Jacob Hinkle (abt. 1733 - 1789)

Born about 1733 in Colebrookdale, Berks Co, Pa

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1789 at about age 56 in Lincoln, North Carolina, United States

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Biography

Jacob was born after 1732. He was the son of Johann Henckel and Anna Ritter. He passed away in 1789.

For a period of several decades it was widely believed that this Jacob Henckel (Jacob Henckel of Spread Eagle) was the same person as John Balthasar Henckel, son of [HG#4] George Rudolphus Henckel, and the name Jacob Balthasar was invented for him. Recent research has shown that they were two separate persons. See the profile of John Balthasar Henckel/Johann Balthasar Hinkle.

The following is part of an article by Robert L. Hess entitled "Jacob Hinkle of Spread Eagle" in the HENCKEL GENEALOGICAL BULLETIN, Vol 33, No 2 (Fall 2002), pgs 1306-15. See page 1328 for more about the Spread Eagle. Numbers in brackets refer to notes following the article.

Children of John Gerhard Anthony and Anna Catharina (Ritter) Henckel:

5. Jacob Hinkle was born evidently about 1733, following the birth of [HG#24] John Hinkle, who was born about 1730, and before [HG#25] Susanna Margaretha's birth ca. 1735-36, for their father Gerhard Henckel died in 1736. Jacob's mother, incidentally, was Anna Catharina, daughter of John Ritter.[1] She soon remarried, to Thomas Wilson in l737.[2] Jacob grew up with his siblings, older step-siblings, and younger half-siblings on the Wilson's place in Colebrookdale Township.

Jacob married about 1761, possibly to Christina (_?_).[3] Jacob was a tanner, and in 1760 he and his young family moved to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.[4] This was about the same time that his brothers George and John, together with married sisters Maria Junt/Yond/Yount and Susanna Miller/Muller, all moved to Lancaster County.[5] Jacob settled near the village of Ephrata, not far from his brother George. Jacob's daughter Susanna died there in 1769, age two, and is buried in the same cemetery plot with two young sons of George and Barbara Hinkle in the union cemetery near Ephrata.[6] Jacob Hinkle and his family remained there for twelve years, during which term Jacob's first six children were born. On 3 October 1768 Jacob Hinkle purchased 2 1/2 acres of land near Germantown and Philadelphia from Peter Hinkle that the latter had inherited from his father [HG#6] Anthony.[7] Jacob sold this land in l783.[8]

By the year 1769 Jacob was married to Christina, for on 28 June 1770 Jacob and Christina had a child baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church of Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania, which was on the main road between Lancaster and Philadelphia. Son Benjamin was born 12 Mar 1770. The baptismal sponsor was the "mother (the father is absent)."[11]

On 1 July 1772 Jacob purchased ninety acres of land and buildings in Radnor Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.[12] This property included the Spread Eagle, an inn on the Philadelphia-Lancaster Road, twelve miles from Philadelphia.[13] In December 1772 Jacob Hinkle of Radnor Township, Chester County, and [his brother] George Hinkle of Earl Township, Lancaster County, purchased the respective services of two indentured servants at Philadelphia.[14] On 1 April 1778, during the Revolutionary War, Jacob Hinkle of Chester County signed the oath of allegiance to Pennsylvania.[15] He operated the Spread Eagle tavern for five years, through 1777.[16] He and wife Christiana sold it along with their 90 acres of land in October 1779.[17]

By the early 1780s Jacob and his family were next residing in Frederick County, Maryland, in the immediate locality of the family of his first-cousin [HG#42] Balthasar Hinkle. Records there from 1781 through 1783 show that these two families belonged to the same church.[18]

In late 1784 or early 1785 Jacob Hinkle and his family moved to Lincoln County, North Carolina, where in 1785 he purchased a farm of several hundred acres on Dutchman's Creek from Hugh Blair, and in 1786 he borrowed 13 pounds.[19]

Rev. Paul Henkel in 1785 received a letter from Jacob Hinkle of North Carolina: "He was my father's first cousin and already an old man." Rev. Paul Henkel says Rowan County, but in 1785 Lincoln joined Rowan, and this is the only Jacob Hinkle in North Carolina to fit the description. Joseph, son of Jacob, in a letter to [HG#527] Rev. David Henkel [son of Rev. Paul] calls him cousin.[21]

