Summary of Results- Yoder DNA Project, Updated as of Dec. 18, 2007

 

See Chart at: http://www.yodernewsletter.org/DNA%20Summary.htm

 

1) “I1c” HAPLOGROUP IDENTIFIED FOR ANCIENT YODER FAMILY: In human genetics, Haplogroup I is native to the Middle East and Europe. It can be found in most European populations, most commonly in Scandinavia and Croatia. Its initial spread is believed to be connected to migrations of people during the last glacial maximum. According to current theories, Haplogroup I first arrived in Europe around 20,000-25,000 years ago from the Middle East. The general Yoder profile which has been revealed shows a “computed” haplogroup  of “I”, but one of our testees has had the detailed report run on his sample. It reveals that the actual value is a “I1c”. “The I1c lineage likely has its roots in northern France. Today it is found most frequently within Viking / Scandinavian populations in Northwest Europe and extends at low frequencies into Central and Eastern Europe.”

Another reference at:   http://lewissurnamednaproject.com/haplogroups.htm    Says:  

“I1c. I1c families are found thinly spread throughout Europe and thought to be associated with the early Gravettian cultures [the so-called venus figures]of central and western Europe. The I1c family is thought to have branched from I1* before the last glacial maximum and is accordingly also an Upper Palaeolithic community sub-group. Currently the Genographic Project holds the view that I1c, amongst other Haplogroup I* subclades, may well be associated with the early Celtic migrations throughout Europe and this would account for it's present locations in Europe.”

For info on the Venus figures see: http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/artifacts/venusfigurines.html .

2) UNIQUE MARKER FOR EARLY AMISH IMMIGRANTS: For the 1742 Amish Yoders, we see that there is a unique pre-immigrant mutation at Marker 19- a value of “16” instead of the 15 shared by the other matching Yoders. This applies both within the children of YR2 Christian Yoder (c1700-1775) as well as those of  YR1- (name not known) who "died at sea” and left a “Widow Barbara" as head of the family. The other 18th century unlinked Amish man Yost Yoder (YRB) also shares this mutation - implying that he was descended from a common ancestor as YR1 and YR2.  C.Z. Yoder wrote in his 1932 book that when Yost’s son Christian married Magdalena Yoder (YR252) (granddaughter of YR2) “tradition has it that she was not related to Christian. At this time we have no way of knowing  how many generations back this common ancestor occurred, or if the Amish Yoders come from a separate line from the children and grandchildren of Caspar Yoder b. 1571 of Steffisburg. (Refer to: http://www.yodernewsletter.org/SwissDescent.htm ).

Triangulation of results from some of the 19th century immigrant Yoders may give us a clue on those. One of the prime candidates as an ancestor of the 1742 Amish was the Jacob Joder who married Margreth Stehli (son of Jost b. 1607, son of Caspar who m. Margret Hennig). The results from our Steffisburg born Joder (who is a descendant of this Jacob) seems to have ruled him out as forebear or the Amish line. See as Follows:

Our Swiss testee, who was born in Steffisburg, has shared his detailed ancestry.

Casper Joder 1571/ Margret Hennig

- Jost Joder 1607 (who m. Anna Trachsel)

-- Jakob Joder 1652 who m. Margreth Stehli

---Ullrich Joder 1702

----Ullrich Joder 1743

-----Christian Joder 1789

This Jakob was one of the potential parents of YR1 and YR2 who was discussed in the YNL 11 and 12 article by Rachel Kreider:

http://www.yodernewsletter.org/YNL/vol11.html

http://www.yodernewsletter.org/YNL/vol12.html

http://www.yodernewsletter.org/YNL/chart1112.html

For the present day descendant to have a marker 19 value of "15" this means Jakob who m. Margreth Stehli would have shared that value. If effect, this RULES OUT this Jakob Joder as a parent of the 18th century Amish Yoder line. I had been inclined to place my bets on him, as quoted from YNL29: "STAHLEYS: First off, there is a Stahley connection to the Amish Yoder immigrants of 1742---namely the Christian Yoders YR2 and YR23 settled on property in Berks County directly beside land of one Henry Stahley. And interestingly enough, unlike other of their immediate neighbors, Stahley is one whose children did not intermarry with the Yoder family."

(There is a second Jakob Joder who married Verena Kauffman and is about the same age, but only one of them could have been Jost's son. We don't know at this point what the ancestry of the second Jakob was).

