2015 April » The Kull Family Website

Thomas Bronston Collins, Capt CSA

Apr 192015

Captain Thomas Collins

Hey Kull Family,

I was recently surfing the web for my great uncle Capt Thomas B. Collins name and he poped up under the Kull Family tree.Being the much talked about family hero, I have heard many stories about Tom over the years. I thought I would share a few with you.

Tom was college educated and played the violin. As the Civil War was breaking out, Tom sent his personal servant Bill with $400 to North Carolina to live the remainder of his life under the care of a friend. Tom road in several battles suffering two wounds and eventual capture. Upon escape, Tom turned spy for the Confederat Secret Service where he was recruited by Capt. Bennett Young and became a key player in the St.Albans, Vermont raid of 1864·(I encourage a look at that action)

Oldham Parks

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Apr 192015

I just found Clemmie Oldham Parks on your site.

She was my father’s mother. I found her correct last name a few years ago. She was a mystery to us. My father and his brother would not talk about her, only vaguely about the American Indian connection. Of course, you found her older sister’s appeal, in the name of all the siblings, for admission to the Mississippi Choctaw tribe.

I saw her at least once, when I was a small child.

There is nothing about John B Parks, her husband, except the marriage record you report.

Happy Birthday to my favorite genealogist

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Apr 112015

Today would have been my cousin Rosa’s 87th birthday. We lost her last August but she will always linger near in our hearts. Anyone who has an interest in our family history and roots owes a huge debt to her. She spent massive amounts of time and money digging out records to trace our ancestors. This was well before the internet made these kinds of efforts so much easier. She was always generous in sharing what she found and is, in large part, responsible for planting the interest in me.

Cousins Rosa and Max about 1955 at our grandparents’ farm

When I was just out of college and working outside of Washington, D.C., I made a couple of trips to places in Virginia to run down some information for her. During that time she sent me a lot of photocopied correspondence from various state and county officials there. In those days, there were no searchable databases. You would Continue reading »

Hammerli Cousins

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Apr 062015

Ellen Wright, my cousin Rosa’s daughter, has been going through her mother’s collection of family photos and has come across some real gems. With her permission, I’ll be adding a lot of these to the site. I did want to put a couple here in the blog since these are some of the relatives that stayed behind in Switzerland. The first one is a very nice shot of our family kin. Mother, Selina Kull was the sister of Fred and Julius. She was married to Adolph Hammerli and they had six children that I know of – Selina, Friedrich, Elsa, Eugen, Julius, and Arthur.

Seated – L to R: Selina, Adolph, daughter Selina
Standing – L to R: Unknown, Elsa, probably Eugen

Ellen’s information had the two young men as being possible spouses of Elsa and Selina. I think it is more likely that they are brothers. The one on the right looks like another Continue reading »