Monday, July 20, 2009

JOHANN GEORG JOST 1727-1775


[Ancestral Link: Lura Minnie Parker (Stagge) daughter of Minnie May Elmer (Parker), daughter of Mary Ann or Minnie Jost (Elmer), daughter of John Alexander Jost, son of George Henry Jost, son of Johann (Jean) Georg (George) Jost]



Jost Biographies Part One
Submitted by Polli Turner (
http://pollisplace.com/history)


According to the Historical Research Center, who sells family crests and family name histories:

The German surname Jost is patronymic in origin, belonging to that group of surnames derived from the forename or Christian name of a father. In this case the surname comes from the old Germanic forename Jos or Joss and the original bearer would have been simply the "son of Jos". The forename is also found in the Latin form Jodocus. It is generally believed that the forename is of Celtic origin meaning "warrior". It was the name of a seventh century Breton saint, St. Josse, a hermit of Panthieu in France, whose cult spread into southern Germany in the eleventh century. There was traditionally a fete or fair on St. Josse's Day which did not die out until the fourteenth century. In 1385 in Ravensburg, a church was dedicated to St. Jost zu Ravensburg whose life appears in the book "Von Saint Ursulen Schifflin" in Strasbourg. The forename is now found in the form Joyce, which has also developed into a surname, especially numerous in Wales and Ireland.

Early records of this surname date back to the thirteenth century when one Jost de Zolikon of Zurich is noted in the "Urkundenbuch der Stadt und Landschaft Zurich" in 1298. In 1424 , one Jack Jos of Reuthe can be found in the "Allgauer Heimatbucher" while in 1500 one Jodokus Aichmann of Calw is found in the "Urkundenbuch der Stadt Heilbronn". He appears again in the same sources as Jost Eychenmann in 1508.

First Generation

The following information was put together by Clara Jost Marr, and I have added tidbits here and there from Dr. A. C. Jost and Frank Jost Newson. This is the tradition that has been passed on down through the Jost clan over the generations. Note that there are variances here compared with what I have found in my research--George's birthplace, for instance.

"George Jost was born in Wittenberg, Germany, in 1728. He, with his wife, Susanna, came to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1750. They were both followers of Martin Luther, and their ancestors had been among Luther's personal friends.

"Soon after their arrival in Halifax with several other German families who left that country to get away from the frequent wars, they, being anxious for a place of divine worship in their own tongue, sent to Germany for a Lutheran minister. They also erected a building still standing on Brunswick Street, not far from St. George's Church--it still bears its peculiar spire, which George helped to build. In the meantime the little German band had no minister but for some time attended a public service read by a school master.

"After 1787 the Rev. Mr. Houseal, a Lutheran minister, came over from Germany to minister to them the word of life. His appearance and manners were quite peculiar. He preached in a long white wig and on entering any habitation he used the words of spiritual salutation "Peace be on this house."

"After his death, the little flock became scattered but still manifested many moral excellencies. With them all manual labor terminated at 5 p.m. on Saturday and a preparation for the Holy Sabbath was observed by the reading of Holy Scripture and prayers.

"It is a family tradition that George had a part in the making of the rooster which still is on the weather vane of St. George's church. It is known that he was one of the church officers in 1764.
"George worked as a whitesmith [a worker in white metals, particularly a tinsmith, or a worker in iron who finishes, polishes and galvanizes.] Their family lived in Brunswick Street, nearly opposite the place in which the Brunswick Street Methodist Church now stands."The following is a result of research I have been doing on George and Susanna:

George's full name was Johann Georg Jost. It was a practice in Germany, among both Lutherans and Catholics, that the first given name was a christening name, and the child would actually go by the middle name. So it was with George. If you notice, he and Susanna named three of their sons John [the English equivalent of Johann]! The Betty's passenger list states simply that he was from Strasbourg. The list gives his name as Jean Georges Jost, the French version of his name, but his own signature on the indebtedness list was "Johann Georg Jost,"
showing that he was a German speaker, and thought of himself as being ethnically German rather than French.


He was born May 30, 1727, according to the birth records of St. Aurelians' Lutheran church in Strasbourg. This tallies with his age (25) when he boarded the Betty in May 1752. But it means he was actually 48 years old when he died in 1775, rather than 49, as was recorded on his gravestone.

According to the World Book Encyclopedia: "Alsace-Lorraine became part of Charlemagne's empire in the 700's. But it fell to Germany when his grandsons divided his empire. Alsace-Lorraine remained under German rule until the 1500's, when France gained control of them by slow stages. The people fought all efforts to turn them into Frenchmen. But the French Revolution of 1789 brought a change of heart. The Alsatian people became so French in spirit that more than 50,000 moved to France when Germany got their territory in 1871." However, in searching Strasbourg's Lutheran church records from the early 1700's, I found that the records were in German (and bits of Latin), meaning that George was definitely a German speaker!

In 1749, Halifax was founded. The British wanted to outweigh the French Catholic influence in Nova Scotia, and so recruited "Foreign Protestants" from Europe (Germany, Switzerland, France) to help settle the city of Halifax. [Later, the British government banished French Catholics from Nova Scotia. The "Acadians" moved to Louisiana, and there became known as the "Cajuns."] Meanwhile, in Alsace-Lorraine the pressures to become French and Catholic were increasing. George, probably wanting to remain faithful to the teachings of Luther, and attracted by the promise of free land in Nova Scotia, left his home at that time, and joined the "Foreign Protestants" who were settling in Halifax. So he escaped the French Revolution in his homeland.
The settlement of "Foreign Protestants" in Nova Scotia began in 1750, and the last of them arrived in 1752, totalling about 2500 people. In May 1752, in Rotterdam, Holland, George embarked on a ship, the Betty, giving his home as Strasbourg, and his occupation as locksmith, and his age as 25. He was unmarried at the time. He landed at Halifax, where he remained until May 1753, when the British government resettled the "Foreign Protestants" in a distant wilderness surrounded by hostile Indians--the farming settlement came to be known as Lunenburg. There, the next year, George married Susanna Catherine Morash, who with her family, had left Kleinheubach (just southeast of Frankfurt, on the Main River) in 1751. During George and Susanna's time in Lunenburg, the settlers were ravaged by Indian attacks--several were carried off, and an entire family was scalped.

George and Susanna's first son, John Michael Jost, was baptized in Lunenburg on Sept. 18, 1757 [their daughter was born the previous year, but escaped being recorded, as happened often in the early days of record-keeping]. They returned to Halifax ca. 1759-1760, where the rest of their children were born. Whether they returned to Halifax out of fear of the Indians, or because the employment opportunities were better for non-farmers, we don't know (his will states that he had worked as a blacksmith in Halifax). But in his will he included 150 acres "in the Range of the Five Houses," a peninsula of Lunenburg. In 1765, he was granted a 150 acre parcel in Halifax, and on December 5, 1771, George bought a house and lot in Halifax [probably the house on Brunswick St]. He died only four years later, at 49 years of age. Susannah remarried, to a Mr. Drillis, and had another daughter, Catherine.

George and Susanna were buried together in the cemetery of the Little Dutch Church in Halifax, where they worshipped with their family. Their grave can still be seen there.



According to the plaque on the wall, The Little Dutch Church in Halifax was built in 1755 by the earliest German Lutherans in Halifax, and was the first Lutheran church in Canada. It is only about 12 by 6 yards in size! Actually, the settlers found a small unfinished house, and drug it to its present location, then finished it there. The spire was built later, with George's help, according to family tradition--being a blacksmith he may have actually made the rooster weather vane. The schoolmaster who led the services was a Johann Jorpel [or Törpel]. The church was taken over by the Anglican church years ago, and is now a historical landmark.
In 1752, a Rev. Bernard Michael Houseal, a Lutheran pastor, arrived at Rotterdam, having been called "to be Minister to a Colony of Germans to be settled in Nova Scotia and he to reside in Halifax." But the British government had already discontinued sending settlers to Nova Scotia by the time he arrived, and so he was sent instead on a ship to Maryland. In January 1784, he arrived in Halifax along with Loyalist refugees from New York, and then began ministering to the German Lutherans there. He received his training in Strasbourg [I wonder if he knew George there?], but was later ordained as an Anglican minister, in order to receive financial support from their missionary society. The church gradually became Anglican, the settlers simply being content to have someone who could minister to them in the German language.

Only one week before his death George made out his will--he must have been ill, and suspected that he had not much time left. I have a photocopy of the will, as it was copied by hand into Halifax's book of wills, probably by Charly Morris, the official who signed at the bottom. I added only what punctuation was needed to clarify the meaning.

In the name of God Amen, I George Jost, Blacksmith in Halifax Nova Scotia, being of sound mind & memory do make this my last will & testament in manner following that is to say, first I recommend my Soul to almighty God that gave it, & my Body to be decently Buried. Secondly, I give to Susannah Catharine Jost my lawfull wife my House & Lott in the Town of Halifax letter H & No. 6 in Colliers division, & also one half Lott in the northern side 50 feet front, 250 feet deep letter B No. 9. Likewise 150 acres of land lying & situate in the Range of the Five Houses [in Lunenburg]. All the above houses, lotts & premises Susannah Catherine Jost is to keep Possession of so long her God pleases to take her from this world she Susannah Catharine Jost shall sell no part or anything hereinbefore mentioned, but after her Death the Houses Lotts & Lands shall be equally divided amongst her Children then living.

May the thirtieth in the year 1775, Signed Sealed and delivered in presence of whose names are hereunto published. George Jost Anthony Henry Jn. Carl Gruss Philip Foss Halifax Jan. 27th 1780, the written will presented for Proof by Susannah Catharine Jost (now Drillis) & was proved by the oath of Anthony Henry before me. Charly Morris


The following information was taken from "The Palatine Project - Reconstructed Passenger Lists" [Lists Johann Georg Jost, 25, locksmith, freight 1m, 1f, 1h.]

