Kunau line

KUNAU, MATTHIESEN, JOHANNSEN, BISCHOFF, FELDMANN, DOHRMANN

Posted By: Karen Goggin (email)
Date: 10/4/2001 at 20:55:39

I have looked for 2 years to find something of my husband's KUNAU line. His mother was the daughter of Arnold KUNAU, who was, according to the IGI, born in Lyons, Clinton, Iowa on Feb 19, 1879. (His death certificate says bd 1880.) I was thrilled to find Arnold's parents listed with their burial dates in Teeds Grove Cemetery on your site.
This is what I know now: Arnold KUNAU, b. Feb. 19, 1879, Lyons, Clinton County, IA parents: Siegfried KUNAU, bp Schleswig-Holstein, Germany Kunigunde FELDMANN KUNAU MATTHIESEN b. Feb 14, 1846 in Langeness, Schles-Hol Preussen to Johann FELDMANN & Poppe TABE JOHANNSEN m. Henrietta BISCHOFF, April 25, 1905 Chicago, Cook County, IL d. April 30, 1923 Chicago Accidental death at 43, caused by being struck by a street car, when my mother-in-law, Nankin Edith was only 7 years old. He was a Theatre Musician. He had another daughter, a few years older, Muriel.
All of this KUNAU line are deceased now and it has been difficult to piece together the information. I first found Arnold and his family living with Kunigunde MATTHIESEN in Chicago in the 1920 Census on Seminary Ave. They were hard to find because they had entered the surname as KUNAN and that changed the Soundex Code. An alert FHC worker noticed the mispelling in the Chicago Birth Index of Nankin "Edith's". With that cleared up, I was able to find more info.
After a long wait, I received copies of the Death Records of Arnold and Kunigunde. Kunigunde d. of pneumonia on April 11, 1922. She had remarried after the death of Siegfried KUNAU. Her 2nd husband was Christian A. MATTHIESEN who preceded her in death. Siegfried died 2-9-1882 according to your site. Arnold would have been a toddler. I wonder how he died and I if perhaps Christian A MATTHIESEN was also a Clinton County resident and that Kunigunde might have remarried him there. I don't know of any other children of Kunigunde.
I was also surprised and delighted to see that Arnold Kunau was listed as a Graduate of the Lyons HS, Class of 1896. Oh, how I wish there were pictures somewhere of that class. And, would there be any information about perhaps an orchestra or band. We wonder what instrument Arnold played.
I do know also that Kunigunde had sisters in the Clinton area, and Siegfried probably was the brother of Anna's husband John F. KUNAU. Anna Catherine FELDMANN married John Frederick KUNAU in 1864 in Prussia. They are buried in Teeds Grove. Ida Caroline FELDMANN m. Henry DOHRMANN and they also died in Clinton County.
I was fortunate to connect online with a "cousin" who was born and raised in the Clinton area and now lives in Minneapolis. Brice Petersen so generously shared information of his connections to the FELDMANN/KUNAU line. His family was connected to sister Ida Caroline FELDMANN and her husband Henry DOHRMANN.