KunzeHist

compiled by Fred L. Kunze

Kunze and Krebs Geneologies and Historical Information
H.O. Kunze and Ida Krebs arrived in the U.S.A. as immigrants. Both families have been traced back to Germany by Valerie Floeter (a descendent of Ida). She has graciously allowed me to include her research and text here. Below you will see the Krebs line, then the Kunze line and then a history of H.O. Kunze and Ida Krebs. Click on yellow names to view their tree charts.

Please scroll below the text or click HERE HERE to learn more Kunze history fromr personal memories from family members.

Click HERE to learn which one of the Kunze ancestors was a Minneapolis Mayor!

Krebs History
(direct line)

Click HERE to go to the Krebs Tree Chart

Martin Plath was born around 1767, and died. 7 July 1848, at Friedrichshorst, Posen
He married on July 27, 1802 at Lobsens to Joanna Marie Charlotte Doberstein (b. ca
1782-1786, d. 19 Jan 1854, Friedrichshorst, Posen).

Martin and Joanna's 2nd child was Anne Caroline Plath. Anne was born 2 Oct 1804,
at Birkenbruch, and died 17 March 1873, at Friedrichshorst. She married on 24 Feb 1823
at Friedrichshorst to Christian Friedrich Schleusner (b. 16 Aug 1800,
Friedrichshorst, d. 27 Oct 1855, Friedrichshorst).

Anne Caroline and Christian Friedrich Schleusner's 6th child was Caroline
Pauline. She was born 26 Nov 1836, at Friedrichshorst, and died 15 May 1909,
Springfield, MN). Anne married Christian Friedrich Krebs (b. 20 Nov 1833, Friedrichshorst, d.
11 May 1928, Springfield). They immigrated on theship "Rhein" from Hamburg to
NY on May 15, 1876.

Caroline Pauline and Christian Friedrich Krebs had 14 children. Gustav was
1st, Ida Krebs was 11th. Only 6 reached adulthood. They had a baby born one month
after arriving in Minnesota. Can you imagine that sort of undertaking at
7-8 months pregnant? How bad did they want to get out of there?
I have done the German records for the Krebs-Schleussner-Plath as far back
as the records exist. I believe that these families were moved by the
Prussian government into these Polish territories in the late 1700's - about
1790-1795. Family tradition says that they came from Mecklenburg from the
town of "Alhorst". Dead end.

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Kunze History

Click HERE to go to the H.O. Kunze Tree Chart
Wilhelm Friedrich Kunze was born 26 Nov 1832, and lived in Braunsfelde, Brandenburg,
He died 19 Sept 1895, in Sleepy Eye, MN. Wilhelm and his wife Ernestine Wilhelmine Kuehl/Kelm
(b. 19 Feb 1840, d. 10 Nov 1891), immigrated on the ship "Strassburg" from
Brement to Baltimore on May 24, 1884. Their children include Friedrich
(who married Malinda Windhorn), Herman Otto Kunze (who married Ida Marie Bertha Krebs),
Minna Kunze (who married Ida's brother Gustav Eduard Krebs), and others.
Wilhelm Friedrich Kunze had a brother who came to Minnesota in the early
1860's. His name is Friedrich. The brother Friedrich came to Watertown, WI and
married and then moved to Minnesota. I believe her last name was Krueger.

Note from Fred: William F. Kunze was a teacher for many years in Minnesota. Later he became a banker.
He eventually became the 29th Mayor of Minneapolis and served from 7/8/1929 to 7/5/1931. Click here
to view the list of Mpls. Mayors.

Herman Otto Kunze and Ida Bertha Krebs Kunze History
Click HERE to go to the Tree Chart
by Otillia Hulda Kunze Pederson and Lucille Jones Jacobs
Note from Fred: I typed this document from the scanned image of the original. I made no content changes .

Herman Otto Kunze was born in the Province of Brandenburg, Germany, (Note: the end of this sentence is confusing and seems to be out of sequence. It seems unlikely that Herman would have the same name as his father and have married a woman with the same name as his Mother) to Herman Otto Kunze and Ida Bertha (Krebs) Kunze. At the age of 14, he and his parents came to the United States and settled in Redwood County, Minnesota.

Herman married Ida Bertha Krebs in June of 1893. Ida was born in the Province of Posen, Germany. At the age of 3 she came to the United States with her parents and settled in the Sleepy Eye, Minnesota area.

