BIO: John Hensel, Cumberland County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter

Copyright 2010.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/
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History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania.
Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, 
Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and 
Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and 
Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc.  Illustrated.  Chicago: Warner, Beers 
& Co., 1886.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm
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                                PART II.

             HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA.

                             CHAPTER XLVIII.

               HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP AND BOROUGH OF NEWBURG.

487  HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP.

  JOHN HENSEL, retired, Newburg, was born July 28, 1821, in this 
county, on a farm (now his property) which has been in possession of 
the Hensel family for sixty-seven years.  Christian Hensel, his father, 
was born January 15, 1794, and came from Saxony, settled there in 1816, 
and was married in 1820 to Mary Shoemaker, born March 17, 1785.  He had 
nothing when he came to this county; was a baker in Saxony and learned 
to still in America, and before his marriage had saved $200, which he 
invested in 200 acres of land.  He built a distillery on the farm and 
for many years worked at his trade.  John, his eldest son, relates that 
when a small boy he attended the still sometimes during the afternoons, 
and although a man sixty-five years of age has never tasted a drop of 
liquor, has never used tobacco, and has never sworn an oath in his 
life.  The land was very poor at that time, but it has been brought up 
to a high state of cultivation and now brings large returns.  To 
Christian Hensel and his wife were born three children, of whom John, 
born in 1821, and Elizabeth, born in 1823, reached adult age.  The 
mother died in 1851 and the father n 1867.  John Hensel was one of the 
few children anxious for the welfare of their parents, and remained 
with his father until he died, and was forty-five years of age before 
celebrating his marriage, October 22, 1874, with Sophia Nicholas, who 
secured a husband noted alike for his honesty and kindness.  This union 
has been blessed with two sons:  Charles C. and John H.; the former 
born October 4, 1875, and the latter April 28, 1879.  Mrs. Hensel is 
thirty-eight years of age, and perhaps no better mated couple can be 
found in the township.  She was a daughter of Charles Nicholas, who is 
now in the West.  John Hensel succeeded to his father's estate, to 
which he has added by good management.  The Hensels have ever been 
noted for their liberality, and many poor people of Hopewell have cause 
to remember their many acts of kindness.