CONRAD AND MELCHIOR LINKS DISCOVERED!!
CONRAD AND MELCHIOR LINKS DISCOVERED!!
The Conrad
Yoder Mystery Solved
- Dr. Don
Yoder
Hello, Yoder
cousins of North Carolina and the wider South! Yes, the mystery man of your
ancestry, the elusive Conrad Yoder, has been found, identified, and placed in
the European and American Yoder network. After a century or more of unavailing
search for Conrad by North Carolina kinsmen, in particular Col. George Yoder
and his grandson, Prof.
Fred Roy Yoder, the Conrad Yoder Mystery
is solved. This is how it all happened. Be patient and you will get the full and exciting details.
HOW I FOUND
CONRAD
Let's go back sixty years in my own
research career. In 1950, that glorious year of my life when I made my very first visit to
Germany and Switzerland, I took my first fascinated look at the Palatinate,
that little Rhineland state that our Swiss Yoders chose as a "haven of
refuge" whether they were Reformed, Mennonite, or Amish. On that first
visit I paid my initial respects to the little town of Mussbach where an
important international land-transfer was made in 1771 (see details later). I
met the mayor, Dr. Sartorius, owner of the principal vineyard, and acquired a
taste for the local wine, Mussbacher Eselshaut, which I have never lost! And Mussbach,
as you will soon learn, is an important waystation in the life of Conrad Yoder.
But how did I locate the mystery man?
It's a long story, and I must tell it in some detail. During that first 1950
sojourn in the Palatinate I had the good fortune to meet Richard Louis, the
publisher, of Ludwigshafen, who that year initiated the editing and publication
of the genealogical journal with the title Pfälzische Familien- und
Wappenkunde (Palatine Genealogy and Heraldry), which some years later
changed to Pfälzisch-Rheinische Familienkunde (Rhenish Palatine
Genealogy). (A genealogical aside: Dr. Louis, I found, was a descendant of the
distinguished Belgian Protestant family of Louis of Otterberg, from whom my
mother was also descended, so we were kinfolk!). Because of this connection I
was given a subscription to the journal, now accumulated into several boxes
representing over sixty years of issues. Since in my busy life I was not always
able to go through each issue thoroughly, I decided in 2011 that now was the
time.
I got up as far as 1986, and guess what I
found! In Pfälzisch-Rheinische Familienkunde,
Volume XXXV (11:2), August 1986,
on pp. 87-90 there appeared an article by Dr. Alfred-Hans Kuby entitled "Schweizer
und Schweizer Abkömmlinge im
Reformierten Kirchenbuch Mussbach bei Neustadt"
(Swiss and Swiss Descendants in the Reformed Church Register of Mussbach bei Neustadt). Dr. Kuby is
undoubtedly the foremost Palatine genealogist as well as the foremost Palatine church
historian, and our gratitude to him for what he discovered
in the Mussbach church register is unlimited. This is what
he found: "JODDER, NIKOLAUS, + vor
1740, Sohn KONRAD lebt 1740 in Weidenthal, 15 Jahre alt". Translation:
"NICOLAUS JODDER, died before 1740, Son KONRAD is living in 1740 in Weidenthal, 15 years old". This means that Conrad (as we spell the name)
was an orphan just 15 years old living in the family of his older brother, Nicolaus Joder Jr. of
Weidenthal, whose children were baptized in the
Reformed Church of Weidenthal. And Nicolaus Joder Sr. (1673-before 1740) was the brother of
Hans and Jost Joder of Oley in Pennsylvania who opted to stay in the Palatinate
and died there. Hence the long lost Conrad Joder was the nephew of Hans and
Jost, and undoubtedly lived with his kinsmen in Oley from 1746 when he
emigrated, until (according to tradition) he moved to North Carolina with Henry
Weidner in the 1760s.
CONRAD'S
FATHER, NICOLAUS JODER SR.
What do we know about Conrad's father? He
was the son of Adam and Barbara (Ochsenbein) Joder of the Ortbühl
Farm at Steffisburg in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland and a grandson of Nicolaus Joder (1609-1680) and his wife Anna Trachsel.
Bernese Joders were a clan of skilled mechanics, millers (they ran several of
the Steffisburg mills), and expert farmers, gifts which they brought to
Pennsylvania. Nicolaus Joder's
father Adam Joder operated the fulling mill at the Schnittweier Bad, on the mountain back of Steffisburg to
the North, where he used the hot water that issued from the town's bath.
There's a story there that I won't go into.
But there are several gaps in our
knowledge of Conrad's father. We do not know when he left Switzerland for the
hospitable Palatinate, we do not have information on his marriage, and we do
not know exactly when he died. We do know, from the Kuby
article, that he was connected with Mussbach and
probably lived there. Through the magnificent will of Daniel Joder of Upper
Hanover and later Hereford Township, dated 1783 (see details later), we know
who his children, the brothers and sisters of our Conrad, were. The oldest son was Johannes
Jotter (as he spelled his name) of Mussbach, who
through a curious inheritance law operative in Pennsylvania, inherited land in
Oley and transferred it back to his first cousin, Hans Joder Jr. (1700-1779),
son of Hans Joder Sr. (1672-1742) of Oley, who emigrated from Schwetzingen in the Electoral Palatinate in 1709, arriving
in Pennsylvania very probably in 1710 (see YNL5).
Johannes Jotter, Conrad's oldest brother,
is a kind of mystery man too. According to the Mennonite Census Lists,
published several times in America, he was a Mennonite,
hence his children do not appear in the records of Mussbach's
Reformed Church. He appears also in the Palatine Census Lists of the Oberamt Neustadt in 1721-1722,
with property, so he must have been born before 1700. Because of this, it is
possible that Nicolaus Joder Sr. was a Mennonite
also, since the Kuby reference appears to be the sole
reference to him in the Mussbach church books. It is
in my opinion more likely that he was Reformed, and
his marriage and children's baptisms took place at another village in the
Palatinate, and that he settled in Mussbach toward
the end of his life. I am working on all this, so be patient. The Mennonite
connection is no problem,
since some of our Joder families were an interdenominational
mixture of Reformed and Mennonite adherents.
