USA > Minnesota > Lyon County > An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota > Part 56
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When three years of age our subject accompanied his parents to the United States and made settlement at Le Sueur, Minne- sota, in 1867. In 1869 the family moved to
Yellow Medicine county and made settle- ment on a homestead. Our subject resided on the place with his parents until 1881. In the latter year he moved to Marshall and has made his home there since. The fol- lowing spring he began clerking for John G. Schutz in a general store and was with him eight or nine years. He then went to Cottonwood and had charge of a branch store for Mr. Schutz there until 1890, when he returned to Marshall.
On his return to the county seat, Mr. Hollo formed a partnership with John H. Schnei- der and engaged in business under the firm name of Schneider & Hollo; five years later they took in Mr. Schutz as a partner. The latter continued a member of the firm three years and then sold. In 1905 Mr. Hollo pur- chased the interest of Mr. Schneider and conducted the business under the name of John M. Hollo until the fall of 1910, when he sold to F. M. Birkemyer & Company. Since that time Mr. Hollo has devoted his time to farming his land, including 2000 acres in Lyon and Yellow Medicine counties. In 1911 he put in 650 acres of flax, the largest tract ever sowed to that crop in the county by one individual.
During the gold excitement in the Klon- dike in 1898 our subject made & trip to the Coffer river country, Alaska, near Cook's inlet, and remained there that summer. Mr. Hollo began business without capital, and by hard work and trading he has become one of the county's largest land owners. His first work was for Mr. Schutz at four dollars per month.
Mr. Hollo was married at Minneota, Minne- sota, August 28, 1886, to Lizzie Prairie, a native of Kankakee county, Illinois. They are the parents of four children: Louise, Myrtle. Raymond and Donald.
JOHN ANDERSON (1877), Coon Creek township farmer, is a native of Winona coun- ty, Minnesota, where he was born November 19, 1874. His parents are Nels and Magda- lena (Erickson) Anderson, with whom he makes his home. When three years of age he accompanied his parents to Lyon county, and he has resided here continuously since.
John attended school in Island Lake and Coon Creek townships until sixteen years of age. He then was a student in Marshall for
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some time, after which he taught school in district No. 70 several terms. He then took up his labors on the farm with his father and has continued that work since. In addi- tion to farming, our subject raises a great deal of stock, among other breeds, Duroc- Jersey hogs, Jersey cattle, Shropshire sheep and Plymouth Rock chickens. Mr. Anderson is a member of the Island Lake Presbyterian Church, of which he is treasurer and an eld- er. He is a member of the Workmen lodge and holds stock in the Farmers Independent Elevator Company of Russell and the Farm- ers Mutual Telephone Company. He is also a stockholder in the Independent Harvester Company of Plano, Illinois, and is the owner of the southeast quarter of section 33, Island Lake township.
During Mr. Anderson's long residence in Lyon county he has been called upon to serve several times in an official capacity. He formerly held the following offices: As- sessor of Coon Creek township four years, justice of the peace several years, road over- seer several years. He was secretary of the Farmers Independent Elevator Company of Russell two years, superintendent of the Sun- day School of the Island Lake Presbyterian Church several years and secretary and treasurer of the Island Lake Cheese Com- pany seven years. Mr. Anderson is now sec- retary of the Farmers Mutual Telephone Company, secretary and treasurer of the Island Lake Cemetery Association and so- licitor for the Hope Mutual Insurance Com- pany of Tyler, his territory being Coon Creek and Island Lake townships. Mr. Anderson has been very successful in his undertakings.
JOHN B. REGNIER (1883), Lake Marshall township farmer, was born in Kankakee county, Illinois, October 29, 1865. He is a son of Isaac and Mary (Toushette) Regnier, natives of Canada. The parents moved to Illinois, where our subject was born, re- ceived his schooling, and grew to manhood.
In 1883 John Regnier accompanied his parents to Lyon county and his father pur- chased land in Grandview township. John remained with his parents until 1888, when he started farming for himself on eighty acres in the same township which had been given to him by his father. He later sold this and purchased a half section in Fair-
view township, which he farmed until 1907, when he sold and later purchased the south- east quarter of section 8, and the northwest quarter of section 17, Lake Marshall town- ship. On March 1, 1912, Mr. Regnier pur- chased the east half and the east half of the west half of section 29, Lucas township, making him a farm of 480 acres in that pre- cinct.
Our subject also engages in stock raising, among other breeds, Red Polled Angus cat- tle, Poland China hogs and Belgian horses. He owns stock in the Farmers Elevator Com- pany of Marshall. Mr. Regnier is a member of the M. W. A. and K. of C. lodges and of the Catholic church.
