Gottfried LENHART

                   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.
                  

                   William was a prominent mathematician and poet and many of hismathematical equations are still in use today.  He became a clerk in aleading mercantile house in Baltimore about 1804, and after a few yearsbecame a clerk in the sheriff's office.  Later he became a bookkeeper forHassinger and Reeser in Philadelphia and, after his third year was made apartner.  He was crippled in a horse and buggy accident and nevermarried.  He went to live with his sister in Maryland and died therespending the rest of his days contributing to mathematical journals.

WILLIAM LENHART.  The eminent scholarship and somewhat remarkable careerof William Lenhart claim special and extended mention.  The fewoctogenarians among us will remember an humble log house that once stoodat the northwest corner of North George street and Centre Square, where,nearly a century ago, lived Godfrey Lenhart, "der Silwerschmidt undUhremacher" -- the silversmith and clock-maker, and many a "grandfather'sclock," after a long banishment, now recalled by the growing love for theantique, bears upon its broad open, smiling face, the inscription"Godfrey Lenhart, Yorktown, Penn."  That humble log-house (so faithfullysketched by Louis Miller in his Chronics") no doubt was the birthplace,January 19, 1787, of a child, whose powers of intellect, but for hisphysical misfortunes and scanty pecuniary resources, would probably haveenabled him to "illustrate the name of his country throughout thescientific world."  His father, Godfrey Lenhart, though a highlyrespectable citizen, and by the free suffrage of his fellow citizens,chosen to the (then) honorable and responsible office of high sheriff,which he held and faithfully filled from 1794 to 1797, was nevertheless agentleman of limited means, and, therefore, really unable to give hischildren more than the ordinary and very meager common pay-schooleducation of the day.  About the year 1801, however, when William was notabove fourteen, Dr. _____ Adrian, then obscure, but afterwards famous asa mathematician, opened a school in York, and William Lenhart became oneof his pupils.  He at once began to develop that extraordinary talent,especially for the science of mathematics, in which he made such rapidprogress that, before he quit Dr. Adrian's school, and before he hadattained his sixteenth year, he had become a contributor to theMathematical Correspondent," a scientific periodical published in thecity of New York, and when only seventeen, he was awarded a medal for thesolution of a mathematical prize question.
       About this time he quit Dr. Adrian's school, and being anaccomplished penman and accountant, accepted the offer of a position asclerk in a leading mercantile house in Baltimore.  At this period of hislife, it is said he was remarkable for his personal attractions, andalways, for excellence of manners and good conduct.  As might beexpected, however, he soon tired of such a business, and, though butlittle bettering his situation, accepted a position in some clericalemployment in the sheriff's office.  He remained in Baltimore about fouryears during all which time, however otherwise employed, his leisure wasdevoted to reading, his favorite study, mathematics, and contributions tothe Analyst, published by Dr. Adrian in Philadelphia.  Afterward, hebecame bookkeeper in the commercial house of Hassinger & Reeser in thelatter city.  As clerk and bookkeeper his proficiency was unrivaled, hissalary was doubled at the end of the first year, and the accounts he madeout for foreign merchants were long kept by his employers as models ofperfection; and in view of his eminent personal services, the firm, atthe end of the third year, admitted him as a partner, without othercapital.  Before entering upon his duties, however, and while on a visitto his parents at York, an unfortunate accident befell him which,doubtless, proved to be the turning point in a career which wouldotherwise, have shed undying luster on his name and his country.  Whileenjoying a rural drive, his horse became unmanageable, ran away, breakingthe carriage, throwing him out and fracturing one of his legs.  On hissupposed recovery he returned to Philadelphia, and, sometime after, whileengaged in a game of quoits, was suddenly seized with excruciating painin his back and partial paralysis of the lower extremities.  Aftereighteen months of the most skillful medical and surgical treatment byDr. Physick and Parish, his recovery was pronounced hopeless.  Whatwonder that his cup of misery overflowed in view of the fact of hisengagement at the time to a young lady of most estimable character, towhom he had been attached from early life.  The injury, he had receivedfrom the fall from his carriage, most probably caused his spinalaffection from which, and a subsequent injury, he was destined to sixteenyears of suffering and torture, and eventually to pine away and die at anage when men, ordinarily, are in their prime.  But incredible as it mayseem we are assured on the highest authority that during all that longinterval of constantly increasing pain and suffering he not onlycultivated light literature and music, but, as before, devoted much timeto mathematics.  In music he made great proficiency and was consideredthe best parlor flute player in this country.  In 1828 he sustained asecond fracture of his leg, in consequence of which, and his alreadyexisting complication of disorders, his sufferings, at times, almostpassed the bounds of endurance. He was now passing most of his time withhis sister, in Frederick.  But his very lips became at length paralyzedfrom the progress of his disease, and even the pleasures of his flutewere denied him.  What must have been the talents, moral energy, andforce of will, which, under bodily afflictions like these, made suchadvances in abtruse science as to confer immortality on the name of theirpossessor?  During the last year of his life he thus wrote to a friend:
       "My afflictions appear to me to be not unlike an infinite series,composed of complicated terms, gradually and regularly increasing -- insadness and suffering -- and becoming more and more involved; and hencethe abstruseness of its summation; but when it shall be summed in theend, by the Great Arbiter and Master of all, it is to be hoped that theformula resulting will be found to be not only entirely free from surds,but perfectly pure and rational, even unto an integer."
       During the sixteen years from 1812 to 1828 he did not, of course,nor could he, devote himself to mathematical science.  But afterward heresumed these studies for the purpose of mental employment, and continuedhis contributions to mathematical journals.  In 1836 the publication ofthe Mathematical Miscellany was commenced in New York, and his famebecame established by his contributions to that journal.  "I do notdesign," says Prof. Samuel Taylor, "to enter into a detail of hisprofound researches.  He attained an eminence in science of which thenoblest intellects might well be proud and that, too, as an amusement,when suffering from afflictions which, we might suppose, would havedisqualified him for intellectual labor.  It will be sufficient for mypurpose to remark that he left behind him a reputation as the mosteminent Diophantine Algebraist that ever lived.  The eminence of thisreputation will be estimated when it is recollected that illustrious men,such as Euler, Lagrange and Gauss, are his competitors for fame in thecultivation of the Diophantine analysis.  Well might he say that he feltas if he had been admitted into the sanctum sanctorum of the great templeof numbers, and permitted to revel among its curiosities."
       Notwithstanding his great mathematical genius, Mr. Lenhart did notextend his investigations into the modern analysis and the differentialcalculus as far as into the Diophantine analysis.  He thus accounts forit:  "My taste lies in the old fashioned pure geometry and theDiophantine analysis, in which
every result is perfect; and beyond the exercise of these two beautifulbranches of the mathematics, at my time of life, and under presentcircumstances, I feel no inclination to go."  The character of his minddid not consist entirely in the mathematical tendency, which wasdeveloped by the early tuition of Dr. Adrian.  Possessed, as he was, of alively imagination, a keen susceptibility to all that is beautiful in thenatural and intellectual world, wit and acuteness, it is manifest that hewanted nothing but early education and leisure to have made a mostaccomplished scholar.  He was also a poet.  One who knew him well says:"He has left some effusions which were written to friends as letters,that for wit, humor, sprightliness of fancy, pungent satire, andflexibility of versification, will not lose in comparison with any ofBurns' best pieces of a similar kind."  Mr. Lenhart was of a verycheerful and sanguineous temperament full of tender sympathies with allthe joys and sorrows of  his race, from communion with whom he was almostentirely excluded.  Like all truly great and noble men, he was remarkablefor the simplicity of his manners.  That word, in its broad sense,contains a history of character.  He knew he was achieving conquests inabstruse science, which had not been made by the greatest mathematicians,yet he was far from assuming anything in his intercourse with others.
       "During the autumn of 1839, intense suffering and great emaciationindicated that his days were almost numbered.  His intellectual powersdid not decay; but like the Altamont of Young, he was "still strong toreason and might to suffer."  He indulged in no murmurs on account of theseverity of his fate. True nobility submits with grace to that which isinevitable. *   *   *
       Lenhart was conscious of the impulses of his high intellect, and hisheart must have swelled within him when he contemplated the victories hemight have achieved and the laurels he might have won.   But he knew hislot forbade that he should leave posterity.  He died at Frederick, Md.,July 10, 1840, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, with the calmnessimparted by philosophy and Christianity.  Religion conferred upon him herconsolations in that hour when it is only through religion thatconsolation can be bestowed; and as he sank into the darkness and silenceof the grave, he believed there was another and a better world, in whichthe immortal mind will drink at the very fountain- head of knowledge,unencumbered with the decaying tabernacle of clay by which its loftyaspirations are here confined as with chains.
SOURCE: Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the NineteenthCongressional District Pennsylvania, Edited by Samuel G. Wiley Esq.,Second Edition: C.A.Rueff Company, 1897.

