A Century on Greene Township Soil
R&E Kapraun Farms got its start back in 1912, and for more than a hundred years, our family has worked the black prairie soil just west of El Paso, Illinois. The farm is recognized by the Illinois Department of Agriculture as an Illinois Centennial Farm, a sign that the same family has cared for this land for over a century.
The Kapraun Lineage
From Bavaria to Benson
Our Kapraun story starts in Großostheim, Germany, and made its way to Henry, Illinois, in the 1850s. John Kapraun (b. 1824) and Maria Magdalena Eyrich (b. 1833 in Roden, Bavaria) married at St. Patrick Church in LaSalle in 1856, planting the first roots of our family here. Their son, John Joseph (1861 – ?), later married Caroline Vogel (1864 – ?) of Benson. Caroline’s parents, Sebastian Vogel and Maria Anna Steiner, came over from Helmsheim, Baden, Germany, around 1855, bringing with them their hopes and hard work.
John Joseph and Caroline settled near Benson, where they raised seven children: Frank, John, Louis Anton, Marie, George, William, and Cecilia. Family teamwork was the rule, not the exception. By the time John Joseph passed, he’d made sure each child, daughters included, had a piece of land to call their own — a rare thing back then. Folks around here used to joke that their patchwork of farms was really just ‘Kapraunville.’
Louis Anton & Marie (Volz) Kapraun
Louis Anton Kapraun (1893 – 1967) grew up in Benson and went to the little Tool School just down the road from the farm. He was proud of his Perfect Attendance Certificate from 1907, but maybe even prouder of the hours he spent digging field tile by hand, eight feet down, to help turn soggy ground into the fields we still farm today.
Louis served in World War I, training at Camp Grant, Camp Robinson, and Camp Mills (NY) before heading overseas with Battery A, 331st Field Artillery. He was a good boxer, and one day a superior officer ‘volunteered’ him for a Golden Gloves match. Louis won and ended up making a friend out of his opponent, Pete Gunnering from Wisconsin. While Louis was away, Marie Volz Kapraun kept the farm going through the Influenza pandemic, carrying a heavy load on her own.
Together, Louis and Marie raised six children: Genevieve, Andrew, Helen, Joseph (who died young), Robert, and Louis (who was still born).
The Volz Family — Farmers and Musicians
Louis’s wife, Marie Laura Volz, was the daughter of Andrew David Volz (1881 – 1948) and Anna Magdalena Valentine Volz. Their family farmed near where Routes 24 and 251 cross outside El Paso. Andrew was handy with machines, running a threshing machine and corn sheller for neighbors. He was also careful with money – after the Depression, he kept his cash tucked away in a cream can instead of trusting the bank.
Marie and her brothers and sisters all had a knack for music, singing and playing piano for St. Mary’s Choir in El Paso. That love of music and sense of community has stayed with the family ever since.
Robert Eugene & Elaine (Therese Alig) Kapraun
Robert Eugene Kapraun (1935 – 2024), the youngest son of Louis and Marie, was born on the farm in El Paso. He married Elaine Therese Alig (1936 – 2024) on January 26, 1957, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Metamora, Illinois.
Together, Robert and Elaine built a life grounded in faith, family, and farming. Robert served on the Benson Farmers Co-Op Board and the Woodford County Farm Bureau and was always active with the Knights of Columbus. Elaine was the heart of the home, known for her kindness and quiet strength, keeping the family steady through Illinois winters, busy harvests, and all the gatherings that brought us together.
They raised five children — Mary, Ann, Tom, Laura, and Joseph — who still call these fields home and do their best to live out the values their parents lived by.
Elaine’s Heritage — The Alig and Marchand Roots
Elaine’s mother, Irene (Marchand) Alig (1902 – 1992), was the daughter of Michael Marchand and Ida (Streb) Marchand. Michael emigrated from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France after escaping German conscription as a teen. He and his brother stowed away on a freighter to America, working their way north along the Mississippi before settling in Illinois. Michael was naturalized in Livingston County in 1887 and married Ida Streb in 1891. They had eight children — Hyacinth, Desire, Arvilla, Irene, Thrasilla, Hilda, Elsie (Agatha), and Gerald. Michael died of pneumonia in 1917, leaving Ida a widow with eight young children. Elaine’s mother Irene was just 15.
We still have letters from that time, with Elaine’s uncles Hyacinth and Desire Marchand writing home from military camps in Arizona and California in 1918, talking about the influenza quarantine and how much they missed Illinois. Their younger brother Gerald served as a tank gunner in the Pacific during World War II, fighting through Leyte and Okinawa, and somehow made it home unhurt after years of combat — a bit of luck he always called grace.
Irene’s grandparents, the Streb family, were among the first Catholic settlers near Riverside and Hills, Iowa. St. Stanislaus Church and Cemetery are still family landmarks today. The Marchand and Streb stories go back to immigrants from Alsace-Lorraine and Saskatchewan, tying Elaine’s roots to both French and German Catholic traditions.
Elaine’s father, Theodore Alig, came from Swiss immigrants who settled near Metamora and Eureka. The Alig and Marchand families both brought with them a strong sense of craftsmanship, faith, and resilience — qualities Elaine carried with her every day on the farm.
A Legacy That Endures
Through wars, storms, and all the changes that come with time, the Kapraun family has stayed rooted to this soil. The fields Louis tiled by hand and Robert harvested for so many years are still growing crops today—a testament to hard work and faith. Every generation has added its own story, from immigrants escaping conscription in Europe, to World War I artillerymen and World War II tank gunners, to the farmers working these same rows with new tools and old lessons.
R&E Kapraun Farms is more than a farm — it’s a century of family, faith, and stewardship.
