CHARLES KNEPLER is the son of a pioneer of this county, of which he is a native, and he is actively aiding in carrying on its extensive agricultural interests. His farm is pleasantly located on section 9, Island Grove Township, and originally formed a part of his father's old homestead. Which the latter redeemed from the wilderness.

March 5, 1861, is the date of the birth of our subject in this township. He is a son of Peter and Catherine Knepler, who were natives of Lorraine, France, where the father was born in 1816, and the mother in 1819. They came to this country in the year 1847 and landed in New Orleans. Mr. Knepler had barely fifteen cents when he arrived in this land of strangers, but he soon obtained employment in the Crescent City, and from the proceeds of his work he was enabled to pay his fare to Springfield, where he again found himself without means. He began work in a hemp mill at $10 a month, and was thus employed for about years. He next turned his attention to farming and worked a farm of Capt. Brown in Island Grove Township. It was hard work to get a good start in life in this country, but with the united efforts of himself and his good wife he at last set the wheel of fortune turning, and in time became prosperous. His wife was indeed of great assistance to him, as while he was working on the farm she was getting $1 a week in Mr. Brown's family for cooking, and doing other work. These good people were among the early settlers of this section of the State. When they came here there were but two houses at New Berlin, and the site of the farm that Mr. Knepler subsequently purchased on section 9, Island Grove Township, was truly a wilderness. They wrestled earnestly with the hardships and trials of pioneer life, and by hard work acquired a good farm of one hundred and sixty-six acres of choice farming land. The father's life was rounded out January 17, 1887, at a ripe age, and the mother closed her eyes in death December 7, 1887, and both were buried in the Catholic cemetery at New Berlin.

Our subject is one of a family of seven children, and he was reared to a stalwart manhood under the influences of pioneer life. After the death of the father his estate was divided, and Charles received his share and has since been actively engaged in its cultivation and further improvement. He is now erecting a handsome residence on the site of the old homestead and will have here one of the most attractive homes in the township. In the cultivation of his land he is showing much skill and good judgment, so that he reaps from his fertile fields abundant harvests.

Mr. Knepler remained an inmate of the parental household till he married and established a home of his own, his union with Miss Cecelia Gardner being solemnized June 29, 1884, in Island Grove Township. Mrs. Knepler is a native of Ireland and a daughter of Michael and Mary Gardner, natives of Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Knepler are held in high estimation in their community, as they are hospitable, kindly and obliging in their relations with their neighbors. There have been born to them four bright children, as follows: Thomas P., Charles F., Maggie A. and Joseph M., all at home. Mr. Knepler is a good citizen and a credit to his native township. In politics he is a stanch Democrat, as was his father before him.