Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 122

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1360

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VER LARSEN, dry-goods merchant, Decorah, Iowa, and president of the Board of Trustees of the United Nor- wegian Lutheran Church of America, was born in Hardanger, Norway, November I, 1837, his parents being Lars and Sigried Vikingsdatter (born on the farm of Havaas) Iversen. The name of the farm where our subject was born was Medaas, and he lived there until thirteen years of age, when he was brought to America by his parents. Iver Gu- lickson Tillung, grandfather of our subject, was a farmer in Norway. His wife, Madli Tillung, came from Vos, Norway, where she also owned a farm.

Lars Iversen, father of our subject, was born August 3, 1802, emigrated to America with his wife and three children in 1850, reach- ing New York in June of that year, and came on through to Dane county, Wisconsin, where

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he remained over winter, near Deerfield post- office. In the summer of 1851, he and a neighbor, Magnus Olson, joined together and came through to Winneshiek county, Iowa. Mr. Iversen located on what is now section 2, Canoe township, and Mr. Olson selected a tract of land in section 3 adjoining. They took their land direct from the Government, paying $1.25 per acre for it. Mr. Iversen purchased in this way 360 acres in all, part of which was in Hesper township and forty acres of which was woodland. He became a pros- perous farmer here, owning over a half section of land. In the latter part of his life he di- vided this property among his children and made his home with them. He died in 1887, having reached his eighty-fifth year. His wife was born in Norway, March 23, 1814, and died at the old farm near Decorah, October 10, 1890. Their children are: Iver, subject of this sketch; William, born February 17, 1841, and is a retired farmer of considerable means, now living with his family at Spring Valley, Minnesota; Madli, who takes her grandmother's name, was born January 25, 1845; she mar- ried L. L. Fossum, who is a farmer in the county; and Lars, the youngest, born Decem- ber 7, 1852, farms one-half of the old home- stead, is married and has seven children. The parents of our subject are buried at the Hauge's church burying-ground, in Canoe township, and a family monument marks their resting place.

Iver Larsen, the gentleman whose name heads this sketch, worked on his father's farm in Iowa for nine years. He then entered Con- cordia College, at St. Louis, Missouri, which was the school of the German Missouri Synod, and comprised both a college or Latin course and a theological seminary. To this institu- tion the Norwegian Synod sent its students from 1858 to 1861, and after 1859 had one professor in the school. Owing to the disturb- ance in the South caused by the breaking out of war, the Norwegian Synod resolved to build its own school at Decorah, and in the mean- time found temporary quarters for its students

at the Halfway Creek parsonage, located thirteen miles from La Crosse, Wisconsin. The school opened in its new quarters Septem- ber 4, 1861, with five students, but this num- ber was soon increased to eleven, and one of these was our subject, who, having visited his home folks for a time, now renewed his studies. While yet a part of Concordia Col- lege a schism arose in the school over the question of slavery, and the revival of this at Halfway Creek determined Mr. Larsen to leave the school.

Our subject now resolved to begin a busi- ness career, and accordingly entered the serv- ices of G. Kerndt & Brothers, general mer- chants, Lansing, Iowa, as clerk. He remained with them until May, 1866, when, in partner- ship with C. Aslesen, he started a general store at Brownsville, Minnesota, under the firm name of Larsen & Aslesen. In 1866 Brownsville was a live river town, but when the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad was extended to Caledonia and Spring Grove the commercial interests of the place were practically destroyed. The members of the firm of Larsen & Aslesen determined to seek a more favorable location for doing business, and accordingly dissolved partnership in 1878, Mr. Aslesen locating in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and our subject coming to Decorah, Iowa, reaching this point in September of that year.

Mr. Larsen's mercantile career began here at once, with a general line of goods, his store being located at the southwest corner of Wash- ington and Main streets. One year later he removed to the site of the Steyer Opera House Block; and September 10, 1880, came to his present location.

From a general stock, worth about $6,000, Mr. Larsen has gradually worked into a special line, at the same time increasing his stock from year to year until he is now the proprietor of one of the largest dry goods establishments in northeastern Iowa. He is ably assisted in the conduct of his business by his two daughters, the Misses Ellen and Nettie Louise Larsen, who are practical young business-women.