1752 Betty

Captain: Robert Warden From: Hellevoet Roads, Rotterdam 16 May 1752

Arrival: St. George's Island, 24 July 1752

Left with 161 passengers and arrived with 154 persons. Only 7 (4.3 %) persons died on the voyage. The ship Betty traveled together with the ship Speedwell. Captain Warden wrote on 24 July 1752 right after his arrival at Halifax concerning the 68 day journey during which only four young children and one adult died and the rest were, "very well contented. The worst man I had aboard was the schoolmaster-- but I put up with him very well as all the Rest, poor Souls as I may say with Truth now." The schoolmaster apparently left immediately after arrival for the French settlement at Frankfurt (Dresden), Maine.

Most of the passengers on this ship were from Montbeliard, a protestant province in France ruled by the ducal family of Württemberg. A few of these settlers shortly after arriving in Nova Scotia moved south to join friends and relatives who had come over earlier and settled in the town of Frankfurt (later called Dresden), Maine (see the Priscilla 1751). A number of other passengers on this ship were from Switzerland and a few from Germany. The names on the reconstructed list have been rearranged according to their place of origin from the southwest to northeast.

It is not possible to identify all the people on the ship because often a family would take an older parent or step children who are not easy to identify in the available sources, however all those in each household were listed under "Freight". Following are the abbreviations used here: 1m = 1 (adult) man, 1w = 1 (adult) woman, 1 hf = 1 half freight (i.e. child between 4-14 years old), 1c = 1 child under 4 (goes free), 3f = 3 freights (total, e.g could be a family of five: parents, two children between 4-14, and one child under 4), 5h = 5 heads (i.e. total number of people in the group).
The place of origin was generally the state, province, or city-state, however in some cases a town was listed (or the town might have been a small duchy or independent town in 1753). The actual towns of origin of these people will be verified in the future and updated on this site as time permits.


First Generation-
Johann Georg Jost, "George" born May 30, 1727, in Strasbourg; died June 7, 1775, in Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; 48 years old. The Betty's passenger list states that he was an unmarried locksmith from Strasbourg. Married (December 17,1754 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia) Susanna Catherine Morasch, born August 11, 1735, in Kleinheubach; died April 3, 1811,in Hailfax; 75 years old. Kleinheubach is a small village in Germany, on the south side of the Main river in Bavaria, just southeast of Frankfurt. George and Susanna were buried together in the cemetery of the Little Dutch Church in Halifax.

Notice that they named three of their sons John! It was a custom among Germans that the first name given a child was a baptismal or christening name, often a Biblical name, and the child would use the second name. That's why, although George gave his name (you might say his legal name) as Johann Georg when he boarded the ship in Europe, he went by "George" in all the records of Nova Scotia. On the ship's passenger list, the man who wrote the names of the passengers wrote the name as Jean Georges Jost, using the French translation, but when George signed the indebtedness list, his signature read, "Johann Georg Jost."

George was naturalized September 12, 1758, using his full name, John George Jost. Winthrop Bell comments in his notes, "How he managed this is not determinable. By September 1758, only the arrivals legally of 1751 had sufficient length of residence to be entitled to naturalization." I wonder if he was allowed this privilege because his wife was among the 1751 arrivals.

After George's death, Susanna remarried (September 8, 1776) Johann Caspar Drilliot, "Caspar," born ca. 1726, in Switzerland, according to the Speedwell's passenger list. He arrived in Halifax in 1851. He married first (April 9, 1752) Mary Schuffelburger. They had three children before her death, sometime after 1762. Caspar and Susanna had a daughter of their own, Catherine. Catherine married Nicholas LeCane. The family name has been seen as Drillis, Drillio, Drilliot, and even Trillian and Trilliot! His signature was awkward and uneducated, and looks to be "Drilliot. It is unusual that Susanna was buried with her first husband George, particularly since he died almost 30 years before she did. Presumably Casper preceded her in death, and was buried with his first wife, leaving Susanna to be
buried with George.
found on-line

SUSANNA CATHERINE MORASH (JOST) 1734-1811

[Ancestral Link: Lura Minnie Parker (Stagge) daughter of Minnie May Elmer (Parker), daughter of Mary Ann or Minnie Jost (Elmer), daughter of John Alexander Jost, son of George Henry Jost, son of Susanna Catherine Morash (Jost).]


The Morash Family from Kleinheubach, GermanyPolli Jost Turner, Editor

We owe a debt of gratitude to Winthrop P. Bell, the author of the book, "Foreign Protestants and the Settlement of Nova Scotia" [1961]. It is often difficult to learn about immigrant ancestors, trying to discover when they came to America, what boat they travelled on, and (most important to further research) where they came from in the Old World. In the 1700's, the French presence in Canada was already strong. But the British desired a strategic port on the eastern seaboard, in competition with the French presence, as well as the rich potential of the cod fishing industry there, and began settlement of Halifax and Nova Scotia. England was unwilling to lose more citizens to the westward migration. So the plan was formed to recruit "Foreign Protestants," largely German-speaking Lutherans, to help settle the new land. Between 1751 and 1753, about 1500 immigrants were brought to Halifax, most of them being taken to build the new settlement of Lunenburg in 1754. Bell developed an interest in this group of "Foreign Protestants," and began to compile research for a book on the subject, to clarify misconceptions that had arisen over the intervening years. That research makes available to us detailed information on all the immigrants, gleaned from the records of the day which would be unavailable to the general public.

First Generation—Johann Leonhardt Morasch, born ca. 1706, of Kleinheubach, a small village on the Main River, southeast of the city of Frankfurt. Married Anna Elisabetha, born ca. 1710. Anna Elizabeth married secondly (Feb. 10, 1739, in Kleinheubach), Johann Georg Haun, "Hans", born ca. 1705. His father was Andres Haun, of Wildenstein.


I visited Kleinheubach in 1997, and found that the current pastor of the Lutheran church had sent the church record books to the regional archive in Regensburg (they have not been filmed by the LDS church). There was no information about the family I could learn there, but I was thrilled to see the old church, still standing, that was built shortly before the Morasch family left for Nova Scotia. However, Richard Morash visited Kleinheubach sometime before that. He was able to spend some time with the previous pastor of the church, investigating the old church record books to see what information there was about the Morasch family. He recently shared this with me:"He told me the most amazing tale. Johann Leonhardt Morasch was a grenadier and belonged to the Emperior of Austria. The tale goes that he was thought to have died in battle. His wife, Anna Elizabetha, assumed she had become a widow and on Feb. 10, 1739, married again to a Johann Haun. There was a notice made (in the church records) in June of 1740 that Johann Leonhardt Morasch showed up in the village to discover his wife had remarried. Still belonging to the Emperor, he left the town with a broken heart. There is a record of a Johannes Morasch that died in Hoechst in the year 1808."

Together, Johann Georg Haun and Anna Elizabetha brought the family to Halifax, Nova Scotia, among the 2500 "Foreign Protestants" recruited by the British. They were from Kleinheubach, and arrived in Halifax on board the Murdoch in 1751. Most of the immigrants could not afford passage to Halifax, so the British government extended them credit for the voyage. The immigrants could work off their "indebtedness" by working on public works in Halifax at a rate of 1 shilling 6 pence per day for laborers, or 2 shillings per day for a tradesman. It is interesting that the Haun family paid their own fares for the voyage! However, the sons Johannes and Johann Michael both were indebted for one fare each, at a cost of £70, 17, 18. (There were 20 shillings to a British pound.)

Birthdates were from the Kleinheubach church records, given to Richard Morash by the pastor there:

1. John Michael Morasch, "Michael," born 1728, in Germany; died August 4, 1784, in Nova Scotia; 56 years old. Married (March 11, 1752, in Halifax) Maria Elizabeth Haasin (the feminine form of the German surname Haas), died April 17, 1786.

2. Johann Nicolaus Morasch, born April 22, 1730, in Kleinheubach; died August 30, 1734, also in Kleinheubach; four years old.

3. Johannes Georg Morasch, born March 13, 1733, in Kleinheubach; died December 12, 1820, in Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia; 87 years old. Married (July 20, 1756, in Lunenburg) Catherina Christina Finck (acc. to Bell’s notes, although some sources give Zinck).

4 Susanna Catherine Morasch, born August 11, 1735, in Kleinheubach; died April 5, 1811, in Halifax, Nova Scotia; 76 years old. Married Johann Georg Jost. Neither she nor her sister were mentioned on the ship’s passenger list. It may be that, because they were under the age of 20, or because they were not heads of a family, mention was not considered necessary.

5. Susanna Elizabeth Morasch, born February 12, 1737, in Kleinheubach. Married (March 30, 1755, in Lunenburg) Johannes Seeburger, born 1722, from Württemburg. He came on board the Pearl in 1751. His last name was originally Sohburger. Confirmed in St. George’s Church on October 4, 1761. All their children were baptized in Lunenburg. After Johannes’ death, she remarried (June 2, 1782) Johann Peter Zinck, a widower. Peter was the son of Caspar and Anna Maria Zinck of Kleinheubach. He came to Nova Scotia with his parents on board the Murdoch in 1751.

•Children of John George Haun and Anna Elizabeth:

1. Casper Haun, born ca. 1743. Confirmed in St. George’s Church on October 4, 1761. Married (May 23, 1763, in Halifax) Sophia Smith, daughter of Johann Adam and Cathrina Schmidt.

