Among the thrifty and enterprising Germans who have left their ancestral halls in the old country and cast their lot with the people of Walworth county, Wisconsin, and through their persistency have established good homes and become a credit to the community, the name of William Koeppen, of Williams Bay, must necessarily be included, as all who know him best will readily acquiesce.
Mr. Koeppen was born in Rebelow Kreis, Anklam, Pommern, Germany, October 12, 1860. He is the son of Carl and Marie (Metzerknecht) Koeppen. Her father grew up in Germany and when a young man worked at farming. When he was twenty-two years old, he emigrated to America, celebrating his birthday on the Atlantic ocean, en route to the shores of the New World. He arrived at Elkhorn, Wisconsin, in October, 1882, and began working out as a farm hand, which he continued for four years in order to get a start. On December 23, 1886, he married Minnie Desing, daughter of John Desing and wife, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. After his marriage he rented a farm on the shares and began farming for himself. He farmed on the old Desing homestead near Elkhorn until the fall of 1904, then moved to Williams Bay, where he followed teaming about four years, then went back to the farm for three years. On August 28, 1911, he bought the restaurant at Williams Bay and this he has continued to run successfully to the present time, having maintained his home here the meanwhile. They have a pleasant, well equipped, and neatly kept restaurant which is well patronized, in fact there is no better in the county, and they cater to high class trade.
Three children have been born to Mr. Koeppen and wife, namely: William, born October 31. 1887; Henrietta, born November 20. 1890, and Erna, born August 13, 1892, who was married May 1, 1912, to Rudolph Johnson.
Mr. Koeppen belongs to the Equitable Fraternal Union and the Modern Woodmen. He and his family are members of the Lutheran church at Elkhorn. Mr. Koeppen’s sister, Minnie, came with him to America, and here she married Ernest Gehrand and they live at the village of Springfield, this county. The rest of the Koeppen family came to the United States in the spring of 1885, and established their home north of Geneva. The mother’s death occurred in July, 1888, and the father is now living on a farm in Lafayette township. The other brothers and sisters of the subject, all of whom came to America with the parents, are Frederica. now the wife of Herman Miller, lives in north Geneva; Bertha married Julius Peglow and lives in Beloit, Wisconsin; Frank, who lives in Elkhorn, married Julia Koch, and he is a carpenter by trade; Max married Emily Hensel and lives on the farm with his father in Lafayette township; Mar}’- is the wife of Henry Belk and lives on a farm in Lafayette township.
The Koeppen family has been highly respected ever since coming to this county by all with whom they have come into contact, and they have succeeded in a material way, all now very comfortably situated.
From: Beckwith, A.C. (1912). History of Walworth County Wisconsin