The 1771 deed can be summarized here, but
I intend to publish it in its entirety in translation, with all the background
material, in a future issue of the YNL. I am hoping even to locate in some
German archive the original Vollmacht or Power
of Attorney made by Hans Joder Jr. (son of Hans Sr.) and taken to the
Palatinate by Hans' first cousin Jacob Joder (1735-1804) of Oley, Jost Joder's son. It appears that Hans Joder Sr. got from the Penns a Tract of 461 acres at Oley, which in his will he divided between Hans Joder Jr., son of his first wife,
and Daniel Joder, son of the second wife. Daniel died intestate and without
issue in 1747, and the English law did not permit the land to go to the half
brother in Pennsylvania, but rather to the nearest relative of Hans Joder in
Germany, hence, since Hans Sr.'s next brother Nicolaus
was dead, it went to Nicolaus's oldest son, Johannes
Jotter of Mussbach bei Neustadt an der Haardt. Curious indeed. Hans
Jr. paid his German cousin one thousand Reichs
Gulden for the property, and the matter was
settled. Jacob Joder testified to the
Berks County Court later in 1771 that he was "there" and saw Johannes
Jotter sign!
DANIEL JODER
AND HIS "BELOVED COUSINS"
Daniel Joder (1731-1783) was a weaver by
trade who settled first in Upper Hanover Township, Philadelphia (now
Montgomery) County, and ended up in Hereford Township, Berks County. His importance to us is
that he wrote a fantastic will in 1783 (see YNL16), naming and giving legacies
to his Joder relatives, his "beloved cousins" as he calls them.
Daniel was unmarried with no children of his own, so he left his somewhat
considerable estate to his kinfolk.
Daniel was a grandson of Nicolaus Joder Sr. (1673-before 1740), brother of Hans and
Jost Joder of Oley, through a son whose name unfortunately we do not have.
Daniel emigrated in 1764, on the Ship Hero, from Rotterdam and Cowes on the Isle of Wight, arriving at Philadelphia
October 27, 1764, when he signed the ship's list of passengers (males over 16
years), at the State House, now Independence Hall. As to his religious connections, he may
possibly have been Mennonite, since on the ship list several suspiciously Mennonite surnames appear before and after his
signature -- Brenneman, Brubacher,
Riesser, Kägy, Krebil, and Stauffer. However, the names signed immediately
before and after his signature are very probably not Mennonite-- Kunkelmann, Seitz, and Breuninger.
His will does not mention his religion, and thus far in my researches into
Montgomery County sources, I have not located his religious affiliation.
We owe the preservation of Daniel's will
with its indispensible key to the Nicolaus Joder Sr.
family relationships, to David Shultze, whose wife was one of Daniel's
"beloved cousins". David translated the will into English in 1784, which with the
original estate papers in David's neat
18th-century script, are preserved in the Schwenkfelder
Library at Pennsburg, Pennsylvania.
Now for the analysis of
this key document. The will is dated April 20, 1783, and in it Daniel is
described as "of Upper Hanover now Hereford Township". He names as
executor of his estate his "beloved cousin" John George Lahr, who was
the son of Daniel's aunt, his father's sister Maria (Joder) Stürtzmann,
widow of George Henry Lahr. Her son Philip Lahr is mentioned in the Shultze
Diaries as David's hired man on his farm. Further, the will mentions Daniel's
"beloved cousins John Jacob Yoder and Melchior Yoder," who as I
learned from my discovery of the Weidenthal Reformed
Church records many years ago, were sons of Nicolaus
Joder Jr. of Weidenthal in the Palatinate. (see YNL41) He also named John Hirstein
as a "beloved cousin" (more about him later, a fascinating find!) And
lastly, he mentions Magdalena Rauch and Maria Rosina Schell. For these
relatives he used the dialect word "Basel"- an old-fashioned
affectionate diminutive of Base, a now archaic word meaning a favorite
female kinswoman, an aunt or cousin, in this case cousin. They were it turns
out, daughters of Daniel's aunt Maria (Joder) Lahr Stürtzmann.
Witnesses to the will were Johannes Roeder and Abraham Meyer. Abraham Meyer
(Mayer now Moyer), 1705-1786, was a son-in-law of Jost Joder of Oley (see
YNL57) and Johannes Roeder was probably Abraham's grandson, son of Michael
Roeder who married a daughter of Abraham.
Magdalena Rauch was born Magdalena Lahr,
daughter of George Henry Lahr and his wife Maria Joder, later Stürtzmann, one of several daughters of Nicolaus
Joder Sr. Magdalena married Henrich Jacob Rauch,
usually given as Henrich Rauch (1731-1783), a native
of Odernheim in the Western Palatinate who emigrated
in 1740 with his parents and died in Hereford Township, Berks County. Among
Magdalena's children was Elizabeth Rauch born in Hereford Township 1773 and
died in 1812 as the wife of John Peter
CONRAD
MYSTERY SOLVED -CONTINUED ON
PAGE 4
CONRAD
MYSTERY SOLVED -CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
Klock,
a pioneer settler of the Mahantongo Valley of
Schuylkill and Northumberland Counties. Yes, these Yoder connections migrated over
the Blue Mountain to Mahantongo, where they joined
their kinfolk, my Oley-Mahantongo Yoders, who got
their first land in that beautiful and historic area in 1802 (I have the
original parchment deed!). And Klocks and Yoders
intermarried in Mahantongo! (See YNL 14).
CONRAD'S
SISTER MARIA JODER LAHR STüRTZMANN
Maria Joder Stürtzmann
is turning out to be interesting indeed. She was married twice, first to George
Heinrich Lahr by whom she had sons John George and Philip, and at least two
daughters, Magdalena and Elizabeth. Magdalena of Hereford Township married
Heinrich Jacob Rauch, usually known as Heinrich Rauch (1731-1783). Second was
Elizabeth Shultze, the second wife of David Shultze the "bush
lawyer"(see YNL16). More about these kinfolk later. These Rauch materials are from the recent
volume, Rauch Family History, by Donald Lloyd Norwood and William Hardy
Rauch (Dallas, Texas, 2007); and from the Leavitt manuscripts at the Berks County Genealogical Society.