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Mr. Larsen's church career has been a rugged one. Of a deeply religious disposition, he determined at an early period to enter the ministry, and for that purpose he accordingly attended the Concordia College and the school at Halfway Creek. It was an unfortunate period in the history of the country. Our sub- ject, an intensely anti-slavery man, found these schools teaching that slavery, per se, was not sinful, and requiring their inmates to in- dorse the odious doctrine: At the last named school a number of lectures were delivered to the students with the object of convincing them that slavery, per se, was right. At the close of these lectures the class was polled, and those dissenting from the views of the lecturer were politely informed that the school was not large enough to contain people of such diamet- rically opposite beliefs. Mr. Larsen felt that with his present convictions he could not com- ply with the requirements of the Synod when he should be ordained, and hence left the school at the close of the term. Five of the other students followed his example and also quit the school. This left but five of the original eleven students with which the school at Half- way Creek started, and which certainly spoke well for the patriotism of the Norwegians rep- resented there. The professor wrote to our subject's father and attempted to retain his patronage by having the son returned, but he found Larsen, Sr., even a stronger anti-slavery man than the son, and the decision to with- draw his support from the school was final. These events, happening in his theological course, determined Mr. Larsen to abandon the plan of a ministerial life. Hence we see the question of slavery, which plunged our nation into the greatest war ever known in the history of the world, also changed the life career of our subject. He did not abandon his religion, however, but continued a devoted and zealous Christian and a strong factor in the church.

Mr. Larsen is a man of very independent spirit and despises tyranny in all its forms. Hence, he was one of the first to go to the res- cue of Professor F. A. Schmidt, of Madison,

Wisconsin, who was the principal sufferer from the division of the church, in 1880, over the question of predestination. Professor Schinidt at that time was teaching theology in the church school at Madison, Wisconsin, and pro- tested against the doctrines of the synod as Calvinistic. He was not deposed from his po- sition but neither was he permitted to teach, and hence he could not conscientiously draw his salary, although it had not been cut off. This state of affairs continued until 1883, when it was supposed that the synod would give re- lief; but it did not, and the condition of the professor was becoming desperate indeed. As stated above, our subject was one of the first to go to his rescue, when it was found that friends were needed. Rev. S. Gunderson, of Madi- son, agreed to act as treasurer, and Mr. Lar- sen took care of the canvass, circulated sub- scription lists, enlisted enthusiasm in the cause, etc. How good a friend he proved to the per- secuted professor is shown by the fact that $4,850 was collected and presented to him as a gift on December 8, 1883, the day of the- celebration of his silver wedding. From this time on Mr. Larsen assumed a still more prom- inent place in church affairs. At the Decorah (Iowa) Conference in 1884 he was elected treasurer of a fund to pay the Anti-Missourian professors (Professor Schmidt and others).

In 1886 he was elected treasurer of the Theological Seminary at Northfield, Minnesota, and held the position till the union of the churches in 1890. By this union the Anti- Missourian Brotherhood, the Norwegian Dan- ish Konferents and the Norwegian Augustana Synod were formed into the United Norwe- gian Lutheran Church of America. Mr. Lar- sen was elected chairman of the first board of trustees of this church organization, and still serves in that capacity. During this term of office he has been called upon to make some valiant fights for his people, and has always arisen to the requirements of the occasion.

The Chicago Dry Goods Reporter of Sep- tember 17, 1892, has this to say of Mr. Lar -. sen : "In the four years he served as treas-

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urer of the Thcological Seminary at Northfield, he worked solely for the cause, and donated his salary in every instance to the church. His work was very efficient, and he always had plenty of funds and never failed, not even in a single instance, to pay the professors their monthly salaries in advance. In business circles and at home he is known as a good bus- iness man; but abroad with his own national- ity he is known as an untiring and efficient worker for the church. To write his bio- graphy without mentioning his church career would be impossible, as it would not give a correct idea of his work and social standing. When he retired from the treasurership of the Anti-Missourian Brotherhood, at the time the union was completcd, the ministers of the brotherhood and other friends residing in the different States, from the Atlantic to the Pa- cific, presented him with a very finc solid-gold watch as a recognition of his services to the church. He is also a public-spirited man. Whenever there is a project to build up Decorah he is always in it. Notwithstanding his extensive church work, he has found time enough to attend to the dry-goods business to make it a perfect success. He is the leading dry-goods merchant in Decorah to-day. His success is due to an iron will that knows no obstacle and a systematic and close attention to business."

