USA > Minnesota > Lyon County > An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota > Part 46
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Four years later our subject went to Rus- sell, then just being founded, and opened the first store. He conducted a general mercan- tile business and remained an active busi- ness man of the village until failing health caused him to turn over the conduct of his enterprise to his son, Lewis D., in the sum- mer of 1908. Mr. Skyhawk failed rapidly and died at his home in Russell March 18, 1910. Mr. Skyhawk was married October 25, 1886, to Rosa B. Hanks, of Amiret, and at his death left a widow and four children. The children's names are Lewis D., Belle, Frank and Mona.
Ephraim Skyhawk was a type of the bluff and hearty pioneer of the county's earliest days-one of those courageous men who had the fortitude to endure the privations of frontier life, the ability and disposition to conquer, and one whose happy disposition made him popular among his associates. He was a prominent Mason, being a mem- ber of Coteau Lodge of Russell, of Marshall Chapter, R. A. M., and of Marshall Com- mandery of the Knights Templar.
OLE AMUNDSON (1874) has lived in Eids- vold township all his life-thirty-eight years. His parents, Anund and Kari (Heggen) Amundson, were among the earliest settlers of the precinct. They came to the United States from Norway in the spring of 1869, lived in Iowa, later in Dodge county, Minne- sota, came to Lyon county in the spring of 1874, and took as a homestead claim the south half of the southwest quarter of sec- tion 24, Eidsvold township. .
Ole was born on the homestead November
28, 1874, and he resided with his parents un- til 1902. Then he was married and started farming for himself on the 120-acre farm on section 9 that he had bought several years before. His land is the south half of the northwest quarter and the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of the section. Mr. Amundson is clerk of school district No. 79 and he served as township treasurer thirteen years. He is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran church.
Helga Esping, born in Lyon county August 8, 1878, became the wife of Mr. Amundson November 20, 1902, the ceremony having been performed in Minneota. Her parents. Ole H. and Helga (Nelson) Esping, were born in Norway and were early settlers of Lyon county. The mother died in 1904: the father still lives in Eidsvold township.
Mr. and Mrs. Amundson have the following named five children: Hilda C., born August 25, 1903; Arthur O., born April 25, 1905: Earl J., born January 18, 1907; Newel M., born October 23, 1908; George A., born March 9, 1911.
HENRY MEEHL (1878), owner of the northwest quarter and the north half of the northeast quarter of section 11, Clifton town- ship, is one of the township's prosperous farmers.
Mr. Meehl was born in Sullivan county, Pennsylvania, December 15, 1856, and at the age of six years moved to Rice county, Min- nesota, with his parents, where the father took a homestead. Henry grew up on the farm in Rice county and when twenty-two years of age started out for himself. He came to Lyon county in 1878 and bought the southwest quarter of section 3 of the township in which he now resides. That place he farmed until 1900, when he sold out and bought his present farm. There he has since resided. He has improved the place and made it one of the finest farms in the region. Mr. Meehl raises a great deal of stock.
The subject of this sketch has been active in the township's affairs. He was a member of the Township Board several years and clerk for seventeen years. He was also township assessor four years and was for fifteen years treasurer of school district No. 42. Mr. Meehl is a shareholder and president
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of the Farmers Elevator Company of Milroy. He is a member of the A. O. U. W. lodge.
Henry Meehl was married in Marshall to Etta McElwee, the wedding occurring De- * cember 17, 1884. His wife was born in Indiana and died April 6, 1891. To this union the following children were born: Harry E., born September 25, 1885; Mae E., born May 2, 1887; and Eve E., born August 27, 1889.
Agnes Castle became the wife of our sub- ject March 9, 1893. She was a native of Illinois, and by her marriage to Mr. Meehl she became the mother of one child, Viola, born August 24, 1894. Mrs. Meehl was born November 29, 1868, and died April 2, 1896.
Mr. Meehl was married a third time, to Mrs. Bessie Graham, a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania. The wedding occurred May 30. 1901. She is a daughter of Eugene and Lydia (Brown) Jaques, natives of Pennsyl- vania. Her father is dead; her mother lives in New York State. Mrs. Meehl was born June 10, 1876. She and Mr. Meehl are the parents of six children, named Clyde E., Persey M., Dorothy, Ines, Gladys and Marvin.
Mr. Meehl's parents were Jacob and Hen- rietta (Peter) Meehl, natives of Germany. They came to America in 1851 and settled in Pennsylvania, where they pursued the occupation of farmers and where they re- sided until coming to Minnesota.
