USA > Minnesota > Meeker County > Album of history and biography of Meeker County, Minnesota > Part 39
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DETER PETERSON, a farmer of Acton township, belongs to a family that has a number of representatives scattered through the Northwest. A sister is now Mrs. Laurits Frogner. of Atwater: one of his brothers, Frederick Peterson, also lives in Atwater, where he works in an elevator ; and another brother, Nels, is inspector in an elevator at Fisher's Landing, Dak.
Peter Peterson, the subject of this biogra- phy, was born in Denmark on the 21st of August, 1839, and is a son of Peter and Anna Peterson. Ile came to the United States in 1873, and at once settled in Acton township,
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Meeker county, Minn. He then purchased eighty acres on section 31, but has since bought an additional eighty, so that his farm now consists of 160 acres, a large share of which is umder a high state of cultivation. His place is improved with substantial and comfortable farm buildings, and he has it well stocked with horses and cattle. In ad- dition to his farming operations he has a feed mill on his place, which he operates for the ·convenience of himself and neighbors.
Mr. Peterson was married, in 1.863, to Anna, a daughter of Peter and Anna Christina Peterson. The following is a record of the births and deaths of the children that have been born to them-Mary, born December ·21, 1863, died June 15, 1866 ; Mary Christina, born September 6, 1866, died in June, 1871 ; Peter, born August 1, 1868, died in October, 1869 ; Rasmus, born November 16, 1872, died in May, 1874; Mary, born August 10, 1875, died in August 1878; Anna P., born Decem- ber 16, 1876; Marius, born January 27, 1878, died in August, 1878; Peter and Gogen (twins), born March 11, 1881, both died carly in 1882. The family are members of the Norwegian Lutheran Church. Mr. Peterson is a republican in political matters, and has taken an active interest in all matters which affect the township's welfare. It is well worthy of notice in this connection that Mr. Peterson is an old soldier, having served ten months in the regular army before leaving Denmark.
LE KITTLESON, a prominent old set- tler who resides on section 31, Litch- field township, is a native of Norway, born in 1844, and a son of Kittle and Carrie Har- oldson. In 1846 he came to the United States with his parents and they settled in Rock county. Wis., where they remained until 1857, and then removed to Meeker
county, Minn., and the family settled on see- tion 30, Litchfield township. Ole Kittleson was only a boy of eighteen years of age at the time the outbreak of the Indians be- gan, but the duties of a man devolved upon him. He assisted in the burial of the first five victims, and was one of the pursuing party that chased the redskins who came upon the ground while the inquest was being held. When the danger seemed to have passed, he and his father and brothers re- turned to their unfinished harvesting. but the news of the bloody massacres and mur- ders that followed. drove them to Forest City for refuge. The family spent the following winter of 1862-63, on the old Gitchell place, near Kingston, but Ole stayed a portion of the time on the old claim, sleeping in the house alone. In 1863 they gathered together what stock there was left and did a little farming.
Ole Kittleson finally purchased a farm ad- joining that of his father's and went to farm- ing on his own account. He has been very successful and now has a valuable farm, upon which he devotes his time, carrying on diver- sified farming and stock-raising. In 1869 he was married to Sarah Halverson Ness, a daughter of Ole Halverson Ness. Their marriage has been blessed with eight children, seven of whom are living - Carrie, Christian, Olavus, Mary, Henry, George and Ida. At the time of the grasshopper plague in 1877, Mr. Kittleson lost about all his crops. hav- ing sown seventy bushels and only raised five.
Mr. Kittleson has taken an active interest in all matters affecting the welfare of his township, and is justly regarded as one of the solid and substantial citizens of the county. lle has held various township offices and has been school director of his district for over twenty years. The family are members of the Ness Norwegian Lutheran Church.
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ENDERSON M. ANGIER, of Litch- field, is a native of Chenango county, N. Y .. born October 24. 1835, and is the son of Roland and Mary ( Marsh) Angier. Both of his parents were natives of Massachusetts who had come to the Empire State in youth, and were married there. Shortly after the birth of II. M. the couple removed to Porter county, Ind., where they resided until 1859, when they came to Meeker county, and set- tled in Greenleaf township, where they died, the father in 1867, the mother in 1873.
