Michael Wohlfahrt

Michael Wohlfahrt (1687–1741), aka 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 Klaipėda 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 Agonius" and assisted Beissel in running the community.

External links

• Message from the MENNO-ROOTS-L archives, largely about Wohlfahrt
• "Brethern, Schwenkfelders and Other Plain People", an article which quotes some correspondence between Wohlfahrt and Benjamin Franklin
• An extended quote with commentary from the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Persondata
Name	Wohlfahrt, Michael
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Date of birth	1687
Place of birth
Date of death	1741
Place of death