John William Steppler was born on April 11, 1850 in Sebringville, the second of ten children born to Henry Steppler (Heinrich Stoeppler) (1821-1909) and Kathleen or Katherine Scheit (1827-1909). Henry was born in Bremerhaven, Bremen, Germany, and was farming in Sebringville in 1842 at the age of 21. Kathleen or Katherine was born in Alsace-Lorraine, France (German-speaking) and immigrated to Canada. They spent much of their married life in Sebringville, although around 1890 they emigrated to the U.S., first living in Minnesota where they lived with their son Adolph (a farmer) and two of their daughters.  Later they moved to Iowa, where they lived with their daughter Margaret and husband, and where they both died. 

John William was listed as a carpenter on his marriage document (1874) and the birth record of their first child (1875). However, in the 1876 and 1881-1882 directories as well as the 1881 census, he was listed as a car repairer (railway car technician).  In the 1882 and 1886 directories he was listed again as a carpenter, so perhaps he started as a carpenter (quite common for young men who were raised on farm), tried working as a car repairer with the Grand Trunk Railway shops, and then returned to carpentry. John William certainly liked to change his occupations, because by 1901 he and the family had moved to the Morden area of southern Manitoba, where they farmed. 

In Stratford on January 3, 1874, John William married Theresa Andrews. Theresa was born on May 24, 1853 in Ireland, and had emigrated to Ontario around 1869 at the age of 16.  Her parents were William and Jane Andrews.

John William and Theresa had five children, the first three born in Sebringville and the last two in Morden, Manitoba.  

William Henry (1875-1959) moved to the Assiniboia district of Saskatchewan, where he married and farmed, having six children.  He eventually ended up farming back in Manitoba, where he died.  

Mary Jane (1876-1951) lived with her family for many years, but eventually ended up at the Manitoba Developmental Centre in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, where she died and was buried.

Theresa (1886-1971) was born in Sebringville, lived with her family in Morden, married in Winnipeg in 1913, and then emigrated with her husband to Seattle, where they had one son.

Clara Christina (1887-1914) was born in Morden, and married and lived in Winnipeg. She had one child. It appears that she died in childbirth with her second child.

John (Jack) Alexander (1888-1962) was born in Morden. He was married in Winnipeg and had two children. He worked as a salesman in Kenora and Winnipeg. After 1915  he and his family moved to the Assiniboia district of Saskatchewan, where he worked in industry. Eventually he ended up in Vancouver (as a proprietor) and retired in Capilano.

John William and Theresa moved several times during their lives. From their origins in Sebringville (of German heritage) and Ireland, they lived in Stratford, and then homesteaded in southern Manitoba. In 1906 Theresa was living in Winnipeg with three of her children, and John William was not listed. By 1916 John William was living in Assiniboia, Saskatchewan with his son John Alexander and family.  In the 1926 and 1931 censuses, John William was living in Winnipeg with his brother Adolph and two of their sisters, Mary and Margaret. When he was 81 in 1931, he was working as a tollkeeper. John William died on May 26, 1936 in Winnipeg, where he was buried.

In the meantime, Theresa and John William had apparently separated by 1906, because at that time Theresa, although listed as married, was living in Winnipeg with three of her teenaged children, but not with John William. On January 27, 1919 she died and was buried in Seattle, where she had been living with her daughter Theresa and family for at least the previous five years.