Mary HELFENSTEIN

                       _Jonathan HELFENSTEIN _
 _Albert HELFENSTEIN _|
|                     |_Emeline BUSH _________
|
|--Mary HELFENSTEIN 
|
|                      _______________________
|_Matilda EARL _______|
                      |_______________________

Peter HELFENSTEIN (Rev.)

• BIRTH: ABT 1698, ,,Germany
• DEATH: ,,Germany
• BURIAL: ,,Germany

• REFERENCE: 464

• MARRIAGE: 1720/1723, ,,,Germany

1. Peter Philip HELPHENSTINE
2. Philip Jacob HELPHENSTINE
3. Wilhelm Thomas HELPHENSTINE
4. Mary Julia HELPHENSTINE

• MARRIAGE: BEF 1748, ,,Germany

1. John Conrad Albertus HELFENSTIEN
2. James Henry HELFENSTIEN

                        _John HELPHENSTINE _
 _Philip HELPHENSTINE _|
|                      |____________________
|
|--Peter HELFENSTEIN 
|
|                       ____________________
|______________________|
                       |____________________

Notes

! One of the Sovereign Territories of Germany, is a town or province called Helfenstein, near Geislingen An Der Steige, Baden-Wurttemberg; former Grafschaft. Member of the Schwabische Grafenkolleg with Reichstag vote controlled by Bavaria. Lands were divided among Reichestadt Ulm, Wurttemberg, and Bavaria; In 1810 nearly all its former territory was within Wurttemberg.

! Bayern (Bavaria), now a West German state; former kingdom and electoral principality; branches of the Wittelsbach Dynasty also ruled the Pjalz (Palatinate) and so the history of Bavaria and the Palatinate is closely related. Kurbayern (Electoral Bavaria) represented the Grafschaft Helfenstein in the Schwabische Grafenkolleg. Both Kurbayern (Electoral Bavaria) and the Duchy of Bavaria were members of the Catholic Corpus at the peace of Westphalia; the Wittlesbach Dynasty is Catholic. Bavaria was one of the larger principalities of the German Reich. The Wittelsbach Dynasty began as tribal leaders of the Bajuwaren; The family was divided into several lines, mainly Oberbayern (with the Rheinpfalz and the Electoral right) and Niederbayern which later became extinct. A later division weakened the dynasty and much territory was lost to competitors.

! The Estate of Grafschaft Helfenstein was represented by the Electoral Princes of Bavaria.

! The divisions and loss of territories and titles as given in the above paragraphs, are probably the reasons the Palatinates were exiting Germany by the thousands. The Helfensteins were German Lutheran, but were seemingly being forced into Catholicism. Those that didn't accept this, were forced to leave their beloved homeland, to seek freedom of religion elsewhere.

Samuel HELFENSTEIN (Sr.)

• BIRTH: 17 APR 1775, Philadelphia,Philadelphia Co.,Pa.
• CHRISTENING: 23 APR 1775, Philadelphia,Philadelphia Co.,Pa.,German Reformed
• DEATH: 17 OCT 1866, North Wales,Montgomery Co.,Pa.
• BURIAL: 1866, St. Peters,North Wales,Montgomery Co.,Pa.

• MARRIAGE: 18 AUG 1797, North Wales,Montgomery Co.,Pa.,St. Peters

1. Samuel HELFENSTEIN
2. Isaac HELFENSTEIN
3. Albert HELFENSTEIN
4. Jacob HELFENSTEIN
5. Emanuel HELFENSTEIN
6. Jonathan HELFENSTEIN

                                     _Peter HELFENSTEIN ____________
 _John Conrad Albertus HELFENSTIEN _|
|                                   |_Anna Margaretha (Dietz) HORN _
|
|--Samuel HELFENSTEIN 
|
|                                    _______________________________
|_Anna Catharine KARCHER ___________|
                                    |_______________________________

Notes

Samuel HELFENSTEIN (Jr.)

• BIRTH: 22 MAR 1800, Philadelphia,Philadelphia Co.,Pa.
• DEATH: 22 MAR 1869, North Wales,Montgomery Co.,Pa.
• BURIAL: 26 MAR 1869, St. Peters,North Wales,Montgomery Co.,Pa.

• MARRIAGE: BEF 1843, ,,Pa.

1. George Worll HELFENSTEIN
2. C. Annie HELFENSTEIN

                           _John Conrad Albertus HELFENSTIEN _
 _Samuel HELFENSTEIN _____|
|                         |_Anna Catharine KARCHER ___________
|
|--Samuel HELFENSTEIN 
|
|                          ___________________________________
|_Anna Christina STEITLE _|
                          |___________________________________

Notes

Samuel B. HELFENSTEIN

• BIRTH: ABT 5 MAY 1839, North Wales,Montgomery Co.,Pa.
• CHRISTENING: 5 MAY 1839, North Wales,Montgomery Co.,Pa.,St. Peters

                         _Samuel HELFENSTEIN _____
 _Jonathan HELFENSTEIN _|
|                       |_Anna Christina STEITLE _
|
|--Samuel B. HELFENSTEIN 
|
|                        _________________________
|_Emeline BUSH _________|
                        |_________________________

Notes

Unk HELFENSTEIN

                                     _John Conrad Albertus HELFENSTIEN _
 _Johann Philip (John) HELFENSTIEN _|
|                                   |_Anna Catharine KARCHER ___________
|
|--Unk HELFENSTEIN 
|
|                                    ___________________________________
|_Elizabeth LEONARD ________________|
                                    |___________________________________

William HELFENSTEIN

                                     _John Conrad Albertus HELFENSTIEN _
 _Johann Philip (John) HELFENSTIEN _|
|                                   |_Anna Catharine KARCHER ___________
|
|--William HELFENSTEIN 
|
|                                    ___________________________________
|_Elizabeth LEONARD ________________|
                                    |___________________________________

James Henry HELFENSTIEN

• BIRTH: 2 JUN 1751, ,,Germany

                                 _Philip HELPHENSTINE _
 _Peter HELFENSTEIN ____________|
|                               |______________________
|
|--James Henry HELFENSTIEN 
|
|                                ______________________
|_Anna Margaretha (Dietz) HORN _|
                                |______________________

Johann Philip (John) HELFENSTIEN

• BIRTH: ABT 1776, Philadelphia,Philadelphia Co.,Pa.