WARREN S. EASTMAN (1870) was the first veterinarian to locate in Marshall and has been practising his profession there for thirty-three years. He makes his headquar- ters at the City Drug Store.
Warren Eastman's father, T. S. Eastman, was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire, in 1815 and was married to Sarah Fifield, a native of Hill, of the same state. T. S. East- man and wife came to Lyon county in 1869 and filed on the southeast quarter of section 12, Lynd township, as a homestead, locat- ing on the place in the fall with a son Isaac V. T. S. Eastman was one of the organizers of the county, and the organization meeting was held in A. W. Muzzy's house in Lynd. Mr. Eastman was one of the county's first commissioners and was prominent in its early history. He died in 1SS0 and his wife in 1892.
The subject of this sketch was born at
Andover, New Hampshire, February 22, 1852. In 1864 the family moved to Wabasha coun- ty, Minnesota, and a year later he was sent East to school, attending the Old New York School's medical department in New York City. After a vacation of several months spent with his parents in Minnesota, War- ren returned to New York and took the veterinary course in the college. In 1872 he returned to Minnesota. At that time an epidemic of epizootic was creating havoc among horses from coast to coast and the young veterinarian found plenty of employ- ment.
Young Eastman remained on the home farm six years, practising his profession and helping on the farm. In 1879 he moved to Marshall, where he has since practised. In 1888 he bought the drug business of Shead & Richardson and conducted a drug store five years on the site of A. J. Gag's present drug store. He kept up his professional work during that time.
July 9, 1876, Warren S. Eastman married Emma Baldwin, a native of Warren, Warren county, Pennsylvania. Her family located in Lyon county in an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Eastman had one daughter, who died in March, 1893, aged fifteen years. An adopted daughter, Blanche, died November 9, 1910, aged nineteen years.
Isaac V. Eastman, the only other child of T. S. and Sarah (Fifield) Eastman, died in 1904. He had lived on the Eastman home- stead since coming to Lyon county with his father in 1869, and was conducting the farm, which he had bought from his father, at the time of his death. His widow and two daughters reside in Marshall.
WILLIAM H. GLOTFELTER (1874), owner of the northwest quarter of section 14, Rock Lake township, is the son of George A. and Emily A. (Weymouth) Glotfelter and was born in Vermont August 5, 1861. The father is dead and the mother is living with Wil- liam on the farm. William has two brothers living, George T., a mail carrier in Minne- apolis, and Charles W., of Waterville, Min- nesota, president of the Minnesota State Fair Board.
The parents of William Glotfelter were pioneers of Lyon county, coming here in the spring of 1874 and locating in Rock Lake
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township, where the father had taken a homestead. The family before coming to Lyon county had spent some time in Illinois and in Owatonna, Minnesota. William's early education was received in Illinois, and he later attended school in Owatonna and in the Rock Lake district, finishing his scholas- tic work at the age of twenty years.
In 1879 George A. Glotfelter died and his son William took up the management of the home farm after his schooling was com- pleted. He takes charge of additional land besides the old homestead, farms in all 216 acres, and raises stock. William has had care of the place during the last thirty years, with the exception of four years spent in St. Paul. Mr. Glotfelter has been clerk of school district No. 92 since 1892. He is a member of the M. W. A. lodge of Balaton.
Our subject's parents, among the early pioneers in the county, experienced the in- teresting and strenuous times of early days. Neighboring settlers were few and widely scattered. The winters were long and bit- ter, and younger residents do not realize the immense snowfall which was characteristic of many winters of thirty years ago. There were several years of grasshopper scourge. During those years George Glotfelter went to Owatonna and worked at the trade of blacksmith in the winter to keep up family expenses at home. While he was gone the family sometimes. ran out of flour and some member would drive eighty miles to New Ulm to bring back supplies. Johnny-cake and turnips formed the principal diet in the settlers' homes during such periods.
The elder Glotfelter conducted a black- smith shop on his farm and did work for the neighboring farmers, who often came with their work from miles around, and while Mr. Glotfelter did their blacksmithing the cus- tomers took his place in the field.
ARNI B. GISLASON (1879) is a member of the Minneota law firm of Gislason & Gis- lason, which was formed in January, 1911. He is a native of Iceland and was born Au- gust 6, 1877, a son of Bjorn and Adalborg (Johnsson) Gislason, both natives of the northland.
When two years of age Arni accompanied his parents to Lyon county, the family lo- cating on section 11, Westerheim township.
