USA > Iowa > Hancock County > History of Winnebago County and Hancock County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 18
USA > Iowa > Winnebago County > History of Winnebago County and Hancock County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 18
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
OLAF J. SIME.
Winnebago county numbers Olaf J. Sime among her native sons. He now lives on section 10, Logan township, but was born in Norway township on the 25th of August, 1883, at the family home of his parents, John and Anna Doro- thea (Linset) Sime, who were natives of Illinois and of Norway respectively. The latter had come to Iowa with relatives who lived in Worth county and there she formed the acquaintance of John Sime, who sought her hand in marriage. His youth had been spent in Illinois, where his parents were farming people, remaining residents of that state until they were called to their final rest. After attaining his majority John Sime came to Iowa, settling in Worth county, but immediately after his marriage he removed to Norway township, Winnebago county, and purchased eighty acres on section 36 and forty acres on section 25, thus becoming the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of good land which responded readily to the care and labor which he bestowed upon it. He there carried on farming until his death, which occurred in 1894. Later his widow removed to Scarville, where she passed away in 1903, and was laid to rest in the Lime Creek cemetery. In their family were seven children: Anna, now the wife of Andrew Sime, of Eden township; Rachel, who became the wife of Jacob Simonson, of Waterloo, Iowa, and has passed away; Lettie, the wife of John Hartlieb, of Waterloo; Alfred, who is living near De Grey, Hughes county, South Dakota; O. J .; and two who died in infancy.
Olaf J. Sime pursued his education in the pioneer schools of Winnebago county, which he attended until he reached the age of fifteen years. When seven- teen years of age he took over the operation of the home farm, on which he con- tinucd until he attained his majority. The farm was then sold and he purchased the southwest quarter of section 10, Logan township. This he cleared and
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drained, thus rendering it arable and productive. He has since carried on the work of further improvement and still occupies the place, which is today one of the excellent farms of the township, the fields having been brought to a high state of cultivation, while good buildings have been erected and all the equipment and accessories of the model farm have been added.
On March 9, 1904, Mr. Sime was united in marriage to Miss Andrina Hauge, a daughter of Nels and Mary Hauge, who lived just across the line in Worth county. The father has now passed away and the mother has since become the wife of Tom Johnson, a resident of Eden township, Winnebago county. Mr. and Mrs. Sime have five children who are yet living, Norma, Alma, Milton, Olive and Sylvan, and they also lost one, who died in infancy.
Mr. Sime and his family hold membership in the United Lutheran church and in his political views he is a republican. IIe is now serving as township trustee and has been president of the school board. Ile is interested in all that pertains to the welfare and progress of his community and he stands for advance- ment in farm work and in every line. He started out empty handed. He has worked persistently and earnestly and cach forward step which he has made in his business career has brought him a broader outlook and wider opportunities. Today he is the owner of a fine farm which is the fitting reward of his earnest and persistent labor.
KNUDT JOHNSON.
Many of the most highly honored citizens of Lake Mills are retired farmers and among this number is Knudt Johnson. He is a native of Norway but has resided in this country since boyhood and no native born American has given more undivided loyalty to the United States than he. At the time of the Civil war he bore arms in defense of the Union and in times of peace he has always subordinated private interests to the general welfare. His birth occurred in Nor- way. September 12, 1841, and his parents were John and Ingeborg (Hanson) Torgeson, the latter of whom died when her son Knudt, the youngest of eight children, was but five years old. In 1853 the father with his son Knudt and another child came to the United States and located near Madison, Dane county, Wisconsin, where an older brother had taken up a homestead in 1849. The father died upon that place in 1876 and is there buried.
Knudt Johnson received his education in the public schools of Norway and after his removal to the United States made his home with and worked for a cousin for two years. From the age of fifteen to the age of twenty years he worked for various farmers but on the 20th of September, 1861, he enlisted in the Twelfth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry and for four years, or until the 27th of September, 1865, was in the army, seeing a great deal of hard service during that time. Ile entered as a private but was mustered out at Louisville with the rank of corporal. At different times he was under the command of Generals Grant, Sherman and MePherson and took part in the siege of Vicksburg, in the battles of Jackson, Mississippi, Baker's Creek, Atlanta and Jonesboro, an engage- ment fought in the course of Sherman's march from Savannah to the sea, and
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finally in the battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, the last important battle before the end of the war.
