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He was sponsored in baptism by Christian C. H. and Anna Maria (Brobst) Hechler. It has been reported that he served in the Revolutionary War: "He served in the Rev. War with the 2nd Bn Lancaster County militia as a private guarding prisoners of war. He is listed in the DAR Patriot Index both as a "soldier" and an "ensign": "CHRISTIAN BROBST. Born, Berks County, Pa. Was an ensign in the First company, Second Battalion, Lieut.-Col. Henry Spycker, in active service in 1780." (Reference: Certificate of State librarian of Penna., April 6, 1891, DAR #503472-472.) In a publication of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, the following appears: [Christian Brobst] "stated that May 17, 1779, he was taken prisoner (the place not specified) and taken to New York City, confined in the notorious Sugar House, from which he escaped the following October; he swam over the river and joined his regiment Oct. 30, 1779, at Peekskill, Westchester County, NY. He was discharged at Soldier's Fortune in the Highlands on the Hudson River April 1780, from the command of Capt. Heyward and Col. Smith -- at least during his service he was in the company and regiment commanded by them. As his pension was granted exclusively for service on the Continental establishment, he may have performed other tours of duty in the militia or state troops, which those applicants were not required to specify and usually omitted to do so." [Ref.: Rec. of Bureau of Pensions, Wash. DC, Rev. Muster Roll of Mass., vol. 53 p.210; vol. 52 p. 195, vol. 9 p.430.]" He is also listed in the DAR Registry. Now, consider that Christian was born in 1767, and he served in the Revolutionary War at the age of 10 or 12? And an officer yet? Surprisingly, but true. An "ensign" in those days was a young person, too young to be an "official" soldier. Christian was a guard of prisoners at the age of 11, according to DAR papers filed by one is Catherine Hough Miller from Chevy Chase, MD, born in 1904, whose father was Walter Hough. Jan Binkley pointed out "I wouldn't totally discard the idea of Christian Brobst (1767) being in the American Revolution at age 12, even as an ensign. If I recall my early reading, ensigns were typically very young fellows, often the flag bearer for the company rather than an active fighter. Also to consider was that you became an officer back then not because you were trained but because you came from a family that was better off than most. And yound men age 12 were considered a lot more competent in 1779 than now." It is accepted that Christian was in fact a "soldier" in the RevWar. According to the DAR application, "His service was in the capacity of 4th Class soldier in the militia, guarding British prisoners." This is confirmed in Vol 7, page 133 in the Pa Archives (5th series). But what was he doing with the Lancaster Co militia? He didn't live in Lancaster County during the RevWar. There were no known Brobsts living in Lancaster Co at that time. In 1788, he and Barbara (still single) sponsored a baptism at the New Bethel (Corner) Church in Albany Twp, Berks Co, for Christian Dumm, born 25 July 1788, child of Peter and Catharina Dumm; Catharina was Barbara's sister. (Note the similarity in the two family names -- Dumm and Drumm. Appears to be only coincidental.) In 1789, with Christina Stump (single) he sponsored another. So both he and his brother Johannes F. had close ties to this church. Christian and Barbara's daughter Catharine was bapt there on Jun 13 1790; she was the only Brobst child baptized in that church. No Brobsts are buried there. He spent some time in the valley of Catawissa Creek sometime in early 1794. On May 28, 1794, he was deeded two pieces of land by William and Eleanor Collins. One of the pieces was described as "11 acres, 51 perches, down by the river." His own personal record says he moved to Catawissa, Northumberland Co, in 1795, "with no more than my household goods and carpenter tools and enough money to pay the moving expense. .... In 1799, I built a mill and contracted a large debt, and I paid the first debt (payment) to Him I owed most. The first money the mill made I gave to build a church to worship God with my family and neighbors." From: 1887 History of Columbia & Montour Counties, PA. "Brobst entered Catawissa in 1795 [actually, 1794]; he was accompanied by Reverend Seely, a Lutheran pastor from Berks County. May 1, 1796, a communion was held at Brobst’s recently built cabin. The following persons participated: ...... Christian Brobst, .... Barbara Brobst, . This is the first service of this kind held at Catawissa. January 1, 1796, the first baptisms recorded occured." Those baptisms included the Brobst children born after 1790. And, "In 1804 [actually, Sept 4 1802], Christian Brobst presented a building site. In the same year [actually, 1805] the church building was completed and dedicated. It was a stone structure. The furniture and arrangement of the interior conformed to the usual style of the period in that respect. The galleries extending round three sides, and the nine-glass pulpit would present a novel appearance if viewed at the present day......