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Brobst Family History
(Probster Familienforschung)
The Brobst Family is not large, nor is it famous. There are only about
800 in the nation's phone books, and only 700 on the Social Security
Death Index. Brobst is the 17,423rd most popular last name (surname) in
the United States! But it is certainly unique in that, in almost every
case, everyone with the unusual name "Brobst" is directly related
to
everyone else with the name "Brobst"! We all descend from one
of two
Probst brothers of Swiss background who left Europe in 1732 to seek
their freedom and future in America.
In addition to a variety of Probst families, we also have extensive
information on the related families: Angstadt, Billman, Christ,
Federolff, Follweiler, Fossellmann, Friesz, Fürst/First, Glück/Glick,
Kistler, Kuntz, Schitz, Stambach, Stump, Wertman. We also have some
information on the Propst families of Germany, not related to the
Probsts and Brobsts.
The Swiss Family Probst
The American Brobst family traces back into
the early 1500s near Bern, Switzerland, where Rudolph Probst was born
in
1595. His father may have been Niklaus Probst (b. 1554), and his
grandfather Hans Probst (b. 1531), although those two earlier
generations are not certain. Yes, the name "Brobst" was originally
"Probst". Probst is today a fairly common name in Switzerland,
although
not so much so in the United States. (The name "Brobst" is even
less
common.)
In the early 1600s, Rudolph moved to Wangen, Germany. In the mid-1600s,
his only son, Barthel, floated down the Rhine to Kandel, in the German
Palatinate, near the northern Alsace border of France. Barthel had a
large family, one of which was Christophel (b.1661). Because living
conditions there were so deplorable, three of Christophel's children
came to America in 1732 on the ship "John and William"-- Philipp
Jacob
(b. 1692), Johann Michael (b. 1701), and Elizabetha Margaretha
(Vossellmann) (b. 1703). These three were the first Probsts to come to
America. They arrived in 1732, the year George Washington was born.
Others of the larger Probst family lived in northwestern Switzerland
also, from Siselen in the northwest of Kanton Berne to Lutzelfluh in the
northeastern part of Kanton Berne. Many of these Probsts also emigrated
elsewhere in Europe in the 1500s and 1600s -- north into Germany and
northwest into southern Alsace, France. Most of the Alsatian immigrants
were glass-makers. Some of those, mostly farmers, who moved into
southern Germany had moved further north into Saxony by the 1800s. Many
of those Probsts came to America from Switzerland, Germany, and France
later in the 1700s and 1800s. Over 150 of them are recorded on various
ship's lists. These families are not the primary focus of the Brobst
Family Historical Registry, although there is a great deal of
information -- 3000 Probst names -- in our data base on those other
American Probsts.
The American Family Brobst
The three children of Christophel Probst
arrived in Philadelphia in October 1732, after a horrible voyage on the
ship "John and William". Philipp Jacob Probst came with his French
wife, C'erine (nee Christ), and their three young sons -- Jean Michael,
Jean Valentine, and Jean Martin, all French citizens having been living
in Alsace, France, for some years. Johann Michael Probst came unmarried
from Kandel, Germany, but married Anna Maria Kerr shortly after his
arrival. Their sister, Elisabetha Margaretha Probst, came from Kandel
with her husband, Hans Erhardt Vossellmann. The English-speaking clerks
misspelled their name phonetically, as had the ship's captain. (Why is
the word "phonetic" not spelled phonetically?) They left Germany as
"Probst", checked out of Rotterdam as "Props", sailed as "Proops", and
cleared immigration in Philadelphia as "Brobst". No wonder people have
such trouble with our name!
The Brobsts settled in the area now known as Berks and Lehigh Counties,
Pennsylvania, about 50 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Many of their
German friends who sailed with them settled in the same area. They
fought off starvation, poverty, unfriendly weather, and even less
friendly Indians. All American Brobsts descend from one of those three
children of Christophel. All Brobsts are related, even though it might
be only a seventh cousin-hood! The many other Probsts who came to
America later in the 1700s and 1800s retained the name Probst. Are they
related to the Brobsts? Yes, in some cases. In other cases, the
relationship has not been yet identified, and is likely to be quite
remote. Researchers are working on that. There were also German
Propsts who came to America (such as Johann Michael Propst who married
Anna Maria Keller in Lancaster Co, PA), but they were not of Swiss
origin and not related to the Probsts. So there is Brobstology,
Probstology, and Propstology! There's even Bobstology, Pobstology, and
Pabstology, but they are different families.
The names "Probst" and "Propst" have similar meanings in Germanic
languages. A "propst" is a lay administrator of a German Roman Catholic
diocese or Lutheran synod. A "probst" is a lay administrator of a Swiss
synod. The names sometimes refer to a "pryor" or an "abbot". The
French term "pr�vot" and the English term "provost" derive from this
same origin. All of those words come from the Latin word
"praepositus". (Preposterous!)
