Ask in Lancaster County or Holmes County who carries the oldest Swiss names, and «Yoder» will be among the first answers. The trail of this family leads back to Steffisburg, the old village at the very gates of Thun, where the Joder family had its home for centuries. The name itself goes back to St. Theodore («St. Joder»), the early missionary saint of the Alps.

Members of the family joined the Anabaptist movement early: a Heini Joder was imprisoned in Basel in 1531 for spreading the Anabaptist faith, and further Joders appear in seventeenth-century records as Anabaptists. Around 1710, Yoders were among the first Swiss settlers in Berks County, Pennsylvania; the Amish Mennonite «Strong Jacob» Yoder followed in 1742 and became the ancestor of countless Amish and Mennonite families.

Reusser and Brennemann: two families, one story

The Joders were not alone. The Reusser family, too, was rooted in Steffisburg – and their story intertwines with that of the Brennemans (Brönnimann) from the hills between the Aare valley and the Emmental. Genealogical research holds that Christina Reusser, probably a daughter of Steffan Reusser of Steffisburg, married Melchior Brenneman – the very man who was imprisoned at Thun in 1659 for his Anabaptist faith.

Melchior was released only on condition that he return to the state church. Instead, the family held to its faith, settled for a time at Buchholterberg, and in 1671/72 went into exile in the Palatinate with seven children – and Christina’s mother. From there, the next generation crossed the ocean: Melchior Brenneman «the Pioneer» (1665–1737) became one of the first Mennonite settlers of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Brenneman, in all its spellings, remains one of the great Mennonite names of North America; and wherever Brennemans research their roots, the Reussers of Steffisburg stand beside them.

Why this matters in Thun

Steffisburg and the surrounding hills lay within the reach of the Bernese governor at Thun Castle – the same castle whose tower prison held Melchior Brenneman and many others under its roof. Whoever traces the Joders, the Reussers, the Brennemans, the Eshlemans or the Eymanns eventually passes through Thun. Our team works in the regional archives on exactly these connections, and we regularly help visiting families take their research a step further.

Are you researching one of these families – or another line from the region? Ask the archives, or join our guided tour «From the Castle Tower to the New World».