The descendants of Mattheis Riehell (AKA Riegell) of Rheinland-Pfalz had long been thought to comprise the majority of men with the surname Riegel or variants in the U.S., although there are other families with these surnames that had not been connected to him. The results of DNA testing to date have apparently confirmed what researchers had suspected based on traditional research in some cases, but have also confounded traditional research in others. Here is a summary of the findings so far:

Descendants of Simon Riegel of Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania

Traditional research have found no connection between the family of Mattheis Riegell of Rheinland-Pfalz and Simon Riegel of Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania. The results for the two participant descended from Simon Riegel closely match each other, do not match those of any other participant at all. For example, the 37-marker analysis for one of the descendants of Simon Riegel and one of the participants apparently descended from Mattheis Riegell shows a "Genetic Distance" of 32. Any genetic distance greater than 6 shows that the two participants are not related and the odds greatly favor that they have not shared a common male ancestor within thousands of years. They are also in different Haplogroups on the Phylogenetic tree of Homo Sapiens. The participants apparently descended from Mattheis have a predicted haplogroup of R1b1b2 while the participant from the Simon line has a confirmed haplogroup of I2a. For help understanding haplogroups, see Family Tree DNA's article Understanding Haplogroups.

Descendants of Johann Adam Riegel of York Co., Pennsylvania

Johann Adam Riegel (1696-1764) had been believed to be the son of Johann Jacob Riegel of Becherbach, Rheinland-Pfalz, a grandson of Mattheis Riegell. However, later work as found that the Johann Adam who was Johann Jacob's son was still in present-day Germany, single, at at 50, and could not have been the Johann Adam in York Co. The DNA results would seem to verify that finding; there is no match between the result for the descendant of Johann Adam of York Co. and any of the participants supposedly descended from Mattheis.

Descendants of Johann Georg Reigell of Nockamixon Twp., Buck Co., Pennsylvania.

Two participants had been believed to have descended from different sons of Johann Georg (1718 - 1798). However, the test results show they do not have a common ancestor. Testing of additional descendants will be required to identify which, if either, of these lines actually descends from him.

Supposed Descendants of Mattheiss Riehell (AKA Riegell) of Rheinland-Pfalz

The most surprising result to date is that several of the test results for participants expected to be descended from Mattheis do not show any connection. There are four participants whose pedigrees created by traditional research indicate they descend from Mattheis' grandson Johannes Cornelius Riegel (1674-1750), by the following lines:

• Jörg Wilhelm Riegel, George Riegel, Johann Peter Riegel, Peter Riegel
• Johannes Riegel Sr., Johannes Riegel, Johan Georg Riegel, John Riegle 
• Jörg Wilhelm Riegel, Johannes Daniel Riegel, Michael, Riegel, John Riegel
• Johannes Riegel Sr., Simon Riegel, Johann Jacob Riegel, Jacob Riegel  
• Johan Daniel Riegel, Andreas Riegel, John Daniel Riegel, John Daniel Riegel
  

A participant descended from Jacob K. Riegel (1816-1857) of Northumberland Co., Pennsylvania, had been expected to be descended from the Mattheis line even though no paper connection had been established.

The test results show that only the first three listed above have shared common ancestry. The results show no connection between any of the other participants; the closest pair show a 1.85% chance of a common ancestor within 12 generations, and a 8.22% chance within 20 generations.

Please click the "Y-DNA Results" link above to see these results in detail. The results are grouped into the four sections above, and those not yet grouped.