A test result from a Yotter, who descended  from the Eppstein Germany Yotter line seems to rule out another son of Jost:

Casper Joder 1571/ Margret Hennig

- Jost Joder 1607 (who m. Anna Trachsel)

-- Christian  who m. 1684 Barbara Gerber

----Christian Jotter b. 1720

------Heinrich b. 1750

----------Heinrich b. 1777

 

Three results show the marker of “16” which links to the 1742 Amish Yoders! The first of these is a descendant of YRC (Michel Yoder born 1788) has a profile returned which INCLUDES the unique marker 19 value of "16" which has been seen to be a pre-immigrant generation marker for the 1742 Amish immigrant Yoders. Michel is reportedly a great-great grandson of the Caspar Joder who married Verena Stauffer (son of  Jost who m. Anna Trachsel).  Michel's father Samuel wrote the letter to "Schweitzer Christian" (YR23) in which he referred to him as "Dear cousin".  A second result from a believed descendant of Caspar and Verena is for a descendant of  Joseph Ioder who settled in Bureau Co, Illinois. It also shows the “16” value.

 

In the line of a second son of Jost Joder and Anna Trachsel, a  descendant of Alsatian YA4 has results returned which also show the marker 19  value of "16". YA4 is included as a "possible" descendant of Hans Joder (son of  the Jost above) who married Katherine Russer.

 

What does this all mean?  It seems very unlikely that both Hans and Caspar independently experienced an identical genetic mutation. One or the other is perhaps in error.  Well, we  hope to have a better idea when test results come in from other descendants of these two Steffisburg Joders.

 

Caspar's documented descent can bee seen at: http://www.yodernewsletter.org/court/spfalz.html

 

And Han's descent can be seen at:  http://www.yodernewsletter.org/court/france.html

 

There seems no easily visible place for YR1 and YR2 within this data.

Coming forward in these Amish lines, one mutation occurred within 25 markers during one of the intervening generations in the YR12 line, and two within the YR25 sample (the two variations under the 464 marker technically count only as one). Without further samples we do not know the generation in which the mutations occurred.

 

3) PROFILE FOUND FOR “MOST RECENT COMMON ANCESTOR”:  The Yoder 67 marker profile with a “15” in marker 19 appears in a wide array of Yoder lines. It appears in ALL the Yoder lines EXCEPT for the 18th century Amish, and  later immigrants who arrived in the 19th century.  Either the pattern with a marker 19 of "15" or of "16" represents a branch off of a more ancient ancestral line. It would be a reasonable hypothesis at this point that the "Amish" profile (the one with a marker 19 of "16") is the variance  (aka mutation), and that the profile with Marker 19 value of "15" is the more ancient of the two. Enough results are back for us to identify the “67 Marker Y DNA Profile” for Caspar Joder who was b. in 1571.

 

4) NORTH CAROLINA AND MENNONITE YODERS MATCH: The 25 marker results for two descendants of Conrad Yoder of North Carolina match exactly the results of two descendants of Mennonite “Hans Yoder of Great Swamp”. This 25 marker profile seems to be the “Pure Yoder” profile of the “most recent common ancestor” between the branches of our family.

 

5) AT LEAST SOME YORDY/YORTY/YOTTYs LINKED TO JODERS: The surname Jordi appears in several villages not far from Steffisburg. Families with this surname settled in Anabaptist communities in Germany and Alsace. Families came to the US as early as 1717, with others arriving as Mennonites in the middle 19th century.

 

So far we have several testees from the Yordy/Yotty family from Bavaria to Illinois in the mid 19th Century. The first of these, for a descendant of Peter Yordy b. c1812 in France,  has 25 marker results back which show a 23 of 25 marker match to the line with a marker 19 value of the "non-Amish" profile. This degree of match, according to Family Tree" means "You and the other person(s) have matched in 23, 24 or 25 markers, which means that there is a 99.9% likelihood you have a common ancestor." with the Swiss Joders.

A second 25 marker profile has been received for a descendant of a the earlier immigrant line of the Peter Yorty who was in Lancaster Co, PA. by 1717. These match to those of the first and confirm a common ancestor for both of the Yorty branches with the Steffisburg Joders. There is also a match for ONE of the sons of Christian Yotty who came to Illinois about the same time as Peter b c 1812, while other sons of his seem to have been adopted.