2. Maria Lisse Haun, born ca. 1747; confirmed 1761, in Halifax.

Second Generation—Susanna Catherine Morasch, born August 11, 1735, in Kleinheubach; died April 3, 1811, in Hailfax; 75 years old. Married (December 17, 1754, in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia) Johann Georg Jost, "George" born May 30, 1727, in Strasbourg; died June 7, 1775, in Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; 48 years old. The Betty’s passenger list states that he was an unmarried locksmith from Strasbourg. Kleinheubach is a small village in Germany, on the south side of the Main river in Bavaria, just southeast of Frankfurt. George and Susanna were buried together in the cemetery of the Little Dutch Church in Halifax. After George’s death, Susanna remarried (September 8, 1776) Johann Caspar Drilliot, "Caspar," born ca. 1726, in Switzerland, according to the Speedwell’s passenger list. He arrived in Halifax in 1851. He married first (April 9, 1752) Mary Schuffelburger. They had three children before her death, sometime after 1762. Caspar and Susanna had a daughter of their own, Catherine. Catherine married Nicholas LeCane. The family name has been seen as Drillis, Drillio, Drilliot, and even Trillian and Trilliot! His signature was awkward and uneducated, and looks to be "Drilliot. It is unusual that Susanna was buried with her first husband George, particularly since he died almost 30 years before she did. Presumably Casper preceded her in death, and was buried with his first wife, leaving Susanna to be buried with George.

1. Rachel [or Regina] Elizabeth Jost,"Elizabeth," born 1755, in Lunenburg, died February 3, 1840, in Halifax; 84 years old. She was buried near her parents in the Little Dutch Church cemetery. Married (July 31, 1776, in St. Paul’s Church in Halifax) John David Longard, "David," born March 18, 1755 in Lunenburg. He was a blacksmith, his parents were Ulrich and Marianna Anna Longard (probably originally Lankert). Ulrich Lankert was a farmer from Switzerland, and arrived in Halifax on board the Betty (with George Jost) in 1752. He was apparently single at the time.

2. John Michael Jost,baptized September 18, 1757, in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Died young. Buried in the Little Dutch Church cemetery.

3. George Frederick Jost, baptized April 23, 1760, in Halifax (St. Paul’s Church). Married (August 14, 1785, in Lunenburg) Maria Elizabeth Reichardt (Anna Elizabeth?). Lived in Herring Cove, an area of Halifax, in 1792-3 as a "labourer."

4. Andrew Jost, a twin, baptized July 3, 1761, in Halifax (St. Paul’s). Probably died young.

5. William Jost, a twin, baptized July 3, 1761, in Halifax (St. Paul’s). Probably died young.

6. John Casper Jost, born September 11, 1763, in Halifax; died June 13, 1850, in Guysboro, Nova Scotia; 86 years old. Baptized September 17, 1763, at St. Paul’s. Married (March 29, 1791, in Halifax) Mary Catherina Hirtle, born August 5, 1770, in Halifax (baptized August 26, 1770); died March 14, 1846, in Guysboro; 75 years old.

7. Jacob Jost, baptized January 10, 1765, in Halifax (St. Paul’s). He possibly died young.

8. Catherine Barbara Jost,"Barbara," baptized October 1, 1766, in Halifax (St. Paul’s); died November 9, 1864; about 98 years old. Married (April 3, 1787) Alexander Moir, who was probably born in Scotland. Both were buried in the Camp Hill Cemetery in Halifax. He was a blacksmith. Their sons started the Moir chocolate factory in the early 1800’s. The company was purchased by the Hershey’s company during the 1970’s.

9. Margaret (or Mary) Sophia Jost, baptized February 16, 1768, in Halifax (St. Paul’s). She died young.

10. Mary Philipina Jost,"Philipina," born 1769, in Halifax; died May 18, 1832, in Halifax; 63 years old. Married (January 21, 1789, in the Little Dutch Church in Halifax) William Jeremiah Vickers, "Jeremiah," born ca. 1762, in Halifax; died June 13, 1826, in Halifax; 64 years old. A tinsmith. They had at least 8 children.

11. John Philip Jost,born 1771, in Halifax; died February 7, 1854, in Lunenburg; 83 years old (82 years old, according to the Stayner Collection). Married (October 25, 1796, in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia) Anna Gertrude Pentz (or Penn), born 1775, in Lunenburg, died October 10, 1858; 83 years old (85, according to Stayner). Her father was John Martin Penn. All their children were born in Lunenburg, where Philip farmed.

12. George Henry Jost,born or baptized March 28, 1773, in Halifax; died February 1, 1849; 75 years old. He was a carpenter. Married (September 29, 1801, in Halifax) Margery Smith, born 1777; died December 5, 1851, in Halifax; 74 years old. They were buried in the Little Dutch church cemetery, near his parents. Their children were all born in Halifax.

Photos of Polli and Randy Turner and Family's Visit to Kleinheubach, GERMANY, October 1997

The bank of the Main river, overlooking Grossheubach to the north. My daughters Cathi (8 yrs.) and Christi (10 yrs.). They are standing with their backs to the old town wall.

Looking west, the river is to the right. This is the town wall again, and the arch leading into the town. The arch has markings at different levels, showing where the river rose to in flood years, going back into the 1700's, as I remember. One as recent as 1995. The year the river was almost as high as the top of the arch. The church is back to the left a bit.

The view of the rear of the Kleinheubach church seen over the wall (taken from where my daughters were standing on the bank of the river).

The front of the church, as seen from the street. It's kind of tucked back between two buildings.



Me (Polli) in front of the church. Over my head you can see the two plaques in the next photo.



The two plaques: The top one is in Latin --can anyone translate? The lower plaque is in German -- In the year of the Lord 1455 this building was begun under the honorable parish pastor Konrad Scholl. 1706-1710 church added to.



Altar of the church. The church is very small, and humble, compared to the ornate baroque churches we had seen in Bavaria. But it was very warm, felt like there had been love there for many years.


A plaque on the left hand wall of the church. A tricky translation, this is the best I can make of it: "Here rests the Very Reverend Sir Johann Friedrich von Fruhauf, personal council to the ruler of Loewenstein-Wertheim. He died Dec. 10, 1745, age 64 years, 6 months, 15 days. The righteous are comforted in death."

Sources: Richard Morash, Allan G. Jost, Nova Scotia, Norman and Beth Jost, Codys, New Brunswick, Roland and Joyce Jost, Newfoundland, The "Foreign Protestants" and the Settlement of Nova Scotia, by Winthrop P. Bell, 1961. Winthrop Bell’s Notes, available on microfilm #1421430 from Salt Lake City, through local Family History Centers

Morash Links:
Our photos of Kleinheubach, taken Oct. (see above) 1997:http://www.rootsweb.com/~canns/lunenburg/kleinheubach.html
Also on Dave Conrad's site:http://www.downhome.top-ereviews.com/kleinheubachvillage.html
Chris Young's visit to Kleinheubach:http://www.seawhy.com/gvkh.html
Allan Jost's gedcom of our Jost and Morash family:http://jostfamily.tk/
Allan Jost's gedcom of our Jost and Morash family:http://jostfamily.tk/
Halifax County, Nova Scotia GenWeb Project:http://www.rootsweb.com/~nshalifa/
Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia GenWeb Project:http://www.rootsweb.com/~canns/lunenburg/index.html
Lunenburg First Familieshttp://www.seawhy.com/fifamndx.htmllburgndx.htmlhttp://www.seawhy.com/ffmorash.htmlffmorash.html
Antecdotal Histories of Life in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, by Nancy Shaver:http://www.flora.org/nancy/lunenburg/

Friday, May 29, 2009

ALFRED BOSWORTH CHILD 1796-1852

[Ancestral Link: Lura Minnie Parker (Stagge), daughter of Minnie May Elmer (Parker), daughter of Mark Alfred Elmer, son of Hannah Polina Child (Elmer), daughter of Alfred Bosworth Child.]

2nd home in North Hammond, New York.

Second headstone, Ogden City Cemetery, Ogden, Weber, Utah.

First headstone, Ogden City Cemetery, Ogden, Weber, Utah.








Third headstone, Ogden City Cemetery, Ogden, Weber, Utah.


ALFRED BOSWORTH CHILDAlfred Bosworth Child was born 19 November 1796 at Greenfield, Saratoga, New York. He was the son of Mark Anthony Child and Hannah Benedict. They were married 8 December 1793. His father was born 10 May 1771. Alfred married Polly Barber 19 March 1817. It was at Greenfield, New York, that they heard the gospel and were baptized in 1838 by Elder Charles Blakesy. Soon after their baptism they moved to Caldwell County, Missouri, stopping for a few months on the way at Kirtland, Ohio. When this trip was made their family numbered ten. They traveled by a two-horse team. While they were traveling through heavy timbered country en route from Ohio to Caldwell, a wonderful experience happened to the family. A very aged man whose hair was long and white as wool, appeared to them and commencing with the oldest of the family, he shook hands with each one and blessed them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. After which he disappeared as suddenly as he appeared and vanished from sight. Whither he went the family never knew.

While in Caldwell County, the persecutions arose against the saints, in which Alfred and Polly participated. He with his son, Mark, taken by the mob. The best horse they had was appropriated by them and a huge farm also was confiscated by the ruthless invaders. After the release of the two prisoners their remaining horse was traded for one yoke of oxen with which the family moved with the saints in mid-winter.

In February 1839 they arrived in Quincy, Illinois, where they remained for eight months while they recuperated from their destitute condition. When they were able to travel again they went to Lee County, Iowa, where they lived for about seven years. Alfred was appointed Postmaster of the Spring Prairie Post Office and held the position for about six years.

In 1846, at the time of the exodus, they moved to Pottawattamie County, Iowa, where they resided five years while preparing an outfit to carry them across the plains. This being the third home they had sacrificed for the sake of the gospel. While the family was located here, Alfred and his fourteen-year-old son, Warren Gould, went to Missouri to work for provisions. While there Alfred became ill and had to return home.

