Individual Details
Herr Georg HENCKEL
(1635 - 29 January 1678)
Here we can get a little feeling of the time and place from some of the history written about thirty year war which raged from 1618 to 1648. It would be during parts of Matthias and Georg's Henckel's lives. Georg was the father of Rev. Anthony Jacob Henckel, progenitor.
From Ernst Schneider, Allendorf an der Lumbda, Chronik einer Stadt
After speaking about the Pestilence in Allendorf in 1628, the author says, page 36 "Allendorf suffered still more severely in the year 1635 because of the Pestilence. In the time from the 11th of August until Christmas 370 inhabitants alone died. After that even more people were snatched away in death. Others filed to the knoll in front of the forest where they sustained themselves in the open air. Since that time the place has been called "Pestilenzstrauch" ".
Page-31 " Many inhabitants left Allendorf and moved to Marburg and Giessen. But they were not secure there either, since the desperate people were crowded with their narrow walls. The danger of contagion was much greater there".
Page-41 " In the year 1634 on the Sunday after Easter, raging fire again consumed the Kirchberg, the Borngasse and the Tower on the city wall. Altogether this fire destroyed 34 buildings of which only a pile of rubble remained. This hit the inhabitants especially hard since just at this time the Pestilence raged in the area and also took its toll. In addition war was being waged there".
Page-70 "Allendorf, which had to suffer under military invasions in the first two decades after its founding, remained in the 15th and 16th centuries free from war's confusion. During the war, on Thursday and Friday before Pentecost in 1636, Allendorf was completely plundered by the troops of Count Wilhelm von Hessen-Kassel with the cattle being driven away and the harvest increased. With the occupation 19 Reichtalers were paid; in addition many horses had to be provided." " On March 14, 1639 Allendorf had to furnish provisions for the Hatzfield Army which lay in the region of Rossdorf and Mardorf. These included 600 loaves of bread, 1 ohm beer, 20 pounds of meat, 2 quarter barrels of wine, 2 motte of oats. On April 4, another 600 loaves of bread were again provided.
"Indeed the year 1646 brought Allendorf the greatest distress of the war. It was the Swedes who, with 8000 men under Field Marshall Lessle, plundered Allendorf, during which some people died, servants and women were shamefully handled, likewise clergy and pastors were spared the least and were treated without honor and principle."
"The invasions hit the inhabitants so hard that they left the town; for sometime it stood empty of people. Many citizens fled to Giessen and Marburg. In addition the Pestilence came; it flared up again and again during the war."
"By the end of the war the population was decimated. Maltreatment, hunger and illness had snatched away many of the inhabitants. The rebuilding of the town was completed slowly since there was a lack of building material and cattle. Written reports show that around 1700 all the houses destroyed in the past were not rebuilt."
Page-71 " The following names were found there in 1640: Mang, Lotz, Henrich, Stotz, Weheres, Happel, Will, Cronberger, Petri, Wagner, Kleindopf, Schnabel, Reinhardt, Himbsell, Scheffer, Dill, Bang, Lich, Teig, Zigenhaut, Koch, Hilgert, Gobel, Wallenfeld, Lautz, Freihoffer, Wittich, Becker, Schroder, Sauer, Eisermann, Muli, "Henckel", Dern, Schenk, Daniel, Knaust, Pfei, Fleichauer, Bick, Melchoir.
Page-270 " Soon after the war there were efforts in Allendorf which pointed to organized fire protection. However the means they used were extremely limited. At the outbreak of a fire all inhabitants were obligated to appear at the scene of the fire, especially workers like masons, carpenters and furniture makers. They did not as yet have fire engines and so they went to the fire with leather buckets. This was often difficult since it was quite a distance to the water. The water had to be scooped out of wells and mill races or at the pool at the upper gate, and passed in buckets from hand to hand, to the scene of the blaze and then poured on it. Fire buckets were provided by the citizens: each who received civil rights had to provide a bucket to City Hall. Others had to pay fire bucket money. Susceptibility to fire was especially high, since houses were mostly built of clay and framework and had thatched roofs. Besides, the houses stood very close together, often with several buildings under one roof. Fireplaces were not well protected, about which there were always complaints in the old reports."
From; Frantz Gregor, Merenburg, Einst and Jetzt.
Merenberg after the war. Page-46 "How hopeless, how deplorable it seemed, the little town of Merenberg had to begin reconstruction. The walls had been destroyed, most houses burned out and the gates demolished. But the flames could do nothing to the mighty walls of the fortress which for a long time had towered from their proud height over the land of Nassau. Later however, the fortress walls became a quarry for the material and works for the poor inhabitants who had melted away to less than half."
"The need was great, everything was lacking. For the poorest, provisions were assembled and divided. There were hardly any new clothes to be bought, and that only by bartering."
This is from Ann Gable, translation from the German by her husband R. Lee Gable, living in Pleasant Hill, Tennessee.
The following is data secured by Dr. Burt Brown Barker in research in Germany.
