On December 29, 1760, Peter Bricker (born "Bruecker" or "Brucker", with an umlaut, or two little dots, above the letter "u") dictated his last will and testament in West Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. In that will, a Hans Bielman is mentioned, who I suppose may be a neighbor.

Peter Bricker was a Mennonite who arrived in America in 1732 with his young family on the ship "Pink Plaisance". On the theory that birds of a feather flock together, I wonder if neighbor Bielman was also a Mennonite, and if anyone knows what village or town in Europe his family came from?

Peter's father and mother originally came from the town of Frutigen in Bern Canton, Switzerland, but is reputed to have left sometime after 1686 due to the prevailing climate of religious persecution against Mennonites in that time and place. The family may have spent almost fifty years in Alsace and/or the Palatinate, and there's an unconfirmed tradition that Peter was born in 1700 either in the city of Zweibruecken, or somewhere in the surrounding Duchy of Zweibruecken.

It might be a very useful clue if we knew where Hans Bielman's family spent time before emigrating to America.

Thanks for any assistance!

Dale Bricker