On 12 July 1852 they commenced their journeying across the plains, arriving in Salt Lake Valley on 1 October 1852. They settled in Ogden, Weber county, where two months later on 22 December, Alfred Bosworth passed away. The hardships of the journey, exposure, and disease of the lungs were more than he could withstand. He left his wife with eight children to care for.
Children of Alfred Bosworth Child and Polly Barber.
Polly Ann
Mark Alfred
Myron Barber
Hannah Polina
John Lawson
Phoebe Wooster
Warren Gould
Orville Rensselaer
Taken from the “Richardson Family Bulletin” March 1960.
Company arrived with Uriah Curtis 1 October 1852

THE FIRST MORMON RELIGION TO COME TO OUR FAMILY
Copied and adapted by Gwen Buehler Smith
Written by my Great, Great Grandfather, Warren Gould Barber Child

 
Mark Anthony Child born 8 December 1771, married 19 November 1793
Hannah Benedict born 1 January 1774
Alfred Child born 8 December 1796, married 19 March 1817
Polly Barber born 30 March 1799

“I will give a synopsis of my father’s life as I remember it and from actual dates as related to me by my mother Polly Barber Child.

My father Alfred Bosworth Child was born 19 November 1796 to Mark Anthony Child and Hannah Benedict in Greenfield, Saratoga County, New York. My father married, to Polly Barber, 19 March 1817. They remained close to the homestead till 1826 when most of the family moved to St. Lawrence, New York, to a new farm. At this time there came into town one George E. Beakely, a Mormon Elder, who after a time succeeded in getting few to come out to hear the strange doctrine of the new Prophet, known as Joseph Smith. He met with little success in the neighborhood. My father after hearing him several times continued to investigate the doctrine.
On June 5, 1838, my father, his wife Polly, Mark A., Polly Ann, Myron, an d Hanna P. were baptized, the rest of the family under age for baptism.

We started for Kirtland, Ohio, on August 11 of the same year. We were 10 in number then. We embarked on a mail streamer up the St. Lawrence River, crossing Lake Ontario, and landing at Lewiston, a short distance below the great Niagara Falls. Father having whipped his team and wagon and such as he could. All the family was loaded in the wagon. We started by land via way of Buffalo, New York, and the Forest Easton Ohio, arriving in Kirtland some time in September.
It was while traveling through a dense forest in Ohio that a very singular incident occurred. The road was quite narrow and seemingly little traveled, through the forest was quite clear of underbrush at this particular point. There was two other teams traveling in the same direction as we were. We were casually acquainted with them at this point. They were not of our faith, but made very pleasant company for us in traveling in a comparatively wild and savage country. All was still around us except the slight jolting of our wagon wheels or an occasional chirping of the birds.


The family was all riding in the wagon with the sides of our painted cover rolled up a few feet at the sides and fastened with strings to buttons on the bows to admit the fresh air and permit the family to view the various changes along the roadsides. When a voice was heard to say (who)? Our team being in the lead, and the other two following close in the rear. Father setting in the front driving, had not heard, or seen any person in that vicinity. At the word (Who)? From a strange voice the team stopped so suddenly that the teams traveling behind came in contact with your wagon. When Father recovered a little from the sudden and so abrupt a stop. A personage walked unconcernedly up to the wagon. He had the appearance of being very aged, well dressed with an unusual long white beard, tidy in his appearance from head to foot. Apparently about six feet in height of rather spare build. He had a very pleasant and happy look on his face. He asked no questions as to who we were, or where we were going, but proceeded to shake hands with the family, commending with father first, then mother and each of the children according to age, blessing them in the name of Jesus Christ. The writer being the next to the youngest.

After getting through the family, he turned to me the second time and promised a further and special blessing, placing his hands on my bare head. Without further words he slowly passed on. Father expected he would do likewise with the family behind us, but he simply made a light bow as he passed them. Some of the family got out to hail him and get a further explanation of so strange and unlooked for occurrence. The visit was so sudden and unlooked for that not a word had been spoken by the family. They went quickly to the rear and to their surprise he was no where to be seen. They made a hasty search in every direction, he was no where to be found. No tracks were found.

The families traveling with us remarked that we had received a very strange blessing from a stranger. Upon arriving in Kirtland, Father related the occurrence to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He told father that the stranger was no other than one of the Nephites who were permitted not to taste death and that they made occasional visits where they were permitted.
While in Kirtland, the Prophet Joseph, taking the writer then 3 1/2 years old in his arms and carried him up the different flights of stairs.

The family stayed in Kirtland only a few weeks. Under the direction of the Prophet, we continued our journey to Missouri. We arrived some time in October of the same year. Father purchased a farm in Shal Creek, Coldwell County. On the farm were several cribs of corn on the ear, which served us and the team for food during the winter of 1838-9. However, before spring came we were relieved of our best horse, which was confiscated by the mob which invaded the county as they also did Jackson and other adjacent counties where the Saints were settled. The Saints were in constant fear of more cruel raids being made on them at any moment. Father and Mark, my oldest brother, were taken prisoners with many of the other brethren, including the Prophet. During this time, mother had to devise every way to procure food for the family. Most of our little store being exhausted or confiscated by the mob. My brother Myron, the oldest left home, being then quite young, helped mother get the loan of the neighbor’s horse to work with the one we had left. Start for Jackson County to get such supplies as was necessary to feed and cloth the family. Myron was a great help with the team of horses.

During this time, Brother David W. Patten was mortally wounded on Crooked River. Our team was used to carry him to a place of safety. The persecution such as driving peaceful citizens already poverty stricken from their homes and possessions was hard to bear. Some still have deeds to their property to this day.

We left Missouri and arrived the first of March at West Hawk on the Mississippi River. We had exchanged our only horse for a yoke of cattle which pulled our wagon. The greater portion of the family walking bare footed on the frozen ground, we had to stop a week to 10 days and wait for the floating ice to clear before boats could cross.

I can’t remember his name, but he was very kind to us and let us occupy one room in his home. We put down bed rolls at night.

Soon the river was down so we could cross. The wagon and team going first. The family followed in the second boat. We landed in Quincy.

The roads were too muddy to try to go on. Father rented a farm four miles from Quincy. After we harvested some corn, wheat, and a few varieties of vegetables, my father and brother Mark started on foot to locate a suitable place in Nauvoo.

The locality selected as situated between Big and Little Sugar Creek about six miles from Nauvoo, near the east banks of the Mississippi. 160 acres of land was staked off, and the family was sent for.

The family brought as many supplies as possible in such a small wagon. It had to last us till new crops could be planted.

During the winter we had to build fences and get the ground ready for crops in the spring. Everyone that was old enough had to help. The smaller ones would gather wood to burn during the winter.

Mark went out hunting for wild game to replenish our food. He would bring home deer, wild turkey or bacon.

We never let the fire go out. If it did by accident, we would light it with flint. The last one to go to bed had to build the fire up. And once in the night, we took turns building it up again.

Mother was a very good nurse, she was considered one of the best. No matter if it was bad weather, or night. She always went to help. She rode a horse very well.

After awhile there was a post office, Father was the Post Master. It was called the String Prairie Post Office. The following winter he was employed to teach the only school and first one in the locality which as his custom to do each winter as long as he remained in the state, as he had acquired in his youth over an average education of his day.

Father’s brother, John Child, came to visit us. He brought with him $200.00 that belonged to father. He put it in a tin box where he kept the money. One night a stranger came and asked if he could stay the night. We let him. When he left, we discovered that the money was gone. This was a great loss to father and mother.

There lived about a half a mile to the north a couple by the name of Need. He had lost a leg in the Revolutionary War. They had joined the Church. The neighbors had helped him build a small house on the portion of Father’s farm. Their principal support was from contributions. One day my sister Phebe and myself were sent to carry some food to them. There was a path through brush and timbers that was about half the distance. Rattlesnakes were quite thick and dangerous everywhere. We were barefooted, and on our return I was ahead, and stepped on a substance that felt soft and cold. I jumped back, a large rattlesnake clinging coiling himself around my right foot, having stuck his fangs just to the side of my foot. I assisted my sister in killing the monster, she carried it home on a stick. By the time we arrived, the poison had nearly reached my knee. The sensation, as I remembered it, was the feeling that my leg had been cut off at that point. All remedies at hand were quickly applied by Mother. There was no doctor in the area. Three weeks I lay there between life and death, the poison reaching nearly to my hip, before it could be checked. When I had sufficiently recovered to get up, my right leg had drawn up so bad that I could only go on my knees. Of later by means of crutch which condition lasted over six months, before I could straighten my leg sufficiently to walk.

How well I remember the day the news reaches us of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. Mother was out on the lawn. The party bringing the news rode up on horseback and asked if he had heard the news. Mother felt that it was bad news, as her whole body began to shake. He said “that old Joe Smith had been killed at last and that they or we would have no further trouble with him. Cursed and rode on to tell others. Father went immediately to Nauvoo as further trouble might need his presence, as he was ever on his post when necessary to defend the Prophet and the cause of truth.

In February 1846 the people started to move from Nauvoo in covered wagons. They crossed the river when it was frozen, and camped on Big Sugar Creek, near our place. The snow was a foot deep, and they were delayed for 3 weeks.

Father closed up his business and followed their furrowed trail that had been made in the storm and wind. Leaving his possessions of seven years of hard labor to the mercy of the enemy who were trailing us on every hand, their bloody work already commenced on the remnants of our people that had no means of going with the rest.

Our little caravan consisting of two wagons drawn by yokes of oxen. On the 10th of June descended Soap Creek Hill, which is very steep. So much so that the chain lock to the wagon I was driving gave way and the wagon pressed onto the oxen so they were unable to hold it. Mother was sitting on the front and her feet hanging over. She was thrown out between the two oxen The oxen trying to hold the wagon, crushed her. We couldn’t get her until we reached the bottom of the hill.

In the impoverished condition of the saints and bad weather at this season of the year, they having but little time for preparation. There was great privations endured and many had to be left at recurring points on the way at places christened by the Saints, Garden Grove, Mt. Pasco. Where the brethren went to the nearest point in Missouri to get work and buy supplies for their families. Some times they would meet up with the advanced party teams, at the Missouri River. They were sent back to bring up those that were left behind that had no teams or means of leaving Nauvoo.

