submitted to BCGS for Publication in their JOURNAL April 2015

Everyone starts off with their genealogical line, and meshes into other lines. One could be intrigued to think the trail would be easy based on someone else’s work, but too often there are gaps or frank inconsistencies. Any error made, is bound to go viral, then, a new history would be made, one that actually never happened. That said, what is there to do when the data for that ancestor you are digging for, is almost non-existent? This decision becomes a heavy task.

In one instance, in my lineage, we were looking for an Eliza REPPERT, born in Chester Co, Pa who then married John Price WEIDNER. They should have all been Berks County residents, but why was this child born in Chester Co.? (I left that question unanswered.)

This blank, about her parentage was a long and hard struggle. However, when I was younger and used to go “genealogy hunting” with my Mother, I would collect everything I could find on every particular surname of our lineage. Then, I made a 3 ring binder for each surname. I labeled every binder on the outside spine, with that surname, and made handwritten, Family Group pages, alphabetically by first name, for every first name I could find.  If I could tie any spouse or child to a family, there would be no “loose ends”.  But, there always seemed to be “loose ends”, so any case of an unknown, not fitting into any family, I would just make a separate page of the singular data.
Trying to finalize this unknown in 2012, because I needed to make binders of all the genealogy relating to, and to be given to: all immediate family members; I wanted to try to clear up those loose, undocumented lines, via everything that could possibly be found.
This REPPERT line was one of them.

I worked for 10 years in the LDS Genealogical Library in Berks Co., and picked up a huge amount of info there, but this elusive lineage was hanging on to the last. I found a lot of excellent data on: http://repperts.info , and even though I did not find Eliza REPPERTs’ name mentioned, a lot of the REPPERT data was there, thousands of names in a fine genealogical digital website. Very nicely done. I can't say there were no errors in this research but there usually are a few here and there for any researcher when the trail gets cold. But if a person does not show up in a direct way, one has to look in indirect ways, as, this being the only avenue open. Whether it be; marriages, spouses, parents or families, before and after the dates, when that person lived, trying to leave no stone unturned. If one has enough data to make a final speculation, fine, but if a question still stands, that ancestor remains a blank.

In looking over papers my Mother had collected, I came across a YODER newsletter; Issue #9 of April 1987. What sprang to life in the story of: Jacob YODER & Maria KEIM by: Helen V Yoder. (See additional sources at end of this article) Of their 12 children was a son:   (Note for this one page only: my additions in the following are in italics so I won't have to repeat information, and also the parents are underlined)
Daniel Keim YODER was born 1 October 1757 in Berks Co, Pa, probably in Oley Twp. He died on 1 May 1822, possibly in Oley Twp, Berks Co, Pa. (He was the son of: Jacob Kuhlwein YODER & Maria Katharina Boller KEIM who had 12 children). 
Daniel Keim YODER married Esther HOCH (HIGH) on 14 April 1785 in Berks Co, Pa. (Esther Hoch was the daughter of: Rudolph HOCH & Maria WEBER)   Their 9 children were:
1. Samuel Hoch YODER  (b. 8 July1785  died: 7 March 1870 White Deer Twp, Union Co, Pa) married: Esther Dersham REPPERT 6 or 8 Nov 1808: Schwartzwald Rec
2. Maria Hoch YODER (b. 1786 )who married: Daniel ZIEGLER
3. Elizabeth HochYODER (b 1787)who married Johann Dersham REPPERT marriage:13 August 1809, in Oley, Pa by William Pauli
4. Susanna Hoch YODER b. 21 October 1789 d. 20 Feb 1873 married: William Price WEIDNER 23 April 1809 Exeter Twp, Berks Co, Pa
5. Esther Hoch YODER b. 21 October 1789 d. 7 Sept 1873
6. Catharine Hoch YODER b.1792 d.1858 who married Martin Shanely LANDIS 
7. David Hoch YODER  b. 1795 d. 17 Oct 1854 who married: Catharine Price WEIDNER 15 Feb 1818
8. Hannah Hoch YODER  b. 9 Nov 1802 d. 1 Oct 1879 who married Jacob Price WEIDNER.
9. Jacob Hoch YODER b. 2 Feb 1804 d. 26 April 1827 married: Susanna LUDWIG

