Heinrich LENHART, REV.
Birth:
22 Jul 1784
York Twp, Dover, York, Pennsylvania
Death:
8 Mar 1862
Father:
Sources:
First Reformed & Trinity Frist Reformed Church of York records, Page 88
Notes:
From the book the History of Lycoming County, 1892, by Meginnis, we findthe following
about Henry: he was appointed the county commissioner several times;conducted the
first Masonic Funeral and it says "in his peculiar and loud tone of voiceconducted an
impressive service."; in 1828 he was clerk to the county commissionersand furnished the
horse and vehicle, with the driver his son, Godfrey Lenheart, to carryluggage and
supplies.
In another book, 1873 Atlas and History of Lycoming County, there arealso many entries.
"In the spring of 1811, Henry came from what was called Little York, PAand commenced
the manufacture of hats on the corner of 3rd and Pine Street(Williamsport)." He was also
the first druggist and in 1815 opened a drug store at the same address.Henry is the first
Notary Public listed being appointed April 19, 1837 and is listed underJustices of the
Peace for the First District, composed of the Twp. of Loyalstock, Muncyand part
of Washington: Henry Lenheart 2 May 1821.
John L. Lenhart, Chaplain of the Cumberland, by Charles Berkheimer, 1966:
Big Burly and impulsive -- these adjectives used to describeChaplain John Lenhart equally applied to his father, local preacher Rev.Henry Lenhart. He was born in York in 1783, where his father GodfreyLenhart was a prominent citizen - a silversmith and clock maker whosestore was on Market Square, and who served as county commissioner1787-1790 and county sheriff 1792-1795. His mother was the former MaryElizabeth Harbaugh, daughter of pioneer Yost Harbaugh.
Henry Lenhart was a local preacher as early as 1810, for he islisted that year among the preachers attending Low's camp Meeting nearShrewsbury. In 1811, he moved his family to Williamsport, where he established a factory for the manufacture of hats in a two-story housebuilt in 1810 by Joseph Alexander on the southeast corner of Third and Pine Streets. he bought the building in 1811 and put a one storyaddition to the east of it to house his hat store. Four years later, in1815, he changed the addition into Williamsport's first drug store. In1821 Major Charles Low became a partner of Henry Lenhart, but a yearlater he erected his own building and established his own business.
A local preacher when he arrived in Williamsport, he became veryactive in the affairs of the extensive Old Lycoming Circuit of theSusquehanna District of the Genesee Conference (not to be confused withthe present smaller Lycoming Circuit established in 1832 after theterritory had come into the Northumberland District of the BaltimoreConference), serving as a circuit steward, etc. Area Methodists at thattime worshipped at Lycoming Chapel, a primitive structure erected in 1804on the site of today's Calvary Church.
Fearless and outspoken, Lenhart was the subject of several chargeswhich brought him to trial in those early days. Once he was convicted ofnot keeping his word in a contract with another Methodist. On anotheroccasion he was convicted of using profanity in the heat of a passionateargument. The old Quarterly Conference minute book records, for example,follow extended consideration of such case:
April 12, 1817
Henry Lenhart shall not exercise office of deacon in our church norany longer be considered a preacher among us and that he remain on trialof 6 months. Must acknowledge the following words:
1. I confess that I have frequently taken the name of God in vain.
2. that I Have indulged in sinful tempers.
3. that I acted improperly in case of Mr. Henderson.
April 1818
Henry Lenhart made application to be restored again to his formerstanding in the church. Conference having considered the case of HenryLenhart and although there is no doubt but that the decision of theConference which tried the case was just, and that he was guilty ofcrimes laid to his charge, yet they are of the opinion that theseexpressions, spoken in the heat of passion, have escaped the memory andthat if he could distinctly recollect them he would with humilityacknowledge the facts. Therefore, Conference sincerely desiring hissalvation, and observing in him marks of contrition, agree to receive himsociety as a private member.
