The Albrecht family is particularly well represented in the wine-making village of Orschwihr, but this family is also established in the Sundgau area, for example in Altkirch.

View of Orschwihr village

The etymology of the patronym Albrecht shows it was a first name of Germanic origin, which corresponds to the French name Aubert.

Several other forms exist, the most frequent of these being ADELBRECHT.

The Historical and Biographical Dictionary of Switzerland devotes a large section to this patronym which is found in the cantons of Aargau, Lucerne, Saint-Gallen, Thurgau, Uri, Valais and Zurich.

This name is specially present in Zurich, where many ALBRECHTs were admitted as burghers of the town between 1351 and 1603.

In Winterthur, in the same canton, there was a Vicar of this name in 1399.

A certain Jean ALBRECHT is often mentioned in the town's records, where he was a member of the Lower Council from 1401 to 1410. Jean was also a wood seller, keeper of the keys to the town's treasury, curator of the hospital and the Saint George's leprosy reserve and director of Public Works in the town in 1408.

From the end of the 17th century, the Albrecht family was present in Altkirch. The census of 1698 in the seigneuries of Thann and Altkirch, carried out by the Duke Mazarin, governor of Alsace from 1661 to 1713, showed a certain Sigismond ALBRECHT who was a craftsman in Altkirch. He married Jeanne Marie BLIND in April 1693.

This same document relates the existence of Guillaume ALBRECHT, mayor of Balschwiller, who owned a goat, two oxen and a cow.

Again, a Georges ALBRECHT, mentioned in the census, married the widow Barbe DURINGER in April 1681 at St. Stephen's Church in Balschwiller.

In the same year, the Vicar Jean Elmiger blessed the union of Jean ALBRECHT and Susanne CHRISTEN. The two couples had many children who created the families roots here.

The book entitled "The priory, hospital and cemetery of St. Morand" lists, among others, the tombstones of this old cemetery. Among these funereal monuments is mentioned that of Joseph ALBRECHT and his wife Anne Marie WALBOTT.

Joseph was born at Altkirch on October 9th 1786. A stone cutter by trade, he was the son of Morand and Marie Anne RUMMELHART. His wife Anne Marie gave him many children, of which Joseph Sebastien, Martin and François Xavier all practised their father's trade, stone-cutting.

Again in Altkirch, we note that in March 1732 a certain Catherine STEINER of Friesen made a donation of the place she owned in the church at Altkirch. This place was situated in front of the Holy Tomb in the church, and the beneficiary of the donation was Catherine ALBRECHT, the wife of Sebastien DENTER, butcher by trade and a burgher of the town.

Once more, in 1731 the Great Bailiff of the town of Altkirch, François Antoine NEEF, leased the flour-mill at Helfrantzkirch for a period of three years to Joseph ALBRECHT, from Jettingen. (Source: extracts from the records kept by the Notary of Altkirch, researched by André Ganter).

ALBRECHTs have lived in the township of Thann for many years. In fact, the rich archives of the town tell of the presence of this patronym since the end of the 15th century.

Another branch which came from Balschwiller was present in Thann before the Thirty Years War. However, the link to the branch explored here has not yet been proven.

This branch begins most certainly with Jean ALBRECHT, the son of Ulrich, who married twice in Thann, where he had a vineyard.

His first marriage was to Ursule FUCHS, who gave him four children, all baptised between 1653 and 1662 at the St Thiébault collegial church. Of these we should mention André and Bernard who both settled here and produced numerous offspring.

His second marriage was to Madeleine BRUCKERT, from an old-established local family. They had five children.

One of these children, called Baltazard, baptised at Thann in 1668, was promised in marriage to Ursule STORHAS, of Rouffach, in the church of Our Lady of Rouffach on Thursday, November 9th 1693. As was the custom, they were married two weeks later at Thann. The young wife had ten children. Mathias, Ursule and Laurent were born at Rouffach, then the family lived at Westhalten, where Jacques and Melchior were born.

The family then came to live at Orschwihr, where five other children of the marriage were baptised. Of these, Baltazard the Younger, born in August 1715, married Anne Marie FUSSINGER at the church of St. Gall in Bergholtz.

Both Baltazard ALBRECHT and his wife Ursule STORHAS died at Orschwihr in 1742; she on June 29th and he only two days later on July 1st.

One should not confuse this branch from Thann with that from Switzerland, which also came to Bergholtz at the end of the 17th century. This is the branch of Baltazard ALBRECHT of Knutwill in the canton of Lucerne, where he was born around 1643. It was in Guebwiller, on April 10th 1668, that he married Marie Vérène SUTTER, of Swiss origin. Shortly after their marriage, the couple settled in Bergholtz, where his wife gave him a family of eight children.

On May 12th 1713, the local Clerk of the Seigneury drew up the inventory of the will at the death of Baltazard, a linen weaver by trade. His goods were shared between his widow of the second marriage, Françoise GEORG, and his three children by his first marriage to Marie Vérène SUTTER. This document mentions in particular the house, with courtyard, cellar, winepress, all situated in the village of Bergholtz (research by André Ganter).

The ALBRECHT-GEORG couple had entered into a marriage contract dated November 26th 1691. On this occasion, the husband had promised to his wife a wedding gift (or dowry) of a "Schatz of Vines near Bergoltz, at a place called Zeller Weg". The spouse, already a widow, in turn made a promise to her husband of a gift of the use during his lifetime, consisting of a half-field situated near Rimbach.

At Rouffach, the capital of the Upper Mundat, the vicar blessed the union of Madeleine ALBRECHT in the year 1583, shortly after the beginning of parish registers. This Madeleine was originally from Montbéliard and she married Michel BRINGER, from Zurich.

In July 1590, in the parish of Burnhaupt-le-Haut, Anne ALBRECHT, originally from Traubach-le-Haut married Jean BANNWARTH. Many children were born to this couple who settled in Burnhaupt-le-Haut (researched by Pierre SCHICK).

During the terrible Thirty Years War which was fouht in Alsace, we can mention among the many who died in 1633 in Soultz, Marie ALBRECHT. However, no mention is made of her origins in the records.

In the list of those dwelling in Réguisheim for the year 1767, we find the widow of Richard ALBRECHT. Each person who became a burgher of the village had to provide a fire bucket for the village within six weeks. These utensils were very useful when a chain was made to fight fires, at a time when pumps were non-existent. During the Thirty Years War, the "mazapolitans" were meant to hand over a certain sum of money, a tax which paid the town's guards who day and night assured the safety of the town, theoretically in the shelter of the fortifications. Among these townsfolk was Ulrich ALBRECHT, from whom the town demanded eight sols, the currency of Basel.

Rare are those Alsatian families not having members who emigrated to the United States in the course of the 19th century. The ALBRECHTs are no exception to this rule.

In fact, amongst these we can mention, was François ALBRECHT, a printer aged 32, born and brought up in Thann. He left his native country with his wife and three children and set sail for New York. His request for a passport, dated October 8th 1845, is still kept in the departmental archives of the Haut-Rhin.