USA > Minnesota > Jackson County > An illustrated history of Jackson County, Minnesota > Part 67
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LORENZ STUMPF (1987). Ewington town- ship farmer. was born in Germany September 12, 1866. the only child born to Kammillins and Johanna Stumpf, both deceased. His mother dying when he was an infant, Lorenz was brought up in the family of a relative. He secured nine years' schooling and when young learned the shoemaker's trade. working at it six years in the old country.
On the twenty-fourth day of July, 1886, Mr. Stumpf landed in the new world. He located in Lake county, Illinois, worked out there one year, and during the month of October, 1887, arrived in Jackson county, which has ever since been his home. Until he was twenty- seven years of age he worked out on farms in Ewington township. Then he married and has since been engaged in farming for himself on renied farms, two years of the time in Rost township, the balance in Ewington. His pres- ent location is the northeast quarter of ser- : 15.
Mr. Stumpf was married in Jackson October 26. 1893, to Johanna Janssen, who was born in Germany April 21, 1874. She is the daugh- ter of John G. Janssen, of Ewington township. Her mother is dead. Mr. Stumpf is a mem- ber of the German Lutheran church. lle serv- ed as road overseer two years and has been township assessor for the past two years.
HERMAN POHLMAN (1884), who owns a fine farm in the northwest corner of Ileron Lake township in that part of the township which was formerly a part of West Ileron Lake township-came to Jackson county when he was nine years of age and has spent the rest of his life as a resident of this political division. Ilis farm consists of 253 acres on section 2.
Our subject is a German by birth and was born August 15. 1875. His father, Carl Pohl- man. died in 1902; his mother, Christina (Gies- elman) Pohlman, resides with her son. Her- man erossed the water with his parents in the spring of 1884, and on the 24th day of March, 1884, the family arrived in Lakefield. Our subject was brought up on a farm on section 8, Heron Lake township, and received his edu- eation in the Jackson county distriet schools. In 1891 Carl Pohlman bought the farm which is now owned by Herman. The latter worked for his father until 1898; then he bought the home farm and has ever since eondueted it. Mr. Poblman is one of the stockholders of the First National Bank of Lakefield. He is a member of the German Lutheran church.
Mr. Pohlman was married in Heron Lake township July 4, 1897, to Annie Daberkow, who was born in Germany and who came to the United States in 1893. To them have been born the following named five children: Wil- liam, born May 30, 1899: Helen, born Septem- ber 8, 1901; August and Herman (twins), born September 4, 1903; Arthur, born February 26, 1907.
ALBERT A. LEV (1890) has been a resident of Jackson county for the past nineteen years and resides on his farm in Des Moines town- ship which was formerly the Ole Anderson homestead, and is located on the northeast quarter of section sixteen. Mr. Lev was born in Bohemia June 13. 1873, and at the age of twelve years accompanied his parents to the United States, and first made settle- ment in Linn county, Iowa, where he resided five years. Then the family came to Jackson county and located on the south half of the northwest quarter, seetion 8. in Des Moines township, where our subject lived with his parents and worked on the farm until he was twenty-six years of age. He then married and rented a farm in Hunter township for a per-
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iod of four years. In 190i be purchased the farm on which he has since resided.
He is the son of Albert and Anna Lev. The former resides with his son, Frank, in the vil lage of Jackson. His wife died April 19. 1999. at the age of 70 years. They are the parents of the following children: Mary ( Mrs. Frank Viner), Albert. Frank and Amma (Mrs. William Benda ).
Albert Ley was married in the village of Jackson on November 9, 1897, to Miss Mary Benda, a native of Iowa. They are the par- ents of five children, namely: Willie. Anna. Lulu, Julia and Henry.
Mr. Lev now holds the office of director in school district 7, and also is treasurer of the township board, having held both offices the past seven years. He is also secretary of the West Des Moines Telephone line. He is a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters and of the Catholic church.
CHARLES F. WOLFF (1887), a Middletown township farmer, was born in the city of Chi- cago September 16, 1873. the son of Charles and llannah (Lindeburg) Wolff, now residents of Jackson. His parents were born and mar- ried in Germany, coming to America soon after their marriage. They lived in Cook county. Il- linois, for several years, and since 1887 have heen residents of Jackson county. Charles is one of a family of eight children, named as follows: Otto. Anna, Hattie, Charles, John. Frances. Henry and Sophia.
When our subject was about one year of age the family moved from Chiengo onto a market garden farm near the city, and that was the home of our subject until he came to Jackson county with his parents in ISST. One year was spent on the farm in Petersburg township, and then the elder Wolff moved to his farm in southern Middletown township. where he resided until IS98, when he located iv Inckson. Charles worked for his father on the farm until he was twenty-five years of age. Then he rented the home farm, consisting of a half section on seetion‹ 35 and 36. and has since been engaged in business for himself.
