BIOGRAPHIES

† Source:
A. History of Northwestern Ohio
A Narrative of Its Historical Progress and Development
from the First European Exploration of the Maumee and
Sandusky Valleys and the Adjacent Shores of
Lake Erie, down to the Present Time
by Nevin O. Winter, Litt. D.
Assisted by a Board of Advisory and Contributing Editors
Illustrated
Vol. II
Published by
The Lewis Publishing Company
Chicago and New York
1917

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P. J. Kranz	PETER J. KRANZ.  Of the various members of The Toledo Real Estate Board, none represent more of the real substance of success, larger resources and more of the reputation that comes from a record of long and reliable dealings than The P. J. Kranz Company.  The president of this company is Mr. Peter J. Kranz, who has been a resident of Toledo more than thirty years and by ability and hard work rather than through any other qualities acquired his present high place in business affairs.      Born in Alsdorf, near Trier, Germany, July 22, 1866, Peter J. Kranz came to the United States in 1885 and located in Toledo.  He had been educated in Germany, and came to this country immediately after leaving school to join his oldest brother who had located in Toledo in 1880.  That brother died here Apr. 6, 1909.      His first employment in this strange city was with Casey & Streicher, paving contractors.  After six months with them he clerked in a grocery store, and was employed by several of the grocery merchants of that time.  His last employment was with the Lincoln Hayes grocery.  Another line of experience came in 1888 when he became bookkeeper for the Mutual Savings Association.  He was employed as bookkeeper there four years and that was undoubtedly one of the most important early experiences and associations of Mr. Kranz, giving him a large acquaintance with business men and financial conditions in the city.      Mr. Kranz then formed a partnership with the late Henry Heeman, under the firm name of Heeman, Kranz & Company, real estate, loans and insurance.  The firm located in the Builders Exchange rooms on the third floor of the Blade Building.  From 1892 to 1905 Mr. Kranz was secretary of The Builders Exchange and as a matter of convenience to enable him to transact his duties of office and his private affairs, the offices of Heeman, Kranz & Company were located as above stated.  From there they removed to the ground floor of the Gardner Building, where the George E. Pomeroy Company is now located. Their headquarters were on the ground floor of that building from 1896 to 1905.  In the latter year, having resigned his post with the Builders Exchange, and the activities of his co-partnership business having assumed enormous proportions, it became necessary to take larger quarters and the firm then moved to the second floor of the Gardner Building, taking the complete suite of the center tier of offices.  That is the home of The P. J. Kranz Company today.      The firm of Heeman, Kranz & Company continued until Nov. 30, 1910, when the business was incorporated as The P. J. Kranz Company.  With Mr. Kranz as president, the office of vice president is filled by C. J. Spear, the secretary is W. J. Schroeder, and members and directors of the corporation are also Mr. Kranz' sons.  The company transacts an immense volume of business in insurance, real estate and loans, and are also local agents for all leading ocean steamship lines.      On Aug. 30, 1905, The Kranz Realty & Investment Company was also incorporated , and this business is still in existence and has its headquarters in the same office as The P. J. Kranz Company, with Mr. Peter J. Kranz as president.  For three years, from 1913 to 1916, Mr. Kranz was secretary of the United States Malleable Iron Company of Toledo, having sold his holdings in that concern in the latter year.      Success in business is not the only distinction of Mr. Kranz as a Toledo citizen.  He is a man of broad and progressive ideals, stands for anything that will better the community in which he resides, and the high place he enjoys in the confidence and esteem of this community was well illustrated when in December, 1915, Mayor Milroy appointed him a member of the mayor's cabinet, as director of finance.  Mr. Kranz accepted the office and served from Jan. 1, 1916, for a period of three months, when on account of the press of his private affairs he was obliged to resign on April 1st.  Thus he was one of the five men in the mayor's cabinet and constituted one of the executive personnel of the first municipal administration under the new charter.  This was the first political office Mr. Kranz had ever accepted, though he has been quite active in the democratic party for a number of years.      He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, of the Toledo Commerce Club, of the Toledo Automobile Club, the Maumee River Yacht Club, and is secretary of the Stagle Resort Club, which has its headquarters at Yuma, Michigan, where Mr. Kranz partakes of his favorite recreation, fishing.  He is a councilman in Sts. Peter and Paul parish of the Catholic Church, and all his family are members of the same church.      