USA > Minnesota > Lyon County > An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota > Part 43
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At Tracy, Minnesota, May 26, 1888, Mr. Berry was married to Susie Rowell, a native of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. She was born February 20, 1869. Her father is dead and her mother lives with her daughter and son- in-law. Mr. and Mrs. Berry are the parents of two children, Gladys B., born December 17, 1891, and Laura A., born April 7, 1900.
Mrs. Berry is one of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Louis Rowell. The others are Chauncey, John S., who has min- ing interests in Alaska, and Lewis L., all of Amiret township; Charles (deceased), Pa- tience Bell (Mrs. Jay Nichols), of Hayti, South Dakota; and Ira V., an engineer in the employ of a construction firm in Minneapolis. Mr. Berry has two brothers, Adelbert, of Ed- monton, Canada, and Edward, of Sodus town- ship.
Mr. Berry is a member of the Modern Woodmen lodge of Amiret. He has served one term as a member of the Amiret Town- ship Board of Supervisors.
OLE J. WIGNES (1878), farmer of Eids- vold township, is an ex-member of the Board of County Commissioners, a pioneer resident of his precinct, and a man who has been actively identified with the affairs of his county and township. His residence here covers a period of thirty-four years.
In Toten, Norway, on the twenty-fifth of August, 1853, Ole Wignes first saw the light of day. His parents, Ole and Ellen (Fjelhog) Wignes, are buried in the land of the mid- night sun. Until he was sixteen years of age Ole attended the common schools of his native land; then for a year he worked for his father on the farm.
Having decided to cast his fortunes in the New World, Ole Wignes left his native land in the spring of 1871, being then less than eighteen years of age. From the date of his arrival in America until the spring of 1878 he worked at farm labor near the city of
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La Crosse, Wisconsin, and in the Wisconsin pineries. He then came to Lyon county and purchased the southwest quarter of section 27, Eidsvold township, two miles west of the little village of Minneota, and he still owns and operates that farm.
The first two winters after his arrival Mr. Wignes worked in the pineries of Wisconsin, but in the spring of 1880 he returned to the county for permanent residence, having been married at that time. He has ever since resided on the farm he bought in the early days and has prospered exceedingly, now being the owner of 480 acres of Lyon county farming land. He raises Poland China hogs and grade horses and cattle. Besides his farming operations Mr. Wignes has other business interests. He is a stockholder of the First National Bank of Minneota, and he was one of the organizers of and for several years was president of the Farmers Elevator Company of Minneota.
During his long residence in the county Mr. Wignes has many times been called upon to serve in an official capacity. From 1890 to 1894 and from 1898 to 1902 he represented his district on the Board of County Commis- sioners and two years of that time he was chairman of the board. He was a member of the Eidsvold Board of Supervisors two years and for several years has been asses- sor of his precinct. For more than thirty years he has been treasurer of school dis- trict No. 55. Mr. Wignes is a member of the English Lutheran church of Minneota and was formerly a church trustee.'
Mr. Wignes was married at La Crosse, Wisconsin, March 26, 1880, to Caroline Evan- son. She was born in Wisconsin September 16, 1861, a daughter of Christian and Agnete (Hemah) Evanson. Her father resides near La Crosse; her mother is dead. The follow- ing named five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wignes: Edwin, Oscar,' Alma (Mrs. Gilbert Severson), of Nordland town- ship; Carl and John. The four boys reside at home.
In 1896 Mr. Wignes paid a four months' visit to his old home in Norway, his parents both being alive at that time.
HENRY K. FURGESON (1875), one of Island Lake township's most prosperous farmers, was born in Winnebago county,
Wisconsin, May 20, 1857. His parents were Kittel and Margaret (Helgeson) Furgeson, natives of Telemarken, Norway, and they came to the United States in 1849. They settled near Nina, Wisconsin, where our sub- ject was born and where he received his early education and resided until twelve years old.
In 1869 the family moved to Freeborn county, Minnesota, and there they made their home until 1875, in which year they came to Minnesota and Kittel Furgeson filed on the southeast quarter of section 4, Island Lake township, as a homestead. On that farm our subject grew to manhood, and when twenty-five years of age he bought the home- stead right to the southwest quarter of section 10 and proved up on the place. He later bought additional land on sections 16 and 9 and is now the owner of 360 acres of the township's best land. He has fine build- ings on the place and is raising a great deal of stock for market. Mr. Furgeson is a stockholder in the Farmers Elevator Com- pany of Minneota.
