William Koepsel Biogrpahy


	This biography appears on page 1054 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.



	WILLIAM KOEPSEL, a member of the state senate and one of the 
honored citizens of Brown county, is a native of the Badger state, 
having been born on a farm in Dodge county, Wisconsin, on the 27th of 
June, 1858, and being a son of Herman and Caroline (Detlaff) Koepsel, 
who were numbered among the sterling pioneers of that state. The subject 
grew up under the invigorating discipline of the farm and received his 
educational training in the public and parochial schools. He continued 
to be identified with the great industry of agriculture in Wisconsin 
until 1882 when he came to what is now South Dakota and cast in his lot 
with its people. He secured his present farm, in Groton township, 
shortly after his arrival in the state, having now a well improved and 
attractive farm of four hundred and eighty acres and being known as a 
progressive and enterprising agriculturist and stock-grower. In politics 
Mr. Koepsel has ever been a stanch advocate of the principles and 
policies of the Republican party, and while he has been an 
unostentatious worker in the party cause he has not been animated by 
ambition for office, so that his selection to his present distinguished 
position as a member of the state senate, in the fall of 1902, indicates 
in how high esteem and confidence he is held by the people of the 
district from which he was chosen for this honorable preferment. In the 
senate he was assigned to the committees on education, federal 
relations, public health, charitable and penal institutions, and 
legislative expenses, and in each of these important connections he 
proved himself signally faithful to the duties devolving upon him, while 
he introduced and staunchly advocated four bills of no slight 
importance, though never seeking to make himself obtrusive in the great 
deliberative body of which he is an able member. He is recognized as a 
man of most scrupulous honesty of purpose in all the relations of life, 
and thus the people of his district consistently place their trust and 
confidence in him as a representative of their interests and those of 
the state at large. He is a member of the Lutheran church, and has been 
president of the Groton congregation since its organization.  

	Mr. Koepsel was married, in March, 1883, to Bertha Waugerin, a 
native of Wisconsin, who died in April, 1885, leaving one son, Edward. 
He was married again in February, 1888, to Adeline Wegner, of Groton. 
Mrs. Koepsel died in August, 1900, leaving three daughters, the oldest, 
Emma, being eleven years; the second, Frieda, nine years, and the 
youngest, Lydia, four years old. Mr. Koepsel was married the third time 
in April, 1902, to Miss Meta Zahl, of Minnesota, a native of Germany.