KNOLL, David - Putnam

Holding worthy prestige among the enterprising farmers and public spirited citizens of Putnam County is David Knoll, of Cloverdale township, a gentleman of high standing and marked influence in the community of which he has long been an honored resident. As the name implies, he is of German lineage, his father, John Knoll, having been born in the upper Rhine valley about the year 1813. John Knoll was the son of a soldier who served in the army of Napoleon and considered the great Emperor as something more than a mere mortal. Long after the wars in which he took part had closed and the star of the man of destiny had set forever, any reference to the Emperor would arouse the patriotism of the Rhennish soldier, and when an old man to hear the music to which he had marched while wearing the cockade was sufificient to cause the tears to flow down his furrowed cheeks. John Knoll left his home in the Fatherland when nineteen years old and came to the United States, locating at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked for a number of years at tailoring, which trade he had learned in his native country. Later he went to Union County, Indiana, where in due time he married Susannah Knipe, who was born at Dublin, Wayne County, of which part of the state her father, Thomas Knipe, was an early pioneer. Mr. and Mrs. Knipe were natives of England, but came to America many years ago and spent the remainder of their lives on the farm in the County of Wayne which the husband and father redeemed from the wilderness. On changing his residence to Union County, John Knoll turned his attention to farming, which he carried on for some years in connection with his trade. He proved a valuable accession to the community in which he settled, doing much of the tailoring required by the neighbors, who remunerated him by assisting with his farm work. The nearest trading points at that time were Lawrenceburg and Cincinnati and in marketing his produce at those places, where he also purchased the few groceries and other necessities for the family, required a trip of several days. About the year 1847 Mr. Knoll disposed of his interests in Union County and moved to what is now Jennings township in northwestern part of Owen County, where he bought land and developed a good farm on which he made his home the remainder of his days, dying at a ripe old age in about 1885.

David Knoll was born January 9, 1842, in Union County, Indiana, but spent the greater part of his youth and early manhood in the County of Owen, to which he was taken by his parents when about five years old. He well remembers the journey to the new home in what was then the wilds of Jennings township, as a part of the way had to be cut through a dense forest, no roads having yet been made. As soon as his services could be utilized, he assisted his father with the labors of the farm, attending at intervals such schools as the country afforded and until his twenty-second year remained at home and contributed to the interests and comfort of his parents. In 1864 he went to Nebraska, where he engaged with a government wagon train to transport supplies to various military posts and other points in the far West. The train consisted of twenty-six wagons, each drawn by six yoke of oxen, Mr. Knoll taking charge of one of the wagons, which he drove as far as Salt Lake City. The trip across the plains was fraught with many difificulties and hardships and it is estimated that it cost the government the sum of thirty-two dollars and fifty cents for every hundred weight of goods thus freighted. Mr. Knoll passed through not a few thrilling experiences on the trip, both going and coming, being obliged to walk much of the way, which with the labor of attending to his six yoke of oxen and other incidental duties proved not only exceedingly tiresome, but at times exasperating. Of the twenty-six wagons with which the company started all but one were left in Utah and on the return trip these were brought farther than Fort Halleck, making their way from the latter place to Leavenworth, Kansas. Mr. Knoll decided to leave the West and accordingly in the winter of 1866 he returned to Indiana, arriving at his home in Owen County on Christmas day. Later Mr. Knoll and a Mr. Routh took a contract to make one hundred and fifty thousand brick, for the preparation of which they devoted the latter part of the winter of the above year and during the summer following the work was completed as per agreement. In the ensuing fall the subject, in partnership with John Job. started a general store at what is now the village of Cunot, for two years. when Mr. Knoll's father purchased Mr. Job's interest and became a partner, under the style of Knoll & Son, the store was conducted with encouraging success during the five years ensuing, at the expiration of which time the subject traded his interest in the business for one hundred and twenty acres of land, forty in Owen County and eighty on the south line of Cloverdale township in the County of Putnam. Moving to this land. Mr. Knoll addressed himself to the task of its improvement and in due time had one of the finest farms and among the most beautiful and desirable homes in the community. There he lived and prospered until about 1890, when he purchased one hundred and fifty-two acres, one mile southwest of Cloverdale. where he has since resided. In the meantime he turned his attention to the manufacture of drain tile, for which there was a growing demand, constructing a factory about two miles south of the above town, which, after operating for some time, he exchanged for a tract of land in the vicinity. A few months afterwards he and his sons bought the factory, which they operated with profitable results until 1910, when the business was sold to other parties. Mr. Knoll has been quite successful in his various business and farming interests and is now in independent circumstances, owning the fine farm of one hundred and fifty-two acres on which he lives, a fifty-acre tract in Owen County and fifty-two acres on the line between the counties of Owen and Putnam. In 1898 he engaged in general merchandising at Cloverdale, where he conducted a thriving business until the latter part of 1904, when he disposed of the establishment, since which time he has devoted his attention to agriculture and the manufacturing of drain tile, in both of which his success has been commensurate with the ability, energy and excellent management displayed in all of his undertakings. Mr. Knoll, on February 5, 1867, contracted a marriage with Livonia Hendricks, daughter of William and Mary Ann (Routte) Hendricks, who moved to Putnam County, Indiana, from their native state of Kentucky when Mrs. Knoll was about five years of age. The offsprings of this union are as follows: Ida M. who first married Jack Asher, by whom she had three children. Forest, Nora Ellen and Marian. After the death of Mr. Asher she married William Nanns, with whom she now lives near Cataract in Owen County, their marriage resulting in the birth of four children. Alma, Doris, George and Floy Genevie. Hannah, the second of the family, married John Vice, to whom she bore a son, Roy, and two daughters. Florence and Dorothy. Mr. Vice dying, she subsequently entered the marriage relation with her present husband, Thomas Paris, of Cloverdale township, the union being blessed with three offspring, Glory, Roxey and Harold. James, the third child, died in infancy. William Knoll, the fourth in order of birth, lives in Prairie County. Arkansas, where he is engaged in the growing of rice. His wife, formerly Lovina Cook, has presented him with four children, Orville, Grace, Everett and Gamett. Emma, the next in succession, married Nicholas Mace and lives in Clay County, Indiana, their family consisting of a son, David, and a daughter who answers to the name of Hattie Ila. Nellie, who married John Canada, with whom she moved to Arkansas some years ago, died in that state the month following her arrival, leaving four children; Ruth, James, Charles and Ann, all born in Indiana. George Knoll, the sixth in order of birth, married Mettie McMains and lives in Arkansas, two children having been born to them. Willard and Mary Livonia McMains. Susie, the seventh of the family, is unmarried and still a member of the home circle. Arley is head bookkeeper and cashier of the National Biscuit Company at Indianapolis. Grover, Hattie and Marie, the youngest of the family, are still under the parental roof.