Our subject married in the township De- cember 19, 1881, taking for his wife Aasil Johnson. She was born in Telemarken, Norway, January 21, 1862, and her parents, Bjorn and Engebor (Stenerson) Johnson, came to this country in 1866, settling in Story county, Iowa. They came to Lyon county in 1872, and the father filed on a homestead on section 32, Nordland township, where he and his wife lived until their death. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Furgeson are the parents of the following children: Clara M., born March 23, 1884; Fredrik B., born April 21, 1887; I. Sophie, born June 20, 1889; Hannah A., born November 11, 1891; Ella J., born July 28, 1895; Mabelle A., born June 10, 1897; Alice H., born August 28, 1901; and Elmer H., born May 14, 1904.
Mr. Furgeson is a member of the town- ship board and is a director of school district No. 62. He is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran church.
KNUD E. KJORNESS (1874) and Ole L. Orsen are the two oldest settlers of Minneota in point of residence in Lyon county. Mr. Kjorness has a fine residence in Minneota and leads a comparatively retired life, farm- ing a little and raising some stock. He is
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the owner of 600 acres of first-class land close to Minneota and 480 acres in McLean county, North Dakota.
Our subject was born in Valders, Norway, March 1, 1851. Knud and Rognild (Kjor- ness) Fodness, his parents, are both dead. Knud's schooling was that of the average Norwegian farmer boy and was completed by the time he was fifteen. A year later he came to America, locating in Allamakee county, Iowa, and working at farm labor for fifty cents a day. He was eager for more education and attended country school dur- ing the winter months for the next four years. Later for two years he was a student in the high schools of Lansing and Waukon, Iowa.
In the spring of 1875 Mr. Kjorness drove from Allamakee county to Lyon county and took a homestead on the northwest quarter of section 24, Eidsvold township, having driven up the year before to look over the country. He farmed until 1895, when he moved to Minneota, and for the next ten years farmed land near the village. He re- tired from active life in 1906.
June 11, 1895, Knud E. Kjorness and Sarah Kjorness, a native of Dane county, Wiscon- sin, were joined in the holy bonds of matri- mony. She is the daughter of Andrew and Inga (Olson) Hellikson, who are living in Westerheim and who came to the county in 1875. To our subject and his wife have been born three children: Andrew, on December 25, 1896; Elmer, on October 3, 1901; and Roy, on January 6, 1904.
Mr. Kjorness was treasurer of the Nor- wegian Evangelical church for several years and has been secretary of the Farmers & Merchants Supply Company of Minneota for eleven years. He has served as justice of the peace, been chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Eidsvold, has spent several years as town clerk and town treasurer, and was for a time treasurer of school district No. 39.
JOHN C. TWEET (1874). One of the finest improved farms in the immediate vicinity of Tracy is the one belonging to Mr. Tweet, on the northwest quarter of sec- tion 4, Monroe township. When our subject came to the county there was no town of Tracy, and there were only a few scattered
settlers living in the southeastern part of the county. Mr. Tweet at once bought a right from Gilbert Gilbertson to the land which he now owns and took it as a pre- emption claim, later changing the filing to a homestead. He has lived on the place ever since.
The first years of Mr. Tweet's residence were discouraging ones. His home was the little 14x16 feet shanty put up by Mr. Gil- bertson prior to Mr. Tweet's arrival. Our subject's crop of grain in 1875 was destroyed by the grasshoppers and he spent the fall of the year in the harvest fields in Blue Earth county, earning enough to keep his family. The crop in 1876 was also lost, and Mr. Tweet again worked out to provide food and clothes for the folks at home. His forti- tude prevailed and years of prosperity have more than made up for the early years of hardship. Mr. Tweet has in late years added considerably to his original holdings.
Our subject's parents were Christian Tweet and Anbgar (Johnson) Tweet, both now dead. John was born in Norway Sep- tember 1, 1842, and lived in his native land until 1869, receiving his education and work- ing on his father's farm and at the carpen- ter's trade. Coming to America in 1869, the young man located in Columbia county, Wisconsin, where he lived four and one-half years, except four months spent in Norway on a visit. Immediately upon his return to America Mr. Tweet came to Lyon county and purchased the farm where he has since lived. He has been a supervisor four years in Monroe township and was treasurer ten years. He is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran church.
John C. Tweet was married October 9, 1874, in Monroe township to Oleana Johnson, a native of Norway, where she was born De- cember 11, 1856, coming to America and locating in Lyon county in 1874." To Mr. and Mrs. Tweet have been born the following children: Emma C., Henry E. and Annie, all of whom are deceased; Clara H. (Mrs. Thomas Jones), of Brainerd, Minnesota, born April 13, 1880; Peter Alexander, of North Da- kota, born March 12, 1882; Eddie K., of Canada, born November 9, 1889; Carl A., who resides at home, born January 12, 1887; Julia O., a school teacher, born July 28, 1890: Stella J., born July 21, 1894; and
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Emma Alice, born January 18, 1896. The two last named attend school.
