Kutz Family Association: Can we come together and get started?

Hello, Cousin Kutzes and those who are related via Kutz lineage!

I am looking into the possibility of creating a Kutz Family Association. There are some reasons that I believe could be good for doing this, the article below gives an overview. It can be found at this link: http://www.familyhistoryquickstart.com/family-history-association/

I have put my own comments in brackets like this [...]: 

A family organization can be a great way to keep the family history and records of your family together as the family grows bigger over the decades and inevitably further apart as the family tree expands.

One of the problems as the family tree expands is that "Aunt Susie" has family history information and keepsakes that "Cousin Albert" has never seen but would probably like to see. [We can digitized these so family members all over can appreciate them, and if they ever were to be lost or destroyed, we still have record of them.]

There are family history stories and documents that need preserving, and family websites can certainly help share information, but once a family has really grown over a number of generations, it’s very easy to lose track of what’s happened to important records. [These should definitely be digitized in a high quality format and shared so that current family members, as well as future descendants can appreciate these for years to come.] When family history stories are posted online, many don’t have adequate reference citation. You may also be performing genealogy research that a distant relative already has completed but hasn’t made available online.

Creating an Official Family Association:

As we grow up, it’s inevitable that families drift apart after just a few generations. It’s quite understandable because new families are created as the family tree expands, and it’s hard to get together with the distant relatives.

Family Organizations and Associations: 

One solution is to create a Family Association. You can set up your organization any way you want. One option is to register your organization as a non-profit; the other option is just to have a small informal organization.

You may want to weigh the benefits and drawbacks. A formal, nonprofit can provide tax-exempt status, protect you against liability (very important in this day and age), and let others make donations that are tax exempt. 

The website http://www.legalzoom.com can help with getting started if you prefer an online resource, but LEGAL DISCLAIMER, talk to a lawyer in your state that specializes in non-profits. 

Regulations can vary from state to state on how you need to organize your association. A non-formal organization is probably better than nothing but does open you up to liability issues and does not offer tax exempt status. It really may depend on your vision of the scope of the association and how long you want it to last.

Things to consider for your organization:

Scope of the Family Association – Do you want to limit your organization’s focus? There are a number of ways you can define as the scope of your organization. Just to name a few ideas:

• Descendants of a particular ancestor

• Focus on a certain surname or group of surnames [I lean towards this one.]

• Focus on a certain location

• Researchers within a certain area

What the Association can Do: 

There are a lot of things that the organization can do. Below are a few ideas:

• Organize family history information

• Research genealogy

• Create published [and/online] family history books

• Organize reunions [I am considering having an annual family reunion during the Kutztown Folk Festival, the week of Fourth of July. This would give out of the area relatives more to do in the area to make the trip even more worthwhile.]

• Run a family history website related to the organization’s focus

• Send a monthly or quarterly newsletter to keep people in touch

• Host meetings to collect and share information about the family line [These could be organized as online teleconferences or webinars that people can call in for if they aren't tech-savvy, but still want to participate or listen in.]

• Hold learning sessions for those interested in genealogy [Also can be done online via teleconferencing that people can view with computer and mobile devices as well as call in by phone. Ahead of these, people can submit questions that can be answered in the session.]

• Act as a center point for information and contact about family history work on your particular focus [We can create a family contact list or family directory, for those who want to opt in to this, so we can contact one another to stay in touch.]

• Coordinate research efforts [Organize Skype or other group video sessions for people with similar research interests to collaborate and learn from one another.] 

• Keep people focused to keep the research work moving forward

Who’s Running this Thing? – You will probably want to have officers (if you’ve gone the formal way or not). 

Some officers you might want to have in your organization are:

• President 

• Vice President

• Treasurer

• Membership Administrator

• Editor

• Publisher

• Website Dude/Technical Specialist

• Historian

• Public Relations Specialist

Family Association Quick Start:

1. Decide if you really want to spend the time

2. Develop the focus and mission of the association

3. Contact family members you’ll want to involve

4. List projects you’d like to accomplish (rank projects in terms of priority)

5. Find a local lawyer to aid the legal process and setup

6. Define roles and rules for the association

7. Begin working on your projects

8. Spread the word

[My note: I've looked into what it takes to form a non-profit organization, and the various structure options as well as the paperwork involved in each. Each state has its own chapter of: https://www.councilofnonprofits.org

Yesterday I went to the Oregon office and got some practical information for us.