Mr. Larsen was marricd November 30, 1866, to Miss Anna Bolstad, who was born in Norway November 8, 1845, and was a daugh- ter of Nelse and Ellen Bolstad. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Iver Larsen are: Sarah, who is a graduate of the Lyric School of Music, Chicago, and is at present tcaching in that city: her abilities as a musician are marked, and she has taken courses at a number of the best schools in the country; Ellen, the sccond child, graduated in the teachers' class at the Lyric School of Music, Chicago, and is now her father's mainstay in the dry-goods house, assisting him in purchasing and in the general conduct of the business; Anna Maria, who died in infancy; the next child took the name of

her deceased sister, Anna Maria: she is well advanced in music and teaches that art, mak- ing her home with her parents; Nettie Louise, who is the head bookkeeper for her father; Lorents Nordan, who dicd in infancy; and William Wallace, the youngest child, is at- tending school at Decorah.

There is hardly an enterprise started for the good of Decorah that Mr. Larsen has not lent both his time and money to further. Four- teen gentlemen, of whom our subject was one, purchased the old woolen-mill property, and later sold it to B. Anundsen, and it is now be- ing used as the headquarters of the Metzger Medicine Company. This piece of property, which had. long stood idle, was now turned into a profitable investment and made a benefit to the town. He held stock in the opera- house block, the clectric-light and power plant, and in similar enterprises, the operating of which it was known could not be made a finan- cial success in a town the size of Decorah, and so much stock takcn was equivalent to so much money donated. But these improvements bencfited the'town in general and made it one of the most progressive in the State, and our subject was not one of the laggards. to discour- age their introduction.

When he took up his residence in Browns- villc he found the public schools there in a de- plorable condition. He at once threw his en- ergy into the work of improving and remodeling them, served for a number of years on the School Board, and during his term of service a $10,000 school building was erected, the latest system of graded schools introduced, normal school graduates employed as teachers, and a competent principal put in charge. When he left that point the schools of Browns- ville were among the best in the State of Min- nesota.

And this is characteristic of the man. Whatever he takes in hand succeeds. The tribute paid him by the trade paper, quoted above, is well deserved.

It is Mr. Larsen's intention to retire from the active management of church affairs in the

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near future and give place to younger men. While not an old man himself, and in no way impaired physically, still he feels it is due to his business and his family to curtail his labors along this line. We can rest assured, how- ever, that whenever duty calls Mr. Larsen will be ready to respond, and with a zeal and power that will surprise even his friends.

a RIC P. JOHNSON, lawyer of Deco- rah, Iowa, and County Attorney of WVinneshiek county, was born in Bergen Stift, Norway, June 25, 1846, and is a son of Peter and Gertrude Johnson (Engesaether). The farm on which our sub- ject was born was named Engesaether.

The parents of Mr. Johnson, with six chil- dren, left their native land May 6, 1852, bound for the New World, and landed at New York city June 13, following. They came on through to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by way of the Erie canal to Buffalo, where they took the boat for the Cream City, arriving there July 4, 1852. An uncle of our subject, Michael Johnson (En- gesaether) had already emigrated to this coun- try, in 1844, and another uncle, Eric Johnson (Engesaether), in 1846, both locating in Nor- way Grove, Dane county, Wisconsin. They accumulated considerable property, and were widely known and highly respected. It was this that turned the attention of the parents of our subject to the New World, and directed their steps to Norway Grove, where they lo- cated. The mother died in 1874, and the father in 1886. The father, Peter Johnson, was a farmer, and shortly after uniting in matrimony he purchased the interests of the heirs of his father's estate, which he owned and managed until he sold it, on coming to this country, and invested the same in real estate here. He at one time was the owner of 700 acres of land.

