The first worldwide family reunion is in the first stages of planning. All Bretzke, Brietzke, and Breitzke families are invited to attend. The location near Calgary, Alberta, Canada will be determined in the coming days. Please inquire for additional information. This will surely be a wonderful time to bring families with similar ancestry together for the first time. The date has yet to be set, but will probably be in 2010. If you are a Bretzke or have a friend who is a Bretzke, please contact us.

The German surname Bretzke is believed by etymologists to be of two origins. In the first place, the surname Bretzger is of toponymic origin. Toponymic names are those surnames which derive their origin from a place name near which the original bearer lived or held land. In this instance, the surname Bretzger is derived from the place name Bretzingen in Buchen and Baden. In the second place, the surname Bretzger is of occupational origin. Occupational names are those surnames which derive their origin from the trade or profession of the father of the initial bearer of the name as a surname. Here, the surname Bretzger is an old Swabian form of Bretzler meaning "pretzel baked goods", from the German word "brezel", meaning "pretzel", thus referring to "one who baked or sold pretzels".

Variants of the surname Bretzger are Bretzler, Pretzger, Pretzell, Bretzeller, Breitkreitz, Britzke, Breitzke, Breitz, Britz, Britzkretz, Breitkreuz, Britzmann, Bretzmann, Brietzke, Britzkow, Pritzke and Bretzke. Reference to this surname or to a variant includes a record of one Marcus Pretzger from Rain in Bavarian Swabia in 1484. One Hainrich Pretzing, a hospital master from Tuebingen, was mentioned in records dated 1437. Jos. Pretzell from Holzheim in Ulm has been documented in records of 1482. Hugo Bretzeller, a chairman of the Bakers of Basel was recorded in 1341

see large version of Wilhelm Bretzke Family

see large version of Guy Kopriva Family

I welcome new information about the Bretzke name. And encourage you to send me information you think would be appropriate.

Here is my family lineage from the earliest I could find to present day:

My Great X5 Grandparents
Wilhelm Bretzke 1761
Henrietta Ladewich

My Great X4 Grandparents
Johann Bretzke
Dorothea Louise Hellern

My Great X3 Grandparents
Ernst Friederich Bretzke 1820
Charlotte (Mary) Miller 1825

My Great X2 Grandparents
Wilhelm August Bretzke 1846
Matilda Schmidt 1851

My Great Grandparents
Herman Albert Bretzke 1877
Mary Elizabeth Looman

My Grandparents
Melvin W Bretzke
Irene Rose Kopriva

My Parents
Duane R Bretzke

Elvira Luanne Fisher

Steven K Bretzke
Tannia K. A. V.

My Sons
Alan Bretzke
Kevin Bretzke

see large version with names

Guy Andrew Kopriva
My Great Grandparents

see large version with names

Prussia

The earliest accounts of the Bretzke name come from a place once called Stettin, Prussia (Germany) which is now Poland. Many of the Bretzke families around the world once came from this area known as Prussia, Pommerania, Pommern. Other spellings of the name include Brietzke, Breitzke, and Britzke.

Photo: Chateau Muenchweiler, near Weiskirchen Grimburg, Kur-Trier south West of Koblenz,Germany. Built after 1750, by Karl Kaspar Count von Britzke, whose only daughter married Karl Emerich Joseph "Zandt von Merl " and this chateau is now in their possession

The earliest known Bretzke is Knight Degenhardt Von Bretzke, 1326 AD
source: Secret Prussian State Archives in West Berlin. They had estates in Mecklenburg, the Altmark, Ückermark, Pommern and Westphalia.

August Wilhelm Von Bretzke
Born: 1764
Place: Koethen, Koethen-Anhalt, Kingdom of Prussia

Australia

Cleveland, Queensland
I met Alan Bretzke and his family when I spent a semester at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. I got to know some of the Bretzke family in Australia while I was there and returned to visit them again in 1997. They are descendants of;

August Bretzke 1838
Minnie Zunker Bretzke 1843
Kason, Germany

Heinrich Brietzke 1827
August Friedrich Wilhelm Bretzke 1821
Anna Emma Martha Britzke 1905

Henri Bretzke 1932
Greifenberg, Pommern, Germany 

Paul Fredrich Brietzke 1882
Three Hills, Alberta

Peter Bretzke 1766
Martin Brietzke 1810

U.S.A.

Bretzke Store was a general store in Geronimo, Texas during the late 1800's. Saddles, shoes, clothing, cotton sacks, feed, seed, fertilizer. It was first owned by Robert Bretzke, then by David Bretzke, his son. Affordable Antiques is the business currently operating out of the building.

Bretzke Families that immigrated to the US.

Ernst Friederich Bretzke 1820
Charlotte (Mary) Miller 1825
Prussia - Maine Prairie, Stearns County, Minnesota

Karl Ludwig Eduard Bretzke1856
Tohanna Hermiene Rosalie Witte1859
Wisconsin - Montana

Frederick Bretzke 1837
Augusta Brown 1841
Germany - Wisconsin
Arrived New York on board the Str. Hammonia, 1867

Herman Paul Brietzke 1855
Bill Brietzke 1891

Arrived in New York in 1868:
Friedrich Bretzke 1828
Marie Bretzke 1816
August Bretzke 1849
Carl Bretzke 1851
Wilhelmine 1854
Fritz Bretzke 1854
Wilhelm Bretzke 1856

Arrived in Texas 1853:
Johann John David Bretzke 1798
Wilhelm Bretzke 1827
Martin Brietzke

I would like to build a Bretzke Family tree and encourage all Bretzkes around the world to please send information that would add to our family history.

Argent; three stars gules, placed two and one.

Argent (white or silver) signifies Peace and Sincerity. Gules (red denotes Military Fortitude and Magnanimity. It is also the "martyr's colour". Stars represent Constancy in Service to the King.

Three ostrich plumes argent. Ostrich plumes denote Nobility.

Germany