Rabbi Maximilian Joseph Michelbacher (1810-1879) was born in Oettingen, Bavaria and educated in Germany. Michelbacher emigrated to the United States in 1844, arriving in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1846, he became the rabbi at Congregation Beth Ahabah in Richmond, Virginia, where he remained through the Civil War and for the rest of his life. He married first Mary Rachel Traub (ca. 1817-1849) in Philadelphia 20 August 1845, and they had three children. After her death, he married Miriam Angle in Richmond 18 September 1850, and they had ten children.