National Brobst Family Historical Registry
The National
Brobst/Probst Family Historical Registry exists to help Brobsts and
Brobst descendants to find their family roots -- "Brobstology". The
Registry contains data on the ancestry, history, and heritage of the
Brobst Family in America, and its ancestral Probst Family in Germany,
France, and Switzerland. The goal of the Registry is to collect the
names and familial relationships of all Brobsts from the time of the
1730s immigration in America into the early part of the 20th century, as
well as the earlier Swiss and German Probsts from which we all descend.
Data on the old Probsts and Brobsts is already quite detailed and
accurate. Brobstology information on more recent members of the Brobst
Family is entered into the data base as it becomes available. This
information is readily available to any Brobst descendant or researcher
who is interested in his/her Probst/Brobst ancestry. We respect the
desire for privacy for some living persons, and are quite willing to
omit specific data on any living person who desires that for him/herself
and his/her family members. But we would like to at least list their
names in the proper order in the ancestral lineage in the Registry. And
the Registry is collecting information on the family histories of
Probsts and Brobsts, as well, from Switzerland, through Germany and
France, and to America. If you think your ancestors must have been in a
witness protection program, perhaps we have what you need!
A major project underway now is to identify the familial relationships
of dozens of Brobsts who have been listed in Social Security Death Index
records, newspaper accounts, county historical records, etc., but for
whom we've not yet been able to identify their parents and
grandparents. Art Holmes, the Registry's Curator, and Barbara Brobst
Williams are working hard on this project. We're very conscious of the
need to protect the privacy of living Brobsts, and details on living
Brobsts are withheld when we post and update the Registry's on-line data
base.
Many different volunteer Brobst/Probst Family researchers, including
Bill Brobst (the former Curator of the Registry), have contributed to
the vast collection of Brobstology names, dates, and places that comprise
the history of the Brobst Family. The Registry is continually being updated.
Brobst/Probst descendants: please submit your family lineage data to the
Registry for inclusion. There are already over 42,000 names and over 14,000
families, with 7000 Brobsts, 3000 Probsts, 950 Kistlers, and bazillions
of their spouses and relatives, back into the middle ages! And the entire
National Brobst Family Historical Registry 42,000-name genealogical on-line
data base may be found by browsing through the frequently-updated primary
Brobst Registry webpage, http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~brobst/
(just click on "data base on-line"). Or go directly to the 42,000 name
on-line data base, just go to the data base URL address: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=brobst
and type in the name of the person you're looking for. To find his/her
ancestors, just go to the left side of the page and click on "Pedigree".
To see a long list of his/her descendants, just click on "Ahnentafel".
You can also download a GedCom file for that person; just click on GEDCOM
and follow instructions.
If you would like to have ancestor or descendant trees printed up from
the data base, the Registry's Curator can provide these for a small
charge. They make great gifts for your children; get one for each of
the kids. They come on beautiful parchment paper, ready for framing.
The Registry is not a comprehensive library or archive of all of the
supporting documents and proofs usually associated with genealogical
research. Those records remain with the various county and state
historical and genealogical society libraries, courthouses, etc., and
with the descendant families and researchers themselves. We make no
attempt to duplicate all of those records and files in the Registry,
although there are some wills, obituaries, land deeds, etc., in the
Registry files. We are happy to guide you and refer you to other
sources for that information on your Brobst ancestors.
The information in the Registry on your Brobst ancestry, updated every
month or so from the Curator's master file, is available from the Registry
(Curator: Arthur W. Holmes, 304 Woodridge Dr, Peninsula, OH, 44264. E-Mail:
[email protected]
If you're interested in the Kistler family (because the Brobst and Kistlers
were so closely related back in the 1700s and 1800s), take a look at Craig
Kistler's "Kistler Family Registry" website at: http://www.kistlerfamily.com
Please feel free to call, write, or E-Mail the Curator with your
suggestions, additions, subtractions, questions, disputations,
corrections, and recollections. And you should know that he pays for
all this work out of his own pocket! He may have to charge you two-bits
a page, plus postage, if there are more than a few pages. He'll use
E-Mail when he can. Donations to the Registry are gratefully welcomed
(really encouraged!) to defray costs of records searches, photocopying,
postage, envelopes, web-page costs, etc.; thank you. If you've been
able to save some money in research and travel costs because you found
the information in the Registry, we'd be most grateful if you'd share
some of those savings with us. We're operating on a short shoestring.
