? – ?
Christopher’s 4th great-grandfather · ancestor no. 76 · generation 7
Evidence: identity compiled lead
Family
- Children in this vault: John Slabaugh (1806–1861)
Life and evidence
Came ‘from Germany’ at about 18 with his mother (née Yoder) and sister; settled in Somerset County, Pa. (1912 genealogy).
Where they lived
- ? — Somerset County
Sources
The Diary (Old Order Amish monthly), 1977, Nissley family article no. 156
“Susanna Nissley … of Kalona, Iowa, married to John Slabaugh, born in 1806 in Germany, who was the only son of John Slabaugh who came from Germany to Somerset County, Pennsylvania, at twenty-three years of age with his mother, who was a Yoder, and a sister.” Children: Fannie (m. John Strahle, killed 1870 while working in a well), Catherine (m. Christian Brenneman), Barbara (m. Leonard Kuhns), Sarah (m. Samuel Fisher), John (m. Elizabeth Schrock), Susanna (m. Jerry Troyer).
The sentence is ambiguous: it may mean the elder John came at 23 with his widowed mother (a Yoder) and sister, bringing his young son, or that the younger John (b. 1806) came at 23 (about 1829). Either way the family was German, not Swiss, and the elder John’s mother was née Yoder.
Did he emigrate?
The 1912 and Byler accounts suggest his widow Catherine Yoder came to Pennsylvania with their son John (b. 1806) and a daughter, so the elder John probably died in Germany. The vault title “(elder, immigrant)” may be wrong.
Narratives and research
- Stories: Lake Thun and the Oberland Anabaptists - the world that made the Amish
- History: Lancaster’s Swiss Mennonites, 1710s - backdrop and inroads
- Sources: Descendants of Jacob Hochstetler (1912)
Research log
- 2026-10-31: Hochstetler 1912 and Stutzman 1938 searched: only the 1912 no. 3125 note (son John came ‘from Germany’ with mother née Yoder); the elder John’s parents not found. Next: Byler 1993 (Waldeck/Hesse) for the European family
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.