Maria's second husband, Martin Stürtzmann, arrived in Philadelphia September 11, 1738, on
the Ship Robert and Alice from Rotterdam and Dover. His signature
appears in Lists 55 A-B-C in S-H, I, 213, 214 and 216. The name is botched in
the Captain's list (A), in B it appears as "Hans Marden Starzman" and in C as
"Hans Mardin Sdartzman".
The spelling using "a" instead of "ü" reflects a dialect
pronunciation. Please note that the
surname is not "Stutzman" as mistranscribed in the YNL, Stutzman,
which of course is also found in Pennsylvania, is an entirely different surname
with no biological relationship to "Stürtzmann".
It may be possible to find Martin's place of origin, since on the same ship
there were Hatts and Reitenauers,
whose origins we do know. And note that I have reams of material on Conrad's
sister Maria, with many known descendants, all of whom can be welcomed into the
Yoder Freindschaft.
THE JOHANNES
HERSTEIN STORY
Johannes Herstein,
named as "Johannes Hirstein" among the
"beloved cousins" in Daniel Yoder's will of 1783, was a nephew of
Conrad Yoder, the son of a daughter of Nicolaus Joder
Sr., whose name
is thus far, alas, unknown. The Herstein (Hirstein/Hierstein) family were
Mennonites, but not of Swiss background, for the name does not appear in the
six-volume Swiss Family Name Book (Familiennamenbuch
der Schweiz).
Johannes Herstein
is listed twice in the Strassburger-Hinke Pennsylvania German Pioneers.
His first arrival was in 1773, on the Ship Union, from Rotterdam and
Portsmouth, landing at Philadelphia on Sept. 27, 1773 (S-H, I, 753). Cousin
Johannes could not pay his passage, so as a redemptioner
he was indentured for four years, for the sum of 19 pounds, 13 shillings, and 8
pence. And guess who picked up the tab - "Lazerus
Widenor" of Oley Township, Berks County. Again,
the Yoder Connection was there, since Lazarus Weidner's wife was Elizabeth
Joder, daughter of Jost Joder the Oley Valley pioneer. In the Indenture
Records, which were inscribed in Philadelphia's City Hall, Johannes' name is
given in Anglicized form as "John Herstone".
These records were published in the yearbooks of the Pennsylvania German
Society, Vol. 16 (1907), pp. 314-335.
In 1791-1792 Johannes Herstein
returned to Germany, to oversee the publication of an important devotional book
for his Pennsylvania Mennonite compatriots. The volume
was a book of sermons by Jacob Denner entitled Jacob Denners Christliche und
erbauliche Betrachtungen über die Sonn- und
Festtags- Evangelia des ganzen Jahrs, nebst einem Anhange verschiedener
Predigten über besondere Texte, sowohl aus dem Alten als Neuen Testamente; und
einer Vermehrung von dreyen Predigten über das heilige Vater Unser. Durch
Gottes Gnade in öffentlicher Versammlung in Altona mündlich vorgetragen, und
auf Begehren dem Druck überlassen (Frankenthal am Rhein: Ludwig Bernard Gegels, 1792).
According to
Mennonite historians, this sermon book was issued in a special edition of five
hundred copies, at the expense of and supervised by Johannes Herstein and Johannes Schmutz. Herstein must have made out in America, to be able to pay
for the printing of Denner's sermon book! The pair
also purchased 500 Basel Bibles and brought the lot to Philadelphia on the Brig
Henricus, which sailed from Amsterdam and
arrived at Philadelphia September 22, 1792 (S-H, III, 54). Johannes
Herstein is listed among the American Passengers, and
Johannes Schmutz and Barbara Herstein
among the non-Americans. Yes, Cousin Johannes also brought back a wife
to Pennsylvania!
John C. Wenger, in his book The
History of the Mennonites of the Franconia Conference (1937), tells us
amusingly what happened to the books. "They divided the books between them
each taking 250 copies of the Bible and 250 copies of the sermons and started
out to sell them… Herstein visited the brethren in
Montgomery and Bucks counties and quickly disposed of his lot. Smutz visited Lancaster county and after a fruitless effort
to sell the books he returned home very disgusted and still having nearly all
of his books, remarking when he met Herstein, 'If you
want to sell anything in Lancaster county you must bring them a drove of oxen;
they sell better than Bibles.'"
Our thanks to the
Mennonite historian Alan G. Keyser, who had worked on Herstein
and furnished most of the above material. He added, "The story may
be just a story, because quite a number of this edition of Denner's sermons are found in Lancaster county
Mennonite homes."
The blanks in Johannes Herstein's life continue to intrigue us, and I promise my
readers that I will continue the search for his Palatine origins, and the name
of his Joder mother, Conrad's sister. In the Mennonite Census Lists, of the
17th and 18th centuries, the originals of which are in the Baden State Archives
at Karlsruhe, there are several Hersteins listed in
Palatine villages. I'll be searching for them on my next visit to Germany! There was also, according to the Mennonite
Encyclopedia, a Herstein's Mennonite Meeting
House in Montgomery County that was undoubtedly connected with Cousin Johannes.
More about that later.
THE DAVID SHULTZE
CONNECTION
David Shultze (1717-1797), called
affectionately the "bush lawyer," meaning a self-trained lawyer,
surveyor, and skilled preparer of wills, deeds, and agreements, was one of the Schwenkfelder émigrés driven from their native Silesia by
Catholic bigotry in 1726. After a sojourn on Count Zinzendorf's estates in
Saxony, they emigrated to America in 1734, settling in
what is now Montgomery County, with outlying settlements in Berks and Lehigh.
Since the diaries that David Shultze
kept, written into interleaved Saur almanacs (!), are a major source for Conrad
Yoder research, we must analyze very carefully David Shultze's
connection with Conrad. In a letter I wrote to Dr. Fred Roy Yoder in 1952, I
quoted the Conrad Yoder references and thus alerted him to their existence and
their extreme significance for anyone attempting to investigate the mystery man
Conrad Yoder.
My quotations in that letter were in Shultze's original German text, from an incomplete version
of the diaries published beginning in 1900 by Henry S. Dotterer
in his regional periodical, The Perkiomen Region. Dotterer attempted to reproduce the diaries in their original fascinating
form, since Shultze used German, English, and Latin in his texts. The
full diaries have been published in a complete translated form by Andrew S. Berky, former Director of the Schwenkfelder
Library, in two volumes entitled The Journals and Papers of David Shultze
(Pennsburg Pennsylvania: The Schwenkfelder Library,
1953). Berky added to the actual journal material
various documents prepared by Shultze as "bush lawyer," which
importantly rounded out the historical picture.
From the Berky
translation, here are David Shultze's references to
Conrad Yoder:
1. September 6, 1774: John Mayer arrived
from Carolina on the 6th after 20 days march with a letter from Conrad Yoder
(II, 78), (John Mayer was a grandson of Jost Joder through Jost's daughter
Catharina who married Abraham Mayer, a neighbor and friend of David Shultze.).
2. September 28, 1774: John Jacob Joder
was here and I wrote a letter to Conrad Joder in Carolina (II, 78) (The visitor
was very probably Melchior Joder's brother, a first
cousin of David Shultze's wife.).
3. June 24, 1780: Letter to Conrad Joder
and John Eckle via Heilig
via Lobwesser via J. Wyant
in Carolina (II, 120), (This sounds like a circuitous route, but David Shultze
undoubtedly knew all these persons and was assured that his letter would be
delivered.).
4. July 25, 1782: Sent a letter to Conrad
Joder in Carolina with Michael Weidner (II, 155). (Michael Weidner was a son of
Adam Weidner of Oley who had joined his first cousin Henry Weidner in North
Carolina, and was a neighbor
of Conrad Joder there.).
5. October 26, 1786: Jacob Hittel brought a letter from Conrad Joder in Carolina on
the 26th (II, 196). (This reference is not in Berky's
index under Yoder.)
6. March 1790: Conrad Joder in Carolina
also died this year in April or May. One Borneman
told me this (II, 208)(This establishes the year of
Conrad's death, and my research has established the year of his birth - 1725.
Hire that stonecarver and add the birth date to
Conrad's memorial stone!).
These references are of course
indispensible materials on Conrad Yoder, and the thought of the numerous
letters that passed between them is exciting. If we only had some of them we
could certainly decipher more of Conrad's life patterns. But the number of
letters that passed between David Shultze and his wife's uncle is significant.
Perhaps he was a favorite uncle- who knows?
To close this section on "bush
lawyer" David Shultze and his many Yoder connections, I wish to report
that two more years of his diary have turned up, those for 1743 and 1744 --
before the published diaries begin. They are at the American Antiquarian
Society at Worcester, Massachusetts, both properly encased in Saur almanacs.
They were discovered by Alan G. Keyser, who with Alan Viehmeyer,
Director of Research for the Schwenkfelder Library,
is preparing a new translation and expansion of the Shultze Diaries. Full speed
ahead on this invaluable project!
A CONRAD
YODER RESEARCH SUMMARY
Col. George M. Yoder (1826-1920), the
grandfather of Dr. Fred Roy Yoder (his other grandfather was also a Yoder,
making him a double Conradite!), must have been an
interesting character. Distinguished not only for his service in the
Confederate army, but by a lifetime of service to his community, his
involvement with Yoder history and genealogy is what intrigues us. Not only was
he interested in his Yoder background, but he became an important local
historian, with his long years of newspaper column production, dealing with
Catawba County history.
Col. George's usual take on Conrad was
that he must have been a Mennonite, since he brought with him a "Mennonite
hymnal" (where is it today and was it Mennonite?). That may have been so,
but when he emigrated, Conrad was only 21, and according to the ship lists
could not write, hence probably at that time could not read either. As an
orphan put to work in Weidenthal, his formal
schooling may have been neglected. It is of course documentable that some of
Conrad's close relatives were Mennonites, like his oldest brother Johannes of Mussbach, but his next oldest brother Nicolaus
Jr. of Weidenthal was Reformed, and evidently Conrad
was living with his family in 1740.
But Col. George's knowledge of the
colonial Yoders in Pennsylvania seems to have been remarkably wide. For example, he certainly knew of the Oley
Yoders, and he was aware of Melchior Yoder, who has turned out to be a nephew of
Conrad. Col. George could of course have heard of Melchior through his
(George's) grandfather John Yoder who was Melchior's first cousin. It is always
remarkable to me when I consider how much knowledge of past generations of our
families was never written down, yet survived in the memories of kinfolk. As to
the Melchior problem, Col. George even owned a copy of a rare and invaluable
(for Melchior research) church history of Snyder County, Pennsylvania, which
featured Reformed and Lutheran Union churches that Melchior and his sons were
connected with.
My own involvement in Conrad Yoder
research goes back at least to 1941 (!), when my father, Jacob H. Yoder
(1883-1959), received a letter from Wallace A. Yoder of Litchfield, Illinois,
dated July 10, 1941. He begins with this note: "My sister Lois Yoder who
teaches English in the Decatur, Illinois High School recently observed in the
school library your book on engine equipment, and knowing that I was the family
historian also transportation man,
having forty nine years service as agent for the Illinois Central she gave me
your address, and I take the liberty to inquire if you would have some data on
your ancestors." The book he refers to was Locomotive Valves and Valve Gears
(New York, 1917). Wallace was obviously
descended from Conrad Yoder since he gives a bit of Conrad's history, but
unfortunately uses the incorrect emigration date of 1751 instead of 1746.
Through the years I received other
letters from Conrad descendants, saved them all, and will analyze them in my
Historical Introduction to the new edition of the North Carolina Yoder
genealogy.
