Members of this family spell their name as both "Bach" and "Back"
The Bach (Back) Family book
The Bach (Back) Family book
The Bach (Back) Family book
This book provides the accurate and well-documented genealogy of the Bach (Back) family from southeastern Kentucky, all the way back to the 1500s, in Thuringia, Germany. It features the professional research of Johann Sebastian Bach, Dr. Wilgus Bach, Tilden Bach, and several Board-Certified genealogists.
However, many years ago, a few strange people developed a fraudulent genealogy of this family (their own family) for their own sick, selfish reasons. Since then, it has spread all over the internet. Don't believe it!
In 1994, that fraudulent genealogy was published in a book titled, A Back Family History: The Story of a Major Branch of the Back/Bach Family. The book claimed that members of the Bach (Back) family from southeastern Kentucky descend from Harman Back, from Freudenberg, Germany. It also claimed that Harman had a son named Henry Back (1740-1809), and that Henry had three children named John Back (1774-1854), Mary Back (1777-1807), and Henry Back (1785-1871). It further claimed that Henry's elderly widow, Elizabeth Hoffman Back (born July 13, 1746), left her home in Virginia, and moved over 500 miles, through the dense and dangerous wilderness, just to live out the rest of her life in southeastern Kentucky with those three children. None of that was true.
Every person who has Bach (Back) ancestors from southeastern Kentucky descends from one of those three children. However, those children do not descend from Henry Back or Harman Back.
Reedus only published that book because he thought he would "get rich," because Harman Back was researched by The Germanna Foundation, which is a genealogical organization that makes a tremendous amount of money selling genealogy. In fact, Reedus made over $100,000, tax-free, from selling that book and lying about his own ancestors. Reedus' cousins even removed the gravestone of their actual great, great grandmother, Elizabeth Hoffman-Maggard Back (1755-1826), from The Maggard Cemetery, and they replaced it with a fake gravestone they had made, which described Elizabeth Hoffman Back (born July 13, 1746), just to "prove" that she had moved to southeastern Kentucky.
Reedus even reported his fraudulent genealogy to DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution), so they included it in their database, even though there is not even one piece of evidence, which proves that the fraudulent genealogy is true. After that, DAR started selling $100/year memberships to members of the Bach (Back) family from southeastern Kentucky.
That fraudulent genealogy remained in the DAR database for many years. In 2022, several Board-Certified genealogists sent a massive research report to DAR, proving that the Bach (Back) family from southeastern Kentucky did not descend from Harman Back or Henry Back. That report contained nearly 100 historical documents as proof. After a meticulous review, the in-house genealogists at DAR determined that the research report was correct, and so the fraudulent genealogy was removed from DAR's database. That should have been the end of it.
However, one member of DAR, Karen Back Simmons, was furious. She is a member of the Bach (Back) family from southeastern Kentucky, and she enjoys pretending that she descends from Harman Back, as part of her DAR membership. She alerted DAR's senior management, warning them that, if they didn't restore that fraudulent genealogy to their database, they would no longer be able to sell DAR memberships ($100/year) to the thousands of members of her family. Even worse, DAR would have to refund nearly forty years of memberships, to hundreds of people. So DAR restored it. DAR is still selling those $100/year memberships to people in the Bach (Back) family from southeastern Kentucky.
Since there is no proof of the fraudulent genealogy, because it isn't true, Karen created the "Bach to Back DNA Project" on FamilyTreeDNA.com. She claims that the DNA samples she obtained from a few descendants of Harman Back are "a perfect match" to the DNA samples she obtained from a few members of her Bach (Back) family in southeastern Kentucky. The problem is that her "DNA Project" is completely rigged. She tampered with the DNA samples, she paid thousands of dollars to buy some of the DNA test kits, there is no proof as to who the participants actually were, she lied about what the so-called "results" meant, and she wrote in the names of Harman Back and Henry Back, herself, as being the ancestors of each of the participants. What she has done is beyond reprehensible. However, DAR uses Karen's rigged "DNA Project" to justify selling memberships to people who don't descend from Harman Back.
ISBN #978-0-9891687-8-6
The book is coil-bound, and it includes an Index
$55 (plus $5 shipping)
Tilden Bach's book
The Bach (Back) Family book
The Bach (Back) Family book
Before Tilden Bach passed away, on November 1, 2009, he sold us the copyrights to his books, because he wanted us to continue to sell them, so that people could know the accurate genealogy of their family. He wrote several books about the genealogy of his family, the Bach (Back) family in southeastern Kentucky. This was the first book that he published.