A swollen stream had washed away a bridge. We got some wood from some nearby timer and built the bridge again. After which many wagons passed over.

July 5, 1852, they started for Salt Lake Valley. They arrived October 1st the same year, having traveled in wagon drawn by oxen and cows over 1,000 miles across the plains. He and his wife were prominent in the building up of Utah. She was a midwife for many years.

© Elaine Johnson. Descendants may make copies of this document for themselves and their families. No other use is authorized.
Alfred Bosworth Child
15 November 1796 - 22 December 1852
by Elaine Johnson
Alfred's grandfather, Increase Child, was a captain in the American Revolution and was impressed by the country of upper New York state when he passed through it with General Gates army. Afterward, he settled in Saratoga county. Alfred was born in Greenfield to Mark Anthony and Hannah Benedict Child. His mother was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, where the Childs had resided before the war. Saratoga county is on the western side of the Hudson River. Alfred grew up as the oldest of eleven children. There were twins, a boy and a girl, born before him, but they died at birth.

On 19 March 1817 Alfred married Polly Barber of Greenfield and they moved north to
Morristown on the St. Lawrence River. The following year he received news of his mother's death. The Alfred B. Child family was living in Boonville, Oneida, New York in 1820. A child was born to Alfred and Polly in Ballston, Saratoga county, in 1821. But the next child was born in Morristown in 1825. About 1828 he moved his family up river to Hammond where he also farmed. During the 1830 census Alfred's family resided in Gouverneur almost fifteen miles southeast of Hammond. In 1837 another child was born in Ogdenburg, up river from Morristown.

They seem to have lived in almost every corner of St. Lawrence county except Stockholm township where the prophet Joseph Smith Jr.'s grandfather lived until his death in 1831.

Alfred and his wife were baptized 5 June 1838. He sold his farm and moved his family to
Kirtland, Ohio, but the main body of the church had moved on to Missouri. After a few months they continued to Caldwell county, Missouri, where he bought a farm.

A public meeting was held in Far West. A committee was assigned to devise the best way
to aid the poor in fleeing from Governor Boggs' death threat and how many poor were worthy of help. They were to draft a resolution of the plan for the next meeting. The resolution was signed by many including “Alfrod B. Childs.”

Alfred took his family to Lee county, Iowa, and in 1840 bought a farm in Half Breed
Reservation. The Child family were members of the Iowa Territory Branch of the church. It was located in the town of Zarahemla. Erastus Snow, George A. Smith, Wilford Woodruff, and Ezra T. Benson and their families were also members of the branch. He was Endowed at the Nauvoo Temple 7 February 1846 in the last session conducted there and sealed to his wife the same day.
When the Saints were forced out of Nauvoo, Alfred again sold his farm and moved west to Council Bluffs in 1847. The High Priests Record recorded in Pottowattamie county gives his residence on the north branch of the Pigion river. He bought another farm and made improvements before selling to move westward as part of Uriah Curtis' ox-team company.

After arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Alfred took his family to the more northern
settlement of Ogden, Weber county. Alfred started a sawmill in Ogden, but had been weakened by the long journey to find safety for his family and the hardships of starting over so often. His grave in the Ogden City Cemetery is one of the oldest and reads only Alfred B. Child.1

The somewhat eventful history of Mr. Alfred Bosworth Child, which we here annex, is furnished by one of his sons, Warren Gould Child, who passed through many of the experiences of the father, and has much of his zeal for the Mormon faith:

Alfred Bosworth Child, my father, was married to Polly, daughter of Ichabod and Anne Deake Barber. He soon after his marriage moved to the town of Morristown, St. Lawrence county, New York, where he purchased a small farm, of which he cleared and cultivated some thirty acres, and through economy and industry acquired a limited amount of property. It was here, in the year 1837, that the principles of Mormonism were sounded in his ears, and after a careful investigation of the same he embraced Mormonism, sold his farm and moved west to Kirtland, Ohio. Staying there but a few months, he then left with his family for Caldwell county, Missouri, where he arrived in the fall of the same year having made the entire journey with only one team consisting of two horses.

The family had been settled upon a farm purchased by them, when the persecutions commenced upon the Mormons. We were compelled to leave the following spring. The farm and one horse were taken and confiscated by the mob.

He settled in Lee county, Iowa, in the year 1840, taking up and improving a farm on what was known as the half breed track, remaining there about seven years. In 1841, he accepted the position of postmaster at what is known as Spring Prairie post office, which position he held as long as he remained in the county, which he left through the persecutions of the Mormon people, in 1847. He then started further West, travelling through that portion of the state which at that time was inhabited by the Pottowattamie Indians. He settled again at or near where Council Bluffs City, Iowa, now stands, taking up and improving another farm on which he lived about five years.

Salt Lake Valley having been selected as a last resort for the more peaceful settlement of the Mormon people, he again, now the fourth time, left all he had.

On the 8th day of July, 1852, he started for Salt Lake Valley, where he arrived on the first day of the following October, having travelled in wagons drawn by oxen and cows over one thousand miles across uninhabited desert and mountainous country. On the 22nd day of the next December he died of disease of the lungs, brought on through exposure and the hardships of his journeyings. His age was 56 years, 1 mo. and 7 days. He left a wife with four sons and three daughters.2

Contact:
Elaine Johnson
PO Box 755
Rexburg ID 83440-0755
elaine@ida.net
www.ida.net/users/elaine/
1 The original marker has been replaced with a new one.
2 “Genealogy of the Child, Childs and Childe families . . .” , by Elias Child, page 95
© Elaine Johnson. Descendants may make copies of this document for themselves and their families. No other use is authorized.
Life of Alfred B. Child

Alfred Bosworth Child was born on 15 November 1796, in Milton, Saratoga County, New York, son of Mark Anthony Child and Hannah Benedict.

Alfred B. Child was raised in a very religious home. His father was instrumental in establishing the first Universal Church of Greenfield, Saratoga County, New York. This church believed in the Bible as printed with explanations from his grandfather, Captain Increase Child and his Uncle William Child's printing press.

Alfred's picture shows that he was a large man with a rounded face. He wore the fashionable long sideburns and beard, typical of pioneers of the day. Alfred had a good head of dark brown hair, which was well groomed with some recession, typical of his age. Alfred was a handsome man with a prominent Child nose and high cheekbones. He was robust with a jolly stomach, showing his prosperity. He was a leader and a patriarch of his family, which now numbers in the thousands.

Alfred learned to work on his father's land and learned farming. We know nothing at all of his childhood and growing into manhood. Our story is taken from 4 sources and blended from each mostly in their own words.

1. A short history of Alfred.
2. His wife, Polly Barber.
3. His daughter, Polly Child Richardson.
4. His son, Warren Gould Child.

Alfred met Polly Barber, daughter of Ichabod Barber and Annie Drake, born 29 March 1799 in Greenfield, Saratoga County, New York. The couple fell in love and were married 19 March 1817. Soon after they were married, Alfred and Polly moved to Morristown, St. Lawrence County, New York. He took up a farm and with the aid of a hired man cleared 30 acres for cultivation. In 1820, he sold his farm of 100 acres to Mr. Taylor, a native of Scotland. He bought another farm, 160 acres, in the same town for $10.00 an acre. This farm was on the banks of the St. Lawrence River and was covered with trees.

From Polly Child Richardson's history, we learn that 3 generations of Child's were born in this area. The Kyadeross Mountains surround this area, and it must have been very pleasant, especially in the summer time when the cooling saline breezes of the Atlantic often traversed up the Hudson River; giving a climate much like the sea coast. The deep ravines and valleys cut irregularly into the mountainsides, the marshes and swamplands at the headwaters of the Hudson River. Numerous stands of beech, maple, wire and hemlock must have contributed immensely to the pleasure and enjoyment of growing and raising a family in this area.

We are not sure whether Alfred and Polly were farmers or stock raisers. The stony, rough earth of the area would lend itself to the possibility that he was a stock raiser, since the ground is more suitable for pasture than farming.

On 5 June 1837, Polly and her parents were baptized and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This day is important because it marks the severance of the old, fairly secure, and comfortable life, insecure arduous future they were to endure. By August 11, the entire family had turned their backs on three generations of family and begun the long, laborious trek to join the Saints in Jackson County, Missouri.

Sometime prior to June 1837, the Child's had been contacted by a missionary named Charles Blakely. Alfred evidently was sufficiently convinced of the truthfulness of the message that he was willing to sell his farm in Greenfield, pile his belongings into a wagon and suffer hardships of a 1,500 mile journey to Missouri.

Polly's statement: "My father came the entire route with one pair of horses and a wagon and ten in family."

It takes little imagination to fill in the blanks in Polly's statement.

Carrying food, clothing, bedding, cooking utensils and a few meager spare parts in the wagon; thus, most of the 1500 miles would have been traversed on foot, sleeping in tents, or under the wagon at night in this sparsely settled and often savage wasteland. One must admit that a journey of this sort required a great deal of courage and fortitude, courage and fortitude that would be tested to the breaking point within a few short months.

On the way to Kirtland a man neatly dressed, having a white beard, stopped the wagon and came over to them and laid his hands on each member of the family and blessed them. He then came back and blessed Warren G. again and then disappeared and later Alfred told the Prophet Joseph Smith about the incident. He was told that the man was one of the three Nephites.

Alfred's destination was Kirtland, Ohio about one-third of the distance to Jackson County. Here we hoped to join up with a body of moving Saints, who were moving from Kirtland to Missouri. However, events moved faster than he did, for many of the Mormons had vacated the city by the time he arrived. "The Saints had left a few days before we arrived." The city of Kirtland offered the Child family only a brief respite from the rigors of the trek. They stayed a few days, resting the animals and replenishing supplies before returning to the well-defined trail of Saints moving west. They had been traveling almost a month by the time they reached Kirtland, and would be another month and a half to two months before they reached their destination in Missouri.

