Hans Greider[256], and his wife Agnes Jfert[257], are the earliest known Kreider's, born circa 1640 in Ruenenberg, Canton of Bern, Switzerland. Hans married Agnes JFERT on 21 Jun 1664 in Ruenenberg. Hans GREIDER and Agnes JFERT had at least two children:

i. Jakob GREITOR

ii. John GREIDER was born about 1673 in Ruenenberg, Canton of Bern, Switzerland. He died about 1725 in Lancaster Co, PA. John was married circa 1700 and had eleven children.

Jakob GREITOR[128].^6,7 , was born on 5 Mar 1670/71 in Ruenenberg, Canton of Bern, Switzerland. He died in Ittlingen, Wurtenburg, Germany. Jakob married Barbara SHENK[129] about 1690. Barbara SHENK was born about 1670 in Switzerland. She died in Ittlingen, Wurtenburg, Germany.

Their family was one of nine listed in a letter to the court of the Barons von Gemmingen at Ittlingen, Germany. The letter, dated 14 May 1715, is now preserved in the Generallandesarchiv at Karlsruhe, Germany. These Mennonites were protesting a fine of six guldens imposed in exchange for permission to follow their Anabaptist faith. They said that in other knights' lands people had to pay only three guldens, and for this reason they hoped not to have asked in vain. Many of these families appeared a few years later in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Jakob GREITOR and Barbara SHENK had the following children:

i. Michael GREITOR

ii. Jakob GREITOR was born in 1692/93.⁸. He died about 1758 in Lancaster Co, PA. Jakob immigrated with his brother, Michael, and Uncle John, prior to 1717 and settled on the Conestoga River in Chester County, subsequently Lancaster County, PA. Jakob's farm, consisting of 800 acres on the north side of the Conestoga, is now part of the city of Lancaster. Rupp's account of the arrival of Jacob is much the same, adding that the first winter he sat up his tent along with Jacob Hostetter. During the winter, Indians came to take shelter with them. Rupp does not quote his source. Jacob is in a list of Swiss settling in Lancaster in 1712, so perhaps this is the actual year of immigration. He also appears on the Pequea Tax List for 1725.

iii. Hans Jacob GREITOR.⁹ was born in 1694/95. He did not come to America.

iv. Anna GREITOR was born in 1699/1700.¹⁰. She did not come to America. Anna died and was buried in Germany.

v. Barbara GREITOR was born in 1701/2¹¹. She did not come to America Barbara died and was buried in Germany.

vi. Martin GREITOR was born in 1705/6¹². He did not come to America. Martin died and was buried in Germany.

I. Daniel Rupp referred to Jacob Kreider and Jacob Hostater.¹³ and to

"the relentless spirit of persecution, as the number of its subjects of oppression decreased, [which] singled out individual families; of these oppressed, were the Kreiders and Hostaters - these fled for life from Switzerland to Wurtemburg; taking nothing with them from their Fatherland, except their families, and small quantities of tow cloth, a few linens, and some wearing apparel. Kreider remained but a short time - but emigrated to America, and in company with Hostater, after paying the brethren of their faith, a visit, at Pequea, settled on the north side of the Conestoga, about two miles south from the present site of Lancaster, where he took up eight hundred acres of land in 1716 or 1717..."

"Here, he erected a temporary shelter, a tent covered with tow cloth brought from Switzerland, which served him and his family till autumn, when the tent gave way to a cabin built of round, unhewn hickory saplings, and covered with bark - both were abundant.".¹⁴

Jacob Kreider (ca 1693-1758) was the first Kreider on record in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. At a meeting of Penn's Commissioners on the 18th day, 12th month, and year 1717 (18 February 1717/1718), they signed warrants for both Jacob Kreyter and Jacob Hochstetler. Each warrant authorized surveys for 250 acres of land..¹⁵

The date of Jacob Kreider's arrival in America was between 1715 and 1717, but it must have been within a year of the time he received the warrant. Unless an immigrant was indentured for his passage, he would lose no time in acquiring for himself a plot of land so readily available. It is highly probable that Jacob Kreyter came on one of the three ships which arrived in the port of Philadelphia on 17 September 1717, five months earlier. Three ships arrived in Philadelphia in 1717. Aboard these ships were 363 Palatines, of which only a few left any record of where they were going or from where they had come..¹⁶

Jacob was the only Kreider/Greiter found on the extant Chester County tax lists of 1718 through 1722. In 1724/1725 the names of Michael Grider and John Gryder appeared with Jacob's. No tax list exists for 1726, but the 1727 list includes the names of Jacob, Michael, and Ann Cryder.

A warrant, more than an authorization for a survey, gave ownership rights to each warrantee, who could sell it, give it away, or forfeit it by not paying the taxes. The 700-acre tract surveyed for Jacob Kreyter/Kreider and Jacob Hostetter was divided, and part of the acreage was patented to other immigrants. Jacob Kreider retained 150 acres and deeded the other 200 acres to his brother, Michael. Jacob Hostetter kept 150 acres and allowed 50 acres to be patented to Peter Martin and 150 acres to John Schenk, probably a relative of Jacob's mother, Barbara Schenk. Jacob Kryter received his patent for 150 acres on 3 June 1734¹⁷.