Burkhart Family History

From Bavaria to Brookville

Butz Burkhart's great-grandfather, George Peter Burckhart, was born in 1819 in Schaidt, Rheinisn-Pfalz (Rheinland-Pfalz), Germany. It's a small village along the Rhine river, a bit east of Frankfurt, near Karlsruhe. (See green arrow on map link.)  At the time, it was part of the kingdom of Bavaria. George Peter's father, Sebastian, was born in 1783-84 and his grandfather, Michael, was born about 1750. 

Sebastian and Michael Burckhart were born in or near Schaidt, with the first record of Burkharts in Schaidt dated at 1718. (see left of this page) Burckhart is listed as one of the oldest family names in Schaidt, called "Altschaidter". (Link is to a Google translation of the history of Schaidt. Scroll down the page. The translation is a bit rough, but you get the idea.) Other Altschaidter names related to our family or listed as witnesses in church documents include: Bernhardt, Broßhardt, Burckhart, Dietrich, Eckert, Getto, Heußer, Jöckle, Rinck, Schimpf, Schmaltz, and Völckel. Many of these early family names in Schaidt are found in local censuses from 1465 and 1530 at the state archives in Karlsruhe. Because the Burckharts intermarried with so many Altschaidter families, we likely have at least one direct line who lived in Schaidt back to the 1500s, such as the Getto family.

George Peter Burkhart left Germany and arrived in New York on May 10, 1860 after an ocean voyage of 47 days.  He brought with him his wife Maria Anna Bernhart and their three children, including Butz's grandfather, Ferdinand, who was nine years old.  If you've ever been to Germany, it's easy to see why so many Germans migrated to southern Indiana and Ohio in the 1800s.  Of course, they were seeking opportunity and land was cheap. The rolling hills, fertile river valleys, and climate were very much like back home in Germany, which must have been reassuring when so far from their homeland.

The family made their way to Cincinnati, and finally to Brookville Indiana by canal boat, where they settled.  He was listed as a "day laborer" in the 1860 census, shortly after his arrival.  On the eve of the Civil War, George Peter became a US citizen on January 16, 1861.  His son, Ferd, was listed as a "carpenter" in the 1880 census, a "saloon keeper" in 1886, an "agent" in 1899 and was elected Treasurer for Franklin County, Indiana from 1900-1904.  He was listed as a "bridge builder" when he died in 1932.

Brookville's Burkhart Boys, circa 1901

Ferdinand Burkhart standing, top center. Children shown are (front row from left to right) Stanley "Pruter", William "Fitri", Al, August "Gus" or "Suhre", Ralph "Pete", (back row from left to right) Edward Charles "Cholly", Frank, Ferd, Joseph "Sepp", Harry "Nick". Not pictured is the only daughter, Catherine "Aunt Ag". Photo taken within 1-2 years of Geoge Peter's death in 1901.

The family name Burkhart is most common around Basel, Switzerland, on the Rhine River near the German/French border. Several Burkhart's were the mayor of Basel in the early 1800s.  There are more Burkharts per square mile in Basel, than any place in the world.  Hey, what a coincidence, Basel also has the highest per capita beer consumption of any city in the world!

It's possible that our Burkhart ancestors came from the Basel area and migrated east along the Rhine in the 16th or 17th century, before they settled in Kempten, Swabia (southwest of Munich).

There's a high concentration of Burkhart's who lived within 20 miles of Schaidt, in the 1600s and 1700s around Bruchweiler-Barenbach and Erfweiler, Pfalz. They were Catholic, too, and names included Sebastian and Michael Burkhart. It was very common to carry down the names of the first name or middle name of father or grandfather. I'm hoping to confirm if one of them is a direct connection to our Michael Burckhart or Sebastian Burckhart who lived in Schaidt in the early 1800s. There is information available about Burkhart and Zwick families who lived near Kempten in Gunzesreid but a connection to them has not been established. If anyone has information on this, please drop me an email.

Distribution of Burkhart's in Germany

The highest concentration of Burkhart's in Germany is around the Black Forest (bottom left of map in orange & lavender) and near Munich (bottom center). The Burkhart name is associated with the Germanic tribe called Alemann, who lived near Basel, Alsace and parts of Germany. (The Alemann chased the Romans out of the Black Forest in 260 A.D.)  The family name was derived from "burg" or village and "hardt" (heart).  "Hardt" in those days represented strength or courage (such as Richard the Lion-Hearted).  Burkhart or "Burghardt" meant "defender of the town".  In medieval times, he was in charge of the watch tower overlooking the city walls, and would sound the alarm if the village was attacked.  See more on Burkhart name.

Note various spellings of Burkhart in the records: Burkart, Burckhart, Burger (IN census 1860), Burkhardt, Burkhart.  Most of the German records used Burckhart  for Michael, Sebastian and George Peter. Burkhart is also a first name in Germany today.

Also note the longevity, with five generations of Burkhart males in our direct line (including Charles "Butz") living beyond 80 years old...back into the 1800s when average life expectancy was less than 40 years old. Butz's father, William, lived to be 87 and the average age of his 9 siblings was 80. William's father, Ferd, was 82.  Ferd's father, George Peter, was 82.  George's father, Sebastian, was 80. Sebastian's father, Michael, was born ~1755 and lived to be 70.