Versions of the name Sterner (such as Stirner or Störner) appear in European church records as early as the 1500s.  In the 1700s and early 1800s, several Sterner families and individuals emigrated from southern Germany or parts unknown and settled in America, mostly in Pennsylvania.  Today, the name Sterner and variations such as Starner are found across the country.  Also, the Sterner name has persisted in Germany and other areas of Europe, such as Sweden.

     Some of the better-characterized American Sterner groups include those descended from:  1) Caspar Sterner, who lived in the vicinity of Hassloch, Germany, and immigrated in 1734, settling in what is now eastern Berks County, Pa.; 2) George Sterner, who settled in the area of upper Bucks County/southern Northampton County, Pa., in the 1750s or earlier; 3) Jacob Sterner and his son Michael, who lived since the 1760s in Hamilton Township in what is now Monroe County, Pa.; and 4) Bernard Sterner, who lived in southern York County, Pa.

     A major question to be explored via Y-DNA is:  Did all or most of the early American immigrant Sterner families have a common ancestor in Europe, or did the name arise independently multiple times?  Also, as more genetic data are obtained, it is hoped that genealogy researchers eventually will be able to break through "brick walls" in their family trees by finding evidence of descendancy in certain lines, even when historical records are lacking.

Update I, December 2016:

    Success!  The project has gained many new members in the last year and a half, and we now have Y-DNA data from representatives of all of the major Sterner and Starner lines of Pennsylvania.  To answer the above question:  Most, but not all, Pa. Sterner lines are related.  Interestingly, most are of a unique haplotype within the J1 haplogroup (a.k.a. J-M267) and have genealogies that trace back to several locations in southern Germany in the 1700s.  These J1 lines likely originate with the same unknown Sterner ancestor, sometime in the centuries before then.  However, descendants of one York County line (Bernard Sterner and son Nicholas) are of the J2 haplogroup (a.k.a. J-M172) instead.  Since the J1 and J2 haplogroups are separated by many thousands of years, the two Sterner groups' paternal lines are unrelated in the genealogical time frame, meaning that the surname originated/developed independently at least twice.

     Below are summaries of the various lines and major findings:

J1 (J-M267):

1)  Caspar Sterner (Hassloch) group.  This group includes descendants of Caspar Sterner, who immigrated in 1734.  Since Caspar's is the only known Sterner family in 1700s Hassloch records, it's unclear if he was originally from that location or might have migrated there before he married in 1719.  He had 6 sons who are known to have raised families in Pennsylvania, and the paternal lines of 4 of those sons (Nicholas, Jacob, Valentine, and Casper Jr.) are represented in the project so far.

     Recent discoveries arising from the test results are that Michael Sterner (1754-1815) of Somerset County was Jacob's son, and John Sterner/Stiner of Columbia County was the son of Valentine's son Henry.  These relationships were proven due to the fact that a particular genetic hallmark of Caspar descendants has been identified, involving 5 different STR markers:  DYS389i/ii=13/32 (these markers are linked), DYS446=13, DYS717=19, and DYS522=12.

2)  Beerfelden/likely Beerfelden group.  A recent, huge breakthrough has been the revelation that descendants of multiple different Sterner immigrants of the 1700s were actually part of the same close family in Beerfelden, Germany.  Specifically, Jacob Sterner (who immigrated in 1754 and settled in the 1760s in Hamilton Twp. in what is now Monroe County) and Christoph/Christoffel Sterner (who immigrated in 1771 and lived in the Macungie area of the Lehigh Valley) were brothers, both sons of Christian Störner Jr. of Beerfelden (unlike Hassloch, Beerfelden has records of numerous Sterners (actually Störners) from the 1600s to the 1800s).  The closely-matching Y-DNA results are consistent with the extensive paper trails for these families in Germany and America.

     Furthermore, it is hypothesized that George Sterner of Lower Saucon Twp., Northampton County, was Christian's brother George (born 1711), an uncle of Jacob and Christoffel.  Besides the Y-DNA matches among descendants of George, Jacob, and Christoffel, possible further supporting evidence is that Jacob actually sponsored the baptism of one of George's children in 1760.

     In addition, Christoffel may have given rise to Maryland Sterner lines through his known sons Christian and/or Adam.  A Christian and Adam Sterner lived in the vicinity of Westminster, Maryland, in the 1790s and later, and two descendants of Sterners with uncharacterized Maryland origins in the early 1800s have Y-DNA results that very closely match the Christoffel genetic profile (from a descendant of his son William, who settled in Adams County, Pa.).

     Finally, an additional Y-DNA result was obtained from someone who traces back to a Shelly family of 1800s Monroe County, and it matches very closely with the Beerfelden Sterner results.  Despite the surname difference, the genetic similarity and geography lead to the hypothesis that this Shelly line might descend from one of the Beerfelden Sterners, such as Jacob.