This entry in the Church Journal of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Daudensell by Reverend Anthony Jacob Henckel:
On September 27th my little son, John Melchior, has been changed from mortality to immortality and given a Christian burial on the 29th of the same month. May he rest in peace, and God will awake him to immortality after that. He had spent his life of 10 years, 7 months, 2 weeks and 2 days."
Again in the Daudensell Church Journal:
" On September 25th my dear little daughter, Maria Christina, fell asleep peacefully in the arms of our Lord and was buried in a Christian manner on the 28th at the age of 4 years, 7 months, 2 weeks and 2 days. "
Once again in the same church journal:
" On December 22nd my little daughter Benigna Maria, followed her little sister and paid the debt of nature and was buried in her little couch on the 23rd with a funeral sermon, at the age of 1 year, 2 months, 3 weeks and 1 day.
The other two children who died before Anthony came to America are only know by name. No records of their death were found. They were the eldest and youngest sons, John Nicholas and John Phillip.
The only child to marry before coming to America was the eldest daughter Johanna Frederica, who married Valentine Geiger in Germany. They came with the Henckel Family to America.
ANTHONY JACOB HENCKEL
The second child and the oldest son of Georg, no doubt attended the village school before he entered the University of Giessen on May 5, 1668. He passed his theological examination at the University and was ordained as a Lutheran pastor at Eschelbronn on February 28, 1692. He married his second cousin Maria Elizabeth Dentzer at Kirchain, Germany. To them were born the twelve children.
He was active in the Lutheran ministry, serving five congregations in the Palatinate until June 1717, when he left his last parish at Neckargemund and appears to have reached Philadelphia in the following September. He was accompanied by seven surviving children, four sons and three daughters, and other companions who formed a colony at New Hanover County, in what is now Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The land on which they located was largely virgin forest. The colony soon erected dwelling houses, a school house and later a church; hence it was distinctly a pioneer colony.
Lisa Hinkle Siders
jsiders@ameritech.net
From Ernst Schneider, Allendorf an der Lumbda, Chronik einer Stadt
After speaking about the Pestilence in Allendorf in 1628, the author says, page 36 "Allendorf suffered still more severely in the year 1635 because of the Pestilence. In the time from the 11th of August until Christmas 370 inhabitants alone died. After that even more people were snatched away in death. Others filed to the knoll in front of the forest where they sustained themselves in the open air. Since that time the place has been called "Pestilenzstrauch" ".
Page-31 " Many inhabitants left Allendorf and moved to Marburg and Giessen. But they were not secure there either, since the desperate people were crowded with their narrow walls. The danger of contagion was much greater there".
Page-41 " In the year 1634 on the Sunday after Easter, raging fire again consumed the Kirchberg, the Borngasse and the Tower on the city wall. Altogether this fire destroyed 34 buildings of which only a pile of rubble remained. This hit the inhabitants especially hard since just at this time the Pestilence raged in the area and also took its toll. In addition war was being waged there".
Page-70 "Allendorf, which had to suffer under military invasions in the first two decades after its founding, remained in the 15th and 16th centuries free from war's confusion. During the war, on Thursday and Friday before Pentecost in 1636, Allendorf was completely plundered by the troops of Count Wilhelm von Hessen-Kassel with the cattle being driven away and the harvest increased. With the occupation 19 Reichtalers were paid; in addition many horses had to be provided." " On March 14, 1639 Allendorf had to furnish provisions for the Hatzfield Army which lay in the region of Rossdorf and Mardorf. These included 600 loaves of bread, 1 ohm beer, 20 pounds of meat, 2 quarter barrels of wine, 2 motte of oats. On April 4, another 600 loaves of bread were again provided.
"Indeed the year 1646 brought Allendorf the greatest distress of the war. It was the Swedes who, with 8000 men under Field Marshall Lessle, plundered Allendorf, during which some people died, servants and women were shamefully handled, likewise clergy and pastors were spared the least and were treated without honor and principle."
"The invasions hit the inhabitants so hard that they left the town; for sometime it stood empty of people. Many citizens fled to Giessen and Marburg. In addition the Pestilence came; it flared up again and again during the war."
"By the end of the war the population was decimated. Maltreatment, hunger and illness had snatched away many of the inhabitants. The rebuilding of the town was completed slowly since there was a lack of building material and cattle. Written reports show that around 1700 all the houses destroyed in the past were not rebuilt."
Page-71 " The following names were found there in 1640: Mang, Lotz, Henrich, Stotz, Weheres, Happel, Will, Cronberger, Petri, Wagner, Kleindopf, Schnabel, Reinhardt, Himbsell, Scheffer, Dill, Bang, Lich, Teig, Zigenhaut, Koch, Hilgert, Gobel, Wallenfeld, Lautz, Freihoffer, Wittich, Becker, Schroder, Sauer, Eisermann, Muli, "Henckel", Dern, Schenk, Daniel, Knaust, Pfei, Fleichauer, Bick, Melchoir.
