Some years ago, I decided that I should know more about my ancestors. As far as I knew, my families were always in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, where I had been born. About 1990, I learned that my immigrant ancestors, Jacob and Maria Magdalena Köller, had owned property in Frederick County, Maryland, where I was living at the time. That sparked my interest and my imagination, and I began to look into records I would not have been interested in prior to this discovery. This is not, in any way, meant to be a history of the Culler family. It is a collection of names, dates and data concerning the descendants of Jacob and Maria Magdalena Köller/Culler/Cullers.

All of my information has come from public records, church records, work that people before me have done, or word of mouth of family members. I realize that all of these sources can be faulty at times, and hope I may be forgiven for any inaccuracies found herein.

In 1951, when my family moved to Frederick County, Maryland, I asked my father, whose mother was a Cullers from Virginia, if we could be related to the Culler families in that county. He assured me that unless it was spelled with the ‘s’ at the end, as it is in Virginia, they must certainly be two different families. At that time, being a teenager, and interested in things other than family, I didn’t bother to pursue that opinion. That has been one of my biggest regrets since I began this work.

About 12 years ago, my husband convinced me that I should try to record some of my family’s history, so I began doing some research, and found that Michael Culler, the patriarch of the Frederick County Culler families, was indeed the older brother of my great-great-great-grandfather, John Cullers, who left Frederick County, MD about 1777 and moved to Shenandoah County, Virginia. The ‘s’ got added to the name at that time, and has been there since. In fact, the Virginia branch of the family are most unwilling to accept the spelling without that ‘s’. I learned that Jacob Köller (pronounced Kew(r)ller in German), the immigrant father of Michael, John ,their younger brothers, Jacob, and Heinrich, purchased property in Frederick County, MD, in 1754 when he bought a piece of property known as Den of Wolves, near Lewistown, from George Honey. This got my inquisitive juices flowing, and I took off from there. From 1754 to about 1800 the German spelling, Köller, was used in all church records that I found. The spelling of the name in Frederick County, MD, changed to Culler. John Köller moved to Shenandoah County, VA about 1777, and the name there was spelled Kullers, later changed to Cullers. You will find a number of the early family members who were baptized as Köller and buried as Culler or Cullers. The younger son, Jacob, moved to Ohio about 1815, and the name there is spelled as Color, Coller or Culler. For many years I was convinced that any family who spelled the name "Cullers" was related to my direct line, but I have since found that is simply not so. Some of Jacob’s descendants in Ohio and points west also spell their name with the ‘s’.

Michael owned a large farm in the Middletown Valley, near the present town of Jefferson. He had three sons who moved to Richland County, OH, about 1823-25, and their descendants still live on the three properties purchased at that time. John had two sons who moved to Missouri, then on to Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and California. Jacob took his family, grown children, spouses, grandchildren, etc. to Warren County, OH, about 1815 and they traveled further west from there. We now have descendants of Jacob and Maria Köller living in most of the 50 states, which is a very exciting prospect to consider.

In my travels to Germany I have tried to learn the proper pronunciation of the name, but I can never

pronounce it the way the German people do. It always comes out sounding like "Cooler." I suspect the English speaking people in America in the 18^th century had much the same problem, and that is probably how the spelling and pronunciation was changed to Culler.

Millard Rice, a great-great grandson of Michael, did a great deal of research on land records in Frederick County, MD, and determined, in his own mind, that Jacob Keller, who owned a property near Myersville in the Middletown Valley called Ramshorn, and Jacob Köller, who purchased Den of Wolves near Creagerstown on 24 Apr 1754, were one and the same person. He based this assumption on the fact that Ramshorn was sold by Jacob Keller on the same day that Den of Wolves was purchased by Jacob Köller. However, Jacob Keller (spelled Kaller in the handwritten copy of the deed) signed his deed with his own hand. Jacob Köller made his mark on his deeds. It seems hardly likely that the same man would have signed one deed and made his mark on another. Jacob Köller also made his mark on later deeds, making it seem more than probable that he could not sign his name at all. Therefore, I am led to believe that Den of Wolves was the first property purchased by Jacob Köller in Frederick County. However, many people, who have read Mr. Rice’s work, still believe his theory. I will not argue the point. It is for each person to decide for him/herself what they believe to be right.