Mr. Wolff was married in Jackson January 10. 1906. to Marie Olson. a native of JJackson county. She is the daughter of Andrew and Margaret (Haverberg) Olson, who are pioneer settlers of the county and who now live in Jackson. Two daughters have been born 10
Mr. and Mrs. Wolff: Viona, born October 19, 1906, and Margaret, born September 12, 1909.
JOHN KATUS (1590), farmer and land own- er of Ewington township, is a native of llun. gary and was born November 27. 1852. Until nearly twenty-one years of age he resided with his parents in his native land. attending school and working on the farm. He served one month in the army. just before his departure for America. but his father secured his release and the son came to America.
li was in the year 1873 that John Katus arrived in the new world. He spent the first eight months in Indiana, lived a short time in Livingston county, Illinois, and then took up his residence in the city of Streator. After working eleven years in the coal mines in that city. Mr. Katus met with an accident in the mine which resulted in a broken leg. He then gave up mining and engaged in business. In 1894 Mr. Katus came to Jackson county, bought the northeast quarter of seetion 22, Ewington township. and has since been engag. ed in farming the place. The farm was raw prairie land when he bought and all the im- provements are the result of his work. Since coming to the county he has added to his real estate holdings by the purchase of the south- east quarter of section 15. and he farms the entire half section.
Mr. Katus has prospered since coming to the county. In the year 1909 he harvested about 3,500 Int-hels of small grain and 2,000 Imshels of corn. For several years past Mr. Katus and John Gerdes have been engaged in the thresh- ing Imsiness. Mr. Katus has stock in the Brewster Creamery company, in the grain ele- vator of the same village and in the Brewster and Round Lake Telephone company. He is a member of the Ewington township board and for nine years served as treasurer of school district No. 99.
John Katus is one of a family of six children living born to John and Anna (Rogola) Katus. the others being Annie. Susan. Mary. Andrew and Michael. The father of these children lives in Streator and is S years of age. The mother died in 1907. aged 79 years.
Mr. Katus was married in Streator April 10, 1877. to Annie Bartko, also a native of Ilun- gary. They have six children, as follows: An- drew, born August 21. 1882: Mary, born Dr- cember 11, 1881: Susie, born February 7, 1887 :
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George, born August 3, 1889; Emma, born July 20, 1892; Clara, born May 28, IS98. The fan- ily are members of the Slovak Lutheran church and Mr. Katus is a member of the Slovak lodge.
HARRY M. BURNHAM (1892) is the pro- prietor of one of Jackson's leading department stores. Ile is a native of London, England, and was born September 12, 1873, the son of James and Maria (Steele) Burnham.
In his native city Mr. Burnham lived until 1884. That year he came to the United States with his parents and located at Wyckoff, Minn- esota. Two years later he moved to Fair- mont, and in that village he was educated and grew to _manhood. He moved to Jackson in the fall of 1892 and that village has since been his home. Ile engaged in the dry goods busi- ness in 1897 and has built up an excellent trade, having one of the neatest and best ap- pointed stores in the county. He built his present commodious business block in 1903.
Mr. Burnham was married in Jackson in September, 1898, to Miss Mabel Albertus, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. A. Albertus. To them has been born one child, Cecil A.
Mr. Burnham is a member of the Masonic order, belonging to the Knights Templar and Commandry of l'airmont, and the Osman Tem- ple of St. l'aul. He is at present an officer of the Grand Lodge of the state and is a past master of Good Faith lodge No. 90, of Jackson. ITe also holds membership in the Modern Wood- men of America lodge. Mr. Burnham has served as president of the Jackson village council and of the board of education.
FRED REIMERS (1891) is a Sioux Valley township farmer. lle was born in Tama coun- ty, lowa, May 31, 1880, and when seven years of age accompanied his parents to Lake Park. The family lived in that village a year and a half and then moved onto a farm near the town. where our subject resided until 1891, working on the farm and attending the school.
In 189] the family moved to Sioux Valley township and leased the west half of the south- west quarter of seetion 26. Fred worked for his father on the farm until 1902. Then he rented the farm and has since conducted it for himself. He is unmarried and makes his home
with his parents. He is a member of the M. WV. A. and A. O. U. W. lodges.
The parents of our subject are Peter and Christina (Brest) Reimers. The former was born in Germany and came to America when twenty-one years of age, locating at Daven- port, lowa. He was married at Elkhart, Il- linois. Mrs. Reimers was born in Ohio. There are eight children in the family, as follows: Ilenry, Kate, John, Will, Phoebe, George, Fred and Lucy.
JOHN BARNETT (1888), who conducts a lumber yard at Okabena, is a native of the Orkney Islands, where he was born November 23, 1856, the son of James and Margaret (Wal- lace) Barnett. He spent his boyhood days in his native land, receiving a common school education. He learned the mason's trade and followed that occupation many years.
Mr. Barnett eame to America in 1882, lived two years in Canada, and then came to the United States. After residing four years in Sibley, lowa, Mr. Barnett, in August, 1888, came to Jackson county and located in West lleron Lake township, southwest of the loca- tion of the present village of Okabena, where he worked on a farm several years. In 1898 he engaged in the lumber business in Okabena and has since been so engaged. Mr. Barnett owns his home in Okabena. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and of the M. W. A. lodge No. 79IS, of which he has been elerk for nine years. He served as clerk of West Feron Lake township seven years.
On February 23, 1902, Mr. Barnett was mar- ried to Miss Alice Cramblit.
WILLIAM HAMLON (1892) is a resident of Jackson. He is the son of the late John Ham- lon and Mary Hamlon. John HIamlon was born in Albany, New York, September 10, 1841, and when two years old moved with his parents to Chicago, where his father was drowned in 1844, and his mother died in 1848. John Ilam- lon was then "bound out" for eleven years. In 1856 he started out for the gold fields of California in company with a brother and a party, but before getting out of the state he gave up the undertaking and settled in Men- dota, Illinois. There he lived until 1869 and then moved to Ford county, Illinois, where be resided until 1892. Coming to Jackson county
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that year Mr. Hamlon made his home here un- til his death, which occurred December 17, Isto. llis wife now makes her home with her son in Jackson.
William Hamlon was born to these parents at Mendota, Illinois, November 28, 1865, one of a family of four children, all living. The other children are Channey, a dentist of Lam- berton. Minnesota ; Minnie (Mrs. William Lynn) and Emma (Mrs. William Baker). When he wa- four years old William accompanied his parent- to Ford county. He spent his winters attending the district schools and his summers working on his father's farm. le came to Jack-on county with his parents in the spring of is92 and located in Middletown township. making his home with hi- parent -. Hle assist- ed in the management of the farms his fa- ther having purchased 1040 acres in Middle- town and Des Moines townships. After his fa- ther's death in 1896 Mr. Hamlon worked part of the farm on his own account, and then moved to Jackson, where he has since resided.
Mr. Hamlon owns the southeast quarter of section 5. Middletown. He is a member of the M. W. A. lodge. Mr. lamlon has never mar- ried.
HERMAN FRODERMANN (1890), Rost township farmer and stockman, was born in Holstein, Germany. February 10, 1867, the son of August and Magdalena (Hendricks) Fro- dermann. llis father died at Holstein, Ger- many. in 1878, aged 43 years: his mother, who was born in 1833, still lives in her native land.
Herman hved in Germany until twenty-two years of age. lle was brought up on a farm and after growing up worked as a farm la- borer. He came lo America in 1889, landing in New York March 28. He spent the first right months of his life in the new world working on a farm in Clinton county. lowa, and then went to Holstein, lda county, lowa. where he was employed on a farm until the spring of 1$91.
Mr. Frodermann first came to Jackson coun- ty in the fall of 1890, was here a short time and then returned to Ida county. In March. 1×91. he returned to Jackson county to reside permanently. He worked out one year in Rost township, and then engaged in farming on his own account. One year he farmed the Peter Torden farm and the next year the Charles Schmidt farm, both in Rost township.
Mr. Frodermann next rented the Fred Plag- man farm in Sioux Valley township and farm- ed it eleven years. Ile farmed the Stelk farm in Rost two years, and on March 1, 1907, lo- tated on the S. M. Richard- farm in Rost, where he has since lived. In the fall of 1909 he became a land owner, having purchased a 120 acte farm on seetion 34, Rost township.
Mr. Frodermann engages extensively in stock raising, shipping his own stock. He has in. torests in the Rost creamery, the cooperative store at Lakefield and the farmers elevator of the same town. He is a member of the K. O. T. M. and the M. W. A. lodge -.
In Sioux Valley township on October 11, 1891. Mr. Frodermann was married to Dora Grimm, who was born in Hanover, Germany, March 23, 1874. and who came to the United States in 1889. To them have been born five children as follows: Lizzie, born April 7, 1892; August, born March 30, 1891; Emma. born De- cember 20, 1895: Mary, born January 26, 1898; Erwin. horn February 5, 1900.