JOHN B. GISLASON (1879). An early settler and a man prominent in the affairs of his township and county is John B. Gislason, a farmer of Westerheim township. He has held several local offices and been in the forefront of many campaigns for the better- ment of Lyon county. He is first vice presi- dent of the Lyon county branch of the South- ern Minnesota Better Development League and vice president of the Lyon County Agri- cultural Association, of which society he was president seven years. He was Wester- heim's township clerk two years and clerk of school district No. 3 six years. He holds membership in the Masonic and Woodmen lodges in Minneota.
Mr. Gislason was born in Iceland Decem- ber 6, 1872. When he was seven years of age, in 1879; he came with his parents to America and Lyon county and has ever since resided in Westerheim township. He at- tended the district schools until eighteen years of age and made his home with his parents until his marriage in 1895. He rented the home farm in 1893 and purchased it from his father in 1900. In addition to that 200-acre farm on section 10, he is the owner of eighty acres on section 3, making him a farm of 280 acres. The place is known as Hillside Homestead and contains one of the finest homes in the county. Mr. Gisla- son raises registered Oxford Down sheep and grade Durham cattle and Poland China hogs. Besides his farm property he is the owner of the Gislason Block in Minneota. He is a stockholder in the Farmers Mutual Elevator Company of Minneota.
Lecta E. Edwards became the wife of Mr. Gislason on November 13, 1895. She was born in Iceland February 25, 1875. Her parents, Edward and Cecilia (Johnson) Thor- leifson, came to America from Iceland in an early day. The father took a homestead in Swede Prairie township, Yellow Medicine county, and resided on the place until his death on December 14, 1884; the mother still lives in that county.
Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gislason, as follows. Harold Miles Hugo, born November 10, 1896; Byron Ed- ward, born December 26, 1898: Julian Ber-
nard, born October 9, 1900; Francis Alex- ander (deceased), born August 28, 1902; Cecilia Adalborg, born August 6, 1904; Wil- liam Bjorn, born September 13, 1906; Francis Alexander, born August 28, 1908; John Fred- erick, born November 29, 1910. All the chil- dren reside at home.
Bjorn and Adalborg (Johnson) Gislason, parents of John B. Gislason, came to Lyon county from Iceland in 1879, arriving in Min- neota on the twenty-first day of July of that year. They purchased the farm in Wester- heim now operated by their son from a home- steader and conducted the place until 1893. Thereafter until his death on August 9, 1906, the father continued a resident of Westerheim township; the mother makes her home with the subject of this review. Bjorn Gislason was born September 10, 1827; Adalborg Johnson was born December 20, 1836.
CHRISTIAN CUPP (1878), a resident of Coon Creek township, is one of the older settlers of Lyon county. He was born in Heilbronn, Wurtemburg, Germany, May 17, 1847. His parents were Christof and Kather- ine (Hoetzer) Cupp, both of whom are de- ceased. Christian attended school in Ober- eisesheim, Germany, until eighteen years of age, after which he worked for his father on the farm until twenty.
In 1867 Christian immigrated to America and located in New York City, where he re- mained a year. He then worked in a suburb, Harlem, for two years, going from there to St. Louis and Southern Missouri, where he remained six years as superintendent of a cotton-gin. Returning to Germany, he re- mained a month, after which he returned to St. Louis, where he worked in the iron works for a few months, going from there to Illinois and Iowa, working as a harvest hand. In 1876 he landed in Newry, Freeborn county, Minnesota, near which place he worked at farm labor for one and one-half years.
In the fall of 1878 Mr. Cupp homesteaded the southwest quarter of section 6, Coon Creek township, which he still owns and operates. Since that time he has become the owner of 280 acres on section 7, of the same township, making him the owner of 440 acres of fine land. In addition to general farming, Mr. Cupp raises considerable stock,
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including Black Polled Angus cattle, grade hogs and Red Leghorn chickens. He is a member of the German Lutheran church and the A. O. U. W. and A. F. & A. M. lodges. Mr. Cupp is a stockholder of the Tyler Tele- phone Company and has been treasurer of school district No. 66 for twenty-five years. He was a member of the Township Board of Supervisors fifteen years and is assessor of Coon Creek township.
