USA > Minnesota > Lyon County > An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota > Part 51
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They were pioneer settlers of the township and prominent in its social, business and political affairs. There are five living chil- dren of the family.
EDWARD ANDERSON (1879) is one of the early day settlers of Shelburne township, having lived continuously on the one farm for a third of a century. His home is on section 5, a couple of miles north of Florence.
Mr. Anderson was born in Norway Feb- ruary 14, 1848, and he lived in his native land until attaining his majority. He came to America in 1869 and lived ten years in Fillmore county, Minnesota. Upon his ar- rival to Lyon county in 1879 he purchased from the railroad company the west half of the southeast quarter of section 5, Shel- burne township, and later he bought the west half of the northeast quarter of section 8. He was the purchaser of the first rail- road land sold in the township and it cost him $4.00 per acre.
When he came to make his home in Shel- burne township it was largely prairie land. the township had not been organized, and the nearest postoffice was Marshfield, on Lake Benton. His first home was a little 14x16 feet shack. He has prospered and be- come one of the substantial farmers of the community.
Mr. Anderson has served as a member of both the Board of Supervisors of his town- ship and of his school district. The credit for the establishment of rural mail route No. 2 out of Tyler belongs to Mr. Ander- son, he having spent time and money in bringing about the service. He also assisted in securing the establishment of the first telephone line in the vicinity. Mr. Ander son is a member of the Masonic, Woodmen and Workmen lodges.
Edward Anderson is the oldest child in a family of six children born to Andrew and Karen (Evenson) Christenson, who came to America in the seventies and died in their adopted country. The other children of the family are Karen (Mrs. Bore Larson). of Florence; Evan Berg, Christina (Mrs. Hans Benson), of Shelburne: Andrew Anderson Berg and Carl Anderson.
Our subject is a man of family. He was married in Fillmore county, Minnesota. August 7, 1869, to Mathea Johnson, a native
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of Norway. As a result of this union seven children have been born, as follows: Karen (Mrs. Chris Miller), Olaus, Amelia (Mrs. W. Innes), of Tracy; Anton. of Florence; Edwin, Martin and John, who reside at home.
ORVIN J. REA (1877) is editor and pro- prietor of the Tracy Weekly Herald and a former postmaster of that city. He is an old-time newspaper man of Lyon county and has devoted his entire life to the printing and publishing business. He has taken a leading part in the affairs of his county and city and is rated one of Tracy's most pro- gressive citizens.
In Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on March 7, 1862, occurred the nativity of Orvin J. Rea. He is one of a family of eight children, the others being Ida (deceased), Art A., Lilly (deceased), Merch C., Clyde W. (deceased), Pearl E. and Jesse G. The parents of these children were James A. and Lucinda (Bar- ber) Rea, the former born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and the latter near Akron, Ohio. They were pioneers of Osh- kosh, having settled there in the fifties. The father died March 31, 1894; the mother August 20, 1883.
In the spring of 1870 Orvin accompanied his parents from Oshkosh to Sparta, Wiscon- sin, and there he spent his boyhood days. He was educated in the Sparta High School and among his classmates were John J. Esch, now a congressman; James Gillette, later governor of California; Judge Bunn and other men distinguished later in life. After his school days young Rea worked at the printer's trade for a time in the office of the Monroe County Republican and in 1877 he accompanied his parents to Lyon county and located with them in Marshall.
When the Lyon County News was estab- lished in Marshall by Todd & Edes in the spring of 1879 he became the first printer on that paper, and a little later he went to Currie, then the county seat of Murray coun- ty, and accepted a position on the Currie Pioneer. He removed to Marshall in the win- ter of 1881 and for the next three and one- half years worked for C. F. Case on the Marshall Messenger. He had charge of the Temperance Review job office at Minne- apolis for a time, worked over a year for C. C. Whitney on the Marshall News-Mes-
senger, and spent one summer in Chicago, working in printing offices and as a substi- tute printer on the Times when Story was the editor.
It was in February, 1885, that Mr. Rea located in Tracy and first became a pub- lisher. At that time he bought the Tracy Trumpet in partnership with Harry C. Buck- ingham. Six months later the firm was dis- solved and Mr. Rea became sole proprietor, continuing the publication until 1892, when he sold to V. W. Lothrop. In September, 1894, Mr. Rea founded the Tracy Weekly Herald and has ever since conducted it.