This article showed there were WEIDNERs, YODERs and REPPERTs all inter-marrying about the time I needed to find my Eliza. This article inspired me to look up all the John REPPERT’s in my 3 ring binder. I found no definite tie ins’ but kept stumbling over a John REPPERT who married a Catharine YODER, which after contemplation, with the names and dates of the children, referring to the Reppert website, I knew this was not the correct John, but more on this John near the end of this article. 

Undaunted, I kept looking through the John’s and found a single paper stating: Berks County Estate Records 1832….Orphans Court Vol II page 36  4 August 1832: It said: William WEIDNER, brother in law of John REPPERT late of Exeter Twp, Berks Co, Pa; John died intestate. There were 4 children. Two of which were minors under 14: Catharine & Hetty. Catharine was born after 1818, as was Hetty, the youngest. The two children older than age 14, were born before 1818, but the older children were not mentioned, except a Josiah in an offhanded way that I almost missed it. He was petitioning for a sponsor. Eliza was not mentioned, but she would have been the oldest.

John REPPERTs wife was named in the Orphans court record as: Elizabeth, with no maiden name. But what was William WEIDNER doing as guardian for these children? It stated that William WEIDNER was the Brother-in-law to John REPPERT. Therefore, since William WEIDNERs’ wife was Susanna YODER, it became obvious, relative to the above information, that she did, in fact; have a sister Elizabeth. This surely made William WEIDNER the brother in law of the deceased John REPPERT, as stated in the BCCH Orphans Court record. Now that we have found John REPPERTs wifes’ maiden name, things started to fit.

Eliza Reppert surely fit also. Even though no direct evidence exists, indirect has made the evidence. So with, John as her Father, and Elizabeth Yoder as her mother. Eliza (Elizabeth) now had her long overdue parentage, unveiled. Eliza was named after her mother the day the child was born: 16 January 1814. She married: John Price Weidner and had 10 children.

William WEIDNER was the eldest son of Jacob WEIDNER the eldest son and grand son of Rev. Lazarus WEIDNER. Lazarus had inherited the Adam WEIDNER homestead as he was the eldest son of Johann Adam WEIDNER and his SECOND wife Catharine A.; which I suspect the A stands for her maiden name, which could be the surname “Adam”. 

Johann Adam WEIDNER was known in many genealogies as the “Immigrant Father”, even though all of his children, by his first wife were born in Germany. His first wife: Maria Catharina _______ (speculating her maiden name was Dietrich), died in Germany. Her last child being Tacitus (just one of the spellings).  All of these children immigrated, most with the parents, but also a few later immigrated, possibly with uncles. Of his second wife: Catharine A., whom Lazarus was the son of, was more than likely, born in Germany. David, their second son may have been born @ 1726 possibly in the Colonies. In addition they BOTH could have been born anywhere between here and there due to the amount of time it took in those days to move. 

John fit with the son of James Jacob REPPERT who married a Christina. I found through more digging, that Christina was a DERSHEM (spelled various ways). Her father was John Jacob DERSHEM; b 21 Feb 1732/1733. His wife was Elisabetha _____born 1731; all showing up in Northampton, Lehigh Co, Pa.

