Hi, I don't have your Nikolaus Jost, but I have a Jost family from Nalbach (several people moved form this area to Trier for work). The oldest one, also a Nikolaus Jost (my greatgrandfather in 10th generation), died in Nalbach in 1692. I got down to his grandchildren and found that several of his grandsons had children (born between 1689 and 1719), but until now I found nothing on them. So there could well be a link between them and your grandfather, but there still is a gap. However if you are interested in those Jost, tell me. Barbara