Hinkles and Hanrahans

'The Ephrata Cloister at Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was a radical 18th century religious communal society best known for its original art and music, distinctive medieval Germanic architecture and its significant publishing center. It was founded in 1732 by Conrad Beissel, a German Pietist. Beissel's followers, inspired by his preaching, separated from the Dunkard Church and joined him. Klaus Wust summarizes the movements of Christopher Beeler between Frederick and Hampshire Counties, Virginia, and the Ephrata Cloister. Wust had viewed a pamphlet entitled "Translation of the Relation of 1761, An Exact Relation on the Appearance of a Disembodied Spirit." A description of Henrietta Beeler's reported spiritual revelations has been printed in the pamphlet. According to another account by Wust, Catherine, the first wife of Christopher Beeler, had been taken from her home in Frederick County, Virginia, to Ephrata for medical treatment. Christopher's relationship with the Widow Schule apparently occurred before Catherine died in 1741. The records show that the Widow Schule died in Ephrata in March 1758. Henrietta Wilhelmenia Von Honing married Christopher about 1760. As Christopher had acquired large land holdings, Wust surmised that Henrietta was concerned about their disposition. It was her personal report to Conrad Beissel of "spiritual revelations" that as Klaus Wust titled it, the "Ghost of Longmarsh Run" story was carefully reported in 1761 for thirty nine pages. It is not known exactly where Henrietta was last known alive. Her relinquishment of dower in the 1771 transaction was written in Fairfax County and recorded in Frederick County, Virginia. Wust indicates that she died in Frederick. There is no mention of her in Christopher's will.
Family tradition says that third wife Henrietta was subject to fits, where she would insist that the two dead wives were trying to tell her where they had hidden money on the estate. She was tied to the bed at times, and an exorcism was performed for her at the Ephrata Cloister. A detailed account of her hallucinations and the exorcism performed by Conrad Beissel is available online and the only known original copy can be found at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Translation by Klause Wüst, "The Saint-Adventurers of the Virginia Frontier - Southern Outposts of Ephrata".'

Christopher Beeler 1705-1775, compiled by Caroline H. Pappas 1997.