April 1818
Application made by Lycoming congregation for Henry Lenhart'srestoration. The vote was put whether he should be restored to theoffice of preacher and was carried. The second vote was taken to restorehim to deacon's orders and was carried.
Rev. Lenhart was apparently welcomed back with no reservations, forhe was soon a circuit steward again and one of the trustees of the firstMethodist building erected on Pine Street in 1824. Indeed, it wasprobably because of him and Jermiah Tallman, who had opened the firstshoemaker's shop on Pine Street (where the L.L. Stearns Store now stands)that the Pine Street site was selected. He was quite human, but adevoted Christian leader through it all - truly one of the pillars andpioneers of Methodism in frontier Williamsport. He was still alive inthe early 1850's, but the exact date of his death appears to have beenlost to history. (article continued under John L. Lenhart, Henry's son)
(article continued from Mary Lenhart's Note's page)
For those who are genealogically inclined, more is known of theLenhart family. Henry's father Godfrey was one of nine children of theimmigrants Johan Peter and Maria Margaretha Lenhart - the other knowchildren being Anna Margaret, Philip, Frederick, Johan Jacob and JohanGeorge. henry's brother William Yost Lenhart was a prominentmathematician and poet. Henry's son, Godfrey, as a lad of 14, became thedriver of the conveyance which took the surveyors from Williamsport torun the new boundary line of Tioga County, which was then being takenfrom Lycoming. he served in the Mexican War and when the Civil War wasdeclared, even though he was about 45 years old, he enlisted and servedin numerous engagements. In 1864 he contracted typhoid fever, wasfurloughed, and died while recuperating at his home in Bath, N.Y. HisMarch 9, 1864, Williamsport obituary states that he was "the son of Rev.Henry Lenhart, recently deceased."
May we never cease to be inspired by stories like the one ofChaplain John L. Lenhart, and may the Methodist families of CentralPennsylvania continue to demonstrate and pass along to their childrenChristian Valor and commitment.
Source: History of York County From One Thousand Seven Hundred andNineteen to the Present Time, compiled from authenticated sources by I.Daniel Rupp, Published and Sold by Gilbert Hills, Proprietor, Lancaster,Pa., 1845, a letter to military forces leaving Pennsylvania:
York Town, Nov. 18th, 1783
To Brigadier General Armand Marquis De La Rouerie.
Hearing that your legion is about to be disbanded, and that you will
soon return to your native county, we, the inhabitants of York, in
Pennsylvania, express to you the high sense we entertain of the strict
discipline, good conduct and deportment of the officers and soldiers ofyour
corps while stationed amongst us for ten months past.
We return to you our hearty thanks, as well for the service rendered
to America in the field, as for the attention you have paid to theproperty
and civil rights of the people. Be pleased to communicate our sentimentsto
Major Shaffner, and all your worthy officers, and assure them we shallever
hold them in the greatest esteem.
We pray that you may have an agreeable passage across the ocean, and
that you may receive from your illustrious actions, performed in supportof
liberty and the honor of the allied arms, and are with great regard your
most, &c.
James Smith, Thomas Hartley, Archibald M'Clean, William Bailey,David
Jameson, George Stake, David Grier, John Johnson, Michael Graybil,Zacheus
Shughart, George Gibon, Henry Miller, Andrew Billmeyer, Frederick Younce,
Edward Langworthy, George Lewis Leffler, John Ehrman, Robert Dunn, JacobHay,
Joseph Rothrock, Martin Kreber, John McPherson, Baltzer Spangler, Edward
Crawford, Michael Everly, H. Alexander, Godfrey Lenhart, James Edie,David
Caulder, Conrad Laub, Michael Hahn.
