Jacob Joust was a "Burgesse" in the District of Meintz, in the Duchy of Franconia.

Children of JACOB JOUST and RACHEL ____?_____ are:

2. i. JACOB² JOUST.

ii. PETER JOUST.

 

 Generation No. 2

2. JACOB² JOUST (JACOB¹) He married CHARTHARINE ____?_____.

Jacob appears in a record dated 1710, as a member of a Protestant Colony in Franconia.

Children of JACOB JOUST and CHARTHARINE ____?_____ are:

3. i. CHRISTIAN JOUST³ (JOST).

ii. KLAUS (NICKLAUS) (JOST).

 Generation No. 3

3. CHRISTIAN JOUST³ (JOST) (JACOB² JOUST, JACOB¹) He married BARBARA ____?_____.

In 1714, Christian and Klaus are recorded in a religious migration to the Kingdom of Wurtemberg and in 1727-28, they are named in a "war on the Protestants" in Emmen Valley of Switzerland "near Langnau". In this record it mentions that Christian was killed and his wife, Barbara was imprisoned at Berne where shortly after she died, and the land and property of Christian was confiscated, leaving his children destitute.

At a meeting early in 1728, held at Berne, Switzerland, a resolution was passed to "transport these provident and destitute religious agitators to a Dutch port for transport to England". Queen Anne of England had issued a proclamation offering religious freedom to all the persecuted religious refugees along the Rhine, in her American Colonies. In the list of the improverished religious agitators of the Emmen Valley were given the sons and daughters of Christian with their ages: Jacob, age 18; Gasper, age 16; Chartharine, age 14; Heinrich, age 11, Barbara, age 8; and John, age 4.

The Dutch and English histories describing the immigration of the German and Swiss immigrants to America, relate that thousands upon thousands of these harassed and distressed people flocked to the Dutch Ports for passage to England. Their history consumes volumes of records that according to the historian, Eshelmann "are the darkest pages in the annals of Christian people". Even after every available ship was pressed into service to relieve the stress of ever increasing horde of these "Palatines", hundreds died from exposure and starvation in Holland and England awaiting transportation to America. In the effort to relieve the situation many were bound out as servants in England and as the early American immigration records do not list a female Yost, it can be construed that they remained in England, for a record says "these German and Swiss females are industrious housekeepers". Another record states that the Palatine females on marrying were freed of their bondage

The settlement of Pennsylvania by the Germans is an epic tale of faith and zeal, of sacrifice and achievement in the development of America. The story has been told and the Pennsylvania German Pioneers have come into their rightful place as builders of our nation.

The land that came to be known as Pennsylvania was granted by King Charles II of England to William Penn in 1681 in exchange of a debt of 16,000 pounds which the British Crown owed to his father. It was the largest tract ever granted in America to a single individual, he had simple title to more than 40,000 square miles of territory. Under his Charter, Penn was governor of the Province, which he and his sons held as proprietaries, with the exception of about two years under William III, until the Revolution of 1776. Pennsylvania was not a colony of any foreign power; as a British subject Penn owed his allegiance to the crown. While the government of Pennsylvania was proprietary in form, It was English in substance and all non-British subjects were known as foreigners.

In order to obtain settlers for his land, Penn visited the Rhine Provinces, whose once peaceful valley's, thriving fields and vine clad hills had become the hunting ground of political and religious fanatics. Penn and his agents told the news of his acquisition and invited the Rhinelanders, the suffering Palatines, to help him found a State in which religious and civil liberty would prevail. From the Germantown settlement in 1683, to the revolution, a large scale immigration followed,

When the pioneers arrived, Pennsylvania vas in the hands of British subjects. Penn's agents were Englishmen; the English language was used; English Common Law was in force. It soon became a matter of concern to these Englishmen that such a large body of Continentals, speaking another language and accustomed to another form of government should be admitted to the land, even though they came at the invitation of Penn, himself.

In 1727, the Provincial Council, passed a law requiring all Continentals who arrived at Philadelphia to take oaths of allegiance to the British Crown. Two years later they were required to take oaths of abjuration and fidelity to the proprietor and laws of the province. The oaths were administered and subscribed to before public officials,

These immigrant ancestors of ours came not to a ready-made republic of opportunity but to a virgin land inhabited by savages. Many were men of eminence in the fatherland others came up from the penury and virtual slavery of the redemptioner system. Together they worked, fought and won America's battles and led in public service, industry, science, education invention and in the art of agriculture which is the foundation of our national wealth and of human progress.