FRED ROY
YODER AND HIS
GRANDFATHER
GEORGE M. YODER, 1916
The lengthy correspondence that I had
with Dr. Fred Roy Yoder, then at the State College of Washington, at Pullman,
Washington, began eleven years later, in 1952. On December 17, 1952, I wrote a
three-page detailed letter on Yoder research, addressed to "My dear
Distant Cousin," and he responded with a three-page letter on December 23,
addressed to "My dear Cousin Don Yoder". While both letters deserve
publication sometime later on in the YNL, I feel it important to quote here
several paragraphs from his letter to me.
"About ten years ago,
there died in the city of Seattle Professor A. H. Yoder who was a descendant of
the North Carolina Yoders, his ancestor having gone to the State of Indiana in
the early 1800s. Prof. A. H. Yoder had made the most thorough study of the
North Carolina Yoder family based on first hand investigations and looking over
documents that I have seen. I had two extended visits with him shortly before
his death and he showed me the materials that he had collected. It is my intention
to go to Seattle and see his widow and children and go over the materials that
he left before I proceed to North Carolina next summer. I have no doubt that
the Wallace Yoder of Litchfield, Illinois, that you mention in your letter, is
one of the descendants of these Indiana Yoders, and that he may also have had
contacts with A. H. Yoder who lived in Indiana, Wisconsin, North Dakota and
finally the state of Washington."
The scholar that he mentioned was Albert
Henry Yoder, whose work on Yoder history I have come upon elsewhere. He is said
to have visited the Oley Valley in his search for Conrad, since Conrad and his
North Carolina associates the Weidners lived there
and migrated South from that important Yoder area. Personal
collections of genealogical data are often, alas, destroyed when the
genealogist dies, but in this case the papers were left to the archives at the
University of North Dakota where the late Hubert A. Yoder of Charlotte, NC,
tracked them down and wrote about them in YNL21.
Fred Roy Yoder in his letter also makes
the statement: "In view of the fact that your own branch of the Yoder
family belonged to the Reformed Church and not the Mennonite Church, and that
Conrad Yoder also became a member of the Reformed Church in North Carolina, it
may be that he was never a member of the Mennonite Church which supposition my
grandfather often related to me."
My relations with Fred Roy Yoder were
always cordial, and I am pleased that my letters and suggestions helped him on
his way to
writing and
publishing his North Carolina Yoder history, for the revised edition of which I
am writing a lengthy Historical Introduction.
I have also valued my association with Fred Roy Yoder's family,
particularly with his daughter Elaine Zakarison and
her children. And it was a distinct pleasure to have Elaine and several of her
children in my 2002 Pennsylvania German Heritage Tour (see YNL40), where I
could introduce them to the Swiss and Palatine homelands of our European
Yoders. And I must not fail to mention that in the 1950s I had the pleasure of
entertaining Dr. and Mrs. Fred Roy Yoder at my home in Devon, Pennsylvania.
During that visit, accompanied by lots of Yoder discussions, I took Fred Roy
and my father on a memorable tour of the Oley Valley.
Finally, unexpected references to Conrad
Yoder have occasionally turned up elsewhere. One of these is in the 625-page Deppen Genealogy, Counting Kindred (1940, reprinted
1983), a book which is extremely relevant for the North Carolina migration. It
deals with a Swiss family with Steffisburg connections, although thus far I
have found no links to our Steffisburg Joders. However, this detailed, well
researched book contains vital chapters on the branches of the family which
pioneered in North Carolina, the Carpenters in particular. In the chapter on
the emigrant Christian Deppen's oldest daughter
Barbara, wife of Peter Zimmerman (later Carpenter) of Lincoln County, North
Carolina, there is a curious reference to Conrad Yoder. In the book's brief
section on Henry Weidner (Whitener), who patented his North Carolina land as early
as 1750, the statement is made, "On one return trip [from Pennsylvania] he
brought a wife Mary Mull and a youth Conrad Yoder - ancestors of a large and
esteemed posterity" (p. 226). Comment: Conrad was hardly a
"youth" in 1762 - he was 37 years old! But this family tradition, for
that is what it must be, could indeed refer to Conrad's probable living with
and apprenticeship to the Weidner brick-making business in the Oley Valley.
CONCLUSION
In my rush to finish this preliminary
report on the Conrad Yoder Mystery, for Chris Yoder's October issue of the YNL.
I have not analyzed several important sources on Conrad, but promise my
analysis for the April issue. I sent across the Atlantic a dozen letters to Palatine
archives and scholars whom I know personally, and expect detailed letters from
them this Fall. German archivists are meticulous in answering legitimate
queries from America, and I expect some good stuff to
share with you all!
Among the American sources that I will
comb for additional Conrad Yoder references are of course Dr. Fred Roy Yoder's
North Carolina Yoder genealogy, Eaker's magnificent
book on the Pennsylvania Dutch element in Western North Carolina, and the new
and splendid two-volume history of Catawba County, supervised by Sidney Halma, Director Emeritus of the Catawba County Historical
Society. There are also other North Carolina sources that will add new local
color to my presentation - notably the book on the Great Wagon Road, and the
fascinating book on the Carolina Back-Country. Please graciously pardon my not
citing complete bibliographical data on these works, but as I intimated, I am
under pressure at the urgent call of Chris Yoder!
But in conclusion let me give just a
teasing bit of description of the two Palatinate towns that Conrad Yoder lived
in -- Mussbach and Weidenthal.
We will start with Weidenthal.
Neustadt, the central city that both Mussbach and Weidenthal looked to
for marketing activity and governmental supervision, is on the edge of the
forested Haardt mountain range -- which looks very
similar to our forested Pennsylvania mountains -- and it overlooks the vast
Rhine Plain dotted with red-roofed villages and unbelievably vast vineyards. Neustadt is the equivalent of the county seat for both of
Conrad's towns, and in Conrad's time it was the capital of the Oberamt (administrative district) of Neustadt
under the Electoral Palatinate government at Heidelberg and Mannheim.