Mary LEVERTZ
Birth:
Death:
17 Apr 1854
Williamsport, Lycoming, Pennsylvania
Father:
Blocked
Mother:
Blocked
Notes:
Her obituary from the Christian Advocate dated June 8 1854 as follows:"LENHART, MRS. MARY wife of Reverand Henry Lenhart of Williamsport. DiedApril 17, in Williamsport, Mrs. Mary, wife of Reve Henry Lenhart and Rev.John Lenhart, of the N.J. Conference aged 67. She obtained religion inher 14th year and immediately united with the M.E. Church. Member 53years. She was among the first Methodists of this place and had, in thoseearly days to suffer much opposition and persecution from a wicked world,which she endured as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Her house was theplace for holding meetings for many years, and of entertaining many ofthe father of the Methodism - - among them may be named Bishops Roberts,McKendree, Whatcoat and Asbury."
(article continued from John L. Lenhart's Notes page)
But what of Chaplain's mother? What was her contribution towardshis valor and commitment? While history frequently fails to remember itsdaughters as it does its sons, that most fortunately was not the case forRev. Henry Lenhart's wife Mary. Her obituary appeared in the ChristianAdvocate for June 8, 1854, as follows:
LENHART, MRS. MARY
wife of Rev. Henry Lenhart of Williamsport
Died April 17, in Williamsport, Mrs. Mary, wife of Rev. Henry Lenhart andmother of Rev. John L. Lenhart of the N.J. Conference aged 67. Sheobtained religion in her 14th year and immediately united with the M.E.Church. Member 53 years. She was among the first Methodists of thisplace and had, in those early days, to suffer much opposition andpersecution from a wicked world, which she endured as a good soldier ofJesus Christ. Her house was the place for holding meetings for manyyears, and of entertaining many of the father of Methodism - and amongthem may be named Bishops Roberts, McKendree, Whatcoat and Asbury.
Certainly Mary Lenhart was a woman of valor and conviction. But itis the last line of the obituary, together with certain facts known aboutRev. Henry Lenhart, that opens the door for further speculation. TheLenhart home in Williamsport was not "the place for holding meetings formany years," nor could the entertaining of the bishops named in theobituary have occurred in Williamsport. It is clear that this finalstatement refers to her girlhood home.
Would it not be reasonable to conjecture that Mrs. Henry Lenhart wasthe daughter of John Low, south of Shrewsbury? What other CentralPennsylvania home could so be described as a place of meeting andentertainment? Furthermore, the presence of local pastor Henry Lenhartof York at the 1810 session of Low's Camp Meeting establishes aconnection - as does the partnership in Williamsport of Henry Lenhartwith one Charles Low. While research reveals no lists of either thedescendants of the Shrewsbury Lows or with the ancestors of theWilliamsport Lows, it is not uncommon for in-laws to follow theirrelations from York County to Williamsport and to enter into businesswith them.
Children
Marriage
1
Birth:
29 Oct 1805
Lock Haven, Clinton, Pennsylvania
Death:
8 Mar 1862
Hampton Roads, Virginia
Notes:
Sought and received an appointment as Chaplain of the Navy and took oathon March 15, 1847. He served on the Frigate Brandywine and receivingship North Carolina. He was due to go to Africa aboard the USSConstellation, but his wife was dying from breast cancer and he gotpermission to stay home until she passed away in 1862. After her death,he was assigned aboard the U.S. Sloop of War Cumberland. On March 8,1862 at the battle of North Hampton Roads in Virginia, his ship wasrammed and sunk by the Confederate iron-clad CSS Virginia (Merrimac)where he went down with his ship.
From Staten Island Genealogical Resources via web: - Lenhart, Rev. JohnL.; Born: 10/29/1805; Died: 03/08/1862; Entered Service: U.S.N.Cumberland Chaplain; Muster into GAR: Post 163; Cemetery: BC BethelCemetery, Amboy Road and Bethel Ave., Tottenville, Staten Island; GeneralNotes: Drowned at Hampton Roads, VA.
