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Note: Harry Samuel lived all of his life in and around the Quakake (Junction), PA area or greater Rush Township. He was born in Quakake Valley, I assume at the homestead in Still Creek established by his father John Albert Brobst. This homestead is located off 309 at Still Creek, taking a right at what is now called Ben Titus Rd (in 2003) while traveling north on 309. The homestead was situated on a tract of land that is boardered by a ridge on the back of the property adjacent to the eastern end of the Still Creek reservoir. It was once a big farm with the one farmhouse, primarily used for horse farming. Harry would settle in nearby Quakake (the village/town) on the west side of 309. Harry was a railroad telegrapher who worked for the Reading Company. I know he primarily worked at Lofty Station. He was also a telegraph operator who served the public by receiving and delivering telegrams, for example, Western Union. In 1930 census, he owned home in Quakake valued at $4,000 and had a radio set. He was never in the military. On about June 22, 1899 at 21 years of age, Harry married Phoebe Isadora "Dora" Bachert, 17, who by all indications, lived in Tamaqua's East Ward growing up and most likely was a lifetime member of the Christ Church where Harry belonged. The couple would have one girl followed by five boys, including my grandfather (Pop-pop), Carl Frederick, the fourth boy. The oldest child and only girl born to Dora, Mary Phoebe, died tragically at six years of age. I do not know the cause of death for Mary Phoebe. Charles John was the oldest boy, followed by Elmer Franklin, Kenneth Albert, Charles Frederick and Howard Daniel, the youngest. For some reason, information per Jack Sterling via Bill Brobst indicates that Charles was raised by Harry's parents and photos taken after about 1911 of Harry and Dora's kids have Charles conspiculously absent. I'm uncertain why Charles would have gone to his grandparents, who lived at the farm near Still Creek reservoir. It may have been simple economics (they did not have enough rooms) or Harry's father wanted to rear Charles to take over the family farm. Most likely, this was done so that Charlie could help his grandparents on the farm. Photos also indicate that Harry and Dora raised ducks and also did their share of farming at their Quakake home for feeding the family. I'm not convinced he sold any produce for income, but they most likely grew vegetables. It appears that they had grape vines too, as evidenced by photos. I believe I read an account somewhere of a "Mr. Brobst" who folks who had sons fighting in WWII would dread seeing at their doorsteps for fear that they'd receive official news their son had died. I fear that they were referring to Harry, my great grandfather, who had to deliver these telegrams, which must have been difficult for him. Here is such an account below from an article in Schuylkill.com which I assume refers to Harry, Pray for president, staff during crisis To the Editor: Sept. 11 was a day no one shall ever forget. I cried hysterically. On Oct. 14, 1944, I sat by the kitchen door of my dear mother's home, holding my 1-year-old little girl, when a knock came on the door. My oldest sister opened the door and there stood a Mr. Brobst with a telegram for me. He handed me the telegram and said, "I'm so sorry, "Your husband is missing in action aboard a submarine in the Yellow Sea." Unbelievable, horrible news. For a year, I prayed fervently to God, waiting for some good news. Finally the worst news arrived - the submarine was lost near Nagasaki, where it was believed to have struck a mine. All 82 men aboard were declared dead - no survivors. I'm writing to inform our president not to trust any of those countries after what happened to our beautiful country. Please pray for our peaceful country, which has helped all countries. Also, please pray for our great president, who is doing a good job. God bless him and his staff. May God guide them all. SOURCE: Author unknown (Name withheld at writer's request), Schuylkill.com Archives, "Pray for president, staff during crisis," http://archives.pottsville.com/archives/2001/Oct/23/E481872A.htm Harry would later take on the job of tax collector in Rush Twp some time around the end of the war in 1945 and about the time his beloved wife Dora passed away. My parents told me the story of Harry coming to his son Carl's house (my father's father) in Lofty to deliver the telegram that informed him of my parents eloping in June 1951. Harry was grinning from ear to ear (I presume he believed his son was getting some instant karma or that he was privied to this news since he received it) as he delivered the telegram. This was significant since Harry was not known to my parents or Pop to smile a lot. They characterized Harry as a somewhat stern man. From photgraphs, he appears to be a quiet, gentle man who was no-nonsense and hard working. Also looked like an animal lover as one photo he's pictured seated in what looks like his backyard with three new puppies in his lap with his dog at his feet. My father, Arthur Brobst, son of Carl F., did tell me about the times as a child he remembered going to Harry's home in Quakake for Christmas. He fondly remembered the array of food that they had and how all the PA German women, Brobsts and neighbors, would pull together to put out a first-rate feast for all on the holiday. 