Atz Kilcher | |
|---|---|
 Kilcher and his wife Bonnie | |
| Born | September 2, 1947 |
Attila Kuno "Atz" Kilcher (born September 2, 1947) [1] is the oldest son of Yule F. Kilcher and Ruth Weber. [2] He is one of the stars on the Discovery show Alaska: The Last Frontier , which focuses on the Kilcher homestead established 80 years ago outside of Homer, Alaska on Kachemak Bay. [3]
Atz Kilcher is the fourth of eight siblings and oldest son. His siblings include his brother, Otto, who co-stars on the Discovery Channel TV show, and six sisters: Wurtilla Hepp, Fay Graham, Catkin Kilcher Burton, Stellavera Kilcher, Mossy Kilcher and Sunrise Sjoeberg. [4]
Because the local elementary school was beyond walking distance for the children, the Kilcher siblings were homeschooled by their mother, Ruth, until they reached their teens. [4] In high school, Atz was an athlete, competing in skiing, basketball, wrestling, and cross country. [5]
He was drafted in 1967 for the Vietnam War where he spent just under two years in the Army. He returned home and married Lenedra Carroll, [6] and the couple had three children. His oldest, Shane, works on the homestead along with his youngest son, Atz Lee. His daughter, Jewel, is a Grammy-nominated folk singer. [5] [7]
Atz Kilcher published his story-filled memoir in 2018, titled Son of a Midnight Land: A Memoir in Stories. He documents his life growing up on his family's homestead, his role in the Vietnam War, and his life as a social worker. He also describes the hardships he faced with the ever present angry moods of his father, Yule Kilcher. The memoirist reflects on what he learned from working with his father and how that shaped him into who he is today. [5]
The Kilcher Homestead was established when his father Yule Kilcher moved to Alaska in 1940 and was given 160 acres of federal land to homestead. His mother Ruth and the children helped work the homestead while Yule traveled for months at a time to Juneau as a state Senator. [5] Over time, the homestead grew to over 600 acres of land. [7]
In the 1990s, Yule established the Kilcher Family Trust, which would prevent the homestead from being divided between his children, and would ensure that it remained intact for future generations of Kilchers to work the land he so loved. [4] The homestead is owned by all 8 Kilcher siblings. [4]
The family offers tours of the homestead, where an original cabin has been turned into a museum. There, old tools are displayed which were used for farming. As one of the siblings gives a tour, they offer first hand stories of growing up on their homestead. [7]
Kilcher is a known celebrity in the state of Alaska. He writes and sings his own songs about his life experiences. He is also known for his yodeling. [7] He and his daughter, Jewel Kilcher, in her early life, travelled the state of Alaska performing his songs and yodeling together. [5]
Discovery Channel started producing the TV Series Alaska: The Last Frontier . The show has had 11 seasons as of 2022 and features Atz, his brother Otto, and other family members from the Kilcher clan. [3]
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of the Thirteen Colonies. In 1775, Boone blazed the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap and into Kentucky, in the face of resistance from American Indians, for whom the area was a traditional hunting ground. He founded Boonesborough, one of the first English-speaking settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains. By the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 people had entered Kentucky by following the route marked by Boone.
Jewel Kilcher, mononymously known as Jewel, is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and humanitarian activist. She has been nominated for four Grammy Awards and has sold over 30 million albums worldwide as of 2024.
Yodeling is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word yodel is derived from the German word jodeln, meaning "to utter the syllable jo". This vocal technique is used in many cultures worldwide. Recent scientific research concerning yodeling and non-Western cultures has shown that music and speech evolved from a common prosodic precursor.
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother, is the autobiography and memoir of James McBride first published in 1995; it is also a tribute to his mother, whom he calls Mommy, or Ma. The chapters alternate between James McBride's descriptions of his early life and first-person accounts of his mother Ruth's life, mostly taking place before McBride was born.
Q'orianka Waira Qoiana Kilcher is an American actress. Her best known film roles are Pocahontas in Terrence Malick's 2005 film The New World, and Kaʻiulani in Princess Kaiulani (2009). In 2020, she starred in a recurring role on the Paramount Network show Yellowstone.
Ervil Morrell LeBaron was the leader of a polygamous Mormon fundamentalist group who ordered the killings of many of his opponents, both within his own sect and in rival polygamous groups, using the religious doctrine of blood atonement to justify the murders. He was sentenced to life in prison for orchestrating the murder of an opponent, and died there in 1981.
Mordecai Lincoln was an uncle of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. He was the eldest son of Captain Abraham Lincoln, a brother of Thomas Lincoln and Mary Lincoln Crume, and the husband of Mary Mudd. He is buried at the Old Catholic or Lincoln Cemetery near Fountain Green, Illinois.
Beyond the Black Stump is a novel by British author Nevil Shute. It was first published in the UK by William Heinemann Ltd, in 1956.
The Harding Icefield is an expansive icefield located in the Kenai Mountains of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. It is also partially located in Kenai Fjords National Park. It is named for U.S. President Warren G. Harding.
The Daniel Boone Homestead, the birthplace of American frontiersman Daniel Boone, is a museum and historic house that is administered by the Friends of the Daniel Boone Homestead near Birdsboro in Berks County, Pennsylvania. It is located on nearly 600 acres (2.4 km2) and is the largest site owned by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The staff at Daniel Boone Homestead interpret the lives of the three main families that lived at the Homestead: the Boones, the Maugridges and the DeTurks. The park is just off U.S. Route 422 north of Birdsboro in Exeter Township.
Riley Lucas Bartholomew was a Minnesota pioneer and politician who served as state senator from 1859 to 1860.
Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria was a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. She was the youngest daughter of Charles I, the last Emperor of Austria, and his wife, Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma.
China Men is a 1980 collection of "stories" by Maxine Hong Kingston. It is a sequel to The Woman Warrior with a focus on the history of the men in Kingston's family. It won the 1981 National Book Award for Nonfiction.
Kilcher may refer to:
Alaska: The Last Frontier is an American reality cable television series which premiered on December 29, 2011, on the Discovery Channel. The show documents the extended Kilcher family, descendants of Swiss immigrants and Alaskan pioneers, Yule and Ruth Kilcher, at their homestead 11 miles outside of Homer. By living without modern heating, the clan chooses to subsist by farming, hunting and preparing for the long winters. The Kilcher family are relatives of the singer Jewel, who has appeared on the show.
Reeve Morrow Lindbergh is an American author from Caledonia County, Vermont, who grew up in Darien, Connecticut as the daughter of aviator Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974) and author Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001). She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1968.
The Willoughbys is a 2020 animated comedy film directed by Kris Pearn and co-directed by Rob Lodermeier, from a screenplay written by Pearn and Mark Stanleigh. Based on the book of the same name by Lois Lowry, the film stars the voices of Will Forte, Maya Rudolph, Alessia Cara, Terry Crews, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski, Seán Cullen, and Ricky Gervais, who also narrates the film. The story follows four children trying to find new parents to replace their self-centered and neglectful ones.
Charles Rathbone Low (1837–1918) was a British officer of the Indian Navy and writer.
Yule Forenorth Kilcher was a Swiss-born American homesteader who was a member of the Alaska state senate from 1963 to 1966.
Mairiis Kilcher, better known as Mossy Kilcher, is an Alaskan singer-songwriter, homesteader, and ornithologist.