On March 4, 1885, Mr. Cupp was married to Caroline Louise Gurr, a daughter of Wil- liam and Katherine (Keller) Gurr, deceased. Mrs. Cupp was born April 2, 1863. Mr. and Mrs. Cupp are the parents of the following named children : William, Henry, Sophia, Clara and Carl. All reside at home. Mrs. Cupp has three brothers and three sisters, as follows: William, August, Henry, Paul- ine, Wilhelmina and Mary, all of whom re- side in Germany.
BYRON P. TERRY (1877), a dealer in farm machinery at Balaton, is one of the pioneer residents of southern Lyon county and a man who has taken a prominent part in the affairs of his community. For over thirty-five years he has resided in Rock Lake township and Balaton.
Byron P. Terry was born at Berlin, Wis- consin. In the spring of 1877 the family set out from their Wisconsin home by ox-team . for the new land of Lyon county. They drove to Winona and then entrained for Mar- shall. The father bought the northeast quar- ter of section 20. Rock Lake township, hav- ing arrived at the new home on June 30, 1877. The father conducted the farm three years and then moved to St. Paul. At that time our subject bought the farm, and for the next fourteen years he engaged in farm- ing it.
After leaving the farm Mr. Terry moved to Balaton. His first occupation in the vil- lage was as a clerk in the hardware store of D. F. Sanders, which was conducted in the building in which Mr. Terry now carries on his business. For seven years he was on the road as a traveling salesman for machin- ery companies and for a time worked for the Laird-Norton Company. Later he conducted a livery barn for three years. In partner- ship with James Murrison, he bought Eng Brothers' hardware and implement business,
but two years later sold to his partner and again engaged in farming on his property two miles west of Balaton. He returned to the village one year later and in November, 1910, he bought his present business house and put in a new stock of implements. Be- sides his machinery business Mr. Terry is engaged in the conduct of his farm. For sixteen years he served as justice of the peace, giving up the office in 1904.
Mr. Terry was married in the village in which he has lived so long on July 17, 1880, to Inez L. Hamm, the eldest daughter of William Hamm, one of the county's pioneers. She was born at Painted Post, Pennsylvania. To these parents two children have been born, Guy E., of Haynes, North Dakota, and Maud M., who died in 1902, at the age of eight years.
The parents of our subject were Thomas L. and Margaret D. (Daniels) Terry, both natives of Syracuse, New York. They came West in an early day, Mr. Terry being the second settler in Berlin, Wisconsin. He was a newspaper man and founded the Berlin Courant, the first paper in that town. After living on his farm in Rock Lake township, Lyon county, two years, in 1879 he moved to St. Paul and took employment with the Horne & Danz Manufacturing Company, by whom he was still employed at the time of his death in September, 1891. He was sixty- five years old when he died. The mother of our subject died at Hennessey, Oklahoma, in 1904, at the age of seventy-one years.
There are five children in the family of Thomas L. and Margaret Terry, named as follows: Lucy (Mrs. E. T. Slayton), of St. Paul, Minnesota; Minnie (Mrs. Nathan Math- ews), of Poy Sippi, Wisconsin; Byron P., of this sketch; Mary (the wife of Dr. Austin F. Merrill), of Hennessey, Oklahoma; Mand M. (Mrs. Fred Chase), of Oakland, California.
OLAF DOVRE (1874) is a successful farmer and stock raiser of Eidsvold town- ship. He owns 520 acres of land in that precinct and has one of the township's finest farm homes. He has gained a reputation for his blooded stock, for which he has a ready sale. He raises pure-bred Shorthorn cattle and Duroc-Jersey and Poland China hogs. Excepting one year, Mr. Dovre has
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spent his entire life on the farm he now conducts.
His parents, Knud O. and Anna (Skaar) Dovre, were born in Norway and came to Lyon county in the spring of 1872. They were among the first settlers of Eidsvold township. Knud Dovre taking as a home- stead the land upon which his son now resides. The father of our subject died September 1, 1899; the mother lives with her son. The living children of the family are Ole, of Fessenden, North Dakota; Olať and Sarah, who resides with her brother in Eids- vold. The deceased children of the family were named Mary, Barbara and Ole.
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Olaf Dovre was born on the Eidsvold homestead August 9, 1874. He attended dis- trict school until eighteen years of age and worked for his father on the farm until the latter's death in 1899. He conducted the farm a year and a half after that and then purchased the interests of the other heirs. He has ably managed his affairs and is in. prosperous circumstances.
Mr. Dovre is a stockholder of and was formerly a director of the Farmers and Mer- chants Elevator Company of Minneota. He was a director of school district No. 55 for three years. He and his family are mem- bers of the Norwegian Lutheran church of Minneota and he holds membership in the Modern Woodmen lodge of the same village.
