Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 628 - 631

JOHN KUHN is a farmer and stock-raiser residing on section 11, Gypsum Township. In the far-away town of Welzheim, in Hesse‑ Darmstadt, Germany, beneath the roof of the cottage of his parents, Leanhart and Clara (Gusenhover) Kuhn, was born the child John Kuhn, of whom this biographical sketch is written. In his boyhood days he received the education in his native town that every youth of that country obtains, and remained at home until the latter part of 1851, when he concluded that his native country was no place for a poor man, and that only in free America could a man rise to a position of affluence and comfort by his own efforts and exertions. After a deliberate investigation of the subject, on the 11th of January, 1852, he bade adieu to the Fatherland and, taking passage on the ship "Rip Van Winkle," crossed the stormy Atlantic and landed in New York City. In that metropolis of the Western World he remained about three years, working at the tanner's trade, and there, April 23, 1854, he was united in marriage with Miss Katrina Bugenberger, a native of Rhein Palz, Bavaria, born Feb. 18, 1835. Her mother, Mrs. Clara (Sever) Bugenberger, died when Mrs. Kuhn was about four years of age, and she came to the United States with her father in 1852, on the same vessel and at the same time as did our subject. Her father, Frederick Bugenberger, died in Sandusky, Ohio, in 1858.

             After his marriage the subject of this sketch and his wife came westward, and for a year were residents of Kane County, Ill., but at the expiration of that period removed to Matamora, Woodford County, in the same State, where our subject remained some fourteen years. For a time he was engaged in various kinds of labor, but having been there about seven years, he purchased a team and commenced farming. He rented a small piece of land, and by intensely hard work and great thrift and economy managed to accumulate a little capital, and lay the foundation for his present success. Industry, diligence and energy of the first order, coupled with a frugality common to his thrifty countrymen, could only have succeeded so well in that locality. In 1870 he came to Kansas with his family, and on the 18th of June of that year entered 180 acres of land, lying upon the Arkansas River, on section 11, Gypsum Township, where he immediately settled and where he is still living. He at once entered upon its cultivation and improvement, and has erected a handsome residence, and large and substantial barns and other farm buildings, and been eminently successful in all his business operations.

             Mr. Kuhn has laid off and platted a town site upon his place, which is known by the name of Welzheim, which bids fair to be a business center at some future day. He is also the owner of a fine clay bank of the best quality, the vein of which is some forty feet in depth, and a stone quarry of excellent sandstone for building, as well as furnishing a pure article of sand for the manufacture of plate glass. Not far distant from his house, and also upon the land which he owns, is a beautiful mineral spring which is credited with having great medicinal properties. He contemplates the erection of large glassworks on his property at some future time, which will utilize some of the resources which he has at his command. There are also large brick works located on Mr. Kuhn's farm, called the Forest City Brick Works. In his political affiliations he is a steadfast Democrat, believing that the principles of that party are the best guarantees for the preservation of our popular form of government.

             To Mr. and Mrs. Kuhn have been born a family of fourteen children, as follows: Bertha; Edmund; Emma, who married Gabriel Fultz; Mary; John, deceased; Margaret married Bearhadt Kelsch; John; Helen; Josephine married Jerome Jones; August, deceased; Katherine, Frederick, Annie and Caroline. Mr. Kuhn and his family are members of the Roman Catholic Church, and are faithful in the discharge of their duties.

[ Home ]