(On) June 25, 1845, a meeting was held to devise means for the organization and government of that portion of the congregation which preferred English services. Christian Brobst was called to the chair and Charles Witmer appointed secretary. It was decided to make the proposed and confer upon the new organization the name of Saint Matthew’s English Lutheran church." His son, Joseph, helped to write the constitution for the new church. In 1810, Christian and Barbara were sponsors for the birth of Lidia Brobst, daughter of his nephew Johannes and his wife Susanna (Follweiler) at the Jerusalem (Red) Church in Stony Run, Albany Twp, Berks Co.. In those early 1800s, they were sponsors for many children of the parishioners of the St. John's Lutheran Church in Catawissa. He was a Captain, 4th Co., Northumberland Militia, in the war of 1812. He was often later referred to as the "Honorable Chn. A. Brobst". In 1818, he was the church's lay representative at the Lutheran Ministerium Convention in Harrisburg, PA. He wrote a letter Aug 11 1827, giving some family history, with some errors (ex: arrival date in PA); Bill Brobst has copy. Letter copied in Schuyler Brossman's, "Keystone Families", Column 632. Lists all his children; but names no Valentine or William, so a question remains about these two. On March 19 1838, he was named Chairman of the School Board for the first public school system in Pennsylvania. Structures were built and staffed. "The taxation necessary to provide for this (primitive school system) was regarded by many as onerous and unnecessary......At an election held March 19, 1841, the continuance of the system was sustained by a small majority. It was again submitted May 5, 1846, and this time there were but four dissenting votes. Although the system gave general satisfaction, there were those who desired better educational advantages than it could confer. After mature deliberation on the part of those most interested, it was decided to establish a school "for the promotion of education, both in the ordinary and higher branches of English literature and science, and in the ancient and modern languages." To accomplish this, they secured a charter for "Catawissa Seminary." In 1799, in Catawissa, he rebuilt the first grist mill on Catawissa Creek which had been built in 1774 by a Mr. Paxton, then the same year he built a new one nearby. From "History of Columbia County, Pennsylvania", 1883: (Christian) came to this section of the state and located at what is now known as Geary's Mill, where they had purchased a tract of land, and upon which they erected the first improved flouring-mill on the North Branch [in Catawissa], and which is now operated by Mr. J. H. Geary." And "and in 1799 Christian Brobst built (a second and larger grist mill), a quarter mile above Shoemaker's". That was on the north side of the Catawissa Creek. "History of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania", 1887, pp 97-123 and 270-285, describes Christian. "He was of 'limited school training, but' .... 'a man of rare foresight and reasoning power of a high order." He is listed therein as a Commissioner of Schuylkill County from 1817-1820 (p. 75). Further from the "History": "The Catawissa area was first settled around 1775. Christian came in 1795; the first Lutheran church services in the Catawissa area were held in his cabin" until 1802, when he donated land for a church and cemetery, where he and Barbara are buried. The Union Church was built in 1804, for both Lutheran and Presbyterian (German Reformed) members. Until 1845, the services were in German! In 1825, rivers and canals were seen as the primary transportation; the state canal was under construction. At that time, he also advocated a canal from Philadelphia, up the Schuylkill and Little Schuylkill Rivers, around a small hill to the Catawissa River, on up the north branch of the Susquehanna, then up the west branch of the Susquehanna and Sunnemahoning Creek to Toby's (Sandy's) Creek, down Toby's Creek and up the Allegheny River and French Creek to Waterford, then 14 miles overland to Lake Erie at