19,657 Global Busch Family Members

Busch Family History

BUSCH (Bush)

This German surname, coming for a topographic name, ?busch?, for someone who lived near a bush or thicket has been in some cases assimilated to the English surname Bush, of like derivation, in the U.S.A. Büsch and Busche are variants.

In Germany the surname ranks as 84th most common, with a population of, approximately 29, 930 bearers. In present times it is to be found mostly in the provinces of Nordrhein-Westfalen and Niedersachsen.

As with other German speaking immigrants, New York was the arrival point for many Busch families; and New York State (348 families), together with the states of Ohio and Illinois, was the preferred place of settlement (1920 Federal Census). It might be apposite at this point to record that the spelling Bush shows in large numbers in the states of New York (1,292), Pennsylvania (1,024) and Ohio (704).

In modern times in the U.S.A, the surname Busch occupies 1, 935th place in the rankings, with a population of 17, 089 bearers, whereas Bush ranks at 346th with a population of 81, 524 bearers. Now some of these latter would be of English origin, but many would be true German Busch.

The 17th century German work on coats of arms, Siebmacher?s ?Wappen? shows the arms for (Vom) Busch as a lion rampant, emerging from a forest on a blue shield, with a crest of three feathers red, green and blue.

Two Famous Bearers

Adolphus Busch (1839-1913): born in Hesse, Germany, co-founder with another German, Ebehard Anheuser, of the largest brewery in the world: Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. Busch developed a light beer called Budweiser, claiming it would be better tasting than the dark beers then prevalent. Persuasive!

Fritz Busch (1890-1951): born in Siegen, Westfalen, Germany, he was a great German conductor. He was dismissed from his post at Dresden State Opera by the Nazis in 1933; the reasons were political- he numbered Jews among his friends, and his views on dictators were not concealed! Among his many appointments just prior to and after the war were the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Danish State Orchestra, the Stockholm Orchestra and the Glyndebourne Opera in England. His brother was the great violinist Adolf Busch (1891-1952), who married a Jewess, and was also vilified by the Nazis.