Hi Ed, My earliest Mennonite ancestor, 5th great-grandfather Johannes GERBER b Abt 1704 in Europe (aka GB1), arrived in Philadelphia 1736 aboard the Harle. I think he was a Bretheren minister who was fleeing religious persecution in Europe. I have his son Johannes GERBER's (d. 1777) will and know that they lived in Cumru Twp., near where Reading, Berks Co., PA, is today.. Also my earliest Amish-Mennonite ancestor, my 4th great-grandfather John YODER, b abt 1732 in Europe (aka YR17), arrived 1742 aboard the Francis and Elizabeth, and settled in the Oley Valley near Reading, Berks Co., PA. Anyone interested in YODER should check out: http://www.genealogy.org/~yoder/welcome.html . I am interested in examining the notion that a particular set of given names identifies these and some others from 1730-1800 PA like HOCHSTETLER, STUTZMAN, KAUFFMAN, etc. as being from Diesbach, Switzerland. What is this pattern of assigning given names? First, for any larger family there should be a Magdelena and a Veronica Frani. There are some common names allowed like Barbara, Anna, Catherine, John, Jacob, etc., but these are only about twelve in number. It's not that the naming patterns are similar, they are identical across surnames and across generations! My question is, if we can identify the location of the origin(s) of these families, can we get data from Switzerland on their ancestors? Douglas M. Garber [email protected] Researching GARBER/GERBER (Switz>PA>OH) HOPKINS (Eng>MA>CT>VT>NY>OH) MCCOLLUM (Scot>NJ>OH>KY>OH) HENRY (VA>PA>OH) http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/g/a/r/Douglas-M-Garber/ ----- Original Message ----- From: Ed Heral <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, June 06, 1999 3:19 AM Subject: [PENNA-DUTCH-L] Mennonites > For any of you on this list interested in Mennonite research I want to > invite you to check out MENNO-ROOTS mailing list. I am now the manager of > this list and welcome any of you with PA Dutch ancestors who may also have > been Mennonites. Some of my ancestors were from this area and also > Mennonites. If interested, [email protected] and place > subscribe in the body of message. > Thank you. > Ed Heral > Rootsweb Sponsor Plus and List Administrator of > Shirk, McKnelly and Menno-Roots lists. > > > ==== PENNA-DUTCH Mailing List ==== > Do a good turn for another and see what comes back... > >