Henry Ernest Muhlenberg (1753–1815), born in Trappe, PA, studied, like his brothers, theology in Halle, Germany (1763–1769) at the “Pädagogium” of the “Franckesche Stfitungen.” Ordained a Lutheran minister after his return to Pennsylvania (1770), Henry also became an important botanist who collaborated with European scholars in establishing a catalog of North American plants (Catalogus Plantarum Americae Septentrionalis, 1813). (Courtesy of Franklin & Marshall College and the Permanent Collections of the Phillips Museum of Art, Lancaster, PA)

Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg (1750–1801) was born in Trappe, PA and educated there. He then joined his brothers in 1763 for the study of theology in Halle, Germany at the “Pädagogium” of the “Franckesche Stiftungen” (1770). His political career included the election as president of the Pennsylvania Convention for the ratification of the Constitution (1787), Member of the first Congress for four terms, and Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States. (Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.)

John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg (1746–1807), born in Trappe, PA, first attended the Academy of Philadelphia, then started to study theology at the “Pädagogium” of the Franckesche Foundations at Halle (1770), but returned to Pennsylvania after two years. Believing in the right to free the country, he enlisted for the War of Independence and even became Major General under George Washington (1783). After the war, in 1784, he was elected to the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and also as vice president of the council in 1787.

Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711–1787), born in Hannover as Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg, studied theology at the University of Göttingen and was ordained in Halle as a clergyman in the Lutheran church. Encouraged by Gotthilf August Francke (1696–1769), he left Halle to assist the Lutheran congregations in Pennsylvania. He formed a synodical Ministerium for America for which he prepared the common prayer book and thus became a co-founder of the Lutheran Church of America. (Photo courtesy of The Preservation Society of Newport County)