+ Joseph Leander Kampa

JOSEPH LEANDER KAMPA

Born: February 27, 1877    Duelm, Benton, Minnesota
Died: July 7, 1954    San Francisco, San Francisco, California
Buried: Sacred Heart Cemetery    Owatonna, Steele, Minnesota

Parents:

Education:

Marriage:

Vocation:

Joseph Kampa
Theresa Balder

4th Grade

Magdalene "Lena" Otilia Haaf
St. Lawrence Parish Church
Duelm, Minnesota
October 1899

Manager of blacksmith shop [Source: 1930 Federal Census]

Children:	Edmund Peter	Mar. 4, 1901	† June 25, 1961
	Frances Katherine	Dec. 13, 1902	† Jan. 31, 1994
	Ernest George	Oct. 16, 1905	† Mar. 18, 1979
	Martha Teresa	Nov. 9, 1906	† Dec. 15, 2001
	Alfred	1908	† 1908
	Alvina Marie	Aug. 5, 1911	† Apr. 6, 1989
	Donald Joseph	Apr. 24, 1914	† Jan. 31, 1999
	Louise Elinor	Dec. 30, 1916	† Jan. 26, 2015
	Eugene David	Apr. 7, 1922	† Dec. 19, 2004
	Dorothy Alice	June 28, 1924	† Aug. 12, 2012

Notes:

At the time of the 1880 federal census, Joseph was 3 years old and living with his parents and five siblings, August

(age 10), Annie Mary (age 9), Francis (age 7), Charles (age 5), and Mary (age 1) in St. George, Benton County, MN. His father was working as a farmer at the time. [Source: NA Film No. T9-0615, p. 169A]

At the time of the July 9, 1895 Minnesota state census Joseph was 18 years old and living with his parents and nine siblings on the family farm in St. George Township, Benton Co. MN. Joseph said he had been living there all his life, and that both his parents were of foreign birth.

In the United States Census for 1900, Joseph Leander Kampa and Bertha Dingmann (née Stimmler)'s brother Paul Stimmler are both listed as boarders in the Dingmann household.

On September 12, 1918, Joseph was 41 years old and working as a blacksmith in Claremont, Dodge, Minnesota. He was of medium height and build, with gray eyes and dark hair.

In the April 4, 1930 census, Joseph was 53 years old and living with his wife Lena and their four youngest children in their own home in Claremont, Minnesota. Their house was valued at $2,500 (approximately $25,000 in 2001 dollars) and the family owned a radio.

Excerpts mentioning Joseph Kampa from A Chronicle of Claremont Township and Village: A History of Claremont, Dodge County, Minnesota, Compiled from material contributed by past and present Claremont residents, edited by Jessie Marsh Bowen:

"Only a couple of years after the windmill's completion, the big wheel was split in two by a sudden wind, and was replaced by a 60-foot wheel of another make. John McCormick about this time bought the present Dodds farm from an eastern owner named Lysander Jacoby, and moved from the Simpson place near Manchester Lake, where he had been living. Frank Ebenhoh came in 1876, taking land northwest of town. Ed Owen, a former soldier, built and ran a blacksmith shop about where now stands the one that was owned and operated so long by Jos. Kampa." [p. 52]

"Martig Brothers had the saloon, next to Richter's; J. M. Arbes had a drugstore about where the Wm. McDonald store now is, and by July of that year Dr. C. S. Bigelow had an office next west of it, and had brought his family from Dodge Center to the house which we know as the Jos. Kampa house; the Claremont Leader was being published temporarily by C. E. Bigelow." [p. 84]

"James Gardner had the City Dray line; Paul Thibodeau ran the hotel and Frank Van Slyke the saloon; August Pishey advertised tailor-made suits; the State Bank of Claremont and the Farmers' State Bank of Claremont were soliciting banking business; Jos. Kampa, newly arrived in Claremont [Ed. note: 1907], advertised his blacksmith and wagon shop; Aaron White, who had a harness shop in his building next to the alley on Elm Street, bought and razed the old Ed. Owen blacksmith shop and built the house now owned by Mrs. Gray; Henry A. Meyer moved to town and bought the Wm Voltz house and the Aaron White harness shop, running the latter until he sold out to Ernest and Will Hargefeldt; A. C. Hinckley bought the Claremont Bee from Mrs. R. A. Ferris, changed its name back to the Claremont News, and housed it in the rooms above his store." [p. 90]

(Gene Kampa's memories of his father): "Joe always went by J. L. Kampa in his business dealings. ... Dad always went deer hunting each fall and he would often stop and visit his siblings when he went north."

(Marge Randall's memories of Joseph L. Kampa): "I wish I could remember more about great-uncle Joe Kampa. I really don't remember much about him - probably only saw him a couple times and that would be at funerals. I don't think he was much of a kid person as some of the other uncles were."