Family Group Friday - The Kolbs

 

Seated: Andrew Egger Kolb and Margaret Murrah Kolb

Children left to right standing; William Serenus, Martha Theodosa, Andrew Elzie, Ezra and Avery Egger

Children left to right front: Clara (my great grandmother), Rutha Mae, and Zada

Andrew Egger Kolb was the son of James Kolb and Rhoda Egger who migrated to Mississippi from South Carolina with James's family.  He was married to Martha McCarter and Margaret Murrah. 

Served in the Civil War from 1862 - 1865. He left behind a journal he kept during the war. 

Sparkman-Kolb Wedding Announcement and other news

Look what I found the other day! I've been going through old newspapers online, looking for little tidbits about my ancestors lives. I thought this was a wonderful find I wanted to share. These are my great-grandparents. The newspapers from the area my Sparkman and Watson families come from are almost all searchable online.

 I found several mentions of these families through out the years, including my dad's birth announcement! My dad was not born in this county so we both thought that was strange. Also, apparently my gg grandfather was on the newspaper's honor roll for paying his subscription dues early - is that still a thing?

Also, I have been working on my Family Trees page. Check it out and let me know what you think. I'm concerned the writing on the trees may be too small to be of use.

Surname Sunday - Kolb

      Researching the Kolb family required very little effort on my part. All of the leg work has already been done! My Dad's second cousin, Avery E. Kolb, wrote a book in 1969 about the Southern branch of the Kolbs. "The Lives and Heritage of Mississippi Brothers Andrew E. and William B. Kolb" included amazing detail about this family. I wish I could share it all but it would take longer than I have in one post. Instead I want to focus on the man that started it all, Dielman Kolb. Dielman, considered the progenitor of the Kolb family in America, was born in Wolfsheim, Baden- Werttemburg, Germany in 1648 at the end of the Thirty Years' War. Growing up in a period of peace he became a man of means own large amount of land. He married Agnes* Schumacher, the fifth daughter of Peter Schumacher. Dielman and his wife came to Germantown,  Pennsylvania in 1685. He was a Mennonite most of his life but connected with the Society of Friends (Quakers) later in life. They did not stay in America, but returned to Germany. Agnes Kolb died in 1705 and Dielman in 1712. They are buried in Manheim, Palatinate, Pfalz, Germany. Dielman and his wife had at least seven children.  Peter (1671-1727) was a Mennonite Minister and is buried in Manheim, Germany.  Ann (1676-1727) married Balthaser Kolb. She is buried at Wolfsheim. Jacob, (1679-1730) Johannes, (19 May 1683- 1670) and Martin came to America in 1707. They settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania and later moved to Skippack. Henry (1679-1730) also came to America in 1707.

     Of all of the siblings, Johannes Schumacher Kolb was apparently the only one not active in the Mennonite Church. He sold his land in Pennsylvania sometime after 1734; and he and his wife, Sarah, moved their family south by ship to Charleston or down the Shenandoah Valley with Scotch-Irish, Welsh, and German pioneers to South Carolina. He received a grant of 650 acres in the Causeway neck of the Pee Dee River in 1737, and the family made their home there between 1737 and 1742. The homestead was located on what is now Byrd's Island, on a plot north of the loop but south of Sugar Loaf. The homestead has become an important archaeological site, The Johannes Kolb Archaeological Site** in recent years. 

    John and wife, Sarah, had nine children: Tilman (the anglicized version of Dielman), Mary, Mahitabel, Martin, Hannah, Henry, Peter, Sarah, and Jacob. Peter's family, including his famous son, Colonel Abel Kolb, are well documented in the 1856 "History of the Old Cheraws" by Reverend Alexander Gregg and in lineage files of the DAR. 

     Jacob married in South Carolina and had at least four children: Harmon, James, Joseph and Jonathon Kolb. Jacob was killed in the Cherokee Indian Rebellion in 1761 in South Carolina

      James Kolb was born in York, SC.(DAR Ancestor # A067291) A planter, he left a Will in 1802 creating a clear record of his family. His son, Silas, would lead his children and grandchildren, along with many other families to the Mississippi counties of Monroe, Lowndes and Oktibbeha. 

*Some sources have her name listed as Agnes but most sources have no name listed. 

**Square Holes, Digging the Kolb Site documentary trailer

Sources:

• JOHNSON, MRS. ARTA F., editor. "Immigrant Ancestors." In The Palatine Immigrant. Vol. 9:1 
• Daniel Kolb Cassel, A Genealogical History of the Kolb, Kulp, or Culp Family and Its Branches in America, Norritstown, Montgomery, Pennsylvania, United States: Morgan R. Wills, 1895; Page: 16.
• Ancestry.com. Global, Find A Grave Index for Burials at Sea and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
• Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2012.
• Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970. Louisville, Kentucky: National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Microfilm, 508 rolls.
• Kolb, Avery E., The Lives and Heritage of Mississippi Brothers Andrew E. and William B. Kolb, Springfield, Virginia, 1969
• http://mhep.org/immigrant-heritage-kolb-kulp/
• The Kolb-Kulp-Culp Family Association
• History of the Mennonites: p. 344 Biography of the Kolbs in America.
• Daughters of the American Revolution Ancestor Search