Local sisters discover family tie to American Revolution

Kissel family can trace its history to the Revolutionary War, Mayflower

  • Jacob Kissel, shown here with his wife and son, was a Union soldier during the Civil War. Captured by the Confederates, he spent time in an Alabama prisoner of war camp. After the war ended he narrowly escaped death when he was put off the steamboat Sultana before it blew up, killing 1,700 people, many of whom were newly released Union prisoners.
    Jacob Kissel, shown here with his wife and son, was a Union soldier during the Civil War. Captured by the Confederates, he spent time in an Alabama prisoner of war camp. After the war ended he narrowly escaped death when he was put off the steamboat Sultana before it blew up, killing 1,700 people, many of whom were newly released Union prisoners.

    The celebration of America’s 250th birthday this month has taken on a special meaning for a pair of Aurora sisters. That’s because Deb Willis and her sister Pat Anderson were recently able to trace their ancestry back to before the nation was founded in 1776. Recent research has even uncovered the fact that one ancestor, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, had fought in the disastrous Batt…