The earliest Anspach ancestor that I have been able to trace was Ambrosius Anspach, born circa 1495. This is only by reference (son of...) and no other information is known prior to that date. The name Anspach originally comes from a region in Germany that is now part of Neu-Anspach. My ancestors probably took the name Anspach when they migrated from Anspach, Germany to a different place. As far as the research shows, this town was Oberursel, Germany. Oberursel is less than ten miles from Anspach, so the migration was not large. However, it was enough to merit the name, and the name stuck.
Anspach and Oberursel are both located in Hochtaunuskreis, a province of the state Hesse, in Germany.
After several generations of Anspachs living in the Steinbach area, one man name Johann Balthasar Anspach (1683 - 1748) somehow ended up near on the opposite side of the Rhine River in Rhineland-Palatinate, a region in southwest Germany. It is not clear whether he lived there or was simply in the area when the massive movement of Palatines began to flee the country. Queen Anne, of England, offered protection for the emmigrants by offering to send them to a different location in order to become indentured servants for the British. Johann Balthasar, or "Baltzer" as he was called, came with the last group of Palatines in 1710 and headed for New York via London. Many people died on the trip due to overcrowding, but Baltzer was lucky enough to survive and stay healthy. When the group arrived in New York, they were supposed to do work building ships, but an inexperienced leader ruined any actual worth coming out of their labor. Eventually, most of the indentured servants were left with little to do except volunteer with the English in Queen Anne's War against the French. In 1715, Baltzer petitioned the city of Albany for release from his indentured servant-status and for citizenship. Once approved, he was free from his obligation to stay in New York. Along with many other Germans, he and his newly-founded family moved from New York to Berks County, PA.