John C. Brickenstein was a Moravian minister, and noted educator who came to America about 1824; his ancestors originally came from Holland to East Friesland in the Sixteenth century, under the name of Bruysteen; this was translated into Brückenstein when the family removed to the city of Magdeburg, Prussia-in defence of which against Count Tilly, an ancestor distinguished himself during the "Thirty Years' War ".