Background
Charles Cist was born on August 15, 1738 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the son of Charles Jacob Sigismund Thiel and Anna (Thomasson) Thiel.
Charles Cist was born on August 15, 1738 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the son of Charles Jacob Sigismund Thiel and Anna (Thomasson) Thiel.
Cist received a good education and was trained in pharmacy and medicine, graduating from the University of Halle as a doctor of medicine.
He was probably connected with the court of Catherine the Great where he apparently became involved in difficulties which made it necessary for him to leave the country. In 1769 Thiel determined to emigrate to America and at the same time changed his name to Cist which the initials of his own name formed. He settled in Philadelphia where he was employed by Henry Miller as a translator of English into German. While so engaged he acquired a knowledge of the printer's trade and finally in December 1775 he entered into partnership with Melchior Styner (Steiner) who was the son of the Reform Minister Conrad Steiner of Philadelphia, and who had likewise learned the printer's craft under Miller's tutelage. The new firm of Styner & Cist published works in English and German and was located in Second St. at the corner of Coats's Alley. They soon acquired the reputation of being good and correct printers of books and job work. Among their more important publications may be listed Thomas Paine's The American Crisis (1776); William Brown's Pharmacopoeia Simpliciorium (1778), the first pharmacopoeia of the United States; and the issuance of a German newspaper which owing to an insufficient number of subscribers they were forced to discontinue in April 1776. With the advance of the British army on Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War they were compelled to leave Philadelphia but with the evacuation of the city they returned. Shortly thereafter, in 1781, the firm dissolved, but Cist continued the enterprise and by careful management acquired wealth. In 1784 he undertook the publication of the American Herald and in 1786 that of the Columbian Magazine. In his efforts to market his product he was threatened with mob violence. During the administration of John Adams he was appointed public printer and established in Washington a printing office and book bindery at great expense. He died at Bethlehem and was interred in the Moravian cemetery.
In 1793 Cist was secretary of the Fame Fire Association.
He later returned to Philadelphia where he had already married Mary, the daughter of John Jacob and Rebecca Weiss of that city, on June 7, 1781.