During his long residence in Tracy Mr. Rea has been identified with many local enterprises. He was made postmaster dur- ing the second administration of President Cleveland and served a four-year term, and he was president of the City Council in 1892. He was one of the organizers of the Tracy Saving and Loan Association, was elected its first president, and has ever since held that office. He was also one of the incor- porators of the Houston Pen Company, formed to manufacture the fountain pen in- vented by W. H. Houston, of Tracy.
Mr. Rea is a man of family. He was mar- ried at Tracy on May 19, 1888, to Clara I. Bates. She was born in Dudley, Massa- chusetts, and is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Allen Bates, who homesteaded land in Mon- roe township in 1876. Six children-three boys and three girls-have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Rea, as follows: Nona, Elgin A., Doris, Noel B., Lois and Leon D.
NIELS F. LARSON (1883) is the pro- prietor of a general merchandise store at Lynd, carrying dry goods, groceries, crock- ery, glassware, shoes, etc. He has been a resident of Lyon county since he was four- teen years old, and until buying the store in the present year he has been engaged in farming.
Mr. Larson was born in Denmark on the last day of the year 1869, the son of Peter and Stine (Peterson) Larson, now resi- dents of Nordland township. In 1883 he came to America with his parents, and his first home in the New World was in the old town of Lynd. For two seasons he herded cattle and then for several years he worked out as a farm hand.
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BIOGRAPHICAL IIISTORY.
In 1893 Mr. Larson was married and started farming for himself. For two years he rented land in Lyons township and then he bought the northwest quarter of section 2 of that township. On that place he farmed and made his home until 1910. He then moved to section 33, Lynd township, having bought 200 acres of land there the year before, and his home is still there. In May, 1912, he traded 431 acres of land in Lyons and Lynd townships for the stock of goods in Lynd and is now in charge of the store. He also conducts his farm on section 33 and raises and ships cattle. He raises thoroughbred Polled Angus cattle and Duroc-Jersey hogs. His farm is a place of great historic interest, having been the place designated as the first county seat of Lyon county, known as Upper Lynd. There the first court house was built and there Rev. Ellis had his store.
In the city of Marshall, on March 15, 1893, Mr. Larson was married to Lottie G. Watson. She is a native of the county and was born July 4, 1874. Her parents, Gordon and Mary Watson, natives of Ohio, were among the very early settlers of Lyon county. Mr. Watson came in 1869 and took as a homestead claim the northwest quarter of section 2, Lyons township. The family moved to the claim the following year and lived in the county until their deaths. The following named seven chil- dren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lar- son : Oliver G., Olive F., Iva E., Ida P., Elva M., Loyal W. and Ruth.
FERDINAND AMUNDSON (1878), farmer of Nordland township, is a native of Lyon county and a son of pioneer settlers, Gre- gar and Annie (Furgeson) Amundson. He was born in the township of Nordland March 9, 1878, received a district school education, and grew to manhood on his father's homestead. Two years were spent working in the Furgeson blacksmith shop in Minneota; except that he has always lived in his native township. In the fall of 1911 he rented the west half of the southwest quarter of section 27 from his father and started farming. He now has charge of a 160-acre farm and is meeting with success.
Mr. Amundson was married in Island Lake township June 27, 1905, to Cora Christenson. She was born in that town- ship May 17, 1884, and is a daughter of Peter and Alma (Russel) Christenson. Her parents were born in Denmark and Wis- consin, respectively, and now live in Island Lake township. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Amundson, as fol- lows: Vivian, born April 11, 1907; Arlo, born June 10, 1908; and Laneda, born Oc- tober 13, 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Amundson are members of the Norwegian Lutheran church of Minneota.
OLUF ANDERSON (1876) has been a continuous resident of Monroe township, on the southeast quarter of section 28, since his birth on February 26, 1876. His par- ents, Ole and Thora (Olson Bjerkrud) An- derson, were both natives of Norway and came to America in 1869, residing in Fill- more county, Minnesota, two years before locating in Lyon county, on the land which Oluf now owns. The trip from Fillmore county was made in a prairie schooner, and most of the summer of 1871 was spent in looking for a suitable location.
Oluf received his education in the coun- try schools of the township and at the age of fifteen completed his schooling, but remained on the farm, helping his father. At the age of twenty-three he rented the place and in company with his brother Anton ran the farm, afterward renting it . alone until coming into full ownership when his father died. He has since been successfully managing the farm and en- gaging in stock raising.
