The Hirstein surname is first seen in the Mennonite congregation in Obersulzen, Germany around 1640, appearing a little later in the Mennonite congregation in Erpolzheim. Ancestor Peter Hirstein, b 1749 in Battenberg, Germany, married Magdalena Eichacker. Peter died in 1817 in Germany, while his wife preceded him in death on 3 Aug 1812.
Their daughter, Elizabeth Hirstein, born 3 Nov 1788 in Battenberg, married Heinrich Conrad Schrag. Heinrich and Elizabeth emigrated to the United States about 1834, settling in Ridge Prairie, St. Clair, IL.
A son of Peter and Magdalena, Johannes Hirstein, remained in Germany, but four of Johannes' children, Samuel, Abraham, Katharina, and Elizabeth Hirstein, also emigrated to America, Samuel arriving in 1836, while Abraham coming over as late as 1855. Johannes' two remaining children, Maria and Jakob, continued to live in Germany.
The Hirstein surname is apparently quite rare in America and in Germany, and because of its rarity, a database is being maintained of all Hirstein descendants worldwide by Jim Bridges, author of these pages. In a 1994 check of the CD ROM disks for telephone numbers in the United States, only 70 entries for Hirstein appeared, and all except five of them could be directly tied to ancestor Peter Hirstein of Battenberg.