This will be of interest to you if you are related to Renee via her mother, Joann (Schantz) Love. I have been spending a lot of time with our Anabaptist (Amish and Mennonite) ancestors within the last couple of years. In addition to learning about the history of the Anabaptists, I have found some very interesting connections that go back in our family over hundreds of years. One of my favorite puzzles is to unravel the multiple relationships from whom we descend.
If you look at the closest generations of my Anabaptist ancestors, you see surnames Schantz, Wenger, Mast, Rich, and Widmer. (Link to the 5 generations). You don’t see the Graber surname until my 3rd great-grandmother. Catherine Graber (1819-1880) who was married to Daniel Widmer (1799-1862).
Once I started investigating the Graber surname in the family tree, the number of direct ancestors with that surname blossomed with many paths to follow. The earliest direct Graber ancestor that I have been able to identify with confidence is Peter Graber who was born about 1681 in Canton Bern, Switzerland and died about 1727 in the Alsace region of France. Peter, my 7th great-grandfather, was part of the Swiss Anabaptist generation who had been expelled from Switzerland around 1790 and settled in France. Many of the descendants of Peter and his wife Elisabeth Herzig (1685-1728) eventually emigrated from France to North America. He also had descendants that went through Ukraine and Russia before arriving in North America. Today there are Graber descendants all over the world.
Both of my maternal grandparents, Wilbur Schantz and Marie (Wenger) Schantz, are descended from Peter and Elisabeth (Herzig) Graber. There is quite a bit of complexity and generations and the relationships crisscross so I have broken it down by specific ancestral lines with a summary chart at the end that pulls it all together. Those of our ancestors who were born with the Graber surname are shown highlighted in blue.
First: Descendance from Peter Graber through his son Hans Graber to Marie Wenger
My grandmother, Marie Wenger, is a direct descendant of Peter Graber from more than one of his children. First, Peter’s son, Hans Graber (1707-1779), is a direct ancestor of our closest ancestor with the Graber surname, Catherine Graber (1819-1880).
Catherine Graber (1819-1880) married Daniel Widmer (1799-1862). Daniel’s mother was ALSO named Catherine Graber (1763-1837). Catherine Graber (1819-1880) and Daniel Widmer (1799-1862) were first cousins.
Second: Descendance from Peter Graber through his son Daniel Graber to Marie Wenger
In addition to Marie’s connection to Peter Graber via his son Hans, Marie is also descended from another son, Daniel Graber (abt 1715-1778) and his wife Catherine Eicher (abt 1717-1778). Their direct descendants also married into the Widmer family.
Third: Descendance from Peter Graber through his son Hans Graber to Wilbur Schantz
My maternal grandfather, Wilbur Schantz, is a direct descendant of Peter Graber through his son, Hans Graber (1707-1779) and his wife Catherine Fahrni. Their daughter, Barbara Graber (1731-1779), married Daniel Riche (1731-1781).
4. Pulling it all together
Here are the multiple ways I directly descend from Peter Graber (abt 1681-abt 1727) and his wife, Elisabeth Herzig (1685-1728).
In all cases, up until the beginning of the twentieth century, the spellings of names showed a lot of variety. In addition to the surname spellings often changing down the generations, our ancestors’ names were recorded based on the country in which they occurred. For example, Peter had official records in France that named him as Pierre and his son Hans as Jean even though within their Anabaptist community they primarily spoke Swiss-German and were known as Peter and Hans.
Please note – the designation of the 2nd and 3rd great-grandparents area of the chart gets a little fuzzy since Catherine Widmer (1854-1928) and Peter Widmer (1851-1906), were first cousins, 1ce removed. Catherine’s grandfather was the older brother of Peter’s father. Family trees are sometimes a little messy.
This information is my best understanding as of August, 2024. Please let me know if you want information about specifics and sources.