An early Lubbock County, Texas, settler, farmer, landowner, and civic and political leader, Klattenhoff was born in 1899 in Taylor, Williamson County, Texas to M. F. and Lina Pfluger Klattenhoff. In 1883, at the age of 16, M. F. Klattenhoff came to the United States from Germany. He later left his store in Williamson County and brought his family to West Texas in 1911, settling on a farm three miles east of Slaton, Texas. William, a long-time Rural Letter Carrier, was active in the Republican Party, the Lutheran Church, land settlement, and farming activities. He died in 1979.
From the guide to the William J. Klattenhoff Papers, S546. 1., 1887-1979 and undated, (Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University)