Clayton - Person Sheet
Clayton - Person Sheet
NameHENCKEL, Rev. Antonius Jacobus 
, 8G Grandfather
, 8G GrandfatherBirth Date27 Oct 1668
Birth PlaceNassau, Deggendorf, Bayern, Germany
OccupationLutheran Minister
Death Date12 Aug 1728 Age: 59
Death PlaceGermantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylanvia
FlagsClergy, Immigrant, Interesting, Messer Lineage
Immi Date1717 Age: 48
Misc. Notes
Rev. Anthony Jacob Henkel (Antonius Jacobus Henckel), an exiled Lutheran clergyman who came from Germany to Pennsylvania in 1717; one of the founders of his church in America, and father of a great and honorable posterity. They were Palatine Germans.
The first Henckel to come to America was Rev Anthony Jacob Henckel. About the time of the unbearable religious persecution in Germany, William Penn had become head of a Colony in the new world, designated as Penn's Woods (Pennsylvania). He needed hard working, responsible colonists to help him develop this colony so he could meet the revenues required by the Crown (English Government). Penn, able to speak German, went to Frankfort and personally invited these persecuted Lutherans to come to his colony. Rev Henckel, pastor of the Lutherans, and in conflict with the Catholic authorities, decided to resign and join with his neighbors in 1717 to go to the new world.
Of Pastor Anthony Jacob Henckel very little has been known until recently. We owe the facts of the following account to Mr. B. Burt Bark, Vice-President of the University of Washington, who is President of the Henckel Family Association.
Anthony Jacob Henckel, son of George Henckel and Eulalia Dentzer, was born and baptized in Merenberg, in Palatinate. His baptismal record, on December 27th, 1668, has been found in the church at Merenberg. George Henckel, preceptor or schoolmaster, at Merenberg, was a graduate of the University at Glessen. His wife was the daughter of an assistant judge of Steinberg, and was descended from a family prominent in Hesse-Darmstadt; her grandfather had been a pastor, and three of her brothers were pastors. The father died in 1768.
Anthony Jacob Henckel was matriculated at Giessen on May 5, 1688. In 1692 he left the following record in his first parish:
The Churchbook of Eschelbronn. In the year 1692. His Highness, the nobly born Baron John Anton of the Feltz, together with his brother, Herr Philipp, has called me, Anthony Jacob Henckel, of Merenberg in Nassau, after the death of my predecessor, to the regular pastorate of Eschelbronn, and I was ordained here on the 28th of February by Herr John Christopher Wildius, Pastor of Hoffheim, after having been examined at Giessen University, and having the testimony thereof.”
He served here until 1695; then at Daudenzell and Breitenbronn until 1714. The former of these places was in Darmstadt, the latter in the Palatinate. In 1714 he returned to Moenchzell, which had been a “filial” of his first pastorate. He came to America in 1717 with his entire family; and bought a farm at New Hanover, living there until his death in 1728.
Pastor Henckel’s ministry in America was far-reaching rather than intensive. He seems to have served the scattered Lutherans in many places, as occasion arose, but without leaving definite record of this service in the scattered congregations. There is a tradition that his authority, as a foreigner, to perform the marriage ceremony, was questioned and that he was put in jail in Philadelphia, pending decision; the family tells of silverware given as bail for him. The question was submitted by the Colonial Council, but there is no record of any decision returned. His ministry in Germantown is definite enough that we may say that he undoubtedly the first pastor of the congregation here. He died in the home of one of the members, in Springfield, on August 12, 1728, following a fall from his horse while traveling between Germantown and his home at New Hanover. Two of the witnesses to his will appear in the very earliest documents of the congregation as members of the Church Council; and we surmise that they were already members of such a body in 1728.
The first Henckel to come to America was Rev Anthony Jacob Henckel. About the time of the unbearable religious persecution in Germany, William Penn had become head of a Colony in the new world, designated as Penn's Woods (Pennsylvania). He needed hard working, responsible colonists to help him develop this colony so he could meet the revenues required by the Crown (English Government). Penn, able to speak German, went to Frankfort and personally invited these persecuted Lutherans to come to his colony. Rev Henckel, pastor of the Lutherans, and in conflict with the Catholic authorities, decided to resign and join with his neighbors in 1717 to go to the new world.
Of Pastor Anthony Jacob Henckel very little has been known until recently. We owe the facts of the following account to Mr. B. Burt Bark, Vice-President of the University of Washington, who is President of the Henckel Family Association.
Anthony Jacob Henckel, son of George Henckel and Eulalia Dentzer, was born and baptized in Merenberg, in Palatinate. His baptismal record, on December 27th, 1668, has been found in the church at Merenberg. George Henckel, preceptor or schoolmaster, at Merenberg, was a graduate of the University at Glessen. His wife was the daughter of an assistant judge of Steinberg, and was descended from a family prominent in Hesse-Darmstadt; her grandfather had been a pastor, and three of her brothers were pastors. The father died in 1768.
Anthony Jacob Henckel was matriculated at Giessen on May 5, 1688. In 1692 he left the following record in his first parish:
The Churchbook of Eschelbronn. In the year 1692. His Highness, the nobly born Baron John Anton of the Feltz, together with his brother, Herr Philipp, has called me, Anthony Jacob Henckel, of Merenberg in Nassau, after the death of my predecessor, to the regular pastorate of Eschelbronn, and I was ordained here on the 28th of February by Herr John Christopher Wildius, Pastor of Hoffheim, after having been examined at Giessen University, and having the testimony thereof.”
He served here until 1695; then at Daudenzell and Breitenbronn until 1714. The former of these places was in Darmstadt, the latter in the Palatinate. In 1714 he returned to Moenchzell, which had been a “filial” of his first pastorate. He came to America in 1717 with his entire family; and bought a farm at New Hanover, living there until his death in 1728.
Pastor Henckel’s ministry in America was far-reaching rather than intensive. He seems to have served the scattered Lutherans in many places, as occasion arose, but without leaving definite record of this service in the scattered congregations. There is a tradition that his authority, as a foreigner, to perform the marriage ceremony, was questioned and that he was put in jail in Philadelphia, pending decision; the family tells of silverware given as bail for him. The question was submitted by the Colonial Council, but there is no record of any decision returned. His ministry in Germantown is definite enough that we may say that he undoubtedly the first pastor of the congregation here. He died in the home of one of the members, in Springfield, on August 12, 1728, following a fall from his horse while traveling between Germantown and his home at New Hanover. Two of the witnesses to his will appear in the very earliest documents of the congregation as members of the Church Council; and we surmise that they were already members of such a body in 1728.
Spouses
1DENTZER, Maria Elizabeth , 8G Grandmother
, 8G GrandmotherBirth Date26 May 1672
Birth PlaceDarmstadt, Hesse, Germany
Death Date23 Jan 1744 Age: 71
Death PlaceGermantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
FlagsMesser Lineage
Marr Date25 Apr 1692
Marr PlaceMosbach, Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany