The Dustman Family of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties, Ohio

Johan Martin Dostmann, was born on 1 December 1730 in Nassig, Germany. Nassig is a small town southwest of the larger town of Wertheim, which is in the current German state of Baden-Wurttemberg. Nassig is also about 60 to 70 miles southeast of the larger city of Frankfurt. Johan Martin was the son of Hanss Michel Dostmann (a son of Ernst Dostmann) and Gertraud Scheurig (a daughter of Heinrich Scheurig). In 1752, Johan Martin, at age 21, along with his sister, Anna Barbara, age 24, and other family members immigrated to the United States. Their ship, the Phoenix, arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 22 November 1752. It had sailed from Rotterdam via Cowes on the Isle of Wight, England. No records have been found for Johan Martin or his sister for the period of several years after their arrival. This could be because they may have been indentured servants after their arrival in the New World. It was not uncommon for early German immigrants with few or no resources to have received their passage to America in exchange for a period of indentured servitude. In 1762, Johan Martin received a land patent in Frederick County, Maryland, for a 25-acre parcel named Chestnut Hill. In 1771, a second land patent was recorded for a resurvey of Chestnut Hill, now totaling 94 acres. Johan Martin also served as a trustee for the Apple Church, a Lutheran church, in nearby Thurmont, Maryland, in 1768. He and his wife, Susanna, were recorded as sponsors at a christening in 1775 at the Apple Church. Johan Martin sold his property at Chestnut Hill on 5 April 1779. His wife, Susanna, was also named in the indenture. No records have been found to record the marriage of Johan Martin and his wife, Susanna. Nor have any records been found to record the births or christenings of their children. All of their children were likely born prior to the establishment of the Apple Church in 1768. Their children were sons Jacob, Daniel, twins Henry and Martin, and daughter Catherine. Johan Martin likely died shortly after selling his property in Frederick County, Maryland, since no further record of him has been found. He likely died in Washington County, Pennsylvania. His death likely occurred prior to 1781, as older sons, Jacob and Daniel, were recorded as residents of Washington County in the tax list prepared in that year. Johan Martin was not on the tax list. In 1780, he would have been fifty years old. The recording of Johan Martin’s name varies from Johan Martin Dostmann, or Dostman, in immigration records to the Apple church records which name him Martin Dustmain, or Deichman, or Dostmann, or to the Frederick County land records, which all name him as Martin Dustman. There cannot be 100% certainty that these records all pertain to the same person. However, given that this is an unusual name and that no other immigration records in this time period report another person with a similar name, it seems highly likely that these records are for one person, Johan Martin Dostmann. The reporting of this name through later generations would commonly include the variations Dosman, Dusman, Dussman, Dussmann, or even Tusman. However, by the early 1800’s, all family members seemed to have coalesced around one way of spelling the name, which was Dustman. Also note that the German spelling of Dostmann has an umlaut (or two dots) over the “o.”