Drost – a rare surname in the
United States. Most Drosts correctly
claim the German regions of Europe as their place of origin. Though the surname is uncommon, it is not so
unique as to link all Drosts to one or two immigrants. In fact, many Drosts came to the United
States during the nineteenth century, mainly from Holland and Germany (1850 census reports eight Drost/Droste individuals who served as head of household). Of those immigrants, only one managed to find
his way to the southwest Louisiana coast – John Drost. And therefore, Drosts who are tied to that
region can almost certainly herald John Drost as the progenitor of their
family. Who was John Drost? Why did he come to America? And then to
Louisiana? How did he get there? These questions consumed me for years. I yearned to know more as the family retained
very little from his past – either forgotten or maybe, John Drost had just kept
it to himself. Up until February 2012,
here is what we knew of him prior to his arrival in Louisiana, or what we
thought we knew:
·
Born 28 December 1848 (grave marker)
·
Came from Bremerhaven, Hamburg, or the German
low country near Holland (family legend)
·
The original spelling of Drost was a little
different (family legend)
·
Was the youngest child and had 12 or 13 older
sisters (family legend)
·
Mother was named Elsa (family legend)
·
Left home at 13 or 14 on a “tall” ship as a
cabin boy (family legend)
·
Sailed all over the world (family legend)
·
Mother made him leave Germany for America
(family legend)
·
Arrived in America in 1869 (census)
·
Living in New York in 1870 (census)
·
In southwest Louisiana by 1872 (land records)
Our knowledge of John Drost grew
exponentially in 2012. While driving back from a short vacation, I
received a call on my cell phone from cousin Jerald Drost (1929-2016) who lived
in Miami. He reported that the John
Drost mystery had been solved. It still
ranks as one of the best phone calls I ever received! Over the next year, we were able to further decode
John Drost as a team with a few other Drost researchers – answering many, if not most, of the questions that had
distressed me personally for decades.
The story below is a merger of the old information (some right and some
wrong) with the new findings. There are
still holes and I feel certain that there is much more to be found. However, I anticipate that many records that hold this information are
likely in Germany, written in German language, and hidden in German regional
record depositories which will be difficult to access. Cousin Jerald Drost told me once in 2014 that
he was now satisfied, we knew where John Drost came from. I won’t go that far but, I will certainly say
that I feel pretty darn good about what we now know.
The historical biography below tracks John Drost from his birth in Prussia (now Germany) to his death
in Louisiana. Following the John Drost
biography, the origin of the John Drost surname will be presented. As origin implies, the first Drost will be
identified and then the subsequent Drost line that led to John
Drost will be followed.