 According to his son, Hans-Adam, he came from an old family of executioners and tanners.Hans-Adam (also Johann Adam) Bickler (1649–1720) continued both trades at the Wallenbrück after his certification on 13 November 1679.During the War of the Palatine Succession the French demanded a fee which he could not pay, so he was dismissed in 1693 and replaced by the executioner, Dillendorf, from Corray at Zell on the Moselle.