 

6) UNEXPECTED RESULTS SEEN IN TWO OLEY YODER BRANCHES: The spread sheet has been reorganized to make it easier to see how the different profiles reveal themselves under the Oley descent. Five samples from the line of Hans (OH1), son of Hans of the Oley line DO NOT show a match to the rest of the Yoders, while one sample does match as would be expected (that of OH112). It appears that in two non-matching lines, there may have been an unrecorded adoption. Descendants of two different sons of George Yoder (OH132) show a matching distinct profile. A descendant of George’s brother Peter (OH133) also matches this profile. As OH1 ties to the Steffisburg profile, these results appear to establish  that OH13- Samuel Yoder, was an adopted child of Hans Jr.

Two descendants of OH14526 have an additional distinct matching DNA result which differs from the more ancient Yoder profile. In this line the samples substantiate that the variant DNA profile was initiated NO LATER THAN Henry S. Yoder (OH14526) who is the common ancestor between the two testees. As a descendant of OH112 matches to the “normal” Yoder profile, this indicates the variant profile was introduced NO EARLIER THAN Peter Yoder, (OH14). (UPDATE: SEE ITEM 15 FOR THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION!!)

 

The Oley Yost samples back shows a 25 for 25 match to the Steffisburg Yoder, and on markers 26-37 seems to match the values of the most recent common Yoder ancestor of all lines.

 

7)   YETTERS/YEATERS/YATERS- We do have instances in history where Yoder became Yetter and vice versa. One of these appears in the OH112 line- with a DNA confirmation of Yoder links.

 

Other Yetters have not been linked by documentation to the Yoder line, and the DNA supports that they have a separate profile. SAMUEL YETTER OF COLUMBIA CO.,PA: There were several hints that this fellow may have been related to the Yoders. Samuel Yetter in Columbia County owned property beside a Oley Yoder; he baptized several of his children at the Swartzenwald Church in Berks Co. (where Yoders also attended); and Samuel married a  Yocum  -- one of the Oley Yoders also married a Yocum. The results are in, and they establish that this Samuel WAS NOT related to the Yoder lines. Results from a descendant of Henry Yater (in Kentucky by 1792- see “T” in the “unlinked” file at the Yoder Newsletter Homepage) MATCH EXACTLY at 12 for 12 with those of the Samuel Yetter descendant, indicating that they share a common ancestor.  (We are going forward under this project with attempts to sample representatives of Yeater, Yater, and Yetter branches to establish or disprove relationships between them).

 

8) THE MELCHIOR LINE: Results have been received from two sons of Melchior Yoder. One is from the family of his son Jacob Yoders whose family is today the only one which uses the "Yoders" spelling. The other two are from the J. Peter Yoder. Mutations appear in individual markers, but the value of two of three for each marker shows that a profile for Melchior himself  had neither of these mutations, but rather exactly matched the 25 marker  mutation of "Pure Yoder"- shared in common by Conrad Yoder of North Carolina,  The Mennonite Hans Yoder of Great Swamp, our Steffisburg cousin's ancestry, and the Oley progenitor.

 

9) A SAMPLE FROM A STEFFISBURG, SWITZERLAND JODER: The 25 markers for this gentleman match exactly those of the Conrad, Melchior, Oley and Mennonite lines above (the ones I referred to as “Pure Yoder” and as belonging to the “Most Recent Common Yoder Ancestor”. This gentleman is the descendant of Jacob Joder who married Margreth Stehli, son of Jost b. 1607, son of Caspar who m. Margret Hennig.  This represents the first grandson of Caspar and Margret to be “ruled out” as progenitor for the Amish lines.

 

10) Family Tree announced an upgrade test to 67 Y DNA markers, and we selectively tested at this level for certain lines. So far we have found no unique markers at the 67 level which helps differential between immigrants of sons of the Steffisburg families.