The subject of this review was married at Ghent December 29, 1890, to Severine Caron, a native of Canada. Mrs. Regnier was born September 29, 1864, and is a daugh- ter of Isaac and Adaline (Bosquet) Caron, the former a native of Canada and the latter of Vermont. Mr. and Mrs. Regnier are the parents of the following children: Oscar A., born September 16, 1891; Edna B., born October 24, 1892: Charles Henry, born Au- gust 18, 1895; Peter N., born September 10, 1896; Olivine O., born October 1, 1897; Emil L., born February 28, 1902; and Adleine N., born July 30, 1905.
ANTON E. ANDERSON (1872) is pro- prietor of the A. E. Anderson elevator in Cottonwood, having in 1909, in company with his brothers, George and Gabriel, bought the Northwestern elevator. The company buys grain and sells coal and wood. Mr. Anderson is secretary and a di- rector of the Norwegian Mutual Fire In- surance Company of Eidsvold and is presi- dent of the Home Telephone Company of Cottonwood. He was also one of the or- ganizers and a former president of the Cot- tonwood Hardware Company.
Anton E. Anderson was born in Coon Prairie, Wisconsin, August 6, 1869. His parents, Endre and Bertha Anderson Bar- stad, were pioneer residents of Wisconsin and were among the first settlers in Lucas township, Lyon county, locating there in 1872, and taking as a homestead the south- west quarter of section 8. There the par- ents resided until their deaths, the father in 1885 and the mother in 1899. Our sub-
A. E. ANDERSON AND HIS SEVEN SONS
MARDIESOT'Y BRAL
ANTON E. ANDERSON Of Cottonwood, Who Has Lived in Lyon County Forty Years.
THE A. E. ANDERSON ELEVATOR
HOME OF A. E. ANDERSON
PERICLITKART
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
ject attended the country school and worked on the home farm until the age of fifteen, then hiring out as a farm hand for a number of years. At the age of eighteen he engaged in business in Cotton- wood, continuing until his marriage three years later.
July 20, 1890, occurred the ceremony which made Anton E. Anderson and Mar- tha Orwoll man and wife. To this union were born eight sons: Endre B., Sylfest M., Virgil L., Archie M., Nuel Fridtjof (deceased ), Fridtjof B., Nordal O. and Earl R. Mrs. Anderson died December 17, 1907. After his marriage Mr. Anderson moved to his farm in Lucas and ran the place five years, then engaging in the grain business at Cottonwood, where he repre- sented the Minnesota & Western Grain Company of Minneapolis fifteen years, un- til buying the Northwestern Elevator Com- pany's business.
Mr. Anderson has been a member of the school board eight years, seven years of that time as secretary. He is active in church circles of the Norwegian Lutherans, being secretary of Silo Church of Cotton- wood. He is one of the board of directors of the annuity fund and financial secretary of the Montevideo district of the United Norwegian Lutheran church of America.
Our subject has living the following sis- ter and brothers: Dena (Mrs. O. H. Hatle- stad), of Cottonwood; Tonnes, on the old homestead in Lucas; Henry E., of Minne- ota; John, of Parkland, Washington; Ga- briel and Anton, of this sketch, both of Cottonwood.
June 9, 1911, Mr. Anderson married a second time, taking for his wife Selma Nelson, a native of Pipestone county, born March 15, 1882.
CHARLES DOVE (1885) is one of Ami- ret township's successful farmers and stock raisers. His 160-acre farm, the northeast quarter of section 11, is one of the fine improved tracts in the township, and he is also the owner of 150 acres in Redwood county. Mr. Dove in his stock raising is partial to the Shorthorn breed of cattle and Duroc-Jersey swine.
Charles Dove is a native of Lincoln shire, England, and is a son of James and Annie
(Atkins) Dove, now deceased. Charles was born in 1855 and was brought up in England. At the age of twenty-five years he crossed the water to Canada, where he lived one and one-half years. He came to Lyon county in 1885. He settled in Ami- ret and for several years was employed on farms in the vicinity.
The subject of this sketch was married in Marshall October 14, 1888, to Mary Amelia Berkey. After his marriage Mr. Dove rented land and commenced farming for himself. He later bought the north- east quarter of section 11 and is still farm- ing the place. He is a stockholder of the creamery company at Tracy.
Mrs. Dove is the daughter of Peter and Johanna, (Garver) Berkey. She was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, March 4, 1856. To Mr. and Mrs. Dove two children have been born, Herbert J. and Horace A. Charles Dove is a member of the Modern Brotherhood of America lodge.