Jacob Hinkle died in Lincoln County, North Carolina, between March 1789 when he purchased whiskey from George Sides and 30 July 1789 when James Johnson signed a receipt for money received from the estate of Jacob Hinkle. Christina qualified as administratrix of his substantial estate. Jacob's inventory included tanner's tools and a note against "Jacob Hinkle, potter" - he is not called a potter. On 30 December 1796 Jacob's farm was sold at auction to Anthony Hinkle to satisfy a court order. The widow Christina married Benjamin Seitz after 25 August 1792 and prior to 24 June 1793 when she was cited for debt to Thomas Hill,[22] and during 1793 Benjamin Seitz/Sides signed notes and receipts regarding Jacob Hinkle's estate.[23]

In his place, Jacob's son Jacob Hinkle [Jr.] appeared in 1790 as head of family in the census of Lincoln Ccunty.[24] Either Benjamin Seitz died or this second marriage failed, for by 1800 Christina was again using the surname Hinkle. She appears in the censuses of Lincoln County, North Carolina, in 1800, 1810, and 1820 as Christina or Widow Hinkle.[25]

Children of Jacob and (perhaps Christina) Hinckle:
+ i. Maria Elisabeth Hinckel, born 5 July 1762, Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
+ ii. Jacob Hinkle, Jr., born 17 February 1764, Cocalico Township. Lancaster County.
+ i. Anthony Hinkle, born 15 December 1765, Cocalico Township.
+ ii. Susanna Hinckle, born 1 February 1767, Cocalico Township, Lancaster County.

Children of Jacob and Christina (-?-) Hinckle:
+ iii. Benjamin Hinckel, born 12 March 1770, probably Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
+ iv. Joseph Hinkle, born about 1777.[26]
+ v. William Hinkle was born about 1778 (or possibly before 1765).
+ vi. Magdalena Hinckle, born 6 Apr11 1781, Frederick County. Maryland.
+ vii. Ludwig "Lewis" Hinkle, born 18 November 1783, Frederick County,
Maryland. + viii. Jonathan Hinckle, born 9 May 1785, Lincoln County. North Carolina.

1. "Will of John Ritter", Chester County, PA, dated 7 May 1727 (prov. 7 June 1727, recorded Chester County, PA, Will Book A:245-246), mentions his daughter "Katherine Hangel" and her husband "Gerrard Hangel" [Gerhard Henckel]. See further the HENCKEL GENEALOGICAL BULLETIN 790-91, 903, 906. Note no maiden name is given for Gerhard Henckel's wife in THE HENCKEL GENEALOGY, 63.
2. THE HENCKEL GENEALOGY, 63.
3. At the baptisms of Jacob's children recorded in 1770 and thereafter his wife was identified as Christina. Previous researchers assumed that he may have had an earlier wife, the reason apparent]y being simply that Jacob's known children were born over a span of about 23 years.
4. A testimonial from the magistrates of Lancaster County, PA, in support of Jacob Hinkle's petition for a license to operate a tavern in Chester County, PA: 4 August 1772, ". . . Jacob Hinkle, tanner, . . . hath resided in this county [Lancaster] for the term of twelve years [since 1760]. . . ." Original of petition at the Chester County Historical Society, West Chester, PA; Vol. 23:82.
5. See THE HENCKEL GENEALOGY, pages 64-69. The annual tax rolls of Lancaster County in the late 1760s show Jacob Hin(c)kle in Cocalico Township until 1772. George Hinkle/Hinkell in Earl Township, John Hinkle in Conestoga Township, George Yount/Yound in Earl Township, and Henry Miller (several listed in Lancaster County). Microfilm copies of these tax rolls at the Lancaster County Historical Society.
6. Susanna, daughter of Jacob Hinckel, died 16 Apri1 1769; age 2 years, 2 months, 15 days. George Michael, infant son of George and Barbara Hinkle, died 8 March 1769; age 4 years, 8 months, 11 days. Henry, son of George and Barbara Hinkle, died 8 April 1774; age 3 months, 14 days. "Register of Cocalico Reformed Church" under burials. Likewise inscribed on gravestones in the Bergsstrasse Lutheran Church Cemetery, as read by William F. Worner; records at the Lancaster County, PA, Historical Society.
7. THE HENCKEL GENEALOGY, 894.
8. Philadelphia County, PA, Deed Book D7, pages 76-78: 31 May 1783. Jacob Hinkle of Radnor Township, Chester County, tanner, sold for 42 pounds to Sebastian Miller 2½ acres in Germantown adjoining the respective lands of Anthony Hinkle and Charles Hinkle, it being the same land sold by Peter Hinkle and wife Salome to Jacob Hinkle on 3 October 1768.

