From the book History of Walworth County Wisconsin, by Albert Clayton Beckwith, publ. 1912 - Pages 592 - 594 ANDREW KULL. A prominent and well known citizen of Bloomfield township, Walworth county, is Andrew KULL, a man who has led an eminently honorable and useful life and achieved a marked degree of success in his chosen vocation and at the same time has benefited the community of which he is a native, and, one may truthfully add, a pioneer, having spent the sixty-seven years of his terrestrial existence in this locality, which he has seen advance from the wilderness to one of the choice farming sections of the state, and in which development he has played no inconspicuous part. He is now president of one of the leading local banks. Mr. KULL's birth occurred in Bloomfield township, this county, on April 29, 1845. He is the son of John Michael and Cynthia (SLAFTER) KULL, a worthy old family, a sketch of whom appears on another page of this work. These parents having come here about 1837, were thus among the very earliest settlers of the county. The subject's mother died when he was only about four months old, and he was taken by his father's brother, Andrew KULL, and wife and reared in their home, they having no children of their own, and they became very strongly attached to the motherless little one and cared for it as they would have done their own child. Finally gaining the father's consent, they adopted the child, and he grew up on their farm in the north edge of Bloomfield township. Andrew KULL, who adopted the subject of this sketch, was the son of John Michael KULL, Sr., of Wurtenberg, Germany, in which place his birth occurred in 1808. There he grew to manhood and married Gertrude PFROMMER, and they emigrated to America before the year of 1830. They came to Walworth county, Wisconsin, in 1837 and entered land in the north side of Bloomfield township, and they became prosperous for these days, especially in a new county, where settlers were few and money scarce. The elder KULL's death occurred in 1887, his wife having preceded him to the grave in 1872. Andrew KULL, the immediate subject of this sketch, grew to manhood when the roads in this country were scarcely more than Indian trails and when wolves and other wild animals were abundant, and he recalls many interesting reminiscences of the early days. He attended A. W. Moody's select school at Lake Geneva, and on December 14, 1861, he was united in marriage with Ann REITBROCK, daughter of Adolph and Christena REITBROCK. She was born in Kenosha county, of which her father was among the first settlers, her parents having come from Germany, in which country Mr. REITBROCK had been a goldsmith. He established his home here amid adverse conditions, such as having to haul his supply of flour and other necessities from Milwaukee, at first on a hand-sled. But that was not so trying has having to carry a sack of flour from Chicago on the shoulder, as Andrew KULL, who adopted the subject, had to do. After his marriage the subject of this sketch continued farming on the place where he was reared prospering at sheep raising often keeping large droves, and he has continued raising sheep in connection with general farming. He early concluded from his experience as a wool grower that he got no benefit from a tariff on wool and he became widely known as an opponent of such a tariff and engaged in public speaking in many places in numerous states against such a tariff, of which the subject made a deep study, also of wool dying and manufacturing, becoming one of the best informed men along this line that southern Wisconsin has ever produced, and, being a forceful and entertaining speaker, he always had an interested audience. He has long manifested an interest in public affairs, and in 1888 he was nominated by the Democrats for lieutenant-governor of Wisconsin and he made an excellent race. Mr. KULL assisted in the organization of the Farmers National Bank of Lake Geneva and he was president of this popular institution from January 17, 1995, up to date of his resignation in 1911, its constantly growing prestige having been in part due to his conservative and judicious management. He has kept well advised on all financial matters and is regarded as one of the county's leading financiers, his influence being potent in industrial and commercial affairs. Mr. KULL has been twice married, and to his first union five sons and two daughters were born, namely: Frances, who died April 6, 1912; Helen M., married Orris HART, and her death occurred at the age of twenty-nine years; Henry Andrew, who died when four and one-half years old; Adolph lives on his own farm in Bloomfield township; Frederick is an attorney, with offices in both Chicago and Lake Geneva; Hermann lives in Howard county, Iowa, and, although a Democrat in a Republican county, has been elected to two terms in the Iowa Legislature; Grover is farming in section 2, Bloomfield township. The mother of the above named children passed away in 1895, and on August 18, 1909, Andrew KULL was united in marriage with Carrie Louise (SCRUTON) KLUG, the daughter of William and Mary (PIGG) SCRUTON, and born in New York city. Her parents were natives of England, the father born in Scarborough. Mrs. KULL came west to her sister in Illinois in 1890 and she remained there until her marriage in 1891 to Gustav E. KLUG, and they made their home in Maywood, that state, where Mr. KLUG's death occurred in 1902, after which Mrs. KLUG spent two years in Rutherford, New Jersey, then came to Lake Geneva, where she continued to reside until her marriage with Mr. KULL. Two children were born of her first marriage: John Leslie and Ethel Lillian. Two children have been born to Mr. KULL and his last wife, David Clinton and William Emerson, the latter since deceased. Mr. KULL is a man of splendid physique, broad-minded, strong-willed, public- spirited, kindly and obliging in his relations with his fellow men, his conduct always that of an honorable genteel gentleman, a man of influence wherever he is known. Submitted By: Carol (carolann612@charter.net)