• MARRIAGE: ,,Pa.

1. Charles Philip HELFENSTEIN
2. William HELFENSTEIN
3. Unk HELFENSTEIN

                                     _Peter HELFENSTEIN ____________
 _John Conrad Albertus HELFENSTIEN _|
|                                   |_Anna Margaretha (Dietz) HORN _
|
|--Johann Philip (John) HELFENSTIEN 
|
|                                    _______________________________
|_Anna Catharine KARCHER ___________|
                                    |_______________________________

John Conrad Albertus HELFENSTIEN

• BIRTH: 16 FEB 1748, Moszbach,,Germany
• DEATH: 17 MAY 1790, Germantown,Philadelphia Co.,Pa.
• BURIAL: 19 MAY 1790, Philadelphia,Philadelphia Co.,Pa.

• MARRIAGE: 11 FEB 1773, Pa. Ger.Ref. Ch.,Philadelphia Co.,Pa.

1. Ludwig HELFENSTEIN
2. Samuel HELFENSTEIN
3. Johann Philip (John) HELFENSTIEN
4. Charles HELFENSTEIN
5. Jonathan HELFENSTEIN

                                 _Philip HELPHENSTINE _
 _Peter HELFENSTEIN ____________|
|                               |______________________
|
|--John Conrad Albertus HELFENSTIEN 
|
|                                ______________________
|_Anna Margaretha (Dietz) HORN _|
                                |______________________

Notes

! Source Notes: NAME: German Reformed Church records BIRTHDATE: Estimation; based on age listed in death records DEATHDATE: German Reformed Church records; p.579 DEATH PLACE: German Reformed Church records; p.579 MARRIAGE: "Early Marriage Records of Pennsylvania Churches"

! HELFFENSTEIN, JOHN ALBERT CONRAD (Feb. 16, 1748 - May 17, 1790), German Reformed clergyman, was born in Mosbach in the Palatinate, the son of Peter Helffenstein, Reformed pastor at Mosbach and Obrigheim and later at Heidelsheim and Sinsheim, by his wife, Anna Margaretha Dietz, widow of Johann Peter Helffrich. He matriculated May 7, 1764, at the University of Heidelberg and, after passing his theological examinations, was vicar to his father and other clergymen for several years. In 1771, he and his half-brother, John Henry Helffrich, were ordained by the synods of Holland for the Coetus of Pennsylvania and embarked Sept. 6 from Amsterdam. With them sailed John Gabriel Gebbard, who was the Reformed pastor from 1776 to 1826 at Claverack, N.Y. The voyage was a succession of head winds and violent storms, but on Jan. 14, 1772, with their provisions and water exhaused, the three missionaries landed safely at New York and were hospitably received by John Henry Livingston (q.v.). On their proceeding to Philadelphia, Helffrich was assigned to the Maxatawny charge in Berks and Lehigh counties, which he served until his death in 1810, and Helffenstein to Germantown and Frankford. His father, who would gladly have gone with him, wrote from time to time, sending him books, underwear, and matrimonial advice. On Feb. 11, 1773, Helffenstein married Catharine Kircher, who with four children survive him. Despite the strenous opposition of his parishioners, he left Germantown late in 1775 and accepted a call to the Reformed congregation at Lancaster. The best remembered events of his two and one-half years in that town were the mordant sermons that he preached to the interned Hessian prisoners on such texts as Isaiah lii,3, and John viii, 36. He returned as pastor to Germantown in the summer of 1779 and remained there until his death from consumption eleven years later. He was a zealous member of the Coetus, of which he was clerk in 1779 and 1787 and president in 1781 and 1788. He was famous throughout German Pennsylvania for the eloquence and pungency of his sermons. His methods of preparation and manner of delivery were carefully observed by his contemporaries, and so lasting was his reputation that twenty years after his death nineteen of his sermons were published as "Eine Sammlung Auserlesener Predigten" (Carlisle, 1810, and later editions). This was translated by Israel Daniel Rupp (q.v.) as a "A Collection of Choice Sermons" (1832), and in 1835 another "Sammlung Aurserlesener Predigten" was issued at Chambersburg. Helffenstein's eldest son, Samuel, was pastor for thirty years of the Reformed Church in Philadelphia. (Henry Harbaugh, "The Fathers of the German Reformed Church in Europe and America," Vol. II (Lancaster, 1858); J.H. Dubbs, "Some Helffenstein Letters," Lancaster County Hist. Soc. Papers, I (1896-97), 218-225; J.I. Good, "Hist. of the Reformed Church in the U.S., 1725-92" (Reading, 1899); "Minutes and Letters of the Coetus of the German Reformed Congregations in Pa. 1747-92" (1903); Gustav Toepke, "Die Matrikel der Universitat Heidelberg", vol IV (1903); Wm. J. Hinke, "Diary of the Rev. J.H. Helffrich Sept. 6, 1771-Jan. 14, 1772," Pa. Mag. of Hist. and Biog. Jan. 1914; additional notes by Prof. Hinke.) G.H.G.