CHARLES KUNZ, b 9 Apr 1826

KUNZ, HEI, MEIER, JAFFEY, LUTZEN

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 6/15/2004 at 08:17:29

The flourishing town of Bellevue owes its prosperity to the men who settled here during its struggle for an existence, and who, persevering amid the discouragements and drawbacks incident to that period, in due time met with the reward which usually follows persistence and resolution. Among these may be properly mentioned the subject of this notice, one of the leading German citizens of Bellevue Township, and engaged in mercantile business.

Mr. Kunz was born on the other side of the Atlantic, in the Province of Ulenburg, Firgteuthum Bierkenfeldt, Germany, April 9, 1826. His parents were Jacob and Catherine (Hei) Kunz, also of German birth and parentage. They were people in moderate circumstances, and Charles received a good education in his native tongue, being placed in school at an early age, and pursuing his studies until quite a youth. At the age of eighteen he emigrated, with his parents to America, taking passage on a sailing-vessel at Havre, France, in the fall of 1845. After an ocean voyage of forty-eight days they landed in the city of New Orleans, and thence proceeded to Randolph County, Ill. The father took up a tract of land, from which he constructed a comfortable homestead, but only lived until the year following. The mother likewise that year passed to her long home. They were the parents of six children.

The subject of this sketch while a resident of Illinois occupied himself at farming, and on Dec. 22, 1847, was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Meier. Mrs. Kunz, like her husband, is a native of Germany, and was born Nov. 30, 1826. Her parents, John and Mary (Jaffey) Meier, set out for America in 1844, and like the Kunz family located in Randolph County, Ill., where they also died not long afterward, the father in 1847, and the mother in 1854. Mr. and Mrs. Kunz lived in Illinois until 1853, then came to Bellevue, this county, of which they have since been residents.

In Bellevue Mr. Kunz first engaged as a dry-goods clerk, then established himself in the drug business, which he carried on for a number of years, sometimes with a partner, and sometimes by himself. He is at present retired from business. He has been prominent in local affairs, officiating as a member of the Town Council, and uniformly votes the Republican ticket. Both he and his estimable wife are members in good standing of the Lutheran Church. They have a pleasant and comfortable home, and are in the prime of life, well fitted to enjoy its blessings, and doing good to others as they have opportunity.

To Mr. and Mrs. Kunz there have been born three children, only one of whom is living, a son, William - an energetic and enterprising business man, now engaged in the hardware business in Bellevue. He was born March 25, 1851, and was married, June 23, 1876, to Miss Anna Lutzen. They have four children, three girls and one boy, whose names are as follows: Lena, born Jan. 13, 1877; Laura, Aug. 17, 1878; Edna, Jan. 10, 1881; Charles, Sept. 27, 1886; they are all living. Charles Kunz, son of our subject, who died in 1873, conducted a large drug store in this place. Lena died at the age of nine years. Mr. Kunz, although by no means having abandoned his mother tongue, has obtained a fair knowledge of the English language, and is able to converse fluently and understandingly. He is one of the self-made men of this county, who have arisen by their own exertions to good positions socially and financially, and who have had a sensible influence in the formation of the social code, and in laying the foundations of morality and good order.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois.)