JOHN C. ROGDE (1877), until recently of Eidsvold township, now of Dunn county, Wisconsin, was born in Hardanger, Nor- way, May 28, 1851. His parents, Chris- tian and Bretha A. (Kragevik) Rogde, are buried in their native land. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Rogde fought in the war between Norway and Sweden in which the former secured its independence.
After quitting school at the age of four- teen years, young Rogde spent six years on a fishing vessel. He came to America in the spring of 1872, lived in Stoughton, Wisconsin, a short time, and then located near Deerfield, of the same state, where he worked at farm labor five years. With money he saved he purchased a team of horses and a wagon and in the spring of 1877 drove to Lyon county, arriving in Minneota during the month of June.
For a year or more after his arrival Mr. Rogde worked as a farm hand. Soon after his arrival he traded his team and wagon for a homestead right in Westerheim town- ship, and, after his marriage in December, 1878, he moved to his claim, proved up on it, and engaged in farming there until the spring of 1902. At that time he moved to his Eidsvold township farm, which he had purchased the fall before. He sold his
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Westerheim farm in 1911. Mr. Rogde is now the owner of 480 acres in Eidsvold and a 200-acre farm in Dunn county, Wis- consin, to which place he moved in the spring of 1912.
In the early days Mr. Rogde experienced the hardships encountered by all the early settlers of Lyon county, but he perse- vered and has come upon prosperous times. In 1907 our subject paid a three months' visit to his old home in Norway.
Mr. Rogde was a member of the Wester- heim Township Board of Supervisors a number of years, was treasurer of that township several years, and in 1884 and 1885 he was the assessor. For three years he was a member of the Eidsvold Town- ship Board. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers & Merchants Supply Com- pany of Minneota, was a director of the company for a number of years, and still has stock in it. He and his family are members of the Norwegian Lutheran church and he holds membership in the Masonic lodge of Minneota and the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons at Marshall.
The first marriage of Mr. Rogde occurred at Marshall December 3, 1878, when he wedded Anna Thompson. She was born in Norway February 14, 1851, and died on Christmas Day, 1888. Four children were born to the union, as follows: Bertha (Mrs. O. H. Sterk), of Marshall; Albert, who resides near Amiret; Sarah (Mrs. Jo- seph White), of Minneota; and Carrie, of Marshall.
At Marshall, on April 24, 1891, Mr. Rogde's second marriage occurred. His bride was Nancy Ann Heimdal, who was born in Dane county, Wisconsin, Septem- ber 3, 1852. Mrs. Rogde's parents, Olaf and Haegae (Bergstie) Heimdal, both de- ceased, were born in Norway and settled in Dane county, Wisconsin, in 1844. Two children have been born to Mr. Rogde and his wife, both of whom reside at home. They are named Oritha Ann and Gerhart Christen.
HENRY J. BOT (1887) is manager of and buyer for the Farmers Elevator Com- pany of Ghent. He was born in Uithuizen, Province of Groningen, Holland, October 14, 1876.
In 1887 Henry accompanied his parents to America and Lyon county. The family located in Grandview township, where they owned 480 acres of land. Henry resided on the farm with his parents until twenty- five years of age and then moved to Ghent and bought grain for the Bingham Broth- ers' Elevator Company until 1910. He then entered the employ of the Farmers' Company and has since been with that firm. Mr. Bot is the owner of a farm in Vallers township. He is a member of the Catholic church and the Catholic Order of Foresters lodge. He is the village re- corder and was justice of the peace, vil- lage treasurer and treasurer of the town board for a number of years.
Mr. Bot was married August 15, 1908, in Holland to Grada Feters. After his marriage he made a trip through Germany, Switzerland, England, Italy, Holland and Belgium. Mr. and Mrs. Bot are the par- ents of one child, Debora Mary, born May 18, 1909.
The parents of our subject are the late William H. Bot and Debora B. ( Schrender) Bot. The father died in 1907; the mother resides in Ghent. To them were born the following children: Hero W., Henry J. and William H., of Ghent; Bernard, Ren- ier, John H. and Catherina (Mrs. Joseph Senden), all of Lyon county. One daugh- ter, Theresa (Mrs. Edward Maertens), died in 1908.
The Ghent Farmers Elevator Company was organized in 1909 by the farmers in the vicinity of Ghent and the elevator was built at that time. The capitalization was $10,000. The capacity of the elevator is 20,000 bushels. The company buys and ships grain and sells coal, flour, oil meal, bran, shorts, grain and seeds. In the sea- son of 1910-11 they bought 200,000 bush- els of grain. The officers of the company are as follows: President, John Breen; secretary, Edward Maertens; treasurer, Charles Foulon; manager, Henry Bot. These, with Mathew Hennen, John Brewers and Henry Vanhee, constitute. the board of directors.
