Michael Wohlfahrt - Definition and Overview

Michael Wohlfahrt (1687 - 1741), also known as Michael Welfare, was a religious leader who assisted Conrad Beissel in leading the Ephrata Community in Pennsylvania.

Wohlfahrt was born in Memel in the Duchy of Prussia (now Klaipeda in Lithuania), but emigrated to North America.

In 1725, he was baptised by Conrad Beissel, and when the Conestoga Brethren congregation suffered a schism, he strongly supported Beissel. After the foundation of the Ephrata Community in 1732, Wohlfahrt took the name "Brother Angonius" and assisted Beissel in running the community.

External links

• Message from the MENNO-ROOTS-L archives (http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/MENNO-ROOTS/2000-05/0959632955), largely about Wohlfahrt
• "Brethern, Schwenkfelders and Other Plain People (http://www.horseshoe.cc/pennadutch/religion/brethern/brethkle.htm)", an article which wuotes some correspondence between Wohlfahrt and Benjamin Franklin