Tilden will always be remembered as being the genealogist who correctly documented the specific connection between Johann Sebastian Bach, and the Bach (Back) family in southeastern Kentucky. Although members of the family in southeastern Kentucky knew that they had descended from the family of Johann Sebastian Bach, the specific connection to him had been forgotten, over time, for more than 200 years.
Tilden found the Family Tree that had been created by Johann Sebastian Bach, in 1735, and the written genealogy that went along with it. Johann Sebastian had documented 53 men in his family, on his Family Tree, who knew how to play a musical instrument. He numbered each man, from #1 to #53, and he also described each man's musical ability, along with their genealogical placement in his family. Several of those men composed and performed music, and were well-known. But some of them simply knew how to play an instrument, and were not well-known.
Man #53 was Johann Heinrich Bach (born 1709). He wasn't well-known, and so Johann Sebastian didn't know much about his musical ability. All he wrote was that Johann Heinrich was "a good clavier player." (A clavier was similar to a piano.) Johann Sebastian's Family Tree showed that Johann Heinrich Bach was the son of Johann Christoph Bach Jr. (1676-1738), and that Johann Heinrich Bach was born in 1709, and had died sometime after 1735, which was when Johann Sebastian had created the Family Tree. Johann Sebastian probably didn't even know that Johann Heinrich had later sailed to America.
In 1735, Johann Sebastian was living in the city of Leipzig, Germany, while Johann Heinrich was living 120 miles away, out in the countryside, in the family's homeland of Thuringia, Germany. So it's easy to see why Johann Sebastian didn't know very much about Johann Heinrich. After Johann Sebastian created his Family Tree, and his written genealogy, in 1735, he lost interest in it, and he never made any additional entries to it.
As Tilden studied Johann Sebastian Bach's Family Tree, he realized that Man #53, Johann Heinrich Bach, was the same Johann Heinrich Bach (1709-1789) who was the immigrant in the Bach (Back) family from southeastern Kentucky. That was the specific connection.
NOTICE: Unfortunately, Karen Back Simmons has grossly disrespected Tilden, and violated our copyright, by presenting part of page 7-b, from Tilden's book, on her bizarre website she calls, "Kaleidoscope." She deliberately cut off the bottom part of Tilden's paragraph about Elizabeth Hoffman Back, the widow of Henry Back (1740-1809), which stated that Elizabeth moved to Rockingham County, Virginia, with her son Aaron and her sister Margaret, after her husband Henry died. Karen did that because she lies and claims that Elizabeth moved to southeastern Kentucky, after her husband Henry died, and founded the Bach (Back) family there. But that's not true, and Karen actually knows that it's not true! That's why she cut off the bottom part of Tilden's paragraph.
Karen engages in deceptive and unethical activity like that, all the time.
Her bizarre website is packed full of lies about the genealogy of her own family, as part of her deranged and sick obsession of pretending that she, and the rest of the Bach (Back) family from southeastern Kentucky, descends from Harman Back, through a son he never had (Henry Back).
Her bizarre website not only contains countless lies and altered documents, she also purposefully misidentifies people on historical documents, to "prove" her fraudulent genealogy. Why in the world does she do this? Well, she is a member of DAR, and so she promotes this fraudulent genealogy about Harman Back so that DAR can sell $100/year memberships to members of the Bach (Back) family in southeastern Kentucky. She brings in a lot of money for DAR, which makes her a "superstar" in DAR, and allows her to buy yet another overpriced "pin" for her childish ribbon, to pretend she's a genealogy expert.
In addition, with DAR's support, Karen has also removed the accurate genealogy of the Bach (Back) family from southeastern Kentucky, from all of the major genealogy websites, and replaced it with her sick, fraudulent genealogy about Harman Back. What she has done to her own family is so wrong, and so evil.
The book is on a DVD
$40 (includes free shipping)
Dr. Wilgus Bach's book
Dr. Wilgus Bach's book
Dr. Wilgus Bach's book
In the early 1900s, Dr. Wilgus Bach was the highly-respected Historian for the Bach (Back) family, in southeastern Kentucky.
Dr. Bach interviewed many elderly people about their ancestors, and he made notes about what they said. He put those notes in a binder, calling it, "Manuscript of Families of Breathitt County Area." After Dr. Bach died, his widow later donated that binder to the Kentucky Historical Society.