In 1902, Herman and his family moved to North Dakota living briefly in the Dickinson area and then homesteading west of New England. Herman was one of the organizers of the civil township and consequently the Kunze Township was named after him.

There were 10 children born to this union, they are as follows: (click on the names to view the trees)

Emma, born 1894--married Anton Hettman-- died 1969
Frederick, born 1896--married Dena Sorenson--died 1971
Wilhelm, born 1898--married Emma Pfahl--died 1978
Ida, born 1900--died 1918
Minnie, born (10/22/02) 1902--married Murrill T. Jones--(died 12/17/96)
Elsie, born 1905--married Lyle Claflin
Carl, born (7/20/07) 1907--married Esther Hoffer--(died 4/8/88)
Harry, born 1909--died 1961 (never married)
Baby, died in early infancy
Otillia, born (7/31/14) --married Andrew Pederson--(died 10/17/89)

As a younger man, Herman trained for the Army at Fort Snelling and would have served his country had peace not been declared. Before that, he worked out as a common laborer and brick layer in Minnesota. The Kunzes then moved to Havelock in 1915 where Herman operated an underground coal mine (click here to view the coal mine page). He and his sons operated this mine until the early 1930’s at which time Herman became ill with cancer and died in August 1937. Ida continued to reside in Havelock until her death.
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Family Memoirs
This section is for the writings by descendants whose memoirs may be interesting to those who follow. Please feel free to contribute. Email Fred with your writing, or send them to me via regular mail.

Fred's Note: This story was sent to me by Leona Irene Cheatham of Vancouver, WA. Leona is the daughter of Elsie Kunze Claflin. We very much appreciate the time and thought Leona took to share with us by writing about her family痴 move west from North Dakota. We hope it will encourage others to write about some family experience and send it to Fred for sharing in this family history. The Elsie Kunze Claflin family lived in the little mining town of Havelock, North Dakota where all of us five children were born. In 1934 my father, at the urging of his brother who lived in Portland, Oregon, decided to move to Portland. So, Dad and Mr. Berdan, who owned an old Model "T" truck, extended the back end and built a wooden structure on it. After selling most of our furniture, we left for Oregon. Mother and her five children, Mrs. Berdan and her little daughter, all rode in the so called camper. My Dad, Mr. Berdan, and his brother Walter, rode up front. Because the daughter had to drink goat痴 milk, the goat rode in a crate fastened to the side of the camper. Little did we know that we looked like a scene from the "Grapes of Wrath" movie. Two incidents I recall vividly: The truck tires were of solid rubber with holes through the sides (they were made that way). Eventually the rubber was worn down and sloughing off so it made for a pretty rough ride. Another time, as we were near the end of our journey, we were riding along beside the Columbia River and my Dad happened to look down and there floating on the water were loaves of bread. It seemed to be a miracle from God as we had run out of money and were very hungry. Dad and Walter held onto trees as they went down the steep bank and retrieved several loaves. which we ate immediately. To this day I hate caraway seed bread! When we arrived at my uncle Elmer's house we thought we were in Heaven. So many fruit trees and beautiful scenery. And mountains!! To this day I feel like I'm living in God's country. Leona Claflin Cheatham February 2004
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A Kunze ancestor was the 29th Mayor of Minneapolis Below is a message I received from Marlin Kunze who lives in Bismarck. I have confirmed the information about the Mayor of Minneapolis with Val Floeter and also it shows up on the web site run by the City of Minneapolis which has the list of mayors. "I have a picture of the Kunze that was a mayor of Minneapolis and a little background on him. He was born June 1, 1872 in Sleepy Eye MN, Graduated from the ;University of MN in 1897, He was a chemistry instructor and then resigned to become Principal of Lake City MN High School. He was also a Superintredent of of schools at Hasting and RedWing and than Principal of what is now Johnson High School in St Paul. In 1916 He started his banking career which is quite a story by it self and was in banking until he retired in 1960... He was Mayor of Mpls. from 1929 to 1931, and died Feb. 14, 1962. Click HERE to go to the City of Minneapolis Mayoral Web Site.
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Story of the Colt 44 (below)

Click on the Colt 44 (above) to see more pictures.

I am waiting for Marlin Kunze to provide the details of this interesting tale. Apparently the gun was banished by Ida Kunze from ever being owned by another member of the Kunze family. More to come!
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Link to North Dakota geneology-
http://www.rootsweb.com/￣ndhettin/