My maternal great-grandfather Charles Kunde (c1862 – 1913) was born somewhere in present day Germany. His father was August Kunde, and his mother is unknown.
In c1878, Charles immigrated to the United States and made his way to Scranton, Pennsylvania. This information comes from answers Charles supplied to US Census enumerators and is unverified by other documentary evidence. Consequently, I cannot determine if he came by himself or was accompanied by other family members. I have also been unable to determine a port of entry. For the census of 1900, he claimed to be a naturalized citizen. In that same census, his occupation is listed as “day laborer,” and that he was unemployed for six months of the year. The census also indicates that he could read, write, and speak English.
The US Census of 1910 gives essentially the same information with some minor changes. For example, his year of immigration is enumerated as 1878 in 1910 whereas it had been given as 1879 in 1900. He also indicated that he was a “day laborer” employed doing “odd jobs” and that he was unemployed for 32 weeks of the year.
In 1887, Charles married Henrietta W. Phillips (1861-1933), the widow of Friedrich W. “Fred” Wickel who Henrietta had wed in 1878 and with whom she had four children. Fred had committed suicide in 1885 at the age of thirty-two by putting a gun to his head.
Charles and Henrietta had six children; Elizabeth “Lizzie” Kunde (1889-1913), Joseph Albert Kunde (1892-1892), Lena Elise Kunde (1894-1978), Esther Emma Kunde (1896-1926), Albert August Kunde (1899-1922), and Paul Kunde (1901-1920). Esther was my grandmother and she died when her daughter, my mother was three years old leaving Henrietta to care for her along with her four older siblings.
With the exception of Lena Kunde who lived to the age of seventy-nine, all the other Kunde children died at relatively young ages of pulmonary disease; Lizzie (age 24 – tuberculosis), Joseph (age < 1 year – cause unknown), Esther (age 29 – tuberculosis), Albert (age 23 – tuberculosis), Paul (age 18 – acute lobar pneumonia).
Most of what I know of Charles comes from the English Language newspapers that were published in Scranton during his lifetime. There are many other news stories where the name “Kunde” appears but they are from the German language newspapers that were published at the same time and which, even if I did speak the language, were printed in Fractur, which I find nearly incomprehensible as a typeface.
Charles was a laborer who worked primarily in quarrying, road building, and large-scale construction projects. In 1895 he was injured when two horses and a wagon backed into the excavations of the Mears Building, in Scranton, where he was working as a foreman.
The US Census of 1900 has the entire blended family living in the 19th Ward of the city.
In 1901, Charles was was one of the leaders of a labor strike.
During the strike, several hundred workers on a section of road that was being built, walked off the job in an attempt to secure higher wages. Their contention was that the contractors were hiring unemployed, lower-skill workers and thereby driving down the wages of other, more skilled workers.
There were allegations of violence against the workers and charges that workers who did not support the strike were “stoned” by the strikers.
Charles, along with four other men, was arrested for inciting a riot. Ultimately, charges were dropped against the other men due to lack of witnesses to their involvement, but Charles was found guilty and fined $10.00 and costs.
in 1906 Charles was hired to superintend construction of an addition to the Mount St. Mary Seminary.
Then, in 1907..
Ludwig “Louis” Katzenwadel was the husband of Katie Wichel, a daughter from Henrietta Kunde’s first marriage, which made her Charles Kunde’s step-daughter.
“Maddened by drink, Louis Katzenwadel, of Pittston avenue was bent on exterminating his wife’s family on Pittston avenue, Monday night. The drink had made his temper surge and boil, like an Italian volcano, and resulted in a reign of terror among the household.”
Louis didn’t actually kill anyone, although he did shoot at a police officer with one of his bullets “passing through Officer Zang’s helmet..”
What I have pieced together is that, somehow, after being arrested, Katzenwadel got out of jail and fled the city, but later returned, was captured, and stood trial. He was sentenced to one year.
Subsequently, it appears that Louis changed his last name to Smith, and both he and his wife Katie ended up in Maryland.
The year 1908 saw Charles injured when he was “thrown from a street car” in February. In June of that year, Charles had a man named Charles Shunk arrested.
Later that same year, in Charles was himself arraigned for disorderly conduct and threats to kill.
In October 1909, Charles was working as a foreman for the Scranton Electric Company and was badly injured, on the job while his crew were setting electric poles.
Charles once again found himself in court in 1911 when he had two men arrested after they refused to serve him drink, he fell, and he charged them with assault and battery.
Sometime during 1911, if not earlier, Charles contracted tuberculosis. There are no longer any mentions of him in the English language newspapers until his death notice.
Charles Kunde, of 624 Pittston avenue, died on the 20th of July, 1913 at 8 o’clock AM of tuberculosis, after an illness extending over two years. He was a member of the Lutheran Reform Church of Peace on Prospect Avenue. Until sickness overtook him he was a foreman working for different quarry concerns throughout the city.
He was survived by his wife, Henrietta, and the following children: Elizabeth, Lena, Esther, Albert and Paul. The funeral took place on the Wednesday afternoon after his death, with services at the house by Rev. Mr. Schmidt, of the Church of Peace. Interment took place in Forest Hill Cemetery on July 23, 193.
Moser Family History 