IMPORTANT NOTE: Sept 6, 2002 - I have not been able to do any significant genealogy work since 1998. You are welcome to send me queries and information and I will get to them at some time. At the moment this site is a wreck but you are welcome to gather what you can from it.
I, Rustin Kreider, started this site on April 12, 1997 shortly before midnight. I decided to do this after yet another day of Internet research without finding any major information on Kreider genealogy. Thus I decided that I would need to start my own. After creating the initial page I couldn't find time to do much with it. Now that I've completed my college work, I am once again working on this page.
This site is to be solely dedicated to collecting and distributing information directly related to the genealogy of the Kreider, Kreiter, Greider, Greiter, Crider, (and other spellings) families and any information of interest to or about Kreiders and their descendants. If you have any information that is not found here I strongly urge you to assist me by passing the information on to me. In addition, help in gathering and preparing information for this site is requested. Kindly notify me of any broken links as well.
This site may be linked to by any other site provided that I am notified.
The name Kreider is derived from the German noun Kreid, meaning chalk. Hence, one who worked with Kreid, became know as a Kreider, a chalker. Partly because of many of the members of the early generations were illiterate when they moved to the British colonies and were also unfamiliar with the English language, the name acquired several mutations in its' spelling no doubt being the result of individuals attempting to spell the name phonetically. The most common spellings are Kreider, Greider, Greiter, and Crider. From various records one can find several other similar spellings. Some also changed the spelling of their name over the years making pinning down many of the early Kreiders rather difficult. In my own research, I use the spelling found on an individuals tombstone as the name for that person, followed by his parents and then other official records.
Making research even harder is the fact that German families frequently reused first names. Thus we find many Johns, Martins, Jacobs and so on. This is explained in 18th Century PA German Naming Customs (DEAD LINK).
The Kreiders were Mennonites native of Switzerland. Because of religious persecution, many fled to the southern Palatine province of Germany. Many of those that later moved to the Lancaster area of Pennsylvania were from the Ittlingen (Ettlingen) area of Germany.
Please submit the addresses of any Web pages dealing with the origins of the Kreiders name and the movements of the family.
To my knowledge there is no family association on the Kreiders. There was once a "Kreider-Greider Genealogy Committee" chaired by an Amos K. Stauffer which published four informative reports that were a great help to many researching the history of the family. These reports are dated August 7 1929, August 6 1930, August 2 1933, and August 1 1934. Copies of these reports can be obtained from the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society (DEAD LINK) for $15.
Unfortunately, the committee made some assumptions with the earlier generations that were incorrect or unsupported. Much of the early information from the committee reports was later untangled in an article by John Marsh, Jr. This article was published in the October 1985 issue of the Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage which is the best report I have encountered as it made use of many of the previous Kreider studies and is well supported in its statements. Back issues are available from the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society (DEAD LINK) for a small fee.
If you know of any associations related to the Kreider name or its' various spellings, please contact me at genealogy@kreiderfamily.com.
Table Of ContentsBelow are various sources of published information on Kreider genealogy. A copy of each of these is in the holdings of the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society. (DEAD LINK) (LMHS) If you are aware of any others, please e-mail me at genealogy@kreiderfamily.com and advise as to where the source can be obtained. *'d items are those that I have read and have included the information in my GENCOM file. The @'d items are one's I am currently working on.
If you know of the location of any Kreider/Greider/Greiter/Crider etc graves or church records, please e-mail the information to me.
If you have any information regarding Kreider etc births or deaths including newspaper notices and family bibles, please e-mail the information to me.
Table Of ContentsI have not yet encountered any significant source of Kreider marriage records. If you know of any, please mail them to me.
As I gather information related to Kreider Genealogy, I use a genealogy program to enter it into a GENCOM file. From time to time, I use a program called ged2html to place this information online. As people submit genealogy information to me, I add it to my master GENCOM file as my time permits. For those that wish to contribute a large amount of information, if at all possible, I prefer to have the actual GENCOM file sent to me so that I may add the information to my master file as quickly and accurately as possible. Those who wish to submit a GENCOM file should email me for additional information before sending the file.
Table Of ContentsBelow are some online genealogy trees. Use them to search for information of interest to you. Any Kreider related genealogy information that is submitted to me is eventually added to my online tree. If you find any information that is conflicting with your sources, I encourage you to confer with the maintainer of the tree.
The following list includes the email addresses and homepages of people who are currently researching Kreider family history and may be interested in receiving any Kreider information that you can provide. Email genealogy@kreiderfamily.com to be included in this list.
A mailing list for distributing information on the Kreider family is maintained by Ilene Kreider, the wife of my cousin. To join this list, you may mail her at __ use the subject subscribe and you will be added to the list. For information about the list, mail the same address using the subject info. The list is primarily used to distribute queries and information of interest to the Kreider family. In most cases, the information distributed by this list eventually becomes a part of this site.(Actually I need to see if she is still doing this)
Table Of ContentsOver the last few years, I have collected a volume of Kreider genealogy Information. Unfortunately, much of this information is not in a form that is easily searched. The information that I have prepared for searching is found in my online trees. If you can not find what you want there, you may mail your query to me. If I can find your answer without much effort, I will send you a reply. In most cases, I will list your query on my query page for others to examine and will get back to you when and if I find your information.
Visit the Query Page or join the Mailing Lists
Table Of ContentsIf you know of any Web sites containing any information about Kreiders, please e-mail the address to me.
This includes sites that have family histories that include Kreider names. If you know of any please e-mail the addresses to me.
Listed are search sites that do not require any sort of submission in order to use the site.
Although this site is dedicated to Kreider/Greider/Greiter/Crider information I am choosing to list a few major Web sites that have comprehensive lists of links to various genealogy resources. Feel free to make submissions however only large sites will be listed. Please advise of any dead links.