View source for Brackbill (Braechtbuehl, Brechbill, Brechbiel, Brechbuehl) family

Brackbill is a prominent family name in the [[LMC: a Fellowship of Anabaptist Churches|Lancaster Mennonite Conference]] of Swiss origin. An outstanding figure in the family was [[Brechbill, Benedikt (1665-ca. 1720)|Bishop Benedict Brechbuehl]] of [[Trachselwald (Bern, Switzerland)|Trachselwald]] in the [[Emmental (Switzerland)|Emmental]], [[Bern (Switzerland)|canton of Bern]], [[Switzerland|Switzerland]]. He was arrested in 1709, imprisoned, and the next year banished from Bern. He was active in enlisting the aid of the Dutch Mennonites in behalf of his fellow Swiss exiles in the [[Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)|Palatinate]]. Married to Maria Herr, daughter of [[Herr, Hans (1639-1725)|Bishop Hans Herr]], he had four children, one of whom, Ulrich, succeeded him as a minister. In 1717 Bishop Benedict Brackbill, as the name has been anglicized, migrated to [[Lancaster County (Pennsylvania, USA)|Lancaster County]], [[Pennsylvania (USA)|Pennsylvania]], and founded the [[Strasburg Mennonite Church (Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA)|Strasburg Mennonite congregation]]. He is said to have been an excellent singer and an able preacher. His death in 1720 marked the loss of the first Mennonite leader in the Pequea district. His son Ulrich was killed on the road to Philadelphia to which he was hauling farm produce in 1739. Sixth in line of descent from Benedict was Bishop C. M. Brackbill (1853-1936), also of the Pequea district of the Lancaster Conference. Other descendants include Minister Aldus Brackbill (1863-1941), his son M. T. Brackbill of the faculty of [[Eastern Mennonite University (Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA)|Eastern Mennonite College]], and Minister Milton Brackbill of the Lancaster Mennonite Conference. An Amish couple, V. Brechbiel and wife of France, settled in [[Henry County (Iowa, USA)|Henry County]], [[Iowa (USA)|Iowa]], in 1855.
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[[Category:Family Names]]