JOSEPH PRINCEN (1883), a farmer residing in Lake Marshall township, was born in Weert, Holland. October 21, 1873.
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His parents are Hubert and Fhelomina (Vuggen) Princen, who conducted a soap and salt factory and a brick and roofing factory in the old country. When two years of age, in 1883, Joseph accompanied his parents to America, came direct to Lyon county, and his father purchased land near Ghent. There our subject at- tended school, working at home until twenty-eight years of age.
In 1901 Mr. Princen commenced farm- ing for himself on the southeast quarter of section 3, Grandview township, land which he had purchased from his father. He operated that place one year and then rented his father's farm three years, dur- ing which time he purchased forty acres more in the same township. After leaving his father's place Mr. Princen moved to his own farm, which he conducted until 1905, when he bought 320 acres on section 34, Grandview township, and eighty acres on section 3, Lynd township. He moved to the latter place and farmed it until 1909, when he purchased 400 acres on section 1, Lynd township, and resided on the place eight months, having sold the place the same year he purchased it. He then moved to the east half of section 21, Lake Mar- shall township, which he had previously bought and where he now lives.
Mr. Princen holds membership in the Catholic Order of Foresters lodge and has served on the Township Board. He was treasurer seven years and clerk two years of school district No. 12. Mr. Princen is a member of the Catholic church.
On December 12, 1904, occurred the marriage of Leona Monnet to our subject. She is a native of France and was born September 29, 1877. Her parents are Ju lian and Stephanie (Guillot) Monnet. Mrs. Princen came to the United States alone in 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Princen are the parents of four children: Joseph J., born September 21, 1905; Maria, born August 21, 1906; Julian, born February 4, 1908; Bernadette, born July 22, 1911.
MYRON W. HARDEN (1891), president of the First National Bank of Marshall, is one of the substantial and popular busi- ness men of the county seat, having been cashier of the bank since its organization
twenty-one years ago. During these years he has taken a prominent part in the business and social affairs of his com- munity.
Myron W. Harden is of colonial stock, his ancestors having settled in New Eng- land before the Revolutionary War. His paternal grandparents were John and So- phia (Cook) Harden, who were natives of New York but of New England descent. They came West late in life and settled at Burr Oak, Iowa. At that place John Harden died August 31, 1864, aged seven- ty-nine years; Sophia Harden died in 1872.
The parents of our subject were Halsted J. and Ellen (Willsie) Harden, both na- tives of Clinton county, New York. The Willsie family is also of early American stock, the great-grandfather of our subject having been a veteran of the Revolutionary War. The maternal grandparents of Mr. Harden were John and Sabra (Hutchison) Willsie, natives of New York, who in 1855 located in Iowa and later became early settlers of Fillmore county, Minnesota. They both died in that county at ages of about seventy-five years. Halsted J. Har- den and family came West in 1857 and settled in Burr Oak, Iowa. Both parents died in that place, Mrs. Harden at the age of forty-three years and Mr. Harden aged seventy-two years. They were the parents of six children, of whom four are living.
In Clinton county, New York, on May 6, 1851, occurred the birth of Myron W. Har- den. When six years of age he accom- panied the family to Burr Oak, Iowa, and on his father's farm near that place he grew to manhood. At the age of twenty- five years he secured the appointment as deputy clerk of the district court of Winne- shiek county and held the office from 1876 to 1880, making his home at Decorah, the county seat. After serving as deputy four years, he was elected clerk of court and served a four-year term. In June, 1884, Mr. Harden went to Grafton, North Dakota, and from that date until he came to Lyon county in 1891 he was assistant cashier of a bank.
In the year last mentioned Mr. Harden located in Marshall and in partnership with H. M. Langland and R. M. Addison organized the First National Bank of Mar-
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shall. He served as cashier until recently elevated to the presidency, and the active management of the bank has been almost entirely in his hands. Under his able management it has grown in favor and it ranks today as one of the strong financial institutions of Southwestern Minnesota. Mr. Harden has large real estate interests, owning over one thousand acres of Min- nesota land and a pretty home in Mar- shall.
In educational matters Mr. Harden has been especially interested and he has served as a member of the local Board of Education for the last fourteen years. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, holding membership in the Scottish Rite and Zurah Temple of Shriners, Minneapolis.
