| Notes |
- RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. Website http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/014300/014384/html/14384bio.html accessed 22 Feb 2015, Maryland State Archives, Biographical Series:
2nd Lt. Michael Grosh (also Grosch) (c.1750 - October 4, 1777)
MSA SC 3520-14384
Soldier, Revolutionary War
Biography:
Born: September 11, 1749
Died: On or about October 4, 1777 at the Battle of Germantown
Father: John Conrad Grosh (born in Germany by 1720, died in Frederick in 1794)
Mother: Maria Sophia Gutenburg (born in Germany, died in Frederick)
Siblings:
Mary Dorothea (born in 1739 in Mayence, Germany); married William Beatty
Peter Grosh (born in Mayence, Germany probably before 1745, died in Frederick); married Mary Charlton daughter of Arthur and Eleanor Charlton;
Catherine Kimball (born in Mayence, Germany September 10, 1745 - May 18, 1831); ran a tavern from 1797 - 1828 (renamed the the City Hotel after 1828)
Anna Barbara Williams (born April 28, 1752 in Frederick); married by 1786 to Elie Williams (1750-1822). Elie was clerk of the Washington County Court from 1795-1796 and possibly presided on the Orphans Court by 1800.
Adam (born June 28, 1754 in Frederick - died c.1782)
Marriage: Married c.1770 to Christiana Roemer (later Buckey) (July 18, 1752 - November 10, 1808) of Frederick, daughter of Michael and Charlotta Amalia Roemer.
Children:
Maria Sophia Kolb (September 15, 1772 - May 12, 1819), married Michael Kolb (? - December 22, 1826) in 1796, had daughter Sophia and son Roemer (and probably Daniel, David Brosch, and Frederick)
Charlotte Ramsberg (married Jacob Ramsberg, Jr. after April 16, 1796)
Nieces:
Daughters of Peter Grosh:
Eleanor who married Thomas Hart on or about April 14, 1795, and lived in Kentucky by 1797. Portrait of Eleanor from Kentucky Antebellum Portraiture (1956, in collection of Mrs. William P. Bohan (Nell Talbot Arnold of Loiusville).
Sophia, married Rev. Edwin Porter Clay in Kentucky c.1800 - Henry Clay's (the statesman) brother.
Catherine, who also lived in Kentucky by 1797, probably with her sister Eleanor.
Mary
Sophia born March 6, 1777, daughter of Barbara and Elie Williams
Nephews:
Johann Michael born March 31, 1779 and Eli born January 17, 1776, sons of Mary and William Beatty
John son of Peter Grosh
Military Service: 2nd Lt. Michael Grosh enlisted in the Continental Army by November 29, 1775 when he first appears with Captain Haass' Company of the 1st Battalion. Also served with Colonel Baker Johnson's 4th Battalion.
Biographical Notes:
Michael Grosh was the first American-born child to John Conrad and Maria Sophia Grosh of Mayence, Germany. In 1777, he became the first in the family to die in America.
Michael Grosh, his two brothers Peter and Adam, and father Conrad, were early supporters of the patriot movement. Both Peter and Conrad gave money in support of the local militia. By September 1775, all three brothers joined the Frederick Militia, while Conrad served on the Committee of Observation for the Middle District of Frederick County. By the end of 1775, all appeared in the Journal of the Committee of Observation of the Middle District of Frederick as Assoicators to the Oath of Fidelity.
A definitive enlistment date for Michael Grosh has not been determined, but by November 29, 1775, he was serving as a 2nd lieutenant in Captain John Haas's Company. Before the war on March 3, 1772, Michael and wife Christiana sponsored the baptism of Johann Haas' son, Johannes. Kinship ties ran deep in the local militia. Though Michael never served alongside a member of his immediate family, he knew many of the men in his company from the Frederick Evangelical Lutheran and Monocacy Lutheran Congregations, and from friendships and a business associates in Frederick. Later in his military career, he served under his sister's brother-in-law Charles Beatty and Frederick resident Baker Johnson, brother of Maryland's first governor Thomas Johnson. After he was killed at the Battle of Germantown, Lt. Christian Weaver notified the family of Michael's death with a signed certificate from his command. Lt. Weaver began his career in Capt. Charles Beatty's Company of the Frederick County Militia.
