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 Widow BarbaraREVELATIONS FROM BARBARA SHIRK'S WILL Rachel Kreider Identifying the early Amish Yoders in America and relating them in families has for years been a very difficult exercise. The repetition of names and the conflicting data from early times made the puzzle almost impossible to solve. Descendants of Christian Yoder Der Schweisz were good record-keepers, and when one day I impatiently asked, "Then why didn't one of them write down who his father was and his uncles and aunts?", the answer was "In those days all those who mattered to them already knew." As it turns out, someone had listed his siblings. On October 22, 1809, one Christian Yoder (Butcher Christ) wrote: "now I will write down in what years my Father's brothers and sisters were (born)'': Aunt Barbara Yoder Born in the year 1725 Aunt Mattie Yoder Born in the year 1726 Uncle Christian Yoder Born in the year 1728 Aunt Elizabeth Yoder Born in the year 1729 Uncle John Yoder Born in the year 1732 Father Yost Yoder Born in the year 1734 Aunt Franny Yoder Born in the year 1739 Uncle Jacob Yoder Born in the year 1740 Further along in the account, Jacob C. Yoder, his grandson, who continued the genealogy and had descended from two different Yoder lines, said that on his mother's side he was descended from Butcher Christian, son of Yost, who was the son of Strong Jacob. That the above children belonged to Strong Jacob was thus handed down in print from this source, an others, for many years. Research in the Lancaster Courthouse, however, showed that there was something not right about this. Strong Jacob did have the same names for his children but the dates did not fit. He himself had to be of the same generation as those children. Surely Butcher Christ knew who his grandfather was, but the information from his grandson, who was that much further removed and had a mix of Yoder blood on both sides of the house, was hardly that reliable. By 1970 Dr. Hugh Gingerich of Washington, D. C., had turned sustained attention to the Yoder problems and familiarized himself not only with the individual Yoders but the Amish families with whom they intermarried. The task was not easy, for example, he found two John Yoders both born about 1732 and each married to an Anna! As it often happens, the key to the puzzle turned up unexpectedly while in pursuit of other interests. Paul V. Hostetler of Connecticut, grandson of the Hostetler historian who helped Harvey Hostetler compile the Descendants of Jacob Hochstetler (the famous Hostetler book of 1912), was trying to clear up some problems in connection with his own roots. He was referred to Annette Burget of the Pennsylvania German Society. She responded with a long letter, which confirmed that most of us had been on the wrong track also in identifying the immigrant Jacob Hochstetler. When in the course of their correspondence she found out that Paul was also researching Hartzlers and pinpointing the location of the earliest Amish farms, she sent him a copy of the will of one Barbara Shirk, which had a reference in it to a Hertzler. He promptly and generously shared it with Dr. Gingerich and received a telephone call from the latter that first night. Barbara Yoder, the second wife of John Shirk, had named her brothers and sisters, outlining for us one of the first two Amish families in America! Quoting from the beginning and the end of the will, we find: "I, Barbara Shirk of Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, in the State of Pennsylvania have hereunto set my hand and seal this seventh day of January in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety." She had made her mark (X) in the presence of Martin Keller, John Keller, and John V. Dishony. In Item 1 she nominated "my beloved brother-in-law John Hertzler and my nephew Jacob Jother to be executors" The bequests were made "to my beloved brothers and sisters viz, Christian Jother, his heirs, Jacob Jother, Michael Jother, John Jother, my sister Magdalene her children, my sisters Anna King and Veronica Hertzler.., Later in the will she repeated the names but after "my sister Catherine Kauffman her children jointly one share" she added "but their Father Isaac Kauffman shall have no part nor claim thereto...." Coupled with information gleaned elsewhere, Dr. Gingerich could now construct a list like this (approximating the dates within several years): Catherine ca 1720 m. Isaac KauffmanChristian ca 1722; d 1772 in Berks County; m Barbara (probably Beiler Magdalena ca 1724 m. Christian Fisher Jacob ca 1726; d. 1790 in Lancaster Co. m. Anna _ (This one fits to be the real Strong Jacob) Anna ca l728; d. in Berks County; m. Samuel Koenig (King) Michael ca 1730; d. 1799 in Mifflin Co John ca l 732; d. 1804 in Berks County; m. Anna Barbara ca 1734; d. 1790 in Lancaster Co; second w/o John Shirk Veronica ca 1736; d. 1806 in Mifflin C,m. John Hertzler The mother of these children, according to persistent tradition, was the famous "Widow Barbara". To this day there has not been found any satisfactory documentation for this, nor has it been disproved. There are nine children in the family, but not eight of them sons, as one story has it. We are inclined to believe that this is indeed the family of Widow Barbara and that the father therefore died at sea. There has been speculation about his name, some even published as fact, but more evidence is needed. From a study of land transfers we believe that the father of the other family was Christian. A Bible record gives a death date for him of November, l775, the autumn before Christian Der Schweiz, now believed to be his son, came over the Alleghenies to Somerset County. Finding this will was indeed a break through. Dr. Gingerich could now account for all the Amish Yoder males in the first three generations and could make intelligent speculations on the unnamed marriage partners, but there was still work to do. Were the heads of the two families brothers? Does it signify anything that the oldest son in each family was named Christian? What was the correct separation of children in the two John-Anna families? What is the most promising connecting link with the Anabaptist Joders of that time in Europe? Much progress has been made, but the fascinating process of refining the Yoder family outlines goes on and on. Perhaps we are looking for documentation that no longer even exists.
Married 1719 at Bern, Bern-Mittleland, Bern, Switzerland (married 22 or 23 years) to:  Jacob Yoder, age by marriage 23 or 24 yearsBorn 1695 at Bern, Bern-Mittleland, Bern, Switzerland, died 1742 at At Sea,, , , age 46 or 47 years Died at Sea. One of two brothers who immigrated on the "Francis and Elizabeth" out of Rotterdam (MFH Jan '93) by way of Deal, and captained by George North. They arrived in Philadelphia September 21, 1742. His brother’s name is likely Christian Yoder (b 1700) Jacob died at sea in transit, leaving his wife Barbara a widow with 9 children. @S18@
Children:
1.
Catherine YoderBorn 1720 at ,, , Switzerland, died 1790 at , Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, age 69 or 70 years see: http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:1027984&id=I09483 2.
Christian YoderBorn 1722 3.
Barbara YoderBorn 1724 at ,, , Switzerland 4.
Magdalena YoderBorn 1724 at ,, , Switzerland 5.
Jacob YoderBorn 1726 at ,, , Switzerland 6.
Anna YoderBorn 1728 at ,, , Switzerland 7.
Michael YoderBorn 1730 at ,, , Switzerland 8.
John YoderBorn 1732 at ,, , Switzerland 9.
Veronica YoderBorn 1736 at ,, , Switzerland | |||