Weidenthal,
which means "Willow Valley," is a pleasant little town on the
railroad from Neustadt to Kaiserslautern, a stretch that
winds through the mountains and proceeds through numerous tunnels. Weidenthal is literally in the woods. There are ancient
farms in the parish like the Laubscherhof, but most
of the inhabitants in the 18th century either raised cattle, which they were
familiar with in Switzerland, or worked in the forests as charcoal-burners,
potash-burners, or lumbermen felling the trees for sawmills (Yoders love
sawmills, and my Grandfather Yoder had a locally famous sawmill on the Pine Creek
in Hegins Valley in Schuylkill County, that I saw in
glorious operation many times when I was a boy).
In Conrad's time of course there was no
railroad, so the Weidenthal farmers and woodsmen took
the winding trek to Neustadt, on foot, on horseback,
or with horse and wagon.
Mussbach, which
means "mossy creek," is a smallish town with interesting
eighteenth-century farmsteads where the dwelling houses adjoined the barns
around a central courtyard, and a fine Reformed parish church, with which
Conrad and his father Nicolaus Joder Sr. evidently
were connected. And let me add a personal note. On my latest visit to Mussbach, with Karl Scherer, the former Director of the Heimatstelle Pfalz in
Kaiserslautern, now the Institute of Palatine History and Folklife,
we had a celebratory luncheon at one of the best restaurants in the present day
Palatinate. Oh, those magnificent Dampfgnepp
mit Weinsauce (Steamed
Dumplings with Wine Sauce), which my Grandmother Yoder called Schwowe Gnepp (Swabian Dumplings) since her heritage was Swabian rather than Palatine). And Oh, that incomparable Grumbiere-Supp (Potato Soup), and Oh, those
choice Brodwarscht (Smoked
Sausages) on a bed of succulent Sauerkraut - just like at home in Pennsylvania!
Oh! Oh! Oh! All that accompanied by glass after glass of cool, refreshing Mussbacher Eselshaut! I consider
this a Conrad Yoder
meal, since all these Palatine specialties would have been part
of Conrad's growing up in his home town of Mussbach.
And they also became standard dishes on the Pennsylvania Dutch table. I
remember them all, except for the wine sauce on the dumplings.
Alas, at that time I had not yet found
that Conrad had lived in Mussbach, or I would have
toasted his memory with a festive glass of Mussbacher
wine. Next time - I promise to do so!
In a very real sense Conrad is the
missing link in the Yoder chain that ties everything together. Conrad's story
links the Palatine and Pennsylvania
Yoder clans, unites the Berks and Montgomery County Yoder households, and opens
the kinship door to all the Lahrs, Rauchs, Shultzes, Stürtzmanns, Hersteins, and all these other "beloved cousins"
of his affectionate nephew Daniel.
And now, a fond farewell to my North
Carolina Cousinry, whom I hope to greet at the Yoder
Reunion in Hickory this October, where I will present an expanded version of
this preliminary report, and publish all the new data in the April issue of the
YNL.
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The
Yoder Newsletter- Founded 1983 by
Ben F Yoder (1913-1992),
Chris Yoder & Rachel Kreider
Chris Yoder, Editor, Saugatuck, MI; John W. Yoder,
Circulation Manager, Middlebury, IN; Rachel Kreider, Senior Contributing
Editor, Goshen, IN; Esther E. Yoder, Mail Manager, Goshen, IN; Donald Kauffman,
YNL Webmaster, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Other Contributors: Richard H. Yoder, Bechtelsville, PA; Dr. Don Yoder, Devon,
PA; Neal D. Wilfong, Cleveland, NC.
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Over the past 29 years, subscriptions have allowed us to support advertising of national reunions, to provide funding for many of the DNA tests, and to pay for new research into Swiss records. All of our staff members are volunteers.*********************************************************
SEND YNL CORRESPONDENCE:
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- ALL OTHER
CORRESPONDENCE- dealing with ancestral queries or contributions for future YNLs
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EDITORIAL
NOTE: This is indeed a "SPECIAL ISSUE". With the new data found in
the Mussbach church records, two of the major immigrant Yoder lines seem to
have been sorted out and connected with their Steffisburg origins! The Yoder
family is so very fortunate to have a scholar like Dr. Don Yoder in our midst.
With his connections and a lifetime of research to back him up, he has filled
the pieces of the Yoder family puzzle with such a wonderful article. We look forward to more revelations from the
correspondence he has in process, and would hope that the additional Shultze
diaries being readied for publication will answer more questions. Perhaps they
will confirm the hypothesis in YNL55 that Mennonite "Hans Yoder of Great
Swamp" was a first cousin to Oley Hans and Yost (and to Conrad's father!).
(BTW - Happy 90th Birthday to Dr. Don, celebrated as he worked on this
article!)
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FURTHER
EDITORIAL NOTE: When Dr. Yoder called me in May 2011 to give the news about the
discovered citation from the Mussbach Church records, he immediately offered to
prepare this article for our October newsletter. He asked that the finding be kept
confidential until his article could be readied. While it has been very hard to
do this, I have complied. It was then, however, only a week away from the 102nd
birthday celebration of our Senior Contributing Editor, Rachel Kreider of
Goshen, Indiana. Dr. Yoder graciously agreed to my request that he call Rachel
for her birthday and pass along the wonderful news in broad context. He did so and Rachel was thrilled -- the
nicest birthday present she could have had. -- Chris Yoder
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LETTERS TO
THE EDITOR
Andreas
Joder, Barbara Tornstrom, and Hans Joder
My husband, Eric, and I spent one of the
best days of our lives in May visiting with Andreas, Hans, and Anna
Joder. I would call Thun and Steffisburg more than quaint...how about a
glimpse of heaven. Our ancestors must have really been harassed in order
to leave such a beautiful place. Andreas and Hans spent the day showing
us all the places of interest in both Thun and Steffisburg.