It was late fall when the Child family finally reached Missouri. Here after months of back-breaking travel, they found a temporary resting place at Adam-ondi-Ahman, in Daviess County. Polly describes the place as a city of tents and wagons.

However, one may well imagine the hardships the family must have had to experience that first winter in Adam-ondi-Ahman. They arrived too late in the fall to plant crops or prepare adequate shelter against the rapidly approaching winter. They would have to live as they traveled, in the meager shelter of the wagon, or in a tent pitched on the frozen ground. It would be spring before a house could be built, land cleared and crops planted. In the meantime they must share and share in whatever sustenance was available for the entire community.

"Some time during that year (1838), possibly in the spring, my father let his wagon go towards a piece of land." This land was located on Shole Creek, Caldwell County, Missouri.

Mother Polly wrote a letter to her relatives in New York and in it she explained that the Saints had been driven from Missouri to Illinois. She explains that their flight had taken them up to Far West where they stayed for a short time. We assume from the letter that they settled below Far West in either Caldwell or Ray County. The people here showed sympathy for the Saints in times past.

It was undoubtedly comforting to sink their roots into the soil again. I am sure that Alfred and his entire family looked forward to the security that a good crop and a new home would bring. The hope for security was not forthcoming, however, for in February 1839 they, with the remainder of the Mormons in Missouri, were driven into Illinois at gunpoint. Polly Barber Child gives us a look at what took place. "Fear, jealousy, and political ambition led an onslaught of persecution which rolled over Mormon people like a great wave tumbling and rolling them before it like so much flotsom and jetsom." Some of the fear and determination of the time is mentioned in a letter by Mrs. Child. "Alfred was called to go to Diammon. It was evening. Some of the brethren came and said the order was, that every man that was able, and family, will help what he could for the mob was gathering fast. Already at Grindstone, some five or six hundred, just a few miles away. I was getting supper. I stopped motionless, until one of them asked me if I was willing that he, Alfred, should go. All fear, all fluttering of the heart was gone from me. I was all calm as ever I was when sitting in hour house, mother. In the morning, it was Monday, he came home on Friday. It was thought to go to Diammon for safety."

From Polly Child's daughter. "The men were taken prisoners, My father and eldest brother Mark, were taken with the rest of them but they did not keep them very long. They let all the men go except the leaders of the Church, with orders for all of them to leave the state. 15 days warning. They took heads of church or most of them and put them in prison while the rest had a hard struggle to get out of the state. Mother Polly Child took our leave, a span of horses and wagon and with Myron Barber Child, a small boy, started to Far West, about 18 miles away from where we were living, for supplies. While on the way, news was received of the shooting of David Patten, in the Battle of Crooked River, and her team was taken to bring the body to Far West."

The Child family was forced to flee the State of Missouri in dead of winter, leaving behind a large farm - confiscated by the ruthless invaders - as well as their best horse without compensation. The best horse Alfred had, was stolen by the mob or taken. He traded another for a yoke of cattle with which he moved the family to Quincy, Illinois, where he rented a farm from Mr. Bartlet and cultivated it for one season.

The oldest living daughter, Polly, presents a very pathetic picture of her family and Mormons in general as a result of the forced exodus. "A few of us had teams and some had to go on foot, across the frozen prairie, destitute of food and clothing... there was a great deal of suffering by women and children before we got to the Mississippi River - the line between Missouri and Illinois. When we got to the river the Ice was running so that we could not cross. Consequently we had to camp there for the next three weeks before we could cross Into Illinois. By that time it was the middle of March. I will not attempt to describe suffering of the Saints up to that time, as you have history of Saints to read."

Can you imagine the misery that Polly was describing. Alfred homes and subjected to the rigors of winter on the prairie, not knowing where they were going or what they were going to do. How can any of us today appreciate what these people bore. What our ancestors family bore. It defies the imagination as it defies description and this was merely a foretale of what the future held.

By the end of March the river was sufficiently clear that the Child family was able to cross over into Illinois. Alfred and Polly stopped in the vicinity of Quincy, Illinois there they remained throughout the summer of 1839. Polly and Polly took in washing to help maintain the large family.

Mrs. Child again supplies details, stating that in March, the oldest living son, worked for two weeks on the railroad, didn't like it, so he hired out to Mr. Thompson, a real old fashioned Baptist man from the state of Maine for eight dollars a month, a half mile from home. Polly worked there two weeks and three days for six dollars. "They would pay her two dollars a week all summer if I could let her come, but the baby is so unwell with his ulcers and leg that it takes one of us all the while to just take care of him."

Spring Prairie was located in Ambrosia Ward, Zarahemla Stake, the fifth Stake of the Church. Church was held in different homes of the members in that area. The calling that was given Alfred and his family, by the Prophet Joseph Smith, was to stay in Iowa and help the Saints that were coming west.

In November of 1839, Alfred decided to move again. The new farm was located in the State of Iowa, just across the river from Commerce or Nauvoo, as it was called now. Polly, the daughter, called or describes it as "halfbreed land as it was purchased from Black Hawk Indians." Unfortunately, winter arrived before Alfred had the house finished. Evidently, Polly and her mother didn't go immediately and Alfred went to build a house. The description is as follows: "Just the body of the house and a few slabs on top that he had hewn out of logs for the roof. We had no floor. We built a fire on the ground, as we had no chimney." The move evidently took what little money the combined efforts of the family had accumulated during the summer. "My father had his house unfinished and him and my two oldest brothers had to go find work to get something to eat. My mother took in work and worked for 75¢ a week. We all done all we could to live until spring. The nearest neighbor in half breed track was five miles distance."


With the coming of spring, the fortune of the family seemed to be infused with a swelling, a newness of life. By the assistance of his boys, he fenced and put into cultivation quite an extensive farm on which he planted out a large peach and apple orchard. (From the journal of Warren Gould Child).

The whole family worked continuously at any and all jobs they could find. Polly taught school as several families had moved into the area by 1842. Alfred was elected Postmaster in their little settlement called Spring Prairie, Iowa.

Alfred planted flax and harvested a large crop, so large in fact, that Polly and her mother Polly spent a larger portion of 1843 spinning it and making it into clothes. "The cloth was made into clothes for the children and pants and shirts for father. We made sheets and pillow cases and we made dresses of flax." Polly captures the happiness and prosperity they were enjoying in the following lines: "Father attended to the office and with the help of my brothers, had a nice farm. We got along splendidly."


In 1839, in a letter Polly says this about the gospel and she is writing to her family. "Yes, there has never been the smallest moment or thought flit across my mind like wishing I had never had embraced the gospel and come here. No, my friends, there is peace and comfort to the true believer of the gospel. Mother says that we have caused her a great many sleepless nights and no doubt of it, for I am her child and a great way off. Mother, I am content, not because I like the country. If had never heard of a Mormon, I would rather live here than in New York for we can support our family ten fold easier. But mother, if you come to this country, I will give you old Browny as soon as you get here. She is a first rate cow. We have four cows. Butter has been two schillings a pound, but warm weather has fell it to sixteen cents , money."

"It rained this afternoon and we are both writing. He has left out our fruits in his letter to John. Wild plums grow in abundance. Our peach trees are so full that Alfred had to prop them up to keep the trees from breaking down. Peach trees bears in three years from seed. Hannah and Phoebe and Warren are in school. They learn very fast. I have saved a peach seed for you that was ripe two weeks ago."

In the spring of 1846, Alfred again disposed of his farm for a trifling sum and like many others started West. June found them there at Bluffs as there called, now Pottawattamie County, which was an uninhabited land and country except for Indians known as Pottawattamie Indians, who were very hostile, like all their race would bear watching.

Alfred took up another farm on or near the banks of the Missouri River, near where Bluff City now stands. The land was very fertile and productive especially for corn and vegetables, but not so good for wheat and other small grains. The country abound with wild game such as deer, turkeys, and raccoons. Wild bear also abounded to a considerable extent. A few weeks in the way of a hunting tour was usually indulged in the fall of the year which added to our winter supply of eatables.

During the wintertime, he with the boys used to go into frontier settlements of Missouri and work to procure such necessities as were needed in the family. Our remuneration for a days work would be about 50¢ or 50¢ per hundred for cutting the timber and splitting rails. In this way we procured a scanty fit-out for the great journey to Salt Lake Valley.

On July 1, of 1852 we started on the trail made by the pioneers in the Sixteenth Company of the season under Captain Uriah Curtis as captain. Our teams were two of cattle and one yoke of cows to each wagon and two wagons.

We arrived in Salt Lake Valley on the first day of October, 1852 and settled in Ogden where we commenced making preparations for winter quarters.

In November, Father, Alfred Bosworth was confined to his bed from a severe cold which settled in his lungs and brought on a long fever which terminated in his death on the 22nd day of December, 1852, at the age of 56 years, 1 month and 7 days.

In a letter in 1853, by Polly Barber Child, "I am tired, let us all go into the garden and get some currants and cherries. I have plenty of them this year and you may have as many as you like to dry. I will tell you how to dry them. I don't like to fix in bags, so I take a milk pan and fill it with fruits of any kind I wish to dry. I like raspberries best. Put a lb. of sugar in and set them over the fire and let them stew for 10 or 15 minutes, then pour them in a pan or platter and set them in the hot sun to dry. Stir them once or twice a day and they will dry in about 3 good days. Then when you wish to use them, put them in cold water and then let them boil 20 or 30 minutes and they are ready for use, with or without sugar, just as you like. A few currants with dried apple pies and raspberries for mince pies are a great improvement to taste. I make no preserves now, only in this way. You can have a few at a time and have them fresh. If it is cloudy weather you can set them around the fire, but they aren't as good as when they are dried in the sun."

