52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (Week 11) Achievement: James Campbell Stroud, inventor

James Campbell Stroud (born 21 May 1833-Butts County, GA - died 25 Mar 1922-Devine, Medina County,TX) was my third great-grandfather in my mother's lines of her father. 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge (Week 11) of Amy John Crow is "Achievement." 

What do you think of when you think of an ancestor's achievement? Raising a family amidst poor living and working conditions? During war? Being honored for outstanding volunteer work with those less fortunate? Or maybe being the first to finish high school or obtain a college degree?

The list could go on and on and on, couldn't it? 

According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, achievement can mean: "the act of achieving something"; "a result obtained by effort (accomplishment)"; "a great or heroic deed"; or "the quality and quantity of a student's work."  

My thoughts went directly to J.C. Stroud, blacksmith and inventor. According to family stories, some recorded at Jasper Native Sought Fortune in Texas by John Harvey J.C. Stroud made his own liniment to help with the pain in his legs, and it was patented and sold in the United States. I have not found a patent for this liniment yet, but I will continue to search for it.  

An "Improvement in Cultivators" patent was created on September 29, 1868 by J.C. Stroud of Lockhart, Texas. Patent No. 82, 562. 

I know what a cultivator is because I'm the daughter of a dry land cotton farmer in the rolling plains of Texas. For readers who don't know, Oxford Learners Dictionaries describes it as follows: "a machine for breaking up soil and destroying weeds (= plants growing where they are not wanted)."

The patent, according to The Portal to Texas History, was "for a new cultivator in the form of a wheel, which includes instructions and an illustration." 

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Stroud, J. C. Improvement in Cultivators., patent, September 29, 1868; [Washington D.C.]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth165158/m1/1/?q=J.C.%20Stroud,%20Lockhart: accessed March 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.

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Stroud, J. C. Improvement in Cultivators., patent, September 29, 1868; [Washington D.C.]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth165158/m1/2/?q=J.C.%20Stroud,%20Lockhart: accessed March 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.

Thanks, James Campbell Stroud, for being 

an inventor! You're my "Achiever" for this challenge. 

- Revis

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (Week 10): Language - The Kolb-Kulp-Culp's of Pennsylvania

Continuing on with the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge, this Week 10 challenge of Amy John Crow relates to “Language”.

The lines of my paternal and maternal ancestors are a mix of peoples. The languages my ancestors spoke include German, Welsh, Irish, Portuguese, French, and more. In this blog post, though, I want to focus on my paternal grandmother, Neoma Ann Kolb’s (m. Lois Cauble), father's line, the Kolb’s of Pennsylvania. The Kolbs have stayed close to their Mennonite roots since the early 1700s.

Grandmother Neoma descends from Johannes Kolb, born ca 1683, a son of Dielman Kolb and wife, Agnes Schumacher, who were Mennonites. It was in 1707 that Johannes and two of his brothers, Martin and Jacob, left Wolfsheim, Hess, Germany and headed for America. The Kolb brothers were part of a people who were seeking freedom to worship and make a living as they saw fit.

Their maternal grandfather, Peter Schumacher, had come to America in 1685, and he died in 1707, the year the three brothers came to America. Peter had been a Mennonite, but had converted at some point in his later life to the Quaker faith.

The brothers came to Germantown, Pennsylvania, and then moved over to Skippack, Montgomery, Pennsylvania by 1710 where they owned land.

In 2007, I made a trip to Skippack to attend a family reunion which celebrated the 300^th anniversary of the Kolb brothers coming to America. See The Kolb-Kulp-Culp Family Association.

The reunion was held at the Lower Skippack Mennonite Church. I learned that for more than two hundred years the Kolbs and other Mennonite families had spoken and written mainly in the German that we know now as Pennsylvania Dutch (influenced by William Penn’s colony). I also learned that some of our Kolb families anglicized their names and to this day use the spellings of Kulp and Culp. It was surprising to me that our Johannes Kolb, who left Montgomery County to go to Chester County, Pennsylvania, and ended up in South Carolina in 1737. Johannes joined the Welsh Neck Baptist church and lived on the Pee Dee River in South Carolina. His land in Darlington County has been an archaeological site for many years (not active at this time). Site No. 38DA75. The Johannes Kolb Site 20th and Final Field Season | News and Press – Darlington County Historical Commission & Museum (dchcblog.net)

Just a few years ago, I was contacted by a cousin’s wife about a bible she found on Ebay. The old German bible was from a family in Indiana and their spelling was Kolp. Yes, inside that old bible included information that led right back to my common ancestors of Dielman Kolb and his wife, Agnew Schumacher. Speaking of that bible, I still have it stored away and would love to pass it on to anyone that descends from that family.

At that long ago family reunion celebration of the Kolb brothers coming to America, I heard distant kin speak and sing in Pennsylvania Dutch (or Pennsylvania German, as some called it).

The language of my ancestors, and those of my family in Pennsylvania who still spoke it, was beautiful.

-Revis

This content was crafted for Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge, focusing on the theme "Language" this week. 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (Week 9) Changing Names: My Daddy

When I saw the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge was “Changing Names”, I had several that came to mind, but the one that was most surprising was my daddy’s name change.

My daddy was born Harvey L. Cauble in 1933 in Jones County, Texas. I was joining the NSDAR (National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution) when I discovered his amended birth certificate which his father had signed and his name was legally changed to Kiefer Calvin Cauble. What????

I asked him about the name change. After all, I’d only heard him called “Kiefer Calvin”. Nothing else. Ever.

He laughed and said, “Oh, you knew that.” My reply was, “No, I don’t know this story.”

He proceeded to tell me that he was named Harvey L. at the hospital. Shortly after his parents got home, they decided they wanted to name him after “Doc Kiefer” (I may have identified this man recently). From then on he was known as Kiefer Calvin Cauble.

He used his “new name” without having had his birth certificate amended from 1^st grade to 12^th grade of high school, and then until his sophomore year of college at Texas Tech College (now Texas Tech University).  When he went into the military, his father signed an affidavit changing his name from Harvey L. Cauble to Kiefer Calvin Cauble on February 3, 1953. He was discharged from the military in early 1955 and returned to college as a Junior. He married my mother not too long after in November of 1955.

An interesting fact to me is that my mother knew his parents had changed his name, but she thought they had changed his name legally when he was a child. She was as surprised as me to learn that his name had been amended on his birth certificate when he was going into the military.

Daddy’s name change has caused family tree researchers to be baffled, especially at FamilySearch. For several years, he was listed as having a twin, and after repeatedly changing the information and adding notes that he did not have a twin, I’m hoping that it’s finally corrected. I'm crossing my fingers on this one. 

No twin. Same person. Two names. Thanks to my Grandmother and PawPaw Cauble’s delay in officially changing his name, my daddy became a "twin" at times. 

-Revis