Author: Henkel, Paul
Biography:
Henkel, Paul (1754-1825: WBIS)
Henkel's great-grandfather, Anthony Jacob Henckel, emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1717 as the first of a long line of German Lutheran ministers. Paul, son of Jacob and Mary Barbara (Teter or Dieter) Henkel, born in Rowan County NC, grew up speaking German as well as English. He at first trained as a cooper. He married Elizabeth Negley (or Negeley) in 1776; they had nine children. Henkel then studied to become a minister: he was licensed to preach in 1783 and ordained in 1792. From 1790 onward, the family home was in New Market VA, where Henkel trained four of his brothers and five of his sons for the ministry and provided Lutheran materials, both German and English, for the press established there by his sons Ambrose and Solomon--the first Lutheran publishing house in the US. But Henkel's main work was as an itinerant missionary and organizer of Lutheran congregations around the country, including Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. He kept it up till within a few weeks of his death at New Market in 1825. (ANBO 5 Mar. 2019; DAB)