Lutheran minister on
February 28, 1692. He served in various
parishes around Heidelberg, Germany for twenty-five years. So
what made Henckel decide to accept William Penn’s invitation to help settle his
new colony in America?
One theory is that Reverend Henckel had found himself in
some legal trouble that he was not likely to win. A Catholic priest had requested permission for
his congregation to share Henckel’s church, which he refused to do. The priest broke into the church with an axe
and the two fought. Henckel complained
to the patron of the church who did not give him much support.
In a second case, Henckel complained that the patron of
the church was using lands belonging to the church and keeping the tithes. Not surprisingly the patron not only denied
the charges but also slandered Henckel’s good character. Who needs such grief?
So at almost 50 years old, Anthony Jacob, his wife Maria
Elizabeth and their 7 adult children arrived in Philadelphia in September 1717. In fact, he and his son-in-law Valentine
Geiger were leaders of a large group of Lutherans who arrived on three ships.
The next year, Henckel purchased 250 acres in New Hanover
and remained there the rest of his life.
He continued his calling as a minister throughout the area and even
started several Lutheran churches. In 1721
he founded St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Germantown which continues
today.
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| St. Michael's Lutheran Church Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
The Reverend Anthony Jacob Henckel died in August 1728
from injuries sustained in a fall from his horse. He was returning to his home in New Hanover
following a visit with an ill parishioner in Germantown. Evidently he knew the end was near and so
delivered his will orally before witnesses.
First, to his wife he left his estate, both real and personal, provided
she did not marry again. If she were to
marry, she would retain her third according to law. Second, he willed his 250-acre plantation in
New Hanover to his two youngest sons who would take ownership upon the death or
remarriage of their mother. They were
instructed to pay each of the other five children 100 pounds in Pennsylvania
currency. Finally, he gave an extra five
shillings to his eldest son beyond the 100 pounds his brothers would pay him.
 |
| Tombstone of Reverend Henckel and his wife photo courtesy Dean Roth Findagrave.com |
Anthony Jacob Henckel and his wife Maria Elizabeth are
buried in the St. Michael’s Lutheran Church Cemetery.
Anthony Jacob Henkel
Founder & First Pastor
St. Michael's Church
Born 1668 Died 1728
Maria Elizabeth Henkel
His wife
Born 1671 Died 1741
SOURCES:
Ancestry.com. The Henckel Genealogy, 1500-1960: Ancestry
and Descendants of Reverend Anthony Jacob Henckel, 1668-1728, Pioneer
Evangelical Lutheran Minister, Emigrant from the German Palatinate to America
in 1717 [database on-line]. Provo,
UT: The Generations Network, Inc. 2005. Original data:
Junkin, William Sumner. The Henckel Genealogy, 1500-1960: Ancestry
and Descendants of Reverend Anthony Jacob Henckel, 1668-1728, Pioneer
Evangelical Lutheran Minister, Emigrant from the German Palatinate to America
in 1717. Spokane, WA: Henckel Family Association, 1964.
“Henckel-Elsworth Families.” My West Virginia Pioneer Families. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014.
<http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wvpioneers/hinkle.html>.
“History: Generations of Henckels.” The
Henckel Family National Association. The Henckel Family National
Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.henckelfamilyassociation.com/>.
“Our History.” St.
Michael’s Lutheran Church. Web. 07 Oct. 2014. <http://stmichaelsgermantown.org>.
Weis, Frederick Lewis. The Colonial Clergy of the Middle Colonies: New York, New Jersey, and
Pennsylvania, 1628-1776. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub., 1978. Web. 7 Oct.
2014. <http://books.google.com/books?id=ASo0bJXoXbMC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false>.
© 2014, Wendy Mathias. All
rights reserved.