8/19/02 NOTES ON THE TRIP TO COAL REGIONS Sunday, Aug. 18 w/ parents Pat & Art Brobst and brother/sister-in-law Jim and Kim Brobst: Next went into Quakake. Saw the home of Harry/Phoebe (76 Jones St.) and Dad's Uncle Charlie lived in the home next door (to the left). Initially, I did not know the street name (neither did Dad) at first (I thought it was on 3rd Street or Zellner Road). The house was located after the first right at the Quakake Volunteer Fire Co coming from the south. My Dad explained that the Fire company was a converted one room schoolhouse my Pop-pop attended for a little while. My Mom said she did not think Pop went to school too many years and questioned his ability to read. She believed he hid his illiteracy and knew he did take some correspondence course she believed Grammy helped him with but he did not successfully complete. A couple of yards down the road from the Quakake homesteads on the other side of the street was an old baseball field my father remembers playing at on a visit as a child. This baseball field was the place where Pop-pop fostered his love for the national pastime. The field was overgrown with weeds and looked as if no one had used it for years. The backstop, at far inspection, looked dilapidated. My Dad recalled here that his uncle Howard "Honey" Brobst opened a beer barrel at a family picnic that shot a geyser of beer straight up into the air 50 feet. He recalled the Howard caught the tap that only went up about 10 feet or so and he quickly reattached it. He laughed a lot at his memory of this. We left there and went past the fire company past the Main St where he said his Uncle Elmer had lived in a gray house. As a child, I vaguely remembered hearing stories of Harry being tough as nails. Stories of Harry on occasion forming posses to round up local fugitives and lawbreakers to get reward money, especially horse thieves. I never verified this account and it may have applied to Harry's father John Albert, I don't know. I think it was something I remembered my Pop-pop (Harry's son Carl ) telling me as a child. I don't know much more about him as I understood he did not see a lot of his son, my grandfather Carl, after he married. He and his wife Phoebe are buried in "White" Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church cemetery in Barnesville. -- TB From his obituary in the Hazleton Standard-Sentinel: Harry Samuel Brobst Harry Samuel Brobst, Quakake, died at 5 o'clock yesteday afternoon at his home following an illness of several months. Born in Quakake Valley in 1878, he was a lifelong resident of that area. A former tax collector of Rush Township, he served in that capacity for 22 years and was a retired telegraph operator of the Reading Railroad Company. He was a member of the Christ Lutheran Church, Rush Township, and a charter member of the Redmen, Tamaqua. His wife, the former Isadora Bachart [sic], died in 1945. Surviving are the following children: Charles, Kenneth and Howard, all of R. D. 2, Tamaqua; Elmer, Quakake, and Carl, Lofty. There are 12 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. Also surviving is a sister, Mrs. Rebecca Kruntz, Reading. Funeral arrangements are incomplete. Buried in Christ Church Cemetery in Rush Twp in Row 15, Southeast Section. Here' s his stone and those adjoining, possibly in same plot. BROBST John H 1925-1993, Rachel P 1925-1996 footstone: John H Brobst S Sgt US Army WWII Korea 1 May 1925-9 Aug 1993 BROBST Charles J 1902-1986, Maude I 1907-1996 BROBST Harry S 9 Jan 1878-26 Sept 1960, Phoebe I 22 Oct 1881-25 Aug 1945, Mary P 14 May 1900-24 Dec 1906 / From the Tamaqua Evening Courier, 1931: "Collector H.S. Brobst, of Rush Township, settled his 1929 duplicate in full today by paying to the county treasurer the sum of $118.86." SOURCE: "Settled Duplicate," The Evening Courier, Tamaqua, PA, Tuesday June 23, 1931, p. 3 col. 3 at top of page. From Film at Tamaqua Public Library. I just remembered that I learned from Margaret Fegley that a family name the Kurtz's live in Harry's old home in Quakake in 2003. FOOTNOTES: 1. Shown in the 1880 Census as living in Delaware Twp, Northumberland Co, PA. The 1890 census of Rush Twp, Schuylkill Co, shows his name as "Harvey". SOURCES: 1. William A. Brobst's Online Database, Record ID#I12938; Bill is the curator of the Brobst/Probst Genealogical Database and Web site. 2. "Harry Samuel Brobst" Deaths section, Standard-Sentinel, Hazleton, PA. Tuesday morning ed. September 27, 1960. 