There Arni grew up and received his early education. After graduating from the Mar- shall High School, he moved to Minneota in 1898 and engaged in the hardware business three years with his brother, Walter, under the firm name of Gislason Brothers. He then took a one year academic course and spent two years studying law at the Uni- versity of Minnesota. In 1902 he entered the Globe Land & Loan Company and has since been identified with that institu- tion as secretary and treasurer. In Febru- ary, 1911. he was admitted to the bar and became a member of the law firm above men- tioned at Minneota.
Mr. Gislason is a member of the Masonic, Maccabee and M. W. A. lodges. He is clerk of the Board of Education of Minneota and was a member of the Village Council and village recorder for several terms.
On September 30, 1906, our subject was married to Cora S. Eastman, a native of Yellow Medicine county, Minnesota. They are the parents of three children: Arlon B., Anna G. and a baby boy.
ANDERS E. RYE (1878) is a pioneer set- tler of Nordland township and a man who has taken a prominent part in the affairs of his precinct. He is the owner of a half of section 34 and is rated among the sub- stantial men of western Lyon county. When he came to the county thirty-four years ago he was withont means and his present posi- tion has been gained by his own unaided ef- forts.
In Vallers, Norway, on May 6. 1858, An- ders E. Rye was born, a son of Esten and Marit (Ranum) Rye. He was given an edu- cation in his native land and at the age of twenty years, in 1878, he severed home ties and came alone to America. His home has ever since that time been in Lyon county. For two years he worked on the railroad and in 1880 he took as a pre-emption claim the southwest quarter of section 34, Nord- land township.
Not having the means with which to im- prove the claim, Anders continued working out and turned the management of his claim over to his father, who had come from the old country in 1879. Later he moved to the farm and has since had his home there. He has prospered and in 1890 he added to his
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holdings by the purchase of the northeast quarter of section 34. The farm is well im- proved and Mr. Rye has a fine home. He engages in stock raising and makes a spe- cialty of Poland China hogs. He has stock in the Farmers Elevator Company of Min- neota. For twenty years he served as a member of the Nordland Township Board of Supervisors and for several years he was a member of the school board of his district. Mr. Rye and his family are members of the Norwegian Lutheran church.
Sarah Dovre became the wife of Mr. Rye at Canby on July 14, 18SS. She was born in Vallers, Norway, December 2, 1866, a daugh- ter of Ole and Ragnild Dovre, both of whom died in the old country. Mr. and Mrs. Rye have nine children, as follows: Maria O., Esten, Otto, Alma, Clara, Ragnild, Agnes and Lillian, twins; and Sophia.
SIGFINN GOODMUND (1878) is a farmer and land owner of Lyons township who has spent nearly his entire life in Lyon and Lin- coln counties. He is the owner of the north- west quarter of section 22 and forty acres on secton 15.
Mr. Goodmund was born in Iceland May 1, 1870, the son of Gudmund and Ingeborg (Torkuldson) £ Asmondson. When ẹight years old, in 1878, he came to America with his parents and direct to Lyon county. The family spent the following winter near Min- neota and the next spring took a homestead on section 6, Lake Stay township, Lincoln county. On that farm our subject grew to manhood, and in the nearby district school he received his education. He worked for a number of years, but when he reached his majority, in 1891, he bought his farm in Lyons township and has lived there ever since.
Our subject raises lots of stock in addi- tion to his general farming. He owns stock in the Farmers Elevator Company of Rus- sell and for five years has served as a direc- tor of school district No. 10. He is a mem- ber of the Workmen lodge.
In Lyons township, on June S, 1892, Mr. Goodmund was united in marriage to May Fifield. She was born in Wabasha county, Minnesota, April 25, 1870, and is the daugh- ter of Ira and Emma (Rueber) Fifield, na- tives, respectively, of New Hampshire and
New York. Mr. and Mrs. Goodmund have three children, as follows: Ira S., born April 11, 1893; Oscar J., born December 24, 1894; Carrie M., born March 30, 1896.
C. F. CASE (1874) is one of the pioneer residents of Lyon county and a highly re- spected citizen of Marshall. He is an ex- receiver of the United States Land Office and a pioneer journalist of Southwestern Minnesota. He has taken an active part in the development of his home city and has erected several of its business blocks. He erected the Messenger Block as agent and put up and owns the brick store building adjoin- ing the opera house on the west and the Case Block, in which the Reporter has its home. He also owns the opera house build- ing at Ivanhoe, Minnesota, and farm land in Red Lake county.
