Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Helfenstein, John Conrad Albert

HELFENSTEIN, John Conrad Albert, clergyman, b. in Moszbach, Germany, 16 Feb., 1748; d. in Germantown, Pa., 17 May, 1790. He studied theology at Heidelberg, and was appointed by the synod of Holland missionary to America, with Rev. John H. Helffrich and Rev. John G. Gebhard. Soon after his arrival in New York, 14 Jan., 1772, he took charge of a congregation in Germantown, and was one of the fathers of the German Reformed church in this country. In 1775 he accepted a call to Lancaster, Pa., where he frequently preached to the Hessian prisoners. He returned to Germantown in 1779, and remained there till his death. Several small volumes of his sermons have been published.