Also read: Funeral Sermon of Sister Polly Barber Child Journal History, L.D.S. Church 183 Feb. pages 5 and 6 From Warren Gould Child Record or history. The family narrative was recorded in May, 1854.
Pieced together by Sherman A. Child, Nov. and Dec. 1979
found on http://www.childgenealogy.org/home/stories/afredb/alfredb/htm

ALFRED BOSWORTH CHILD
Was son of Mark Anthony Child, born May 10, 1771, and Hannah Benedict, married December 8, 1793. He was born November 19, 1796, Greenfield, Saratoga county, New York. Came to Utah October 1, 1852, Uriah Curtis Ox Team Company.

Married Polly Barber March 19, 1817 daughter of Ichabod Barber and Anne Drake, who was born March 30,1799, and came to Utah with husband; died February 4,1883. Their children: Polly Ann born July 20,1821, married E.C. Richardson; Mark Alfred born October 19, 1823, died; Myron Barber born November 25,1825, married Emeline Elmer; Hannah Polina, born January 24,1828, married William Elmer; John Lonson borned October 28,1830 married Eliza J. Curtis; Phoebe Wooster born January 17,1833,
married E.C. Richardson; Warren Gould born Feburary 21,1835, married Hannah A. Wilder; Orville Rensselaer born October 11,1837 married Sarah Urinda Rawson. Family home Ogden, Utah.

Postmaster, at Spring Prairie, Lee county, Iowa, 1841-47, until the persecutions of that time drove him westward. Settled in Weber county and started a sawmilL, Died December 22, 1852.
THE ABOVE TAKEN FROM THE BOOK PIONEERS AND PROMINENT MEN OF UTAH PAGE 802

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Jost Pictures

John Alexander Jost



Signature of Johann George Jost



John Caspar Jost




Johan George Jost headstone


Jost Family

Our Jost Family


Polli Jost Turner, Editor

We owe a debt of gratitude to Winthrop P. Bell, the author of the book, "Foreign Protestants and the Settlement of Nova Scotia" [1961]. It is often difficult to learn about immigrant ancestors, trying to discover when they came to America, what boat they travelled on, and (most important to further research) where they came from in the Old World. In the 1700's, the French presence in Canada was already strong. But the British desired a strategic port on the eastern seaboard, in competition with the French presence, as well as the rich potential of the cod fishing industry there, and began settlement of Halifax and Nova Scotia. England was unwilling to lose more citizens to the westward migration. So the plan was formed to recruit "Foreign Protestants," largely German-speaking Lutherans, to help settle the new land. Between 1751 and 1753, about 1500 immigrants were brought to Halifax, most of them being taken to build the new settlement of Lunenburg in 1754. Bell developed an interest in this group of "Foreign Protestants," and began to compile research for a book on the subject, to clarify misconceptions that had arisen over the intervening years. That research makes available to us detailed information on all the immigrants, gleaned from the records of the day which would be unavailable to the general public. Thanks to Bell's work, we have been able to locate the birth record of our immigrant ancestor, George Jost, in Strasbourg, making possible further research on our Jost ancestors in Europe.

First Generation—Johann Georg Jost, "George" born May 30, 1727, in Strasbourg; died June 7, 1775, in Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; 48 years old. The Betty’s passenger list states that he was an unmarried locksmith from Strasbourg. Married (December 17, 1754, in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia) Susanna Catherine Morasch, born August 11, 1735, in Kleinheubach; died April 3, 1811, in Hailfax; 75 years old. Kleinheubach is a small village in Germany, on the south side of the Main river in Bavaria, just southeast of Frankfurt. George and Susanna were buried together in the cemetery of the Little Dutch Church in Halifax. Notice that they named three of their sons John! It was a custom among Germans that the first name given a child was a baptismal or christening name, often a Biblical name, and the child would use the second name. That’s why, although George gave his name (you might say his legal name) as Johann Georg when he boarded the ship in Europe, he went by "George" in all the records of Nova Scotia. On the ship’s passenger list, the man who wrote the names of the passengers wrote the name as Jean Georges Jost, using the French translation, but when George signed the indebtedness list, his signature read, "Johann Georg Jost."George was naturalized September 12, 1758, using his full name, John George Jost. Winthrop Bell comments in his notes, "How he managed this is not determinable. By September 1758, only the arrivals legally of 1751 had sufficient length of residence to be entitled to naturalization." I wonder if he was allowed this privilege because his wife was among the 1751 arrivals.

After George’s death, Susanna remarried (September 8, 1776) Johann Caspar Drilliot, "Caspar," born ca. 1726, in Switzerland, according to the Speedwell’s passenger list. He arrived in Halifax in 1851. He married first (April 9, 1752) Mary Schuffelburger. They had three children before her death, sometime after 1762. Caspar and Susanna had a daughter of their own, Catherine. Catherine married Nicholas LeCane. The family name has been seen as Drillis, Drillio, Drilliot, and even Trillian and Trilliot! His signature was awkward and uneducated, and looks to be "Drilliot. It is unusual that Susanna was buried with her first husband George, particularly since he died almost 30 years before she did. Presumably Casper preceded her in death, and was buried with his first wife, leaving Susanna to be buried with George.[More about Johann Georg Jost][see the Morash family]

1. Rachel [or Regina] Elizabeth Jost,"Elizabeth," born 1755, in Lunenburg, died February 3, 1840, in Halifax; 84 years old. She was buried near her parents in the Little Dutch Church cemetery. Married (July 31, 1776, in St. Paul’s Church in Halifax) John David Longard, "David," born March 18, 1755 in Lunenburg. He was a blacksmith, his parents were Ulrich and Marianna Anna Longard (probably originally Lankert). Ulrich Lankert was a farmer from Switzerland, and arrived in Halifax on board the Betty (with George Jost) in 1752. He was apparently single at the time.

2. John Michael Jost,baptized September 18, 1757, in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Died young. Buried in the Little Dutch Church cemetery.

3. George Frederick Jost, baptized April 23, 1760, in Halifax (St. Paul’s Church). Married (August 14, 1785, in Lunenburg) Maria Elizabeth Reichardt (Anna Elizabeth?). Lived in Herring Cove, an area of Halifax, in 1792-3 as a "labourer."

4. Andrew Jost, a twin, baptized July 3, 1761, in Halifax (St. Paul’s). Probably died young.

5. William Jost, a twin, baptized July 3, 1761, in Halifax (St. Paul’s). Probably died young.

6. John Casper Jost, born September. 11, 1763, in Halifax; died June 13, 1850, in Halifax; 86 years old. Baptized September 17, 1763, at St. Paul’s. Married (March 29, 1791, in Halifax) Mary Catherina Hirtle, born August 5, 1770, in Halifax (baptized August 26, 1770); died March 14, 1846; 75 years old. He was buried in Camp Hill Cemetery in Halifax.

7. Jacob Jost, baptized January 10, 1765, in Halifax (St. Paul’s). He possibly died young.

8. Catherine Barbara Jost,"Barbara," baptized October 1, 1766, in Halifax (St. Paul’s); died November 9, 1864; about 98 years old. Married (April 3, 1787) Alexander Moir, who was probably born in Scotland. Both were buried in the Camp Hill Cemetery in Halifax. He was a blacksmith. Their sons started the Moir chocolate factory in the early 1800’s. The company was purchased by the Hershey’s company during the 1970’s.

9. Margaret (or Mary) Sophia Jost, baptized February 16, 1768, in Halifax (St. Paul’s). She died young.

10. Mary Philipina Jost,"Philipina," born 1769, in Halifax; died May 18, 1832, in Halifax; 63 years old. Married (January 21, 1789, in the Little Dutch Church in Halifax) William Jeremiah Vickers, "Jeremiah," born ca. 1762, in Halifax; died June 13, 1826, in Halifax; 64 years old. A tinsmith. They had at least 8 children.

11. John Philip Jost, born 1771, in Halifax; died February 7, 1854, in Lunenburg; 83 years old (82 years old, acc. to the Stayner Collection). Married (October 25, 1796, in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia) Anna Gertrude Pentz (or Penn), born 1775, in Lunenburg, died October 10, 1858; 83 years old (85, according to Stayner). Her father was John Martin Penn. All their children were born in Lunenburg, where Philip farmed.

12. George Henry Jost,born or baptized March 28, 1773, in Halifax; died February 1, 1849; 75 years old. He was a carpenter. Married (September 29, 1801, in Halifax) Margery Smith, born 1777; died December 5, 1851, in Halifax; 74 years old. They were buried in the Little Dutch church cemetery, near his parents. Their children were all born in Halifax.

Sources:works of Dr. Arthur Cranswick Jost, dec.Gordon (dec.) and Jim Drysdale, Guysborough, Nova Scotia
Avard Marr, dec.Clara Jost Marr, dec.Jean Marr McCorkindale, dec.Frank Jost Newson, dec.Evelyn Murray Mullane (dec.) and daughter Joan Mullane Carroll, of Halifax
Allan G. Jost, Nova Scotia
Norman and Beth Jost, Codys, New Brunswick
Roland and Joyce Jost, Newfoundland
Blair Vessie, Bathurst, New Brunswick
Dorothy Hamilton, Victoria, British Columbia
Marion Hope, Ottowa, Ontario
Gordon M. Muirhead, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Roy Longard, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia
The "Foreign Protestants" and the Settlement of Nova Scotia, by Winthrop P. Bell, 1961. Winthrop Bell’s Notes, available on microfilm #1421430 from Salt Lake City, through local Family History CentersInformation from the Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia (PANS), sent by Terrance Punch, a genealogist of Halifax, Nova Scotia
The Stayner Collection, microfilmed notes in PANS, transcribed by Allan G. Jost

Jost Links:
Allan Jost's gedcom of our Jost family:http://jostfamily.tk/
Halifax County, Nova Scotia GenWeb Project:http://www.rootsweb.com/~nshalifa/
Guysborough County, Nova Scotia GenWeb Project:http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~guys/index.html
Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia GenWeb Project:http://www.rootsweb.com/~canns/lunenburg/shiplists.html
Lunenburg First Familieshttp://www.seawhy.com/fifamndx.htmlhttp://www.seawhy.com/ffjost.html
Antecdotal Histories of Life in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, by Nancy Shaver:http://www.flora.org/nancy/lunenburg/
Josts buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Guysborough:http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/7525/Cemetery/EverGuy2.htm
The historic Jost House, now a museum in Sydney, Cape Breton:http://fortress.uccb.ns.ca/historic/jost.html
Thomas Jost Mangos' information on the Jost name in Germany

Friday, May 22, 2009

Parker Pictures

William Cope Parker 1827-1917



Sisters Rose and Altha ParkerOn a trip to St. Anthony, Idaho.