OLIVER W. BROWN (1887), foreman of the round house of the Chicago, Milwaukee & SI. Paul Railway company at Jack-on, has led an interesting and eventful life. the last twenty- three years of which have been spent in Jack- son. lle was born at Frederick's Varn. which was al the time the location of the Norwegian navy yards, Norway, on December 7, 181), the son of Edward and Olevia (Brown) Brown.
When Oliver was a mere child his mother died and he went to live with an uncle at Horten, Norway, to which place the navy yards had been moved from Frederick's Varn. There he received a meager education and served an apprenticeship in the navy yards. At an carly age he shipped as a seafaring man in the Nor- wegian naval mail service and followed that occupation until 1802. For several years there- after he served in the capacity of ship's ma- chinist and visited many foreign countries.
In the latter part of 1866 Mr. Brown, while at Copenhagen, Denmark, shipped with the American navy, taking service on the United States warship Canandaigua, which had been built during the civil war for a blockade run- ner. and which at the time was one of a squadron under the command of Admiral Far- ragut, on a eruise of the world. Over three years were spent on this trip, the squadron visiting every civilized portion of the world,
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
and landing at the Brooklyn navy yard during the holidays of 1869. Upon leaving his ship at that time Mr. Brown enlisted in the United States navy as a blacksmith, but his skill as a mechanie soon won him promotion to the position of machinist. He was honorably dis- charged at Brooklyn.
Ilaving saved up quite a sum of Spanish gold, Mr. Brown exchanged it for coin of the realm and went to Newburg, on the Hudson river, where, in partnership with a retired naval officer, he started a machine shop on an extensive scale. The enterprise proved a failure and for a short time thereafter he worked at his trade at Cold Springs, near West Point, New York, and at Jersey City. In the fall of 1871 he turned his face west- ward and landed in the city of Chicago, where he followed his trade until the big fire of Oe- tober, 1871. After that never-to-be-forgotten event he went to Milwaukee and entered the employ of the Milwaukee railroad, and with the exception of seven months during the panie of 1873, he has been continuously in the employ of that railroad.
During the seven months he was not in the . ship with his father bought the Fiddes hard- employ of the railroad company in 1873 Mr. Brown built and put in operation the first steam yacht that ever plyed the waters of the Milwaukee river. The vessel was successfully operated as a pleasure boat for three seasons, and then went out of eommission in that ser- vice because of the carrying away by flood of the Milwaukee dam. The boat was then sold to a fishing firm on lake Michigan. The yaeht was supplied with a fourteen horse pow- er upright engine and had a speed of sixteen and one-half knots an hour.
When he entered the employ of the Milwau- kee road at Milwaukee in 1871 Mr. Brown served as machinist and later was made fore- man of the round house. In 1887 he moved to Jackson to take the position of foreman of the round house of the Milwaukee road at that point and has ever since served in that capacity.
In the month of October, 1871, in the city of Chicago, fourteen days before the big fire, Mr. Brown was married to Ovidia Bay, a na- tive of Norway. To Mr. and Mrs. Brown have been born seven children-two sons and five daughters. Both sons are dead, the elder having met his death by drowning in the Mil- waukee river. The daughters are all teachers, Milly being an artist of great ability, and
Birdie (Mrs. Ainsley Ihughes), is a talented musician, having studied under old masters in Norway and Chicago. The other living child- ren are Hilda, Grace and Maybelle.
Mr. Brown owns a section of land in Wa- dena county, Minnesota, and owns considerable property in the village of Jackson. He was a member of the village eouneil two terms and has been a member of the board of educa- tion for the last five years.
H. B. GILLESPIE (1891), member of the firm of W. B. Gillespie & Sons, proprietor of a Jackson hardware store, is a native of Osage, Iowa, and was born December 26, 1871, the son of William B. and . Alice (Batts) Gillespie. Two years after the birth of our subjeet the family moved to Traer, Iowa, and at that place H. B. Gillespie was raised. He was educated in the Traer high school.
In 1889 our subject accompanied his parents to Forest City, lowa, and for two years was engaged in the hardware business. He came to Jackson in December, 1891, and in partner- ware store, in which be has since had an inter- est. Besides his interest in the store Mr. Gil- lespie owns stoek in, and is a director of, the Jackson National Bank. He owns property in the village and was a member of the vil- lage couneil from 1905 to 1907. He holds mem- bership in the K. P., A. O. U. W. and M. W. A. lodges.
Mr Gillespie was married September 6, 1892, to Miss Bella G. Hunter, and to them have been born three children, as follows: Margar- et II., born August 12, 1902, Helen II., born September S, 1904; Hunter R., born January 16, 1909.
