Reverend Anthony Jacob Henckel, notable emigrant of 1717 to America, was born at Mehrenberg, Germany om 1668. Baptized December 27, 1668 in the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Mehrenberg; died August 12, 1728 near Germantown,Pa. Married April 25, 1692 at Kirchain, Germany to Maria Elizabeth Dentzer, dau.of Rev. Nicholas Dentzer, Lutheran pastor of Birkenau, Germany, who was son of Simon Dentzer of Marburg, Germany and a brother of Othmar Dentzer, maternal grandfather of Rev. Anthony Jacob Henckel. She was baptized May 26, 1672 at Birkenau, Germany; died Jan. 23, 1744 at Germantown, Pa. They were parents of 12 children. Both are buried in the same grave in the churchyard of St.Michaels Church that he founded in 1721. On June 7, 1910, under the direction of the executive officers of the Henckel Association, the grave, in a remote location, was opened and the remains were reinterred near the mail walk and directly in front of the church.
He graduated from Giessen University, Giessen, Germany in 1688 [or 1692??]. He was pastor of several Lutheran churches in Germany before he moved to the United States and found what is now St. Michael's Lutheran church (which is still in use) located in Germantown, Pennsylvania (now part of Philadelphia.) He and his wife (Maria Elizabeth (nee Dentzer) Hinkle ) are buried in the cemetery on the grounds of St. Michael's.

146(Anton (Anthony) Jacob Henckel, a Lutheran pastor from the northern region Kraichgau area east of Heidelberg, was almost fifty when he arrived in 1717. He had been ordained in Germany and had served 25 years as a pastor with various congregations in the upper east Heidelberg. He was probably responsible for organizing the first Lutheran congregations in Pennsylvania. He lived at Falckner's Swamp in today's Montgomery Co., PA and served the German communities throughout present-day Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties. He died in a fall from horseback in August, 1728 at the age of 60. Anton Jacob and Maria Elizabeth are buried at St. Michael Evangelical Lutheran Church, Germantown, Philadelphia, PA.)

147REV. ANTHONY JACOB HENKEL
The first of the family in America was the Rev. Anthony Jacob Henkel, a "hofprediger." -- preacher to a royal court, -- who came from Frankfort on the Main to Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, arriving in 1717. He was killed by a fall from his horse in 1728. His son Justus, or Yost, went to North Carolina, and thence in 1761 to the North Fork, settling a little above Harper's Mill.

From "A History of Pendleton County West Virginia" by Oren F. Morton

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148Rev. Anthony Henckel
Added by lcobb67 on 17 Mar 2008
Originally submitted by hinklerj to Lowry-Hinkle Family Tree on 18 Nov 2007

The Rev. Anthony Henckel was a Lutheran Minister, married to his 2nd cousin, Maria Elizabeth Dentzer, the daughter of a Lutheran Minister. Marriages in this era were most often arranged and she wold have been thought suitable fro a minister's wife since her father had the same beliefs. Their 12 children were all born in Germany, but only 8 lived to adulthood. Anthony and Maria were nearing middle age when they decided to leave the chaos of religious wars and persecution and come to the United States. Probably joining with others who sympathized with their views, they brought their family to the U.S. in 1717 to settle near Pottstown, PA., outside Philadephia.
As settlers in the William Penn colony, religious freedom was guaranteed to them. A part of this religious freedom meant not many records were kept. Larg numbers of German Lutherans settled in Pennsylvania, which probably the reason so man of our ancestors from Germany spent some time there. Parts of the family helped to establish Germantown, PA., the first Germantown in the U.S., and now a part of Philidelphia.

Maria Elisabeth Dentzer was born in Birkenau, Starkenburg, Hessen-darmstadt, Germany May 26, 1672. Maria died January 23, 1744 in Germantown, Bucks, Pennsylvania, Usa, at 71 years of age. Her body was interred 1744 in St. Michael's, Germantown, Bucks, Pennsylvania. She married Anthonius Jacobus Hinkle in Daudenzell, Mosbach, Baden,
Prussia, April 25, 1692. Anthonius was born in Mehrenberg, Hessen-nassau, Prussia October 27, 1668. He was the son of Georg Henchel Herr and Anna Eulalia Dentzer. Anthonius died August 12, 1728 in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Usa, at 59 years of age. His body was interred 1728 in St Michael's, Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (See Anthonius Jacobus Hinkle for the continuation of this line.)

Children of Rev. Anton (Anthony) Jacob Hencke and Maria Elizabeth Dentzer
Johan Nicholas Henckel (c1693-1693)
Johanna Frederica Henckel (1694-1740 , PA) m. Johann Valentine Geiger (1685-1762, PA)
Johann Melchoir Henckel (c1695/96-1706, Hessen)
Johann Gerard Henckel (1697/98-1736, PA) m. Anna Catherine (?-1789, PA)
Marie Elizabeth Henckel (1699-1746, PA)
George Rudolph Henckel (1701-1803, PA) m. unknown
Anna Marie Henckel (c1703/04-1708, Hessen)
Johan Justus Henckel (1706-1778, WVA) m. Magdalena (Maria) Eschmann (c1710/1712-?)
Benigna Maria Henckel (1707-1708, Hessen)
Jacob Anthony Hinkle (1708-1750/51,PA) m. Anna Margaret (1711-1800, PA)
Maria Catherine Henckel (1711-1785) m. 1) Johann Georg Geiger (1702-1739),
2) Johann Peter Aple (Apple) (m. in 1740)
Johna Phillip Henckel (1713-1713, Hessen)