V O L L B R E C H T -- F U L B R I G H T
Andreas Vollbrecht and Johann Wilhelm Vollbrecht immigrated to Philadelphia, via Rotterdam, in 1764 and 1740 respectively, and were probably very closely related. The majority of those who carry the Fulbright name descend from Wilhelm, that line is fairly well researched and documented. Unfortunately no documentation of the children of Andreas is presently available. Perhaps one of you reading this page has information on the descendants of Andreas, if so please share with us!
Andreas Vollbrecht came to America, from Rotterdam, by way of Portsmouth, on the ship "Sarah" arriving in Philadelphia on 20 Sep. 1764. The ship passenger list shows a total of 230 handwritten names, but they are not necessarily the signatures of the passengers as some other person may well have written the names.
Johann Wilhelm Vollbrecht sailed from Rotterdam to America on the ship "Robert and Alice", via Cowes (Isle of Wight, England), one of the 185 passengers arriving in Philadelphia on 3 Dec. 1740. On that date he appeared, with others from the ship, before the Governor of Pennsylvania and took the oath of allegiance to the British Crown as was required of all immigrants at that time. Wilhelm settled near Egypt, in Dutch Cove, Williams Township, in what is now Northampton County, Pennsylvania where he married and where all of his children were born. He is listed among those baptized in 1746 in the church of the Morgan Hill Congregation and he and his wife were listed there as Communicants in 1753, and again in 1754.
The two pioneer Vollbrechts appear to have lived near each other in Pennsylvania as both are occasionally listed in the records of the same church. For instance, both are shown on a Communicants list, dated in 1765, of the Dryland Church in Nazareth Township which is located in Northampton County. One was shown as Andrew and the other as William and their last names were spelled as shown above.
Wilhelm is shown in the book, "Naturalization of Foreign Protestants in the American Colonies" on page 88, as, "William Fulbright, Forks Township, Northampton County, the Sacrament taken on June 27, 1762 at Northampton, Pennsylvania." The last record known, in Pennsylvania, for any name resembling the spelling of Vollbrecht is for Margaret 'Wollebrech' found in records of the Trinity Union Church in Springfield Township, Bucks County, under date of 6 May 1769. It would appear that all, or at least most, of the known Pennsylvania Vollbrechts moved to North Carolina in that same year.
It is not at all unreasonable to believe that Andreas married and raised a family, nor to believe that he also assumed the anglicized version of the name, 'Andrew Fulbright'. There is nothing known that conflicts with the assumption that one son of Andreas was named William. The Andrew Fulbright who appears in early North Carolina census records is the first son of William Fulbright hence must be the grandson of Andreas Vollbrecht/Andrew Fulbright.
The younger Andrew Fulbright, first found in the 1810 Lincoln County, North Carolina census is shown as aged between 26 and 45, with a wife and daughter. By 1820 his family had grown with the addition of four sons, and Andrew then disappears after the 1840 census. Andrew administered the estate of his father, William, and court records list all of his siblings. Andrew, c.1778-c.1847, remained in North Carolina. His brother John, 1782-1824, moved to Missouri and brother Jacob, c.1786-aft.1870, is the progenitor of many Fulbrights living near his old homestead in Arkansas.
Johann Wilhelm Vollbrecht/ John William Fulbright, c.1720-1808, married Christina Schuck (6 Feb. 1716-Mar. 1808), in about 1744-45. Born in Germany, she was the daughter of Johannes Georg Schuck (1694-29 Dec. 1767), whose family were close neighbors of the Vollbrecht family in Williams Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The Shucks had come to Philadelphia on the ship "Pink John and William" on 17 Oct. 1732. (See "Pennsylvania German Pioneers" by Strassburger and Hinke.) Old John Schuck's will, dated 4 July 1763 and probated in Dec. 1767, said in part; "my children, namely George, Dorothea, the widow of Jacob Yount deceased, Christina, the wife of William "Fullbrecht of the township of Williams . . . and the said Maria Catherina . . ."
The family moved, apparently as a group, probably accompanied by others from the same area, undoubtedly by means of wagons they had constructed themselves and drawn by oxen, to North Carolina. There they settled on the north side of the Catawba River in what was then Lincoln, and is now Catawba County.
Their children were baptized with the name of Vollbrecht in every such record found, but all later used the name of Fulbright. The German name was generally used in Pennsylvania and the English version later in North Carolina; however, in some estate papers dated as late as 1815 use is still made of the old German spelling.
The children of the couple were: 1) Johann Georg Vollbrecht, 1746-c.1781 who remained in the immediate area; 2) Jacob Vollbrecht, 1747-1835, who married Elizabeth Weisel and moved to western North Carolina; 3) Mary Vollbrecht, c.1751-____, who married John Link and they are believed to have moved to Missouri prior to her death; 4) Anna Catherina Vollbrecht, 1752-1811, who married Johannes Bollinger and moved to Missouri; 5) Margaret Vollbrecht, 1753-1816, who married Peter Crites and lived in Missouri; 6) Anna Elizabeth Vollbrecht, 1754-1802, who married a Killian; 7) Dorothea Vollbrecht, c.1755-1833, who married Elias Moyers and moved to Indiana, probably in about 1816, and both were buried there; 8) Christina Vollbrecht, c.1756-____, who married Benjamin Taylor and moved to Missouri; and 9) John William Vollbrecht, 1757-1820, who married Elizabeth (nee Coulter ??) and also moved to Missouri.
Today descendants are found in every part of the country, a few are famous, most are unknown, but all are people with whom one can be proud to associate.
--by Ed Stout
For further information
Please contact
Paul Fullbright
or
Ed Stout
if you wish to share Fulbright or related family information.
Click below to download the
Fulbright Family Association
membership application,
or else contact
David C. Herd
Secretary-Treasurer
8708 E. 79th Terrace, Raytown, MO 64138
