Bright/Brecht Family

Conrad "Kunst" Brecht (c1563-c1612) married Catrina (c.1569), He was perhaps born at Lindenfels, Hessen, with connections to Rohrbach. They lived at Neudorf, Baden, in the Palatinate of Germany. Their children were:

1. Niclaus Brecht (died before 1612)
2. Paul Brecht (died before 1612)
3. Hans Brecht (died 1650)
4. Georg Brecht (1589 - before 1612)
5. Christoph Brecht (1591-3 Aug 1665) of whom later
6. Elisabeth Brecht (b. 1595) married Hans Nauer
7. Sebastian Brecht (1600-29 Apr 1670) married Elisabeth
8. Christina Brecht (1605-15 Jun 1675)

Christoph "Stoffel" Brecht (1591-3 Aug 1665) married about 1615 Anna Barbara Wolpack (1598-23 Dec 1683) They lived in Boeblingen, Neckar, Württemberg, and moved before 1636 to Schriessheim, about 10 miles east of Mannheim. Four known children:

1. Stoffel Brecht (10 Aug 1616) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[These may be baptism/burial dates]
2. Hans Peter Brecht
3. Magdalina Brecht (27 May 1623)
4. Hans Balthasar Brecht, (24 Aug 1636 - 9 Sept 1703) of whom later

Hans Balthasar Brecht, (24 Aug 1636 - 9 Sept 1703) married 24 Aug 1658 Anna Margaretha Christman (d.27 Dec 1683), daughter of Paul Christman and Anna Maria Herring, daughter of Paul Herring. Balthasar was a councilman and almoner in Schreissheim. His children were:

1. Johann Ludwig Brecht (12 Jun 1659 - 8 Apr 1721) m. Anna Sybille Hering
2. Anna Margaretha Brecht (24 Feb 1661)
3. Johannes Michael Brecht (12 Oct 1662 - 11 Aug 1719) of whom later
4. Hieronymus Brecht (2 Apr 1665)
5. Paul Brecht (27 Jan 1666 - before 1712)
6. Anna Maria Brecht (21 Jun 1668)
7. Hans Balthasar Brecht (2 Oct 1670) m.14 Feb 1688 Catharina; lived in Württemberg
8. Dorthea Brecht (24 Mar 1672)
9. Johann Mathias Brecht (15 Mar 1674)
10. Maria Magdalena Brecht (1 Aug 1675-1721) m(1) Johann Melchior Fillbrunn; m(2) David Birgni
11. Wilhelm Brecht (16 Feb 1677/8)
12. Eva Brecht (23 Nov 1679)
13. Anna Barbara Brecht (6 Mar 1680/1)
14. Hans Phillipp Brecht (17 Jun 1683 - 19 Feb 1732) married Maria Catharina Reinle

Johannes Michael Brecht, born 12 Oct 1662 in Neudorf and died 11 Aug 1719 in Schreissheim. He married on 29 Jul 1684 Anna Katarina Hoffman (b.14 Oct 1664), daughter of Hans Jost Hoffman and Christina Frank. On May 6, 1726, "Anna Catherina Brecht, widow of Johannes" with her two sons Stefan and Johann (Michael) petitioned to be allowed to emigrate to America. They landed in Philadelphia,  settling first in the Germantown Section, but were in Heidelberg Twp, Lancaster Co, PA, before April 1728, when Michael was married.  Johannes, Susanna and her husband Gabriel Roescher, and Stefan's oldest two sons followed in 1731.

1. Anna Margaretha Brecht (17 Jun 1685) married 1715 Caspar Durst
2. Appolonia Brecht (9 Mar 1686)
3. Anna Elizabeth Brecht (27 May 1688) may have died 1707
4. Balthasar Brecht (26 Feb 1691 - Oct 1703)
5. Johann Stefan Brecht (17 Feb 1693 -24 Sep 1747) of whom later
6. Susanna Margarethe Brecht (12 Jun 1695) married 1723 Gabriel Roescher, emigrated 1731
7. Johannes Brecht (17 May 1699 - Feb 1756); married Anna Margaretha Roemer; emigrated 1731
. . and lived in Bucks County, PA
8. Anna Katharina Brecht (22 Mar 1702 - 24 Jul 1790) m.1727 John DeHuff (d.1751) who
.._are buried at the Moravian Church in Lancaster, PA
9. Johann Michael Brecht (28 May 1706-13 Sep 1794) m. Apr 1728 Margareta Simone (1708-1778)
_ They had 10 children in Berks Co, PA
10. Janet Brecht (1713) ???

Johann Stefan Brecht was born in Schreissheim 17 Feb 1692. He married 17 Aug 1717 Anna Margaretha Ulrich (24 Dec 1694 - 29 Jun 1722) daughter of Hans Peter Ulrich and Anna Hildebrand; and then 23 May 1725 Anna Veronica Praxedis Kremer (1705-c1742). Stefan, his new wife, his mother, and his brother Michael immigrated to Philadelphia.  They settled briefly in the Germantown Section, then moved to Heidelberg Township, Lancaster County, before 1728.  His two oldest sons followed in 1731 with his brother Johannes. Stephen purchased 900 acres of land in Lancaster County from the Penn Family between  27 Nov 1735 and 1737. The land was on both sides of the Tulpehocken River about 10 miles upstream from the present location of Reading. The land fell into Berks County in 1752. He was naturalized in Lancaster County 11 April 1741.  Stephen remarried about 1743 Anna Elizabeth Lerch (1697-1751) daughter of Johannes Lerch and Catharina Fuchs, and the widow of Johann Heinrich Fischer.  Stephen organized the North Heidelberg Moravian Church on 9 Apr 1745. And he was the second burial there after his death 24 Sep 1747.  He had nine known children.

