Daniel Cassel compiled a book in 1895 on the Dielman Kolb genealogy titled: A Genealogical History of the Kolb, Kulp or Culp Family and Its Branches in America. It is out of print, but a link to an internet archive is provided below.

Click book images to enlarge.

Daniel Cassell’s Biography

This paper was published in a series in the August, September and October 2023 Newsletters – Jack Oberholtzer

Daniel Kolb Cassel (1820-1898) was born on April 22, 1820, on the family farm in Upper Salford Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

His father, Jacob Clemens Cassel (1792-1878), was a fifth-generation farmer and weaver on the same plot of ground near Schwenksville originally purchased by Hurbert Cassel around 1730. Jacob married Wilhelmina Kolb (1800-1876) on 7 March 1819, and they had four sons: Daniel (1820-1898), Abraham (1822-1892), Samuel (1826-1891) and Jacob(1834-1907). Jacob, the father, also served a term on the School Board in Upper Salford school district. Both were Mennonites and are buried at Salford Mennonite Church.

Always eager to learn, Daniel taught himself many subjects. Growing up, was employed on his father’s farm and learned the art of linen weaving from his father. He received the limited education the county schools afforded during that time period, about forty to fifty days a year, just basic reading, writing and arithmetic. But he devoted his leisure time, often till midnight, in studying his lessons, so he actually acquired more knowledge through his own efforts at home than in school. At the age of nineteen, he was urged by and accepted the residents request to take charge of his neighborhood school. But he soon felt inadequate in his ability, and at the close of the term, he entered a select school for one term. He then returned and taught in the public schools around Norristown for twenty years.  He continued his extra studies, in order to enable him to teach the more advanced lessons in grammar, geography, and the higher branches of mathematics. Daniel also served in his School Board four years. During that time, he was urged to accept the office of County Superintendent of the Public Schools, which he declined.

When he was 25, Daniel Cassel married Elizabeth A. Kolb (1825-1925) on 17 September 1845 and they lived in Lower Salford Township for many years before moving to Philadelphia by 1880.  The couple had three sons: Simeon (1846-1920), Jonas (1849- ), and Abel (1852-1926).

Daniel was also active in Sunday school work and, around 1855, organized a Sunday school below Harleysville, Montgomery County, Pa. offering the first Sunday school in the vicinity. He also organized a German Sunday school at Chester, Delaware County, Pa. with success.

During his lifetime, Daniel Kolb Cassel identified as having several different occupations, which included: a farmer (1950 census), teacher at the community school (1860 census), tailor (1963 draft registration), and carpet weaver (1880 census). His obituary notes he was a historian and genealogist, his primary focus in his later years.

The Cassel library included a large collection of Bibles and many rare manuscripts, news of which was actually reported in the several Pennsylvania newspapers of the time in December 1891.  Listed were two old Bibles printed in Basel, Switzerland, one in 1778 and the other in 1798.  He also had a fourth edition copy of a Martin Luther Bible, printed at Wittenburg in 1682. It contains marginal explanations of the Biblical Books by S. D. Hutteri and the introduction by the Theological Faculty at Wittenburg. The first edition of the work was printed in 1546. But the rarest volume in the collection was probably a copy of the Polyglott Bible. It was printed at Nuremburg, Germany, in 1599, by Elias Hutteri. This Bible is peculiar in that it presents the New Testament printed in twelve languages, namely: Syrian, Italian, Hebrew, Spanish, Greek, French, Latin, English, German, Danish, Bohemian and Polish. It is said that there is not another Bible of the same kind known to exist in America at that time, except at the New York Bible House.

As time went on, Daniel expanded his knowledge to languages.  He probably grew-up knowing some of the Pennsylvania German dialect, so was conversant in English and German, but also learned Dutch and Holland and had the basics of Latin and French. This knowledge would greatly help in later in his genealogy research.

In his later years, Daniel turned his interests to history and genealogy.  He was a member of the Historical Society of Montgomery County (Pennsylvania), and a life member of the American Archeological and Asiatic Association of Iowa. In 1893 he was appointed a delegate to the World’s Fair Denominational Congress, one of the additional Congress’ convened as part of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, also known as “The World’s First Parliament of Religions.”