Each state is different, but it is likely we will need at least 3 board members to organize.

I suggest we begin with at least these: President, Treasurer, Membership Administrator (who, if they can, may also help with Public Relations Specialist, but with help and input from others.)

I wonder who out there would like to help make this a reality? I can be a leader and somewhat of a visionary. I can do a lot of work, but for this to be sustainable, we will need others amongst us who want to be a part of making it happen.

Please share your thoughts and list what experience/ interests of those listed above you might consider volunteering to help with.

I can host a group video/call in meeting where people who are interested can come together to discuss this and questions they may have.

Also, please tell others you think might be interested, who aren't online, about this project idea.

I will set up a discussion chat meeting online when people have stated their interest and ideas about this. Also, please post your questions. Thank you.

I would love for us to make this a reality for us and our descendants to benefit from!]

The below photo is an Aug 14, 1938 photo of the 17th Annual Donkel-Dunkle Family Association Reunion at Kutztown Park. If anyone knows the names of people who might have been there, let me know! So far I have zero names. Like some say in Kutztown "We are all related."

Kutztown family photos: Need help to identify people in these portraits

Does anyone know who these people might be? I believe they lived in or around Greenwich Township, Kutztown, Pennsylvania in the late 1800's to early 1900's. Most of the photos are stamped by photographer Snyder, Kutztown, Pa

Berks County Association for Graveyard Preservation (BCAGP)

The Berks County Association for Graveyard Preservation has been instrumental in helping to maintain the Kutz Family Graveyard for many years, long before many of us decendents learned of the graveyard and it's whereabouts.

Below is a link to BCAGP articles in newsletters on the Kutz Family Graveyard:

www.bcagp.org/newsletter/

Kutz, Vol. 2, Feb., 1996, 3


Kutz, Vol. 4, Feb., 1998, 3


Kutz, Vol. 4, May, 2009, 2

Kutz, Vol. 4, Sept., 2009, 4


Kutz, Vol. 6, Jan., 2011, 3, 8, 9,


Kutz, Vol. 6, Apr., 2011, 7


Kutz, Vol. 6, July, 2011, 6


Kutz, Vol. 7, Jan., 2012, 4


Kutz, Vol. 7, Oct., 2012, 5


Kutz, Vol. 10, Jan., 2015, 7


Kutz, Vol. 11, Jan., 2016, 5


Kutz, Adam, Vol. 5, July, 2010, 6


Kutz, Eva Catharine, Vol. 6, Jan., 2011, 10


Kutz, Jarusha, Vol. 11, Jan., 2016, 5


Kutz, Johan Nicolaus, Vol. 6, Jan., 2011, 10


Kutz, Johan Nicolaus, Vol. 6, Jan., 2011, 10


Kutz, Johann N., Vol. 6, Jan., 2011, 10


Kutz, Johann N. II, Vol. 6, Jan., 2011, 10,


Kutz, John Nicholas, Jr., Vol. 6, Jan., 2011, 9


Kutz, Maria, Vol. 6, Jan., 2011, 9


Kutz, Maria, Vol. 11, Jan., 2016, 5


Kutz, Maria Susanna (Scharatin), Vol. 6, Jan., 2011, 10


Kutz, Nicolaus, Vol. 6, Jan., 2011, 1

Here is a clip from Vol. 11, Jan., 2016, pg 5 

This is from Oct. 2015, where I helped, along with several volunteers, a dowser, and administrative officers from BCAGP to dig up Johnson Grass by the root rhizomes and probe for the missing headstones and grave markers.

