Yost Wyant (abt. 1749)

Born about 1749 in Kingdom of Prussia [uncertain]

Descendants

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Biography

Yost Wyant is an NSSAR Patriot Ancestor.
NSSAR Ancestor #: P325429
Rank: Private

Yost is recognized by both the Sons of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the American Revolution as a Patriot Ancestor. ^[1]

In various records the given name is spelled either Yost or Jost and the surname is shown as Wyant, Wiant, Weyant, or Weyandt. There is potential confusion of the records because of the different spellings and because of multiple people having the same or similar names.

Biographical Notes

● Partial text of a manuscript accompanying a slide presentation about the Catoctin Mountain area (p. 10): ^[2]

"If John Poorman visited his friend and neighbor George Fox and looked toward the home of his daughter-in-law, he saw what is now Camp David. Note the tower beacon that guides and lights the helicopter landings of our Presidents. Camp David is located on land owned by Yost Wyant, father of Catherine Poorman, wife of John's son Henry. Mr. Wyant had obtained 1100 acres, a part of the Three Mill Seats tract, from Wm. Hobbs of Samuel, who had received the original grant of the Three Mill Seats consisting of 3475 acres."

There are additional references in the same manuscript to other land transactions in which Yost obtained ownership of a portion of the Resurvey on Israel's Lot tract and the Four Springs tract (pp. 42-43).

● Partial text of an essay about the Mount Bethel United Methodist Church in Foxville, Washington County, MD: ^[3]

"Tombstones in the adjacent cemetery indicate that some of the earliest settlers in the area rest there. Through the efforts of Vernon M. Buhrman, the remains of John Poorman (an English language version of Johannes Buhrman), who arrived in America from Germany in 1767, were reinterred in the early 1900s in that graveyard. Those of his wife, Anna, and young daughter, too, were moved from the home farm, on Manahan Road near Camp David, to this final resting place. The presidential retreat is, in fact, on land once owned by Yost Wyant, father of Catherine Poorman, wife of John Poorman's son Henry. It was part of the "Three Mill Seats" tract."

There are other biographical notes about some of early residents of the area around Foxville, Washington County, Maryland, and the western side of Catoctin Mountain, in another research publication. ^[4]

● Here the author discusses the local economy in the early 1800s (p. 48):

"The center of the mountain economy was a tavern -- which still stands -- on the southeast side of Manahan Road in present-day Foxville (see Map 2). Labeled Wolfe’s Tavern on an 1873 map of Frederick County, the two-story, log and frame building sheathed in German siding dates from around 1800."

● The author goes on to describe the tavern as serving as a general store, a trading post, a polling place, and a sort of community center. Later he notes (p. 50):

"Two farmers who owned mountain tracts, later incorporated into the park, appear with some regularity in the records of the tavern. Yost Wiant, whose name or whose son’s name appears on early maps of the region as owner of a significant plot of mountain-top land, was a colorful character, who, according to local legend, kept wild hogs on a portion of his holdings. It was that area that became known as “Hog’s Rock.” Wiant mainly purchased alcohol from the tavern, occasionally selling a hide or calfskin in return. His purchases for the first several months of 1821 appear in the Wolfe’s Tavern ledger as follows:" [lengthy list follows].

There are further observations (pp. 104 -105) about the Yost Wiant farm, but these appear to apply in the mid-1800s, and are most likely describing property of a Yost Wiant, believed to be the son of the subject of this profile.

[Research Note: Some other researchers, including those who applied for the SAR and DAR memberships on the basis of Yost's military service, estimate his date of death to be before 30 Dec 1811. If the above quotation does, in fact, refer to the subject of this profile, it clearly calls those estimates of death date into question. If the quotation really refers to the son of this Yost, presumably it would be the son who married a few years later and relocated to Ohio. As of this writing, we have found no record of Yost's land holdings passing to his son.

There is evidence, however, that the tract referred to in the quotation remained in the hands of descendants for many more years. There is an 1873 Atlas of Frederick County, Maryland, published by D.J. Lake, showing land ownership by districts, ^{[5] [6]} and the map of Hauvers District shows the land on which Camp David lies being in Wiant hands at that time.]

Military Record

Yost Wyant, Private, Capt. Peter Bell's Company #2, 1st Battalion, Washington County Militia. ^[7]

Census Data

● U.S. 1800 Census (Yost Wiant). Residence, Emmitsburg District, Frederick County, MD. Head of 6-person household with 2 males (to 10), 2 males (10-16), 1 male (26-45), 1 female (26-45). (Accessed 05 Mar 2021.) ^[8]

[The census entry is adjacent to the entry for Henry Poorman, Yost's son-in-law]

● Maryland Colonial Census of 1776 (Jost Weyand). Age 27, Residence, Elizabeth Hundred, Frederick County, MD. (Enumerated Aug 1776. Accessed 05 Mar 2021.) ^[9]

[Research Note: If this is in fact the census entry for the subject of this profile, his reported age would place his date of birth around 1749, which is several years earlier than estimates shown by other researchers and also inconsistent with the U.S. 1800 census entry. We show the date of birth as about 1749, but have marked it uncertain.]