Outside of business Mr. Kranz is devoted to the circle of interests included in his ideal home and the companionship of his wife and sons.  Mr. Kranz himself was the youngest in a family of eleven children, containing eight sons and three daughters, four of whom died in infancy, and of those who grew up three sons and three daughters are still living.  Their parents were Peter and Mary (Roles) Kranz, both of whom were born near Trier, Germany.  His father was a millwright by trade.  Standing six feet two inches high and proportioned accordingly, when he entered the army for his regular three years' service he was assigned to the Royal Guards at Berlin.  Both parents died in Germany, the father at the age of fifty-six and the mother t seventy-six.      On Feb. 8, 1890, in St. Mary's Catholic Church on Cherry Street, Toledo, Mr. Kranz married Miss Helena Ramm of Toledo, daughter of Henry Ramm and wife, both of whom are now deceased.  Mrs. Kranz was born in Holstein, Germany, and when twelve years of age came with her parents in 1881 to Lucas County, Ohio.  The father spent the rest of his active career as a farmer in Washington Township of Lucas County.  Mrs. Kranz received part of her education in the old country and part of it in Lucas County.      Without any disparagement it can be said that few Toledo households contain such a happy family as that of Mr. Kranz.  He and his wife properly take great pride in their five unmarried sons, all of whom live in the family circle, and these sons have already shown qualities that entitle them to a worthy place in the world.  The names of these sons are: Leo P., Albert J., Karl J., Bernard H. and Gerold I. Leo, Karl and Bernard are all stockholders and directors of The P. J. Kranz Company and The Kranz Realty & Investment Company.  Albert J. took the literary course in the University of Michigan and is now in his last year studying law in Notre Dame University at South Bend, Indiana. Gerold I., the youngest son, is still a student in St. Mary's College at Dayton, where all the sons received part of their education .  As children they attended the parochial school of Sts. Peter and Paul in Toledo.  These sons were all born in Toledo.      Mr. Kranz is a member of the Toledo Real Estate Board, the Ohio Real Estate Board and the National Real Estate Board.  In 1896 he made a trip to Europe alone to visit his aged mother, who died shortly afterwards on Mar. 26, 1897.  Mr. Kranz was between eight and nine years of age when his father died in 1875.  In the course of that first return to the old country Mr. Kranz visited England, France and Germany, and in 1910 he took the entire family abroad and during the three months of the trip they were in England, France, Luxemburg, Germany and Switzerland.      Mr. and Mrs. Kranz celebrated the silver anniversary of their wedding in February, 1916. † Source: History of Northwestern Ohio - Vol. II _ 1917 - Page 1209
	JUDGE JOHN F. KUMLER, who died at his home in Toledo, Nov. 30, 1910, in his seventieth year, was long one of the distinguished figures in the bench and bar of Northwest Ohio, and in many ways impressed his ability and service on the life of his state.      Doubtless his dominant characteristic was a fearlessness and determination which took him into the center of every struggle in which he participated.  In fact, he was a born fighter, whether on the battlefields of the South as a union soldier, in the courtroom as a pleader of causes, or in the civic forum battling for those principles he believed to be true and just.      He was a member of one of the oldest families of Montgomery County, Ohio.  The late Judge Alvin W. Kumler of Dayton and the late Philip T. Kumler of Cincinnati were his brothers.  The distinguished Federal Judge K. M. Landis of Chicago and Congressman Charles Landis of Indiana are cousins of the late Judge Kumler.      John F. Kumler was born near Hamilton, Ohio, Jan. 27, 1841, a son of John and Sarah (Landis) Kumler, who came to Ohio from Pennsylvania.  He was one of eleven children, eight sons and three daughters.      In August, 1862, he answered the call of Lincoln for 300,000 men, after it was seen that the War of the Rebellion would be a long and bitter struggle, and he went out with the Eighty-third Ohio Infantry.  From that time until after the surrender at Appomattox he was constantly the last battle of the war at Fort Blakely.  This battle was fought several hours after the surrender of Lee, and would not have taken place had there been telegraphic communication between Grant's army and the Army of the Southwest.      After the war he continued his studies, and in 1870 graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan.  He was at once admitted to the Ohio bar and in the same year established his home in Toledo, where he resided until his death.  In 1883 Judge Kumler was named by President Chester A. Arthur as revenue collector for the Northern District of Ohio.      The bench and bar of Lucas County honored him particularly for his service as judge of the Common Pleas Court.  He was elevated to the bench in January, 1907, to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Julian H. Tyler.  