Sauser-Sausser-Souser-Säußer Family History

Mid-January 2016 Project Update

Progress..

The last several months have been busy with periods of little work and other periods of intense gains forward and answering some big questions.

In particular there was a significant push forward in December 2015 with the establishment of several new contacts on multiple lines, further focus / clarification of some of the lines, in combination with new participants for DNA testing and the addition of additional tests by existing participants.

Some more frequent updates have been being made for direct descendants via the Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SouserSausserSauser/ . On there are some particular family group discussions as well as occasionally the posting of some historical family photos, and general updates / news on progress or theories / stories dispelled. If you bare the name or are a direct descendant send a join request.

The Website

I have been as time permits adding content to the following pages.. both still very much in the works.

  • Notables
    • People of fame, fortune, political office, or have published any works.
  • Veterans
    • Names found in Military Service Records broken down by conflict.

Combined Project Tree
Currently the projects combined database has about 3800  individuals entered into it from the different lines and at least a couple hundred additional individuals to be added to it in support of existing lines. At the current rate it is expected to exceed 5000 individuals with clear association to one of the lines sometime in mid-2016.

Surname Updates : Where we are

Sauser Family Lines

I have made contact with at least 2, possibly 3 unique Sauser lines (TBD) to help flush out those lines. One of those lines is a Buffalo New York line that has lost the name over time which I hope will match other Sauser lines, a Minnesota line, and one from the Dubuque Iowa area. Sauser is the most common last name and the oldest of the surnames in the project and so I would consider the research into this surname and tying it all together to the other lines is still in the beginning stages. The overall theory is that at least some of the lines are related back to Sausers. The DNA Haplogroup of the different Sauser lines have yet to be determined.

Souser Family Lines

So far each of the Souser lines in the United States, at this point, seem to be distinct from one another but this conclusion so far is lack of data to prove otherwise and data supporting no identified relationship in the last 5-8 generations. In each of the Souser lines adoption is fairly common and so lines are not as clear cut sometimes. What is known is that no Souser currently matches any Sausser via Y-111 STR testing in recent history, but many of the Souser lines, two of the major lines have not been tested, do share a common high level Haplogroup (I-M253) with the Sausser’s though but the distance is further than American history would cover.  The two Souser lines that have been tested for Y-111 Str have also been upgraded to Big-Y SNP tested to identify their specific Haplogroup in the overall genetic Y-tree.

The addition of the Joseph Souser line tests resulted in the addition of a new sub-branch being added to the tree uniquely identifying it and first appeared in Y-tree 4.01 the week of January 11th, 2016 as R-Y19146 sub-clade which in the hierarchy is R-M269->R-Z278/CTS12074->R-Y19146.  (Note ftDNA runs several months behind the official YTree version and what they display to users). Currently this line has no matches above Y-37 other than with itself, the closest matches are New York Cooper’s at Y-37 which have not tested at Y-37 or above.

The Henry Souser line currently has no matches above Y-37, and their closest match is in Switzerland.

The Petrus Souser – Catskill, New York and/or Jacob P. Souser, Kalamazoo (believed to be the same) has yet to be tested and is one of the highest priorities of the project since it is the oldest Souser line variant in the US and the number of known direct male descendants still having the name is believed to be quickly fading. The males of this line are currently believed to reside in Michigan and Texas.

Sausser Family Lines

Most of the the Sausser family lines are fairly well documented post 1850 and even before it. There are mentions of lines in several individual lines published books as well as details of some of the early Sausser’s captured in the history in the Klahr family. What we have learned through DNA testing so far is being able to definitely dismiss the ‘theory’ that seems to be floating around Ancestry.com, FindAGrave, and FamilySearch that Michael Sausser b.1831 was child of Leonhardt Scholosser. The source of this false claim is a book with several other errors I have found simply referred to as the “Pentico Book” which everyone keeps using as a source.

Two independent lines that were descendants of Michael Sausser b.1831 both tested as close direct matches to each other on the Y-111 test and fell into the I-M253 Haplogroup. Per the Schlosser Family Genealogy Project and Y-Search, which most have only tested at Y-37 or below.. Leonhardt Scholosser’s direct descendants do not match any of Michael Sausser’s at ANY Y-test level. and most of the Schlosser’s and Slusher’s tested fall into a completely different Haplogroup of R-P312 (R1b1a2).

The two tested Sausser lines (both descendants of Michael Sausser) almost all of their matches at Y-37, Y-67, and Y-111 are of Norwegian origin or in Norway today; which was VERY unexpected being that line was known to be German speaking in the United States.

Looking forward into 2016

My goals for 2016 are to work the data and the DNA test results already received and encourage testing for those lines that have not yet been testing or could benefit from additional testing. As the popularity of testing also grows among the general public new matches for many of the lines become available every couple of weeks.

Specific Goals:

  1. Establish Petrus Souser line Haplogroup and relationship / matches to other lines, if any.
  2. Establish more specific branches of the Sauser lines within the United States and their primary patriarchs and Halogroups.
  3. Obtain additional autosomal DNA tests for the John Souser b.1800 line to help establish origin of the line.
  4. Obtain additional autosomal DNA tests for the Joseph Souser b.1815 line to help establish parental origin.
  5. Even though they do not have as good of DNA tools, add additional duplicate tests to Ancestry.com for some lines to assist with them or have some autosomal DNA test done there then transfer them to ftDNA to be able to utilize both sites tools.
  6. Increase database size to over 5000 individuals of ‘quality’ records and focusing on ensuring they are sourced properly and flag questionable entries in the database that need further research.
  7. Establish specific Y SNP sub-clad information for each patriarch line.
  8. Establish clearly documented point of immigration for each line.

DNA Testing Summary

FamilyTreeDNA Project Link: https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/souser/about

We have had a couple of female individuals with surnames other than Souser, Sauser, and Sausser join the project (Saucier, Saucer) but so far do not match any of the existing project members in the Autosomal DNA test.

If you are related to a Souser / Sauser / Sausser and have tested with any other site such as Ancestry.com, 23andMe, National Geneographic, or even ftDNA you are encouraged to join the project by transfering your results.

Note: Maternal lines and new adoptee lines (there are several known) with no descendants continuing the name are not listed.

Patriarch Birth Line Origin Y-Haplogroup Descendants Participating
Petrus / Peter Souser b. 1709 New York? Catskill, NY

->Kalamazoo, MI

To Be Determined Looking to identify any volunteers; particularly male.
Michael Sausser b. 1731 Pennsylvania Schuylkill, PA I-M253

(Branch Detail Pending)

2 Direct Male Descendants of different lines.
John Souser /

(aka John Oliver Souser line)

b. 1800 (Pennsylvania most likely) PA->OH->IN->

John Oliver Subline->IA->CO

To Be Determined; no living male descendant known that is interested in taking the test. 2 female descendants complete; 1 male and 1 female pending. Total of 3 different descendant lines of John Souser b.1800
Joseph Souser b. 1815 Pennsylvania Bedford, PA R-M269

(R-Z273 Branch)

 2 direct male descendants complete; 1 direct male pending, 3 female complete (2 descendant lines).
John Sauser /

(aka Henry Souser (b.1853) line)

b. 1823 Ohio I-M253

(I-Z138 Branch)

1 Direct Male Descendant Complete, possibly 1 male descendant pending from the same descendant line.
John Sauser b. 1808 Luxemburg Dubuque, IA To Be Determined  1 male Sauser pending
T Souser Recently ? I-M253 New Souser Line 1; Souser name received from maternal line.
* Sauser Circa 1350.. Sigrisvil, Switzerland To Be Determined