Going Backward to the immigrant Stephen REPPERT we have:
John Dersham REPPERT b. 23 April 1780/ bap. 14 May 1780 d. 1832 died intestate; married: Elizabeth Hoch YODER. They had 4 children
His parents were: 
James Jacob Fischer REPPERT  (Fifth son of Stephan) He was: b. 1746 bp. 28 Sept 1746 d, 28 Sept 1821. He married: Christina DERSHAM and they had 6 children
James Jacobs parents were: 
Stephan REPPERT who was married twice. He was b. 24 Dec 1703 in Bonfeld, Germany, d. 3 Nov 1785 in E. District Twp, Berks co, Pa. His second wife was: Catharine Fischer and they were married 17 May 1735. They had 9 children.
Going forward from a different son of Stephen REPPERT and wife #2; their second son was:
John Fischer REPPERT: b. 1738 d. 3 (May or Nov) 1763 died intestate Berks Co. married: Margaret (Tangel) DUNKEL. They had 4 children.
Their eldest son was:
John Dunkel REPPERT: b. 1761 d. 12 March 1810 (a will from Union Twp). married: Catharine (Eister or Oyster) YODER on 12 April 1785. They had 4 children.
Their only son was:
John Yoder REPPERT b. 1785 or 1786 d.? married an Elizabeth __________? They had 4 children: Wilhelm b. 12 April 1813; Ester b. 21 March 1822; Catharine b. 18 Sept 1819 and Rebeka b. 9 Aug 1832. 
It was both this father and son getting mixed up with the other John (Dersham) REPPERT that was confusing the issue. But I do not have much on this John Yoder REPPERT as they seem to be more reclusive than what I found on my direct line.

However, another question still lingers: “Who were the parents of Esther REPPERT, who married Samuel YODER, the brother to Susanna and Elizabeth”?? She does NOT show up in any REPPERT data I can find. My conclusion is, that Esther REPPERT, is for intents as purposes, John REPPERTS sister, as, they all seemed to be living and interacting in the same pea pod, as their marriage dates imply. For Catholic persons, such as the REPPERTS, to have their young adults marry into Protestant, or, Mennonite, or, another faith, such as the YODERs and the WEIDNERs, was enough to be disowned, that is, if only for a little while. So, in the end, I feel, the Esther (born 1789) who married Samuel YODER, is John Dersham REPPERTs (born 1780), younger sister. This would have made her 18 or 19 years old at her marriage.
Samuel YODER with wife Esther, along with the children, moved to Union County, White Deer Twp, Pa sometime prior to the 1820 Census. Which brings us to the question: “Why move to that place”? John & Esther REPPERTs mother was Christina DERSHEM. She had extended family that moved to White Deer Twp in Union Co, Pa. A town close White Deer Twp, is: Lewisburg, Pa.

The REPPERTS came from Bonfeld, Kreichgau, Germany. The anglicized name of REPPERT means ROBERT. Stephan REPPERT, the family Father, immigrated on the Ship Molly 30 September 1727 He was b. 24 Dec 1703, and settled in Bally, Pa. and was of the Catholic faith.

An interesting item appeared in Wed, March 20, 2013 Reading Eagle “Country” supplement: “Spotlight on Berks-Mont” (Boyertown area) by Charles J. Adams III which, quoting from the article: “Bally is the Irish word for “town” however, it was first called “Goshenhoppen”, later re-named after an early religious leader in the area who came from Antwerp, Belgum, to establish a church and school for the Catholic community in western Montgomery and eastern Berks Counties. Rev. Augustine Bally arrived in 1837, after Father Theodore Schneider, a Jesuit priest who in 1741 had established a mission church that evolved into the Church of the Blessed Sacrament. This was the first Catholic Church in Berks County”.

Additional sources: 
1). Historical Review of Berks Co, Vol XLIX Number 3 Summer 1984 by the Berks Co Historical Society  Jacob YODER & Maria KEIM
2).  The Origins of the Oley Valley YODERS by: Dr. Don YODER, Professor at the University of Pa. published in the YODER Newsletter, Issue #5, April 1985. On the web at: www.yodernewsletter.org/YNL/vol05.html 
3). Berks County Genealogical Society, on the “Berks Cousins” Computer Program; the extended lineage of Daniel YODER and Esther HOCH/HIGH.
4).  Berks County Genealogical Society Journal volume 33 number 4 summer 2013: “Adam Weidner of Geisselhardt, Germany 1725 immigrant of Lobachsville, Pennsylvania” contributed by Joan L. Weidner-Adams