JOHN HAMPEL
John Hampel lives on the southwest quarter of section 24, Noble township. He purchased the land in 1878, which was at that time unimproved, he has now a large frame house, a barn and other out-buildings. John Hampel was born in Hesse, Darmstadt, Germany, on the 29 day of November, 1830. His father was a tailor by trade, and after attending school about wight years he assisted his father in the trade. In 152, he left his native land and came to America. He settled in Hazelton, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, where he found employment in the coal mines, working as a miner about four years. Mr. Hampel was married to Elizabeth Ploch in February, 1855, and in 1856 he removed to Lightstreet, Columbia county, Pennsylvania, where he worked two years in the ore mines. In 1858 he bought a farm of thirty-three acres, and hired a man to work the farm while he continued his mining. He sold the above farm in 1863, and purchased eighty-eight acres of land in Montour county, Pennsylvania, in 1866, and devoted his entire attention to farming. In 1877 Mr. and Mrs. Hampel made a visit to Jacob Hampel, the subject's brother, in Cass county, Iowa, at which time he bought the southwest quarter of section 24, Noble township. Their visit lasted about three weeks, at the end of which time they returned to their home in Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1877 he sold his entire interest in Pennsylvania, and in the spring of 1878 he removed his family to this county, and commenced to improve his farm. He now owns two hundred and thirty-two acres of land, and is raising large numbers of stock. On April 2, 1881, he lost his wife in death, he and eight children being left to mourn her loss. The names of the children are...Louisa, Elizabeth, Cassie, Emma, Caroline and Pauline (twins), Annie and Augustus. Mr. Hampel was married again, December 23, 1883, to Mrs. Mattie J. Houseknecht, of Watsontown, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Joseph R. Ketler, and late widow of Charles N. Houseknecht. She has three children by her first marriage -- Letta, Lizzie and Luther, all of whom are living.
Transcribed by Gloria Goltiani from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pg. 676.
