Samuel Kunz, Sr.

Samuel Kunz, Sr., was the son of John Robert Kunz II and Rosina Knutti. He was born 18 May 1851, at Reiden, Switzerland. Samuel was baptized a Mormon by his father on the 28 March, 1867, when he was sixteen years old, and confirmed the same day by Karl G. Maeser, a missionary. All their family came to America four years later (the two older children were already married with their own families). Samuel married Elizabeth Hanni, 9 December 1872, and they lived at Ovid, Bear Lake Valley in the Idaho Territory. Their first son, Samuel Kunz, Jr., was born 29 January 1874, at Ovid. Joseph, Clara, Ezra, John Henry and Rosa followed, being born in Montpelier. Ezra died at age two and John Henry as an infant in a diphtheria epidemic. Samuel and family moved to Pegram in the spring of 1882, and made cheese there for six years.

Samuel entered into polygamy following the counsel of Brigham Young and the Church. His second wife was Caroline Wuthrich, daughter of Johann Wuthrich and Susanna Eggan. They were married 22 September, 1883 in the Endowment House at Salt Lake City, Utah. On 27 July 1885, William Walter, the last child was born of Samuel and Elizabeth. (The marital partners of these children who married were: Samuel, Jr., to Helen Maud Foster; Clara Kunz to John Miller; Rose Kunz to Parley S. Driggs; Walter Kunz to Nora McMurdie. Joseph did not marry, though a great servant of his Heavenly Father during a long life of service.)

Caroline bore her first child, Martin, in Montpelier on 24 February, 1886. Samuel married his third wife in plural marriage, Louisa Karlen, the widow of John Eiman. The marriage was performed in the Logan Temple in 1888. She was the daughter of Karlen and Catherine Karlen. (Note: after this third marriage, Samuel and his brother were both prosecuted by government law enforcement for their practice of polygamy during ensuing years while in Bear Lake Valley.)

In 1888, Samuel moved his cheese-making plant from Pegram to the head of the waters of the Blackfoot River. His families likely remained in the Montpelier area, for the records indicate these births occurred there: (Note: Martin and another child, William, of Samuel and Caroline, died, no records kept of dates), Milford Nephi Kunz, first child of Louisa was born 20 January, 1890 and her second, Salome Martha, 26 February 1892, both at Montpelier. Caroline bore two more children there: Robert, 6 March 1889; and James Herbert, 19 April 1891.

The cheese plant was operated five years on Blackfoot River, then moved to Salem, north of Rexburg, in 1893. Here, on 30 October 1893, Caroline bore her first daughter, Eva Emmaline. Louisa bore her last child, Emma, 2 May 1895. Louisa had learned the trade of tailoring from her first husband, and she remained living at Rexburg, practiced this trade for the remainder of her life. She died 27 November, 1907. (The marriages of these three offspring of Louisa were:

Milford to Lucy Anna Kockinke; Salome Martha to Paul Allred (first) and second marriage to William Stout., and Emma to Bryan Brisco.) two years after birth of Eva Emmaline, another daughter was born to Caroline, prematurely, that died and was buried at Rexburg.

Samuel established a cheese-making operation on Conant Creek, about thirty miles northeast of Salem. The business was operated in 1894-95. Then in the fall of 1895, he took his families and moved to Teton Basin, which was then within Fremont County. His cheese-making plant was the first to be established in this locality, in the Bates community. The remaining children of Caroline were born at Bates, and when Louisa died, her children were brought into the home of Caroline to be reared, and she was a very good mother to them. (The names of the family of Caroline, with their marital partners are as follows: Robert to Sophia Mills McMurdie; James Herbert to Arleigh Inez Drake; Eva Emmaline Kunz to first; Merritt Frank Drake; second: Monroe Dustin; Ellis to Jessie Vernice Thompson; Mary Ann Kunz to Gerald Clyde Hibbert; Alma Able Kunz to Mary Grover; Lillian Kunz to Van Orrin Dustin; Mable Kate Kunz to Adelbert Le Roy McDonald; Louise Anna Kunz to Orval Ward Curtis; May Elizabeth Kunz to Deloy Brown; Burton Wallace Kunz to Leatha R. Moffat.)

When the Church issued the Manifesto in 1890, saying polygamy was to be practiced no more, Samuel kept Caroline as his wife and Elizabeth stayed with her children. She lived with Walter first, then Rose and Joe, and finally Clara. She lived to be 100 years and two days old, and died in January 1940 in the Teton Valley Hospital of pneumonia.

When Alma Hanson was ordained a bishop of the Bates Ward, 12 August, 1908, Thomas G. Bates and Samuel Kunz, Sr., were named counselors. He was released 19 August, 1916., and was immediately ordained as a patriarch of Teton Stake, by elder James E. Talmage. He served until the date of his death, 4 July 1927. (The foregoing biographical sketch was provided by brother and sister Merle Kunz, edited by the compiler.)

Older friends have been a resource, and to illustrate, these factors are shared. Samuel Kunz Sr. selected his homestead at Cedron, about one-half mile north of the Henderson Canyon lane; and John Jacob Miller immediately further to the north. A son of Samuel, James, lived on a eighty-acre parcel just to the south of his father, bordering Henderson, across from the Sanford Forbush eighty lying immediately south of Henderson. Interestingly, Paradise Spring arose to the west of the Kunz-Miller homesteads, and although Samuel and brothers Waltons participated in developing the spring, Clara K. Miller traded for acreage from her father, with a cow, obtaining the ground where the Miller Pond or ponds are located. More will be said of this special site.

NOTE: At the time of the creation of Teton County in 1915, Samuel Kunz was listed as County Coroner.

SOURCE: http://www.childrentofathers.com/samuel-kunz.html

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Below information is from Find A Grave.com:

Birth: May 18, 1851, Bern, Switzerland

Death: Apr. 5, 1927, Cedron, Teton County, Idaho, USA

Burial: Cedron Cemetery, Teton County, Idaho, USA, Plot: 21

Parents:

John Kunz (1823 - 1890)

Rosina Knutti Kunz (1819 - 1894)

Spouses:

Elizabeth Hanni Kunz (1840 - 1940)

Caroline Wuthrich Kunz (1865 - 1923)

Louise Karlen Kunz (1853 - 1901)*

Children with Elizabeth Hanni:

Samuel Kunz (1874 - 1945)

Joseph Kunz (1875 - 1978)

Rose Kunz Driggs (1881 - 1986)

Walter William Kunz (1884 - 1966)

Children with Caroline Wuthrich:

Robert Kunz (1889 - 1975)

James Herbert Kunz (1891 - 1983)

Freida Caroline Kunz (1895 - 1895)

Ellis Kunz (1896 - 1988)

Alma Abel Kunz (1900 - 1966)

Louise Anna Kunz Curtis (1905 - 1959)

Burton Wallace Kunz (1910 - 1999)

Children with Louise Karlen:

Milford Nephi Kunz (1890 - 1984)

Salome Martha Kunz Stout (1892 - 1973)

Emma Kunz Erdman (1895 - 1988)

Record added: Apr 03, 2001

Find A Grave Memorial# 5337851

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Nov 5 2016, 23:58:14 UTC