About the Kolb-Kulp-Culp Family Association

The Kolbs in southeastern Pennsylvania are mostly the descendants of two German ancestral lines. These are separate families, not related in many generations. The early Mennonite Kolbs are the descendants of six sons of Dielman Kolb of Wolfsheim, Germany, with four of these brothers, Jacob, Martin, Henry and Johannes, coming to America in 1707. A fifth brother, Dielman arrived in 1717.  Over the next 50 years, records show at least 19 more Kolb arrivals.  The descendants of Johannes Kolb of Meckesheim also came to Pennsylvania very early, with many settling in northern Montgomery County and some in Lehigh County. The German Reformed congregations of Old Goshenhoppen and New Goshenhoppen and Faulkner’s Swamp in Montgomery County all had early Kolbs as members.

The Kolb-Kulp-Culp Family Association has its early roots in 1919 with a surprise 80^th birthday party for Wilhelmina Kolb-Harpel, the second daughter of nine children of Joseph Kolb (1813-1892) and his wife, Catherine, of Sassamansville, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The grandchildren decided to continue their reunion in the subsequent years, and it rapidly grew in size. It was decided at their 1922 reunion to create an official organization, and in 1923, invited all Kolb-Kulp-Culp descendants to register, with at large number responding.

The first official gathering of the Kolb-Kulp-Culp Family Association was in 1924, with a program, music, and elected officers and committees. Attendance in the early 1930s climbed to over 1000! It has met annually since, except for the World War II years of 1942-1945 and the recent pandemic years of 2020-2021.

A History Committee published a Kulp Family Record Book in 1936, to go along with the 1895 book by David Kolb Cassel, A Genealogical History of the Kolb, Kulp or Culp Family, which is based on the descendants of Dielman Kolb.

The Reunion celebrates all Kolbs and have had attendees from all regions of the country. Gatherings have been held at the Lower Skippack Mennonite Church since 2001, which the originating Kolbs help establish.

This Kolb-Kulp-Culp site is maintained by Mark Moyer in North Wales, PA and Jack Oberholtzer in Jamison, PA.

Additions and suggestions to the website are welcome. Please use our Contact Form to submit.