Ilenderson M. remained with his parents until August, 1855, when he was united in marriage with Miss Mary J. Crosby. a native of Schenectady county, N. Y., and the young people remained in Indiana until the spring of 1859, when they came to Mecker county, arriving here June 19th, of that year. The next year they settled upon section 10, Greenleaf, on which they lived until June. 1862, when they removed to Litchfield township, Mr. Angier taking up a homestead on section 12, and commeneing to get out the timber for a house, when his operations were interrupted by the Indian outbreak. The night before that event he was at Forest City. attending a war meeting. but. on hearing the news, decided to remain and help defend this portion of the country against the savages, and accordingly went to Forest City and took charge of the crew who were getting out the timbers for the stockade. He was on many of the expedi- tions, which issued forth from that place to look up the missing and bury the dead set- tlers, and did valiant service at the fort during the night of the attack on Forest City. Ile was one of the volunteers who went out to rescue the party in the okl house in the timber, and collect the loose stock the next morning. and stood next to Olson when the latter was wounded, and helped assist him and William Branham, who was also wounded, back to the stockade.
Mr. Angier remained in' Forest City until the spring of 1863, when he went to Illinois for his family, whither he had sent them for safety, and returned to Forest City in 1865, stopping for some time in Clearwater on his return. In 1866 he returned to his farm and finished building his house, begun four years before. There he remained until 1873, when he removed to Union Grove, but one year later removed to the village of Litch- field, where he now lives. In the spring of 1878 he was elected city marshal, and has held that office and that of deputy sheriff, ever since. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the A. O. U. W., and was the Grand Representative to the State lodge of the latter for two years. Ile is also an active temperance man and worker.
ARL JOHN GOTTFRIED HANSON, is an enterprising farmer who is located on section 26, in Litchfield town- ship. lle is a son of Bengt and Elna Ilan- son, and was born in the city of Hamburg, Germany, while the family were en route from Sweden to the United States, and is a twin brother of Nels C. G. Hanson, a mer- chant in Litchfield. His father, Bengt llan- son, is one of the most prosperous farmers in this part of the county, and noticed at length elsewhere in this volume. Carl was reared on his father's farm, receiving good educa- tional advantages in the Litchfield schools. During the summer of 1886 he erected a house on that portion of the original Hanson farm located on sections 26 and 27, and embarked in the business of farming on his. own account. On the 4th of November of the same year, he was united in marriage with Emma C. Lindberg. She is a daughter of Hans and Carrie Lindberg, and was born in Sweden October 31, 1867. They have one child-Lily-a bright little babe, which was born to them on the 29th of July, 1887.
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Mr. Hanson attends closely to his business of farming and stock raising, and justly ranks as one of the most substantial young farmers of the county. He is a member of Golden Fleece Lodge No. 89, A. F. & A. M., of Litchfield.
AMES H. McKENNEY, one of the ac- tive, enterprising business men of the village of Dassel, is a native of Limerick, York county, Me., born March 26, 1843, and is the son of Henry and Nancy (Jack) Mckinney, both of whom, as well as the grandparents of our subject, were natives of the same State.
When the subject of this memoir was some ten years of age the angel of death invaded the household and bore away the loving mother, and the family circle was broken. Young McKenney remained in his native town until his nineteenth year, receiving the elements of a good education, finishing the last three years at the academy, and laying the broad foundation upon which he has built his present fortune, and in 1862 re- moved to Charleston, Mass., where he was engaged as clerk in a wholesale and retail grocery store. On the 29th of September. 1865, he left that city by the sea for Minne- sota, and for the next year or more, followed teaching at Anoka. In the spring of 1867 he removed to Anderson, Ind., at which point he entered into the saw-mill and lumber busi- ness and continued in that line until 1874, when the mill was burned down, involving a loss to him of some 87,000. The next spring he returned to Anoka and taught the same school which he had taught in 1865. He re- mained in that place until 1877, when he re- moved to Wright county, and one year later to Meeker county. He was engaged in school teaching near Spring Lake and at Beaver
Dam until the fall of 1878, when he came to Dassel, and for two years filled the position of principal of the village schools. In the fall of 1880, Mr. McKenney bought an inter- est in the Dassel elevator, and took charge of the business, and since that time, has acquired by purchase almost all the shares in the same, and now has full control of it. The elevator has a capacity of 45,000 bushels, and his business reached the shipment of 65.000 bushels of wheat during the year 1887.
