Liebrich and Leebrick Family in America
History of Liebrich and Leebrick Family
Welcome to the web site for our family name in America. On September 25, 1754, Johannes Philip Liebrich and his family set foot on land at the Port of Philadelphia. Having passed their medical examination, they were marched up to City Hall, where they pledged their allegiance to the British crown. They then were dismissed to begin their new life of freedom in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The family changed their name to Leebrick in the 1820s. The story of this Liebrich, now Leebrick, family is told in my book "900 Years: A Liebrich/ Leebrick Family History". It was published by Outlook Press and is available on Amazon and can be ordered from most book stores.
Family tradition and some early US documentation described the family as being from Manheim, Germany. This is consistent with the ship "Adventure" documentation, which describes the passengers as being from the duchy of Franconia. But, no one has ever found records in Manheim indicating the presence of the family there.
Our trip to Philadelphia in the fall of 2004 helped to answer that question. Using some recent information from the Internet, we went to Manheim, Pennsylvania and were able to locate the grave stone of Johan Philip Nicholas Liebrich, the only son of our immigrant ancestor. Oblique lighting and photographic enhancement techniques revealed that Nicholas was actually born in Butzbach Germany, not Manheim. Butzbach was located within the duchy of Franconia, and so this location is also consistent with the ship manifest.
Having this birthplace, I turned to the research of Winfred Liebrich. There I found a Nicholas Philip Liebrich born on the date inscribed on this stone. The father of this Nicholas is given as a Johannes who was born on the date given on Nicholas' father's gravestone in Manheim. His mother is given there as Catherine and he has sisters identifeid as Apollonia and Johannette, which also match what we know of the Manheim, Pennsylvania family. These relationships were then confirmed by Butzbach church records, putting our German roots on very firm grounds.
Over the next 150 years, at least twelve more Liebrich families and 42 individuals arrived from Germany. Those families have produced nearly as many Liebrich families as Leebrick families in this database. Those later arrivals have nearly all elected to keep the German spelling of the name, although there are numerous variants in spelling. Liebreich, Leibrich, Lieberich, Loebrich and Liebisch are among the many variants. Many of them, particularly those with the Liebrich spelling, descend from the same Butzbach family as my direct ancestor.In the years between Johannes Philip leaving Butzbach and the later arrivals, many had moved to other towns in central Germany, Sippersfeld being among the more common home towns. A graphic showing these connections and all the immigrants that I have been able to trace is shown here . Those later families settled in Butler county Ohio, Providence county Rhode Island as well as South Dakota and Pennsylvania. Most of those families have kept the German spelling of the name.
RESEARCH NOTE: Recently there was an exhaustive statistical study done of how families migrated across the United States after they arrived there. My research shows that the Leebrick/Leibrick/Liebrich families pretty much followed the paths they identified, You might find Figure 3 of their work especially interesting.
This January 2024 update contains significantly more complete information on Liebrich families. It also includes data from the 1950 US Census, which was released this year. You will also find expanded obituary information in the notes for each person, based on articles in Newspaper.com. There are still dozens of Leebrick and Liebrich individuals that I can't place in our tree yet, so if you know someone that is missing, please let me know! This information is a combination of my own research and what others have shared with me. I'm always willing to share with others, so email me if you have different information than I do. Here's a heads up that my book is now out of print. If you can't find a copy online, drop me a line because I have a few copies available. Just send me an email and I'll make arrangements to drop a copy of the book to you in the mail.
No database is ever error free or complete, including this one. If you have corrections or additions, please email me at the address below.
Happy searching!
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Time/Density Maps: USA Europe
15123 - Individuals 3144 - Surnames 5533 - Family Groups 1150 - Earliest Birth Year 2019 - Latest Birth Year |  Ancestors of David Hartzell LEEBRICK
 Ancestors of Susan Elene GARDNER
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Table of Contents
Ancestry DNA Results
Old Town Butzbach in 2015
Old Photos: People and Places
Leebrick Art, Gizmos and Patents
Nicholas Revolutionary War Story
Published Family History in Paperback Form
German Web Sites, Translated Documents and Maps
Generated January 13, 2024
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