Wow! I can trace my family name back over nine generations. I know who my ancestors were, where they lived, and what they did for a living all the way back to the 16th century. I didn't do it all myself. The Joder/Yoder family has contributed massive amounts of genealogical information to the Yodernewsletter.org newsletter for years. I was personally stumped until I requested my grandfather's social security enrollement form. It listed his father and mother and from there it was a piece of cake. All the links from my great-grandfather had already been uncovered and documented. Much of what you see here is taken from the Yoder/Joder family records on the Yodernewsletter web site. Thanks to all of my cousins for the use of the material and all the hard work. A special thanks to Chris Yoder, editor of the newsletter, who kept my interest going while I worked my way through my family history.
The Oley Valley (Reformed) Yoders are connected through European records back to the family of Adam Yoder of Steffisburg. This line was the first to be so identified, due in large part to the efforts of Dr. Don Yoder of Devon, Pa.
Yoders in the United States are of Swiss origin. The name Yoder (Joder in Swiss German) is derived from Saint Theodore (later abbreviated to Saint Joder), one of the Christian missionaries who brought the Christian message into the Swiss Alps in the Middle Ages. August 16 is still celebrated as St. Joder's Day in the Swiss Reformed Church.
Hans Joder and his brother Jost were, in the year 1709, the first to bring the name Joder or Yoder to America. Religious refugees, they left everything behind but a Bible - now the oldest Bible in all of America - which had been bought by Caspar Joder, then reigning Statthalter (magistrate or sheriff) in Steffisburg, and which Hans and Jost had inherited. The Bible had been printed in Mainz in 1530, during Martin Luther's lifetime - one of very few printed before 1540. It is beautifully printed and boasts several illustrations. The text is not divided into verses. It had been long in the possession of the Joder family and was the only object thought valuable enough to be taken along on the journey to America. It later came into the possession of Mary B. Yoder.
The two brothers lived first in the wilderness where no man had ever set foot. Later they bought vast flatlands among the Indians on the Manatawny river in the valley of the Blue Mountains.