A. Kindler was born in Germany, June 16, 1823. Moved to America at the age of 24 and located in Illinois where he remained 2 years at which time he moved to Johnson Co. Iowa. He remained there 23 years moving to Jewell county thirty-one years ago and homesteaded the farm on which he died October 22, 1903.

The deceased was 80 years 4 months and 6 days of age at the time of his death.
(Esbon Times, Esbon, Kansas, October 23, 1903)

Additional biographical information:

The US census for 1900 has his birth in June, 1827. Family information on Ancestry.com has his birth as June 13, 1827. Other census records are consistent with that. Most census records give his place of birth as Bohemia.

The records about his marriage to his first wife Agnes and the dates for the births of their first children appear to be unreliable. Marriage records for Johnson County, Iowa have an Anton Kindler marrying Agnes Klacel on April 3, 1864. The birth year for son Anton was given as about 1861 in the US censuses for 1870 and 1880 and the Kansas census for 1875; however, the US census in 1900 and later censuses are more consistent with 1857. The birth of daughter Agnes was given as August, 1858 in the 1900 US census and as August 31, 1959 on her death certificate. The other children were Roman, Mary, Joseph, Frank, William, Emma, and Albert.

Anton had a homestead in Jewell County, Kansas a mile and a half southeast of Esbon. In July, 1873 he and his wife Agnes gave one acre for a rural grade school that became known as the Kindler School. The school operated until disorganized in March, 1947 (from the book Prairie Jewels: History of Schools, Churches, Post Offices, and Cemeteries of Jewell County, Kansas, 2nd Edition, 2014, by Erma Dillon and Jeri Shute).

After the death of his first wife in 1881, Anton married widow Katie (Hajny) Lala about 1883. She was similarly from Bohemia. Their children were Michael, Mary, John, and Rose. The family also included four children from Katie’s first marriage to Albert Lala.

Contributor: Jim Kennedy (49629531)