I have found the name spelled as Köller, Koller, Koler, Collar, Coller, Coler, Colour, Cullers, and Kullers in various records, but have not found any reference to members of this family where the name was spelled as Keller or Köhler, another name which is pronounced the same as Köller, but is a different family, at least in Frederick County, MD. There are many Kellers in Frederick County, but I found no indication that they were related in any way, except several in later generations by marriage, to the Köller family, although I have spoken to many who would try to connect them. In the earliest days all of the Kellers were members of the Reformed Church and the Köllers were Lutheran. There was, early on, a family of Köhlers in Frederick County, but, again, I have never been able to tie them into this family in any way. They were also found in the Reformed Church records.

Jacob Köller, as the name was spelled when he immigrated, is buried in Fort Valley, Shenandoah County, VA, next to his son, John, and John’s wife, Mary. The name on all three tombstones is spelled Kullers. Jacob was married twice, both wives were named Maria Magdalena, but I have no idea where either one of them are buried. I suspect that the first wife, and mother of their four sons (Heinrich, born in 1755 and baptized by the Lutheran pastor in Frederick, but no further records were found, probably died young. The church record indicates that he was born the end of Oct, but also says he was baptized on 13 Sep 1755) died in Frederick County in late 1774 or early 1775, and is probably buried there. She was listed as a sponsor for a baptism in 1774 and Jacob remarried in 1775. The second wife was a widow whose name was Maria Magdalena Abel, daughter of John Rusher, and Jacob married her in Frederick County, Maryland on August 19, 1775. She lived in Virginia with him, as witnessed by the fact that one of Jacob’s deeds stated that Maria Magdalena and Jacob’s son, John ,came to Frederick County from Virginia to handle the sale of a property. She is not buried with him, at least there is no stone there. I have found no record of either wife’s death or burial in available church records.

The younger son, Jacob, owned a piece of property near Creagerstown called "Grindstone Rock." He was married to Elizabeth Müller, probably a cousin to John’s wife, Anna Maria Müller, moved to Franklin, Warren County, Ohio, with his entire family about 1815. All of the children were grown and had married in Frederick County before they departed. I have not done a great deal of research on that line, and have not found very much on them after they arrived in Ohio. He was buried in Salem Church Cemetery in Clearcreek Township after his death on February 2, 1829. Elizabeth moved to Montgomery County, Ohio after his death and is buried in Slifer’s Cemetery in that place.

I’d like to state here that there is nothing in the information that I have collected that has not been found in public records, or given to me by family members, so I’m not revealing anyone’s private information. I realize that there are those who don’t like to have their age published, but all of the information I have came from records that can be found by anyone who is interested enough to look for them. I have used the records at the County Courthouses, various church records, records found in the Maryland and Virginia Archives and cemetery records, books published by other writers and readily available to anyone who’s looking for family information.

While I found many passenger lists for various ships containing Köllers, I found only one, the ship Robert and Alice, which arrived in Philadelphia on September 30, 1743, which had not only a Jacob Köller, but many other names which were found in Frederick County in the 1750's, including a Christian Müller, which was the name of John Cullers father-in-law. This leads me to believe that this may have been our Jacob, but it is certainly not proof. (I stress this because so many people believe whatever they see in print.) Most of the ships which carried these passengers were said by the captains to be carrying "Switzers." I believe the name was originally found in Switzerland, and these people had gone from Switzerland to Germany some time before immigrating to America. There were many families named Köller in and around the town of Appenzel, Switzerland.

There are some who believe that our Jacob arrived in Philadelphia on the Billander Oliver in 1739, along with parents, Hans and Susanna, but, again, there is no proof that he could have been our Jacob. Hans is said to have been a brother to Benedict Köller, who traveled on the same ship, but debarked in Charleston, SC. As a matter of fact, I have found four Jacob Köllers who could possibly have been our immigrant, but I have decided in my own mind which one I believe it to be.