 

 

By triangulating the results from descendants of at least two sons of each 18th century Yoder immigrant, we have been able to see what the actual Y-DNA profile was for the immigrant himself.  This chart summarizes these families. We see that there is a 67 marker exact match between Adam Yoder (father of Oley Yost and Hans), Hans of Great Swamp of the Mennonite Yoder line, and Conrad Yoder of North Carolina. For the line of Melchior Yoder, we have one question mark at marker “CDYb” and are in process of upgrading one of our testees to allow us to eliminate the question mark—either Melchior will match the “38” value of the other lines, or he will have a “37” value as appeared in one of his descendants (odds say he’s a “38”). (UPDATE: The new Melchior descendant test Does confirm  that his CDYb marker value was “38” meaning he also was a 67 marker match with the other lines)

            The statistical chart provide by the Family Tree test  lab which is provide below shows the following probability for to number of generations to the “Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA)”. In other words, for Conrad, Hans of Great Swamp, and the Oley line, there is a 95% probability that the MCRA is no more that 6 generations before the immigrant, and a 50% chance it’s no more than two generation above them. This may well also be true for Melchior, as we’ll see when the second test comes back on the CDYb marker.

 

66 of 67 markers match = 50% probability of MRCA no more than 4 generation

                                        = 90% probability of MRCA no more than 8 generation

67 of 67 markers match = 50% probability of MRCA no more than 2 generation

                                        = 90% probability of MRCA no more than 4 generation

 

12) Results back from a descendant of Abraham Yoder who married Catherine Troutman supports the belief that he may have been a son of OH135 (Abraham Yoder who married Hannah Leiss) as it matches the distinctive OH13 (Samuel Yoder) profile.

 

13) Results back from a descendant of  George Yoder (bc1842- 2/18/1870 age 39 years) who m. Mary A. Miller (1846VT- ) bur. Freeport City Cemetery, shows that he WAS NOT from the Amish Yoder line, as he does not share the “16” value at marker 19. He had previously been identified as “YR1272122”.  One speculated identification at this point is that he could have been from the line of OY426- George Yoter (Yoder) of Venango Co, Pa.

 

14) Results back from a descendant of Adam Yoder who married Harriet Isanhart (“AD”- AD- Adam Yoder b. 2/28/1818 PA m. 1/22/1843 by S B Clark , Seneca Co, OH to Harriet A. Isanhart (6/20/1821-5/30/1911 bur. Floral Grove Cem. Pioneer,OH) d. 5/26/1858 Feaselburg Cem. near Bettsville,OH. ) show that he WAS a descendant of the Amish Yoder line. Our speculated descendant at this time is that he may have been a son of George Yoder (YR1271- see the article in YNL45).

 

15) Results received in March 2007 for a descendant of Jacob Yoder of Lewisburg, Pa (born 1783 and married to Mary Sterner) show a surprising and definitive result!! (See also YNL 50, Oct 2007). For years we felt that Jacob was the second of  two “missing” sons of Amish Yoder Joseph (YR127) who married Elizabeth Jutzi.  A son of this Jacob went west to Stephenson County, Illinois where Joseph’s son George (YR1271) died.  For this reason we speculated that Jacob was George’s brother…and that both of them were “lost” because they left the faith. In YNL45 we presented the evidence which confirmed that George was the son of YR127. The DNA test we just ran was expected to show the Amish DNA marker at value 19 (a “16” vs a “15”). Instead, it matched to the variant profile which appears for two descendants of OH1452 in the Oley Yoder line!! A new look at the data we have on this line establishes that our Jacob of Lewisburg was OH146 - the son of Peter Yoder who married Eve Levan:

 

OH14- Peter Yoder m. 12/7/1762 1st Reformed Church Philadelphia Eve Levan ( - will made 9/21/1819,probated 11/5/1819)  will made 9/8/1809, probated 10/16/1809. (Peter Yoder m. Eva Levan 12/7/1762 both from Berks Co by Rev. Frederich Rothenbuehler)

OH141- Susanna b. m. 11/3/1789 Daniel Hoch (10/29/1755-  10/7/1835) d. <9/8/1809 bur Zion Union Ch. (Susanna Jotter of Oley m. 11/3/1789 Daniel Hoch at Schwartzenwald Reformed Church)
OH142- Catherine b. m1. ______ Wildbahn m2. Joseph Levan d. >1809 < 9/21/1819
OH143- Hannah b. 11/3/1767 m. 12/18/1787 Jacob Schraeder  (Schroeder) d. May 1,1853 85y-5m-29d  Pleasantville Union Cemetery
OH144- Anna Maria b. 7/7/1773 m. 6/21/1791 Jacob Focht (Vogt) d. 3/13/1863 Huff's Union Church, Hereford Twp. Berks (Anna Maria Jotter of Oley m. Jacob Vogt 6/21/1791 at Schwartzenwald Reformed Church)
+OH145- John b. m. Sep.1,1803 Schwartzwald Church  Catharine Levan d. >1819 (recd 168 acres Oley in  fathers will) (Johannes Jotter m. Catharina Levan of Oley 9/1/1803 at Schwartzenwald Reformed Church)
+OH146- Jacob- b. (John to give brother $2,000 per fathers  will)

 

In this instance, the DNA test itself has actually established the specific ancestry of one of our major “unlinked” Yoder lines. It has also established that Peter himself (OH14) was the source of the variant profile, and that he (like his brother George (OH13)) IS NOT the natural son of OH1  John Yoder!!!