This work really paid off when I came back to visit in June 2016 to see the inevitable regrow th of this invasive weed expecting to see massive growth, instead I found the fast growing weed about 3 inches tall. One week later when I returned to spray the weed, it had grown to upwards of 12 inches more. This is the growth habit of Johnson grass. I sprayed in coordination and under the tutelage of the farmers of the area. They too battle with Johnson grass invading their crops. The Johnson grass that had taken hold in our graveyard was quickly reseeding into the field surrounding it. 

This one has always been farmland, from the beginning when Johann Nicholas Kutz I (1690-1749) lived on the land farmed it with his sons, and was buried there. I am glad to have cultivated a good relationship with these farmers. Without their hard work, many of us would not have this beautiful countryside to come back to visit our ancestors's burial grounds year after year.

http://www.bcagp.org/epi/gh-1-2016.pdf

Kutz Family Association

Hello! I have been meeting a lot of very good folks out there who are related to one another via the Kutz family line. Many of our ancestors were amongst some of the first people to settle in Kutztown, Pennsylvania as far back as 1729.
Since then many of their decendents have spread out across this great land such that we are in most of, if not all, 50 states, and abroad. Some of us still are bilingual, however many of us who are living today were not taught the language that our granparents knew and spoke all the way back to Germany or Switzerland, called Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch also known as the Pennsylvania Dutch language.

Along with many of us not having our ancestral language passed down to us, so have we also not learned about what our people, the Kutzes, were like, who they were, what they did, and who they became.
Some of us never were even told where we came from in Europe, or that some of our first ancestors founded a town called Kutztown, in Pennsylvania.
Many of us have never been to a Kutz Family Reunion. Many have never been to the Kutztown Folk Festival. Some of us have been told things about our distant relatives, but some of us know nothing of what it means to "be a Kutz."

Since I learned where and when my ancestors originally settled in America, and since I learned that many people of the first generations of Kutzes, and their families, are buried in a historic family graveyard in a farm field about 30 yards from a country road outside of Kutztown, Pennsylvania, I have wanted to find a way to bring more of us together so that we may share our knowledge and give us a place to celebrate our family pride.
Some people love history, and many of us begin to really find a passion for history once we can see how it relates directly to us. Only then can we pry ourselves away from our busy distracted day to day lives to think about these kinds of questions: Where did we really come from? Who were those people who lived here 200-some years ago? What things have my ancestors accomplished? Why did we leave Kutztown? Why did many of us stop farming? Are there things that we Kutzes have in common, are we unique in some ways that were passed down from our common ancestors? And lastly, why oh why is it so hard to teach people from out of the area how to pronounce our last name!

A family association is a non-profit organization that can help members of a shared family name to learn about who we are and share information that may not have been spread to the rest of us. We may find that we have some common goals, such as to learn how we are all related, to find a way we can share memorabelia and make sure it is preserved for future generations. We also might unite around a desire to preserve and memorialize our historic family graveyard, which still stands on part of the original 500 acres our first ancestor in this country, Johann Nicholas Kutz I, (1690-1749) farmed in Maxatawny Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania.

Some information:
Kutz Family Association is currently in the progress of being formed. Please contact us if you have an interest in being a part of this effort.

On forming an official family association:
http://www.familyhistoryquickstart.com/family-history-association/

Kutz Family Graveyard information:
Graveyard located near 122-224 Hottenstein Road, Kutztown, PA 19530
Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)

GNIS info below found at below link is:

http://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=gnispq:3:0::NO::P3_FID:2776254

Coordinates from this link are stated as:

Longitude(DEC):  40.5429527

Latitude(DMS): -75.7473347

Longitude(DMS): 403235N

Feature Detail Report for Kutz Family Graveyard:

ID: 2776254

Name: Kutz Family Graveyard

Also called Kutz Burial Ground

Class: Cemetery

Other information can be found at Find A Grave:

General information on the Kutz Burial Ground:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=2326533

Find A Grave's information including names of all people according to their sources who are supposed to be buried there:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=2326533

Though information on who is buried in this historic family burial ground and where in the graveyard they are buried is sparse. Many headstones are missing and have not been seen since before 1940. Perhaps many of those first buried there never had more than an uncarved fieldstone to mark their final resting place. Headstone carvers were few and far between in that area of Berks County in the mid 1700's.