In addition to the section about Bach (Back) family, the book also contains Dr. Wilgus' genealogical information about 62 other families: Adams, Banks, Blair, Boggs, Bowman, Breeding, Byrd, Calhoun, Campbell, Carpenter, Caudill, Chambers, Cockrill, Combs, Cooper, Cope, Craft, Crawford, Davis, Deaton, Eversole, Fields, Frazier, Fugate, Gabbard, Gibbs, Haddix, Hagins, Hargis, Hensley, Hogg, Holbrook, Holliday, Hollon, Hounshell, Howard, Hudson, Hurst, Kash, Landrum, Landsaw, Lovely, Maggard, Miller, Murphy, Noble, Reynolds, Roberts, Robertson (Robinson), Rose, Russell, Short, Smith, South, Stacy, Stamper, Strong, Swango, Terry, Turner, Tutt, and Williams.
The book is on a DVD
$30 (includes free shipping)
The Bach Family Bible
Dr. Wilgus Bach's book
Dr. Wilgus Bach's book
In 1762, Johann Heinrich Bach, who was the immigrant in the Bach (Back) family from southeastern Kentucky, bought an old Bible (actually, an old Catechism) from his cousin, Johann Christian Bach, who still lived back in Europe. Johann Christian Bach was the son of Johann Sebastian Bach, and he had inherited many of his father's books.
From 1762, until 1911, many members of the Bach (Back) family from southeastern Kentucky recorded their names and dates of birth into that old Bible. That Bible provides additional proof of the actual genealogy of the Bach (Back) family from southeastern Kentucky. It proves that they do not descend from Harman Back or from Henry Back (1740-1809).
In 2009, Dr. Wilgus Bach's granddaughter donated this old Bible to the Breathitt County Library, in Jackson, Kentucky. A digitized copy of the old book is now on the library's website. However, this DVD contains much better copies of each of the pages on which family members wrote down information. It also contains extensive and detailed information about each of those entries. You will be fascinated to see your ancestor's handwriting.
The book is on a DVD
$30 (includes free shipping)
These books below are available from Amazon
J.S. Bach's book
Philipp Spitta's book
The New Bach Reader
This is the English translation of the genealogy book that was written by Johann Sebastian Bach, in 1735, in German, titled, Ursprung der musicalish-Bachischen Familie. In that book, Sebastian created a Family Tree in which he identified 53 men in his family who could play a musical instrument. Each man was assigned a number, from #1 to #53. The man assigned #53 was Johann Heinrich Bach, because he could play the clavier (like a harpsichord), but he was not a composer or performer.
Johann Heinrich Bach later sailed to America.
After he arrived, he simplified the spelling of his name to its Americanized version, which was "John Henry Back," so that other colonists could more easily pronounce it and write it.
Johann Heinrich Bach (John Henry Back), our ancestor, is the second cousin, once removed, to Johann Sebastian Bach.
The New Bach Reader
Philipp Spitta's book
The New Bach Reader
This book contains even more information than the original book, which was written in 1945, by Hans T. David and Arthur Mendel.
It contains copies of hundreds of Johann Sebastian's letters, reports, contracts, and various other types of writings. It even includes recommendation letters he wrote for some of his students, and photos of his original music, which are on display in numerous museums, in Berlin, Leipzig, and London.
The book describes Sebastian as somewhat stodgy, who preferred the routine, every day, except for when it came to writing music and performing music. He clearly had a very strong personality, as most people of high intellect do.
It's very easy to read, and it's very easy to find information in it. If you are interested in Johann Sebastian Bach, this book should have a place on your bookshelf.
Philipp Spitta's book
Philipp Spitta's book
Philipp Spitta's book
If there is just one book to own about Johann Sebastian Bach, it has to be this book by Philipp Spitta.
It was first published in 1873, and it continues to remain the best. The book covers his life, his family, his genealogy, and his musical work.
The book also includes copies of letters, family records, and many historical documents. It also discusses hundreds of Johann Sebastian Bach's musical compositions, in detail. There are actually three volumes. This is Volume I.
Philipp Spitta (1841-1894) was a German music historian, and an exceptionally brilliant man. He also played the piano. He earned a Ph.D. in 1864, and he wrote several books. He taught Ancient Greek and Latin, and in 1875, he became a professor of music history at the University of Berlin.