It was by accident many years ago that I
came across the Yoder Newsletter. I was researching the roots of a woman
who grew up in Boxborough, the town in Massachusetts where I live. She
was a slave purchased in Boston in the 1700’s. One day I went into the
archives in Boston to find out pertinent information. I didn’t find what
I was looking for and came home discouraged. Just for the heck of it, I
Googled both of my parent’s family names. What a shock to find out about
the Yoders. I always wondered why all of the Samuel Yoders in
Pennsylvania were either Mennonite or Amish and our relations were Lutheran.- Barbara Tornstrom
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CLARIFICATION--The
house and barn pictured in the April YNL is the YR25 home and barn. This house
and barn are located on Coffee Run between Reedsville and Belleville. However, the
rest of my comments in that letter and the map which is shown are about the
YR251 home in Milroy. It is the YR251 home that is pictured in the Oct 2010
YNL. This home is located on King St. --- Hope this clears things up.- Ron Yoder, Thompsontown, PA
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Unser Leit- Story of the Amish, by Leroy Beachy
After more
than twenty years of research and effort, well known Amish historian Leroy
Beachy tells the "Story of the Amish" in this beautiful two-volume
set, with leather-like binding and packaged in a slipcover. Each volume is over
500 pages, and there are nearly 300 illustrations by the author. Order directly from the author for $75 plus $8 postage. Make
check payable to: Goodly Heritage Books, 4324 State Route 39, Millersburg, OH
44654, phone (330) 893-2883.
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ANCESTRY FOUND FOR YOST YODER INDENTURE OWNER
In the last YNL issue, Dr. Don Yoder
described the revelations from a recently found 1777 Indenture of Release
settling the 1741 estate of immigrant Yost Yoder (OY) Oley Twp, Berks Co., PA.
The Release had been gifted in 2010 by Robert Conwell of Westport, Indiana to
the Berks County Historical Society. All that was known of its origins was that
it had been in the family of Robert's brother-in-law Fred Irwin (1902-1966)
"of York, Nebraska". Fred had married Robert's sister Lucille in 1932, and it was said that his mother had been a Yoder.
With some help, and quite a bit of luck,
we are now able to outline Fred's ancestral ties to Yost Yoder, and how this
document may have passed down through six generations before coming to light.
The first challenge was to see if we could identify Fred's parents. Fred had
died in Warsaw, IN on Jun. 5, 1966, so we went looking for an obituary. The
Warsaw Public Library was able to provide one which appeared in the local
paper, the Warsaw Times Union on Jun. 6, 1966. It showed that Fred had been
born on Dec. 4, 1902 in Chicago to Willis V. and Mamie (Yoder) Irwin. A search
through census records for either a "Willis Irwin" or a "Mamie
Yoder" did not readily find them, but a Google search did succeed in
bringing up an Omaha, NE area marriage record for:
YODER, Mamie; 28; md. Willis V.
IRWIN; 39; Jun 1900 9108
We thank the Greater
Omaha Genealogical Society for creating this information, which is an index of
marriage licenses on microfilm at the W. Dale Clark Public Library in Omaha.
This information supports a Nebraska connection which had already been told
about Fred Irwin. While we had not been able to spot "Mamie" in the
census, we now had her age and an approximate birth of 1872. Out of about 40
Yoder/Yoter listings in the 1900 Nebraska census data
on the Yoder Newsletter website, there are two that stand out with Oley Yoder connections.
The first is for:
William Yoter----------Gage, Wymore (OY4261)
William Yoter----------5/1819 Pa-----Gage
-----81 yrs
old, father-in-law Wm. H. Wellemeyer
He is from
the Yost line, through son Jacob, but his children are all a generation older
than "Mamie" and he had no known sons to give him a Yoder
granddaughter.
The second
listing appears in Omaha…it was for:
Bertolette
Yoder----------Douglas, Omaha
Bertolette Yoder----------10/1843 Pa-----Douglas, Omaha (OH11324)
Rebecca---------------8/1849
Pa
Mary---------------3/1872
Pa
Clara---------------9/1878
Ne
Elizabeth----------5/1880
Ka
Ruth---------------11/1888
Ne
Bartolette----------3/1879 Ne
Solomon----------1/1884
Ne
Kimball---------------10/1887
Ne
Harlan---------------6/1890 Ne
Bertolette Yoder does have a daughter of the correct age, named
"Mary" instead of "Mamie", but he is descended from Hans
Yoder (OH), not his brother of Yost. Could we find any more about what became
of Mary? The YNL had not previously gathered any information about her
marriage. By going to the genealogical site "Ancestry.com" and
checking several combination of names, we were able to find that this girl was
"Mary Artman Yoder" and that she married
"William Victor Irwin" and they did have a child Frederick "born
about 1902" in Illinois. Eureka!
But how to explain that this Yost Yoder
family treasure was to be found in the line of his brother Hans? Building a
family tree for Bertolette (aka Bartolett)
begins an answer to our question (see tree). His parents were both Yoders. His
mother Mary Bertolet Yoder (1818-1845) was the granddaughter
of not one, but two grandchildren of immigrant Yost! Her parents were first
cousins. Mary who married Daniel Bertolet (featured
prominently in the YNL57 article) was the second child of Johannes Yost Yoder,
and her older brother apparently died without issue. Samuel was one of the
younger children. It at first would seem most likely that the Indenture was
passed down in Mary's family- especially in light of the decided historical
interest of the Bertolet family generations (her
grandson Dr. Peter Bertolet writing an 1860 history
of the Oley Valley). But if the document did indeed come down in that line, why
wouldn't Dr. Bertolet have had access to it (his aunt
Charlotte was still living when he wrote his book) to give a more accurate
picture than he did of the family Yost Yoder? Perhaps we shall never know the
exact path this document took, but we are certainly glad it has been preserved
and its information now made available to us all!
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“Find-A-Grave” - Document Your Own Yoder Line on the
Internet
The “Find-A-Grave” web site allows you: to post the name and dates of your ancestor
in the cemetery where he or she rests; to add his or her photo; to add a photo
of the gravestone; and to post a biographical summary or obituary.
