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Note: Christian Hellener was a descendant of a prominent German family, the Von Helleners. HELLENER
Derived from Heller, the coin minted in Schwaebisch Hall. The name is originally spelled Heleiner, Hoelleiner and Helener. The family could perhaps stem from Urach, where the name is frequently found, but up to now cannot be linked to them.
Source: "Sindelfinger Familien" by Helmuth Maier (1962, out of print), pg. 238, as translated by Karl Held in email of 1 September 2008.
Christian came to America when he was a young man. He landed in New York, then went to Philadelphia where he learned the trade of a baker which he followed for some years. He then moved to Upper Saucon Twp. in Lehigh Co. and followed the trade of weaving carpets and bed spreads. Later he became a marble cutter and artist.
Around 1852 he bought a 32 acre farm in the eastern end of Salisbury Twp., in the area which is now Fountain Hill in South Bethlehem. He farmed the property and continued his trade as a stone cutter. He was also a gifted artist and left a number of water color paintings to his heirs. Two streets in Fountain Hill, Christian Street and Hellener Street, are named after him and may be situated on the boundaries of his old farm. It was said that he was a descendant of the Von Helleners, who were a knighted German family in early Germany. (Source: "History of Lehigh Co., PA by Charles Rhoads Roberts, Vol. II, pp. 541 & 542)
"Christian F. Hellener was a remarkable man in many ways. He was a gifted artist, his water color paintings, his coat of arms and genealogy being yet carefully preserved. He was born in Sindelfinger, Wurtemberg, Germany, September 1, 1797, and died in Upper Saucon township, Lehigh County, in that part of eastern Salisbury, now embraced in the borough of Fountaijn Hill, April 15, 1893, in his ninety sixth year. He was a finely educated man and having decided artistic talent acquired some prominence as a sculptor, but finally he allowed this to drop into the background and he devoted himself to the more plebian but also more profitable work of a marble cutter. In 1817 he in company with a number of his school friends, visited Amsterdam, intending there to take ship for United States. He had ample funds for the voyage, but a rascally agent, Jacob Baird, swindled him out of his money, but he sailed with the ship nonetheless. There were seven hundred passengers on board and from the beginning of the voyage they encountered severe storms. The ship was finally driven far out of her course, the captain died and it was fifty seven weeks before they made a safe port, quarantined at a Portuguese port for one hundred days and while there, Christian Hellener acquired the Portuguese language. In 1819 he made another attempt to cross the Atlantic and reached New York. Soon afterward he crossed by coach to Philadelphia where he learned the bakers trade. He worked several years there then went into Bucks County, having heard that Jacob Baird, his Amsterdam swindler was living there. He found the man but this was not the Jacob Baird he wanted. The country pleased Mr. Hellener and journeying up the Saucon he came to Upper Saucon Township and there settled. He married his employers daughter, Theresa Morey, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Zeller, the Reformed Pastor of Allentown. In Upper Saucon, Christian F. Hellener wove carpets and bed spreads and later took up stone cutting which he followed until 1852. He then moved to what is now Fountain Hill borough in East Salisbury and bought a farm of thirty two acres which he cultivated in connection with his stone cutting until weight of years caused him to retire. Theresa Morey Hellener died in 1857 aged fifty two years, both she and her husband being buried in Friedensville Lutheran Church Cemetery. They were the parents of three children; Anna Maria Magdalena died unmarried; Catherine married Louis Waidner and J. Elias married Mary Snyder and lived in Fountain Hill. Louis and Catherine Hellener Waidner were the parents of three children; Dr. Charles John, Christian F. who moved to Sullivan County, Indiana, and Mary who never married."
(Above biography of Christian Friedrich Hellener extracted from Bethlehem Area Public Library, Local History Collections, Papers and artwork of Christian Friedrich Hellener, found at <http://www.bapl.org/lochist/findaids/Hellener.pdf>. This source further references "Northampton County History of Pennsylvania", Vol. 2, biographical sketch of Charles John Waidner, V.S.)
In 1870 Christian Hellener, age 70 a farmer, was living in Salisbury Twp., Lehigh Co., PA. He owned real estate valued at $4,000 and had personal property of $700. The census shows his place of birth to be Wurtemburg, Germany. Also listed in his household were his son, Elias Hellener age 37, and wife, Mary Hellener age 31, with their daughter, Theresa Hellener age 4. A Lucinda Snyder, aged 10, was also living with them. (1870 census, microfilm roll 1363, Lehigh Co., PA, Salisbury Twp., pg. 502, house #423)
In 1880 Christian Hellener, age 82 a widower and a retired farmer, was still living in Salisbury Twp. in the household of his married son, Elias J. Hellener, age 46 a farmer, with his wife, Mary Hellener age 41, and one daughter, Theresa Hellener age 14. Also listed in their household was Elias' step-daughter, Lucinda Snyder age 20. (1880 census, National Archives Film T9-1147, Page 388B)
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