The marriage of Oluf Anderson and Ida Amalia Anderson occurred October 30, 1901. To this union were born three chil- dren: Oscar Edgar, born July 6, 1902; Ruth Christine, born June 12, 1904; and Theodore Arthur, born December 3, 1905. Mrs. Anderson is also a native of Lyon county and was born October 13, 1882, a daughter of Ellef and Christi Anderson, pioneer settlers of Monroe township.
Mr. Anderson is a member of the Farm- ers Club of Tracy, and belongs to the Nor- wegian Lutheran church of Monroe town- ship. One sister of our subject is living, Bertha (Mrs. H. C. Olson), of Petersburg, North Dakota. His mother died in 1909.
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
CHARLES F. TIBBIT (1873), a well-to- do farmer of Island Lake township, was born in Wabasha county, Minnesota, No- vember 12, 1861. He lived on the Tibbit farm in that county twelve years, and dur- ing that time received several years' school- ing in the district.
When the boy was twelve years of age, in 1872, his parents moved to Lyon county, Minnesota, and the father took as a home- stead the south half of the south half of section 6, Island Lake township, and there Charles finished his education and assisted his father with the farm work. At the age of twenty years he bought a pre-emp- tion claim of eighty acres on section 8, later changed it to a homestead, and proved up on the same. He has since lived on the place and has recently pur- chased an additional eighty acres on sec- tion 6 and eighty acres on section 5, mak- ing him the owner of 240 acres of the township's best land. He has devoted much time to the raising of Durham cattle and Poland China hogs. Mr. Tibbit has a fine home.
The subject of this sketch was married in Lyon county to Eliza McCurdy, the wed- ding occurring March 25, 1884. She was born in New York and is a daughter of James and Anna McCurdy. Four children have been born to the union: Lee E., Mae E., Ada C. and Flora A.
Mr. Tibbit was clerk of school district . No. 45 twenty years and is now a member of the township board.
FREDERICK K. WEIKLE (1878), prominent in the life of the town for more than thirty years, is a retired business man of Marshall. During the last ten years Mr. Weikle has erected four residences in the city, all of which are occupied by ten- ants. He looks after this property and oversees the work on his farm in Stanley township. The Weikles are members and active attendants of the Congregational church.
Our subject is a son of David and Sarah ( Harnais) Weikle, natives of Germany and Maine, respectively. He was born in Al- lentown, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, March 7, 1843. The father was a butcher and Fred learned the business at an early
age. When the war broke out he enlisted at Philadelphia as a team driver in the Ninth New York Battery for three months' service. Later he served as watchman for the government over the warehouses and docks at Acqui Landing on the Potomac, eventually joining the civil engineer corps and driving teams until the close of the war. Returning home after the war, our subject was in the cattle and hog business for six months and then went to Chicago and ran a butcher shop for a Chicago firm.
Mr. Weikle left Chicago in 1866 and re- turned to his native town. November 10, 1866, he married Barbara Kinckiner, of Mertztown, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Henry and Julia Ann (Pierpont) Kincki - ner, the ceremony taking place at Allen- town. He then engaged in the tobacco manufacturing business for a few years, later opened another butcher shop, sold out in 1876, and went to Dixon, Illinois, for the winter. The next spring he worked for his brother in Plainview, Minnesota.
In the spring of 1878 Mr. Weikle moved to Marshall and bought a little frame build- ing on the present site of Richtmyer's pool hall, in which he conducted a meat mar- ket several years. Mr. Weikle then con- ducted a shop in Redfield, South Dakota, one year. Returning to Marshall, he opened a shop on the north side of Main street and when the Great Northern road came he took the contract for furnishing the construction crews with meat, which he held until the road reached Sioux Falls. Then he went to Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky, and was meat contractor for the L. & N. railroad two years. Return- ing to Marshall, Mr. Weikle bought the brick building he now owns, and his son Harry ran a market there for a time. Mr. Weikle meanwhile engaged in buying and shipping stock, a business which he fol- lowed until ten years ago, when he retired from active work.
Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Weikle are the parents of the following children: Harry O. and Frank M., of Sturgis, Saskatchewan, Canada; George E., of Dickinson, North Dakota; Anna L. (Mrs. Harry Addison), of Marshall; and Malcolm T., cashier of the First National Bank of Pelican Rapids, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Weikle also brought up from infancy the two sons of
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
Mrs. Weikle's sister, Margaret Crabtree, who died in Marshall when the boys were little. The boys are Sam H. and Will T. Crabtree, now of Enid, Montana.