The journey to Peansyvania was not an easy journey. This journey began in May and ended in October, fully half a year later amid much hardship. The Rhine boats had to pass 26 custom houses, where the ships were examined as it suited the convenience of the custom-house officials. The ships were detained Iong and the passengers had to spend much money. The trip down the Rhine took from four to six weeks before arriving at Holland where they were detained from five to six weeks, while the ships were waiting to be passed through the custom-house or waiting for favorable winds. Unless they had the right winds the ships sailed from eight to twelve weeks before reaching Philadelphia. Even with the best wind the voyage lasted seven weeks.

The passengers being packed densely, without proper food and water were soon subject to all sorts of disease, such as dysentery, scurvy, typhoid and small-pox. The children were the first to be attacked and died in large numbers. The terrors of disease, were much aggravated by frequent storms through which ships and passengers had to pass.

One ship after another arrived in the port of Philadelphia, just when the rough and severe winter was before the door. One or more merchants received a list of the freights and the agreement which the emigrants signed in their own hand in Holland, as well as the bills for their travel down the Rhine and the advances of the new-landers for provisions they received on the ships "on account". Formerly the freight for a single person was six to ten Louis d'ors, but later it amounted to fourteen to seventeen Louis d'ors (the equivalent of the Louis d'or is about $4.50, though its purchasing power at that time was much greater).

According to the law, before the ship was allowed to cast anchor at the harbor, the passengers are all examined by a physician, as to whether any contagious disease existed among them. Then they were led in procession to the City Hall to render the oath of allegiance to the King of Great Britain. After that they were brought back to the ship. Then announcements are printed in the newspapers, stating how many of the new arrivals are to be sold. Those who still had money were released. The ships became the market place. The buyers made their choice among the arrivals and bargained with them for a certain number of years and days. They were taken to the merchant, where their passage and other debts were paid and received from the government authorities a written document that made the newcomers their property for a definite period. In a few years of service, in spite of all difficulties and hardships, they emerged as successful farmers. It only shows of what sturdy stock these pioneers were made.

Nearly 50,000 embarked for the land of Penn, nearly 20,000 who sailed died at sea, the remainder reached their goal. Southeastern Pennsylvania was settled almost exclusively of Swiss and German settlers. They filled the valleys of the Susquehanna and Schuylkill and their tributaries. Before the Revolution, some moved down the Shenandoah, crossed the Alleghenies and into the Cumberland. They multiplied and drifted into the Ohio valley and at the beginning of the 19th century they settled in Lower Canada. They also went into Indiana, Illinois region, Kansas and the Dakota section and the northwest. Their descendents moved into all the vast area of middle west and far-western America as well as eastern America.

The Swiss and German labored under many problems and difficulties which people of today would find it hard to believe. They were foreigners and as such were held in disfavor by the English government of this providence even though Penn gave them a special invitation to come and settle here. The Swiss and Germans were hard workers and by being thrifty they began to make progress and money and were looked upon with jealousy by other settlers among them. It is believed that the noble life and struggles of the Swiss and Germans of eastern Pennsylvania, and especially of Lancaster County, were the very backbone of Industrial Lancaster County.

They were persecuted for their religious faith for many years in their homeland and in this new land. They were known by their plain dress, moral life, their temperate living and their refusal to take part in government and oaths. They did not believe in infant baptism, transubstantiation, force, war or political affairs. As far back as the Year 1000, they were called Anabaptists or Waldenseans and many suffered martyrdom for their faith. In 1203, these Anabaptists or Waldenseans had the Holy Scriptures translated into their own language and they did not practice any other doctrine. They carefully followed the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount.

Ernest Muller, a preacher in Langnau, wrote that among the Mennonite families living in and around Langnau, Switzerland in 1621, was a family headed by Christian Yost, and a daughter of Stinnis Gibbel was living with them. Also a Klaus Yost and his wife. Others with the surnames of Baumgardner, Probst or Brobst, Moritz, Bichsel or Bixler, Ruch or Reich, Studder (a powerful youth), Utzenberger, Dellenbach, Raeber or Reber, Kreyenbuel or Graybill, Greber or Garber and Rothlisperger. Among the families of eastern Pennsylvania we find the familiar names of Baumgardner, Probst or Brobst, Ruch, Yost, Raeber or Reber, Kreyenbuel or Graybill, Bixler, Gibbel or Garber. This shows that some members of most of the families in Switzerland helped to establish the land of Penn. The community of Langnau had a population of 7,000, about 18 miles directly east of Berne in the Emmen Valley, which extends from the northeast to southeast of Berne.

Children of CHRISTIAN (JOST) and BARBARA ____?_____ are: