In 1692, fresh out of Giessen University and still in his 23rd year, Anthony Jacob Henckel became the pastor of the Lutheran Church in the village of Eschelbronn. He was called to this village in the Palatinate by Baron Johann Anton von der Felz and his brother Herr Johann Philipp von der Felz. These Barons ruled the life of the village, including the church.
Eschelbronn was an old village. Though it claims to have been inhabited in Roman times, it takes its founding date, 789 A.D., from the date in the Lorsch Codex. That document lists the town as “Ascenbrunnen in Creich gowe” (Eschelbronn in Kraichgau today). The Thirty Years' War, and the invasions by the French in 1674 and in 1689-98, left the village in a very sad condition. The population was rebuilt by returnees, and by immigrants from Switzerland, other parts of Germany, and Holland. The area was still rebuilding when Henckel started as pastor.
He had left his homeland of Hesse, where the Lutheran Church was strong, and was starting where the Lutheran Church was weak. Not only did the village have to rebuild, but the Church was weak and struggling against the Elector, who would have liked to see all Protestant Churches disappear.
Henckel was ordained in Eschelbronn, and left, in his own handwriting, a record of that event. From the reproduced record, one can see that his handwriting was clear and strong and better than 99% of his fellow Germans. Two months after his ordination, Henckel married his second cousin, Maria Elizabeth Dentzer, who was the daughter of a preacher. So, presumably, she had some inkling of what was in store for her. The wedding was performed by her father, who described the marriage, in full, as, "On April 25, Mr. Antonius Jacobus Henckel Pastor of Eschelbronn has been married." This was the description by the bride's father. (The father of Maria Elizabeth and the mother of Anthony Jacob were first cousins.)
Additions to the family came quickly. Nine months and 23 days after the wedding, the first child, a son, was born. Unfortunately the baby was weak and it died within three months. The next child, Johanna Barbara, was strong (b. 1694), and she lived to come to America in 1717, though by that time she had her own family, including a son. Johanna was named for the pastor in the village two away from Eschelbronn. The second name, Barbara, was the name of that pastor's wife. (This was the only time that a husband and wife served as godparents or sponsors for one of the Henckel's twelve children.) This pastor, two villages over in Daudenzell, was a part of the Lutheran Church of Hesse, not of the Palatinate.
Life was not easy for the young Henckel couple. The successor to Henckel in the church described the parsonage as being in a deplorable condition and almost unfit for human habitation.
(25 Feb 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.