In more peaceful times, Michael Grosh was probably a shoemaker as his inventory lists large quantities and varieties of sole and upper leather. Grosh's inventory lists many hides, tools, and stores of leather. Bernard Steiner's Western Maryland in the Revolution quotes British officer J.D.F. Smyth's description of the Frederick Committee of Observation. Smyth, a tory, states that after he was taken prisoner, he was "dragged before a committee consisting of a tailor, a leather breeches maker, a shoemaker, … the majority were Germans."
When 2nd Lt. Michael Grosh died intestate at the Battle Germantown, he left behind his wife, Christiana, and two young children, Sophia and Charlotte. The young couple's extended families came to their aid until Christiana remarried; and even after that Michael's father, Conrad, made certain Sophia and Charlotte received their due inheritance.
In a case heard before the Frederick County Orphans Court on August 12, 1778, Peter Grosh applied for a pension on behalf of Christiana Grosh stating that Lt. Christian Weaver notified the family of Michael's death with a signed certificate. John Beatty and Peter Mantz testified via certificate that the widow lived in Frederick and had two small children.
Christiana was granted a £5 per month pension for the period of Oct. 18, 1777 - Oct. 18 1778. Several years later on June 8, 1783, Michael Roemer (sic.?) re-applied on behalf of the Grosh children and received £300 for their support for the period Oct. 18, 1778 - Oct. 15, 1783. Michael Roemer was either Christiana's father or brother. Christiana married Mathias Buckey on or about April 22, 1780, and had two more children, Michael and Jacob Buckey. Michael's final legacy to his children likely came with his father's death c. 1790. John Conrad Grosh provided for his son's children in his will dated November 4, 1786."
2. Website https://historiograffiti.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/the-battle-of-germantown-and-the-grosh-family/ accessed 26 Apr 2015:
"The Battle of Germantown and the Grosh Family.
In late September, 1777, the Continental Army was headquartered near Pennypacker's Mill in Pennsylvania, located some thirty miles northwest of Philadelphia. The Commander-in-Chief of the American army, General George Washington, in council with his subordinate commanders on September 29, was spoiling for a fight. Two-and-a-half weeks earlier, on September 11, the British army, commanded by General Sir William Howe, had beaten the Americans along the banks of the Brandywine Creek. But it was the American leadership, not the soldiers, who failed at Brandywine. Now, as the calendar turned from September to October, Washington was looking for another chance at the British and to save Philadelphia.
Morale within the ranks of the Continentals was good, despite the defeat at Brandywine. "Notwhithstanding the misfortune of the day," wrote Washington, "I am happy to find the troops in good spirits."[1] One American captain from Delaware noted: "I saw not a dispairing look, nor did I head a dispairing word. We had our solacing words already for each other – ‘ Come, boys, we shall do better another time' – was sounded throughout our little army."[2]
That time would come on October 4. "Having received intelligence" that Howe had divided his forces, sending General Lord Cornwallis with several battalions to Philadelphia , and another three thousand troops to Elkton, Maryland, to secure the British supply line from the top of the Chesapeake Bay, Washington thought the moment was right to strike Howe's force of "probably not more than 9,000 men" at the hamlet of Germantown. Re-enforced by Continentals from Peekskill, and militia from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland, Washington convened his second council of war of the week sometime between September 29 and October 3, where this time his general officers were "unanimously of opinion that a favorable opportunity offered to make an attack upon the troops which were at and near Germantown."[3]
Like all battles, the impact of the battle of Germantown would reverberate well beyond the field upon which it was fought. Some 120 miles to the southwest, near Frederick, Maryland, John Conrad and Maria Grosh must certainly have been thinking of their sons on October 4, 1777. The youngest of their six children, Adam Grosh, was twenty-three. He had joined the army at the outbreak of the war, serving in the Frederick County Militia and the Maryland Flying Camp, then remaining with the Maryland Line as a regular officer in the Continental Army. He would resign as a Major in 1780, but at Germantown, Adam was a Captain in the Maryland 7th Regiment.[4]
Michael Grosh was five years older than his bother Adam. He was a middle child – the fourth overall in birth order, and the second of Conrad and Maria's three sons. Michael was also the first member of his family to be born in America, the Grosh family having emigrated from Mainz, Germany, sometime after 1745. Like many Germans arriving in Maryland in the mid-eighteenth century, the Grosh family settled in the vicinity of Frederick Town in the western part of the province. Michael is thought to have been a shoemaker by trade, based upon the inventory list made upon his death. In 1770 he married the former Christiana Roemer and had two daughters, Sophia and Charlotte.
