I STARTED THIS RESEARCH THINKING I WOULD FIND MINIMAL INFORMATION, IF ANY INFORMATION ON MY  FATHERS FAMILY. WOW, WHAT A SURPRISE IT HAS BEEN. I FEEL THE DATES OF THEIR BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND  DEATHS ARE IMPORTANT  BUT I REALLY WANTED TO FIND OUT WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE THEY WERE. SO I HAVE  LISTED INFORMATION GATHERED BY MANY RESOURCES. I  HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS INFORMATION !

IN AMERICA:

THE 1ST MEMBERS OF THE HENCKEL FAMILY CAME FROM MEHRENBERG, GERMANY AND SETTLED IN LANCASTER  COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA IN 1717. 3 SHIPS CAME FROM GERMANY CARRYING DIFFERENT FAMILIES TO THE NEW  LAND.

THERE ARE MANY VARIATIONS OF OUR NAME BUT ALL ARE RELATED. HENCKELS, HENKELS, HINKLES. 

THESE FAMILIES HAVE MEMBERS EVERYWHERE, EVEN IN THE EARLY DAYS  OF ARRIVING IN AMERICA THE ONES I  FOUND INCLUDED :  PENNSYLVANIA, MARYLAND, OHIO, VIRGINIA (PARTS OF WHICH NOW ARE WEST VIRGINIA) ,  TENNESSE AND NORTH CAROLINA.

OUR RELIGIOUS HISTORY EXTENDS BACK TO REFORMATION TIMES. COUNT CONRAD HENKEL VAN DONNERSMARCK WAS  A CONTEMPORARY 16TH CENTURY REFORMER. COUNT HENKEL REPRESENTED AS A NOBLEMAN OF DEEP RELIGIOUS  BELIEF, WAS A SUPPORTER OF MUHLENBERG IN HIS WORK AT THE GOETTINGEN ORPHAN HOUSE. COUNT HENKEL WAS  ALSO A COMMANDER OF THE HUNGARIAN ARMY IN ITS BATTLE WITH THE TURKS IN 1527.

THE FIST HENCKEL KNOW N TO COME TO AMERICA WAS ANTHONY JACOB HENCKEL. THESE DESCENDENTS ARE  HONORED FOR THEIR INVALUABLE SERVICE TO THE LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA FOR THEIR SUPPORT OF THE  HISTORIC LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS.

REVEREND ANTHONY J. HENCKEL (49 YEARS OLD) SETTLES IN NEW HANOVER, PENNSYLVANIA AND FOUNDED THE  1ST LUTHERAN CHURCH - ST. MICHAELS LUTHERAN CHURCH IN 1721 WHICH IS STILL LOCATED IN GERMANTOWN,  PENNSYLVANIA. (CURRENTLY KNOWN AS PHILADELPHIA). HE ATTENDED GEISSEN UNIVERSITY AND GRADUATED ON  JANUARY 16, 1692. HE WAS ORDAINED AS A LUTHERAN MINISTER AT ESCHELBRONN, GERMANY ON FEBRUARY 28,  1692.

REVERAND HENCKEL WAS DESCRIBED AS BEING 6 FEET TALL WITH GREAT PHYSICAL STRENGTH AND HAD A  VIGOROUS MISSONARY ZEAL. AS A LUTHERAN MINISTER, HE TRAVELED ON HORSEBACK AS A CIRCUIT PREACHER  NITO THE WILDERNESS OF SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA, TO GERMANS IN VIRGINIA AND TO GERMAN LUTHERAN  CONGREGATIONS WITHIN DISTANCE OF HIS HOME.  ON AUGUST 17, 1728, AS HE WAS RETURNING HOME FROM THE  SICK BED OF ONE OF HIS CONGREGATION, HIS HORSE STUMBLED AND THREW HIM OFF. HE WAS TAKEN  TO THE  HOME OF
 HERMAN GOOTHAUSEN WHERE HE DIED THAT NIGHT. HE AND HIS WIFE, MARIA ELIZABETH ARE BURIED IN ST.  MICHAEL’S LUTHERAN CHURCHYARD, GERMANTOWN, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA. HE LEFT HIS TWO SONS A 250  ACRE FARM IN WHAT IS NOW KNOWN AS MONGTOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

IN 1750 SON, JOHN JUSTUS HENCKEL SOLD THE FARM IN PENNSYLVANIA AND MADE THE LONG JOURNEY DOWN THE  MOUNTAIN VALLEYS FROM PENNSYLVANIA TO NORTH CAROLINA. IN 1751 HE WAS LIVING ON DUTCHMAN’S CREEK IN  THE FORK OF THE YADKIN, APPROXIMATELY 13 MILES FROM SALISBURY, NOW DAVIDSON COUNTY, NORTH  CAROLINA. HE AND HIS FAMILY LIVED THERE UNTIL THE DANGER OF INDIANS PROMPTED HIM TO MOVE HIS WIFE  AND 12 CHILDREN TO WHAT IS NOW KNOWN AS GERMAN VALLEY, PENDELTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.

THEIR NEW LAND WAS NEAR THE SHAWNEE INDIAN TRAIL, SO THEY BUILT A LOG FORT FOR PROTECTION IN 1761- 1762, THE SITE OF WHICH CAN STILL BE SEEN TODAY. JOHN JUSTUS, HIS SONS AND HIS SON-IN-LAWS  PARTICIPATED ACTIVELY IN THE DEFENSE OF THE FRONTIER DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR AND FURNISHED  SUPPLIES FOR THE CONTINENTIAL FORCES. THE HINKLE FORT AND FARM BECAME THE HEADQUARTERS AND  TRAINING GROUNDS FOR THE NORTH FORK BATTALION.  THE HENCKEL FAMILY ASSOCIATION UNVEILED A GRANITE  MARKER IN SEPTEMBER 1936 WHICH IS LOCATED AT THE SITE WHERE THE HINKLE FORT ONCE STOOD.

