Lancaster’s Swiss Mennonites, 1710s: backdrop and inroads
Christopher asked (2026-10-31) to dig into the Swiss Mennonite settlement of Lancaster from the 1710s, as a backdrop that may open gaps in his own lines. See also The world around the migrations - Europe, Russia, the US and Canada.
Inroads, not links
The names below share surnames or home districts with people in the tree. None is linked by a record. Lancaster’s Swiss Mennonites were mostly Mennonite, while most of Christopher’s Pennsylvania lines were Amish (Berks, then Somerset). See Evidence levels.
What happened
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1709 | Swiss Mennonite elders write to Amsterdam describing Bern’s persecution. Amsterdam’s Mennonite relief committee (from 1660) funds much of the emigration that follows |
| 1710 | The Pequea colony. Swiss Mennonites from the Palatinate, led by Hans Herr, Martin Kendig, Martin Oberholtzer, Jacob Müller, Christian Herr, Hans Funk, Martin Meylin and Wendel Bowman, buy a 10,000-acre tract on Pequea Creek (warrant surveyed 23 Oct 1710). The first permanent European farm settlement in what became Lancaster County |
| 1710 | A Bern prisoner ship is sent down the Rhine to Holland; the same year Swiss experts look at a Prussian colony in Lithuania |
| 1711 | Hans Weber (Weaver) buys the Bundely tract (530 acres) at Pequea; the Webers and Guths (Goods) settle near the later city of Lancaster |
| 1711 | Bern’s mass deportation down the Rhine (1711 The Rhine exodus from Bern); some exiles settle near **[[Groningen |
| c.1716–17 | Larger parties follow; Kendig brings over many families; Jacob Kreider and Jacob Hostetter settle on the Conestoga |
| 1718 | First Conestoga assessment list: about 90 “Dutch” (German-Swiss) taxpayers from Strasburg to the Susquehanna |
| 1723–24 | George, Jacob and Henry Weber and Hans Guth take up 2–3,000 acres south of the Conestoga: “Weber-Thal”. Poor Palatines arriving at the head of Elk River are told their Conestoga brethren must pay their passage or they will be sold into servitude |
| 1727 | Ship lists begin at Philadelphia (oath of allegiance), including Johann Jacob Stutzman (arr. 1727) |
| 1729 | Lancaster County formed; first naturalization of Lancaster Mennonites |
| 1730s | The Amish arrive in numbers and settle mostly north and west (Northkill in Berks, then Lancaster County): 1738 The Charming Nancy |
Possible inroads to Christopher’s gaps
| Gap in the tree | What the Lancaster and Bern records offer | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Magdalena Overholser, wife of Jacob Weaver; her parents unknown | Martin Oberholtzer was a founder of the 1710 Pequea colony; Oberholtzers came from Oberholz near Wald, Zurich Oberland. Overholser is a Lancaster Mennonite name, not an Amish one | Surname origin only |
| Jacob Weaver (fl. 1788); his parents unknown | The Lancaster Webers (Hans Weber 1711; Weber-Thal 1723) and “Hans Weaver”, 500 acres on the Conestoga (1718 list). Eshleman cites a family record of the Webers’ movements “owned in 1842 by Samuel Weaver”; not shown to be Samuel Weaver (fl. 1811) of Holmes County | Weak: Weaver is very common |
| John Slabaugh (elder, immigrant); origins unknown | Jacob Schlabach of Oberdiessbach was among Anabaptist leaders jailed in Bern in 1659–60; Gratz also lists Schlapbach of Oberdiessbach among Thun-area Anabaptists. The family’s tradition says “from Germany”, so the line may have passed through the Palatinate | Surname and district only |
| Johann Jacob Stutzman (arr. 1727); origins unknown | A Christ Stutzman family was among the 1711 Bernese exiles settled at Sappemeer near Groningen (Eshleman, from Müller) | Surname only; worth checking dates |
| Casper Schrock (immigrant); family says “Lancaster about 1700” | No Schrock in Eshleman’s Lancaster lists of the 1710s. “About 1700” is too early for Lancaster; the claim needs a ship list or a later date | Not supported yet |
| Blank / Plank | Among the 1711 deportees: Anna Blank, wife of the teacher Dan Richen of Frutigen, and Marg. Plank, wife of Christ Neuhauser: Bernese Oberland families. Compare Anna Blank (fl. 1770) and John Melchior Plank (m. 1767) | Surname only |
| Susanna Nisly (1816–1885) | The Lancaster Nissleys (a “Nissleey” appears in Eshleman’s index) descend from an Emmental family | Already noted on her page |
Next steps
- Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd series, vol. 19 (Minutes of the Board of Property): the 1710 Pequea warrant and later grants to Oberholtzer and Weber task/ai
- Rupp, 30,000 Names (1876): ship lists 1727–1776 scanned 2026-11-01 (archive.org
collectionofupwa00ruppuoft). Results, names only (matching names do not prove kinship): Stutzman: Johann Jacob Stutzman, Adventurer, 2 Oct 1727 (already in the tree); Schlabach: Johannes Slabach, Joh. Henry Slabach and Dewald Schlabach, Pink Mary of Dublin, 29 Sep 1733 (the ship of Bishop Jacob Hertzler); Schrock: Nicolaus Schrack, Queen Elizabeth, 16 Sep 1738; Uli Schrack, Nancy and Sucky, 1 Sep 1769; a Jacob Schrack noted as arrived 1717; no Casper; Oberholtzer: Samuel Oberholtz, 30 Sep 1727 and Samuel, 11 Aug 1732; Hans Jacob Oberholtz, 5 Sep 1730; Weber: well over a hundred entries, too common to use without a given name and date. - Müller (1895) on e-rara: the full 1711 Groningen list with the Stutzman entry task/ai
Follow-up (2026-10-31): six full sources scanned for every tree surname: Lancaster sources scanned for family surnames.
Conference and government: the settlement’s descendants formed the Lancaster Mennonite Conference; land came under the Province of Pennsylvania.
Record compiled 31 October 2026.
About this research
Supporting documentation is linked throughout. This project is an exercise in AI-assisted research and development, and I haven’t manually verified every link or conclusion. All transcriptions and translations of Swiss parish records were made with AI, and their accuracy should be treated accordingly.