After receiving his honorable discharge from military service he returned to Dane county, Wisconsin, where he purchased forty acres of land. In 1869 he came to Winnebago county, Iowa, and bought two hundred acres on section 17, Center township, where he made his home until 1913, when he retired to Lake Mills. During the forty-four years that he resided upon that place he brought it to an unusually high state of cultivation and not only gained more than a competence from his labors but also aided in the agricultural development of the district, for he was always among the first to adopt a new method or a more efficient type of farm implement. In the carly days in the history of the state a large tract of swamp land was given to the state by the federal government, but since no survey was made there was no way of ascertaining the exact limits of the tract and as a result of this uncertainty conflicting titles were given to lands contained within it by the state and federal governments. This led to a great deal of trouble and at last the matter was straightened out by a survey of the land in question. Mr. Johnson, as agent for the American Emigrant Company, supervised the survey of all such swamp land in Winnebago county and in this work utilized a plat furnished him by the secretary of state.
In 1865 Mr. Johnson married Miss Elsa Paulson, a daughter of Paul and Helge (Gunderson) Kettelson, of Perry, Wisconsin, who spent their last years in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. Both have passed away and are buried in a cemetery near the Johnson homestead. Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, namely: John P., of Pike River, North Dakota; Carl T., who is married and is farming in Center township; George E., who is mar- ried and resides near Maywood, North Dakota; Rev. Torge A., who is married and is minister of the Lutheran church at Brandon, South Dakota; Paul G., at home; Helen, the wife of Chris Lyng, of Lake Mills; Mary, who mar- ried Oscar Dahlan, of Eden township; Anna M. and Clare E., both at home; and Henrietta, the wife of Rush Adams, of Lake Mills.
Mr. Johnson is a stanch republican and has given a great deal of time to public affairs, having served on the county board of supervisors for six years, on the school board for thirty-four years and as township clerk for fifteen years. More- over, he was United States census enumerator for three years and for fourteen years was treasurer of the Farmers Association, an organization which did much to further an interest in cooperative effort among the farmers of the county. He is a communicant of the Synod Lutheran church and has endeavored to guide his life by the teachings of Christianity. His personal friends are many and all who have come in contact with him hold him in the highest respect.
PETER PAULSON:
The farming interests of Hancock county have a worthy representative in Peter Paulson, who carries on operations on section 36, Ellington township. He is a native of the neighboring state of Wisconsin, born in Dane county, November 7, 1867, and is a son of Ole and Mary Paulson, who came to this country from
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Norway as a young man and young woman and were married in Dane county, Wisconsin, where they resided until 1872. That year witnessed their removal to Towa and until 1876 they made their home in Mitchell county. The father then brought his family to Hancock county and purchased the farm in Ellington township where our subject now resides. Here he spent his remaining days. passing away in June, 1902.
Peter Paulson was about nine years of age when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Hancock county, where he grew to manhood and in the dis- triet school near his home he acquired his education. Under the guidance of his father he gained a good knowledge of agricultural pursuits and at the age of twenty years began farming on his own account on rented land. Later he pur- chased the home farm on which he has now resided for forty-one years and there is probably only one other man in Ellington township who has lived continuously upon one farm for as many years.
In 1888 Mr. Paulson married Miss Martha Halverson, a daughter of Hans Halverson, of Clayton county, Iowa, and to them have been born two children, namely : Beulah and Ella, both at home. The family are identified with the Norwegian Lutheran church and Mr. Paulson is also affiliated with the repub- liean party. For some years he served as a member of the school board and the cause of education has always found in him a faithful friend. IIe is a stock- holder of the Farmers Cooperative Creamery Company and the Farmers Elevator Company, both of Ventura, and is today numbered among the substantial farmers and successful business men of Ellington township as well as one of its repre- sentative citizens who commands the respect and confidence of all with whom he comes in contact.
JOSEPHI BARTII.