Mr. McKenney was united in marriage, in Anderson, Ind., December 26, 1868, with Miss Lydia J. Isley, who died December 17, 1870, leaving one child, which died in infancy December 25, 1881. Mr. McKenney again entered the married state, wedding Miss Emma E. Wolsey, a native of Stockbridge, Wis., who has become the mother of two children-Ilenry B., and Gertrude A.
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UKE D. CROWE, the junior partner in the firm of McLane & Crowe, agricul- tural implenrent dealers, Litchfield. is a fair specimen of the representative class of citi- zens of Meeker county, who, by their native ability, are fast taking rank among the best business men of this section of the State.
He is a native of County Galway, Ireland, born in 1853, and is the son of George J. and Jane Crowe, with whom he came to Meeker county in 1870. His father purchased a farm in the town of Litchfield, and settled down to the quiet pursuits of agriculture. Luke D., whose home training was under the tender influences of his mother's care, grew to manhood and helped his father in the man- ifold cares devolving upon the industrious farmer, until he attained the age of twenty- five years. About that time our subject re- moved to Traverse county, Minn., where he filed a homestead and tree claim, and made his residence there for six years. Re-
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turning to his home, upon the farm of his father, in this county, he remained one sea- son, and in 1886 came to the city of Litch- field, and, in company with Daniel MeLane, opened a warehouse for the sale of agricul- tural implements, and is now in the full tide of the success that invariably awaits honest and unremitting attention to business and straightforward dealing.
ARS P. SORENSON, one of the most successful and enterprising stock-raisers and general farmers in Meeker county, re- sides on section 17, Danielson township. where he located in 1876. lle is a son of Soren and Mary Christianson, and was born in Denmark on the 1st of May. 1852. His early life was one of toil and hardship, as he has relied upon his own exertions ever since he arrived at the age of fourteen years. As he grew to manhood he spent three years in the regular army of Denmark. His parents were also natives of Denmark, who remained in the land of their birth until their deaths. In 1876, Lars P .. in company with his brother John, came to the United States, and made his way directly to Meeker county, Minn., and together they purchased 240 aeres on section 17, in Danielson township. He has since purchased his brother's interest. Ile has erected farm buildings which are a credit to the township, and plainly evidence his thrift and enterprise. He has a substantial story-and-a-half house, 18x 24 feet in size. with an addition 10 x 18 feet, and his barn is 32 x 72 feet in dimensions with twenty-foot posts, besides which he has a good granary. machinery sheds and other farm buildings. Ile devotes his time to diversified farming, and in company with A. Nelson, is raising pure-bred Holstein cattle. Mr. Sorenson has taken an interest in the affairs of his town- ship, and has held the office of township treasurer for two years.
In 1879, Mr. Sorenson was married to Miss, Johanna Dotha Jacobson, and their union has been blessed with three children-Soren Christen, born June 3, 1880; Andrew, born April 12, 1882; and Martin Jorgen, born April 13, 1888. Mrs. Sorenson is a daughter of Andrew and Sarah Jacobson. She was born on the 19th of December, 1852, and came to the United States with her parents. in July, 1872.
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R ALPH D. GRINDALL, one of the most successful and prominent stock raisers and general farmers in the southern portion of Meeker county, is a resident of section 8. Cedar Mills township. lle is a native of Hancock county, Me., and was born on the 20th of November, 1827. His. parents were Elijah W. and Caroline B. (Iliggins) Grindall, both of whom were natives of Maine. ITis grandfather, on his father's side, was a native of the Isle of Wight. who settled at the town of Penob- scot at an early day ; and when the English came to build their forts at Castine, he was pressed into the English service, and worked upon the fort during the summer of 1812 receiving compensation at the rate of eight cents per day. Ralph's grandfather Hig- gins, was a native of Nova Scotia, who at. an early day settled on Bartlett's Island, where the mother of our subject, Caroline. B. Higgins, was born February 21, 1806.
Elijah W. Grindall, the father of our sub- jeet, was born Sept. 2, 1804. Ile married Miss Higgins on the 4th of January. 1827, and remained in his native State-Maine- until 1854, when he came to Minnesota, and opened up a farm near St. Anthony. He remained there until the time of his death, June 28, 1872, and his widow still resides in Minneapolis.