Page-270 " Soon after the war there were efforts in Allendorf which pointed to organized fire protection. However the means they used were extremely limited. At the outbreak of a fire all inhabitants were obligated to appear at the scene of the fire, especially workers like masons, carpenters and furniture makers. They did not as yet have fire engines and so they went to the fire with leather buckets. This was often difficult since it was quite a distance to the water. The water had to be scooped out of wells and mill races or at the pool at the upper gate, and passed in buckets from hand to hand, to the scene of the blaze and then poured on it. Fire buckets were provided by the citizens: each who received civil rights had to provide a bucket to City Hall. Others had to pay fire bucket money. Susceptibility to fire was especially high, since houses were mostly built of clay and framework and had thatched roofs. Besides, the houses stood very close together, often with several buildings under one roof. Fireplaces were not well protected, about which there were always complaints in the old reports."
From; Frantz Gregor, Merenburg, Einst and Jetzt.
Merenberg after the war. Page-46 "How hopeless, how deplorable it seemed, the little town of Merenberg had to begin reconstruction. The walls had been destroyed, most houses burned out and the gates demolished. But the flames could do nothing to the mighty walls of the fortress which for a long time had towered from their proud height over the land of Nassau. Later however, the fortress walls became a quarry for the material and works for the poor inhabitants who had melted away to less than half."
"The need was great, everything was lacking. For the poorest, provisions were assembled and divided. There were hardly any new clothes to be bought, and that only by bartering."
This is from Ann Gable, translation from the German by her husband R. Lee Gable, living in Pleasant Hill, Tennessee.
The following is data secured by Dr. Burt Brown Barker in research in Germany.
This entry in the Church Journal of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Daudensell by Reverend Anthony Jacob Henckel:
On September 27th my little son, John Melchior, has been changed from mortality to immortality and given a Christian burial on the 29th of the same month. May he rest in peace, and God will awake him to immortality after that. He had spent his life of 10 years, 7 months, 2 weeks and 2 days."
Again in the Daudensell Church Journal:
" On September 25th my dear little daughter, Maria Christina, fell asleep peacefully in the arms of our Lord and was buried in a Christian manner on the 28th at the age of 4 years, 7 months, 2 weeks and 2 days. "
Once again in the same church journal:
" On December 22nd my little daughter Benigna Maria, followed her little sister and paid the debt of nature and was buried in her little couch on the 23rd with a funeral sermon, at the age of 1 year, 2 months, 3 weeks and 1 day.
The other two children who died before Anthony came to America are only know by name. No records of their death were found. They were the eldest and youngest sons, John Nicholas and John Phillip.
The only child to marry before coming to America was the eldest daughter Johanna Frederica, who married Valentine Geiger in Germany. They came with the Henckel Family to America.
ANTHONY JACOB HENCKEL
The second child and the oldest son of Georg, no doubt attended the village school before he entered the University of Giessen on May 5, 1668. He passed his theological examination at the University and was ordained as a Lutheran pastor at Eschelbronn on February 28, 1692. He married his second cousin Maria Elizabeth Dentzer at Kirchain, Germany. To them were born the twelve children.
He was active in the Lutheran ministry, serving five congregations in the Palatinate until June 1717, when he left his last parish at Neckargemund and appears to have reached Philadelphia in the following September. He was accompanied by seven surviving children, four sons and three daughters, and other companions who formed a colony at New Hanover County, in what is now Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The land on which they located was largely virgin forest. The colony soon erected dwelling houses, a school house and later a church; hence it was distinctly a pioneer colony.
Lisa Hinkle Siders
jsiders@ameritech.net
Events
| Birth | 1635 | Allendorf-Lumbda Near Giessen, Germany | |||
| Marriage | 2 May 1666 | Steinberg, Oberhessen, Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany - Anna Eulalia DENTZER |  | ||
| Death | 29 January 1678 | Merenberg, Hessen-Nassau, Germany | |||
| Alt name | Mr. George | ||||
| Burial | Luthern Cem., Mehrenberg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany | ||||
| Ancestral File Number | 4RNS-PP | ||||
| Reference No | 5 | ||||
| Occupation | George was preceptor or schoolmaster of Mehrenberg, Hessen -Darmstadt, Germany. Matriculated at Giessen University July 25, 1650 in the fourth class at the age of 15 years. He became a tewacher and was made preceptor of the school at Mehren |
Families
| Spouse | Anna Eulalia DENTZER (1640 - 1700) |
| Child | Elizabetha Catherina HENCKEL ( - ) |
| Child | Reverend Anthony Jacob HENCKEL (1668 - 1728) |
| Child | Johann Christianus HENCKEL (1670 - ) |
| Child | Johann Konradus HENCKEL ( - ) |
| Child | Johann Georg HENCKEL ( - ) |
| Child | Philip Conrad HENCKEL ( - ) |
Endnotes
1. Compilers: William Sumner Junkin, Minnie Wyatt Junkin, The Henckel Genealogy, 1500-1960: Ancestry and Descendants of Reverend Anthony Jacob Henckel 1668-1728 (Spokane, Washington: C. W. Hill Printing Company, 1964).