I am a direct descendant of the Poggelow line of the von Blucher family. The v. Blucher family first originates with Ulrich v. Blucher in 1214. History has it that his grandfather was given the village of Blucher by Henry the Lion, Duke of Braunschweig from which the name is derived. The 10 branches of the family are named after the estates they possessed around 1800. These are the following: Rosenow, Falkenberg, Krieblowitz-Wahlstatt, Finken, Wasdow, Bobbin-Quitzenow, Bussewitz, Sukow, Teschow, and Poggelow.
Gebhard of course belongs to the branch of Krieblowitz-Wahlstatt. The whole family is very well recorded in Germany because of the royal lines, Gebhard's descendants especially since there is a crown to be heir to. There are two books which give detailed histories of the family. One is Dr. Friedrich Wigger's "Geschichte der Familie von Blucher", Schwerin, 1870/1879; covering the years 1214 to 1870 and Ulrich v. Blucher's (XX) "Neueste Geschichte der Familie von Blucher 1870-1914", Schwerin, Barensprungsche Hofbuchdruckerei, 1914. I do not know if these have english translations or not. The Germans primarily focused on male members of the family. So it may be hard for some of you hunting lines linked by daughters. Gebhard Lebrecht's father was Chriftian-Friedrich born in 1696. Gebhard had two male heirs which are recorded on the official family tree tracing the lineage back to 1214 which I have a copy of. They are Franz (1778) and Gebhard-Lebrecht (1787) the later dying with no male heirs. Franz had two male heirs Gebhard (1799) and Guftan (1800) the later dying with no male heirs. Gebhard had 2 male heirs, Gebhard (1836) and Guftan (1873) the later dying with no male heirs. Gebhard had 5 male heirs, Gebhard (1865), Guftan (1866), Ferdindand (1868), Luthur (1890), and Hubert (1902). The first 3 dying with no male heirs. Luthur had 3 male heirs Hugo (1913), Nikolaus (1915), and Alexander (1916). All 3 of whom died with no male heirs. Hubert had 1 male heir, Nikolaus (1932) who had 1 male heir Lukas (1956), who had 1 male heir Nickolas (1974) the current prince. It is possible that someone could have immigrated to America and thus not be listed as a male heir, but unlikely since all of our branch is correctly recorded. So any of you who begin with a name other than von Blucher in Germany I am sorry to tell you that you are most likely not related to the family by that branch. The derivations of the name began with immigrations to America and did not begin in Germany. These derivations are mostly all recorded by the family historians in Germany. I know that you can write the historian and ask questions, but I am unsure about how to contact him or who he is. Gebhard Lebrecht's only brother was Siegfried-Ulrich who has three remaining male heirs (possibly a few more descended from these 3) Wolf-Christian (1933)(whom my uncle has met and still lives in Germany), Moritz (1968) and Halfa (1941). My uncle has been attending the family reunions held in Germany and has obtained a lot of family history by this means. He is where I recieved my official copy of the family tree. It is possible you are related to the family if you have a person who you can trace back to a solid von Blucher name. There are 10 branches of the family and you may be distantly related to Gebhard's branch such as I am. I would welcome any questions any one may have. I have a wealth of information on these lines and will try to get any information I may lack.