Joseph Barth, one of the valued residents of Forest City, now living retired after long years of active connection with agricultural interests, was one of the earliest settlers of Hancock county, arriving in this part of the state in 1855, when the work of progress and development seemed scarcely begun. His memory therefore forms a connecting link between the primitive past and the progressive present. A native of Germany, he was born in Wurtemberg on the 23d of March, 1833, a son of Andrew and Victoria (Smith) Barth, both of whom died in that country.
In the common schools of Germany Joseph Barth pursued his education and in 1852, when a youth of nineteen years, he crossed the Atlantic to the United States, lauding in New York city on the 9th of August. For three and a half years he was employed in New York state as a farm hand and in the fall of 1855 he sought the opportunities offered in the growing west, making his way to Iowa as a member of a party of five who came out to buy land. Four of them located in Hancock county, while the fifth returned to New York. The four companions purchased a tract of timber land of one hundred and twenty aeres, for which they paid three hundred and twenty-eight dollars, and at that time they had the choice of the prairie land. For two hundred dollars Mr. Barth purchased a
JOSEPH BARTH
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quarter section from George Green, who had obtained the land from the govern- ment. Rapidly accruing interest, however, ran the cost of the land up to four hundred and twenty-eight dollars before he could make his last payment. Ile afterward sold the land for fifty dollars an acre. This farm covered the northeast quarter of section 21, Ellington township, Hancock county, and he also bought one hundred and twenty aeres adjoining, which is now owned and occupied by his son Lewis. Still later he acquired another farin of one hundred and sixty acres near Buffalo Center in Kossuth county, for which he paid forty dollars an acre and which he sold for one hundred dollars an acre. IIe still owns about twenty acres of timber land. In 1895 he retired from active agricultural pursuits and removed to Forest City, where he has since lived. In 1894 he, with his son John A., purchased a furniture store which they conducted under the name Barth & Barth until 1904, when they sold out.
On June 27, 1860, Mr. Barth was married to Miss Catherine Ring, of Benton, Lafayette county, Wisconsin, and they became. the parents of three sons and a daughter: Lewis, who is living in Hancock county; John A., residing in Sac City, lowa; Mary A., at home; and Edmund, living in Greene, Iowa. The wife and mother passed away in 1878 and the following year Mr. Barth wedded Mrs. Nancy J. (Cain) Brewington. There is one child of this marriage, Daisy M., residing at home. Mrs. Barth died February 9, 1914.
In politics Mr. Barth is a democrat and for some years he served as township trustee, while for a quarter of a century he filled the office of school treasurer of Ellington township, Hancock county. Those who know him esteem him as a man of sterling worth. His life record shows what may be accomplished when energy and determination point out the way, for his success is attributable entirely to his own efforts. In the spring of 1856 he carried the chain for the survey of the town of Forest City and he has witnessed the development of Winnebago and IIan- cock counties from pioneer times to the present.
JAMES PETER IIANSON.
James Peter Hanson, who is the owner of two excellent farms in Hancock county but is now living retired in Garner, put aside the more active work of the fields in March, 1916, and is now enjoying a rest which he has truly earned and richly deserves. He was born in Denmark, March 2, 1849, a son of Hans Jenson and Anna IIanson. His grandfather served for fifteen years in the Napoleonic wars.
James Peter Hanson is indebted to the common school system of Denmark for the educational opportunities which he enjoyed. Ile left that country in 1870, when a young man of twenty-one years, and took up his abode in Chicago, where he resided until 1876. In that year he arrived in Hancock county, Iowa, and established his home near Britt, where he turned his attention to general agricul- tural pursuits. For forty years thereafter he was closely associated with the farm- ing interests of the county and through wise management, systematic effort and indefatigable diligence he won success. He added to his holdings as opportunity offered and is today the owner of two excellent farms. He gave personal supervision
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to their management and control until March, 1916, when he removed to Garner, where he now resides.