Research Notes

There are records of a Johann Yost Weyand (or Weyandt) immigrating to America through the port of Philadelphia on 29 Oct 1770, but it's not clear if it's the same person as the subject of this profile. We noted that there was also a Johann Henrich Weyand (or Weyandt) on the same ship, and a Henrich Weyand married in Frederick County, MD in 1785.

Based on the birth of his daughter Catharine in 1778, Yost probably would have married in 1777 or earlier, but we have found no authoritative records to identify his spouse. Some researchers show her given name as either Anna or Elizabeth (also contracted to Liessa), and her surname as Schriferin, Schriberin, or Shaffner. From studies of other families of 18th-century Prussian immigrants, ^[10] we also know that there was a custom in at least part of the region to distinguish female children by adding the suffix -in to their surname. It's therefore possible that the spouse's family name also could have been Schrifer or Schriber. At one time we had a draft profile for Yost's wife, but given the absence of original sources, the issues about her name, and the uncertainties about dates and places, we have elected to disconnect and orphan the profile.

This profile is a collaborative work-in-progress. Can you contribute information or sources?

Sources

1. ↑ Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed 03 Mar 2021), "Record of Jost Wiant", Ancestor # A135378.
2. ↑ Buhrman, Helen Willard, "One Man's Family, The Johannes Burman or John Poorman or John Buhrman Family, 1767 - 1965," an unpublished manuscript that accompanies a slide tour for Mr. V.E. Chatalain, History 142, University of Maryland, spring 1965. (Text of the manuscript (without slides) is available online in the Family Search Books Library at <https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/594658-one-man-s-family-the-johannes-burman-or-john-poorman-or-john-buhrman-family-1767-1965-a-slide-tour?viewer=1&offset=5#page=1&viewer=picture&o=info&n=0&q=>, accessed 27 Feb 2021. The slides would show many of the areas and buildings that were occupied by Johannes and his descendants, and the explanatory text provides an interesting view of how the early European settlers probably lived.)
3. ↑ Erickson, Marie Anne, essay, "A Chestnut Church Serves Foxville's Flock," Sep 1991, in Frederick County Chronicles / The Crossroads of Maryland (edited by Ingrid Price), The History Press, Charleston, SC 29403, 2012, pp. 68-71 (Online preview at <https://books.google.com/books?id=dCONCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT57&lpg=PT57&dq=%22A+Chestnut+Church+Serves+Foxville%27s+Flock%22&source=bl&ots=2hUop3pkI4&sig=ACfU3U1CLGzbBkh_jSgq-lCkJiX5EvoR_g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwipx_vg8JbvAhXAFVkFHUp_DGgQ6AEwAXoECA8QAw#v=onepage&q=%22A%20Chestnut%20Church%20Serves%20Foxville's%20Flock%22&f=false>, accessed 04 Mar 2021.)
4. ↑ Wehrle, Edmund R. "Catoctin Mountain Park: An Historic Resource Study," National Park Service, Washington, D.C., 2000 (online at <https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/LPS86633>, linked from the Indiana University Southeast web site, <https://iucat.iu.edu/ius/7429547>, accessed 09 Feb 2021).
5. ↑ Historic Map Works, LLC, Residential Genealogy, Maryland, Frederick County, 1873 (online at <https://historicmapworks.com/Map/US/9710/Hauvers++Sabillasville/Frederick+County+1873/Maryland/>, accessed 11 May 2023).
   [Note to reader: The link will save to the Wayback Machine, but does not display the actual map at archive.org. As an alternative, try the link for the cover page for the 1873 atlas at <https://historicmapworks.com/Atlas/US/6791/> and then scroll to the map of interest.]
6. ↑ U.S., Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918, Collection Number: G&M_23; Roll Number: 23, Ancestry.com. U.S., Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Various publishers of County Land Ownership Atlases. Microfilmed by the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Accessed on ancestry.com, 26 February 2021.
   • View Ancestry Record 1127 #2272969 (requires subscription).
   • View free Ancestry Sharing Image.
7. ↑ Clements, S. Eugene, and F. Edward Wright, "The Maryland Militia in the Revolutionary War," p. 240, Family Line Publications, Silver Spring, MD, 1987, 2009.
8. ↑ "United States Census, 1800," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH55-KT2 : accessed 5 March 2021), Yost Wiant, Emmitsburg, Frederick, Maryland, United States; citing p. 174, NARA microfilm publication M32, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 10; FHL microfilm 193,663.
9. ↑ Brumbaugh, Gaius Marcus, "Maryland Records, Colonial, Revolutionary, County, and Church from Original Sources," vol. I, Williams and Wilkins Company, Baltimore, MD, 1915, chapter entitled "Provincial Census of 1776, Frederick County," p. 236.
10. ↑ See the paragraph entitled "Surname Spelling - 3" in the free-space page <https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Notes_on_Jacob_K%C3%B6ller_Descendants_and_The_K%C3%B6ller_/_Culler_/_Cullers_Family_in_America>

• Genealogy notes of Samuel Glenn Barton.