US Congressman, Lawyer. He was a United States Representative from the State of Pennsylvania. He was born one of five children to George Kunkel (1784-1850), and his wife Catharine Ziegler Kunkel (1797-1883), on September 18, 1816. He was educated locally and attended the local common schools in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and later attended and graduated from the prestigious Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, (later Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania. He then studied law at the distinguished Carlisle Law School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, bar in 1842, and commenced his practice of law in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, shortly thereafter. During this time, he gained a reputation as a public speaker, and during the presidential campaigns of 1844, he spoke much in favor of Henry Clay Sr. (1777-1852), the great United States attorney and statesman who represented the State of Kentucky in both the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives. He took an interest in politics and served as a Member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives in 1844, 1845, and again in 1850. He also served as a Member of the Pennsylvania State Senate while representing the 8th District and as a Speaker of the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1852 and again in 1853. He then decided to run for a seat as an Opposition Party member in the United States Congress and was elected to succeed the outgoing United States Representative Ner Middleswarth (1783-1865), on March 4, 1855. A Member of the Opposition Party, he then served Pennsylvania's 10th District (Thirty-Fourth Congress), from March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1857. He then changed his party affiliation and became a member of the Republican Party. A Member of the Republican Party, he then served Pennsylvania's 10th District (Thirty-Fifth Congress), in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1857, to March 3, 1859. He was originally elected in 1854, and re-elected in 1856. While serving in the United States Congress he was Chairman of the House Committee on Militia during the Thirty-Fourth Congress. He was not a Candidate for renomination in 1858, at which time he retired from politics. Following his term in the United States Congress, he was succeeded in office by the incoming United States Representative John Weinland Killinger (1824-1896), on March 4, 1859. After leaving the United States Congress he resumed his practice of law in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, until his death on October 14, 1870. He passed away in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on October 14, 1870, at the age of 54, and he was buried in Harrisburg Cemetery in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was married to Elizabeth Crin Rutherford Kunkel (1839-1919), with whom he had one child, a son named John Crain Kunkel (1858-1914). He was the grandfather of United States Representative John Crain Kunkel (1898-1970). His wife Elizabeth passed away in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on May 19, 1919, at the age of 80, and she is also buried in Harrisburg Cemetery in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.