| Notes |
- Oley Valley Ancestors - by Guy L. Bierman Rev. 6 Jan 2002
Hans Yoder was twice married. His first wife was named Veronica "Iselmyn". At least that is the way her name was spelled in the records of the oldest Reformed Church in Pennsylvania. This is the church that Hans Yoder joined on his arrival in 1709/1710, the Dutch Reformed congregation at Whitemarsh, north of Philadelphia. I have checked the original record book written in Holland Dutch, now in the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia, and the transcription is as above given. This presents a problem. Is "Iselmyn" a Holland Dutchman's way of spelling the Emmenthal name "Eschelmann", or what is more likely, the Thun-Steffisburg name "Huselmann"? I have not yet been able to solve this problem, or to find the place or date of this marriage. All we know is that Hans and Veronica were married as early as 1699/1700, the birthdate of their son Hans Yoder, Jr-(1700-1779). The source for the name "Iselmyn" is William J. Hinke,ed.,"Church Record of Neshaminy and Bensalem, Bucks County,1710-1738," Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society,I:l (May 1901),111-134. For the actual citation, see the reference to the second marriage, below.
When did Hans Yoder leave Switzerland? Again the year is not known, but he does turn up in the Palatinate in 1708-1709, in the village of Schwetzingen, not far from Mannheim and Heidelberg. Schwetzingen centers around the summer residence of the Electors of the Palatinate, the great Schloss which is still standing amidst its formal gardens. With Hans Yoder's knowledge of farming and milling he probably was hired to work in some capacity for the Elector. Unfortunately the Schwetzingen council minutes (Ratsprotokolle) for this period are missing.
Our knowledge of his residence in Schwetzingen comes from the Reformed Church Registers of the town. As some of my readers know, there is extensive research going on at present into the backgrounds of the "1709ers",the Palatine emigrant of 1709, sponsored by Hank Jones of Universal City, California. His European researcher, Karla Mittelstaedt-Kubaseck, whom I know personally, attended a lecture I gave at a conference in the Palatinate in 1974. I asked her to be on the lookout for any reference she might locate to Hans or Yost Yoder, Some time later she wrote me that in going through the Schwetzingen Reformed Church Register, on deposit in the Baden Church Archives at Karlsruhe, she found Hans Yoder in Schwetzingen in the years 1708-1709. Hans and Veronica Yoder had a daughter Anna Regina, baptized January 27, 1708, with Jacob Korner, schoolmaster, and his wife Rachel as sponsors. In connection with this entry the pastor later added that "this family went to the Island of Pennsylvania,March 1, 1709". Like many Europeans of time, the pastor probably thought that Pennsylvania was just another of those West Indian Islands.
By May 6,1709, Hans Yoder was in London, with hundreds of refugee Palatines, preserved in the British Library , Hans Joder's name (misspelled as "Fodder" when the lists were published in 1909) appears among the "First Arrivals" (Yoders are always on time!). His age was given as 38, his occupation that of "husbandman" (farmer), and his religion Reformed. Accompanying him were his wife, two sons aged 9 and 4, and a daughter aged one year. The source of this information is the article, "Lists of Germans from the Palatinate who came to England in 1709," in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Register, XLI (1909).
These lists are the key to Hans Yoder's early movements, settlements, and personal relationships in Pennsylvania. With his name in the London Lists appear the names of John LeDee and Philip Kuhlwein. This is significant, since Hans Yoder's second wife, who he married in Pennsylvania April 29,1711, was Anna Rosina LeDee, daughter of Jean LeDee, usually spelled LeDez. Philip Kuhlewein (1683-1737) became Hans Yoder's brother-in-law in marrying another daughter of Jean LeDez. Both LeDez Kuhlewein settled in Oley with Hans Yoder, in fact preceded him there.
Hans Yoder must not have been as "poor" as some of his Palatine countrymen in London. Most of them were shipped by Queen Anne either to County Limerick in Ireland, or to the Hudson Valley in New York to make naval stores for the British government. Hans Yoder, along with Jean LeDez, Philip Kuhlewein, Hans Jacob Fullweiler, Gerhard Clemens and a few others listed, managed to come directly to Philadelphia, where they became founders of Pennsylvania Dutch rather than of New York Palatine families.
- (Medical):Did not survie journy to America. Boarded Ship in England but did not get off in America.
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Abt 1675 - Abt 1710 (~ 35 years)