Father Edward J. Neppl, 1915 Biography

NEPPL, LOXTERCAMP, HOFFMAN

Posted By: david reineke (email)
Date: 2/4/2009 at 18:37:04

The following biography is copied from Past and Present of Calhoun County, Iowa—A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Vol. II (Chicago, 1915).

REV. EDWARD J. NEPPL.

Rev. Father Edward J. Neppl, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic church at Pomeroy, is a native of Carroll county, Iowa, born on a farm near Roselle, a son of John and Walburga (Geiger) Neppl, both of whom were natives of Bavaria, Germany. The father was a miller by trade, emigrated to the United States in 1874, locating in Westside, Crawford county, Iowa, where he continued work at his chosen occupation for about a year. He then took up his abode upon an eighty acre tract of land near Roselle in Carroll county, where he spent his remaining years, passing away on the 13th of July, 1912, at the age of sixty-seven years. He was a faithful member of the Catholic church. The mother came to the new world in the spring of 1875 and was here married a few weeks later. She still survives and now makes her home with her son John J. at Mallard, Iowa. She is the mother of seven children: Mary, the wife of Charles Loxtercamp, of Carroll county; John J., who is the pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic church in Mallard, Iowa; Emily, who is with her brother John J.; Edward J., of this review; Otillia, the wife of Anthony Hoffman, of Remsen, Iowa; Otto, who is engaged in farming at Templeton, Carroll county; and Joseph M., a student in St. Mary’s Academy at Baltimore, Maryland, where he is studying for the priesthood and will graduate with the class of 1916.

Father Neppl spent the period of his boyhood and youth to the age of twelve and a half years under the parental roof in Carroll county. He was then sent to Columbus, Ohio, where he entered Josephinum Pontifical College, spending twelve years in that institution. He was ordained to the priesthood June 10, 1904, by Bishop James J. Hartley, after which he became an assistant pastor at Willey, Iowa, remaining there four years. He then spent one year in Onawa, having charge of four missions, one in Onawa, one in Blencoe, and those at Hornick and Whiting. The year 1909 witnessed his arrival in Pomeroy, at which time he took charge of St. Mary’s parish here, and he also attends St. Joseph’s church at Palmer. Since he has taken charge of St. Mary’s many improvements have been made. The church has been moved to a different location and has been remodeled. A parsonage has been erected, and in the spring of 1915 a modern school building was erected at a cost of twelve thousand dollars. The parish now has a valuable property, the three buildings covering a half block of ground.

A gentleman of culture and a fine scholar, Father Neppl has ever used practical methods in working toward the ideal, which have found their proof in his effective work in connection with the church in Pomeroy. He has many friends among not only his own parishioners but among the members of other denominations as well.