FAMILY HISTORY

The town of Hepler had some special visitors over the July 4 holiday — relatives of Dr. Benjamin Hepler, for whom the town is named.
“No Hepler ever actually lived here,” said Mae Ann Rehrer, Pennsylvania.
“Heplers have floated in and out of Hepler over the years, and I came here in 1999 to find out what it was all about,” said Thomas E. Hepler, New Jersey, current president of the Hepler Family Association. “I thought then that we should have a gathering here.”
“He kept saying that, so we’ve been joking that we came just to shut Tom up,” Rehrer said.
The family descended from Caspar Hepler and his wife, Susanna, who came from Germany to the United States in September 1748 with their Jacob, 4, and Christoph, 2.
“They proceeded on their arduous journey to America after seeking permission of the Duke of Wuertemberg and paying the appropriate exit tax,” Tom Hepler said.
The family sailed aboard the Patience and arrived at Philadelphia.
“They settled in that area, and we have our annual reunions around Pitman, Pa.,” Rehrer said.
“The reunions started in 1931, lapsed after World War II, and were started again in 1979,” Tom Hepler said. “In 1980 I couldn’t wait to get to Pitman, and I’ve come to every reunion since then.”
Dr. Benjamin Hepler, great-grandson of Jacob Hepler, had lived in Nevada, Mo., and Fort Scott, according to Wayne Hepler, Missouri, who is more closely related to the town founder than most of his cousins.
“My great-grandfather was a brother of Dr. Benjamin Hepler,” Wayne Hepler said. “He was a doctor, and he married a southern lady, so his sympathies were with the South during the Civil War. However, his brother served in the Union Army.”
Oddly enough, Dr. Hepler enlisted in the Kansas Militia.
“He actually served in both the Union and Confederate Armies,” Wayne Hepler said.
He added that Dr. Hepler treated many of the soldiers wounded in the Battle of Mine Creek.
In 1871 he was called upon to lay out the town of Hepler. The doctor was well regarded by others, and it was hoped “that the new town of Hepler will be as lively, stirring and entertaining as the gentleman from which it took its name.”
Wayne Hepler said he had some connection with the town before this reunion.
“I went to Elsmore High School and was on the basketball team,” he said. “I remember that we came here and played against Hepler in the old Hepler High School.”
Family members, who were honored with a float in the Hepler July 4 parade, said they enjoyed their visit.
“It’s wonderful to be here, and the people here have gone the extra mile for us,” said Dr. Kevin Hepler, Pennsylvania. “I don’t know how they arranged the weather, but last night at the rodeo, the wind shifted and blew the dust away from us.”
“The young people are so friendly and polite, and the adults are so welcoming,” said Joan Knarr, Pennsylvania. “A friend sent me a note before I came, and she said, ‘What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than by going to the heartland of America.’ So here we are in the heartland.”
“I will probably come back to Hepler,” Tom Hepler said. “And the people of Hepler are always welcome to come and visit us in Pennsylvania.”