Jacob Brull

JACOB BRULL, farmer and banker, president of the Farmers State Bank of Hays, has had a most interesting career. From a newsboy on the streets of Topeka he has steadily worked his way to prosperity and influence and is one of the men of note in Western Kansas.

Mr. Brull was born near Saratov, Russia, February 10, 1865. From that same locality came a large and important colony of sturdy Russian Germans who have had much to do with the prosperity and progress of Western Kansas. His father, Michael Brull, was born near Saratov in 1827. In 1880 he brought his family to the United States, located at Topeka, and there followed various lines of employment. In 1886 he moved out to Ellis County, where many of his fellow countrymen established homes. He took up a homestead of 160 acres and lived upon it the rest of his life. He died in Ellis County in 1911. He was a democrat and a member of the Catholic Church. Michael Brull married Barbara Funtrau. She was born near Saratov, Russia, in 1827 and died there in 1869. She was the mother of seven children: Joseph, who was killed in a mill near Saratov at the age of eighteen years; Katy, wife of Gerhart Unrein, a retired farmer in Ellis County: Catherine, who died in Russia, wife of Conrad Spetter; Gabriel, an Ellis County farmer; Alexander, a farmer in Brown County, Kansas; Jacob; and Annie, wife of Jacob Penning, a farmer in Ellis County.

Jacob Brull was fifteen years old when he came to America. He had been contributing his work to the family from the age of nine, and although he attended public school in Topeka he paid his way by peddling newspapers there for two years and later entered the service of L. R. Taylor, a prominent nurseryman, with whom he remained until the age of twenty-five.

Mr. Brull came to Ellis County in 1890 and bought a farm of eighty acres. With that as a nucleus he has steadily prospered in that rich agricultural region, now owns 1,040 acres of land and has been an extensive wheat grower and a raiser of the White Face cattle. He has been president of the Farmers State Bank of Hays since 1917.

Always interested in local affairs, Mr. Brull served one term as county commissioner. He is a democrat, a member of the Catholic Church, and is a third degree Knight in St. Joseph Council No. 1325, Knights of Columbus.

In 1891, in Ellis County Mr. Brull married Miss Lena Sack, daughter of Casper and Annie (Keene) Sack, both now deceased. Her father was a native of Russia and an Ellis County farmer. Mrs. Brull died at Hays in 1911, being the mother of thirteen children, and those who survived beyond childhood are: Thomas J., a farmer in Ellis County; Mary, Agnes, Gabriel, Annie, Cora and Regina, all still in the family home. In 1913, at Topeka, Mr. Brull married Mrs. Barbara (Allendorf) Goetz, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Allendorf. Her parents reside in Topeka, where her father is employed in the railroad shops.

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