All the Grosh men were supporters of the War for Independence. Conrad and his eldest son, Peter, gave money to the local militia in 1775. Conrad served on the Committee of Observation for the Middle District of Frederick County, and all three of his sons served in the militia, but, as noted above, Adam went on to serve in the regular army as well. This is consistent with the findings of John Resch in his book, Suffering Soldiers, in which he explains how families contributed to the war effort by sending younger sons or by "rotating" the burden of soldiering between fathers and various sons. Resch's study of the war-time activities of the citizens of Petersboro, New Hampshire, also shows how participation in the war increased or decreased according to the proximity of the events and campaigns. In the case of the Grosh family, Adam, being the youngest son and unmarried, was more naturally drawn to the active life of a full-time soldier, while his brothers mobilized with the militia as crisis dictated.[5]
The continuing campaign around Philadelphia in 1777 constituted just such a crisis for the Americans. Following the defeat at Brandywine, Washington dispatched Brigadier General William Smallwood and Colonel Mordecai Gist to their native Maryland to raise the militia. By late September, Smallwood had returned with about one thousand men, which included the Maryland 34th Battalion of Militia from Frederick County and with it Second Lieutenant Michael Grosh.
The plan of attack on October 4 was to divide the American army into four columns to approach Germantown from the four main roads leading there – Manatawney or Ridge Road, Skippack Road, Limekiln Road, and Old York Road – and engage the British in a classic double-envelopment (a la the great Carthaginian general Hannibal). It was an aggressive and complex plan, and, as noted by historian Christopher Ward in his The War of the Revolution, a flawed plan, for Washington was relying upon the militia to serve as the "crushing pincer jaws of the maneuver – Pennsylvania militia under Armstrong on the right (Manatawney Road) and Maryland and New Jersey militia under Smallwood on the left (Old York Road). Added to the complexity of the attack was the hilly terrain and thick fog, both conditions stymied communication between, and within, the American columns. As a result, coordination broke down from the very onset of the attack.[6]
Captain Adam Grosh and the Maryland Continentals were with General John Sullivan's column, which moved down the Skippack Road, attacking the British center in Germantown. But in the fog and confusion, two of his divisions – Wayne's and Stephen's – ended up firing upon one another. These two divisions broke and fled in the chaos, leaving Sullivan's own division without support. Running low on ammunition, engaged by the enemy on the front and both flanks, Sullivan's remaining troops also fled when, upon hearing firing taking place at a stone house to their rear, though themselves surrounded. Sullivan's withdrawl would leave General Nathaniel Green's column, approaching from the Limekiln Road, unsupported as well. Now facing the British right as well as the troops from the center who had been engaged with Sullivan, Green was forced to retreat as well. Soon the entire American force was in full retreat "men holding up their empty cartridge boxes to show [Washington] why they ran."[7]
As for the two columns of militia forming the "jaws of the pincers," neither had an impact. Armstrong's Pennsylvanians were engaged by Hessians at the bridge at Vendeering's Mill, far from the main battle. As for Smallwood and the force of Maryland and New Jersey militia, they became lost en route and arrived "too late for it to do anything but join in the retreat."[8]
The result for Washington was yet another defeat. Philadelphia was lost to the British. Yet the little American army was showing that it could hold its own against the most powerful military on earth. All was not dark. In upstate New York, at Saratoga, Horatio Gates, Benedict Arnold, Daniel Morgan and their combined force of Continentals and militia captured the entire army of General John Burgoyne. The French court had decided, at last, that overt support of the Americans was in their interest. Money, weapons, troops, and naval support from the French would start flowing in earnest to the former colonies. Philadelphia, for Howe, proved to be a very hollow victory. As Ward points out, the campaign to capture Philadelphia, "from its beginning…had been a sheer waste of time, of money, and of men." Thus, Sir William resigned his command and handed the responsibility for subduing the rebels to General Sir Henry Clinton, whose orders also included evacuating the American "capital" and returning to New York as the base for British operations.
