Kuchel family

Biography

The Kuchel family of Anaheim published Orange County's first newspaper, the Anaheim Gazette, for 90 consecutive years. Henry Kuchel, editor of the Gazette, was born in 1859 and arrived in Anaheim in 1860 with his German immigrant family. His father, Conrad Kuchel, was one of the original fifty colonists of Anaheim in 1857. He owned several vineyards in the area, as well as the first meat market in Anaheim. With his brother Charles, Henry purchased the Gazette in 1887 after working extensively in the newspaper publishing business in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. Henry married Lutetia Kuchel of Texas in 1894. She assisted Henry in running the Gazette and continued to write for the newspaper after Henry's death in 1935.

Their youngest son, Thomas H. Kuchel, practiced as a lawyer in Anaheim before he was elected as a Republican to the California state Assembly. He was elected to the California State Senate in 1940 and served until 1945. Beginning in 1953, he served in the United States Senate and was elected again in 1956 and 1962. He died in 1994.