1. Maria Magdelena Brecht (13 Apr 1718 - 15 Jan 1719)
2. David Brecht (8 Sep 1719 - 22 Sep 1783) married Sarah Caquelin ( 8 Jan 1727 - 22 Jan 1798)
. . daughter of Sebastian Caquelin and Marie Banzet and had 11 children in Bern Twp, Berks Co.
3. Hans Wendel Brecht (27 Jul 1721 - Jan 1785 ) married about 1747 Mary Elizabeth Martin and
. . lived in Augusta County, Virginia, buying land there in 1771. Moved to Alexandria, Virginia, after
. .1778, and set up his dental practice. four children.

4. Georg Adam Brecht (9 Feb 1730/1 -1804) married Maria Katharina KAUFELDT, of whom later
5. Eva Margaretha Brecht (c.1733-1818) married about 1752 Johann Frederick Hanger (c.1726-
. . 1799) 13 children in Augusta County.
6. Cathrina Brecht (c.1735) m.1 Mar 1754 Johannes Nicolas Holder, Jr. married in Berks Co, PA
7. Elizabeth Brecht (May 1738 - 15 Mar 1795) m.28 May 1758 Johann Jacob Strauss (1736-1782)
8. Anna Maria Brecht (born 1738; bapt.1 May 1745 - 1827) m.1755 Jacob Baker; Ontario, Canada.

9. Maria Magdalena Brecht (22 Nov 1743 - 30 Mar 1811) apparently unmarried

Georg Adam Brecht probably accompanied his brothers to Frederick County, Virginia, about 1753, where he met and married Maria Katharina KAUFELDT (17 Jun 1733 - c1798), daughter of Johann Nicolaus Kaufeldt and Anna Grundt.. He was back in Lancaster County, PA, in April, 1754, to sell some land he inherited from his father. He was living in Baltimore County, Maryland, or York County, Pennsylvania, when his oldest son was born in 1756, but moved to Frederick County, Virginia in the summer of 1759, receiving land grants there in 1761 and 1765. It was at that time he started calling himself George Adam Bright. The other members of the Brecht Family gradually started using the name Bright, so that by the time of the Revolution, they were known as the Bright Family. George bought 170 acres in Beverly Manor, Augusta County, Virginia, in May 1767, and was granted land near South Mountain in southern Augusta County in 1781 and in 1787. He is listed on the tax lists in Augusta County from 1782 to 1804. George and Catharina attended St John's Reformed Church in Middlebrook. George and made his will 14 Apr 1804, which was proved 25 Jun 1805. He is buried in Dutch Hollow Cemetery west of Greenville. George and Catherine had nine children:

1. Johannes (John) Bright (bapt.18 Jan 1756 - Jun 1828) married about 1783 Susannah Fulwider, widow Kleiner (1764-1802), then 29 Oct 1802 Susannah Wiseman. Lived in Augusta County, Virginia, buried at St John's Reformed Church, Middlebrook.
2. Johann Windle (Windel) Bright (8 Oct 1757 - 6 Apr 1838).married 15 Mar 1786 Barbara Kisner (1766-after 1838) Windel served in the Revolutionary War in New Jersey 1779-1783, and then returned to Augusta County. He moved to Bath County in 1795, then to Greenbrier County, (West)Virginia, in 1803, and Green County, Kentucky, in 1811.
3. Catherine Bright (c.1760) married Philip Pottoph (Potter) (1757-1834) and lived in Rockbridge County, Virginia.
4. Mary Bright (c.1763-c.1851) married 28 Jun 1785 ISAAC LIPTRAP (1752-1819) lived in Rockbridge County until moving to Augusta County in 1804.
5. Barbara Bright (1765-1808) never married
6. Elizabeth Bright (c.1767 - 8 Jun 1842) married 9 Mar 1795 George.Lott, Jr. (1767-7 Dec 1830) buried in Dutch Hollow (Hanger) Cemetery west of Greenville, Augusta Co.
7. George Adam Bright, Jr. (c.1770 - 1835) married 4 Feb 1794 Catherine Kaufeldt (1772-1850) daughter of Valentine, and moved to Kentucky about 1814.
8. David Bright (1770-2 Sep 1837) married 6 Jan 1799 Judith Dinsmore (1777-15 Aug 1838) and moved to Greenbrier County in 1805, then served in the War of 1812 in Vincennes, Indiana, settling in Clark County, Illinois by 1820. In 1822, he moved to Austin's Colony in the Mexican province of Tejas, settling in 1824 on his league of land (4400 acres). Died in Fort Bend County, Republic of Texas.
9. Sarah Bright (c.1774) married 10 Mar 1794 Augustine Kaufeldt (1770-1824), son of Valentine, moved to Clark County, Ohio.

The information on the Brecht Family is from The Bright Family of Pennsylvania, by Heber Gessler Gearhart, an undated manuscript at the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. It refers to a paper Historical Sketch of the Bright Family by A G Green, presented to the Historical Society of Berks County and published in their journal in November, 1900. This information has been supplemented with information from the Brecht/Bright Discussion group at Yahoo.

Mary Bright (1763-1851) m.1785 Isaac Liptrap

George B Liptrap (1843-1909) m.1868 Angeline Hickman

John Liptrap (1872-1935) m.1904 Bertha Helen Stonecypher

Virgil Raymond Liptrap (1907-1977) m.1949 Frances Mary Tate Matthews

James Matthews Liptrap (1951)