Dielman Kolb (1648- 1712) of Wolfsheim

Dielman Kolb was born in 1648. He resided in Wolfsheim in Baden, Germany. He died in 1712, aged 64 years, and is buried at Manheim, Germany.

He married the fifth child of Peter Schumaker who came to Germantown in 1685, where he died in 1707 at the age of 85 years.

Peter Schumaker was a Mennonite, but later united with The Friends. He is the first person definitely known to have come from Kriesheim, Germany. He bought 200 acres of land from Herman Opden Graeff. The agreement is dated August 16, 1685. The deed is written in the Dutch or Holland language and is recorded in The Germantown Book.

The wife of Dielman Kolb (daughter of Peter Schumaker) died in 1705, aged 53 years and is buried at Wolfsheim in the Palatinate. Their children were: Peter, Ann, Martin, Jacob, Henry, Johannes, and Dielman.

Of this family, five brothers came to America, namely, Martin, Jacob, Henry, Johannes and Dielman.

The older brother, Peter, who was born in 1671 and died in 1727, is buried at Manheim in the Palatine. His age was 56 years and 8 months. He was a Mennonite minister.

Ann, the only daughter, was born in 1676. She married Balthaser Kolb. She died on February 26, 1738 at Wolfsheim, Germany. She never came to America.

Important: If you are a descendant of Jacob Kolb, who came to America in 1707, you start tracing your ancestry from his children (3^rd generation) listed above, using Cassel’s History for this purpose.

Taken from the KKC Family Record Book, page 10. [Link to KKC FRB Pg10]

Ralph Beaver Strassburger included a good bit of information on the Dielman Kolb family in his 1922 Strassburger Family History:

Dielman Kolb of Wolfsheim in Baden, Germany, was born about 1648 and died in 1712, aged 64 years. He is buried at Manheim in Germany, where he resided. His wife, Agnes, was a daughter of Peter Schumacher, who came to Germantown in 1685, and died in 1707, aged 85 years. Agnes died in Germany in 1705, aged 53 years, and is buried at Wolfsheim. Peter Schumacher had five daughters, three of whom accompanied him to this country. The fourth daughter married Reynier Herman Van Burkalow and came to Germantown, but later settled in Cecil County, Maryland. Dielman Kolb passed away in his 65th year, five years after his wife died, leaving to survive him six children: Peter, Ann, Martin, Jacob, Henry and Dielman. [Note from contributor: See below* where six sons are referenced, making seven children. Actually, I believe there were a total of eight children, seven of them sons. The two additional are, Johannes, b. 19 May 1683, who accompanied his brothers to America in 1707, and Arnold, b. 1688.]

Of these, Martin, Jacob and Henry Kolb came to Pennsylvania in 1707, no doubt influenced to take this step by the grandfather, Peter Schumacher, who, however, died about the time of their arrival. Ten years later they were followed by the youngest brother, Dielman. The eldest brother, Peter, who was a Mennonite minister, lived and died in Manheim, Germany, and the only sister, Ann, married Balthaser Kolb, probably a relative, and they also remained in Germany.

Dielman Kolb, Sr., and his wife must have been people of means and position in the old country, for four of their *six sons were ministers of the Mennonite faith, Dielman, the youngest, being a man of exceptional education in that day.