“THE NORTH FORK OF THE SOUTH BRANCH OF THE POTOMAC RIVER IN PRESENT-DAY PENDLETON COUNTY WAS  SETTLED LARGELY BY GERMANS. THE FIRST FAMILY TO ARRIVE IN GERMAN VALLEY WERE THE HENCKELS, WHO  MIGRATED FROM NORTH CAROLINA IN 1761.  THEY WERE HOPING TO FIND INEXPENSIVE AGRICULTURAL LAND IN  AN AREA FREE FROM HOSITLE INDIAN ATTACKS. THEY WERE ALSO ATTRACTED TO THIS AREA BY ITS FERTILE  SOIL AND GENTLY ROLLING TOPGRAPHY OF THE VALLEYS BOTTOMLAND. THE HENCKELS WERE QUICKLY JOINED BY  THE TETERS AND OTHER GERMAN (PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH) FAMILYS, SOME HAVING MIGRATED SOUTHWEST FOLLOWING  THE RIDGES AND VALLEYS FROM PENNSYLVANIA’S LEBANON AND LANCASTER COUNTIES. THESE SETTLERS BROUGHT  THE CUSTOM OF PLACING HEX SIGNS ON THEIR BARNS. I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT THIS WAS THE ONLY SECTION OF  THE STATE WHERE HEX SIGNS COULD BE FOUND AT AN EARLY DATE ON FARM BUILDINGS. SINCE THESE FAMILIES  PRESERVED THEIR LANGUAGE AND OLD WORLD CUSTOMS AND BECAUSE THE TOPOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE REMINDED  THEM OF THEIR ANCESTRAL HOME, THIS VALLEY BECAME KNOWN AS GERMAN SETTLEMENT OR GERMAN VALLEY.  GERMAN VALLEY WAS CRISS-CROSSED BY THE FAMOUS SENECA TRAIL. NEARBY FORT SEYBERT AND FORT UPPER  TRACT HAD BEEN DESTROYED IN INDIAN UPRISINGS LEAD BY “KILLBUCK”, A WHAWNEE CHIEFTAIN IN 1758.  DURING 1762, TO PROTECT THE BORDER SETTLEMENTS FROM INDIAN RAIDS, THE HENCKELS BUILT A STOCKAGE  FORT, APTLY NAMED HENCKELS FORT.”
 THE ABOVE INFORMATION WAS FROM THE WONDERFUL WEST VIRGINIA MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2000 BY DR. KENNETH  H. DARVELL, RETIRED FORESTRY PROFESSIOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY.

MEMBERS OF THE HENKEL FAMILY WERE ALSO RESPONSIBLE  FOR HAVING THE 1ST PRINTING PRESS IN NEW  MARKET, VIRGINIA. THERE IS A BOOK ABOUT THEM THAT I AM CURRENTLY SEARCHING FOR: THE HENKELS, EARLY  PRINTERS IN NEW MARKET, VIRGINIA. WRITTEN BY - ALBERT SYDNEY EDMONDS. SOLOMON AND AMBROSE HENKEL  ESTABLISHED A PRINTING PRESS IN 1806. THEY PURBLISHED, AMONG OTHER ITEMS, CHURCH MINUTES,  PAMPHLETS, SMALL GRADED SCHOOL BOOKS AND HYMNALS. IN 1807 AMBROSE BEGAN THE PUBLICATION OF THE  FIRST GERMAN NEWSPAPER IN THE SOUTH, “VIRGINIA AND NEW MARKET POPULAR INSTRUCTOR AND WEEKLY NEWS”.  NEARLY ALL OF THE PUBLICATIONS WERE IN GERMAN; SOME PAMPHLETS WERE IN ENGLISH. HENKEL FAMILY  PAPERS, CORRESPONDENCE, AND ITEMS PRINTED BY THEIR PRESS HAVE BEEN PRESERVED IN THE RARE BOOKS AND  MANUSCRIPTS COLLECTIONS AT THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY, THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA AND DUKE  UNIVERSITY.

OUR FAMILY BECOMES PART OF THE HARMON  (Larry Hinkle’s Mothers family) FAMILY IN 1777 WHEN ISAAC  HARMAN MARRIES CHRISTINA HINKLE. THE STORY IS THAT ISAAC TOOK CHRISTINA TO HARMAN HILLS, VIRGINIA  ON HORSEBACK. THERE WAS ONLY A NARROW PATH THROUGH THE WILDERNESS. HE BUILT THEM A LOG HOME AT THE  FOOT OF NORTH MOUNTAIN NEAR HARMAN HILLS. THERE THEY HAD 11 CHILDREN.

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I RECENTLY CAME ACROSS ANOTHER BOOK CALLED THE HENKEL MEMORIAL WHICH WAS PUBLISHED IN 1910 BY  THE “HENKEL & COMPANY” WHICH WAS LOCATED IN NEW MARKET, VIRGINIA. THE AUTHOR WAS AMBROSE L.  HENKEL, ESQUIRE. IT TALKS ABOUT HOW OUR ANCESTOR REVERAND ANTHONY JACOB HENKEL AND HIS SON-IN-LAW   VALENTINE GEIGER WHO BOUGHT LAND NEXT TO EACH OTHER AFTER ARRIVING IN PENNSYLVANIA IN 1717. THIS  LAND WAS PURCHASED FROM WILLIAM PENN AND IT WAS PART OF 22,025 ACRES PURCHASED BY MANY FAMOUS  GERMAN FAMILIES. IT WAS LOCATED IN NOW WHAT IS KNOWN AS NEW HANOVER , PENNSYLVANIA.