KNOLL, John - Putnam

[Father of David Knoll]...John Knoll, having been born in the upper Rhine valley about the year 1813, 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.