This book provides a fascinating account from diaries of the life of the Lutheran minister Paul Hinkle and his wife as they traveled by horse and buggy on missionary trips through the mid-Atlantic states in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Their travels took them on many trips to North Carolina and to Pendleton County, Virginia (West Virginia). They lived at short intervals in Sheperdstown and Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The diaries were translated from German to English by the late Reverend William J. Finck in the 1930s.

Reverend Henkel was born in Rowan County, North Carolina but moved with his parents (Jacob & Barbara Hinkle) to what is now Pendleton and Grant Counties, West Virginia where he spent much of his boyhood and went to school. The diaries tell of Paul and his brother Moses going to a school close to or in the fort where his grandfather John Justus Henkle lived. The fort is known as Hinkle's Fort and was located in Germany Valley near present Riverton in Pendleton County. An Indian attack is mentioned that probably occurred in the county near the North Fork River.

Paul preached numerous times in churches and homes in Pendleton County and was even a resident for a few years. His brother Moses Henkel was one of the officers that formed Pendleton County and is listed on the monument at Ruddle that commemorates the formation of the county. Paul's sister Christina married Isaac Herman (Harman) and lived in Germany Valley. Paul's mother, the former Barbara Dieter (Teter), lived for many years in the county. Local names mentioned in the diaries besides Harman, Hinkle and Teter include Arbogast, Bennett, Herber (Harper), Mallo (Mallow), Propst and Trambauer (Trumbo).

The diaries chronicle the many places Paul Henkel journeyed to and lived, the people he knew and lodged with, the ministry he performed, the places where he preached and the many hardships he and his wife endured in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. A wealth of genealogical records includes scores of marriages, funerals and baptisms performed by Reverend Henkel in Shenandoah, Page, and Rockingham Counties, Virginia and adjoining states. Paul lived much of his life at New Market, Virginia where he and his wife are buried at Emmanuel Lutheran Church.

Two of Paul Henkel's sons, Solomon and Ambrose, established the Henkel Press at New Market, Virginia in 1806.

Cost is $48 including handling and shipping. Make checks payable to Henckel Association.