Dubuque Gravestone Project Index

Frederick M. Knoll

Biography of Frederick M. Knoll taken from Portrait and Biographical Record of Dubuque, Jones and Clayton Counties, Iowa. Chicago: Chapman Publishing Co. 1894. Pages 121-122.

HON FREDERICK M. KNOLL

In the anxious and laborious acquisition of an honorable competence and in the seemingly 
uneventful career of the business or professional man there is little to attract the idle 
or thoughtless; but for a mind thoroughly awake to the reality and meaning of human 
existence there are noble lessons in the life of a man who, without other means than a 
clear head, a strong arm and a true heart, conquers adversity and achieves success.  Such
a man is the subject of this sketch, one of the eminent statesmen that Dubuque County has 
furnished to the state of Iowa.

The life record of one so prominent will possess unusual interest for our readers, and 
especially for the citizens of Peru Township, where Mr. Knoll has long made his home.  He
was born in Alsace-Lorraine, France, March 8, 1833, and is a son of John M., and a 
grandson of Frederick and Flora Knoll.  The grandfather ran away from home and came to
America at the time of the Revolutionary War.  On returning to France he entered the 
service of his country as Captain in the artillery under Napoleon, and continued thus 
engaged until he died, at the age of about fifty-six, his death resulting from the effects
of wounds received in service.  His wife survived him many years, dying when seventy-six 
years old.

The father of our subject was First Lieutenant in the French army, serving in the Forestry
Department.  Early in the spring of 1848 he took passage at Havre, and after a voyage of 
a month landed in New York.  With his wife and three children he remained in the Empire
State engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1853.  IN the fall of that year he came via
the lakes and river to Dubuque County and purchased a claim of about two hundred acres
of wild land.  Here he remained until his death, at the age of seventy-six.  He was an 
active man in politics and a good citizen.

When thirty-two years old Mr. Knoll married Miss Catherine Durenberger, a native of Alsace-
Lorraine, who died in Buffalo, N. Y., at the age of forty-three.  She had three children:
Frederick M., of this sketch; Mrs. Apfel, living in Los Angeles; and Louis Knoll, of 
Howard County, Ark.  The first-named was reared on a farm and attended the schools of 
France prior to the age of fourteen years, when his school days ended.  His entire life has 
been spent upon a farm except five years, when he was employed in a general store in 
Buffalo, N. Y.

At the age of twenty-one our subject married Miss Catherine Deckert, a native of Alsace, 
France, who died in Dubuque County aged forty years.  The six living children born of this
union resided in Colorado, and all are married with the exception of the youngest.  They
are, Eugenia, Josephine, Albert, Augusta, Minnie and Henry.  Frederick and William are 
deceased.  In 1874 Mr. Knoll married Miss Agnes Stader, a native of Baden, Germany, who 
died in Dubuque County at the age of thirty-four.  Her three sons, Edward, Theodore and 
Oscar, remain with their father.  In 1887 occurred the marriage of Mr. Knoll to Miss Olga
Henisch, who was born in Berlin, Germany.

Mr. Knoll cast his first Presidential ballot for James Buchanan and has supported the 
Democratic principles ever since.  For ten years he served as Supervisor, for sixteen years 
was Assessor, for thirty-three years filled the position of Justice of the Peace, and has 
been active in school work since 1857.  In 1861 he was elected to the Lower House of the 
State Legislature, and so efficient was his service in that capacity that two years later 
he was honored with election to the State Senate.  At the expiration of his first term he 
was chosen to serve for the ensuing four years in the same office.  While there he served 
as a member of many important committees, and as Chairman of the Committees on Pardons and
Penitentiaries.  At the time of retiring from the Legislature he was the oldest member of 
either House.  He was a member of the Committee on Ways and Means, and in fact served on
several of the important committees.  In 1889 he was again elected to the House, and has 
served for fourteen years in the Legislature, his record being that of a fair, efficient 
and honorable official.  He is Vice-President of the organization known as the Pioneer
Law Makers of Iowa, which was founded in 1886, and to which no one is eligible unless he
served as a member of the Legislature twenty-five years ago.

With his wife, Mr. Knoll attends the Lutheran Church and is a liberal contributor to 
religious enterprises.  While he owns two hundred acres of fine farming land, he has had
little time to devote to its cultivation; however, he maintains a general oversight of the 
place.  He has served as Administrator of numerous estates, and in other important positions
his counsel is sought and deferred to.  He has been a stockholder in two banks of Dubuque, 
and has other important interest in this county.  His record in both branches of the Iowa
Legislature is unexcelled for honor, spotless integrity and efficient service.  He is a 
thoughtful reader and possesses a choice and well selected private library.

Not only in his own political party, but by those of opposite belief Mr. Knoll is honored
as his merit deserves, and his career is well worthy the emulation of the young.  In 
financial affairs he is prudent and cautious, thrifty but not miserly.  One of the most 
prominent traits of his character is industry.  Combined with this are strong common sense 
and that kind of moral courage which people call decision of character.  These traits have
raised him to a position of influence and honor among his fellow-men.

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