Genealogy of Hilary Kunz and Violet Simons
In 1927 two pioneer families of the
Sherman and Creston area of Washington State were joined in matrimony. Hilary
Kunz married Violet Simons on August 24, 1927. Together, these two people raised
seven children on the same farm that Hilary’s father had bought years earlier,
when he had moved to the area in the 1800's. Eventually, Hilary’s son Lary Kunz
worked the family farm, as well as the farm of the George Simons family. George
Simons had been one of the earliest settlers in the area, and father of Violet
Simons Kunz.
My name is Mary Ann Kunz Bresba.
I am the youngest of these seven children. Out of admiration and love for these
families, I am attempting to gather the genealogical work of family members,
along with my own research, so that my children and other descendants may know
the stories of their family. My daughter, Marina Bresba, has spent
innumerable hours writing, editing, photo editing and publishing this site. She's been
dragged willingly into this endeavour after taking a genealogical pilgrimage
with me through Iowa, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New York in 2006, in addition
to the many family visits to Washington State.
The love of
the land and the spirit of adventure of those early pioneers are a legacy which
has been handed down to their descendants and other family members, inspiring
many of them to reflect, to create, to craft words and images. A
collection of some of these reflections is also an
important part of this project.
The sources from
which we have gathered information are countless. Special credit and
thanks, however, must be given to particular people: Darryl Bahr of
Wilbur, WA, who has gathered together an enormous collection of facts and
stories from newspaper clippings, census records and oral histories; Laura
Belle Childers Kunz of Wilbur, WA, who shared her extensive genealogy
research into her husband's family; Ardis S. Dashiell of Fairfield, WA,
who contributed much of the research on the Simons side of the family; Mary Anne Simons Kershner, of Coulee City,
WA, who collected data from the LDS archives; Russell Simons of Tonasket, WA, who
passed on the family stories of the Simons' migration to Washington state, as
well as detailed genealogies; and my sister, Evelyn Kunz
Gaffney of Lacey, WA, who "embroidered" the tale of our family with
fascinating colour.