Altha dressed in her brother Dean's suit, with cousin Maggie Stimpson and sister Lura Parker


Altha with her parents, Joseph and May Parker


May and Joseph Parker on the farm in Clinton, Utah


Joseph & May Parker in the Clinton Pioneer Day Parade.


Child Family

Ephraim Child Home - Woodstock, Connecticut


Child Manor Home - England


Child Family Characteristics

As Pioneers, no class of men can show a better record. There has been a constant migration of successive generations until, from the Atlantic shores, they have spread over the continent. Sober, industrious, frugal, and with a good degree of intelligence, they have known how to use appliances of life wisely and effectively to construct comfortable homes, and rear intelligent and virtuous families.

One may well be amazed at the incidents in the histories of not a few recorded in this volume.

The determination and perseverance with which men have met and overcome difficulties and boldness and daring in adventure displayed in others, will thrill the reader, and awaken his admiration. In pursuits the family is largely agricultural, yet it has its representatives in various industries of the country.

In every generation is found shrewd and prosperous tradesman, men of inventive genius in the mechanic arts, successful manufacturers, and men of thrift in the lesser trades.

While few can boast of large fortunes, as measured by present standards, the conditions of medium wealth are usually attained.

Education and high culture have been well regarded in every generation. The number who have enjoyed the opportunity of a liberal education will favorably compare with most other American families. The proportion who have been employed as public teachers is strikingly large.

Among the educated class there have been those who have risen to prominence in all learned professions, the legal, the medical, and clerical representatives in many cases have attained to no mean eminence. Literary ability and acquirements are by no means lacking. We often find the love of knowledge drawing them away from the bustle and ambitions of life, into the quiet seclusions of the study, where they find their sweetest companionship with good books.

Another prominent feature of this family is its patriotism, none have been more ready to expose themselves to the hardships of camp and dangers of the battlefield that the emigrants and their descendants have. They have often risked and sacrificed their all for their Country. Military fame has followed not a few from the battlefield, while many from the rank and file, have born for life the scars of many a hard fought battle.

Many of the early emigrants were in the Indian and French Wars; their descendants were in the Revolutionary War; then again in the war of 1812; later in the Mexican War; and finally in the Civil War from 1861 to 1865 which closed a bloody era in the Nation's history.

In the Revolutionary War, 22 of the family name were of the first company of volunteers and minutemen, on the outbreak of hostilities when Lexington, Massachusetts, was attacked by the British on April 19, 1775.

All in all, these character traits of patriotism, work, and integrity live on in those who share the Child surname with others. One cannot help but feel inspired and a subsequent responsibility to live in honor of the name by which he bares.

Summary of Origin

The word Childe has had the following meanings from which the surname Child originated. Childe was originally a title given to Norse, French, and English Kings during the 4th through the 10th centuries.1 It was also a title given to the eldest son or to heirs2 and finally, it was a title given to young nobles awaiting knighthood during the 13th and 14th centuries.3

There arose in England many different Childe families, with the addition of the title Childe, or le Childe to their first names. These Childe families are not related to each other, being descendants of different young nobles, and are found in most counties of England. Therefore I found it necessary to research each county for the Childe name. In so doing, I found that many of the younger sons who received no inheritance found it necessary to look for work elsewhere. They often crossed county border lines to work for someone else until they were able to purchase their own estates. To obtain a complete family linage, most counties were researched.
The early Childe and Le Childe families moved around rather than stayed in one county. Later, during the 1400's and early 1500's, they seemed to stay in one county. Then again in the latter 1500's and early 1600's, they began to move around.

Elias Child, Genealogy of Child, Childe, and Childs of America. pp. 22-30
Dictionary of Surnames. English and Welsh surnames p. 177
P.H. Reaney, Dictionary of British Surnames, p. 67

Detailed Origin

The surname CHILDE had its origin in a title given to Kings. These Kings use Child(e) with other suffixes to describe their titles.

Norse Kings:Norse Kings used the "hllde" as well as Childe in their titles. An example is, "a son of Brynhilde, the Flower Maiden," assumed the Burgundian throne in 466 A.D. under the title of Chlldperie or Battle Empire.

French Kings:A brother of Meroveus in 451 A.D. made himself King of the Riputian Franks and took the title of Childeric, meaning Battle Splendor. Childeric was converted to Christianity by his wife Clothide and baptized with the title Clochilde. The Pope bestowed upon him the title of "first Christian King" and "Eldest son of the Church," wherein the Surname Childe took upon its meaning, Eldest son or heir in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. The legitimate Kings of France proudly retained the title of "Eldest son of the Church." Childeric was succeeded by Childeric, he was succeeded by Childebert or Bright Warrior who became King of the Partgil Amalric, King of the Visigoths married Childebert's sister and was assassinated by Childebert for his cruelty to her. Many of the Kings of France prefixed Childe to their titles from the fifth to the tenth centuries. After the tenth century the title then descended to the eldest son, usually that of a king or nobility. The great Thanes of Kent, Child Alnod and his peers guarded King Edward when he rode in to Canterbury from Doomesday Rock 1080-1086 A.D. The name Childe is generally used as a title in Doomsday Books.

Surnames were introduced by the Norman French and the first Norman reigns in Britian. The French shorten the Latin Super to sur and then wrote the surname over the Christian given name. There are examples of surnames in the Doomesday Book:
Cild, Eduuinus; Cild, Brix; Cild, Leuuinus; Cild, Ulft
Ulft held wapen takes in Lincolnshire, Nottingham and Derbyshire.

British Kings:
Chylde Wawean, King Lothe's son legend has been preserved by Robert of Gloucester, King Lotus was a British King converted to Christianity about 625 A.D.
Childe used as a Knight:

The word Childe was used as title for princes and Knights by early writers. It was a title given to the eldest son of a King or earl, "until he inherited the title of his ancestor origin new honors by his prowess."

"And yonder lives Childe of Elie, a young and comely Knight." -Percy's Reliques 1-1091
As knight became more accepted, the title Childe was reserved for the eldest son's of early nobility in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The title Childe then devolved to young nobles awaiting Knighthood.2

CHILDE -- Young nobles awaiting Knighthood.
The noble families of England reserved the "eldest son or heir" for the title of Childe. The title Childe was adopted as a surname in the 11th and 12th centuries from the young nobles who held the title. Childe families begin in most counties in England from these young nobles. The Childe families in the 12th century in the various counties are unrelated and are very numerous. I found that in doing research that it was necessary to complete research out each county in which Child names are found.2,3

In several counties such as Leicester, Cambridge, Bedford, Worcester, Norfolk, Shropshire, and London are found young Childe Nobles about 1200 A.D. They had taken upon themselves the title "le Childe," the French version meaning "the Child," meaning eldest son or heir. The young nobles added their Christian given name to le Childe and came up with a name like William le Childe. Different William le Childe's are found originating Childe families in Bedford, Worcester, and Leicester. 5, 6, 7

Robert le Childe or Infans was Provost of Shrewsbury, Shrop-shire until his death in 1209. Robert signed his name three ways, le Childe, Childe, and Infans. These surnames are a result of the title which he held and his descendants used the surnames thereafter. 4

Child, Elias, Genealogy of Child, Childe, Childs of America, pp. 22-30
Dictionary of British Surnames p. 62
Dictionary of Welch and British Surnames p. 177
Provosts and Baliffs of Shrewsbury
Victoria County History of Worcester, Bedford
Wills of Norfolk
Patent rolls of Worcester and Cambridge 1200-1400

Surname Variations

Child - Childs - Chyld
This surname spelled also Childs, Child, and Chyld is one of the oldest English families names, the Progenitor was probably a Saxon Chief who assumed the name toward the end of the Saxon domination in England. After the Norman Conquest some of the Family took the Latinized French form of L'Enfant for some generations and several of that name were concerned in the conquest of Ireland in the Reign of Henry the 1lth, and in the government of the country in the 12th century. Others had seats at various places in Worcestershire and at Shrewbury, England.
Richard Le Childe was Lord Mayor of the Manor of Northwick in 1320 and was succeeded by his sons William and Thomas, and Grandson of Thomas Le Childe who was eschertic for the county in 1428.

The Child Coat of Arms (Worcestershire): Gules, fesse ermine between three doves argent. Crest: a Dove's wing expanded argent with a snake twining about her neck and body, OO.

William Childs (or Child) immigrant ancestor was born in England about 1600 and settled with his brother Ephraim in Watertown, Massachusetts. He was admitted a Freeman in 1634 and had a large land estate. He died early. William's widow is mentioned in the will of Elizabeth (Palmer) Child who left her some wardrobe which was more ample and costly than was usually found in the colonies.

Ephraim Child died without issue and he in his will mentioned his brother William's children: Joseph mentioned below; Richard born in Watertown 1631, John born 1636; Joseph, son of William was born in England about 1620 and came in infancy with his parents to Watertown.

From Burke's Baronetage and Peerage of Great Britain, 38 edition:
The family of Child, Northwich, Worcestershire, England, have arms, gules a fesse ermine, between three doves argent crest a dove, wings expanded argent, with a snake twining about her neck and body or Shield gules or red in the background, chevron white, engrailed black ermine black, outline of shield gold, with eagles argent or silver, the coils of the wreath alternate red and gold, eagle silver and snake black.