When a colony reaches a certain size, provisions are made to purchase land and then create and support a new daughter colony until it is viable. In this manner the 203 traditional Hutterite colonies in North America in 1973 have grown to almost 400 such colonies today. It is postulated by Eichler that all Hutterites are at least 5th or 6th cousins to each other due to many generations of marriages within the small group over the 465 years of their existance. Almost all Hutterites derive from at list of abour two dozen surnames, including Wurz, Knels, Decker, Waldner, Walter, Wollman, Miller, Glanzer, Hofer, Stahl, Wipf, Enz, Gross, Kleinsasser, Mandel, Pullman and Tschetter. There is an unusual mix of medical traits that seems to be unique to the Hutterites.
Medical evidence suggests a higher incidence of some genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis.
Thus Hutterite populations are being studied by geneticists and medical teams. They are seeking the genetic markers for these and other genetic diseases. They also are interested in determining the genetic basis for the unusual immune system resistence the Hutterite population has to certain infecious diseases like chicken pox. In designing their experiments and conducting their tests, geneticists depend upon detailed Hutterite genealogy to select and link all their donors to a common ancestor. Eichler and a leading ethnic Schiemedeleut Hutterite leader have advised me visited the Landesarchiv at Klagenfurt, Austria.