Joseph Kulzer was born on his parent's farm two miles south of Meire Grove in central Minnesota. He was their fifth child of twelve. His infant brother, also named Joseph, died soon after birth exactly one year before his birth. The rest of his siblings all lived to adulthood and were married. Joseph lived the longest dying in his 93rd year.

His parents, his parents-in-law and one set of his grandparents are all buried in St. Johns Catholic Cemetery at Meire Grove. Years after he was grown and married, the town of Greenwald, MN grew up adjacent to his home farm and today Greenwald has a larger population than Meire Grove. His parents, John Adam and Frances Boesl (Bösl) Kulzer, were from neighboring villages in eastern Bavaria near the Czech border and had immigrated separately to Minnesota in the 1860's. They spoke German their whole lives. Joseph grew up speaking, reading and writing German but of course became proficient in English as well. Some of his older children could communicate in the German language.

He married June 30, 1896 at Meire Grove to Catherina Nathe. She was the seventh of twelve children and grew up on her parent's farm two miles east of town. They met at church. Catherine sang in the choir. Joe and Catherine lived their first six years together farming in Spring Hill Township southwest of Meire Grove birthing four daughters before relocating 15 miles northeast to Melrose where two more daughters were born, when they moved 150 miles NW to Sargent County, Rutland, ND. They continued to farm and in ND they had ten more children, two of whom died as infants. Joe assisted delivery for each of Catherine's sixteen births.

Joe and Catherina celebrated 50 years of marriage in 1946. Their large family produced 66 grandchildren and 250 great grandchildren and est. 500 great great grandchildren (year 2016).

In addition to farming and carpentry, Joe was a good husband and father. He kept a happy, disciplined home and if any squabbles developed, according to oral history, he always supported Catherine in her motherly duties. Without looking up, he would say to whichever child approached him for consultation, "Do like she says." German Americans of the pioneer era rarely spoke the word love. Joe provided for his family and from that love was understood. The family was not prone to hugging or kissing instead they smiled easily and often and shook hands. He and Catherine were both handsome people, calm, steady, friendly and hardworking. Joe was a man of few words. He was comfortable with his silence. However, if he chose to converse, he could in fact talk at great lengths entertaining listeners in a relaxed, deliberate, engaging manner. He was six feet tall, blue eyes and weighed at least 200 lbs or more during his working years. Catherine was five feet tall with interesting blue eyes prevalent in her family. Another interesting trait she inherited (from her mother) and passed to some of her children and their descendants was her dark brown hair, no gray or white even as she aged. She died at age 72 on July 13, 1949 from diabetes complications.

Catherine's death fell very hard on Joe. In the seventeen years after her death until his own death, he found work at his son's nearby hardware store, drove his car around the local countryside visiting his many children, their families and homes often staying with them for short periods and he continued the tradition of visiting relations near Melrose in Minnesota. His two surviving siblings Christine and Conrad attended his North Dakota winter funeral in 1966 along with scores of his nearly 275 biological living descendants.

16 Children of Joe and Catherina Kulzer:

Philomena Kulzer Mahrer 1897-1984 Forman, ND

Caroline Kulzer Gully Haring 1898-1989 Lidgerwood, ND

Olivia Kulzer Breker 1900-1991 Cayuga, ND

Susanna Kulzer Wyum 1901-1999 Rutland, ND

Alma Kulzer Austin Kirkham 1903-1996 Woodburn, OR

Regina Kulzer Breker 1904-1980 Cayuga, ND

Joseph Kulzer 1906-1906 Forman, ND

Joseph H. Kulzer 1907-1987 Rutland, ND

Alphonse Kulzer 1909- 1999 Rutland, ND

Isabel Kulzer Arellano 1910-1990 Menlo Park, CA

Julianna Kulzer Bond Garst 1912-1990 Medford, OR

Roman Kulzer 1914-1975 Redwood City, CA

Lucille Kulzer 1915-1915 Forman, ND

Norbert Kulzer 1916-1971 Minot, ND

Marian Kulzer Fay 1918-1996 Fargo, ND

Eleanor Kulzer Bommersbach 1920- Lives in ND

written by Gregory Dorr