Introduction

Biography

Abram was the son of Ja­cob Zieg­ler Kolb and Ma­ria Bow­man, and hus­band of Phoe­be Kratz Funk.

After gra­du­at­ing from high school, he taught for four years, in­clud­ing a year in Am­eri­ca, where his pu­pils re­port­edl­y in­clud­ed Or­ville and Wi­lbur Wright, lat­er in­vent­ors of the air­plane.

In 1886, Kolb moved to Elk­hart, In­di­ana, and be­came an as­sist­ant ed­it­or at the Men­non­ite Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny owned by John F. Funk. He ev­en­tu­al­ly worked his way up to ed­it­or-in-chief, then vice-pre­si­dent of the com­pa­ny un­til a year be­fore his death.

He also ed­it­ed Words of Cheer and Her­ald der Wahr­heit, and trans­lat­ed ma­ny ma­nu­scripts be­ing pre­par­ed for pub­li­ca­tion, among them the En­chi­ri­di­on of Ana­bap­tist lead­er Dirk Phil­ips.