Martin, Yoder and Zimmerman: All one big family

Before DNA written records were the only resource to find information about your ancestors.  You could only research back so far as the records took you, and nothing more.  In the last few years, genetic scientists have unlocked the written codes within our bodies that link us to or prehistoric ancestors.  The results open up a whole new side to genealogical research, and are forming a seamless connection with the origins of all humans in East Africa. 
The amazing interconnections between families could not have even been speculated before DNA testing reached a "critical mass"-- when enough people have been tested to set up databases of family group.  One group of Swiss surnames collects around the Haplogroup I2b1.  Within a very tight subgroup of I2b1 the Mennonite Martin, Yoder and Zimmerman families all find a common origin around the time surnames were first adopted in Switzerland about the year 1200.  All three families are Bernese.  Martins are most concentrated in the eastern portion of Canton Bern in the towns of Burgdorf, Sumiswald and Eriswil in the valley of the Emme River (Emmenthal), and the town of Rueggisberg south of the city of Bern and west of Thun. 
Zimmermans are heavily concentrated in the town of Steffisburg, near Thun, and in Wattenwil, west of Thun.  Yoders are also heavily concentrated in Steffisburg, but also are found in the Emmenthal near Schangnau where a hill called "Joderheubel" bears their name, and in the vincinity of Huttwil, near Eriswil.
DNA has proven that these families share a common paternal ancestor within about 800 years ago, who lived either in the Emmenthal or within the Aar River Valley to the west. 
Legend holds that all the surviving men of the 1434 plague in Sumiswald could fit around the wooden table in the Baren Inn.  Obviously, our ancestors were among the survivers of such a horrific plague, and as the population grew again and spread through northern foothills of the Bernese Alps they settled in the regions attested by our written records today.
But where did these tribes come from before they farmed and herded in the Emmenthal?  That question requires a detailed assessment of the socio-political environment in medieval Switzerland prior to the development of the Swiss cantons, in combination with the clues revealed in DNA.  Once Haplogroup I2b1 becomes further divided into its specific subclades, the answers will become more specific.  For now, the origins of the surname "Yoder" may point to the origins of the Martin/Zimmerman/Yoder clan.  About a thousand years ago, Germans from the deep valleys of the Bernese oberland moved south, up over the mountain passes of the Bernese Alps to settle in the remote valleys of the Rhone River in the modern-day French speaking Swiss canton of Valais.  As these Germans (today called Walsers) became Christian, they assumed the cult of Saint Theodorus (Saint Yoder), the fourth century Italian missionary who moved into the Alps, claiming discovery of the martyrdom site of the Theban legion at Agaunum (now St. Maurice) and setting up an abbey at Octodurum (now Martigny), both along the upper Rhone River.  Undoubtedly many assumed the name Yoder, and our clan in among those who survived and returned to the Bernese Oberland. 

Haplogroups

Human y-chromosome DNA has been categorized into 20 haplogroups by genetic scientists. Each person living on the earth today so far tested, belongs to one of these 20 haplogroups. Those tested with prominent Swiss surnames, fall into six of the 20 haplogroups. By tracing the origins of the haplogroup and sub-group, one can reveal the migration pattern of one's ancestors. Some of the results are quite surprising.

Below is a list of prominent Mennonite family names and the haplogroup each name represents (Some people with the same surname have different genetic origins and may not share the same haplogroup).

Haplogroup E1b1b1a2 - Gingerich, Groff, Witmer
Haplogoup G2a3b1 - Beiler, Howery, Kurtz,
Haplogroup I1 - Bachman, Bowman, Hess, Landis, Musser, Snyder, Troyer
Haplogroup I2b1 - Huber, Lehman, Martin, Yoder, Zimmerman
Haplogroup J2 - Esch, Nisley, Schrock
Haplogroup L2b - Good
Haplogroup R1b1b2 - Ammon, Bear, Binkley, Bricker, Brubaker, Buckwalter, Burkholder, Ebersole, Gerber, Habecker, Herr, Hildebrand, Hochstetler, Houser, Kauffman, Kolb, Kraybill, Lapp, Nissley, Lehman, Lichty, Longenecker, Miller, Mumma, Neff, Sauder, Shearer, Shirk, Stauffer, Strickler, Weber, Wenger

Unveiling the Deep Ancestry of Swiss Anabptist Forebears

My recent article in the July 2010 issue of Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage extends genealogy and famly history research to a whole new level, that of one's deep ancestry.  Imagine uncovering which of your ancestors have Greco-Roman, central Asian or Mid-Eastern ancestry.  Imagine discovering that one's ancestry shares a DNA signature with the ancient Hebrews or ancient Egyptians.  Imagine finding a common ancestor among the indigenous tribes of India, the Chaldeans of the Tigris and Euphrates, or the ancient peoples of East Africa.  Today family historians, through the interpretation of genealogically-based DNA testing, can not only speculate origins prior to written records but prove family connections back thousands of years.