Erie. See the Brobst Reunion Book for 1936 for details. In 1827, he served as a member of the General Assembly of the Pennsylvania Legislature. He organized the first Catawissa fire company in 1827. Four years later, a reorganization of the fire company was undertaken. From History of Catawissa, 1974: "In 1831 it was proposed to erect a town-hall and market house in Main street at the intersection of Third, on the site of the old structure. Discussion on this proposition became acrimonious and personal; the project was defeated, and no attempt to revive it has since been made. A more unfortunate result of this difference of opinion was the dissolution of the only fire company which has existed in the village. The "Catawissa Fire Company" was organized May 17, 1827, at Stacy Margerum’s hotel, with Joseph Paxton, president, Christian Brobst, vice president, and Ezra S. Hayhurst, secretary. Hayhurst, Christian Brobst, George Hughes, Stephen Baldy, George H. Willits and Jacob Rupert, were appointed to a committee to "draft and essay a constitution." Four days later the "essay" was adopted and signed by fifty-four persons. Meetings were held quarterly at Margerum’s; an assortment of buckets, ladders, hooks, and chains was secured and distributed so as to be conveniently accessible in an emergency. The utmost harmony prevailed until the building of a hall was suggested. In February, 1832, after repeated adjournments the organization was unceremoniously disbanded." From History of Catawissa, 1974: "The importance of a bridge across the Susquehanna was realized by public spirited citizens at an early period. The original projectors were Christian Brobst, Joseph Paxton, ..... and Gabriel Heister, of Berks county.... The site at first proposed was the present crossing of the Catawissa railroad. On March 15, 1816, the legislature passed an act authorizing the opening of books to receive subscriptions. It does not appear that flattering progress was made in organizing the company for eight years later. Thirteen additional commissioners were appointed for that purpose..... With the citizens of the county, the success of the project was a matter of primary importance; the only bridge within its limits crossed the river at Berwick, a point where it failed to confer material benefit on the large proportions of the population south of the river. Although disappointed for twelve years, those most interested at Catawissa continued to present this consideration with unabated persistence, and finally, in 1828, secured an appropriation of five-thousand dollars from the treasury of the state. Half of this was to be paid when the abutments and piers had been constructed, and the remainder when the entire work had been completed; but no part could be secured until ten-thousand dollars had been paid by individuals, and an amountiadditional subscribed sufficient to finish the bridge. [Several men] were appointed to reorganize the company and establish its finances on a firm basis. The North Branch canal was at this time in course of construction; it was plainly apparent that the bridge was a necessity if Catawissa was to derive any benefit from that line of traffic, and this consideration induced many to subscribe to the stock of the company. The bridge was finally completed at a cost of wenty-six-thousand dollars, and opened for travel January 15, 1883. The bridge repeatedly suffered from the freshets and ice floods which periodically threaten life and property in the Susquehanna valley. In 1846 five spans were destroyed; they were rebuilt the following year. March 17, 1875, the entire structure was swept away. A Howe truss, thirty feet above low water mark, was constructed the same summer on the piers of its predecessor. It was opened fro travel November 22, 1875." He conducted a survey for the Catawissa Railroad (later the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad) between Catawissa and Tamaqua, described in Bill Brobst's report. He financed the first railroad bridge over the Susquehanna River at Catawissa; bridge still in use in 1952. (Pauline Atkins Keller's report contains a full story of this railroad venture, as does Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol 255, Issue 145, June 1862, pages 20-28.) "Columbia and Montour Counties History", p 44: The honor of being the first to promote and construct a railroad in this section of Pennsylvania belongs to the citizen of Catawissa; the head of the project, and for a time the only advocate of the plan, being Christian Brobst. Christian, who was one of Catawissa's "live wires", a merchant miller, advocated a rail line between the