Johann Michael Probst

  General Notes:

Per Arthur W Holmes

He came to America in 1732, arriving in Philadelphia on the pink (ship) John and William on October 17, 1732. He came with his brother Philipp Jacob (and family) and his sister Elisabetha Margaretha (and her husband). Since winter's onset was near, they probably remained in Philadelphia over the winter, gathering supplies and equipment, and left for the Allemaengel in early spring.

When he came to America, he was already 31 years old. Since it would be most unusual for a man not to have married and started a family in his early 20s, it is possible that he already done that, and left a wife and some children behind. It is possible they might have died, and that released him to come to America, or he might have been so driven to start a new life he just left them behind. They might not have wanted to face the unknowns of the American wilderness. However, according to German records, in 1727 Michael was a travelling potter, not married, and was listed on the ship's manifest as still single when he emigrated, so it is assumed that he did not marry in Germany.

Another record says his birth date was Mar 13 1707. This must have been a mis-reading of the German script "1" which often looks like a "7". The 1701 birth date is verified in the baptismal records in Kandel and in the Lineage Succession List from Kandel.

Sometime between his arrival in Philadelphia and mid-1735, Johann Michael married. He might have married during the winter in Philadelphia, or might have found his future wife in the Allemaengel. Birth and baptismal records of his children indicate that her name was Maria or Anna Maria, a name quite common in those days. The marriage record has not been found, and her maiden name is still unproven; several long-time Brobst researchers believe her maiden name to be Kerr (or Kehr), and that is what is shown here.

William Crouch believes her name was Anna Maria Grimm, but there is apparently no supporting evidence for this.

For a long time, it has been assumed that her name was Anna Maria Keller, but that hypothesis has been proven wrong. Anna Maria Keller was the widow of Peter Keller, and she lived in Cocalico Township, Lancaster County in the early 1730s. Her marriage to Johann Michael Probst is recorded at the Muddy Creek Lutheran Church on December 25, 1733. That was not "this" Johann Michael Probst.

In order for that to be true, it would have meant that Johann Michael left his brother and sister and their families and went to Lancaster Co instead of Berks/Lehigh Co. Why would he have done such a thing? And then to come to Berks/Lehigh Co a year or so after his marriage, for his first child was born in Lynn Twp in 1836. Would he have left his family with whom he had been through so much and struck off on his own to find a wife in Lancaster County, rather than accompanying his family to the Allemaengel and looking for a wife there? And, in fact, that was not the case.

It was once thought that Johann Michael may have met Anna Maria Keller on the ship enroute to America, but there was no Keller, and no Anna Maria, listed on the ship's manifest. There is no indication that he had any knowledge of Anna Maria Keller prior to or during the voyage, or in Philadelphia over the winter. Given that, there would be no reason for him to go to Lancaster to marry her and bring her to Lynn Township, Lehigh County. There is no evidence that he even knew she existed.

There is no evidence that Johann Michael Probst ever went to Lancaster, nor that if he did he stayed in Lancaster County for some time, perhaps a year, and then moved to Lynn Twp, Northampton (Lehigh) Co, PA to rejoin the rest of his immigrant family. All indications are that he left Philadelphia with his brother and sister in the spring of 1733 and moved directly to Lynn Twp. His children are all recorded as having been born in Northampton (Lehigh) County.

So who was the Johann Michael Probst who married Anna Maria Keller in Lancaster County? Johann Michael Propst (b abt 1712) arrived in America in 1733 on the ship "Samuel", and moved to Lancaster County with his parents and sister. This Johann Michael Propst actually signed his name "Probst", not "Propst" on his immigration and oath of allegiance papers, and apparently used that same spelling on the marriage record in Lancaster County. His signature is quite clear written with the "Probst" spelling. He remained in Lancaster County for some years, and had four children with Anna Maria Keller from 1735 to 1738. After Anna Maria died in 1738, he quickly married a second time there, before migrating southward to what is now Pendleton County, West Virginia. Accordingly, I have recorded the marriage of Anna Maria Keller to Johan Michael Propst in the Propst family file.

History still has to tell us something about this wife -- Anna Maria Kehr/Kerr -- of Johann Michael Probst. We do know that Johann Michael and Anna Maria lived in Lehigh County, having founded the village of what became Hynemansville.

He received his citizenship papers on September 10 1761 in Philadelphia.

His farm was in Lynn Township, Northampton County (now Lehigh County), about 7 miles southeast of his brother's (Philipp Jacob's) farm which was in Albany Twp.

His death date is not certain. Most records show "about 1771"; one says "after 1790". His death location is also uncertain, but was most likely in a private cemetery on his farmsite.


From "The Ruch's and the Kistler's Pennsylvania German Ancestors" by Kenneth William Fraser, held at the Lehigh County Historical Society in Allentown

The following information is sourced in "the Brobst Chronicles" by William Brobst and Brobst/Probst A Genealogy of the Family of Mathias Brobst and Maria M. Stambach and the Brobst website.

Johann Michael was born on March 13 1701 in Kandel, Der Pfalz (the Palatinate), Germany. Kandel is a few miles west of the Rhine River and just north of the Lauder River, which forms the border with the French Province of Alsace. Accordingly, Kandel is in the southeastern corner of the Palentinate. The Palatinate was regularly devastated by European armies in the 17th and 18th Centuries, which was one of the causes of the great tide of immigration to America beginning in the early 1700's.

He came to Philadelphia on the ship John and William, arriving on October 17, 1732. He traveled with his older brother, Philipp Jacob, Philipp's wife, C'erine (Catherine), their three sons, his sister, Elisabeth Margaretha, and her husband Hans Erhardt Fosselmann. He was 31 years of age and traveled alone. It would be unusual for a man of that age to be unmarried and without a family. However, there is no record of a wife or family in Kandel so it is possible that he was single.

The family stayed in Philadelphia during their first winter in America and then moved to the Allemaengel region (present day Lynn and Albany Townships). The Brobst family history states that the brothers Philipp Jacob and Johann Michael settled in what is now known as Kistler Valley, which lies along Kistler Creek in Lynn Township, Lehigh County and Albany Township, Berks County. The two families lived within several miles of each other, Philipp Jacob in Albany Township and Johann Michael in Lynn Township. Both families attended the Jerusalem Church when it was formed in the mid-1740's.

At some time prior to mid 1735, Johann Michael married Anna Maria. They had 7 children.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Alternate Spell: Johann Michael Brobst. ⁸⁸¹

• Baptism, Sep 13, 1701, Kandel, Der Pfalz, Germany. ¹⁰⁴

• Emigration, Oct 17, 1732, Ship John And William To Philadelphia. ¹⁰⁴

Johann married Anna Maria Kerr between 1732 and 1735 in Pennsylvania.²⁰⁴ (Anna Maria Kerr was born between 1710 and 1715 ²⁰⁴ and died after 1754 in Lynn Twp, Lehigh Co, Pennsylvania ²⁰⁴.)

  Marriage Notes:

Per Arthur W Holmes

Married: BET. 1732 - 1735 in PA
Note: Married in the Muddy Creek Lutheran Church in Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, PA, by Rev. Caspar Stoever.