The boy Eric helped his father on the farm when he was not pursuing his studies. The public school, that institution of which all pa- triotic citizens are justly proud, was the medi-

um of the early education of our subject. For several years, up to 1872, he pursued a scien- tific course at the State University of Wiscon- sin, and in summer vacations worked on his father's farm. He also graduated at Worth- ington & Warner's Commercial College, of Madison, Wisconsin, on June 13, 1872. The school year of 1872-73, he served as assistant principal at Marshall (Wisconsin) Academy. In the fall of 1873 he entered the law depart- ment of the Iowa State University and finished the course in one year, receiving his degree June 30, 1874. The class of 1874 is noted for the number of its members who later became prominent in the walks of life, and among others inay be mentioned Governor Frank D. Jackson and the Honorable Prof. Lars S. Reque, who was appointed Consul to Holland by President Cleveland in 1893.

A great calamity now befel our subject, in the death of his mother. He returned to his Wisconsin home and nursed her in a fatal ill- ness.

August 4, 1874, he came to Decorah, Iowa, and opened a law office, being associated with J. L. E. Peck, the firm name being Johnson & Peck. At the end of about four years this firm was dissolved by mutual consent, and our sub- ject opened an office, which he has continued to the present time.

Mr. Johnson has always affiliated with the Republican party. He served as secretary of the Board of Education of the city of Decorah from September 23, 1881, to September 26, 1892. He was a member of the City Council from March, 1882, to March, 1884, and then again from March, 1886, to March, 1888; and also served as City Attorney for two terms of two years each, to wit: froin March, 1889, to March, 1893. In thefall of 1892 he was elected County Attorney, and at the expiration of his term of two years was re-elected, and is now serving the people in that capacity.

Mr. Johnson was married to Miss Carrie Grinde, daughter of Sjur L. and Gertrude Grinde, at De Forest, Dane county, Wisconsin.

Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have five children,

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-two boys: Eugene Gustave and Perry Spen- cer, both students of Luther College at Deco- rah, Iowa; and three girls: Lilian Gertrude, student of Wisconsin University at Madison, Wisconsin; Hattie Sophia and Hilda Clemen- tena, attending the Decorah high school. Mr. Johnson and family are members of the Lu- theran Church.

The high standing of our subject in the community where he lives is well illustrated in the offices which he has held. As County At- torney he has done exemplary work, and mnight well be taken as a model. He speaks and writes the English language with fluency, is well educated and is a diligent student, both in his profession and in other fields. He repre- sents a wide-awake, progressive type of the American citizen of Norwegian birth, who is thoroughly in touch with the institutions of the country of his adoption.

ARON PARKHURST YORK .- On no class of citizens does the welfare of the entire country depend as greatly as upon the agriculturist, and the faithful performance of his labors has much to do with the national prosperity.

Mr. York is a representative farmer of Dallas county, living on section 21, Colfax township. He is numbered among the native sons of Iowa, being the first white child born in Guthrie county, the date of that event being March 17, 1852. He is the second in order of birth in a family of four children whose par- ents were John W. and Sarah Ann (Hough- fam) York, the former a native of North Caro- lina and the latter of Indiana. The father was of English and German descent, and the mother was of Scotch and Irish lineage. She died when our subject was only four years of age, after which John York was twice married, and six sons and a daughter were added to the family. In the spring of 1851 Mr. York re- moved from his old home in Indiana to Guth- rie county, Iowa, and has since been a resident of the State, his home being now in Wapello

county, where he is living, at the age of seven- ty-one.

Under the parental roof, Aaron Parkhurst York spent the days of his childhood and to his father gave the benefit of his services until seventeen years of age, when he left home to make his own way in the world. Coming to Dallas county, Iowa, he was for one year em- ployed as a farm hand in this locality, and then removed to Nevada, where for eight years he enjoyed the pleasures and experienced the hardships of ranch life. During the succeed- ing four years he had charge of the wagon train engaged in freighting in the Western coun- try. In 1882 Mr. York returned to Iowa, was married and then gave his attention to farming. He had visited Dallas county in January, 1878, and had here purchased 160 acres of land. To this he has added, as his financial resources have increased, until he now owns an excellent farm of 240 acres, valued at $50 per acre. The fields are well tilled, good improvements are seen upon the place and he raises a high grade of stock. He has always been a pro- gressive agriculturist, constantly improving upon his own and others' methods, and gain- ing fresh inspiration for his work from the faithful performance of each day's duty.

