Welcome to the new web site of the Culver Cousins. This site documents some of the history of the widely diverse descendants of Phineas Culver in the United States. We have stayed in touch with each other for over 100 years through annual reunions, mostly in Michigan. This is our attempt to broaden that communication in the digital age and to use the Internet to share news of the family.  Initially the site has a chronology of our common ancestor Phineas, photos and other information from some of our past reunions,  We have links to various portions of our family tree so we can all see where we "fit" in the picture of our family.  Come back often. Sign up in the Contact section to receive email notices about the site and our family.

What's new?

The 107th Culver Cousins Reunion was held in Saline, Michigan on August 11, 2019

WHO ARE WE?

The Culver Cousins are all descendants of Phineas Culver, who was born in 1786. His exact place of birth is unclear, with some researchers suggesting Scotland while others suggest that he was born in Long Island, New York. We do know that he married Thankful Sawyer and that in 1807 they were living in what is now Wayne County in upstate New York. Phineas served in the War of 1812 in the New York Militia. Around 1835, Phineas and his second wife, Electa Harkness Witherell, migrated with his eldest son Jesse and his wife, Polly Root Culver, to southeast Michigan and purchased land near what is now Mooreville, Michigan in Washtenaw County about 40 miles from Detroit. All together Phineas fathered 17 children although several of them did not survive to maturity. Phineas died on July 6, 1865 and his wife Electa followed him in death on December 22, 1872. Phineas, Electa, Jesse and Polly are all buried in adjacent graves in the Mooreville cemetery and several other Culver descendants are buried there as well.

WHERE DO YOU FIT IN?

Here is a start. Click here for a Kinship Report showing the relationship of people born before 1900 to Phineas. If you know an ancestor in this line who was born before 1900, you can see that person's relationship to Phineas.

THE CULVER COUSINS REUNION

Our annual gathering of the descendants of Phineas Culver (1786 - 1865) is one of the oldest in the Midwest. Our first official reunion in 1909 was an outgrowth of a family celebration of a shared birthday (July 19) of Richard H. and Polly Lucinda Culver Millage (who were married n Saline on September 16, 1865 after Richard's second tour of duty in the Civil War). he family has met continuously except for two years during World War II and one year in the 1990s.Traditionally, the reunions are filled with activities for the youngsters, a lot of sharing reminiscences by the oldsters, often songs, jokes and skits, and then good food and a "business" meeting, where we collect news about family events, record births and deaths, elect so-called officers, and plan the next reunion. Our largest reunion in recent history was attended by 130 cousins. You can review photos and information from many of our past reunions here. If you have photos or information about our past reunions that are not on the site, please contact us to pass them along so we can post them.