Langenselbold - Herman Reber Family Group

This Reber family group belongs to the R1b haplogroup of hunter/gatherers who migrated into Europe about 40,000 years ago and remained there throughout the last ice age.  Herman Reber is the oldest identifiable ancestor to be found in the records, and he is thought to have lived in the Hammelburg/Schweinfurt region of Bavaria. His son Daniel migrated to Langenselbold, Hesse, where the family remained for several generations. Two of Daniel's grandsons subsequently emigrated to colonial PA around 1750.  Prior to DNA profiling, it was not known that #5567 was a member of this group. He too might descend from Herman, but it's equally possible that both he and Herman descend from an earlier predecessor.

                                                                                                        Swiss Reber Families

The Schangnau Rebers have been researched thoroughly and the family is well documented.  Records exist back to about 1620.  At present, six immigrants are known, Friedrich, Johannes, and Samuel who emigrated to Utah about 1861; Christian who emigrated to Ohio in 1871, and Charles Reber who was homesteading in Minnesota by 1888, they have now been joined by a descendant of Fredrick Reber. This clan belongs to the E3b Haplogroup which exhibits a very low incidence in Western Europe.  One original Swiss family lineage is traced to Diemtigen and Peter Reber in 1769. This family lives in Switzerland.
 

The R1a Haplogroup arose on the steppes of Central Asia amongst the Kurgan Culture who are credited with domesticating the horse about 5000 years ago.  With this new mobility they migrated in all directions but seldom any further west than Poland.  As the glacial ice sheet retreated the Kurgans moved into present-day Norway, Sweden, and Denmark and became what we call the Vikings.  The Vikings, in turn, raided deep into Europe for a thousand years.  For example, they sacked Paris and all points north along the Seine about 840 AD and colonized Normandy soon thereafter.  These incidents provide plausible explanations for their presence in modern-day France where their incidence is very low.  Not surprisingly our two French Reber profiles closely match the profiles of the descendants of the Vikings living today in Iceland.