HENRY NELSON (1876), a farmer of Lucas township and a continuous resident of the county since 1876, was born in Fill- more county, Minnesota, March 20, 1870, and is a son of Evar and Aase (Olson) Nelson, both of whom are now deceased.
The parents were natives of Norway, and some idea of the times in which they immigrated to this country can be gained from the fact that Mr. Nelson was on the ocean nineteen weeks when coming to this country. He landed in New Orleans in 1845 and served five years in the Mexican War, afterwards coming North and lo- cating in Wisconsin. On his journey he visited St. Anthony Falls, Minnesota, and at that time Minnesota was still a terri- tory and there was a single store on the present site of St. Paul. Evar Nelson was married in Wisconsin, and after a few years' residence in Fillmore county, Min- nesota, he moved to Western Minnesota and purchased land in Yellow Medicine county and resided there four years.
In the spring of 1876 the Nelson family came to Lyon county and took a home- stead in Lucas township. There the par- ents resided until their deaths, and the old homestead is now operated by their son Iver. The subject of this sketch came to Lyon county with his parents when six years old, and he attended the district schools until seventeen years of age. Aft- erward the boy helped his father until twenty-two years of age and then engaged in farming for himself on the place which he now owns, the northeast quarter of section 11. He has a well-improved place and is making a decided success of stock raising in addition to his general farming. Mr. Nelson has served several years as assessor of the township, as a director of school district No. 19, and for several years he was road overseer.
On November 11, 1891, our subject was married at Cottonwood to Minnie Preste- gaard. a native of Yellow Medicine county. She was born November 18, 1871. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are the parents of the
following children: Adelia Louise, born October 24, 1893; Gerhardt, born June 29, 1895; Hulda, born November 16, 1897; and Rudolph, born December 5, 1899. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are members of Silo Nor- wegian Lutheran Church of Cottonwood.
PETER ELBERS (1883). One of the old residents of Lyon county and a mer- chant of Ghent is Peter Elbers. He came to Lyon county in 1883 and spent several years working on farms near Ghent. He then went to Marshall and in partnership with Will Boerboom conducted a meat market three years. Returning to Ghent, he opened a meat market, later adding a stock of merchandise, and has since con- ducted the business.
Peter Elbers is a son of Theodore and Johanna (Tichlovan) Elbers and was born December 13, 1853, in Holland. There are seven children in this family living, namely: Bernard, Dena, Mena, Dora and Johanna, all of whom reside in Holland, and Peter, of this sketch. A daughter, Mary, is deceased. The parents died in the old country. Our subject is a mem- ber of the Catholic church and the Cath- olic Order of Foresters. He owns the southwest quarter of section 12, Amiret township, a quarter section of land near Aberdeen, South Dakota, and several buildings and lots in the village of Ghent.
On July 3, 1889, Rosa Lee Decock be- came the wife of Mr. Elbers at Ghent. She is a native of Belgium. Mr. and Mrs. El- bers are the parents of four children, as follows: Annie, Leo, John and Henry. Another child, Mary, died in infancy.
OLE E. RYE (1879), one of the large land owners of Eidsvold township and a successful farmer of that precinct, has lived in Lyon county since he was a child eight and one-half years of age. He has taken a leading part in the affairs of his community and is rated among the sub- stantial men of north western Lyon county. Hle started without a dollar and has won his way to the top. He is the owner of 560 acres of land in the township, on sec- tions 22, 23 and 33. For a number of years he farmed his entire holdings, but
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
the present year he has rented out a part of his land.
The parents of our subject, Esten and Margaret (Ranon) Rye, came to Lyon county from Norway in 1879 and took as a homestead claim the southwest quarter of section 34, Nordland township, where they have ever since resided. He is eighty-seven years old and she is eighty- one. There are in the family the follow- ing named six children: Andrew E., who farms the old homestead; Annie (Mrs. Charles Furgeson), of. Barnes county, North Dakota; Inger (Mrs. O. O. Dovre), of Eidsvold; Mary (Mrs. A. B. Ruksted), of Florence, South Dakota; Julia (Mrs. Harry W. Hecket), of Spokane, Washing- ton; and Ole E., of this review.
Ole E. Rye was born at Norde Urdhal, Valdres, Norway, December 7, 1870. He came to America and to Lyon county with his parents in 1879 and until he was sev- enteen years old lived on the Nordland township homestead. In 1887 and 1888 he was in Barnes county, North Dakota, working on farms. Returning to .Lyon county in the fall of 1888, he rented the farm in Eidsvold where he now lives, the southeast quarter of section 22. Two years later he bought the farm, and he has since added to his holdings until he has become one of the largest land owners of the pre- cinct.