Schuylkill River and the North Branch of the Susquehanna River. From History of Catawissa, 1974: "The slowness and vacillation which characterized the bridge scheme did not prevent Christian Brobst from planning an enterprise, the future development of which he scarcely comprehended. He conceived the idea of a railroad from Catawissa to Tamaqua, and in 1825 traversed the distance between the two points on foot, studied the topography of the Quakake valley, and concluded that the plan was feasible. With Joseph Paxton he interviewed prominent capitalists of Reading and Philadelphia and interested them in the scheme. He induced several who seemed favorably impressed with the representations to accompany him on horseback over the proposed route. Moncure Robinson, a civil engineer, was one of the party. March 21, 1831, an act was passed by the legislature authorizing Christian Brobst and Joseph Paxton, of Catawissa; William McKelvey and Ebenezer Daniel, of Bloomsburg, and others and Philadelphia and Reading, to receive subscriptions for the stock of the Little Schuykill and Susquehanna Railroad Company. The terminal points of the road were to be Catawissa and the Broad mountain where the Wilkes-barre state road intersected the Little Schuylkill. The mountains were to be avoided by traversing the valleys of Mosser’s run and Catawissa creek. Energetic measures were at once taken to execute these plans. The Catawissa railroad was only 63 miles in length, for a distance of 30 miles it traveled one of the wildest mountain wildernesses in the country. It had three tunnels plus eight bridges and trestlesEdward Miller, and experienced engineer, surveyed the line. Contracts were issued for grading and building bridges. Capital was furnished by the United States Bank of Philadelphia. With the collapse of that institution, in 1838, and of other corporations dependent upon it for financial support, the projectors of the railroad were compelled to abandon their enterprise. For fifty years the unfinished embankments and bridges reminded unfortunate investors of the alluring prospect which prompted their erection." His support for the Jefferson Medical College in the Allemaengle was critical for its final approval. See the Brobst Reunion Book for 1936. On May 3 1826, with Christian and other dignitaries aboard, the steamer "Susquehanna", with a full head of steam, hit a rock near Nescopeck Falls, opposite Berwick, and the boiler exploded. Twenty three years later, Christian succumbed to the injuries he sustained in that accident. On May 15, 1837, he received $122.68 from St. John's Lutheran Church, Catawissa, reasons unstated. In 1845, he was a charter signator to the constitution for the new St. Matthew's Evangelican Lutheran Church in Catawissa, and was named as Chairman of the church board. Other Brobst signators included Michael, Joseph, Caroline, Christian Good, Nancy, Mary, Jane, Sarah, Ephraim, Christian Heister, Barbara, Amanda, Isaiah, and Mary H. Brobst. This new church held services in English, whereas the St. John's Lutheran Church (the original one) held services in German, which was the way Christian wanted to keep it. In 1848, he sponsored the baptism of his granddaughter, Caroline (Michael's daughter). Christian's will contains an agreement dated Mar 12, 1827, for Michael and Joseph to sell the property, and pay off Dan'l Kistler and Catherina for their share. His children who are still alive in 1827 are named: Christian, Solomon, Samuel, Sarah Ely (later Sarah Kline), Elizabeth Brobst Kistler (John). Michael and Joseph stayed with Christian until well into their 20s, even after they married, according to the will. He left behind a Bible with much of the above family information. That Bible is now in the hands of Elaine Schwar, Reading, PA. She descends from Philipp Jacob (1692), Jean Michael (1721), Christian (1767), Elizabeth (1791). The information is also contained in the history of the St. John's Lutheran Church in Catawissa: "In 1795, I, Christian Brobst, moved from Berks County to Catawissa in Northumberland County with no more than my household goods and carpenter tools and enough money to pay the moving expenses. I lost my portion from my father in Continental money, which brought me to move to depend altogether on my Heavenly Father. In 1799, I built the mill and contracted a large debt, and paid the first debt to him I owed most. The first money the mill made I gave to build a church to worship God with my family and neighbors, by which I made my election and prosperity sure, so that my enemies strove in vain to take from me."
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