The Muhlenberg family created a United States political, religious, and military dynasty that was primarily based in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but which had also expanded into the State of Ohio by the early nineteenth century.

Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, was a German-born Lutheran clergyman and missionary. Born in Einbeck, Muhlenberg immigrated to the Province of Pennsylvania in response to demands from Lutherans for missionary work in the colony. Muhlenberg was integral to the founding of the first Lutheran church body or denomination in North America, and is considered the patriarch of the Lutheran Church in the United States.