The Hyphen Family Lineage

Note: Henry Hinkle Sr.'s surname and ancestry

Several variations of the family surname appear in the records, with the initial version being various spellings of Hinkle, Hinckel, or similar. This original version extends down to the next generation in their earlier records, as well.

Dennis R. Hinklin, in a compilation of Hinklin genealogy information he'd distributed to other family members in the late 1970s, writes:

"The name is sometimes Hinklin or Hinkle or Hinckel, but in Dry Lane Cemetery, Marion Co., Montgomery Township, where Henry and Susannah Wine Hinkle are buried, the name is Hinklin. The marriage record gives them as being Henry Hinkle and Susannah Wine, being married Dec. 3, 1824. So it would seem that the change to Hinklin came about during the life of Henry and Susannah, who were pioneers of Marion Co. Their marriage record is the 20th on Marion Co. books. Based on 1850 census and 1855 land transactions the name was changed to 'Hinklin' during that period."

This lines up with the time frames and records I have seen, as well.

Henry Sr. is the first of the Hinklin line for whom there are specific vital dates available, along with a known burial location. He appears to have been the third eldest of fourteen children of George Hinckle and his wife (called Polly or Mary). Of George, Dennis Hinklin writes:

"1821 - Bucks County, Miscellaneous Book, p. 136. Dated [March] 12, 1821, records that George Hinckle of the township of Richland, 'Being unable to pay all his just debts has agreed to convey his estate real, personal and mixed unto Samuel A. Smith and Peter Zeigenfuss in trust for the benefit of his creditors, except so much as is allowed by the insolvent laws of Pennsylvania. Said assign to convey by public or private sale after deducting charges, shall pay the debts and the remainder of the residue held in trust for said George Hinckle and wife Polly.'

The Assignees of George Hinkle and Polly (Mary) his wife conveyed this tract land to Jacob Benner by deed dated April 6, 1822 (Deed Book 60, p. 102).

This included mill dam, mill race, water rights and a saw mill. Being the same tract of land which Leonard Hinckle by will dated May 6, 1806, devised to his son George Hinkle.

1825 - George Hinkle died prior to Dec., 1825, leaving in all 14 children of whom Henry was the third, seven of whom were minors under the age of 14. (Orphans Court Bucks County, Dec. 12, 1825).

Sale of the property of George Hinkle situated in Richland township, Bucks County, containing 41 acres for $1900 (1900). Return made to the Orphans Court Sept. 22, 1826.

1827 - April 3, 1827. O.C. File 3427.

Henry Hinkle, John Hinkle, William Hinkle and Sarah Hinkle petitioned the Court for settlement of their father's estate:

'Petitioner of Andrew Heller and Jacob Trumbower, administrator of the estate of George Hinckle, late of Richland Township, Rec'd, died interstate leaving children Maria, George, Henry, Elizabeth, John, Sarah, William, Charles, Kitty, Hannah, Thomas, Leonard, James, and Francis.'"

Of George's parents Hans Leonard and Marcelles, Dennis writes:

"1749 - Hans Leonard Hinkle came to America on the Ship Phoenix, from Rotterdam, Captain John Mason, in charge. Qualified September 15, 1749. (Pennsylvania Archives Series 11, Vol. xvii, p. 289.)

1777 - That he was a resident here for some time prior to acquiring land is apparent for he subscribed to the Oath of Allegiance in Bucks County, August 22, 1777, under George Wicker, Justice of the Peace. (Bucks County, Pa. Allegiance Book, p. 32.)

1787 - His appearance in 1787 among others who acquire a tract of land in the same township for a school and dwelling for the school master, September 14, 1787.

1788 - First appearance in the records of Bucks County, Pa., as follows:

Abel James and others: to Leonard Hinckle:
Between Abel James, John Thompson, Owen Jones, Wiliam Craig, Henry Drinker, John Pemberton, Samuel Emlen and Nicholas Waln, all of Philadelphia, surviving subsidiary devises of the real and person estate of Grace Calloway, late of the City of Philadelphia, deceased, devisee of Lawrence Crowden [late] of Trevose in the County of Bucks, Pennsylvania. Conveying part of the tract of 500 acres situated in the Township of Richland containing 109 acres. (Bucks Co. Deed Book 25, p. 15, dated July 23, 1788.)

1802 - Leonard Hinkle to William Penrose: Between Leonard Hinkle of Richland Twp., Bucks Countym Pa., yeoman and Marcelles, his wife and William Penrose, tract of land containing 16 acres, 130 perches, part of 109 acres conveyed to Leonard Hinkle by Albert James and others July 23, 1788. (Deed Book, 38, p. 75, dated May 29, 1802.)

1806 - The will of Leonard Hinkle, of Richland Township, Bucks County, Pa., dated May 6, 1806. Probated October 20, 1810. Mentions 12 children 1/12 part each, but devises to his wife the use of his new house during her life time and 30 pounds a year, (name not given), and then bequeaths the plantation whereon he lived to his son George. Only three [children] of Leonard Hinkle were sons, all being the oldest of the [children] ranging as follows: John, Adam and George."

Included in Dennis' compilation is a map of Richland Twp, Bucks Cty, Pennsylvania, dated 1754, marked with the tract of land owned first by Hans Leonard and later by George near the southeast corner of the township. On that map he notes that Hans Leonard's ownership ran from 1788 to about 1806, and George's from 1806 to 1821.

Precise dates for births, deaths, and marriages of either George (father of Henry Sr.) or Hans Leonard (grandfather of Henry Sr.) are not readily available. Marcelles, wife of Hans Leonard and presumed to be the grandmother of Henry Sr., is assumed to have survived him as she is named in his will. George's wife, Polly, does not appear to be named in the will or probate records, suggesting she likely died before George.

It seems likely that Hans Leonard was at least a young man by the time of his arrival in America (probably Philadelphia) in 1749, which would have made him approaching or well into middle-age by the time he took the Oath of Allegiance during the Revolutionary War. If we assume him to have been about twenty at the time of his arrival, this would have made him a man in his seventies at his death around 1806.

George's age is more difficult to determine, though the fact that half of his fourteen children at his death were under the age of fourteen suggests more about his wife's age than his. Henry Sr., his third child, was born in 1777, so a reasonable guess for George's birthdate would be sometime in the early 1750s or late 1740s. For his wife to have born him seven young children (under fourteen years old) by the time of his death around 1825 (at around the age of seventy) and assuming the youngest child could have been no older than eight years (with an approximate birthdate of 1817), she must have been much younger than George. Even if she were in her late forties at the birth of their last child, this would still put her birth year about 1770, which is much too young to have born George's oldest children. I would believe it likely that "Polly" and "Mary" were not alternate names for the same wife, but the names of two different wives - the first born near the same time as George (1740s to 1750s) and mother to his older children, and the second born sometime after 1770 and mother to the latter portion of his children.