The subject of this biography was born in South Manchester, Connecticut, November 1, 1839. When he was about fifteen years of age he accompanied his parents to Waterloo, Iowa, where his parents died soon after, throwing him upon his own resources. After securing a high school education, he taught school three years and then for one year was a student in Beloit ( Wisconsin) College. Then the Civil War began, and young Case . left college to fight for his country. He served as an enlisted man in Company B, of the Fortieth Wisconsin Infantry. He was discharged from the army in 1864 and be- came a student at the University of Michi- gan, from which he was graduated with the class of 1868.
Shortly after his graduation, Mr. Case bought the Clarksville, Iowa, Star and entered upon a journalistic career. He pub- lished the Star five years and then spent one year in California. Returning to Iowa, he edited the Waverly Republican two years. He disposed of that paper in 1874 and in December of that year arrived in Marshall. He bought of J. C. Ervin the Prairie Schooner, which had been founded by Mr. Ervin in 1873 and was the first paper pub- lished in the county. Mr. Case changed the name of the journal to Marshall Messenger and presided over its destinies until 1882, when he sold the paper to C. C. Whitney. Five years later Mr. Case founded the Lyon County Reporter and edited the paper until
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1899, when he turned the management over to his son Frank Case.
Just before retiring from the newspaper business Mr. Case was made receiver of the United States Land Office, which was then located at Marshall, and served five years. Thereafter he engaged in the mercantile busi- ness at Herman, Minnesota, until the spring of 1910, when he again became a resident of Marshall. Mr. Case served as mayor of Mar- shall in 1884 and for several years was presi- dent of the Marshall Library Association. He is a member of D. F. Markham Post, G. A. R.
The marriage of Mr. Case to Fannie Waller occurred at Shellsburg, Iowa, November 6, 1872. Mrs. Case is a native of Illinois. They have three children, Frank W., Fred H. and Dorothy A.
IVER NELSON (1876) is the owner and manager of a 209-acre farm on section 2, Lucas township. He has made his home on that farm thirty-six years, having moved there with his parents when two and one- half years of age. He has made a success of farming and stock raising and is one of the influential men of his precinct.
His parents were pioneers of Minnesota and of Lyon county. Iver Nelson, the father, was born in Norway, came to America in 1845, and shortly afterward enlisted in the army and fought in the war with Mexico. He served five years in the army and during the late forties was stationed at Fort Snell- ing, Minnesota. Later Mr. Nelson was a resident of Wisconsin and later still of Fill- more county, Minnesota. He located in Yellow Medicine county in an early day, and in the spring of 1876 he came with his family to Lyon county, purchased a homestead right to the farm now conducted by his son in Lucas township, and resided there until his death in 1895 at the age of eighty years. Aase (Frygne) Nelson, our subject's mother, was also born in Norway; she died in Lyon county in 1889.
Besides our subject there are six other children in the Nelson family, as follows: Nicholas, of Ada, Minnesota; Thomas, of Williams county, North Dakota; Henry, of Lucas township; Martha (Mrs. Thomas Joel), of Canada; Anna (Mrs. Erick Roti), of Val-
lers township; and Caroline (Mrs. John Prestegaard), of Yellow Medicine county.
Iver Nelson of this review was born in Yellow Medicine county October 2, 1873. He was brought with the family to Lyon county in 1876 and has ever since lived on the farm in Lucas township. He attended the district school until eighteen years of age and then took a one-term course in Will- mar Seminary. He worked for his father until he attained his majority and in the fall of 1894 assumed control of the farm, of which he later became the owner.
For a number of years Mr. Nelson was a member of the Lucas Township Board of Supervisors, part of the time being chairman, has been township treasurer the past three years, has been clerk of school district No. 19 for the past twelve years, and was road overseer one year. He is a member of Silo Norwegian Lutheran Church of Cotton wood.
Iver Nelson was married in Yellow Medi- cine county December 1, 1897, to Mary Cole. His wife is a native of Columbia county, Wisconsin, and was born January 9, 1872. Her parents, Lars and Johanna (Dahl) Cole, were pioneer settlers of Yellow Medicine county. The father still lives in that county, at the age of seventy-eight years; the mother died in 1893.
Six children have been born to Iver Nel- son and his wife, their names and dates of births being as follows: Lloyd Ingren, born November 13, 1898; Arthur Joseph (de- ceased), born November 10, 1900; Herbert Ray, born November 24, 1902; Wilbur Ver- nand, born June 2, 1905; Morris Norman, born November 10, 1907; Kenneth Joseph, born February 23, 1910.