The result for the Grosh family was more personal and much more heart wrenching. A friend of the family, Lieutenant Christian Weaver notified the family that Michael had been killed. In 1778, Peter Grosh went before the Frederick County Orphans Court on behalf of his widowed sister-in-law to apply for a pension. The notes from the court state that Michael Grosh, "second lieutenant under the command of Colonel Baker Johnson, died at the battle of German Town." The question is how? Since he was part of the Maryland Militia, he would have been with General Smallwood's column on October 4, and we know Smallwood never made it to the battlefield in time to join the attack. Perhaps Michael has been detached to one of the Maryland Line units under Sullivan. Was he with his younger brother? Adam survived the battle and would serve for another three years. One thinks that if he had known, Adam would have notified the family, not Christian Weaver. More likely, Michel was killed in the action covering the American retreat, but more research is necessary.
What is certain is that just as he had been the first member of his family born in America, Michael Grosh was the first to die in America.
Sources:
[1] The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series (hereafter PGW), Philander Chase, et. al, editors (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994) Volume XI, 200.
[2] Christopher Ward, The War of the Revolution (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1952), 354.
[3] PGW 393
[4] For sources on the Grosh Family, see Archives of Maryland (Bibliographic Series) MSA SC 3520-14384; MSA SC 3520-14385; MSA SC 3520-14386. http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/mdsoldiers/html/mdsoldiers.html
[5] John Resch, Suffering Soldiers: Revolutionary War Veterans, Moral Sentiment, and Political Culture in the Early Republic (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999), 19-35.
[6] Ward, The War of the Revolution, 364
[7] Ward, 369
[8] Ward, 370"
3. From the book "Pioneers of the Old Monocacy, the Early Settlement of Frederick County, Maryland, 1721-1743," by Grace L. Tracey and John P. Dern (1998; Clearfield Publishing), pp. 378-380, is found the "Frederick County Muster Rolls, circa 1757." Four muster rolls are shown but only the second one was actually dated (Aug. 13, 1757). They may have been separate musters and not all at the same date since the dates for the other musters are unknown. They are sourced as being from the transcripts printed in the "Maryland Historical Magazine," 9:260-280, 348-370. Days of service are indicated for the Captain of each Company, but actual days served by each individual are included in the source manuscript. A brief summary of the rolls:
a. Captain Peter Butler, 34 days' service, 135 total men. Interesting names include:
- Ensign Conrad Grosch. Father-in-law to one of Joh. Michael Roemer's daughter Christina.
- Valentine Adams. Possibly a relation to Anna Maria Adams, Joh. Michael Stocker's third wife.
- Charles and George Beatty. Possible relations to James Edward Beatty who married Elizabeth Roemer.
- Adam Combe, The same name as Johan Michael Roemer's slave; if the same man, not sure why he is without Michael unless Michael sent him as his contribution.