Ralph D. Grindall remained with his parents until he was nineteen years of age,
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and then bought "his time" of his father, and for the two years immediately follow- ing he was employed at whatever he could find to do, a portion of the time working for his father. lle then followed teaming and in 1851 had the misfortune to lose by fire tive horses, wagons, harness, etc. In Angust, 1852, he was married to Miss Sophrona L. Howard, a native of Maine. Mr. Grindall remained at Bangor, in his native State, until 1854, when he went to Kansas and spent a few months, helping to erect the first mill that was built on the present site of Lawrence. In the fall of the same year he came to St. Anthony, Minn., but only stayed a short time and then went to Chicago where, during the following winter (1854-55) he had general charge of transfer work and collecting bills for the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad. In the spring of 1855 he engaged in farming near Du- buque, Iowa, and the following fall again came to St. Anthony, Minn. He put up the first slaughter house in Minneapolis for Allan Hammond, after which he followed butchering at Fort Snelling for Pettijohn & Steele. In the spring of 1856 he engaged in the same business at St. Anthony and remained there until the spring of 1861. In 1856 he had purchased forty acres of land near Minneapolis. [It is now in the heart of the city.] In the spring of 1861 he put in a crop on this land, and then went to work with a government surveying party in the western part of the State, running township lines, and remained at this work until the following fall. IIe then returned to St. An- thony, and on the 6th of May, 1862, he had the misfortune to lose his house by fire, and with it the accumulations of ten years' hard labor. He built another house during the summer and also carried on his farm. When the Indian outbreak occurred in August, 1862, he enlisted in Northup's Cavalry, and spent some time at Fort Ridgely, and then
he returned to St. Anthony and engaged in farming. During the winter of 1867-68 he followed teaming . from Minneapolis to Meeker county, making nine trips, and during the following winter he followed the same business from Greenleaf to Clearwater and from Hutchinson to Carver. In the spring of 1868 Mr. Grindall came to his present farin in Cedar Mills township, hav- ing purchased 360 acres of his farm in 1862, and commenced to improve it. He has met- with some reverses, especially during 1876 and 1877 when his crops were destroyed by the grasshoppers. Upon the whole, however, he has been very successful in his farming operations. He has a splendid farm of 440 acres of land and carries on general farming and stock-raising, devoting especial attention to breeding thorough-bred Short-horn stock. Among the fine animals which Mr. Grindall has recently added to his herd are the fol- lowing : " Roan Duchess of Oxford Sth," from one of the oldest tribes on record ; " Oxford Wild Eyes 2d," another animal of pure breeding ; and a Short-horn bull, " Duke of Minneapolis." All of these magnificent animals are registered. pure bred and have splendid pedigrees.
Since his settlement here Mr. Grindall has taken an active interest in public affairs and figures prominently in the official history of the township. Ile has held about all the various township offices and is now township treasurer. He has taken a prominent part in educational matters and aided in securing the erection of the first school-house in the township.
Mr. and Mrs. Grindall are the parents of six living children, as follows -Wilbur F., born May 16, 1858; Emma M., born May 7, 1860; Fanny G., born September 19, 1862; Mortimer C., born January 29, 1865 : Edwin W., born October 29, 1867; and Eva C., born August 16, 1869. The three following named children are deceased - George
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Edward, born October 8, 1853 ; Louisa, born May 4, 1856 ; and Ernest R., born Septem- ber 19, 1862.
We take pleasure in presenting a portrait of Mr. Grindall in another department of this volume.
R OY M. CASE, one of the young and enterprising agriculturists of Col- linwood township, makes his home upon his farm on section 21. Ile is a native of Wau- pun, Dodge county, Wis., born March 25, 1853, and is the son of Royal T. and Almira F. (Batcheller) Case, natives of the State of Vermont. Ilis father was a farmer and upon the farm our subjeet was reared. When he was about eight years old his parents re- moved to this State and located at Plain- view, where they purchased a farm, and there made their home until the spring of 1869. During that year they moved to the neighborhood of Hutchinson, where they lived until coming to this county in 1873. They settled in Collinwood on section 27, where the mother died October 29, 1877, and the father February 14, 1886.
The subject of our sketch was an inmate of his father's house until his marriage with Miss Catherine Ann Grant, on October 17, 1882. The lady is the daughter of James and Rebecca Grant, and was born in Jen- nings county, Ind., December 18, 1862, and is a most accomplished musician, as are most of the family. When Mr. Case was mar- ried he had but little of this world's goods, but purchasing a farm of fifty aeres upon section 21, on time, and by diligence and industry has reclaimed it from its original state of wildness and cleared it of debt. He is a finished musician, and has traveled, giving lessons and selling instruments. Ilis estima- ble wife has largely contributed toward their success in life by her industry and economy.
