John R. C. Prugh

Bruch Families of Birkenfeld – Gedcom

A Gedcom file for the Bruch families of Birkenfeld is now available.

Thomas Bruch’s Second Wife – Katharina Lentz of Züsch

Thomas Bruch of Ellweiler’s second wife has traditionally been identified as Katharina Jung, daughter of Philip of Züsch. However, this is based on an inaccurate transcription of her surname: she was actually Katharina Lentz.

The Bruch Families of Birkenfeld

The Bruch Families of Birkenfeld, now available.

Birkenfeld Resources – Name Indices

Indices of inhabitants of the villages of Feckweiler and Ellweiler.

Leistadt Church Book – Baptisms to 1736

You can now view genealogical extracts from the baptisms recorded in the Leistadt Church Book from 1700 through 1736.

Leistadt Church Book – Deaths and Burials

You can now view extracts from the deaths and burials recorded in the Leisatdt Church Book from 1700 through 1736. Note that deaths were not recorded for a significant period of time from 1710 to 1722. It was during this period of time that Matthes Bruch died.

Leistadt Church Book – Marriages

In the first installment of genealogical extracts from the Leistadt Church Book, you can now view marriages from 1700-1736 (in English). Baptisms and deaths will follow at a later date.

Early 18th Century Leistadt

Leistadt was the home village of Matthias Bruch of Pennsylvania. His father, Matthes Bruch, had moved to Leistadt to help rebuild following Leistadt’s destruction in 1689. Matthes was one of several immigrants to Leistadt, including the Hoffmann Andreas Neu and the huntsman Andreas Federkeil. In the early 18th Century, about half of Leistadt’s population were immigrants orContinue reading “Early 18th Century Leistadt”

Historical Sources and Records of the Bruch Families of Birkenfeld

As one would expect, the most important source of information on the early Bruch families in the Birkenfeld region are the records kept by the churches of births, marriages, burials, and sometimes confirmations. The Birkenfeld Church Book is one of the oldest in existence, with records starting in 1568, not long after the Reformation wasContinue reading “Historical Sources and Records of the Bruch Families of Birkenfeld”

The Bruch Family of Rhodt and the Origins of one of the Prugh Families

The large Bruch family of Rhodt unter Rietburg is known in North America as the alleged source of the larger of the two Prugh families (no relation to the author). Jacob Bruch, who settled in Trappe, Pennsylvania in the 1720s, was the father of Conrad Bruch who started going by ‘Prugh,’ nearly a century beforeContinue reading “The Bruch Family of Rhodt and the Origins of one of the Prugh Families”