3. TB. Tom Brobst, author of this database. List in Christ's Church Cemtery by Konsavage: BROBST John H 1925-1993, Rachel P 1925-1996 footstone: John H Brobst S Sgt US Army WWII Korea 1 May 1925-9 Aug 1993 BROBST Charles J 1902-1986, Maude I 1907-1996 BROBST Harry S 9 Jan 1878-26 Sept 1960, Phoebe I 22 Oct 1881-25 Aug 1945, Mary P 14 May 1900-24 Dec 1906 / Shows Harry and Phoebe with newborn Mary in the 1900 US Census, Rush Twp, Schuylkill Co, PA living next door to Ludwig Schumacher and wife Christiana: ***** Schumacher, Ludwig age 68 Christiana age 69 Neifert, Ludwig age 11, Grandson Nellie age 7, Granddaughter Next door: Brobst, Harry age 23 Phoebe age 18 Mary P. age 0 months, born May of 1900 ***** Note: Jacob Clemens (age 43) and wife Annie and family of seven kids living in the next home. SOURCE: Vondran, Lynn <lynnvondran@@worldnet.att.net>. E-mail "Rush Twp ?(s)" Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2003 00:45:24 -0400 To: "Tom Brobst" <tom.brobst@@latticesemi.com> 1930 U.S. Federal Census > Pennsylvania > Schuylkill > Rush > District 102 Harry S. Brobst 52 PA PA PA Telegraph Operator for Steam Railroad Phoebe Brobst 48 PA PA PA Kenneth Brobst 23 PA PA PA Trackman for Steam Railroad Howard Brobst 18 PA PA PA Laborer for Steam Railroad More about Quakake: "The Mahanoy Division of the Lehigh Valley Railroad extends through the Quakake Valley, and there is a station near Hudsondale named Hartz, from Col. Jacob Hartz, who was an old settler at this locality, then one of the stopping-places between Wilkesbarre and Mauch Chunk. Over Spring Mountain, from Beaver Meadow and Broad Mountain to Mauch Chunk, a road also extends along the valley and from Hartz to Quakake. A plan of the village of Quakake was recorded in Northampton County records Oct. 7, 1831. It was given as bounded by Branch Creek, Terapin Manor Lane, Turnpike Street, and Kelchner Lane. Elaborate maps were prepared, inducements were offered to purchasers, and a few lots were sold, but the project of founding a village was soon after abandoned." SOURCE: Web Page "CHAPTER XX - Packer Twp." Section CHAPTER XX. Packer Township, From "The History of the Counties of Lehigh & Carbon, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, By Alfred Mathews & Austin N. Hungerford, Published in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1884, Transcribed from the original in the summer of 2002 by Vincent E. Summers [3X-great-grandson of David Weatherly Sr., namesake of the town of Weatherly], Web page by Jack Sterling August 2002, Page 750 http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~carbdat/m&h/pkrtwp.htm About location of Quakake Valley: Margaret Fegley, Harry's grandaughter and my first cousin, once removed, told me that locals refer to the area around Still Creek and east of Rt. 309 from there as the "Quakake Valley." It does not extend into Quakake itself according to her understanding. SOURCE: Brobst, Thomas Neal. Phone Conversation with Margaret Fegley, 9/24/2003 @@ 12:25pm, Call to Margaret in Quakake Harry used to be called "Old Harry" by the Tomlins in Lofty as Johnny recalled. The Lofty Station where Harry worked was right near their home. Johnny, like my father, worked for the Reading Railroad as a track maintenance person and both he and my father had to lie about their ages to work there. Johnny was probably 14 at the time as he remembered. Paraphrasing, Johnny told me that he recalled Harry was very serious guy, not a funloving gent by any means. He remembered that on the day Harry's wife Dora died, that Harry requested a half day off from his job to attend his wife's funeral. Johnny told me this to let me know how frugal and stoic of a man Harry was. He went on to tell me that the station manager made Harry take the full day off in light of his wife's death. SOURCE: Brobst, Thomas Neal. Conversation with Johnny "Spider" Tomlin, 7/7/2007 at his sister Cheri Rimshaw's home in Northampton at family get-together. Pete recalled how Harry would walk across the Quakake mountain to Lofty Station every day to work and had carved out a path from Quakake to Lofty to do so. It did not matter what the weather was like, according to Pete. Harry was determined to save the money it would take to drive there. SOURCE: Brobst, Thomas Neal. Conversation with Pete Yanochik, 7/7/2007 at his sister Cheri Rimshaw's home in Northampton at family get-together. Jack T. Brobst said he recalled Harry and told me something to the effect that he was a real grouch. I'm paraphrasing here but he characterized him in that manner. (1) 1. Brobst, Thomas N. Phone interview w/ Jack T. Brobst, of Bangor PA on Mar. 13, 2008 at abt. 3:00pm.
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