3)  Berwangen group.  Like Beerfelden, Berwangen has records of various Störners from about 1700 to the late 1800s.  Martin Sterner (1784-1859) immigrated from there in 1817.  He lived in Berks County and then Clarion County, and perhaps Indiana County at the end of his life (he is buried there, and his son Jacob lived there).  A descendant of Martin's son Henry Sterner (1812-1894) of Clarion County has been tested, and his Y-DNA profile matches the overall Sterner J1 haplotype but is somewhat divergent from both the Caspar and Beerfelden groups.  Therefore, among the J1 Sterners, the Berwangen group seems to be genetically as well as geographically distinct.

J2 (J-M172):

Bernard Sterner group.  Bernard Sterner lived in southern York County in the 1700s and early 1800s, and he reportedly had at least 3 sons:  John, George, and Nicholas.  All appear in records of the Conewago Chapel, and Bernard's 1808 burial is recorded there.  Recently, descendants of two sons of Nicholas (1776-1851) had their Y-DNA tested.  Interestingly, both had matching 12-marker STR results, and their haplogroup was found to be J2 by SNP testing, indicating that these Sterners are unrelated to the J1 Sterners/Starners above and that the surname apparently arose independently in the two groups.  Possible American relatives and European origins of Bernard Sterner are being further investigated.

Update II, October 2019:

A)  Big Y testing has revealed how the Hassloch, Beerfelden, & Berwangen Sterner groups relate to one another.

     Y chromosome sequencing (Big Y DNA tests) of several project members was performed to explore deep Sterner ancestry, i.e., how closely related are the three known J1-haplogroup, southern-German Sterner groups, and which one branched off from the others first?

    Identification of various unique SNP mutations in one Hassloch, one Berwangen, and two Beerfelden descendants shows that, as suggested by the STR results, the J1 Sterner group is relatively unique and does not share a paternal ancestor with anyone else in FTDNA's Y-DNA database within many hundreds of years.  Furthermore, the sharing of two specific novel SNP's (A17373 & A17374) between Berwangen and Beerfelden descendants proves that these two groups are more closely related to each other than to Hassloch Sterners.  In other words, hundreds of years ago, the J1 Sterners split into at least two lines, one of which is represented by the Hassloch group.  At some later time, the other line split, resulting in the Sterner lines of Beerfelden and Berwangen.  The relationships are depicted in the following dendrogram:

                                             _____ Hassloch group

                                            |

ancestral Sterner/Stirner/Störner (J1) _____|      _____ Beerfelden group

                                            |_____|

                                                  |_____ Berwangen group

B)  The father of two previously mysterious 1800's Maryland/Pennsylvania Sterner patriarchs has been identified.

     The Sterner "brick wall" that started this project has finally come down!

     The Sterner DNA project's first-ever Y-DNA test was performed in 2013 to try to eventually identify the father of Samuel Sterner (1811-1890), who was born in Maryland but lived in West Manheim Twp., York County, Pa.

     Now, a combination of genetic and public-records evidence has revealed that 1) Samuel Sterner's father was Adam Sterner (1776-1828) of Maryland, and 2) Adam Sterner also had a younger son David R. Sterner (1810's-1867), in addition to his seven better-documented, older children (Nathan, Henry, Jacob, Judith, Elizabeth, Susan, and Lydia).  Adam was a son of Christoph/Christoffel Sterner of Beerfelden, Germany.

     Although an explicit birth record for Samuel Sterner has not been found, the paternity revelation was made possible by the discovery of two specific Y-DNA mutations (at STR markers DYS458 & DYS452) that must have occurred in Adam Sterner himself.  Previously, both mutations were found in tested paternal-line descendants of Adam's known sons Nathan and Henry and in descendants of Samuel, but not in any other tested Sterners/Starners, including a descendant of Adam's brother William Sterner (1763-1814).  This month, an initial Y-DNA test of a descendant of David R. Sterner has shown the key result DYS458=18, confirming the theory that he was also a member of Adam's family.

C)  J2 Sterners of York County, Pa., are related to descendants of the Stirnimann families of Switzerland.

     Descendants of two sons of Nicholas Sterner (1776-1851; a son of Bernard Sterner of York County, Pa.) were previously found to have the J2 haplogroup, and their Y-DNA tests have subsequently been upgraded to 37 markers.  Interestingly, their closest relatives in the Y-DNA STR database are members of American Stirnaman/Stirniman/Sterneman families (https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Schrock-Schrag?iframe=ycolorized) that trace back to Stirnimanns of Switzerland.  The similarity of Sterner to the Swiss surnames raises the possibility that the shared paternal ancestor may have had a surname that evolved in one or more lines.  But was the original surname something like Sterner or something like Stirnimann?  Further information about the origins/history of the Pennsylvania Sterners and the Swiss Stirnimanns will be needed to answer this question.

D)  We have a new banner image of Pennsylvania Dutch country where Sterners have lived for over 250 years.

     The project's new banner image is a view of farms in Maxatawny Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, on July 7, 2018.  According to his 1748 estate papers, Caspar Sterner lived near this township ("Naer Maxethania").  Also, according to tax records, Caspar's sons Henry and Valentine lived in this township in 1768 and the 1770s/1780s, respectively, while distant cousin Christoph Sterner lived not many miles away, in what is now Lehigh County, from the 1770s to the 1790s.