John Kranz Biography

	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. 
	Ogle & Co., Chicago, 1898. Pages 462-464

	Scan, OCR and editing by Joy Fisher, jfisher@sdgenweb.com, 1999.

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JOHN KRANZ is one of the foremost of Codington county's agriculturists and 
pioneer citizens, and a man whose name is intimately associated with the growth, 
progress and early history of the northeastern part of the state.  In 
recognition of his prominence and popularity Kranzburg township and the village 
of Kranzburg were both named in his honor.  Mr. Kranz was born in Rhenish 
Prussia, Germany, on the 27th of February, 1832.  His parents, Nicholas and 
Susie (Lutz) Kranz, were both natives of Rhenish Prussia also.  Nicholas Kranz 
was born in 1795, and for a number of years served as a soldier under the great 
Napoleon. He was with the "Little Corporal" in the memorable march to Moscow and 
the subsequent retreat.  He witnessed the burning of the imperial city, and was 
one of those who returned to France after taking part in what was probably the 
most wildly conceived and terrible march in modern history. After the downfall 
of Napoleon he returned to Germany and resumed his profession, which was that of 
a school-teacher.  He followed this profession for forty years, both in Germany 
and the United States, coming to this country in the year 1850.  He also 
conducted a nursery business in Germany, and supplied the government and the 
neighboring country with fruits, trees, etc.  Mr. Kranz died in 1877 in Dakota 
county, Minnesota, at the age of eighty-two.  Our subject's mother was born in 
1801.  She died in Dakota county, Minnesota, also, in the year 1860.  There were 
nine children in the family, five sons and four daughters.  John, who was the 
fifth in point of birth, came to this country with his parents in 1850, settling 
first in New York city, where they remained until 1854. They then removed to 
Dakota county, Minnesota, where our subject took up a claim of one hundred and 
sixty acres.  He cultivated this land until 1885, and in that year removed with 
his family to Codington county, South Dakota, settling upon his present farm on 
section 11, in Kranzburg township.  This was not, however, his first experience 
in the wilds of Dakota.  In March, 1878, he went west from Minnesota with a 
party of eight, two of whom were his brothers.  Their object was to discover, if 
possible, a more favorable location for settlement.  They looked over Codington 
county, South Dakota, and after a thorough investigation decided to take up land 
there.  Accordingly, each member of the party obtained a claim and soon after 
returned to Minnesota. At that time Watertown was not in existance, and between 
what is now that town and Gary, South Dakota, there was not a single house of 
any description.  As before related Mr. Kranz settled permanently upon his 
property in 1885, and began to improve it.  He is now the owner of eight hundred 
acres of land and has one of the, finest farms which Codington or the 
surrounding counties can boast. The residence is a fine one, the barns, 
granaries, outbuildings, etc., are of modern construction and substantial build, 
and there is a certain air of prosperity and solidity about the place similiar 
to that which one notices on some of the large eastern farms.  Mr. Kranz is a 
Democrat in politics, and was the first chairman ever chosen from Kranzburg 
township.  He has always taken an active part in local affairs, and has ever 
been one of the moving spirits in the township to which his name was given.

On the 14th of November, 1857, Mr. Kranz married Miss Abbey Stumpf in Dakota 
county, Minnesota.  Mrs. Kranz was born November 1, 1837, in Prussia, Germany, 
and is a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Lohr) Stumpf, both natives of Germany 
also.  Mr. and Mrs.. Kranz are the parents of thirteen children, nine sons and 
four daughters.  Three of the sons are deceased.  Joseph died in 1892, at the 
age of twenty-one, and the other two, both of whom were named William, died when 
small children. . The names of those living and the dates of their birth follow: 
Lizzie, born November 25, 1858; Charles H., born November 30, 1860; N.J., August 
14, 1862; Katie, April 4, 1864; P. F., November 14, 1869; Mary, December 11, 
1871; Annie, June 5, 1875; John B., May 17, 1878; Albert, June 28, 1881; and 
Henry A., May 4, 1883.  Mr. Kranz and family are members of the Catholic church 
at Kranzburg.