 

16) The two George Yoders of Stephenson County, Illinois are linked to Amish line!  Results of a Y DNA Test for a descendant of Martin Frederick Yoder, below, prove that this line DOES carry the Amish Yoder marker 19 value of “16”. This supports the belief that the younger George WAS the son of George Yoder YR1271!

 

YR12718- George Yoder    (9/13/1831 Canton,OH- 5/11/1911)

both bur. Grandview Cem., Freeport, IL   m. 1856 Butler Co., O

Polly Bodenmoyer (3/20/1833 Butler Co, O-1/6/1913 Dubuque,

at res. of Dau. Ida)  (Polly d/o George Bodenmoyer & Lydia

Henninger)(Geo. lived OH to 1870 then moved to Stephenson Co.

-- GAR Volunteer from Mercer Co.,  OH A 71st Inf

(Reference: 1860 Mercer Co,O-next to George Babenmyer of Pa; 1880

& 1900 Census-Il; Polly ("Paulie") obit; Andrew obit, Collen O'Byrne

Charts-6/00- "Schuler-Bobenmyer Clan-Book:1758-1917" )

    +YR127183- Martin Frederick   (12/25/1863 O-      Woodstock, Ia) m. 4/18/1888

Nettie Springman Freeport  res. Woodstock,IA as of 1918.

 

17) Daniel Yothers of Center County, Pa. (See YNL 37)- A test result from the line of this gentleman gives evidence that Daniel may  not have had a common male ancestor with the other Yoders. We would need to test descendants of a second son of Daniel to confirm the profile of Daniel himself.

 

18) A DNA test from a descendant of a Yoder who immigrated from Kiev to Argentina in 1904 presents a profile which does not match to the Steiffisburg Joders. Information from the testee reveals the family had Jewish origins and it now seems likely that this line is connected to the Jewish “Yuter” family of Baltic area.

 

19) A test by a descendant of YR17- John Yoder who married Anna Mast shows the second incidence among the Amish line Yoders of a “reverse mutation” from the Amish marker 19 value of “16” – back to the more ancient vale of “15”. Several other mutations appear in the 7 male generations born to this line since YR1. We would like a test from a second YR17 descendant (branching off as early as possible) to get a better view of what YR17’s profile would have been.

 

20) As a part of testing a  descendant of Benjamin F Yoder, son of Moses (b 9/12/1824) and Eliza of Lewisburg, Pa, it has been discovered that the OH13 (Samuel Yoder) line mutates with son George (OH132).  At marker 464d ,which is seen in the 25 marker test,  the value is “16” vs a “17” which appears in the OH133 and believed OH135 lines. The DNA results from the Benjamin line show that his father Moses WAS NOT descended from the OH132 line, but from that of one of his brothers. Brother David (OH134) did have a son Moses b. c1810, but the date and wives don’t match, so it seems likely that the Moses of this line was an unidentified son or grandson of one of the other sons of OH13.

 

21) A test in the line of - John Yoder of Oley b. c1808 m. 2/23/1834 Lydia Measter (suspected OH13214) brings a results which supports him being who we’ve felt he was by lining up with the OH13 profile.

 

21) The first test from the line of Alsatian Yoder Christian Yoder who married Barbara Schott (unlinked line YA2) establishes that this line has the “Amish marker” (Value “16” at DNA marker “19”). This ties him in to either the line of Hans Joder who married Katherine Reusser, or of his brother Casper Joder who married Verena Stauffer (See YNL 50). There are still several linked Alsatian lines which have not yet been tested and we’d like to find and test more male descendants in these lines. At this point we only have one established result from the Hans-Katherine line- need another to cross check the results.

 

22) Contributions are very welcome to continue and expand the testing of various lines. You can make your contribution at:  http://www.familytreedna.com/contribution.html  (Mark yours for “The Yoder DNA Project”.)