YODER LINEAGE Other Than Amish by Karolyn Rae Roberts
Joders in Switzerland The surname of Yoder is derived from the Alemannic given name of Theodor which comes from a Greek word meaning "man of God." The first known bishop in Switzerland was Saint Theodorus and he died around 393 A.D. Later his name became Saint Joder. As far back as the forth and fifth centuries, the Joders settled on the right shore of the Emme River in an area that became known as "Joder Hubel," or "Joder Hill" and the elevation is 9,870 feet at this site. This hill was made into a walled stronghold to protect the Joder clans down through the years. In the village of Huttwil, a Ulli Joder and his son, Heini Joder, are recorded as the highest taxed families. In about 1385, a Heini Joder moved to Steffisburg, Switzerland, which is in the southern part of the Emmental. These Yoders lived here approximately eleven generations before they joined the Widertäufer (Anabaptists) and then were forced to leave their homeland in search of religious freedom. The Steffisburg Joders were mostly farmers, but also involved in a variety of trades. Some were also in civil administration offices. In 1848, a Jost Joder served as governor at Laueren near Thun. Some Yoders migrated to the Alsace or to the Pfalz and later they sailed for America. (Information: Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage, vIV,n2, European Yoder Research by Lois Ann Mast)
The next bridge to cross is linking our line back to some of these earlier generations, which could take some doing.
Yoders in America [1785-The shutters and the iron hinges for the Saucon Meetinghouse were made and donated by John Bachman, Casper Young, Jacob Yoder, John Geissinger, Samuel Meyer, and Abraham Meyer.] *Saucon and Swamp Churches of Coopersburg Area, Milford Twp., of Bucks Co., PA **Yoder Swiss Heritage ***Tombstone Locations in Saucon Cemetery
Mennonite Yoders It seems to be that the earliest record of Hans of The Great Swamp for a land purchase is January of 1720. Here is some information found from different sources. Bucks-Lehigh County Yoders-As early as 1734, one John and Anna Yoder came to "Penn's Woods" and took land during the reign of King George II of England. The land was part of a land grant of William Penn. Later, the Mennonites petitioned for and were granted township for the area that became Milford Township in Bucks County and Upper Saucon in Lehigh County. (Source: The History of Saucon Mennonite Meetinghouse and Church) Hans purchased a tract of 99 acres in Lower Milford Township, Bucks Co., PA (then known only as "The Great Swamp") from Joseph Growden of Trevose, PA on January 17, 1720 for fifteen pounds current silver money. - Hans of Great Swamp LAND RECORD says "11/22/1724, Minute Book "I" John Nich. Sentz & Hans Yoder request the grant of 100 acres of land at Sawcany." p726, Early PA Land Records edited by William Henry Egle. (Yoder Newsletter,n40,Oct.2002; Donald Honeywell) Montgomery County also soon came to be home for some of the descendants of this line. These Yoders were the only ones in America to use the name Casper, found so frequently among the Steffisburg Joder records. A John Yoder is known to have married Anna Bachman, but it is not clear whether this was the senior immigrant or John Jr. Although there is still some confusion as to the generations, this branch may be the next to establish a demonstrable connection to the Joders of Steffisburg.
YB13 Abraham Yoder & Maria Schell Sell
YB-Hans (John Sr.) Yoder of Great Swamp-b ca1680 Europe - d1753 Lower Milford Twp., Bucks Co., Pa - mAnna_______ d1753 or soon after,Milford Twp.,Bucks Co.,PA (or was it Barbara Berger???) Hans/John Yoder Sr. was born in either Switzerland or Germany around 1680. He died in Lower Milford Township, Bucks County, PA, but his death date is unknown. (Ancestry Com #10478) He married Anna ____ (maiden name, birth and death dates unknown). He purchased a tract of 99 acres in Lower Milford Township, Bucks Co., PA (then known only as "The Great Swamp") from Joseph Growden of Trevose, PA on January 17, 1720 for fifteen pounds current silver money. Hans of Great Swamp LAND RECORD says "11/22/1724, Minute Book "I" John Nich. Sentz & Hans Yoder request the grant of 100 acres of land at Sawcany." p726, Early PA Land Records edited by William Henry Egle. (Yoder Newsletter,n40,Oct.2002; Donald Honeywell) Pennsylvania Land Warrants and Patents has a record of purchase of 100 acres and another entry for 51 acres with no dates. (PA Land Warrants and Patents:v1). Then on Janunary 4, 1737, is a record of purchase for 250 acres.
The "Great Swamp" region of Bucks Co., PA is located in the Northwestern corner of the county and includes the Townships of Milford and Richland and extends north into LeHigh County and west into Montgomery County. The early settlers found the land to be very rich and very suitable for growing crops. The land became more valuable after the timber was cut down and the swampy land was drained. Many wild animals roamed this land and rattlesnakes were in abundance. Many farmers were bitten by these unwanted creatures and, to combat them, the men wrapped their legs in grass to ward off the dealy bites of the rattlers. There were Indians in this area until 1770, mostly living in small groups along the Swamp Creek.
Milford Township (Upper Bucks), was settled by Mennonites about 1715, so named from Menno Simon, a prominent reformer of Friesland, Germany, born 1492, and died in Holland, 1559. They were mostly from the Palatinate, whither religious persecution had driven them from Switzerland and Alsace. They were poor, but industrious and frugal, and soon provided homes for themselves and their families. There are few indigent among them, and no one in good standing will accept public alms. The first minister in the county of this denomination, was Valentine Clemmer, as early as 1717, and attended the first Mennonite conference in America, held at Skippack or Franconia in 1724. He represented the church at the "Great Swamp" (History of Bucks Co., p434). The earliest services were held in private houses, the first church building not being erected until 1735, built on the land of William Allen. September of 1730 "Hans of Great Swamp" signed a petition calling for a road to be built from the new Meeting House to Montgomery Road. (YNL). In 1771, a second building was erected for the Swamp church, a mile east of the originalone. In 1847, the Mennonites became divided and were known as the Old and New Schools. The Mennonites landed at the port of Philadelphia, PA. They worked their way up the Perkiomen Valley of Montgomery Co. and settled in the "Great Swamp." Hans Yoder, Sr. was one of the early settlers.
A petition was presented to the Assembly in 1734 from the "Inhabitants of Bucks Co.," stating the petitioners were from Germany, and having purchased lands, they desired naturalization that they may hold the same and transmit them to their children. John Yoder, Sr. and his son, John Yoder Jr., names were on the petition (Bucks Co. Pioneers of the 18th Century, Westchester Library; Bucks Co. History, p425,426). John Yoder, Sr.'s name was on the first plat of survey returned to the Court September/October 1734 for Milford Twp. On the back of the draft, it is endorsed "Bulla," the name the petitioners desired their township to be called (History of Bucks Co., p429). In 1747, Hans was a coexecutor of Samuel Shoup's will, but signed a letter of renunciation stating that he was ancient and not fit to travel in ye winter season. In 1748, he was one of the three people who took inventroy for the estate of John Landis (his friend & neighbor), a Mennonite farmer of Lower Milford Twp.
Hans Yoder was one the the signers for the last Will and Testament of Jacob Clemmer of Lower Milford Twp. It was probated on 11/11/1751. He signed his name: John Joder Sinior (Sr).
Out of the diary of David Schultze, a surveyor from Montgomery Co., PA-Nov. 20, 1750: Went to Great Swamp and surveyed for Herwick Ackerman, Zwiewitz, & Hamsel Yoder in Saucon Twp. (YNL, Issue 16, Oct. 1990)
On 12/8/1750, Hans and Anna sold their farm to their son, Casper, for twenty pounds current money. The Bucks and Philadelphia, PA court houses have been searched to locate the will of Hans, but one cannot be found.
Out of the diary of David Schultze, a surveyor from Montgomery Co., PA-July 1782: Old Hansel Yoder on Upper Saucon, died earlier this year, in March or April. (YNL, Issue 16, Oct. 1990)
Hans and Anna were Mennonites and donated tghe land for the Saucon Mennonite Meeting House. (YNL, Issue 37,p8 Yothers Family)
Note: Mennonites-The Mennonites established their first congregation in Bucks Co. in 1735 in the northwestern part of the county, known as the Swamp Church of Milford. Later a meeting house was built in Bedminster. In 1746, a church was given to the followers at the Deep Run settlement. In 1752, a log building was erected for worship in the northwestern part of New Britain. The Perkasie or Milltown meeting house was built in 1753, Gehman's in Rockhill in 1773 and in Springfield ca 1753/1765. There are no known records of birth, marriage, or death.
Registry of Wills, Lehigh Co, microfilm file #1531- dated 19 Dec 1836- John (YB113) 1839 bequeath to son John, Joseph, Peter & Jacob, dau Elizabeth married to John Stauffer- no wife mentioned. Upper Saucon Twp.
Registry of Wills, Lehigh Co, microfilm file #378-dated 25 Aug 1817-Abraham (YB13), Co of Lehigh, wife Mary, sons Abraham, Peter, John, Henry, Jacob, and those children of my son Henry (deceased) Abraham & Samuel; Anna, Susanna, Maria, Barbara Joder married Jacob Landis, Anna married Wm Moyer. Upper Saucon Twp.
Deed Book 5-87 2 Aug 1817 Ab. Yoder of Upper Saucon & Maria his wife of the one part and Jacob Yoder of the same place. Containing 69 acres 15 perches. same ab. bought 30 Jan 1799 from Philip Gerfringer & Barbar wife, Co of Northampton. Book E Vol ? Page 505
The First Place of Worship - Holdeman CongregationE The first place of worship for the above people was later called the "Holdeman Congregation" and they met in the home of George & Anna (Eicher) Holdeman, sw of the village known as Salem (later changed to Wakarusa). By 1851, the Mennonite families there decided to erect a log meetinghouse. It was built se of the present Holdeman Meetinghouse in Olive Twp. The 1851 meetinghouse had two windows at the east and west ends, and three along each side; the measurements were bout 24 x 34 feet in size. The pulpit was a crude table at the east end supported by wooden legs which were set into holes bored into the plank. The simple seats were also without backs, slabs of wood into which holes were bored for the supporting legs. The congregation worshiped in this primitive building for the first quarter-century. (The Yellow Creek Mennonites, p73)
Mr. Miller and Mr. Yoder were the main stays at Foraker in its early history. Miller had a harness shop in the old building that sheltered the first store in Foraker. Miller and Yoder erected a building just south of the little old harness shop and after its completion, put in a stock of buggies and wagons. This building was later remodeled into a church as you can see below. (Source: The Foraker Truth, May 1,1925) E
Going back to about 1894 or 1895, we find the first blacksmith shop just north of the railroad tracks on the west side of Main Street owned by John Detwiler, Sr. (b8/23/1897). Detwiler also put up one of the first dwelling houses on the east and west street, third house from the depot east. Detwiler and John O. Blenis put a cider mill next to the blacksmith shop and both did enormous business. Later, Detwiler sold out to Noah Yoder, who run the cider mill two seasons and then sold out to George Werntz, who moved the mill up to where it now stands. (Source: The Foraker Truth, May 1,1925) E
Picture taken in 1937 when it was the George Werntz Cider Mill. Norris's 1928 Model A Ford Roadster stands by the Mill. Sam & Norris Hunsberger at the cider barrels. In 1937, 28,390 gallons of cider was made. (Source: Photo and Info of Charlotte Hess)E
Mr. Detwiler, Sr. moved to Kempster, WI with his family, also Noah & Susie Yoder, Emmanuel Kime, Lorento Kime, Earl & Sadie Elizabeth (Detwiler) Mishler (wife was daughter of John Detwiler, Sr.)(Antigo Daily Journal Obit, 12/22/1976), and Clarence Mishler. Also, Elmyra Detwiler (daughter to John Detwiler, Sr.) moved to WI, her husband being George Irish.
YB2567 - William Yotter b - m10/21/1860 Mary Ann Gresh of Douglas Twp. (Falkner Swamp Lutheran Ch., New Hanover Twp. Montgomery,Pa Records)
YB2568 - Jacob Eschbach Yoder b2/22/1838 Gilbertsville,PA - m6/28/1871 VA Anna Frances Whitaker Jacob was trailed to be a tailor and he did this briefly to earn money to attend the State Normal School at Millersville in Lancaster Co. In March of 1866, Jacob went to Lynchburg, VA as an Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association Superintendent Assistant for that region. Later he was appointed the Superintendent. He married Anna who was a missionary with the American Home Mission Society of the Northern Baptist Church. Jacob & Anna had 7 children. For more on Jacob, see the Yoder Newsletter, Issue 38, Oct. 2001, Article: Jacob Eschbach Yoder, p1.
YB134532312 - Ronald Gary Roberts-b4/10/1967 Urbana,Champaign,IL - Madison, WI
*SAUCON AND SWAMP CHURCHES OF COOPERSBURG AREA IN MILFORD TOWNSHIP, BUCKS CO., PA
Saucon Mennonite Church: In 1735, the early German Mennonite settlers, who came from Europe seeking religous freedom, built their first log meetinghouse here in the present-day town of Coopersburg. It had a swinging partition in the center dividing the room used for services and the one used for church school. The name Saucon came from the Indian word sawkink or sakink meaning the "mouth of the creek." It supposedly was the name of the large Indian village located at the north end of today's Saucon Creek which flows next to the church property. It is believed that at one time some of the Indians worshiped at Saucon. They would leave their bows and arros outside while in church. There may be some unmarked Indian graves in the cemetery. Earliest date of deed to the grounds was during the reign of King George II of England and was part of a land grant of William Penn. (Source: The History of Saucon Mennonite Meetinghouse & Church) The building now standing was constructed after the 1847 division. During the Armerican Revolution, all the men of this congregation were arrested and imprisoned at Easton because they refused to fight. Cemetery names include Yoder, Geissinger, Bachman, Newcomer, Kauffman, and Landis. Take 309 north from Souderton to Fairmount Stree5treet in Coopersburg. Turn left on Fairmount to Main St. Turn right on Main Street and follow Main Street to the meetinghouse. (E.D.)
Swamp Mennonite Church: At the time of the Mennonite 1847 split that resulted in the Eastern District leaving the Francona Conference, the Swamp congregation was formed. The more traditional Franconia Conference Mennonites of Milford Township found themselves without a meetinghouse. Without a house of worship or ministers, the "Old" Mennonites struggled along for a few weeks in the summer of 1847, until building the Swamp church between the other two Swamp meetinghouses. At Quakertown, take 663 west for one half mile to Old Bethlehem Road. Turn right onto Old Bethlehem Road for two miles. Turn left on Rosedale Road off Old Bethlehem Road. The Swamp congregation is one mile on the left. (F.C.)
East Swamp Mennonite Church: East Swamp Road, Quakertown, PA (E.D.)
West Swamp Mennonite Church: In 1847, John H. Oberholtzer began offering Bible classes here at West Swamp. The congregation's history goes back to al least 1727 when the church was formed. The first meetinghouse was built in ca 1735 on land donated by William Allen. In 1795, the old Swamp building was erected on the site of the present church. At Quakertown, take 663 west to Allentown Road, turn right to meetinghouse. (E.D.)
(F.C.) Franconia Conference; (E.D.) Eastern District (Information taken from: An Index and Description of The Mennonites' of Southeastern Pennsylvania 1683-1983)
**Yoder Swiss Heritage
The Yoders are Swiss. To Switzerland, that little republic in the very heart of Europe, which has contributed so much of liberty and faith to the world, we owe our origin as a family.
Swiss Encyclopedia: The family of Joder is a very ancient family of the village of Steffisburg on the edge of the Oberland in Canton Berne, Switzerland. The twentieth-century authority on Swiss family names traces them also to the village of Muri, a rich farming area nearer to the Swiss capital city of Berne. A little volume on the history of the Emmenthal-where Swiss cheese comes from as well as many of our Pennsylvania Mennonite families-lists the Joders among the early residents. So we are not only Swiss, we are basically a Bernese family.
The name "Joder" derives from the saint's name "Theodore." Saint Theodore was one of the missionary saints who in the early middle ages came up into the Swiss Alps bringing the message of Christ. The medieval Swiss loved their St. Theodore, and in their prayers to him, abbreviated his name into "St. Joder." St. Joder's picture is always portrayed standing on a little devil, to symbolize his triumph over evil. The Joder family name came from "St. Joder." As a family name in Canton Berne, the name Joder begins to appear in records in the 14th Century. There are early references to our family in the Bernese Archives at Berne, also in the parish registers of Steffisburg and Muri. At Steffisburg, the Joders begins to appear around the year 1529, at Muri slightly later.
When the Reformation broke out in Switzerland, Canton Berne became reformed, but a minority of mountain folk in the Oberland and elsewhere reverted to the simple gospel of the Anabaptist missionaries. These devoted ministers of Christ, who spread out from Zurich as a center, taught a faith which attempted to restore the ordinances and spirit of the New Testament Church. Because they stressed the baptism of adults-who in the first generation had already been baptized as infants into the Catholic faith-they were called by their enemies "Anabaptists" or "Rebaptizers." In German this became Wiedertaufer (Rebaptizers) or simply Taufer (Baptists).
These simple Christians of the Oberland stressed holiness of life based upon Christ's direct commands in the Sermon on the Mount. Because Christ told his deciples to love their enemies, they refused to fight and kill in time of war. Because he told them to "swear not at all," they refused to take oaths in court or to participate in the world's governments. But their greatest contribution to the western world was not their pacifism nor their nonconformity with the "world." It was their emphasis on religious freedom. For they were the first Christian group in modern times to insist that faith is something individual and personal, and the state cannot force the conscience of its subjects into any one pattern of faith. In fact, to the Anabaptists as to the majority of American Protestants, the Church is a voluntary association of men seeking God, and it has no connection with the civil government at all. To the Anabaptists and to their direct and indirect descendents, the Baptists, the Quakers, the Protestant liberals and mystics in general, we owe our modern concepts of religious liberty, upon which our American theory of church-state relations is based.
When the Anabaptist faith had spread down the Rhine Valley and reached the Netherlands, it was shaped further by a Catholic priest named Menno Simons, whose name was eventually given to the majority of the continental Anabaptists and their descendants in America, whom we generally call "Mennonites."
While some of the Swiss Joders remained in the Reformed Church, and helped to bring this faith to Pennsylvania, others rejected both Catholicism and the Swiss Reformed interpretation of religion and became Anabaptists. Among those first imprisoned for defying the Reformed state and spreading Anabaptist doctrines is the name of Heini Joder, who was imprisioned at Basel in the year 1531, six years after the Anabaptist movement had begun in Zurich. In the Bernese records, we read of other Joders who became Anabaptists in the 17th Century. Sometimes the new faith came into the Joder families through marriage. There is a record in the Bernese Archives of one Jacob Joder, who about the middle of the 17th Century, had a mother-in-law who was under surveillance by the state authorities because she was a "hartnackige Tauferin"-a "stubborn, hardshelled Anabaptist."
So tenacious were the Anabaptist Joders of their faith that when the persecutions of dissenters increased in the 217th Century, we find families of Joders moving down the Rhine to the hospitable, sunny land northwest of Heidelberg known as the Rhine Palatinate. Some found their way also into Alsace. In such areas, they were given land to farm on the large estates of the local nobility and with that they were happy for awhile. Two of these estates were the Brandschweilerhof near Neustadt and the Vogelstorkerhof in a pleasant green valley near Annweiler, a tremendous stone farmhouse with its gambrel roofs and its gracious double stairway was built by and for the Joders of the 18th Century, both in the Palatinate. There some of the Joders stayed, while our forefathers came on to Pennsylvania.
When William Penn opened the gates to his province in the New World to the continental emigrants, some of the Joders of the Palatinate and Alsace, Reformed and Amish, decided to come to America, or to the "Island of Pennsylvania," as some of them naively called it in their letters. There they could own land instead of renting it. There they could have, so they were promised and they trusted Penn's promises, complete freedom of conscience. This was their "Promised Land," flowing, they hoped, with the milk and honey that offered a new life for themselves and their children and their children's children. So they set sail. (Origin of the Pennsylvania Yoders, Don Yoder, Ph.D.)
***Tombstones-Saucon Cemetery {Row 1 on east side of church is the family of Abraham & Maria Yoder, the area north of the church was the members of Jacob (YB12) & Casper's (YB11) families. NW side of the church about seven and eight rows over are descendents of Casper's (YB11) family.
North Side of Saucon Church YB116~Barbara Yoder 9/29/1780-d9/23/1852 (Stayed Single) YB11~Fronica (Sell) Yoder (Joder) YB12~Jacob Bachman Yoder Susanna? Yoder d12/10/1820 or 29? (Stone laying down & broke in half) {I am supposing that YB11 Casper Yoder, Jr. & YB12 Eva M (Landis) Yoder are also buried in this spot. Few stones were there, and some laying down. Guessing through time their stones have disappeared}
West Side of Saucon Church (Approx. 7 rows NW of building, in a row) Elizabeth (Geissinger) Yoder (1st wife of Jacob M. Yoder) YB1134; Barbara (Newcomer) Yoder (2nd wife of Jacob M. Yoder) YB1134; Jacob M. Yoder YB1134 {Descendants of YB11)
(Center of Row 8 in front of above tombstones) John Yoder YB1131[flag by tombstone]; Catherine (Moyer) Yoder YB1131; Johanes M. Yoder YB11312; {Descendants of YB11}
S - Burial in Saucon Church Cemetery, Coopersburg, PA; N - Nold Men. Cemetery, Fairfield Twp., Columbiana Co., OH; E - An Elkhart Co. Resident at some time.
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Friday, November 06, 2009
Additions, corrections, questions: Contact krob@surfbest.net
For more information on Yoder Lineage see: Yoder Newsletter Online