Tombstone Marker reads: - "Erected by the Ministry and Laity of theNewark Conference of the M.E. Church". Lenhart, Ann, 679. Lenhart, JohnL., Rev., 234, 679. NOTE: the '679' refers to the Bethel MethodistEpiscopal Cemetery from the book by Leng, Davis and Vosburgh. (TombstoneMarker courtesy of Bob O'Connor - Genealogist, NY).
He was referred to as a citizen of Tottenville.
He had a Grand Army of the Republic Post named after him - number 163 -that existed from 1880-1924.
The following is an excerpt from the booklet "Sea Padres: Some Chaplainsof 'The Old
Navy'", by CDR H. Lawrence Martin, CHC, USN and LT Timothy J. Demy, CHC,USNR, 1984.
This excerpt was found on the Bangor Naval Base homepage on the web.
Chaplain John Lenhart, USN (1805-1862)
" At the outbreak of the Civil War there were 24 chaplains serving inthe Navy, but only one, John Lenhart, was in U.S. waters
with the Home Squadron. He was the first Navy chaplain to be killed inaction.
Born 29 October 1805, Lenhart, a Methodist, was commissioned as achaplain 8 March 1847. His initial orders were to (the ship) Brandywine.
In October 1860, after an assignment in New York, Lenhart was orderedto the 40-gun frigate Cumberland, which served as flagship for the HomeSquadron. During the Civil War Cumberland served with the North AtlanticBlockading Squadron. On 8 March 1862 the
Cumberland was rammed and sunk at Newport News, Virginia in a battle withthe
Confederate ironclad Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack). Cumberland wentdown with 150 men, Chaplain Lenhart being among them. Cumberland wentdown with her guns firing.
She settled into the mud with her topmast just above the water and stillflying her colors.
No other Navy chaplain would die in battle until 7 December 1941, whenChaplains Thomas
L. Kirkpatrick and Aloysius H. Schmitt were to lose their lives aboardArizona and Oklahoma.
During World War II, a small chapel, the Lenhart Oratory, a part ofthe larger Royce Chapel at the Naval Training Center, Sampson, New York,was erected in memory of Chaplain
Lenhart."
1840 Cumberland County, NJ, Deerfield Twp., Bridgeton, page 138:
Rev. John L. Lenhart
One Male 30 & under 40
One Femail 15 and under 20
One Female 40 and under 50.
1850 Census, Essex County, JN, S. Ward, page 248:
Dwelling 672, Family 1045
John Lenhart, Male, 44, Chaplain USN, Born PA
Ann Lenhart, Female, age 47, Born Maryland
Mary Wright, Female, age 11, Born England.
2
Gottfried LENHART
Birth:
1815
Death:
9 Mar 1864
Bath, New York
Marr:
Notes:
Godfrey served in the Mexican War and, even though 45 years old, enlistedduring the Civil War and fought in numerous engagements. In 1864 hecontacted typhoid fever and while recuperating at home, passed away. TheMarch 9, 1864 Williamsport obituary states that he was "the son of theRev. Henry Lenhart recently deceased."
Godfrey also was the driver of the carriage his father provided to thecounty commissioners and carried luggage and supplies. He also drove thesurveyors who did the boundaries for Lycoming County .
4
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FamilyCentral Network
Heinrich Lenhart, Rev. - Mary Levertz
Heinrich Lenhart, Rev.
was born at York Twp, Dover, York, Pennsylvania 22 Jul 1784.
His parents were Gottfried Lenhart and Mary Elizabeth Holtzinger Harbaugh.
He married Mary Levertz .
They were the parents of 6
children:
John L Lenhart, Rev., Lt. Commander
born 29 Oct 1805.
Gottfried Lenhart
born 1815.
Mary Lenhart
born 1818.
Blocked
Blocked
Blocked
Heinrich Lenhart, Rev. died 8 Mar 1862 .
Mary Levertz died 17 Apr 1854 at Williamsport, Lycoming, Pennsylvania .