Epeneter, John

EPENETER

Posted By: Volunteer (email)
Date: 10/10/2006 at 14:22:40

John Epeneter

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.21, Council Bluffs)
John Epeneter, Council Bluffs, was born in Germany in 1836, and learned his trade in his native country. In 1852, he came to America, and, in 1859, to Council Bluffs. At Omaha, Neb., in 1861, he married Henrietta Rudovsky, and by this union they have been blessed with nine children, all of whom, save one, were born in Council Bluffs. Mr. Epenter began business in Council Bluffs in 1863, and was burned out in 1866, losing all he had. He rebuilt, however, and is now doing a flourishing business in stoves, tinware and the manufacture of galvanized iron cornices. He employs fourteen men, his business having assumed large proportions and extended far into Iowa and Nebraska. He was the founder of the first Turner's Association organized in Council Bluffs in 1864, and is also one of the charter members of the German Odd Fellows Lodge of Council Bluffs. He was a member of the City Council in 1878, and held the offices of Assessor and Gauger in Council Bluffs for six years.