S. A. KUNTZ.

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         S. A. Kuntz, who has been a resident of Oakville for the past three years, during which time he has engaged in the operation of a machine shop, was born in Livingston county, Illinois, on the 10th of April, 1881. His parents, Christian and Amelia (Smith) Kuntz, were both natives of Germany, from which country they emigrated to America. Upon their arrival they located in . . .

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. . . Illinois but in 1904 removed to Des Moines county, Iowa, settling upon a farm in the cultivation of which the father has ever since been engaged. Of the thirteen children born to them twelve are still living.

         Reared in the country, S. A. Kuntz acquired his education in the common schools of Illinois and Iowa, remaining a member of the paternal household until he was twenty-one. Always having lived upon a farm, in the work of which he had engaged from his earliest boyhood, his duties increasing as his strength and ability developed with the passing years, Mr. Kuntz first engaged in farming as a vocation. For the first three years after leaving home he rented one of his father’s farms, which he cultivated. At the expiration of that period, however, he disposed of his interests and learned the boilermaker’s trade. In 1908 he came to Oakville, where he bought a machine shop, and has since continued to reside here. He repairs all kinds of machinery and does some manufacturing in a small way, his efforts having been rewarded with very good results.

         Mr. Kuntz was married in 1903 to Miss Mary Berger, a native of Tazewell county, Illinois, and unto them has been born three children: Olivia, Milton and Dorothy. Mr. Kuntz is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and Mrs. Kuntz is affiliated with the Amish church. His political views coincide with the principles of the republican party, for whose candidates he always casts his ballot, but he does not actively participate in civic affairs as he feels that the development of his business requires his undivided attention.