       "The facts of a language involve its laws, but the productions of alanguage constitute its literature, and the literature of a country, adistrict or a county is one of the most instructive parts of theirhistory.   Literature ebbs and flows like the tide, but without itsregularity, and  unusual literary activity is a manifestation of anincreased mental energy which always marks a period great in deeds and inchanges.
       William Lenhart, one of the most eminent diophantine algebraiststhat  ever lived, died from bodily afflictions which rendered himincapable of  attaining to his highest efforts and best work.  Hepossessed imagination,  susceptibility, wit and acuteness in a highdegree and wrote some very fine  pieces of poetry."
SOURCE: Excerpted from Chapter IX, article entitled Literature and thePress.  Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the NineteenthCongressional District Pennsylvania, edited by Samuel G. Wiley Esq.,Second Edition: C.A.Rueff Company, 1897.

From Abstracts of Marriages and Deaths and Other articles of interest inthe Newspapers of Frederick and Montgomery Counties, MD., from 1831-1840,page 250, the following article was found on William's death...
       "July, 1840, Item 2230. (D) In Frederick, at the dwelling of Mr.John Bailey, on the 10th ult, Mr. William Lenhart, in the 53rd year ofhis age.  A native of York, spent part-time in York, and partly inFrederick; from a injury received early in life has been generallyconfined to the house.  His principal occupation there has been theimprovement of his mind and the extension of philosophical research."