Daniel Lee Kutch, Jr.
1807-1874

	Wife: Mary Bell (1811-1860) 14 Children: Marjorie Kutch (1832-1924) William C. Kutch (1833-1925) Bolen L. Kutch (1834-1892) Cyrus W. Kutch (1836-1923) Mary Frances Kutch (1839-1918) Hannah E. Kutch (1841-1924) Benjamin F. Kutch (1843-1923) Virginia B. Kutch (1844-1920) Moses S. Kutch (1847-    ) John F. Kutch (1849-1874) Henry B. Kutch (1851-    ) Rufus M Kutch (1853-1883) Sarah Ann Kutch (1856-1894) Ira A. Kutch (1858-1931)
Father: Daniel Lee Kutch Sr Mother: Hannah M. Whitely

Daniel Lee Kutch, Jr., was born on 4 Dec 1807 in Casey, Kentucky, to Daniel Lee Kutch, Sr. and Hannah Minerva Whiteley Kutch. He was the eighth of thirteen children born to them. Daniel was of German descent.

At age 24, on 3 Apr 1832 he married Mary Bell, daughter of Major Thomas J. Bell and Mary McFalls. They lived in Tennessee until 1837 by which time they had had their first four children. That was the time of the great financial Panic of 1837 when most banks went bankrupt and there was huge losses of property. The family decided to move to the Republic of Texas, which has just gained its independence from Mexico during the year prior. Texas would not become a state of the United States until 1845.

The family left Maury County, Tennessee, and boarded a steamboat named the Black Hawk in 1837, probably at Memphis, Tennessee, and headed toward Texas. The planned river route to Shreveport, Louisiana, is shown on the map. When the boat got passed Natchez, Mississippi, on 27 Dec 1837, on their way to Natchitoches, Lousiana, the boiler on the boat exploded, resulting in the deaths of about half of the hundred or so passengers. Daniel and Mary's family all survived, but they lost all of their possessions, being left with only the night clothes they were wearing! A flat boat picked them up an carried them back to Natchez.

Daniel's family survived!

Historical accounts of the details of the explosion are included in the newspaper article links above under the family information. There were enough other such disasters that the Natchez National Park was established to commemorate the events, which results in improved safety of steamboat travel.

Again leaving Natchez, they traveled up the Red River to Shreveport, and then by wagon to Texas. They arrived in Shelby County on 21 Jan 1838. After stopping in Smith County, they went on in 1855 the what became Jack County. Daniel became one of the founders of Jack County and was elected to be one of the first commissioners thereof when it was founded on 27 Aug 1856.

After being one of the founders of Jack County, Daniel and Mary decided to move to Parker County, Texas. Daniel died there in Weatherford on 15 Jun 1874 at the age of 66. His wife Mary died in Parker County in 1860 at the age of 49, so he survived his wife by some 14 years. She had given birth to their fourteen children in their 28 years of marriage, dying two years after their last!