Life
When Johannes was a boy between 11 and 15 years of age, his parents moved from Langenselbold, the place of his birth, to Hochstadt, a few miles to the west. Prior to 1700, they had moved again, this time from Hochstadt to Altenhasslau, a few miles east of Langenselbold. In this town the 26-year-old Johannes married Anna Elizabeth Kleiss from the nearby village of Eidengesaess, just southeast of Altenhasslau.
Within a year of their marriage, Johannes and Anna Elizabeth had moved to Hochstadt. There, where all their children were born during their stay of about 22 years, they were "often inspired and visited by other pious people." But in 1723, for reasons unknown, the 49-year-old school teacher and organist pack up his family and left for America.
Johannes and Elizabeth arrived in Pennsylvania with their five children on September 11, 1723. Shortly thereafter, the family had settled on a 250-acre farm about two miles south of present-day Oley, Berks County, Pennsylvania. The homesite, on present-day Cassel Road, between Limekiln and Wiest School Roads, included a log-cabin house build by the previous owners (Stovers/Staubs) as early as 1713. This dwelling (which survived until the beginning of the twentieth century) was visited on a number of occasions by influential Moravians of the time, including August Spangenburg; Count Zinzendorf, the wealthy patron; and David Nitschmann, the bishop who was to later marry Maria Barbara, the youngest Leinbach daughter years. During these years at Oley, a close relationship developed between the Leinbach family and the Moravians and Johannes was appointed as Vorsteher (business manager) of the Moravian congregation there in 1742 by Zinzendorn.
By the time of his death in 1747, Johannes Leinbach's land holdings had increased to over 400 acres. The following year, Anna Elizabeth moved first to Bethlehem, and then later to Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
Death
According to the records of the Moravian Church in Oley, Johannes died on November 20, 1747. He is believed to be buried in an unmarked cemetery at the site of the Moravian School near his home in the Oley Valley.
Resources
The book by Phillip Pendleton, Oley Valley Heritage -- The Colonial Years, describes and illustrates the house which Johannes purchased. The generalogy by Donald J. Lineback includes considerably more detail and an extensive list of other related genealogies.