George G. Kungle was one of the sterling citizens of Shawnee County whose lives deserve special record in these pages. The family is still living at Tecumseh, and since his death his wife and oldest son, George, Jr., have competently managed a farm there.
Born at Come, Illinois, in 1864, George G. Kungle was a son of Joseph Byron Kungle, who was born in 1834 in Pennsylvania, of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. Joseph B. Kungle was a carpenter and contractor, was a very successful man, and later in life followed farming. Highly respected by all who knew him, he enjoyed this position because of his high moral character, his sobriety and industry. He and his wife Susanna were married in Illinois about 1855, and became the parents of eight children, two sons and six daughters, namely: Walter, Mitter, Emma, Anna, Bertha, George, Jennie and Katie Edith, the last dying in infancy.
George G. Kungle accompanied his parents from Como, Illinois, to Tecumseh Township in Shawnee County, Kansas, locating just east of Oakland on Sardeau Avenue. After the death of his father he took charge of the homestead, but prior to that had gone to Chicago and entered the operating train service with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He was a competent and faithful employe of that road for ten years.
George G. Kungle died in 1912. For a number of years he had devoted his time to general farming, but made a special success in the raising of watermelons and sweet potatoes. The old farm when he took charge had been allowed to run down on account of management by strangers, and it was his enterprise and hard work that restored its fertility so that he was able to leave it at the time of his death in a splendid state of eultivation and highly valuable. The dominant characteristics of the late George Kungle were exceptional energy and industry. He was a member of several fraternal societies, including the Knights of Pythias, and belonged to the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen.
George Kungle married Julia Miche, who was of French ancestry and was born in Herman, Missouri. Mrs. Kungle’s father was a school teacher. Mr. and Mrs. Kungle had five children, three of whom are living. The son, George, Jr., now sixteen years of age; Hazel, thirteen; and Richard, ten.
The great flood of 1903 left Mr. Kungle in a very bad financial condition, but with a tremendous effort he restored his fortune and soon had his farm one of the best in the county. The active manager of his farm is now George Kungle, Jr. While attending school and keeping up with his studies, he had proved the right hand assistant to his widowed mother, and his faithfulness, his energy and his courage are such as to deserve the admiration and commendation of all. Few boys of his age do so much of the real work of the world as this worthy son of the late George G. Kungle.