- Philip Coonce. A possible relation to the Koons who later marry into our Eller and Stocker families.
b. Captain Elias Delashmutt, Aug. 13, 1757, 52 days service, 37 men.
c. Captain Stephan Ransberger, 42 days service, 80 men. Interesting names include:
- Lieut. Michael Raymer. Our ancestor Joh. Michael Roemer with a common variant spelling.
- George Peter Dick. Contemporary of our Joh. Conrad Dick of unknown relationship if any.
- Henry Coonce and William Coonce. Possible relations to the Koons who later marry into our Eller and Stocker families.
- Henry Fout, Jacob Fout, Balser Fout, and George Loy. Possible relations to Michael's daughter Joanna Magdalena Roemer's husband Henrich Fauth.
d. Captain John Middaugh, service 30 days, 105 men. Interesting names include:
- Ensign Thomas Beatty, Jr., and John Beatty. Possible relations to James Edward Beatty who married Elizabeth Roemer.
The musters do not include any Stocker, Eller, or other Dick name. A possible reason for these men not being listed might be that of a religious conscientious objection to military service as was typical of the nearby Moravian Sect with which we find these names later associated in the next generation in North Carolina.
4. FHL book "In and Out of Frederick Town, Colonial Occupations," by Amy Lee Huffman Reed and Marie LaForge Burns, microfilmed July 15, 1991 (FHL film 6088329). It is interesting to note that Michael Roemer was a tanner, his son-in-law Michael Stocker a saddle and harness maker, and Roemer's son-in-law Michael Grosh a leather worker. Other sources indicate that Stocker's second father-in-law Jacob Pfau was also a saddle maker. I believe also another Roemer son-in-law may have also been involved with leather. The transcript:
P. 38: 90, Michael Raymer, Tanner, B:576, 1752.
P. 39: 118, Michael Stogar [Stocker], Saddler, K:432, 1765
Pp. 58-59: "Harness has remained virtually unchanged in appearance and function since the eighteenth century. Selection of the proper leather, perfect cutting, and thorough stitching were essential in making the best quality harness. Harness could also be tooled or studded with brass if the customer was willing to pay the price. Plain harness for four horses cost about sixteen pounds, equivalent to the price of eight mahogany chairs upholstered and trimmed with brass nails. It is not surprising that saddlers in colonial towns were often among the most successful of all the craftsmen. High demand for their products and the high prices charged for them made many saddlers moderately wealthy men.
Some saddlers combined leathercraft, blacksmithing, and wainwrighting to make wagons. Jacob Baer, a saddler, and Christian Berger, a blacksmith, on the same North Market Street lot in 1764, may well have been in the wagon-making business, though only briefly. Berger sold his blacksmith tools and a wagon to John Shellman and moved on within two years. Michael Stogar [Stocker] was a saddler on West Second Street who paid his store bill by making harness. Thomas Schley, Jr. had a saddlery on South Market Street in the 1770's…
Leather was tanned in Frederick Town during the colonial years at Michael Raymer's [Roemer] tanyard, located downwind from town on the easternmost Patrick Street lot. A few years later he was joined by Mathias Need, another tanner. Either or both of these men may have been curriers who finished leather for local craftsmen.
Michael Grosh, a leather worker, married Michael Raymer's daughter Christina. Young Grosh probably was in business with his father-in-law, for in 1772 he was buying hides in the countryside around Frederick Town. From Joseph Doll he bought the following: (Doll's Ledger)
2 calf skins - 3-1/2 pence per lb. 11/3
1 sheep skin 0/9
2 cow skins - 3-1/2 pence per lb. 2/1/2
3 calf skins and "one cow skin of Beatty's old cow" 17/6
Michael, the son of innholder Conrad Grosh, lost his life in the American Revolution serving with troops from Frederick County under the command of Colonel Baker Johnson. Young Grosh was a casualty in the Battle of Germantown on October 4, 1777. He was survived by his widow Christina and two small daughters, Sophia, aged six, and Charlotte, three years old. (Maryland Hall of Records. Orphans Court Minutes Liber GM1:11-12.)"
