Bruchsal, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

The population of Bruchsal as retrieved from tax records
In the 1600s the city of Bruchsal experienced again and again destruction by fire or pillage through invaders. The church books from before 1690 as well as the records kept by the city archive have been destroyed. The family historian has little to go on, when it comes to research before 1690 except for tax records from 1648, 1650 and 1664. Not very many original family names remain. Many families saw fit to leave the very unsettled area. New families from Bavaria, the Rhineland, Wuerttemberg, Austria, Switzerland and even Italians were recruited for settlement. Today the descendants of the original Bruchsal families should be found all over Germany and even all over the world.

The author Siegfried Federle has listed in alphabetical order the citizens of Bruchsal who paid taxes in August 1648. The names appear and for what they paid money, if they had possessions. In the text is implied if someone is widowed or other relationships are mentioned. The list appears in Archiv für Sippenforschung, 15. Jahrgang, Heft 1 (1938), starting with page 9. The periodical is found in the FamilySearch Library, International Floor, call number 943 B2as.