KUNZ, OTTO J.

KUNZ, SCHEBERLE, MATERN, LAWRENCE

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 1/28/2004 at 09:17:28

Biography reproduced from page 465 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Otto J. Kunz is one of the well known business men of Wesley, where he has been continuously engaged in the hay and grain business since 1897, being at present vice president of the Kunz Grain company. He is a native son of Kossuth county, his birth having occurred in Wesley, December 20, 1879. He is a son of Edward and Anna (Scheberle) Kunz, both of whom were natives of Austria. The father emigrated to America in 1866, locating first at Watertown, Wisconsin, where he remained until the 15th of May, 1878, when he located on a farm five miles southwest of Wesley, in Kossuth county. He paid five and one-half dollars per acre for that land, upon which he moved, and was there engaged in its development and cultivation for the following two years, after which time he settled in Wesley and there engaged in the hay and grain business. He was the first man in Kossuth county to make use of the hay press and in his business as a dealer in hay he holds the banner record among the early pioneers in that business, having handled four to five hundred car loads of hay per annum. In 1886 he started in the grocery business in Wesley, at which time he purchased the grocery establishment belonging to a Mr. Johnson and placed his son Edward in charge if the store when the latter was a lad of but thirteen years of age. The father remained in the hay business, to which he gave his constant attention, until the time of his death, which occurred May 12, 1894. The mother, still living, spends much of her time during the winter at Long Beach, California.

Otto J. Kunz was reared at home and received his elementary education in the public schools of Wesley, later graduating from the high school of that place. At the age of eighteen he engaged in the grain business for himself and for the six years immediately following, he confined his attention exclusively to the handling of grain. He later added to his business by dealing in coal and tile. In 1903, in company with his brothers, he organized the Kunz Grain Company, a corporation chartered under the laws of Iowa and having a paid-up capital of fifty thousand dollars. This company was the second company of its kind organized by the Kunz brothers, the first having been organized for the handling only of hay. As the business of that company increased it became desirable to incorporate a company with a broader charter and a later capitalization and to realize this object the organization of the present Kunz Grain Company was incorporated, of which Julius Kunz is president. The company immediately took over all of the property of the former company as well as all business interests of the brothers relating to the handling of coal, tile and hay. The company now operates a chain of ten elevators and is one of the largest and most successful corporations of its kind in that part of the state. Mr. Kunz is also owner of eighty acres of land in Hancock county, Iowa, and owns his own home located on Third street, Wesley.

Mr. Kunz was united in marriage in 1908 to Miss Anna Matern, of Prairie township, Kossuth county. She is a daughter of M. C. and Elizabeth (Lawrence) Matern. To Mr. and Mrs. Kunz two children have been born, Lucille and Julius Michael. Mr. Knuz is affiliated with the republican party, although he has been at one time an adherent of the democratic organization. He and his family are members of the Catholic church. He has fraternal associations with the Knights of Columbus of Algona and the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Kunz is one of the enterprising and highly esteemed citizens of Kossuth county and is a man whose integrity of character has gained for him the confidence of the public, with whom his business has for many years past brought him into constant contact. He is found on the side of every worthy cause intended to promote and advance the interests of the people in his county and state.