The Culps (Kolb)

Our Kolb ancestors originated in Germany in an area called Palatinate and thus were called Palatines. In German history, the Palatinate, or Pfalz in German, was the lands of the count palatine, a title held by a leading secular prince of the Holy Roman Empire. (The counts palatine were also known as the electors palatine after 1356.) Geographically, the Palatinate consisted of two small territorial clusters along the Rhine and Naab rivers in the southern part of present-day Germany.

Many in the Palatinate were part of the Reform or Protestant (Zwingli,Martin Luther, etc.) movement which broke from the Catholic Church. For the Anabaptist, one of the primary (but not only) differences was the belief that one must be an adult to become a Christian through baptism. They therefore developed the practice of baptizing those who joined their movement and from this rose the name Anabaptist (meaning "rebaptizers")While the fundamental beliefs of the Anabaptist were the same, there were differences which "divided" them. Contemporary groups with early Anabaptist roots include the Mennonites, Amish, Dunkards, Landmark Baptists, Hutterites, and various Beachy and Brethren groups. Those that followed the teachings of Menno Simmons were called Mennonites. One of these groups was called the German Baptist Brethren led by Alexander Mack. Due to religious and personal persecution, many of the Palatines found it necessary to migrate to other countries. Over 30,000 of them relocated to Pennsylvania in the United States (often through other countries). It is said that this was because William Penn, is his quest to actualize his dream of establishing a Christian state in the New World, had visited the area (in 1677) encouraging the people to go to Pennsylvania in America; a place where a man and his family could be free of the problems they were encountering.

Thus we have the religiously persecuted Kolbs from the Palatinate in Germany coming to Pennsylvania at the beginning of the 18th century.

Dielman Kolb & Peter Kolb

Dielman Kolb was born in 1648. He resided in Wolfsheim in Baden, Germany. He died in 1712, aged 64 years. He is buried at Manheim, Germany. Dielman married Agnes Schumacher, daughter of Peter Schumacher who came to America in 1685. Peter Schumacher was a Mennonite, but later united with the Friends. He came from Kriesheim and died in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1707. Agnes (Schumacher) Kolb died in 1705, aged 53 years and is buried at Wolfsheim. Dielman and Agnes had at least seven children, perhaps ten. A 1685 census in Wolfsheim shows them with 5 sons and 2 daughters. Five or six sons came to America and at least two grandsons. Known children are sons Peter, Henry (Heinrich), Martin, Johannes, Jacob, and Dielman and daughter Ann.

Peter Kolb, son of Dielman, was born in 1671 and died in 1727. He was a Mennonite minister and Bishop and is buried at Manheim Germany. He did not come to America, but at least two of his sons did and some of his descendants later immigrated to Canada from Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Some researchers believe that Peter is the father of Hans Casper Kolb who came to America in 1729 but recent evidence suggest this is not the case. As pointed out by Glenn Landis at his web site (http://kolb-kulp-culp.org), the Dielman Kolb family's religious foundation was Mennonite while Has Casper Kolb's was that of the German Baptist Brethren. Additionally, it is reported that through DNA analysis the two lines are not connected (at least in their generational period). Maybe one day we can establish our lineage beyond Hans Kasper Kolb but we have been unable to do that to date.

Hans Kaspar Kolb

Hans Kaspar Kolb was born in 1716 in Germany and died in 1769 in South Carolina. He came to America from Rotterdam aboard the ship 'Allen' arriving in Philadelphia on September 11, 1729 and lived in Pennsylvania until approximately 1754. He was a member of the German Baptist Brethren and came over with Alexander Mack, a founder of the German Baptist Brethren (part of the “Anabaptist” movement).  Also on the ship was Anna “Phyllis” (Felicitas) Kolb who it is believed was Kaspar’s wife.

He went by the name of Casper and changed his last name from Kolb to Culp.  He moved from Pennsylvania to North Carolina in 1754 getting a grant along the Catawba River in that year from North Carolina. The grant was surveyed into South Carolina in 1763 when the state line was established. He died in 1770 in South Carolina. When Chester County was created in 1785, his land fell in the NE corner of the county. Casper is believed to have owned over 900 acres of land in Chester Co, SC. The grant indicates that he occupied the land for some time. He made his will, which names four daughters and five sons, on September 30, 1769 and it was proved on April 30, 1770 and is recorded on page 447 of the old Charleston Wills Book, 1767-1771.