Seventeen years ago Mr. Rye was elected a member of the Township Board of Su- pervisors and served two years. Eight years ago he was again elected to the of- fice and has held it continuously since, hav- ing been chairman of the board four years of that time. For the past two years he has been a member of the Lyon County Republican Committee. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen lodge and of the Norwegian Lutheran church of Minneota.
Inger Swennes became the wife of Ole E. Rye on June 28, 1894, the ceremony taking place at the Swennes home in Eids- vold township. Mrs. Rye was born in Nor- way and came to America with her par- ents when a child. The family lived in Wisconsin five years and came to Lyon county in 1876, taking homestead and tree claims in Eidsvold township. Ole A. and Ingred Swennes, her parents, are de- ceased. Eight children have been born to
Mr. and Mrs. Rye. They are Knute, Er- nest O., Harold, Ida, Lloyd, Evelyn, Bjorn and Mabel.
JAMES McGINN (1881), of Minneota, is a dealer in real estate, makes loans and writes insurance. He is a member of the Board of County Commissioners, an office to which he was elected in November. 1910. James McGinn was born in Ire- land on January 11, 1863. His birth in Ireland came about in this way: His father and mother, who were natives of Ireland, came to America when children and settled in New York City, where they were married. In 1863 they returned to Ireland to take charge of the old home place and while in that country the sub- ject of this review was born.
Before returning to the United States Mr. and Mrs. McGinn, Sr., visited Scotland and England. They again located in New York City, but in 1867 moved to Califor- nia, where they resided until 1872, at which time they returned to New York City. The family remained in the metrop- olis until 1881, when they moved to Lyon county, locating near Minneota. The par- ents of our subject were Patrick and Sarah (McBeth) McGinn. They settled on a farm in Westerheim township, where the father was accidently killed in 1889; the mother died the following spring.
James McGinn received his early edu- cation in New York and when eighteen years of age accompanied his parents to Lyon county, where he assisted his par- ents on the farm until 1892. That year he moved to Minneota, where he conducted a general store four years, during which time he was postmaster. After his term expired he went to Flandreau, South Da- kota, where he worked a year. Then he returned to Minneota and opened a cigar factory. In 1908 Mr. McGinn disposed of the factory and engaged in the real estate, loan and insurance business with Anton Heymans, the firm name being Heymans & McGinn.
When a young man and before he had left the farm for good, Mr. McGinn con- ducted a cigar factory at Spencer, Iowa, which he sold in 1889. He also worked one and one-half years in a cigar factory at Watertown, South Dakota.
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
Mr. McGinn was married at Minneota on June 20, 1893, to Margaret Kiley, a native of Canada and a daughter of James Kiley, who settled in Lincoln county in 1881. Mr. and Mrs. McGinn are the parents of the following five children: Patrick, a gradu- ate of the Minneota High School; James, Ellen, Sarah, Arthur.
Mr. MeGinn is a member of the Minneota School Board and was president of the Village Council in 1907. He is a member of the M. W. A., Yeomen and K. C. lodges.
W. R. GREGG (1880) is one of the early business men of Lynd and postmas- ter of that village the past seventeen years. Mr. Gregg is a native of Vermont and was born at Valatia July 30, 1854, a son of Rev. Oren C. and Betsey (Mosher) Gregg, natives of Vermont. Our subject spent his early days in several places in Ver- mont, accompanying his parents to the dif- ferent pastorates which his father held. He received a good education, attending high school, the Montpelier, Vermont, Sem- inary and Fort Edward Institute of New York. His father died in 1902 and the mother in the fall of 1879.
In 1880 Mr. Gregg, at the age of twenty- six years, came to Lyon county, to the farms of his brothers, O. C. and Leslie Gregg, in Lynd township. His first sum- mer in the county was spent working at the carpenter's trade. He worked for F. S. Wetherbee at Marshall for a short time and then went to Minneapolis for a short sojourn.
Returning to Lyon county, Mr. Gregg conducted a store at Camden for Fred Healy, of Marshall, later buying it and running it for five years. The following eight years he was employed on the Coteau Farm in Lynd township. In November, 1895, he moved to Lynd and purchased the F. W. Cowham store, which he has since conducted. His commission as postmaster dates from January, 1896.
Mr. Gregg has two half-brothers, Oren C., of Lynd township, and David A., of Boston, Massachusetts. He is unmarried.
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