Hilsbach could be two different towns now in Baden-Württemberg. One, near Sinsheim, is still called Hilsbach, the other was originally also called Hilsbach, but starting in the 16th century it began also to be called Waldhilsbach to distinguish it from Hilsbach near Sinsheim. B and P were often used interchangeably at that time. In the 17th and 18th century both belonged to the Kurfürstliche Pfalzgrafschaft bei Rhein, also called Kurpfalz. This is not Rheinpfalz which came about only in the 19th century and consisted mostly of lands which had never been part of the Pfalz and never included the area around both Hilsbachs.
"[My] fatherland and the place I was born is as follows: where the biggest forest in the world is and remains, in the Palatinate, two hours from Heidelberg in the mountains. ... My parents their names were as follows: my father's name was [Hans] Caspar Wistar, hunter there, and [he] was born in Mospacher Ambt, the place was called Neunkirchen and his father's name was Andres Wüster, he was also a hunter there and my mother was born in [Wald]Hilspach and her name was Anna Catharina Miller and [she] has 2 brothers living there. ... I worked as a hunter and fowler until I was 14 or 15 years old because my father was a hunter. After that I went to the chief hunter, Georg Michael Förster, at Bruchhausen, and served him for four years as a hunter's apprentice." Caspar Wistar, A Short Report, quoted in
Immigrant and Entrepreneur: The Atlantic World of Caspar Wistar, 1650Ð1750
By Rosalind Beiler
Penn State University Press, page 12
The book has an appendix with the genealogy of Hans Caspar Wüster with primary sources given.
