Henry Edwin (Eddie) Kunath

Thank you to Pat Larsen for providing this link to the World War I records of Henry Edwin (Eddie) Kunath, the son of Ida Lehman (Johann Carl August Lehman and Maria Jannasch) and Wilhelm Kunath (married 22 Oct 1893 in Fedor to Ida). Wilhelm Kunath was one of the later arrivals to Lee County from Leipa, Nieder Lausitz, Schlesien, Germany.

Eddie and Henry Urban had to go to Giddings to enlist in WW1-not sure whether that had anything to do with being Wendish or because their parents came from Lee County.

Pat tells how she delivered the information about her World War I soldier to the Library of Congress and its subsequent publishing on their website: I put everything in a box and mailed it to the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. As I was in the D.C. area, I had called the L.O.C. first to see if they were interested. Later I called to be sure the box was received as it took a while before they had it digitized and online.

What a nice online remembrance of this American patriot! I enjoyed seeing the letters and the diary in particular.

Thank you, Pat Larsen, for sharing these materials. And thanks for all that you have done, and continue to do, in documenting our history.

When Eddie Kunath, who had no children, died my mother was named executor of his estate. All of his papers and books were unclaimed by relatives and languished in a box until 2004 when my father died and I was helping Mother sort through things. That resulted in my sending his WWI photos and papers to the Library of Congress. After Mother died I was still left with family Bibles that Eddie had kept including two New Testaments that were embossed on the cover with his mother's name-one on a silver plate dated 1911, the other imprinted in the leather cover. This week I have been able to send these to Ida's (daughter of Johann Carl August Lehman and Maria Jannasch) great-granddaughter in Alabama who has little knowledge of that side of her family. At the same time I was able to suggest books and TWHS. This descendant books safaris and travels a lot. Pat