Carroll County IAGenWeb

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY IOWA

A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement

VOLUME II ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1912

Transcribed by Sharon Elijah November 1, 2020

A well known citizen of Carroll, William S. Knepper has been identified with the agricultural interests of this section of the state during a large part of his life and is recognized as one of the substantial men of the county. He is a native of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, born April 11, 1849, a son of Adam and Catharine (Small) Knepper, both of whom were born in the Keystone state. The father came to Iowa in 1849 and settled in Linn county, becoming the owner of three hundred and sixty acres of land. He passed away in 1861 at the age of fifty-one, his wife dying two years later at the age of forty-nine years. They were both members of the United Brethren church and were greatly esteemed on account of their many estimable traits of character. There were eight children in their family, the subject of this review being the only one now living, all of the others having died when young except one who was called away at the age of seventeen. The family of the grandfather on the paternal side consisted of three sons and two daughters, all of whom are deceased. The maternal grandfather was a farmer in Pennsylvania and had three sons and three daughters, Samuel, Daniel, Jeremiah, Elizabeth, Susan and Catharine.

William S. Knepper does not remember when he came to Iowa, as he was only six months old at the time. He grew to manhood in Linn county and received his early education in the district schools. After the death of his parents he lived with a guardian, C. S. Hendricks, and after arriving at his majority fell heir to a farm which his father acquired and devoted his attention for three years to agriculture and stock-raising. He then engaged in the mercantile business at Solon, Johnson county, for four years, after which he came to Carroll county and bought two hundred and forty acres in Carroll (now Maple River) township, four miles west of Carroll, and lived there five years. In 1881 he moved to Carroll and in 1902 built a commodious and beautiful home. Almost ever since he came to the city he and his wife have kept boarders and their home is one of the most popular places of the kind in Carroll.

On the 12th day of May, 1869, Mr. Knepper was united in marriage to Miss Henrietta Nicholson, a native of Johnson county, Iowa, and a daughter of Henry and Maria (Lyon) Nicholson. Two children have blessed this union, William Walter and Catharine Leo. William Walter is a bookkeeper for Allen Brothers, wholesale grocers of Omaha, Nebraska. He married Ura Wahl and is the father of four children, Vera, Vergil, Ida and Frank William. Catharine Leo is the wife of John McNeill and they lived in Arkansas City, Kansas. The father of Mrs. Knepper was born in Indiana and the mother in Pennsylvania. They came west and lived in Johnson county, Iowa, and later took up their home in Carroll county where they continued during the remainder of their days. The mother passed away at the age of sixty-five and the father at the age of eighty-six years. They had eleven children, Elizabeth, Frances, Joshua, Sarah, Henrietta, Anna, Matilda, Benjamin, William, Allen and May.

Mr. Knepper is not directly connected with any religious denomination, but his estimable wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Politically he has ever since casting his first ballot supported the principals and candidates of the republican party. He is a genial and intelligent gentleman of large experience and affairs and enjoys a wide acquaintance in Carroll county. Socially he and his wife are prominent in Carrol where they have made their home for thirty years.

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