Julius Kuntze, who is proprietor of the largest cigar manufacturing establishment in Meriden, was born February 14, 1858, in Wansen, Prussian Silesia, Germany, his parents being Carl and Theresa (Weiss) Kuntze. The father was a native of Strehlen, Silesia, and there engaged in the manufacture of cigars throughout his entire business life, passing away in 1869. His wife has also departed this life.

     Julius Kuntze acquired a public school education in his native town and also attended a preparatory school there, after which he began learning the cigar maker’s trade under the direction of his father, and following the latter’s death he and his brother Herman conducted the business for their mother. Mr. Kuntze remained a resident of Germany until 1881, when he determined to try his fortune in the new world, believing that he might have better business advantages on this side of the Atlantic. Accordingly he sailed from Hamburg and took up his abode in New York, where he remained for six years, conducting a profitable business as a cigar maker. He then removed to New Haven, where he remained for five years, after which he returned to his native land and spent several months. The year 1893 witnessed his arrival in Meriden, where he established his present business that in the intervening years has grown to extensive proportions. He is today proprietor of the largest cigar manufactory in Meriden and vicinity, and he has also developed a large wholesale business, his trade covering a wide territory, for he sells in all the neighboring counties. He employs twenty men in the manufacture of various high grade cigars. He makes the Dan O’Connell, the City Hall, the Centennial, the 77, the Daisy, the H. W. L. and fifteen other brands of cigars and the excellence of his product has insured a liberal patronage.

     Mr. Kuntze was married in New Haven, in 1891, to Miss Elizabeth Schwab, a native of Darmstadt, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, and to them were born seven children: George, who is now in his father’s factory; August, who is engaged in the butchering business in Montana; Eliza, a Normal school student; Carl and Harold, who are in school in Meriden; and Helen and Jane, who died in infancy. The wife and mother passed away in 1909.

     Mr. Kuntze holds membership in the Elks lodge and club, also with the United Workmen and the Foresters, and he is a member of the Chamber of Commerce at Meriden. He belongs to the Meriden Saengerbund and is identified with various other Germany social and charitable organizations. As a business man he has displayed enterprise, adaptability and determination and these qualities have enabled him to develop a business of large and substantial proportions.