On the 16th of February, 1882, Mr. York married Miss Sarah Catherine Rail, a native of Van Buren county, Iowa, and to them have been born eight children: Flora M., born De- cember 5, 1882; Joseph M., born January 8, 1884; Cora B., born February 7, 1885; Charles W., born June 2, 1887; Lueweltha, born Jan- uary 10, 1889; Walter J., born March 31, 1890; Sarah, who was born February 9, 1892, and died the following day; and Fred Lee, born August 10, 1895.

Mr. York has traveled from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, spending six months in Cali- fornia, and has seen much of this country, gaining from his experiences a knowledge of his native land that can never be secured from books. In politics he is an advocate of Re- publican principles, is now serving as Town- ship Trustee, and for some time has been of-

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ficially connected with the schools. He was reared in the faith of the Quaker Church, but he and his wife are now inembers of the Meth- odist Church.

LARK NAHUM GODDARD is the pioneer merchant of Decorah, Iowa, and a citizen of more than ordinary prominence, -one whose connection with the city and close identification with its business interests have been of material benefit to Decorah, for he is progressive and public- spirited, and takes an active concern in every enterprise calculated to promote the general welfare. He has made an untarnished record as a business man, -upright, reliable and hon- orable. In all places and under all circum- stances he is loyal to truth, honor and right, justly valuing his own self-respect as infinitely more to be desired than wealth, fame or posi- tion. In manner he is unostentatious, yet he has that true nobleness of character which everywhere commands respect.

A native of the Green Mountain State, Mr. Goddard was born in Rutland on the 3d of May, 1835, being a son of Robert and Mary Maria (Bailey) Goddard. The family has long been connected with the history of New Eng- land. Only a short time after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock there settled in Massachusetts Edward Goddard, a native of England, who had braved the perils of a sea voyage at that day in order to secure a home in the New World. Nahum Goddard, the grandfather of our subject, was one of the six sons born to Josiah Goddard, and was a na- tive of Worcester, Massachusetts. By occu- pation he was a farmer throughout his active business life. In 1801 he removed from the Bay State to Vermont, where his remaining days were passed. His wife bore the maiden name of Sallie Richardson, and their children, two in number, were Robert, father of our subject, and Lorinda.

Robert Goddard was born in Vermont June 3, 1803, and in 1839 removed to Rochester,

Windsor county, in that State, where he con- tinued his residence until the spring of 1854. In June of that year he located in Clayton county, Iowa. Purchasing a farm of 160 acres, he continued its cultivation until 1860, when he removed to the town of Monona, where he resided until his death, which oc- curred in 1864. He was married in his native State to Miss Mary M. Bailey, and their chil- dren are as follows: James Osmer, who was accidentally drowned at Dubuque, Iowa, while performing his duties of bridge engineer, leav- ing a wife and three children; John Bailey, a general merchant and farmer, living at Taopi, South Dakota, who married Miss Caroline Morrill, a relative of Senator Morrill, of Ver- mont, by whom he has three children; Charles Walker, a harness dealer of Bancroft, Iowa, who wedded Miss Mary Bent, of Poultney, Vermont, and has three children; Clark Na- hum, the subject of this review; and Carrie Elizabeth, of Chicago, the youngest child, now the widow of Edwin B. Hutchinson.

To the public schools of the Green Moun- tain State Clark N. Goddard is indebted for his education. He engaged in teaching school for one winter and in 1854 went to Monona, and two years later removed to Decorah, where he secured a clerkship in the general store of Evans & Kimball, with whom he re- mained for a year. He then worked for D. B. Ellsworth for eighteen months, when his employer retired from business. His next con- nection was with the store of J. D. Wheeler, where he acted in the capacity of salesman until the business was closed out. In April, 1860, he purchased a line of clothing, boots and shoes, and was in business alone until Oc- tober, 1862, when the firm of Goddard, Henry & Hutchinson was formed and began opera- tions as general merchants on the corner where the store of Mr. Goddard is yet loca- ted. In August, 1865, Mr. Hutchinson retired from the firm and the partnership of the other members was dissolved by the death of Mr. Henry, March 31, 1874. D. B. Ellsworth, the old employer of our subject, then pur-

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Memorial and biographical record of Iowa, Part 122

Author: Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1360

Author:
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1360