Monday, January 5, 2009

EVIDENCE CONNECTING MARGARET (BOST) FECHT AND THE FAMILY OF WILLIAM BOST

THE FAMILY OF WILLIAM BOST
(BH-1-2)

William Bost was the second child of Catherine (Renn) (BH-1-S) and Henry Bost (BH-1). He was born on the 2nd of January 1857 in Mifflin Township, McKeesport, Pennsylvania. He was baptized on the 6th of January at St. Peter Church in that town. His godparents were listed as Margarita Fecht (very likely Margaret Bost Fecht and her brother Wilhelmus Bost.
William is listed on the Pennsylvania Census for the year 1870 in the village of Baldwin, Mifflin Township. (roll 1294) as being age 14.
In the records of Bonnie Boyle Harvey, William’s occupations included: coal mining, a heater at the Hempstead Steel Works and a carpenter in 1882.
Note: This Baptismal record in the achieves of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Pittsburg, is of exceptional importance, since it ties members of the Fecht and its Bost families to the family of Henry and Catherine Bost.
On occasion his last name was spelled Boast.
His biography is included in the “Memoirs of Allegheny County” (Pennsylvania), which ____________ discovered on the Internet in 2000.
“William Bost, a well known carpenter of Whitaker (Pennsylvania), where he has lived since 1892, is of Germany parentage. He is a son of Henry and Catherine (Renn). His father came to American about 1851 and located in Allegheny County, where he resided until his death. For about 20 years he followed the occupation of coal miner and afterwards lived practically a retired life in the village of Whitaker, where he died in 1886 at the age of 57.
Matthew Renn, his maternal grandfather, came to America in 1852, settled in Mifflin Township and spent the remainder of his life there.
William Bost was born in Mifflin Township on January 1, 1857. He was one of seven children, all boys - viz: John, Jacob, William, Valentine, Franklin, Henry and Lewis. He received a common school education and began life as a miner, which occupation he followed for about ten years, when he went to work as a heater in the Homestead Steel Works.
In 1892, he made another changed in his occupation and since that time he has worked continuously at carpentry work, assisting in the erection of some of the finest buildings in the country.
He owns his own home at Whitaker and is looked upon as one of the substantial citizens of that thriving village.
On March 14, 1881 he married to Mary Rushe of Mifflin Township. His wife’s partents are both natives of Germany though of French extraction. He has nine children living: Henry N., John G., Peter A., Gertrude M., William L., M. Florence, J. Oliver, L. Pearl, and infant daughter Roberta M.
Mr. Bost and family are members of St. Frances Roman Catholic Church in Homestead. He is a charter member of the Whitake Tent Number 425 of the Knights of Maccabees, the Carpenters and Joiners Union and the Turnvereen.”

William and his brother Francis (called Frank) built the Bost Building, which is now designated as a National Historic Site.
The now famous Bost Building was the planning site for the Homestead Strike of 1892, in the offices of the Amalgamated on the third floor. The structure was raided by hired gunmen of the so called Pinkerton Detective Agency. More about this incident can be read in this history in the Family of Francis Christian Bost.

1 comment:

emurphy said...

Thank you for posting the information on the Bost/Fecht lineage. Three Bost cousins emigrated to America circa 1850 and I am descended from the Lilly, PA. line. I have a document from Erwin Bost in Germany that traces Wilhelm Bost (b. 1800 in Fischbach, Merchweiler, Saarland, married Anna Maria DeTemple 7 Feb. 1825 in Heusweiler; she was born 1803 in Fischbach) back to Johann Michael Bost, b. 24 June 1722 in Heusweiler. Please contact me if you would like a copy of the lineage. elisabethmurphy@att.net