Tenth great grandfather, Johann (Joannes) Trost, a pewterer by trade, was baptized at Michaelskirche in Dettingen In February of 1557. This line of the Trost family were parishioners from then on until 1833.

All the records thus far show the family being Lutheran at Michaelskirche, der Evangelische Kirche Dettingen, up until the 1830s when Johannes Trost (1808-1882) left Dettingen for Catholic Bavaria. For the next two generations there are no church records, only civil, with no stated religion again until the 1880s. In 1883 Eva Trost and Wigbert Frank baptized twins, Thomas Wigbert and Catherine Barbara, at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Rochester, New York. It has been presumed that the Franks were Catholic. There is no oral history about this that I have heard. Interesting that both churches have the same patron saint. 

Founding of St. Michael’s Parish by German Immigrants: In June 1872, parishioners at St. Joseph and Holy Redeemer Catholic parishes in Rochester proposed building a church / parish nearer their homes in the city’s northeastern section. On Sunday, March 8, 1874 the dedication ceremony for the original church took place. St. Michael was chosen to be the patron Saint of the new church.

Since the victorious Battle of Lechfeld against the Hungarians in 955, Michael was the patron saint of the Holy Roman Empire and still is the patron saint of modern Germany and other German-speaking regions formerly covered by the realm.

If you haven’t read part one yet, you will find it here: The Trost Families of Swabia on the “Römerstraße” or “Römerweg” (Roman road)