HENRY SCHULTZ (1888), Enterprise town- ship farmer, was born in Cook county, Illinois, January 9, 1874, the son of Christ and Dora (Howe) Schultz. His parents were of German birth and came to America in 1868, locating in Illinois.
Ilenry came to Jackson county with his par- ents in 1888 and has lived in Enterprise town- ship ever since, with the exception of the year 1897, when he resided in Wisconsin town- ship. Until he was twenty-six years of age he resided at home, since which time he has been engaged in farming on his own account.
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He owns the west half of the southwest quar- ter of section 3 and an undivided interest in the southeast quarter of section 1, and has stock in the Farmers Elevator company of Alpha.
Mr. Schultz was married November 5, 1902, to Annie Grunst, who was born September 15, 1>>3. Two children have been born to this muon: Alfred, born October 4, 1903; Walter, born December 18, 1907. The family are meui- hers of the German Lutheran church of Kim- ball,
ELIAS CEDARBERG (1888), who owns a quarter section farm in Heron Lake township, has been engaged in farming there for the last twenty one years. He was born in Sweden August 23, 1859, one of a family of fourteen children born to O. T. Falk and Pharnella Falk. The living children are Elias Cedarberg, Annie Johnson, Angust Olson, Swan Olson, Adolph olson, Peter Olson, Otto Olson, Nellie Nelson and Hilda Hoah. The parents of these (Inklren lived in Jackson county for several years, but the father now resides in his native land; the mother died in 1900 at the age of 59 years.
Elias lived with his parents in Sweden until he was fourteen years of age. Then he shipped as a sailor and for the next five years was on the water, ernising in European waters, in the West Indies and the Americas. Ile quit the sea in June, 1879, when he landed in New York City, where he was paid off and honor- ably discharged. He went to Chesterton, In- elinna, where for one year he worked for Thom- as Blackwell, who was engaged in the flour mill and saw mill business. From Indiana Mr. Cedarberg went to West Union, lowa, where for one summer he was employed as night miller in a flour mill. He next went to Minneapolis and took the position of miller in the Washburn A flour mill. after it had been re- built following the disastrous explosion of 1879. lle was with the milling company one year and then had to quit on account of poor eye- sight.
Mr. Cedarberg next engaged in railroading. lle went to Fargo, North Dakota, as the fore- man of a carpenter crew for a railroad con- tractor. One year later he took charge of a construction crew on the Northern Pacific railroad, but soon gave up that work and lo- cuted in St. Paul. There he was made emigra-
tion agent for the Union Depot company, a po sition he held several years. In 1888 Mr. Cedar- berg came to Jackson county and located upon his farm on sections 14 and 15, Heron Lake township, which he had bought two years be- fore. He has made all the improvements on the farm. With his own hands he built the commodious home he occupies and set out the trees of the grove.
The subject of this biography was married in St. Paul January 11, 1881, to Alma Olson, who was born at Kalmar, Sweden, March 13. 1864, and who came to America in ISSO. To them have been born two children: Allen, born June 11, 1885; Olga (Mrs. P. C. Brakke), of Delafield township, born in ISS6. Mr. Ce- darberg is a member of the Woodmen and Workmen lodges.
CHARLES M. GAGE (1885), deceased, the oldest son of Solomon Gage, was born on his father's farm in Kane county, Illinois, on the 25th day of December, in the year 1862. He attended a country school that was located near his home and finished his education at a seminary at Elgin, Illinois.
He was a very industrious and model young man and the old farm remained his home un- til ISS5, when he married Estella Mcclelland and moved to Jackson county, Minnesota, where he purchased the south half of section 31 in the township of Belmont and developed it into one of the best stock farms in the county. While living in Belmont township he served several terms as chairman of the town board and clerk of his school district.
Mr. Rage was the father of seven children. T. Ernest Gage, born November 3, 1885; Fern Gage, born January 18, 1887; Florence MI. Gage, horn February 2, 1890; Bertie Marie Gage, born Aprit 18, 1891; Elmer Gage, born October, 1896, were born on the above named farm. Harold W. Gage, born October 5, 1899, and Sylvia S. Gage, born May 10, 1903, were born after Mr. Gage had moved his family into their new home he had built in Lakefield, Min- Desota, in 1897. Form flage died of diphtheria in the winter of 1594 and Elmer Gage only lived to be ten or twelve days old. Mr. Gage left his farm and made his home in Lakefield in order that his children might attend the high school. He entered into the farm im- plement business in partnership with John Frederickson at Lakefield, which partnership
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