Visit the site
at: www.findagrave.com
. Already recorded are interments for: as of Aug 31- 8,854 (an increase of +1,286 from Feb 2011) –Yoder;
241 (+46) – Yother; 97 (+44) – Yothers;
123 (+6) – Yotter; 37
(+4) – Yoter;
98 (+41) – Yoders;, 13 (+2) – Ioder; 64 (+12) – Joder; 24 (+5) - Jotter family members; Joders - 1
(+0). You can either add your ancestor to a cemetery, or post data on an
existing record. For assistance write: Chris Yoder at: cyoder@tds.net .
YR26122- Henry C. Yoder b. Feb. 20,
1812 d. Feb. 14, 1887 and wife Polly (Keim) Yoder b.
Feb. 28, 1819 d. Oct. 10, 1880, Forks Yoder Cemetery, Lagrange Co, IN
YODER PASSINGS
Col. Harry R. and Ardath
Yoder
-Col. Harry
David Yoder, 95, from Boyertown, Berks County, PA, passed away on May 8, 2011
at Berks Heim Residence in Bernville. Colonel Yoder is survived by his wife of
65 years, Ardath Davidheiser
Yoder. He was born in New Berlinville, to the late
Paul and Gertrude (Landis) Yoder. Col. Yoder was the senior and active member
of the Oley Yoder family association. On July 4, 2011, the Pennsylvania State
Legislature passed House Resolution 338, to honor his service as retired Air
Force officer, World War II, Korean conflict and Vietnam veteran. His exciting
life story is well worth retelling in a future YNL.
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YNL ON FACEBOOK
In the year
and a half since we took the The Yoder Newsletter
into the "Facebook world" with a "fan page", we have grown
to have over 490 fans! This adventure has brought us into contact will a broad
new audience and, as can be seen from some of the items in this newsletter, has
been a means for sharing Yoder news and gathering family items of
interest….Hurrah!
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HELP WANTED IN GOSHEN
ANY GOSHEN INDIANA RESIDENTS OUT THERE who might be
available to volunteer to help with the Yoder Newsletter? Our staff is aging
and could use a hand. A couple hours a week to pick up and process the mail
from the P.O. Box, deposit subscription checks, updating the address file
before each issue and envelope stuffing when mail time comes. If you might be
able to help, write: Chris Yoder, cyoder@tds.net or call: (269) 857-4327.
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OLEY YODER REUNION REPORT
On July 16
a gathering of 25 descendants of the Oley Yoders gathered at The Bridge Inn in
Pleasantville, PA to re-establish family ties and enjoy each others company as well as the delicious dinner the
restaurant had prepared. This year's reunion was dedicated to the memory
of Col. Harry Yoder who had passed away on May 8.
After our
socializing, Kathy Lesher, a fifth generation
herbalist, presented an interesting talk on the uses of local herbs by our
ancestors and the local Indians. It was especially interesting to hear
how the natives used the compass points and colors in their herbal
interpretations. We each received a potted herb that had been a table
decoration to take home.
Ron and
Shirley Yoder from Alexandria, Virginia were awarded the prize for having
traveled the longest distance. Other prizes were awarded to
William "Bill" Yoder from Kutztown, PA as the oldest man at age
93. Edna Dierolf as the
oldest woman at age 91, Rachel Balderrama as the
youngest woman at age 19, and the youngest male attending was Ken Yoder from
Palm, Pa who is 70 years old. .
Before the
festivities ended, a raffle was held for a table full of prizes and
gifts. We hope to see more Yoders at next year's reunion and in the mean
time we want to wish you all a Happy St. Yoder's Day on August 16th.
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NORTH CAROLINA REUNION
OCTOBER 22-23, 2011
Dr. Don Yoder to Speak On The Discovery of Conrad Yoder Origins!!
When plans were made for the 61st annual
reunion of the Yoders of North Carolina, little did we suspect that the answer
to our Conrad Yoder mystery would be in hand. Last
minute arrangements are in process to bring Dr. Don Yoder to speak at the main
program event.
TENTATIVE
AGENDA
Saturday, October
22
- 9:30 am- Hart
Square Folk Festival (10:00 am-5:00 pm) – May be sold out for those who have
not already reserved tickets.
-6:15-6:45 pm- Memorial sunset service at the Conrad Yoder gravesite [Sunset 6:42 pm—OR Sunday at the close of the Reunion]
-7:00-7:30 pm-
Historic German vespers at recently-renovated Grace Union Church
- 7:45 pm- German
Brats & Bonfire with Yoder Yarns & Limericks (Grace)
Sunday,
October 23
-10:30 am-
Morning worship at Grace Lutheran Church
-12:30 pm- Home-cooked
covered dish luncheon, Dr. Yoder program and business meeting (Grace)
We would love
to see you in October! Contact: Rachael Hahn Kennedy, President, Yoder Family in North Carolina rkennedy@rbh.com or Bill Yoder byodernc@aol.com
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NC YODERS HOST NATIONAL YODER REUNION
IN OCT. 2012-PLAN NOW!!!
2012 YODER NATIONAL REUNION We
have agreed with Chris Yoder, editor of The Yoder Newsletter, to co-sponsor the 3-day 2012 Yoder
National Reunion. Our local reunion
this year includes some of the activities we have planned for the National but
we intend to include lots more next year: guest speakers, historic German/ English
liturgical vespers in the recently-restored Grace Union Church, German and
Southern American music and cuisine, a sunrise or sunset memorial service,
tours to local historical sites in addition to the Hart
Square Folk Festival
http://www.catawbahistory.org/welcome.php , and other exciting activities. Your suggestions are
encouraged and welcomed.- Rachael Hahn Kennedy,
President, Yoder Family in North
Carolina rkennedy@rbh.com
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ARTICLES
SLIPPED TO ACCOMMODATE "SPECIAL ISSUE"
A number of news items have been slipped
to make room for this "earthquake" of an article by Dr. Don Yoder.
These include:
-How new DNA results have made clear the
family history of Frederick Yoder (ref: YNL 56)
-Yoder Y-DNA profile expanded to 100
markers
-A Second DNA Test on the Jotters of Eppstein, Germany
-DNA Results of a third Yetter line
You can look
forward to learning about each of these topics in a future issue of the YNL.
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