Sollenberger Name Study

Profile managers: Kevin Ireland [send private message] and One Name Studies WikiTree [send private message]

About the Project

Unlike most surnames, all (most?) known Sollenberger descendants appear to have a common ancestor. This seems to extend to minor surname variations such as Sullenberger, Solenbarger, Sollberg, Zollberg, and others. This probably doesn't extend to more distant variations such as Shellenberger, Shallenberger, Snellenbeger, and so forth - but we do have multiple shared AncestryDNA matches from Sollenberger descendants to these lines. Presumably, the matches are on a non-Sollenberger line, but that's certainly a research area for our group.

We have strong mythology about Sollenberger ancestry going back to the early 1500s in Switzerland, northeast of Bern. Our single Sollenberger Big Y-700 DNA test in the world supports, but certainly doesn't prove, this theory. Perhaps the primary goal of this study is to explore this idea further.

Here is one theory of early Sollenberger descent, presented by Tom Sollenbarger. If anyone has further sourcing of this information, please comment.

Speculative Early Sollenberger Ancestors.

Sollenberger DNA Tests

Most American Sollenberger lines (all spelling variants) seem so far to be related. However, AncestryDNA tests can be misleading, as many Sollenberger lines lived in southeast Pennsylvania starting in the early 1700s (and may match through other aligned families).

As of March 2023, we know of only three Sollenberger Y-DNA Tests in the world; all of them match. It's believed, but not proven, that the three tested men descend from Ulrich Sollenberger. We currently believe that Ulrich had multiple brothers (and uncles); it would be great to get Y-DNA tests from some of their descendants.

How to Help

• Please make sure that at least one member of the earliest living generation of your Sollenberger family has a Wiki Tree profile. Add a profile for their Sollenberger-line parent and grandparent so that researchers can connect them to known Sollenberger ancestors.
• Encourage as many Sollenberger-line relatives as possible to test on AncestryDNA. Make sure they attach their AncestryDNA test results to an Ancestry tree (no subscription required). Tests by members of the oldest-living Sollenberger-line generation in your family are most needed (male or female, regardless of surname).
• We need Big-Y 700 tests from more male Sollenbergers to better understand and confirm where different Sollenberger lines branched off from each other. This is most important for lines without existing Y-DNA tests.

To join the Sollenberger Name Study, first start out by browsing our current research pages to see if there is a specific study ongoing that fits your interests. If so, feel free to add your name to the Membership list below, post an introduction comment on the specific team page, and then dive right in!

If a research page does not yet exist for your particular area of interest, please contact the Name Study Coordinator: Kevin Ireland for assistance.

... ... ... is a member of the Sollenberger Name Study Project.

Once you are ready to go, you can also show your project affiliation with the ONS Member Sticker:

Research Pages

This section is under development. Please comment with your research interests and add linked research pages as part of our study.

• Early Sollenbergers
• Sollenberger Y-DNA Tests

Membership

• Kevin Ireland Study coordinator. I was raised by my step-father, John Sollenberger. My maternal half-brother John Sollenberger has taken a Big Y-700 test.
• Meyer Sollenberger

Related Surnames and Surname Variants

• Solenbarger
• Sullenberger
• Additional names: Solenberger, Zollberg, Shellenberger, Schollenberger