Joseph Otto Kuntz and Anna Maria Craft Kuntz

Joseph Otto Kuntz, known through much of his adult life as “J.O.,” was born on January 12, 1850 in Duchouquet Township, Auglaize County, Ohio, near Wapakoneta.  He is the seventh known child of Anton (Anthony) Otto and Rosina Baudendistel Kuntz, and their third son.  (Anthony Otto was an immigrant from Germany; Rosina was the daughter of German immigrants.) He was born in just about the middle of the birth order of the family.  He grew up on the family farm in Ohio and it seems he stayed there until his marriage to Anna Maria Craft in 1872.

Anna Maria Craft was the daughter of Edward Craft and Susanna Busch Craft, who donated the land for the cemetery to the church. She was born on January 25, 1853 in Auglaize County, Ohio, the fourth child and first daughter in the family. By the time she was seven, the family had moved to Boulder, Linn County, Iowa, but returned at some point before 1867.

J.O. Kuntz was a successful farmer. Eventually the couple purchased other land near their original farm, including the land surrounding the cemetery.

They had six children:

1) Edward Joseph Kuntz 1874 – 1934

2) John Anthony Kuntz 1878 – 1892

3) Charles Francis Kuntz 1882 – 1964

4) William Albert Kuntz 1887 – 1941

5) Mae Gertrude Kuntz 1891 – 1935

6) Susanna E. Kuntz 1895 – 1895

Only four of their children survived to adulthood.  Only two children lived longer than Joseph, and only Charles lived longer than Anna.  All six children are buried in the Red Bud Catholic Cemetery.

This link:

http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/209417/page/9

will take you to the Kansas Historical Society’s Kansas Memory site, and to a page showing a map of Maple Township in 1905.  If you look in Section 14, you’ll see some of J.O. Kuntz’s land, and the cemetery and church marked out as well.

At some point between 1905 and 1910, J.O. and Anna moved from their farm (without selling their land) to Winfield. In later years, they moved between Udall, Wichita, Winfield, and Peck.

Since posting this story, I was able to get copies of Joseph’s and Anna’s death certificates, which has allowed me to add a little more information about them. Death certificates are notoriously error-prone — obviously, the person named did not fill them out; sometimes the person who supplied the information was misinformed, had reached a stage of forgetfulness, hid facts, or may have been so upset by the death that they answered incorrectly; sometimes the person supplying the information did not know the deceased individual at all. The death certificates of Anna and Joseph suffer some of these problems.

From Joseph’s death certificate, we learn that he died “3 [miles] E[ast] and 3 1/2 Miles N[orth] of Udall, Kansas,” in Maple Township. He had last worked as a farmer in 1925. The doctor filling out the medical side of the certificate indicated that he had been treated for a “Blood Clot on Brain” as of December 1936 [1935], which probably indicates that he had a stroke. The doctor said he attended him as of December 1, 1935 until February 21, 1936, so it is likely that the stroke occurred on December 1, 1935.

His son Charles was the informant for the ‘personal and statistical particulars,” much of which is in error. Apparently he was also confused as to whether he was being asked about his parents or grandparents, or the clerk misunderstood his answers.

Joseph was buried in Bed Bud Catholic Cemetery on February 25, 1936.

Anna, who was by that time blind, lived with her son W. A. (Bert) Kuntz and his wife, Dolly. In 1941, Bert died. Anna continued to live with Dolly until her death on November 29, 1942.

She died at 8:30 that morning. Her cause of death is listed by the doctor who signed the certificate as “chronic myocardial degeneration” and “senility.” Charles was again the informant on the other side of the certificate, and although more of the answers are correct, there is missing and incorrect information here as well.

Anna was buried in Red Bud Catholic Cemetery on December 2, 1942.

Gravestone of Joseph Otto Kuntz and Anna Maria Craft Kuntz