He also published four rather monumental works:

In 1888, History of the Mennonites, in the English language, and later, the same revised, enlarged and printed in the German language in 1890.  This he dedicated to William Ruddinghuysen (Rittenhouse), the first Mennonite Bishop in America.

In 1896, A Genealogical History of the Cassel Family in America, Being the Descendants of Julius Kassel or Yelles Casssel, of Kreisheim, Baden, Germany.  Started by his brother, Samuel Cassel, it was turned over to Daniel after the former’s health failed.

In 1895, A Genealogical History of the Kolb, Kulp or Culp Family.  Also, started by his brother, Samuel Cassel, and turned over to Daniel after the former’s health failed. It was dedicated to the memory of the descendants of Dielman Kolb.

In 1897, The Family Record of David Rittenhouse, by Daniel Cassel.  David Rittenhouse (1732-1796) was a famous American astronomer, first director of the U.S. Mint, and great-grandson of William Rittenhouse.

So how do all these different aspects of Cassel’s life connect and why is it important to us?

Being a devout Mennonite explains Daniel’s motivation for writing the History of the Mennonites, because in its Introduction he offers a quote by Lancaster lawyer E. K. Martin, “While the German Church people have some written history in America, the sect people have yet very little of their history written.”  The task was difficult, he explains, “because few collections of their (Mennonite) books exist in America; in many of their churches no records have been kept, or have been lost; and many old and valuable papers and records that did exist, which would have been the ordinary source of information, have been destroyed or lost, not being regard at the time of any value.”

Daniel was proud of his heritage, because of four connections in HIS genealogy:

• Hupert Cassel, grandson of Yelles Cassel and the first of the Cassel line to come to America in 1715 or 1720 and was his second great-grandfather;
• Martin Kolb, one of the first Kolb brothers in America in 1707, was a second great grandfather; and
• William Rittenhouse, arriving in America in 1688, was his third great-grandfather [to be exact, his maternal grandfather, Dielman Kolb (1719-1799) married Wilhelmina Rittenhouse (1721-1891)].
• Plus, Elizabeth Kolb’s (his wife) third great-grandfather was another Kolb brother, Heinrich, who also arrived in 1707.

When an organization was formed in 1890 to remember the astronomer David Rittenhouse, Daniel Cassel was the chairman of the genealogy committee, and was very active in their meetings, according to newspaper accounts.

In his Introduction for the Kolb book, he again noted, “The history of the Kolb family in America has hitherto been unpreserved save personal recollection transmitted from generation to generation and by such information as may be found in family Bibles, church archives, public records, etc., and was fast being lost to the world.”  He said, “the collection of the information it was at once apparent would prove to be a gigantic undertaking,” praising his brother, Samuel, for being “one peculiarly fitted for that kind of work.” Samuel took on both the Kolb and Cassel projects, but his failing health and death forced Daniel to take them finished. It was completed, after “grandfathers and grandmothers interviewed, family Bibles and old documents rummaged, public records searched, hundreds of letters written, years of labor bestowed…”  So, almost 4000 people were cited in the Kolb book, over 3000 in the Cassel book and 700 in the Rittenhouse book. Quite a monumental task, indeed.

Daniel passed away on 19 February 1898 at his home in the Nicetown section of Philadelphia at 4333 Germantown Avenue, not that far away from the Germantown Mennonite Church, where he was a member.  He happens to be the last person to be buried in the church cemetery, where many of the Kolbs, Rittenhouses and other early American Mennonites before him, were laid to rest.

Without Daniel Kolb Cassel, there would be an unfilled gap of knowledge about the Mennonites and some of their early Mennonite family histories.  His work is not perfect, as there is little in the Kulp book on the Johannes and Dielman, Jr. lines. But consider he did this in a time when it was labor intensive and time consuming to collect and collate genealogical information. Just consider all of the interviews, letters, churches and government offices he and others and to visit to collect this information.  Then organize the paper files into a presentable format.  Often mistakes were made and the information could not be verified in that time period.  But with today’s ability to access information, and detective work, we can remedy that.  So, we thank him, and his brother Samuel, for preserving these legacies in the past so we can build upon them in the present.

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