Religion in Family History

Tonight I will share a few of my best Amish genealogy resources. These are the ones that I use the most when I am trying to trace Amish ancestry.

The first and oldest is Descendants of Jacob Hochstetler by Harvey Hostetler. This genealogy was compiled in the early 1900’s and was published in 1911.

The book has information on about 9,000 families that are descendants of Jacob Hochstetler. There is also an appendix that covers other families that were related to or intermarried with the Hochstetler family. These have been helpful as I have researched the German Brethren branches of my family.

The book is also know as DJH and is referenced in many other Amish genealogy resources.

I bought my copy of the book while attending a Yoder family reunion in Arthur, Illinois. It has been worth every penny of the $26 I paid for it at the time.

Descendants of Barbara Hochstedler and Christian Stutzman was also compiled by Harvey Hostetler.

After the release of DJH, Harvery found that Barbara Stutzman was the daughter of Jacob Hochstedler. He then compiled a genealogy of her descendants.

With more than 15,000 entries, it is even larger than DJH, but was published in 1938, so contains another generation of descendants.

This book is referred to as DBH in other Amish genealogies and also refers back to families in the DJH book by number.

I bought this one at the same time as DJH and paid $32 for it.

The best resource for Amish genealogy that I have is Amish and Amish Mennonite Genealogies by Hugh F. Gingerich and Rachel W. Kreider.

Originally published in 1986, I purchased my copy in 1992 at the Gospel Bookstore in Berlin, Ohio. I paid $60 for the book, but it has been worth the cost. I have used it to help many others learn about their Amish or Mennonite ancestors.

In the numbering system of this book my grandfather would be YR26116955.

Another great source is The Amish in America: Settlements That Failed 1840-1960 by David Luthy.

I purchased my copy for $19 at the Gordonville Book Store while visiting Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1991. The book was published in 1986 and is full of genealogical information on the families that were part of settlements that failed.

This book has really helped me learn more about the different places some of my Amish ancestors lived. One of my Amish ancestors, John A. Miller, lived in at least six states.

I have also used information from this book in posts about Amish in California, Amish in Oregon and Amish in Oklahoma. Someday I will get around to writing about Amish in some of the other states.

Do you have Amish ancestry?

Steven

To read more entries in my Religion in Family History series click on the following link: Religion in Family History