On the 4th of April, 1872, in Chicago, Illinois, Mr. Hanson was united in marriage to Miss Anna Sorrenson, daughter of Soren Mortenson. Their children are five in number, namely : Mary, who is the wife of John Morrall; E. P., who wedded Miss Margaret Schroeder; J. C., who married Miss Martha Nelson; Lena, the wife of C. D. Lunberg; and Gertie, the wife of John Prull. In religious faith Mr. Hanson is a Lutheran and in fraternal relations is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America. He votes with the republican party, having stanchly endorsed its principles since becoming a naturalized American citizen. He has ever been loyal to his adopted land, giving to it his first allegiance, and he has long been ranked with the valued and representative residents of this section of the state.
AMBROSE AMBROSEN.
Ambrose Ambrosen, one of Leland's most prominent citizens and successful business men, has been a resident of Winnebago county for forty-six years and has taken an important part in its development and upbuilding. A native of Iowa, he was born in Winneshiek county, July 5, 1861, and is a son of Ole and Julia (Gentwet) Ambrosen, who came to this country from Norway in 1856 and located in Dane county, Wisconsin, being among the first Norwegians to settle in that county. They remained there four years before removing to Winneshiek county, Iowa, and in 1871 came to Winnebago county. The father purchased the southwest quarter of section 2, Forest township, at five dollars per acre, it being now owned by his son Ambrose, and upon that place he resided for about thirty years. He then bought the southeast quarter of section 35, Newton town- ship, and continued to make his home thereon until his death. The mother of our subject died about 1862, leaving three children, Ambrose, Julia and George, all of whom are still living. The father subsequently married Julia Olson, who still survives him, and by that union there are seven living children: Ella, the wife of Erick Garland, of Thompson, Iowa; Ole, a farmer of Thompson : Halvor, a resident of Mckenzie county, North Dakota; Julia, the wife of Martin Kolen, of Silverton, Washington : Albert, of Mckenzie county ; and Anna and Edward, at home with their mother.
Ambrose Ambrosen had practically no educational advantages during his boyhood, being able to attend school only a few months, but his training at farm work was not so meager and he assisted in the operation of the home place up to the time of his marriage. He then located in the town of Leland and engaged in farming on his own account as a renter for five years, at the end of which time he was able to purchase eighty acres of the old homestead. He built thereon a residence and barn and later bought an adjoining eighty acres, continuing to live upon that place for sixteen years. Mr. Ambrosen next purchased one hun- dred and twenty aeres, on a part of which the town of Leland now stands, and on the 9th of March, 1910, he located upon that place, which is still his home. Besides this farm he continues to own the one hundred and sixty acres of the old homestead, and has thirty or forty town lots in Leland and twenty acres
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just east of town. He is a stockholder in the Farmers Cooperative Creamery, the Farmers Elevator at Leland, the Farmers Savings Bank and the Lake Mills Lumber Company. He has built all the bridges constructed in Winnebago county during the last fourteen years.
On the 19th of June, 1888, Mr. Ambrosen married Miss Trena Carlson, of Forest township, Winnebago county. She was born in Madison, Wisconsin, and is a daughter of Tollaf Carlson, a native of Norway, who came to the United States about 1857 and removed from Wisconsin to Winnebago county, Iowa, in 1869. To Mr. and Mrs. Ambrosen have been born seven children, all of whom are still living, namely: Nettie, now the wife of O. H. K. Eidahl, a merchant of Leland; Oscar, who is engaged in farming on land adjoining Leland; Alfred, a grain buyer and manager of the Farmers Elevator at Leland; and Edward, Walter, Irving and Allott May all at home.
The family hold membership in the Norwegian Lutheran church and are people of prominence in the community where they reside. By his ballot Mr. Ambrosen supports the men and measures of the republican party and he has taken quite an active and influential part in public affairs now serving as a member of the school board also the board of township trustees and as a member of the town council of Leland. He is a business man of far more than ordinary ability and the prosperity that has come to him is due to his own industry, enterprise and good management and to the assistance of his wife to whom he gives much credit for his success. He stands deservedly high in the esteem of his fellow citizens and has the confidence and respect of all who know him.
JOHN FOSTER THOMPSON.