5. FHL book 975.2 D2se v.2 "Monocacy and Catoctin. Some Settlers of Western Maryland and Adjacent Pennsylvania and their Descendants 1725-1988," vol. 2, by C.E. Schildknecht, pp. 93-95:
"The following is a list of heads of families of Frederick Co. in March, 1766 who petitioned Gov. Horatio Sharpe to call together the MD Assembly for the purpose of issuing bills of credt, that is paper money. The old use of tobacco as money, still prevalent in the state was particulary inconvenient on the northwestern frontiers where tobacco was not a practical crop. Note that Frederick Co. at that time comprised present Carroll, Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, Alleghany, and Garrett Counties..." [Source: "Calendar of MD State Books (The Black Books), page 194 and in "Archives of MD, 32, 124.]
The list includes hundreds of names including Michael Roemer or Raymer. Related names include Valentine Adam (possible relation to Michael Stocker's third wife Anna Maria Adams), Valentine John Adams (same possible relation as before), Conrad and Peter Grosch (relation to Michael Roemer's son-in-law Michael Grosch), John Haas (Michael Roemer's son-in-law), and Philip Johann Heinrich Kuntz (European acquaintance of Michael Stocker). The list also includes a William Roemer/Raymer (relationship if any unknown).
6. FHL book 975.2 D2se v.1 "Monocacy and Catoctin. Some Early Settlers of Frederick and Carroll Counties, MD and Adams County, PA also Descendants 1725-1985," vol. 1, by C.E. Schildknecht, has the following on Michael's father:
"Conrad Grosch b. 1712 nr. Mainz settled in Frederick in 1743 and m. Maria Sophia Gutenberg. He was a leader of Ev. Luth. Church. She was from Wellstein nr. Alzey."
MARRIAGE:
1. FHL Typescript 975.287/F1 K2wf v.1 "Frederick Evangelical Lutheran Church, Frederick, Maryland. Parish Records, Books I and II, 1743-1811":
- [Marriage] Michael Grosch and Christina Roemerin by license. June 17, 1771.
2. FHL book 975.287 V2p "Frederick County Maryland Marriages References and Family Relationships 1748-1800," by Henry C. Peden, Jr. & Veronica Clarke Peden, (Colonial Roots, Lewes, Delaware, 2012). This volume is a "comprehensive compilation of marriage references, actual and implied, in early Frederick County, Maryland from its formation in 1748 through 1800. Marriages were gleaned from published license books, land records, probate records (wills and administration accounts), court records (judgments and indentures), military pension records, church records (marriages, births and baptism), bible records, newspapers, some family histories and other documented secondary sources." P. 105:
"Grosh, Michael (also shown as Michael Grosch and Michael Gross), m. Christina Roemer on 11 Jun 1771; dau. Sophia Grosch b. 15 Sep 1772 {ref: Monocacy Church and Lutheran Congregation (see "Frederick, Maryland Lutheran Marriages and Burials, 1743-1811, translated and edited by Frederick Sheely Weiser (published by the National Genealogical Society, 1982); ref: Monocacy Lutheran Congregation of Evangelical Lutheran Church in Frederick, MD (see "Maryland German Church Records," Vol. 3, translated by Frederick S. Weiser, published by Noodle-Doosey Press, 1987)}"
3. FHL book 975.287 K2w "Records of Marriages and Burials in the Monocacy Church in Frederick County, Maryland and in the Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in the City of Frederick, Maryland 1743-1811," translated and edited by Frederick Sheely Weiser, Special Publication No. 38, The National Genealogical Society, Washington, D.C., 1972:
June 11, 1771 Michael Grosch and Christina Roemerin by license.
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Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy
1749 - 1777 (28 years)