ELONORABLE O. M. LINNELL, of Ac- ton township, is one of the most prominent citizens of Meeker county. He was born near Wexio, in Sweden, on the 21st of April, 1840, and is a son of Magnus Jonason and Lisa C. (Falk) Linnell. With his parents he came to the United States in 1852, and they settled on Lake ('hisago, in Chisago county, Minn., the same year. O. M. Linnell, being the oldest in the family, had to work very hard in the summer time to help his father clear off a farm in the heavy timber and had to work out for oth- ers to earn money for clothing. Most of the year 1857 was put in at and around the city of Superior, Wis., when the noted hard times in Minnesota set in, of 1857, 1858 and 1859, when it was next to an impossibility to get a dollar in money. The winter of 1859 and 1860 our subject spent near St. Joe, La., cut- ting cordwood, where money was paid for labor. Ile was there offered the charge of a cordwood landing, with three large wood barges and twelve negroes, but could not stand it to hear the abuse of the Southerners toward the Northern men, nor see the abuse of the slaves ; so in April he went back to his home in Minnesota, where he remained with his parents part of the time, and to earn money for the family worked on the St. Croix river during the summers, on the logs, driving, or on the booms. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company C, Seventh Minne- sota Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered in at Fort Snelling, just at the time the Sioux Indians' noted massacre broke out in the town of Acton, where Mr. Linnell now lives. Company C, of the Seventh Minnesota Infan- try, was sent on foot, marching to Fort Rip- ley without having time to wait for uni- forms. They received bright, shining Spring- field rifles, but not a single cartridge. It looked, as the boys used to express it, " kind of funny to meet the savage Indians without powder or lead, meeting citizens by the hun-
MLinmell
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dreds fleeing from their homes for their lives." From Fort Ripley the company was ordered to the Chippewa Agency to guard the gov- ernment stores. There they were soon sur- rounded by 500 Indian warriors, and as the company had only a few rounds of ammuni- tion the position for a time was a dangerous one. They were kept in this shape for four days, when the Indians learned that the Sioux were defeated at Wood Lake, and were then very glad to make a treaty. Had the Indians known the condition of the sol- diers and made an attack, Company C would have been annihilated. After the treaty was perfected the company was sent back to Ripley, where they built large barracks, and with other companies expected to camp over winter, but in the latter part of November they received orders to report at Fort Snell- ing, to go South. The company got a few days' furlough to go home to visit friends, and during this time the governor of Minne- sota got permission to keep what soldiers were in the State for fear of a new out- break of the Indians in the spring. and Com- pany C was sent to Mankato to guard the Indian prisoners. This company afterward carried out the final execution of the thirty- eight Indians who were hanged there. The last military duty Mr. Linnell did was on December 17, 1862, when he was detailed to help ferry the government teams across the Minnesota River, and was taken sick with a disease of the Inngs. Ile was under the doc- tor's care for eleven months. He has never fully recovered from this sickness. He was honorably discharged from the service for disability, at Fort Snelling, on the 4th of August, 1863, and returned to his home, and from 1864 to 1876 was farming, lumbering and dealing in rafting materials In 1876 he came to Meeker and settled in Acton township, where he now lives. Ile now has a good farm of 520 acres of land, with excel- lent machinery and a good stock of horses |
and cattle. All of his property has been accumulated since his army service.
Mr. Linnell has taken an active and prom- inent part in public matters ever since he attained his manhood, and he has held some town or county offiec each year since he has been old enough, with the exception of the first year in Mecker county. Since coming here he has held the offices of county com- missioner, school treasurer for nine years, and is at the present time. He is the present town clerk. In 1880 he was elected to rep- resent this district in the legislature, and was re-elected in 1882. The sessions in which he served were three of the most important ever held in the history of the State, particularly in settling at fifty cents on the dollar the "Eight-Million-Dollar State Railroad Bonds," which had been a stain on the glorious ban- ner of our North Star State. Mr. Linnell had always advocated a settlement of the bonds to redeem the honor of the State. In 1SS3 he was chairman of the standing committee of agriculture and manufactures, and, as usnal, a member of several different commit- tees.
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