Johann Christian Hellbach was born in Arnstadt, a small but locally important town in central Germany, which earlier in the century had been the home town of
Johann Sebastian Bach. Hellbach's father was Ludwig Gottfried Hellbach. At the local school Hellbach's teacher was the historian
Johann Gottlieb Lindner. (In 1812 Hellbach would edit and publish Lindner's autobiography.) On leaving school, between 1777 and 1780 Hellbach studied
Jurisprudence, after which he lived in Arnstadt. From 1788 he lived on his estate at
Berga, roughly 100 km (60 miles) to the north. During this period he was also employed closer to Arnstadt, at
Wechmar, working as Commission Secretary for the
Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen. In the end he returned to living full-time in Arnstadt, promoted to the post of
Advocate and
Legal Counsel for the Principality of
Saxe-Meiningen. ==Personal==