You can also get help elsewhere in sorting our
your own family lines. One way is to write up a query, stating what you
know and what you want to find out, and send it to the one of the
several Brobst Message Boards. We have our own Brobst Registry message
board (mailing list) on the web on which you can sign up and receive
occasional notices of Brobst news items, reunions, interesting findings,
etc. It's free! Just visit the Brobst Registry (Rootsweb) web-page,
click onto "mailing list", and follow the directions. Basically, to
sign up, just send an E-Mail with just a subject and no message at all,
including no signature text. That's all there is to it. No charge, no
obligation. Just a chance to easily pass information back and forth
with other Brobst descendants. It's there for all of us to use it!
This has become a very popular means of communication between Brobst
researchers and relatives, passing information and questions back and
forth. We'd love to see all of the Brobsts on that list so we can keep
you informed of what's going on in Brobstology. It's a good place to
post notices, articles, news notes, stories about current and ancestral
Brobsts, national and local Brobst reunions, new genealogy findings,
births, marriages, deaths, queries, finding lost Brobsts, etc. and to
hear news from other Brobsts. To send a Brobst message to the address
list for the Brobst Registry Message Board, just address an E-Mail to
[email protected]; everyone who's signed up on the list will see it.
There are other Brobst message boards as well, maintained by the folks
at Rootsweb, GenForum.com, Ancestry.com, and FamilyHistory.com. If you
have questions about your Brobst ancestry, and would like to post them
to a wide audience, just go to one of the other Brobst message boards
and write out your question. And they're pretty interesting reading, as
well!
http://genforum.genealogy.com/brobst/
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/board/an/surnames.brobst
Publications
A detailed and pictorial history of the Probst/Brobst family and their travels
and travails may be found in The Brobst Chronicles (150 pages) ($24);
last revised Mar 31, 2002. Buy one for your kids and grandkids; they make
great birthday or Christmas presents. The story of the various forges
and grist mills built and operated by the Brobsts is told in Brobst Forges
and Grist Mills (11 pages) ($5). These books were written by Bill Brobst,
former Curator of the Brobst Registry, and are available by just sending
him a check to his address: William A. Brobst, 6072 Currituck Rd., Kitty
Hawk, NC 27949 ([email protected]).
We can also refer you to other publications and sources to help you search.
The first few chapters of The Brobst Chronicles are on line at the Brobst
Registry Website. The "Brobst Genealogy News" was a quarterly newsletter
which is no longer being published; that kind of information is now found
on the main Brobst Registry website (above).
The Registry's data base contains all Brobst data from Family Tree Maker
Family Tree (WFT) Archives numbers 1 through 24; we have already
searched those CDs. We would love to incorporate Brobst data from FTM
World Family Tree (WFT) Archives 25 and up which we do not have. We
need volunteers to help submit data or assist in some other way. If
you have any of those CDs, please look up the Brobsts and send on to us
whatever you find.
Searchers and Researchers
Brobst descendants who are looking to identify their
ancestry are welcome to send queries to the Registry (E-Mail address
above). Send as much as you know about your Brobst parentage � names,
spouse's names, birth/death dates/-places, at least back into the 1800s,
to match with the data in the Registry which is almost complete from the
1500s through the 1800s, with some data reaching well into the 1900s.
If you can reach as far back as your great-grandparents, even better for
it's likely our data includes them. If you can go back at least one
more generation, it is almost certain that we have your family lineage
on file.
Brobst Reunions
Major Brobst Family Reunions are held annually (sort
of), at various locations around the country. In 1998, there were two �
one in New Tripoli, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, the other in Enid,
Oklahoma. In 1999, there was one in Iowa on Aug 8 (Mary Brobst and
Betty Fox, coordinators), and another one in Scranton, Kansas on June 27
(Bill Wilbur, coordinator). Skipped 2000 and 2001. They really are a
lot of fun. Lots of family history displays, photos, and genealogical
information; bring your own to share. Meet new cousins. Visits to
local sites of Brobst historical interest.
The next major Brobst Family Reunion in the mid-west is currently scheduled
for September 7 2002, in Ohio, somewhere between Columbus and Cleveland,
and possibly in "Brobstland" in Marcy, northern Ohio. James Ernest "Jim"
Brobst of Columbus is coordinating the event; contact him directly at
3167 Morningside Dr.Columbus, OH 43202. Phone: 614.263.5159. E-Mail: [email protected].
For detailed information, keep an eye on the Brobst website and miscellaneous
little E-Mail announcements on the Brobst message board.
In addition, there are several smaller Brobst reunions in Pennsylvania
and elsewhere in the summer and fall each year; they are focused on just
small branches of the Brobsts, and not intended to be of national
interest.
"Forever Shaking The Family Tree, Trying To Get One More Leaf Of
Information!"
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This page was last updated on Monday, 21-Feb-2011 18:23:57 MST
Copyright© 1998-2011 by The National Brobst Family Historical Registry
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