Mr. Harden married May Standing at Decorah, Iowa, on June 4, 1884. She was born in that city, the daughter of Leonard and Mary (Prothroe) Standing. The fam- ily came originally from New York and settled in Iowa about 1856. Her father was a banker of Decorah and died there at the age of fifty-four years. Mr. and Mrs. Harden have two children, Mate and Leonard S.
EDWARD MEYER (1876) was for many years a successful farmer of Lyon county and now lives a retired life in the little village of Garvin. He knows the meaning of the word pioneering and is an early resident of the county, having come to the county thirty-six years ago and hav- ing lived in the county almost continuously since that date.
The gentleman whose name heads this sketch was born in Freystadt, Prussia, May 26, 1841. He is the only one of a family of three children to come to America, his sisters, Caroline and Anna, living in the Fatherland. His parents, Leopold and Caroline ( Mertius) Meyer, are both buried in the old country. Edward came to America in 1859, lived a few months in Franklin county, Missouri, and then settled at Meredosia, Illinois. He taught a Ger- man school in that village and enlisted in the army at Jacksonville, Illinois, on April 7,1862.
For three years and one month Mr. Meyer served in the army as a member
of Company A, Twelfth United States In- fantry. His service was with the Army of the Potomac and he participated in all the engagements of that army up to August 19, 1864, when he was taken prisoner near Petersburg. He was incarcerated in Libby Prison, at Bell Island and at Salisbury, North Carolina.
After the war Mr. Meyer returned to Illinois and for two years lived at Jackson- ville, one year employed in the insane asy- lum and one year as a clerk. He then lived in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, until com- ing to Minnesota in 1876. Mr. Meyer came to Lyon county by way of Mower county, making the 'trip in a prairie schooner drawn by oxen. Upon his arri- val he traded his team and wagon for a tree claim, the southwest quarter of sec- tion 32, Sodus township. His first home was a combination log and sod shanty.
During the first few years of his resi- dence in Lyon county Mr. Meyer had trouble to make both ends meet. For several years he worked at odd jobs to support himself and during the hard win- ter of 1880-81 he worked for his board. A few years after coming to the county Mr. Meyer sold his tree claim to A. R. Chace, of Marshall, and took a homestead in Johnsville township, Redwood county, where he lived two and one-half years. He then returned to Lyon county and bought eighty acres of land in Custer town- ship, later adding to his holdings by the purchase of railroad lands. He made his home on section 2 for about six years and thereafter for many years he lived on sec- tion 3. In 1901 Mr. Meyer gave up farm- ing and has since lived in Garvin. He has never married.
For three years Mr. Meyer was a director of school district No. 4 and for the same length of time was the district treasurer. He served one term as township treasurer. Mr. Meyer is a member of the Congrega- tional church, the Grand Army order, and has taken many degrees in Masonry, hold- ing membership in the Blue Lodge, Chap- ter, Commandery, the Shrine at Minne- apolis, and the Scottish Rite at Winona.
HANS BENSON (1882) is one of the big farmers of Shelburne township, where
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he has had his home for the past thirty years. The home place is the southwest quarter of section 5 and he also owns the northwest quarter of 9, the northwest quarter of 7, and the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of 6, making a farm of 520 acres. The place is well improved and Mr. Benson has one of the finest homes in the township.
Our subject was born in Naes, Norway, October 13, 1846, a son of Brnt and Rogn- lie (Halborson) Benson. He attended the common schools of his native land until fourteen years of age, and thereafter until he was twenty-one years old he worked on the farm for his father. Mr. Benson came to America in the spring of 1868 and during the next three years worked at various occupations at La Crosse, Wis- consin. He moved to Fillmore county, Minnesota, in 1871, where he worked at farm labor until coming to Lyon county in the spring of 1882.
When he arrived in Lyon county Mr. Benson had only $320. To meet expenses he worked the first year as a section hand on the railroad between Tyler and Bur- chard. He experienced trying times in getting a start, but persevered and came upon more prosperous times. He pur- chased eighty acres of his present farm from the railroad company upon his ar- rival and from time to time added to his landed possessions until he now owns nearly a section of land.
Mr. Benson is a stockholder of the State Bank of Florence. He is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran church of Flor- ence and was formerly a trustee of the same. For three years he was a director of his school district and has several times served as road overseer.
The marriage of Mr. Benson to Christine Anderson occurred in Fillmore . county, Minnesota, in 1883. Mrs. Benson was born in Norway. They are the parents of the following children: Bert, Aletta (Mrs. John Anderson), of Tyler; Randa (Mrs. Victor Anderson), of Florence; Clara, Adolph, Lena, Emma, Henry and Elmer.
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