ANTON LORANZ (1874) is a homesteader and early settler of Lyon county. He owns 360 acres of land in Sodus township and lie and his sons farm the entire tract.
Mr. Loranz was born in Germany in Sep- tember, 1839, and he lived in the Fatherland until 1871. Coming to America that year, he spent the next three years in Wisconsin, working as a farm laborer and on the rail- road. He came to Lyon county in 1874 and took as a homestead claim the southwest quarter of section 26, Sodus township, and on that place he has ever since lived. He added his other land later by purchase.
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The subject of this biography was married in Sodus township in 1883 to Amelia Olson. She was born in Sweden September 16, 1848, the daughter of Joahn and Anna M. Olson. She came to America with the fam- ily in 1881 and settled in Sodus township. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Loranz, named as follows: Daniel, born March 21, 1884; John, born August 25, 1SS5; James, born June 4, 1892; Annie M., born February S, 1889.
JOHN L. CRAIG (1872). On the south- east quarter of section 14, Monroe township, adjoining the city of Tracy, stands a little 12x14 hut, weather-beaten and worn but still enduring after forty years. Also on the place stands a modern and commodious resi- dence which is in accord with the well-kept up-to-date farm of the owner. Attending personally to the management of the place is its owner, John L. Craig, veteran of the Civil War and one of the early settlers of this county, who only a few months ago celebrated his seventy-sixth birthday.
There was no Tracy when Mr. Craig came to the county in the spring of 1872 and home- steaded the quarter on which he now resides and there was no railroad running so far west at that time. The lumber for the little house which still stands on the farm was hauled from Marshall and this small hut, built from rough boards, was Mr. Craig's home for the next three years. In the fall of 1872 the railroad was built. Until 1875 there was no station, the trains stopping a mile east of the present townsite at a place called Shetek Crossing. In 1875 and for a year after, trains used the warehouse of Neil Currie for a station, and Mr. Craig was the first station agent. The town was then called Big Bend. When he first came to the county Mr. Craig's only neighbors were Ed. Healy and David Stafford, who lived on Lake Sigel, two miles south, and Ed. Starr, whose homestead was a mile east. These were all, except a few families on the Cot- tonwood river.
Those early days were strenuous ones for the pioneers. When the grasshoppers were destroying the crops in Southwestern Minne- sota in the seventies Mr. Craig went to Olm- sted county and worked to support his fam- ily, while they remained in Lyon county on
the homestead. During the first years of Tracy's history Mr. Craig started the first livery stable, in 1877. Before the railroads entered Pipestone Mr. Craig had the con- tract for carrying the mails from Tracy to Flandreau, South Dakota. His son John made the trips and a relief team was kept at Haycock Prairie, near Pipestone. After running the livery stable for a few years Mr. Craig sold out and took up farm work. He had always made his home on the farm, even when he was at work in the village.
Our subject was born in Eymouth, Scot- land, January 10, 1836, and in 1854 he came to the United States and first settled in Waukesha county, Wisconsin, where he farmed for United States Senator I. P. Walker. Working there until the fall of 1861, he moved to Olmsted county, Minne- sota, and continued farming until he enlisted in 1864. He served actively in the field until the battle of Guntown, Mississippi, where 'he was taken prisoner, and thereafter he was confined in prison until the close of the war. Returning to his Olmsted county home, Mr. Craig took up the management of the farm and in 1872 came West and took the homestead where he has since lived.
On August 12, 1858, in the town of Pal- myra, Wisconsin, John L. Craig was married to Jeffery Craig, a native of her husband's old home in Scotland. Mrs. Craig was a helping partner through the stern years of frontier life. There are seven children liv- ing, Oliver L., John A., Douglas W., Arthur L., Carrie M., Cora B. and Jennie J. One child, Lillie D., is deceased.
Mr. Craig was a charter member of Joe Hooker Post No. 15, G. A. R., and was one of its early commanders and its first adju- tant.
THORE K. THOMPSON (1877), a prosper- ous farmer of Westerheim township, was born in Vallers, Norway, April 22, 1859, and is a son of Knut and Annie (Olson) Thomp- son.
When he was nine years of age Thore came to America with his parents and the family settled in Dane county, Wisconsin. There they remained until 1877, when they moved to Lyon county and took a homestead on the northwest quarter of section 2, West- erheim township. There our subject grew to
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