At the resignation of Judge Tyler arose an intense rivalry among numerous candidates for the bench, and after the contest had gone on for some weeks Governor Harris wisely followed his own inclinations, went outside the entire list of applicants, and made a personal choice.  The appointment of Judge Kumler created a surprise because his name had not been mentioned, but his splendid qualifications for the post were at once accepted as the best solution of the problem of choice.      From the establishment of the Miami Children's Home until his elevation to the bench Judge Kumler was  a member of its board of management.  For a number of years he also filled the office of president of the city council.  He was an active member of the Lucas County Bar Association.      As a lawyer and as a public spirited citizen Judge Kumler was always a prominent leader in the civic life of Toledo.  He participated in numerous important cases and achieved a distinctive success.  He was perhaps not a profound student, but an untiring worker, and when he accepted a case that meant that every particle of his energy and zeal would employed in behalf of his client.  He was a persistent, never gave up, and was as loyal to his clients and his friends as he was to his country when it was in danger.  It was his wonderful vitality and undaunted spirit that enabled him so long to wage a successful fight with death.      A word should also be said about his remarkable power as a jury lawyer.  He was a strikingly handsome man when in his prime and he had a personal magnetism which enabled him to hold attention when the logic of his argument failed.   His long black curly hair fell in waves over his forehead, and as he stood before a jury pleading for his clients he exhibited all the powers of a brilliant mind in a vigorous physical setting  It is said that neither bailiffs nor spectators ever fell asleep when Judge Kumler was presenting his case.      During his active career he acquired a competence.  He believed thoroughly in the future of Toledo, and the surplus of his law practice was judiciously invested in local real estate.  Particularly he had confidence in upriver lands, and from time to time acquired acreage property until he owned several hundred acres on the east and west sides of the Maumee River between Perrysburg and Toledo.  He also owned a large tract of land near Ottawa Park, on which the Thalians have erected their summer camp for consumptives.  At his funeral, which was held in the family residence, the pastor of the First Unitarian Church of Toledo officiated.      On Nov. 11, 1879, Mr. Kumler married Miss Charlott Langdon Williams of Toledo, daughter of Joseph R. Williams who at one time wsa proprietor and editor of the Toledo Blade.  Mrs. Kumler and four sons survive:  John F., Jr., Langdon W., Roy W., and Fred L. all well known citizens of Toledo. † Source: History of Northwestern Ohio - Vol. II _ 1917 - Page 1017
	LANGDON W. KUMLER is a young Toledo business man whose associations and connections are very well known in that city.  After retiring from the office of county recorder he was a member of the firm of Major & Kumler until June, 1916, when he opened an office at Room 1150 Nicholas Building.  He is handling investments.  Mr. Kumler, who was one of the leading lawyers of Northwest Ohio and was connected with many into the history of Toledo.      Langdon W. Kumler was born in Toledo Aug. 26, 1883, a son of John F. and Charlotte Langdon (Williams) Kumler.  His mother was the daughter of Joseph R. Williams, who at one time was the owner and editor of the Toledo Blade.      Mr. Kumler had a liberal education as the foundation of his business career.  He attended Howe Military School at Howe, Indiana, the Cleveland University School at Cleveland, and was a student in the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.  His first regular work was as clerk in the office of the Toledo Board of Review, where he was employed for nine years.      He has been one of the influential younger men in the political life of Lucas County.  In 1912 he was nominated for recorder on the republican ticket and was also nominated for the same office by the progressive party, and he withdrew from the republican ticket and was elected as a progressive.  He held the office of county recorder from January, 1913, until September, 1915, and gave a highly creditable administration of the office.  In 1914 he was again nominated for recorder on the progressive ticket, but was defeated by the democratic candidate in that year.  In February, 1916, Mr. Kumler entered the partnership which existed until June, 1916, as before stated.      Mr. Kumler is a member of the Phi Chapter of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity of the University of Michigan, and is also affiliated with the National Union, the Sons of Veterans, and belongs to the Toledo Club.  He is a member of the First Unitarian Church at Toledo.      On Apr. 25, 1907, at Toledo he married Irene Coghlin, a daughter of John T. and Lilla L. Coghlin, and a granddaughter of the late Dennis Coghlin.  Mrs. Kumler died Dec. 19, 1914, leaving one son, John Coghlin Kumler, who was born Nov. 25, 1912. † Source: History of Northwestern Ohio - Vol. II _ 1917 - Page 965

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