Holder DNA Genealogy Project - Group B

Descendants of John Holder and Barbara Volck of Pennsylvania

John Holder was the son of Reu or Rem Holder and Sybilla Graeff, and was born in London in 1694. Sybilla immigrated to America with her son John in either 1707 or 1710 (data from two sources conflict) and settled in a German-speaking community near Newburgh, New York. John married Barbara Volck, whose family came from near Worms, Germany, and moved with her to Pennsylvania. In 1748 John and Barbara joined the Moravian church at Bethlehem PA. For convenience, this family is often referred to by Holder researchers as the Moravian or Moravian-associated Holders, but it should be noted that not all of their children became Moravians. There is also evidence that the children were bilingual, and that some of them were primarily English-speaking as adults.

At least four of John and Barbara's sons have descendants with the Holder surname: John b. 1725, whose descendants moved to New Brunswick at the time of the American Revolution, and Joseph b. 1727, George b. 1729 and Charles b. 1744, all of whom moved to North Carolina. Another son, Jacob b. 1741, may have had children but we have no information on them. We hope that DNA analysis will shed some light on John's Holder ancestry.

 

 
 
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
 9
10 
11
12
13
14
15
 16
17
 18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25

ID#

Group

DYS
393

DYS
390

DYS
19

DYS
391

 DYS
385a		 DYS
385b

DYS
426

DYS
388

 DYS
439

DYS
389-1

DYS
392

DYS
389-2

 DYS
458		 DYS
459a		 DYS
459b

DYS
455

DYS
454

DYS
447

DYS
437

DYS
448

 DYS
449		 DYS
464a		 DYS
464b		 DYS
464c

DYS
464d

002

B1

13

23

15

10

12

16

11

15

13

13

11

29

19

8

9

11

11

26

14

18

29

11

14

14

15

016

B2

13

22

15

10

12

16

11

15

13

13

11

29

19

8

9

11

11

26

14

18

29

11

14

14

15

026

B3

13

23

15

10

12

16

11

15

14

13

11

29

19

8

9

11

11

26

14

18

29

11

14

14

15

039

B1

13

23

15

10

12

16

11

15

13

13

11

29

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

042

B1

13

23

15

10

12

16

11

15

13

13

11

29

19

8

9

11

11

26

14

18

29

11

14

14

15

 

 

Markers 26 through 37 have been tested on sample 042.

 
 
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37

ID#

Group

DYS
460

GATA
H4

YCA
IIa

YCA
IIb

 DYS
456

DYS
607

 DYS
576		 DYS
570		 CDY
  a		 CDY
  b

DYS
442

DYS
438

042

B1

9

9

21

21

14

10

17

18

35

35

12

10

 

 

We now have confirmation that this family belongs to haplogroup I1b, which has generally been associated with the Balkans and the Mediterranean. However, it was an imperfect match for the typical patterns in these areas. It is a much better fit for what has been described as "Western I1b", found as a minority type throughout the countries bordering the Baltic and North Sea. For further discussion of this haplogroup, please see this post to the GENEALOGY-DNA list

Sample #002: John HOLDER/HOLTER 1694-1784 > Joseph HOLDER > George > John > John > Jacob > Claude
London, England to Dutchess County NY (1710), Philadelphia/Bucks Counties PA, Berks/Lehigh Counties PA, Surry/Stokes Counties NC, Lawrence County IN, Woodford County IL, Gage County NE, Rawlins County KS, Harlan and Adams Counties NE, Denver County CO

Sample #016: Henry Holder (1803-1872) PA>IN, married Sarah Pinkley [error corrected 9/29/07] > Joseph Holder (1839-1922, Indiana)
Presumably Henry is also a descendant of John Holder and Barbara Volck of Pennsylvania, but we don't know yet from which son. One possibility is that he is the son of Johann David Holder, born in North Carolina in 1770, son of George Holder (b. 1727, s/o John and Barbara) and Elisabeth Biehler. Johann David is last seen in NC as a teenage apprentice to his uncle Charles Holder, a saddlemaker. Did he return to Pennsylvania and settle there?

Sample #026 USA: John Holder 1694-1784, m. Barbara Volck (see sample 002) > George Holder and Elisabeth Biehler > George Ludwig Holder and Elizabeth Morris > Joseph Holder and Susannah Leinbach (moved from Stokes Co. NC to Bartholomew Co. IN)> Lewis Cornelius Holder and Louisa Ann Gilbert > Alexander Elmer Holder and Eudora Edna Lockert
This sample differs from 002 and 016 at DYS439.

Sample #039 John Holder 1694-1784, m. Barbara Volck (PA; see sample 002) > George Holder and Elisabeth Biehler (NC)> Heinrich Holder and Maria Hein > Benjamin Stanford Holder and Emily George > James Henry Holder and Susanna Stewart.
Note that although this is from the branch of George Holder, it matches sample 002 (Joseph) over the markers tested. Therefore this would appear to be the original pattern of the family, and the changes in samples 016 and 026 represent more recent changes.

Sample #042 USA: John Holder 1694-1784, m. Barbara Volck (PA; see sample 002) > Charles Holder (1744-1808, PA to NC) > John Holder (1773-1824) > John Timothy Holder (1812-1870) > Wesley W. Holder (1852-1930, Forsyth Co. NC)

We would like very much to check descendants of John Holder b. 1725, who has living descendants in Canada with the surname Holder. Additional descendants of Joseph and George will also be welcome, of course. Charles has relatively few male line descendants, so the representative so far is probably adequate for our analysis. If you're interested in participating, please contact Elizabeth Harris

More information on this family

 

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