Antonius Jacobus Henckel

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Antonius Jacobus Henckel (born October 27, 1668 in Merenberg , † August 12, 1728 in Germantown near Philadelphia ) was a German theologian who founded the first German Lutheran congregation in the North American colony after he emigrated to Pennsylvania .

family

Henckel had an older sister and four younger siblings. His father, Georg Henkel (* 1635 in Allendorf , † January 29, 1678), was a Lutheran schoolmaster, his mother was Anna Eulalia Dentzer (* 1640 in Steinberg ). Both married on May 2, 1666 in Merenberg .

Antonius Jacobus Henckel was married to Maria Elisabetha Dentzer († January 23, 1744) on April 25, 1692 by her father Johann Nikolaus Dentzer in Kirchhain . The marriage resulted in seven sons and five daughters, four of whom died at a young age.

Live and act

Memorial plaque to Antonius Jocobus Henckel at the Evangelical Church in Eschelbronn

Henckel was baptized on December 27, 1668. On May 5, 1688, he enrolled at the University of Gießen and completed his theology studies there on January 16, 1692.

Activity as a parish priest in the Palatinate

On February 28, 1692, Henckel was ordained by the pastor Johann Christoph Wild from Hoffenheim and took over the pastoral position in the parish of Eschelbronn , and in 1693 also the parish of Mönchzell . In Eschelbronn he was pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church until 1695 , where he carried out around 18 baptisms, five weddings and 30 funerals during his term of office. In 1695 he moved to Daudenzell and worked there as a pastor until 1703. His successor in Eschelbronn was Josua Harrsch in 1696 . Henckel was also responsible for the community of Kälbertshausen from 1699 to 1707 .

In the subsidiary community of Breitenbronn , Catholics tried to storm the Lutheran church in 1709. Henckel reacted by reporting the incident to the consistory in Heidelberg, whereupon the church council referred him to the elector. As a result of the events, the Catholic government ordered that Catholics and Protestants share the house of God.

In 1714 Henckel took over the office in Mönchzell again and began to work as a pastor in Neckargemünd the following year . There he was in charge of the Lutheran parishes in the Meckesheimer Zent, which were subordinate to Neckargemünd until June 3, 1717 .

Emigrated to Pennsylvania

At the invitation of William Penn , the founder of Pennsylvania , Henckel emigrated to the North American colony in 1717, which later became New Hanover Township , where he presumably arrived in September. Recatholization in the Palatinate and the poverty of the Lutheran Church are assumed to be the reasons for his emigration .

As one of the few Lutheran pastors in the region, he was particularly involved in the establishment of schools and churches and thus contributed to the development of the Lutheran Church in Pennsylvania. In 1721 he founded the first Lutheran congregation and had the St. Michaels Lutheran Church built in Germantown , which Benjamin Franklin had also contributed five shillings to finance .

On August 12, 1728, Henckel died in the home of Herman Goothausen in Springfield from injuries sustained on the same day in a riding accident on the way to visit the sick. He was buried in the Germantown cemetery. His tombstone was still preserved in the 21st century. Until his will was found later, it was initially uncertain whether Henkel had died in 1728 or 1732.

In the course of the following generations, the name of Henckels' descendants changed to Henkel, Hinkel, Hinkle (changed in 1797) and Hinckel.

Monuments

literature

  • Marius Golgath: From the Electoral Palatinate to Pennsylvania. The moving life story of the church pioneer Antonius Jacobus Henckel (1668–1728) , 2013, ISBN 9783897357853
  • Ann Gable: The Pastoral Years of Rev. Anthony Henckel, 1692–1717 , 2011, ISBN 978-0-929539-89-8 , Picton Pr (English)
  • Marius Golgath: Antonius Jacobus Henckel: Eschelbronn pastor and founder of the Lutheran congregation in Germantown / Pennsylvania , in Unser Land , 2006, pages 215–217

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Antonius Jacobus Henckel in the personal database of the state bibliography of Baden-Württemberg
  2. ↑ Source according to eschelbronn-online.de : Heinrich Neu, Badisches Pfarrerbuch from 1939
  3. ^ Arnold Scheuerbrandt: From Kraichgau to the wide world , in: Bad Rappenauer Heimatbote 11, 1999, p. 54.
  4. ↑ eschelbronn-online.de
  5. ↑ a b Our History stmichaelsgermantown.org (English)
  6. ↑ About Hinkle Chair Company (English)
  7. ^ First notice boards in places with German-Pennsylvanian history
personal data
SURNAME Henckel, Antonius Jacobus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Henckel, Anthony Jacob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Lutheran theologian
DATE OF BIRTH October 27, 1668
PLACE OF BIRTH Merenberg
DATE OF DEATH August 12, 1728
Place of death Springfield