JOHN M. KNOUFF, who has been a valued member of the Washington Township School Board since 1903, resides on his valuable farm of eighty acres, which is situated in section 34, on the county line road five miles northwest of the Council House, in Piqua. He was born on a farm in Harrison County, Ohio, November 21, 1853, and is a son of George and Lettie Ann (McKelveen) Knouff.

George Knouff was a native of Pennsylvania and was a son of John Knouff who brought his family to Harrison County, Ohio, where George Knouff was reared to manhood. He married Lettie Ann MeKelveen, a daughter of Thomas McKelveen, of Scotch-Irish extraction. In 1857, they moved to a farm in Newberry, Township, Miami County, south of Covington, and a few years later to a farm south of Pleasant Hill, on which they lived for two years, and then bought eighty acres in Washington Township, on which farm both George Knouff and wife died. They had five children, all of whom, except the youngest were born in Harrison County, his birth taking place after the family settled in Newberry Township, Miami County. The children were: Jennie, who is the widow of Thomas L. Drake; Susan, who is the wife of George Mowry, residing in Tennessee; Mary, who is the wife of Matthew Hearst living in Staunton Township, Miami County; John M.; and Joseph C., who is a prominent farmer in Washington Township.

John M. Knouff was four years old when his parents settled in Newberry Township and his whole life has been passed on a farm and his main interests have been connected with agricultural pursuits. In 1895 he came to his present farm and immediately began improving it, erecting his fine residence, with substantial barn and farm buildings and making it a very valuable property. Mr. Knouff was married October 13, iS92, to Miss Ida Lyon, who is a daughter of Jehial and Nannie (Morrow) Lyon and was born in Spring Creek Township, Miami County. They have three children: Elva, Marie and Lester. Mr. Knouff is one of the township's representative citizens.