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Edith Clair Henkle is my wife Clara Fern Fritz's Paternal Grandmother. She was a favorite of anyone who knew her, particularly all of her family descendants. She lived 99 years 5 months and 18 days. She left 101 living descendantss. From Mary Fritz Steiger: The Henckel Genealogy published in 1964 has been my source of informatin for this brief sketch of Henckel History. The book was compiled by William and Minnie (Wyatt) Junkin of Tigard, Oregon, with the help of research done by Burt Brown Barker and the late Miss Cory C. Curry, as well as many other relatives who contributed information.
Burt Brown Barker made three trips to Germany, (in 1924, 1926 and 1930), to research records and learn what secrets they held regarding our ancestors. These trips yelded much information, including the discovery of the signature of our emigrant ancestor, Anthony Jacob Henckel, written 236 years before, on his registration at Giessen University, Giessen, Germany. Among church records, Mr. Barker found where Reverand Anthony Henckel had recorded the births and baptisms of his own children.
Most, if not all, of these original German records were destroyed during World War II, leaving only the photostat copies which Mr. Barker had brought back to the United States with him. -----
According to family legend, the sruname Henckel originally signified a handle, such as for tools or luggage. It originated during the period when families became so numerous that given names were no longer sufficient to distinguish between various residents of a village.
After settling in a new country, various members of the family changed the spelling of their name. Sometimes too, a person was identified as Henkel in one record and as Henkle or Hinkle in another, depending on who happenned to be writing the record. Census takers and othe officials often spelled names as they presumed them to be.
Our most historically famous relative is probably Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States. He was a great grandson of John Justus Henckel, Sr., so he would be my second cousin, four times removed.
As President, Johnson, a self-educted man, attempted to carry out President Lincoln's plans for reconstruction after the Civil War, but for all his sincerity and intelligence, he had little tact and he irritated influential congressmen. The conflict came to a climax in 1868, when certain congressmen tried to have him impeached, but the effort failed, lacking just one vote for the necessary two-thirds majority necessary to convict him.
Though considered a folly at the time, one of the real accomplishments of the Johnson Administration was the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867. Among his last acts as president, Johnson granted pardon to all who had taken part in the Civil War.
Reverend Anthony Jacob Henckel was born in 1668 at Mehrenberg, Germany. He graduated from Giessen University on January 16, 1692 and was ordained a Lutheran minister, February 28, 1692.
At Kirchain, Germany, on April 25, 1692, Anthony Henckel married his second cousin, Maria Elizabeth Dentzer, born in 1672 at Birkenau, Germany. They became the parents of twelve children...five died as children before the family emigrated.
The impact of the Protestant reformation led by Martin Luther in the early 18th cntury, arroused the Catholic governments of the German States. Reverand Anthony was in conflict with the Catholic authorities over the joint use of the church buldings and in 1717 he decided to resign and journey to the New World.
Having arrived with his family at Philadelphia on Septemeber 8, 1717, he and his son-in-law, Valentine Geiger, immediately purchasesd 250 acres each in the vicinity of Pottsdown ( about four miles north and east ) in New Hanover Township, Philadelphia (now Montgomery) County, Pennsylvania.
Soon after his arrival at New Hanover, Reverend Anthony Jacob Henckel resumed his ministerial activiteies. Traveling by horseback, he visited the homes of the German settlers in the area, christening infants, performing marriages and preaching. He helped reorganize the "Old Swamp Church" at New Hanover and in 1721 he founded the original church at the present location of St. Michael's Lutheran Church of Germantown, now included in the city of Philadelphia.
Reverend Anthony Henckel was killed August 12, 1728 by a fall from a horse on Chestnut Hill, not far from St. Michael's church at Germantown Avenue and Phillaenna Street. At her death, January 23, 1744, Maria Elizabeth Dentzer Henckel was buried with her late husband in the church yard of St. Michael's.
This double grave was re-located about 1910 by Revereend Ammon Stapleton, D.D., Henkel family historian and Reverend Dr. Zeigenfull, then pastor of St. Michael's Church. The headstone was in bad condition, but was definitely identified.
On June 7, 1910, under the direction of the executive officers of the Henkle Association, the grave, in a remote location, was opened. The remains of both Anthony and his wife Maria were well prserved. The skeletons were each six feet in length. Their remains were caerfully placed in a box and re-interred near the main walk and directly in front of the church.
A new white marble headstone and a memorial tablet in the chancel of the church, contributed by members of the Henkle Association, was dedicated October 28, 1917. the inscription on the memorial tablet reads:
In Memory of The Rev. Anthony Jacob Henkel Founder and First Pastor of St. Michael's Church and of Maria Elizabeth his wife whose Bodies Repose In The Adjoining Churchyard Sprung from a distinguished and God Serving ancestry They emigrated from Germany into Pennsylvania in the year 1717 Became in their turn progenitors of a stalwarn progenitors of a stalwart race, Which settled over a wide area of our country and gave to the State many useful citizens and to the church theologians, pastors and missionaries of unswerving faith and rare abilityy. Their Descendants Have Errected this Memorial AD 1917 ----- Herr Georg Henckle, father of our ancestor, was a school master at Mehrenberg, Germany. Born in 1635, probably at Allendorfad-Lumbda near Giessen. to Matthias Henckel, he died January 29, 1678 at Mehrenberg. He was married on May 2, 1666 at Steinberg, Germany to Anna Eulalia Dentzer (1640-1700), daughter of Othmar and Louisa (Wagner) Dentzer -----
Reverand Johann Nicolaus Dentzer, father of Maria Elizabeth, was born about 1644 to Simon Dentzer (brother of Othmar), probably at Marburg, Germany and died after 1701. he was married on November 6, 1665 at Marburg to Barbara Catherine Giebel, daughter of Henrich Giebel. -----
From "The Colonial Clergy of the Middle Colonies" New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania 1628-1776 American Antiquarian Society by Frederick Lewis Weis:
Gerhard Anthony Jacob Henkel, baptised (as Anthony Jacob Henckel), at Mehrenberg, Germany, 27 October 1668, son of George and Anna Eulalia (Dentzer) Henckel; a descendant of Count Henkel of Poeltzig; graduated in theology, University Giessen, 16 March 1692; Ordained Eschelbronn, Germany, 28 February 1692; settled near Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany; settled Germanna (Orange Va, Massanutton Church, 1714-1716; returned to Germany 1716; came to America 1717; settled Germantown, Pennsylvania St. Michael's Church, 1717-1728; new Hanover Montgomery, Pennsylvania, Falkner's Swamp Church, 1717-1728; Richmond (Berks-Moselem Church, 1723-1728; Mill Creek (Lebanon) Pennsylvania, Reed's or Old Tulpehocken Church, 1723-1728; Oley (Berks-Pennsylvania, Manatawny Church, 1723-1728; Oley (Berks-Pennsylvania), Christ or Hill Church, 1723-1728; Washington (Berks) Cold Brookdale Church 1723-1728; Rockland (Berks) Pennsylvania, Bieber Creek Church 1723-1728; In one or two instances, these were preaching stations before the church named above was organized; Lutheran; Died Germantown, Pennsylvania, 12 August 1728 (Will dated the same day).
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Tripp Families of North America
1874 - 1974 (99 years)
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