Michael Wohlfahrt aka Michael Welfare, was a religious

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

 leader who assisted Conrad Beissel

Conrad Beissel

Johann Conrad Beissel was the German-born religious leader who in 1732 founded the Ephrata Community in Pennsylvania.-Background:...

 in leading the Ephrata Community in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

.

Wohlfahrt was born in Memel in the Duchy of Prussia (now Klaipėda

Klaipeda

Klaipėda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Nemunas River where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It is the third largest city in Lithuania and the capital of Klaipėda County....

 in Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

), but emigrated to North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

.

In 1725, he was baptised by Conrad Beissel

Conrad Beissel

Johann Conrad Beissel was the German-born religious leader who in 1732 founded the Ephrata Community in Pennsylvania.-Background:...

, 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
  Benjamin Franklin
  Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
  
  
• An extended quote with commentary from the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin