Swiss Anabaptist mt-DNA

Profile managers: Gina Meyers [send private message] and Eric Myers [send private message]

The Swiss Anabaptist mt-DNA project

This page forms part of the Swiss Anabaptist Immigrants project. It exists to collect and collate what is known of mt-DNA matches amongst matrilineal descendants of the Swiss Anabaptist women who arrived in Pennsylvania in the early 18th century.

The goals are to :

• identify as many of the Swiss Anabaptist immigrant women as possible
• identify their mt-DNA haplogroups via descendant testing
• confirm / disprove theorised connections between pre-immigration families
• correlate with y-DNA testing of their husbands' and fathers' families to deepen our understanding of this population's movements through Europe following their expulsion from Switzerland.

This page lists the mt-DNA-matched groups identified to date.

Where all lineages in the group are traced to a single immigrant ancestor, only the ancestor is named.

Where clusters are identified in which lineages are traced back to two or more immigrant ancestors, each lineage is listed (from the earliest known ancestor through to c.1800). Matrilineal descendants of these women have mt-DNA matches to each other, but research is needed to confirm the common matrilineal ancestor for each group.

H haplogroup

H1n6 cluster

H15b1 cluster

• Judith Wenger (immigrant) b.c.1732 m. Martin Funck (via 3 daughters)

H5e1a cluster

This large cluster includes a number of testers whose matrilineal lines can not yet be traced to a common ancestor.

Of their earliest known ancestors :

• Maria Witwer was the daughter of Hans Witwer, who is believed to have arrived in Pennsylvania c.1717 and settled in Conestoga Township.

• Barbara Miller is believed to have married twice - first to Nicholas Bieri, by whom she is reported to have had at least five daughters, and second to Jacob Kagy.

• Magdalena Meyer was the daughter of Jacob Meyer of Bethel Twp, Berks, PA, who is believed to have married twice - first to Magdalena Frantz and second to Anna Burkholder. It's not clear which of these women was the mother of young Magdalena.

It is possible that the common matrilineal ancestor of these women is too distant to identify, but further research may reveal links between at least some of the lines.

Haplogroup H - matched group 2

• Barbara Beiler (immigrant) b.c.1723 m. Christian Yoder (via 2 daughters)

.

K haplogroup

K1a4g cluster

This cluster includes testers descended from two daughters (Magdalena and Barbara) of Veronica (c.1714-1769), wife of the immigrant Johannes Hooley. Veronica's last name at birth is not confirmed, but is theorised to be Mueller.

K1a-T195C! cluster

This cluster includes testers who are believed to be :

• descendants of two daughters of Christian Bliem. Their mother was probably named Eva and is believed to have been the daughter of an unidentified Bechtel family.
• descendants of two daughters of Hans Baer and his wife Anna Ott.
• one tester whose matrilineal ancestry has yet to be confirmed.

.

T haplogroup

T2a1a cluster

This cluster includes one tester who claims descent from Margaret [Koch], wife of Hans Huber (d.c.1750) of Earl Twp, Lancaster, PA.

The group also includes several testers whose earliest known matrilineal ancestor was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the early-to-mid-1750’s.

It’s theorised that at least some of these women born in the 1700’s were descendants of Margaret.

Other ancestors identified as being part of this cluster : Maria Souder b.c.1813 m. Jacob Witmer

T2e cluster

This cluster includes descendants of Barbara Schrock (1775-1814) and Henry Hochstetler via their daughters Elizabeth and Barbara. The Joder and Miller family connections can be complex and difficult to confirm. Knowledge of matrilineal haplogroups may help to clarify family structures.

.

U haplogroup

Haplogroup U3

• Judith Stauffer b.c.1815 m. Jacob Harnish

Haplogroup U5a1b1g cluster

• Magdalena [Lehman?] b.c.1730 m. Johannes Miller (via daughters Barbara Miller, Catherine Miller, and Mary Miller)

V haplogroup

Haplogroup V

• Barbara Stauffer b.c.1724 m. Heinrich Sauder

X haplogroup

X2b4

• Maria Stehli b.c.1757 m. Jacob Lehman

Participants sought ...

... to participate in mt-DNA testing to resolve questions around the families of :

• Magdalena Heistand b.c.1662 m. Anthony Kneissley
• Anna Herr b.c.1681 m. Wendel Bauman
• Maria Herr b.c.1673 m. Benedictus Brackbill
• Maria Herr b.c.1700 m. Abraham Brubacher
• Kungold Hiestand b.c.1658 m. Michael Reiff and/or Hans Stauffer
• Elizabeth [LNU] b.c.1695 m. Isaac Kauffman
• Mary [LNU] m. Johannes Meyer (c.1684-1757) of York, PA - Who was Mary?
• Barbara [LNU] m. Christian Meyer (1676-c.1751) of Franconia, Montgomery, PA - Where are Barbara's grand-daughters?

mt-DNA is inherited from one ancestral line only - the matrilineal line. This is traced through the female-only line and does not include any male ancestors. This means that it traces from any individual to their mother, to her mother, to her mother, to her mother, etc. It is a very precise indicator of whether or not two individuals share common ancestry on their matrilineal lines. (It says nothing about whether or not they are related on other ancestral lines.)

mt-DNA is inherited by both men and women, and so anyone can participate in mt-DNA testing. If you are a matrilineal descendant of these families, and are interested in DNA testing, we'd love to hear from you. Please get in touch either by posting a comment on this page, or by sending a private message to one of the page managers.