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Dreisbach/Dresbach

  • 60 members

About us

This project is eagerly seeking members. As of March, 2022, the project has 57 active members including one from Brazil and one from Wittgenstein, Germany - the area where most Dreisbachs originated.

We have established that 18 members of the project are descended from Abraham of Balde (who lived in Wittgenstein, Germany from 1535 until after 1575). The MRCA of most is found about 9 generations ago in the person of Simon Dreisbach Sr, a 1743 immigrant to Northampton County, PA.

In addition to the Simon Sr line, the project currently has only one member from another Dreisbach immigrant line - that of Martin Dresbach (1717-1799) and, no members from that of Henry Dreisbach (1735-1808) of Rockhill Twp. in Bucks County, PA. If you know of any male descendants please ask them to consider joining our DNA Project.

The Dreisbach Surname Project has two members with the last name of Baughman! One of these has a perfect match of his Y-DNA with a member of the Dreisbach Surname Project - at the 37 marker level. We are attempting to piece together the story of this event using genealogical records. The current theory is that a Baughman woman had a baby boy in 1758 or 1759, fathered by either George or John Dreisbach, both sons of Simon Dreisbach Sr. The boy was raised by a Baughman family who had a son of their own of about the same age. The two boys were called "twins" and, until the advent of DNA testing, descendants of the adopted baby boy had no idea that their Y-DNA was, in fact, actually Dreisbach DNA.

The project also has a member with the last name of Snyder. It would appear that the event that brought Dreisbach Y-DNA into the Snyder family took place in Germany, possibly in Dillensburg, in the 1600's or early to mid 1700's.

We have also established that 1 member of the Project carries the last name of Dreisbach but is not related, at all, to the descendants of Simon Dreisbach Sr. To date, we have not found a complete match for this person, although there are two people who have an 80% probability of being related to this person at the 12th generation level, each with a different surname.

This section will be updated as more results come in.

Three members of our Dreisbach/Dresbach surname project (one Baughman and two Dreisbachs from the Simon line with Haplogroup I-M223) are currently participating in the FTDNA I-M223 Y-Haplogroup Project - ISOGG Y-DNA Haplogroup I2a2a (was I2b1).  If you are interested in learning more about our ancestors before they took the name of Dreisbach, this is the project you will want to participate in.  The URL to join the project is:  https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/m223-y-clan/about  and their results are under DNA Results - on page 3 of the Colorized Chart (Group 1.2.1.2.1.1.0.2- M223>...>L701>P78 or search for Dreisbach on page 3).  According to ISOGG's web site, the L701>P78 indicates a Haplogroup of I2a2a1b1a.

Also, there is interesting information, with maps, famous people sharing I2a2, etc., on europedia.com.  This is the description found at:  http://www.eupedia.com/europe/Haplogroup_I2_Y-DNA.shtml#I2a2a
  • I2a2a2 (L701+) has a very wide distribution. It is found in all Central Europe from Germany and the former Austrian Empire to Poland, Romania and Ukraine, but also in lower frequencies in Greece, Italy, France, Spain, England, Ireland, and Armenia. It could have been disseminated in part by the Goths. It is conspicuously absent from Scandinavia and Scotland. L701+ matches the I2 Continental 3 clade at Family Tree DNA.

A few in the group have Haplogroup I-M253 and may want to consider joining the FTDNA I1 project:  https://www.familytreedna.com/my/group-join.aspx?group=I1

Those of you with Haplogroup R-M269 would probably initially select the R-R1b ALL Subclades Project:  https://www.familytreedna.com/my/group-join.aspx?group=R1b