Clark H. Kountz, of Independence, though a young man, is a veteran in the oil industry, and for over ten years has been a factor in the Kansas oil fields, being now vice president of the Prairie Pipe Line Company.
He was born near Bradford, McKean County, Pennsylvania, August 24, 1883, a son of Frank P. and Maggie E. Kountz. His father was born in 1847, and died in 1911, and his mother, still living, was born in 1849. The Kountz family removed from Western Pennsylvania to Findlay, Ohio, which was then in the center of the Ohio oil fields, and in the public schools of that city Clark H. Kountz acquired his early education. At the age of eighteen, in July, 1901, he became a clerk in the office of the Ohio Oil Company at Findlay.
He grew up in the atmosphere of oil fields, and with four years of business experience in Ohio he came to Kansas in June, 1905. Becoming connected with the Prairie Oil & Gas Company at Independence, he was promoted to secretary of that company in 1910, and in 1915 assumed his present post as vice president of the Prairie Pipe Line Company. Mr. Kountz is also a director in the First National Bank of Independence. He is a member of the Masonic Order and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On December 21, 1907, at Independence he married Miss Agnes Casebeer, daughter of Dr. Howard M. and Emma F. Casebeer. Mr. and Mrs. Kountz have one daughter, Marjorie Kountz, born May 30, 1913.