11. Rev. J. W. Early, "Trinity Lutheran Church of Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania" 1 (Schuylkill Roots), 54.
12. Chester County, PA, Deed Book T-19, page 261: 1 July 1772. Adam and Rachel Ramsower sold to Jacob Hinkel 90 acres on a road in Radnor Township, Chester County, with improvements.
13. Petition for tavern license, Chester County, 4 Aug 1772: "Whereas Jacob Hinkle . . . is now moving to Chester County, with an intention to keep a house of entertainment on the road leading from Philadelphia to Lancaster, at the tavern of the Spread Eagle . . ."
14. Records of Indentures in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1771-1773 in "Proceedings of the Pennsylvania German Society" (1907), 172.
15. R. T. & M. C. Williams. "Oaths of Allegiance. Chester County, Pennsylvania, Taken before Justices of the Peace 1775-1785" (Dansboro, PA, 1974), 52.
16. Annual petitions each signed by "Jacob Hinkel," for permission to continue operating the Spread Eagle tavern in Chester County: submitted each year 1773 through 1777 (originals at Chester County Historical Society).
17. Chester County, PA, Deed Book DX:381-382: 1 Oct 1779, Jacob Hinkel and wife Christiana sold their 90 acres in Radnor Township, including the buildings, to Benjamin Penrose, tanner, for 20,000 pounds.
18. Register of the Lutheran church at Frederick, MD (original, in German, on LDS microfilm 002047). Jacob Hinckel and wife Christina had two children baptized at Frederick (Magdalena, born 6 April and baptized 30 April 1781; and Ludwig, born 18 November 1783 and baptized 15 January 1784), while Balthasar Henckel and wife Elisabetha had five children baptized there between 1770 and 1782. Three of Jacob's children were confirmed at Frederick, one in 1781 and two in 1783; four of Balthasar's children were confirmed there between 1779 and 1790. Of these, Balthasar's son Jesse was confirmed on the same day in 1783 as Jacob's sons Anthon and Jacob. And Magdalena, daughter of Jacob and Christina Hinckel, was buried at Frederick on 18 July 1782.
19. Lincoln County, NC, Deed Book 3:89; HENCKEL GENEALOGICAL BULLETIN, page 75. Dutchman's Creek now lies in the northern part of Gaston County.

21. Melvin L. Miller, edit., "The Autobiography and Chronological Life of Reverend Paul Henkel" (Reverend Anthony Jacob Henckel Family National Association, 2002), Inc., 29.
22. "Estate file of Jacob Hinkle of Lincoln County, NC;" NC State Archives. One of the many unnumbered slips of paper reads "my husband Jacob Hinkle Deceased" and was signed by her mark as "Cristena [sic] Light Excr." (Photocopies of file in possession of Editor.) See also HENCKEL GENEALOGICAL BULLETIN, 179-81.
23. Lincoln County, NC, Superior Court, Jan 1795: in a complaint of £500 owed, Benjamin Light/Sight/Seitz was named as the defendant "in right of his wife Christiana Light [Seitz] alias Hinkle, administratrix of Jacob Hinkle deceased." Christina acknowledged the debt and agreed to be answerable "as far as I have property of the deceased in my hands."
24. 1790 US Population Census. Lincoln County, NC, NARA M637-7, p. 114.
25. US Population Censuses, Lincoln County, NC: 1800 NARA M32-29, p. 828: Christina Hinckle over 45, with 2 males and 1 female aged 16-26; 1810 NARA M252-40, p. 365: Widow Hinkle 1 female over 45; 1820 NARA M33-83, p. 354: Christina Hinkle, females 1 under 10, 1 over 45.
26. Joseph's birth year is estimated here from his reported age in four census records of Chester County, SC: 60-70 years in 1840; 50-60 in 1830; 26-45 in 1820; and 26-45 also in 1810. The age on his gravestone when he died in 1849 was reported to have been 82 years, but this appears to have been mis-transcribed. [age in 1820 is wrong; see notes under Joseph]

SPREAD EAGLE TAVERN:

See The Wayside Inns on the Lancaster Roadside Between Philadelphia and Lancaster by Julius F. Sachse; Lancaster, Pa, 1912; pgs 28-43.

https://books.google.com/books?id=IUcVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=Spread+Eagle+Tavern+Radnor&source=bl&ots=ELE-AkjHeu&sig=8_vreIW5K3ks-HeDk8kA2I55-s0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CFgQ6AEwCWoVChMIx8XS1NuIxwIVjD6ICh2cfwoN#v=onepage&q=Spread%20Eagle%20Tavern%20Radnor&f=false

Sources

Research article by Robert L. Hess entitled "Jacob Hinkle of Spread Eagle" in the HENCKEL GENEALOGICAL BULLETIN, Vol 33, No 2 (Fall 2002), pgs 1306-15.