History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/John B. Knoepfler
JOHN B. KNOEPFLER was born at Neukirch, Germany, February 13, 1852, and came to America with his father in 1854. He grew to manhood in Oakland, Michigan, where his father settled on a farm. Acquiring sufficient education by the time he was nineteen to teach school, with his earnings he pursued studies in the higher institutions of learning. He removed to Iowa in 1876 where he became principal of a public school in Fayette County. In 1882 he was chosen superintendent of the city schools of West Union, serving seven years, when he removed to Lansing where he became superintendent of the schools of that city. In 1900 he was elected professor of German in the State Normal School at Cedar Falls. He has done a large amount of institute work in the counties of northern Iowa. In 1891 he was nominated by the Democratic State Convention for Superintendent of Public Instruction and elected, being the first Democrat to hold that office since 1863. He was defeated with his party in 1893 and returned to his former position at Lansing.