Michael was the oldest known son of Jacob and Maria Magdalena Köller, and owned a large tract of land in the Middletown Valley, near New Town, which later became known as Jefferson. He raised his family on that property, and many of his descendants are still in the county today. He was listed as an associator during the Revolutionary War. However, he had three sons, Jacob, Philip and Michael, who moved to Richland County, Ohio, and the three farms they purchased in 1825 are still under the ownership of their descendants today. They are said to have left Maryland because they were strongly opposed to the owning of slaves, which was being done by some of their own family.

Michael’s son, Henry, was a Captain in the War of 1812, and owned a great deal of property in the county. In fact, it is said that at one time a person could travel from Jefferson to Frederick and never leave Henry’s property during the trip, although a look at early county maps does not substantiate this claim. He donated property for the Jefferson Lutheran Church and later his son, Col. Henry Culler donated land for St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Feagaville, in memory of his son who had died. The old Culler home in Jefferson was destroyed several years ago in order to make room for a road. The house was in bad repair, and it was decided to destroy it, rather than to try to rebuild it.

I have found no documents to show that John might have ever owned property in Frederick County, MD. As far as I know he lived with his father, and helped with the work of that farm until he decided to move to Shenandoah County, VA. His father sold "Den of Wolves" just days before John went to Virginia and purchased the property called "Teboe’s Fort" in Fort Valley. At some later date, Jacob moved to Virginia and was living with John at the time of John’s death.

I have published a book on the family of Michael Culler, entitled "The Descendants of Michael Köller/Culler and Eleanora Schmidt Culler of Frederick County, Maryland" This book is available at the Willow Bend Book Store in Westminster, Maryland. Their e-mail address is and their web site is Anyone interested in obtaining the book must contact them.  Surnames in this book include Ahalt, Biser, Bussard, Coblentz, Culler, Dean, Ernsberger, Holter, Howard, Kefauver, Keller, Lakin, Long, Main, Remsberg, Renn,  Rudy, Smith, Thomas, Willard, Zimmerman, and many, many more.

I have over 6,000 persons who are descendants, and their spouses, of Michael and Lenora Schmidt Culler. To the best of my knowledge, the information I have is true. I have documented what I found in the records, and that information which is not documented has been given to me, either in family records, or by word of mouth. My starting point for this family was information put together in the 1980's by Viola Holter Shue and her son, David. I have truly enjoyed the research I have done, but what I have enjoyed most has been meeting "cousins" I never knew I had. When I moved to the valley forty years ago, I jokingly said "You have to be careful who you talk about here. Most everyone is related." Little did I know at the time that I was also related to many of them. It has been a wonderful experience.

I am in the process of putting together a book on John Cullers’ family, which, hopefully will be ready to go to press sometime in 2002..  Surnames in this book will include Alger, Atwood, Brown, Burner, Clem, Crider, Cullers, Delawder, Dove, Fitzwater, Fristoe, Halterman, Hockman, Jenkins, Keyser, Lentz, Martin, May, McInturff, Miller, Mongold, O'Flaherty, Ours, Ritenour, Shipe, Sirk, Smith, Souder, Stinson, Whetsel\Whetzel, Wood, Yates, Zobel, and hundreds more. 

At present I have nearly 8,000 names of person who are descendants, and their spouses, of John and Maria Magdalena Miller Cullers. If it had not been for the work done in the 1960's by my uncle, Lewis E. Martin, I probably would not have started this project at all. He had collected more than 4,000 names in this family line before his death. All of this was done by mail and telephone, as he had no computer to work with. I can’t imagine what kind of time and effort he expended in the work that he accomplished. His daughter, Marie Martin Murphy, who is well known in genealogical circles, was kind enough to share his materials with me, and has allowed me to use it as a basis for the continuing work I have done on the family. I have found his work to be thorough and true, and have built from there to the great amount of information I have today.

I have less than 1,000 names of the descendants of the son, Jacob Culler, who moved to Ohio. I do not plan to do a book on Jacob’s family, as I have so little information on them. Anyone reading this page who has information on that particular line and would like to share with me, I’d like to know more about them.