Casper and Anna had nine children and they were Henry, Augustine, John, Margaret, Mary, Catherine, Barbara, Peter and Benjamin.

Benjamin Culp

Benjamin was born in 1741 in Pennsylvania and died October 1819 in South Carolina.  He settled in the Tinkers Creek section of Eastern Chester County, South Carolina. He served in the South Carolina Militia during the Cherokee War (part of the Seven Years war or French and Indian War, 1757-1763) and in Bennett’s Regiment during the American Revolutionary War as a Private under the Gamecock (Gen. Sumter) at the Battle of Fishing Creek.  During the Indian war Benjamin’s sister, Barbara (Culp) McKinney, was scalped in the “wilderness” of South Carolina by Cherokees and survived (see bottom). Elizabeth F. Ellet tells her story in “The Women of The American Revolution” written in 1850.  Benjamin and his wives are buried at Burnt Meeting House Cemetery in Chester, South Carolina

Benjamin married Dorothea Abendschon and had five children; Catherine, John, Mary (Polly), Elizabeth and Henry.  After Dorothea’s death in 1786 he married Anna Mary Klein and had five additional children; Hannah, Peter, Margaret, Sarah and William.

William A. Culp

William was the youngest of Benjamin’s children from his second marriage.  He was born July 3, 1803 in Chester County, South Carolina.  He married Cynthia Smith October 10, 1828 in Harris County, Georgia. We have recently uncovered the fact that Cynthia was the daughter of William Wilkinson Smith (Wm. W had a brother named John Smith "T" whose story is described in a link below) and Judith Heard . It is reported that the Smiths left Wilkes County, Georgia and went to South Carolina and then on to Chambers County, Alabama. This appears to be part of the journey William and Cynthia also took. During their early years they did quite some traveling.  Dr William A. Culp is located in the 1830 York County, South Carolina census (page 340).  According to the 1850 census of Chambers County, Alabama (#1270), their oldest son William B. was born in North Carolina around 1831 (assume across the state line from South Carolina), their next, Judith B., was born in 1836 in Georgia, their third, Smith was born in 1840 in Missouri, and their last three, Albert, Henry and Margaret, were born around 1842, 1844 and 1849 respectively in Alabama.  William’s family was also listed in the 1860 census in Chambers County.  By the late 1860’s William had moved to Henry County, Alabama and died there. 

William A. Culp's will was executed on August 22, 1870 in Henry County. In it he listed his "next of kin" as: "Smith Culp, Margaret Griggs, wife of William A Griggs of full ages. William Mendheim, Rosa Mendheim, Isadore Mendheim, Albert Mendheim and Belton Mendheim, the said William and Rosa being above fourteen and the others under fourteen - All of whom reside in said County of Henry, the said Mendheim minors being in the custody of Isadore Mendheim and being children of Judith B. Mendheim deceased, who was a Daughter of decedent, Carrie Culp, William Culp and Elmore Culp, minors under the age of fourteen years and reside with and in custody of their mother Nancy Culp at Salem in the county of Lee and State of Alabama they being the children of William B Culp deceased, who was a son of said testator." Albert had died at age 17 and Henry had died in the Civil war (both without children) prior to William's death.

Cynthia is in the 1880 Henry County Alabama census with their widowed daughter Margaret and her children.

Judith B. Culp

Judith was born in 1836 in Georgia.  She married Isidor Mendheim on December 24, 1851 in Harris County, Georgia (the same county where her parents were married 23 years earlier).  Judith and Isidor moved to Henry, County Alabama and had five children between 1853 and 1864.  Judith died at a young age (33) in 1870 from unknown causes.

• Barbara (Culp) McKinney, was scalped in the “wilderness” by Cherokees and survived
• Descendants of Hans Kaspar (Casper) Kolb- Seven Generations (written report)
• Descendants of Hans Kaspar (Casper) Kolb (web based)