John Felkner

FELKNER, KNIPP

Posted By: Polly
Date: 12/10/2006 at 17:07:35

John Felkner, of Bellair township, is one of the old settlers of the county. He was born in Hawkins county, Tenn., Aug. 6th, 1810; joined the Presbyterian church in 1826; was married in 1834, and removed to Springfield, Mo.; returned to Tennessee in the spring of 1846 and the fall of the same year removed to Lee county, Iowa; came to Appanoose county in April, 1847.

The first grand jury in the county of which he was the member first summoned was called upon to try a Mormon for murder committed at Council Bluffs, as Appanoose county at that time had jurisdiction over all the territory west to the Missouri river. The jury found a verdict of murder in the first degree and the prisoner was committed to the Keosauqua jail, but after a short imprisonment was released through some technicality, discovered by his attorney, Judge Knipp.

In 1849 he removed to Johns township where he lived for eighteen years, enduring the hardships of frontier life. For several years he was too poor to own a horse and was compelled to journey on foot over the country, then without roads or bridges. He says Johns township received its name from the fact that many of the residents, like himself, had the given name John. In 1867 he removed to Bellair township where he has since resided at ease, with plenty of this world's goods, and enjoying himself after his years of toil.

The Centerville Citizen - Saturday, March 2, 1872