DANIEL KNEPP

A short biography of Grandpa Dan written by his daughter and son-in-law, Florence Knepp Frank and William E. Frank:

When he was a baby, Daniel's family moved from Illinois to northern Iowa around Algona and West Bend. From that area his folks moved and farmed near Iowa City. Daniel often spoke of the difficulty farming in Iowa; the rain, snow, wind and lightning storms were severe in that area.

When he was 18 his parents returned to Illinois residing on a farm near Forrest. They soon moved to Fairbury where his parents remained until their death. Daniel continued to work with his father, primarily building barns. Later, he worked in various Peoria industries, including Keystone and finally Colleen manufacturing which was acquired by Caterpillar Tractor Company. He was a wood pattern maker by trade. He was also a minister at the Peoria Apostolic Church from the early 1930's until his death.

Grandpa Dan was a lay preacher in the Apostolic church, an offshoot of the Amish. By coincedence or not, most of the surviving pictures of him seated show his hands folded piously across his lap, legs, or a table.
The church that he belonged to allowed him to dress in "regular" clothes, keep a car and a telephone, and so on. It did, however, forbid him to own a radio. But he still had one anyway, and carefully hid it away whenever company came over.

Grandpa Dan and his youngest son, my grandfather, never got along from the time Paw was a child. The tension between them was a major reason that Paw never joined the Apostolic Church, along with the fact that Paw married someone from outside the church. But it was also one of his greatest sources of grief: the church to him was both the center of his life and the source of salvation. Whatever their differences, Grandpa Dan worried that his son would be damned if he didn't join the church.

If he thought a child was misbehaving, they would get a swift bonk on the head--or at least a kick under the table. One notable exception to this was mom, who was four years old when Grandpa Dan died. He doted on her like he had no other child in his family (including his own or mom's sister, Aunt Deedee), and acted as if she could do no wrong. This was doubly odd for Nana and Paw since his doting on a child of Nana and Paw was in itself strange!
But while he was often harsh with his own family, Grandpa Dan was very often just the opposite with other members of his family. Our cousin Art Moser, in fact, told me that he remembered the elderly Daniel Knepp being as gentle as a lamb with him.

After Grandpa Dan died, his tools and tool chest went to Paw. Paw kept them for another fifty-one years, until he left his house for a retirement home and gave the chest and most of the tools to his grandson, Dan Carpenter.

In February 1912, Brother Bartel Rapp of Morton was given the oversight of the Peoria church, replacing aging Brother Witzig. Brother Rapp served as Elder until 1924 and was succeeded by Brother Mike Mangold of Roanoke. During that time, Brothers Fred Wuethrich, Dan Knepp, and Silas Leuthold ministered at the Peoria church. Brother Emil Schubert, Sr. was ordained the first resident Elder of the Peoria church on February 17, 1929, and served until his death on August 14, 1950. During the time of this Eldership, Brothers Dan Knepp, Mike Weyeneth, Silas Leuthold, Fred Feucht, Chris Koehl, and Roy Sauder were made ministers. When Brother Schubert passed away, Brother David Mangold of Roanoke was given the oversight of the Peoria church with Mike Weyeneth, the minister in charge.

Burial details from Springdale Cemetery, Peoria, IL:
Interred in the Mount Hope division of Springdale Cemetery on February 23, 1946. Age listed as 70 years 4 months 0 days.
Last residence: 1109 West Wilcox, Peoria, IL.
Cause of death: Coronary (rest unreadable)
Internment #18882
Lot 5562 Grv. 2 Tr. 5
Undertaker: J.B. Wilton Bro. Co.
Physician: R.R. Martin

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