John Foster Thompson, president of the Winnebago County State Bank at Forest City, has long been an honored and prominent resident of the county. In the paternal line his ancestry is traced back to Isaac and Sarah (Bell) Thomp- son, natives of Belfast, Ireland, and both related to the famous Sir Thomas Cruse, an earl, who was compelled to flee from his country on account of his participa- tion in the revolution of 1798. Ile came to the United States and passed away soon afterward. Isaac Thompson was the grandfather of John Foster Thomp- son, whose parents were Mathew and Martha (Spaulding) Thompson, the latter a daughter of Abel Spaulding, who served with distinction in the Revolutionary war and was a noted physician and surgeon. Through that line the ancestry is traced back to Aquila Chase, who settled in Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1640, and to this family belonged Bishop Philander Chase. Mrs. Martha Thompson was also an own cousin of Salmon P. Chase, secretary of the treasury under President Lincoln. Mathew Thompson was born at Head Elk, Cecil county, Maryland, in 1791, and served as first lieutenant in the War of 1812. In 1857 le removed from Ohio to Clayton county, Iowa.
John Foster Thompson, son of Mathew Thompson, was born at Carey, Ohio, September 3, 1848, and was nine years of age when the family home was estab- lished in Iowa, where he attended the district schools. On the 27th of May, 1863, at the age of fourteen years, he enlisted at Elkader, Iowa, under A. F.
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Tipton, who was recruiting Company I of the Eighth Iowa Cavalry. However, he was not mustered into Company I but was transferred and mustered into the Fourth Iowa Battery. He made a most creditable military record although but a boy in years and was wounded in the Red River campaign. While at the front he captured the bugle of a Confederate soldier, on which he has had inscribed the words: "Captured from a detachment of the rebel army, war of 1861-5, in northwestern Louisiana, U. S. A., April, 1864, by John F. Thompson, a bugler in the Fourth Iowa Battery, who was at that time fifteen years and six months old." When Mr. Thompson returned home at the close of the war he entered the McGregor high school and for a time divided his time between teaching and attending school. meeting the expenses of his course by his work as a teacher. In 1869 he became principal of the high school at Strawberry Point, Iowa, and he also served as deputy county superintendent there. In 1872 he began the practice of law at Forest City, where he also entered the real estate and collection business. In further preparation for the bar he pursued a special academic course in the lowa State University and also the regular law course, winning the regular LL. B. degree in 1874. Ile was then appointed deputy register of the state land otlice at Des Moines but in 1876 resigned and returned to Forest City, where he again entered the line of business in which he had formerly been engaged, organizing his interests under the name of the Winnebago County Bank as senior partner in the firm of J. F. Thompson & Company. This was the first bank of Winnebago county. After returning to Forest City in the summer of 1876 he resumed the practice of law which he had sueeessfully followed for a number of years. In 1878 James HI. Easton, president of the First National Bank of Decorah, Iowa, bought a half interest in Mr. Thompson's business at Forest City and the firm name was changed from J. F. Thompson & Company to that of Easton & Thompson, which firm continued the banking business, Mr. Thompson continuing the practice of law. In 1896 he organized his bank into a state institution ehanging the name to the Winnebago County State Bank, of which institution he has been the business manager during all these years, and is now and has been for many years its president. Ile, with his wife and his son, Merle M. Thompson, own a large majority of the capital stock, the bank being capitalized at fifty thousand dollars with a surplus of more than twenty-five thousand dollars.
Mr. Thompson's organization of this institution was but his initial step in the banking business in Iowa. During his business career he organized and was president of many like institutions and at one time was at the head of nine banks and loan companies. He organized the Citizens Bank of Britt; the State Bank of Thompson, of which institution he was president for seventeen years; the First National Bank of Buffalo Center; the First National Bank of Argyle, Minnesota, of which institution he was president for several years; the First National Bank of Crystal Lake; and the Security Bank of Wesley, Iowa. He also organized and was manager for many years of the Iowa Northern Land Com- pany and the Chicago & Iowa Western Land & Town Lot Company and the Winnebago County Abstract Company; and was treasurer of the Minnesota & Iowa Southern Railway Company, which built the Minneapolis & St. Louis Rail- road from Albert Lea to Angus; and was also treasurer of the Chicago & Iowa Western Railroad Company, which built the Forest City extension of the Burling-
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