Anna Mary Rafting became the wife of Mr. Dovre at Elbow Lake, Minnesota, June 2, 1904. She was born in Lyon county No- vember 7, 1882, and is a danghter of Anton and Anna (Dovre) Rafling. The family came to Lyon county in 1880 and a few years later moved to Grant county, now living at Elbow Lake. Mr. and Mrs. Dovre's children are Karl Adolph, born January 2. 1908, and Alice Evelyn, born August 2, 1910.
JOSHUA GOODWIN (1872). An early set- tler of Lyon county and a man who has played a part in pioneer times is the gentle- man whose name heads this review. For an even forty years he has resided in this conn- ty, most of the time in the county seat en- gaged in contracting. He now lives a re- tired life, enjoying the fruits of his earlier activities.
Mr. Goodwin was born in Bay Deverte, New Brunswick, Canada, July 28, 1832, of
English stock. His paternal grandfather was an Englishman and served as a drummer boy in the battle of Waterloo. His father, Amos Goodwin, was born in Canada and died in 1845; his mother, Amanda (Brundage) Good- win, was also born in Canada and is de- ceased.
Until he was seventeen years of age Joshua Goodwin attended school in his native prov- ince; then he served an apprenticeship to the ship-builder's trade and worked at the trade for a number of years. In 1855, when he was twenty-three years of age, Mr. Good- win came to the States and until he en- listed in the army during the Civil War he worked at the carpenter's trade-eighteen months in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, until the fall of 1858 in Kinmundy, Illinois, and until 1860 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Then he returned to Illinois and in the spring of 1861 he enlisted as a private in an Illinois regiment. He became a lieutenant of Company B, Fortieth Illinois Volunteers, and served until the latter part of 1863, when on account of ill health he received an honorable discharge. After the war Mr. Goodwin resided in Illinois until 1872, re- covering his health.
In the spring of that year Mr. Goodwin came to Lyon county and took a homestead claim in Lynd township, which he still owns. He made his home on the claim a while and then took up his residence in Marshall. He spent one and one-half years near Sheridan, Montana, where he had charge of a mine for the Gold Mining and Milling Company of Chicago. Mr. Goodwin carried on a con- tracting and building business in Marshall until 1897, when he retired from active pur- suits. He is the owner of 360 acres of Lyon county real estate and property in Marshall.
During the grasshopper days of the seven- ties Mr. Goodwin did not lose faith in the country and was instrumental in keeping many of the discouraged settlers on their claims. He is a charter member of the Masonic lodge of Marshall.
Mr. Goodwin was married at Kinmundy, Illinois, February 14, 1865, to Dillie M. Pear- son, who was born in Mount Gilead, Ohio, July 4, 1847, and who died July 14, 1903. Her parents were natives of New Hampshire. Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin, as follows: Charles Prescott, born December 17, 1866; Eugene Hubbard, born
4
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June 1, 1869; Edna (Mrs. V. B. Seward), born November 22, 1870; Lonta, born October 31. 1873; Mehitable Whitney (Mrs. S. E. Whitmore), born February 26, 1877; Blanche (Mrs. Bert B. Dane), born June 26, 1880; Mell Augusta (Mrs. George A. Silvius), of Mineral Springs, North Dakota, and Grace (Mrs. John Peterson), of Faribault, Minne- sota, twins, born April 19, 1SS5; Harold and Edith, deceased.
FRANK E. BILLS (1872), of Lynd, is one of the pioneer residents of Lyon county. He is a native of Pennsylvania and was born February 13, 1845. He is the son of the late Henry and Electa (Dike) Bills, early resi- dents of Warren county, Pennsylvania. They immigrated to Somerset, Steele coun- ty, Minnesota, in 1856. The father was a native of New York and the mother of Vir- ginia.
Our subject received his early education in the land of his nativity. When twelve years of age he accompanied his parents to Steele county, Minnesota, where he worked for his father until twenty-two years of age. He then rented land for five years in Steele county, after which he came to Lyon county, in 1872. He took a pre-emption claim, which he held for five years, and then returned to Steele county in 1877 and farmed until 1882. That year he went to Denver, Colorado, where he remained until 1890, working at the carpenter's trade. In 1890 he returned to Lyon county and worked at the carpen- ter's trade for two years. He then worked at different towns in Minnesota at his trade until 1905, when he moved to Lynd.
In 1866 Mr. Bills was united in marriage to Ida Culver, a daughter of John Culver, of Steele county, Minnesota. Mrs. Bills was born in Wisconsin September 1S, 1850. Two children were born to this union: Mary Es- telle (Mrs. Frank Sutton), of Denver, Colo- rado, and Effie May (Mrs. Frank Riggs), of Los Angeles, California.
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