USA > Minnesota > Lyon County > An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota > Part 58
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The subject of this biography descends from an old American family that can . be traced back to the early days of the coun- try's history. His great grandparents were
Thomas and Ann Shepard, whose children were Thomas, Phineas, Aaron, Anne, Judith, Rhoda and Orrel. Our subject's grandfather was Aaron Shepard, who was born in Con- necticut, married a Miss Crocker, and became a resident of Hartford county, of his native state, in 1807. Later he moved to George- town, Madison county, New York, where he died at the age of eighty-four years. He was a soldier in the War of 1812.
The Shepards were well represented in the service of their country. There was handed down from generation to generation an old file which had been carried by members of the family in the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. This interesting instrument was lost in bat- tle during the Civil War while being carried by another member of the family, Myron Shepard. .
The father of our subject was Aaron Shep- ard, Jr., who was born in Connecticut and who became a resident of Nunda, New York. He was married to Hattie Parker, a native of Naples, Ontario county, New York. Her father died when Mrs. Shepard was a child and her mother afterwards married Joseph Kibbee. Her grandfather was one of the first settlers of Liberty, New York, and was a soldier of the Revolutionary War. Aaron Shepard, Jr., died in Livingston county, New York, at the age of sixty-eight years, and his wife died in the same place at the age of forty-four years. They had nine children, of whom the following named seven are living: Parker, Melissa, Myron, Harvey, Cyrus P., James and Martha.
Cyrus P. Shepard was born in New York State November 13, 1839, and until he was twenty years of age resided on the home farm. In 1861 our subject started West with the intention of locating in Missouri, but he proceeded to Wisconsin and, manifesting the same loyal spirit as was shown by his ancestors, he joined the boys in blue. He was mustered in as an enlisted man in Com- pany D, of the Fourteenth Wisconsin In- fantry, under Captain Polleys, of La Crosse. He was in the service until his muster out at Mobile on October 11, 1865, and partici- pated in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Iuka, Tupelo, the siege of Vicksburg, Champion Hills, Edward's Ferry, Nashville, Mobile and many minor enagements. His promotion
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was quite rapid and he was mustered out as captain of his company.
At the close of the war Captain Shepard returned to his old New York home and rented his father's farm. In 1868 he located in Stillwater, Minnesota, where he engaged in the mercantile business several years. He settled in Worthington, Minnesota, in 1877 and for many years was a dealer in lumber, fuel and agricultural implements.
During President Cleveland's first adminis- tration, in 1886, Mr. Shepard was appointed register of the United States Land Office, then located at Worthington, his territory comprising the country between the Missis- sippi river and the South Dakota line. He held the office under the appointment until the office was moved to Marshall. During Presi- dent Cleveland's second administration, in 1894, Mr. Shepard located in Marshall, hav- ing again received the appointment of regis- ter, in the interim the office having been held hy L. M. Lange. Under the second appointment our subject held the government office ten years, until the office was moved to St. Cloud.
Since the removal of the Land Office from Marshall, Mr. Shepard has practically lived a retired life and has been one of the city's highly respected citizens. Several years ago, when the recorder's office needed the serv- ices of a competent man, he was called upon to take charge. Later he was elected to the office and has ever since held the position. It gives him light employment and a down-town office, which is the sole reason for his holding the office.
While a resident of Stillwater, Captain Shepard was married. on January 12, 1870, to Anna D. Cowan, a native of Oldtown, Maine. She is also a descendant from an old American family. Her grandfather, Thomas A. Cowan, was born in Maine Octo- ber 14, 1794, and was married to Clementine Lovejoy, who was born in Vassalboro, Maine, June 4, 1800. Their marriage occurred April 14, 1820. The former died in Maine June 16, 1861; the latter in Stillwater January 27, 1890. They had six children, and Stephen L. Cowan, the father of Mrs. Shepard, lo- cated in Minnesota in an early day and for forty years was a prominent lumberman of Stillwater.
To Mr. and Mrs. Shepard were born the following named children: Cyrus, of Mar-
shall; Eugene, who died in 1908; Ernest, who is the auditor of Lyon county; and Veda, who is a stenographer in the office of Gov- ernor Eberhart.
EDWARD P. ELMER (1888) is a farmer residing on section 3, Lucas township, about a mile from the village of Cottonwood, and is proprietor of the Cottonwood Dairy. He has under cultivation over 300 acres of land and engages extensively in dairying and stockraising, making daily deliveries of milk and cream in the village.
John Elmer, his father, came to America from Sweden in 1879, resided a number of years in Pullman, Illinois, and in 1888 came with his family to Lyon county. He pur- chased the Lucas farm now owned by his son and became identified with the history of that part of the county. He erected the first store building in Cottonwood and con- ducted one of the first blacksmith shops of the village. He conducted the shop until 1908, when he moved to Swanville, Minne- sota, near which place he has an eighty-acre farm, upon which he resides. The mother of our subject, Mary (Peterson) Elmer, is deceased.
To Mr. and Mrs. John Elmer were born seven children, as follows: Helen (Mrs. R. H. Price), of Lucas township; Annie, Louise, Hulda and Clara, all deceased; Clara (Mrs. Joseph Nelson), of Cottonwood; and Edward P., of this review.
Edward P. Elmer was born in Gothland. Sweden, September 17, 1876. He accom- panied his mother and the other children to America in 1882 and joined the head of the family in Pullman, Illinois, he having come to the country in 1879. Edward attended school in Pullman and came with the family to Lyon county in 1888, completing his edu- cation in the district school at the age of seventeen years. He worked on the farm for his father until twenty-two years old; then he married and began the cultivation of the farm for himself, buying the property from his father the year after his marriage.
Mr. Elmer was married at Cottonwood January 13, 1898, to Clara Jaenisch. She was born in Germany August 11, 1877. They have five children: Clarence, born June 1, 1900; Ella, born February 26, 1902; Ervin, born October 20, 1905; Alfred, born
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March 25, 1908; and Dorothy, born April 25, 1910. The family are members of Silo Nor- wegian Lutheran Church of Cottonwood. For a number of years Mr. Elmer was treasurer of school district No. 19.
KNUTE K. MOHN (1892), chairman of the Nordland Board of Supervisors and the owner of the west half of the southwest quarter of section 3 of that precinct, has lived in Lyon county twenty years. The greater part of his life has been occupied working at trades and he has taken up farm- ing in recent years.
Mr. Mohn was born in Eggedal, Norway, March 12, 1868, one of a family of four chil- dren. The others are Andrew, of Minne- apolis; Ole, of Norway; and Annie (Mrs. Jacob Euju), of Norway. His father, Kittel Mohn, died in his native land; his mother, Groe (Knutson) Mohn, still lives in the land of the midnight sun.
Our subject attended the common schools of Norway until fifteen years old. He worked two years at the shoemaker's trade and then was a farm hand until his departure for America in 1888. In the spring of that year he crossed the sea and located in Racine county, Wisconsin. After working as a farm hand there four years, in the spring of 1892 he came to Lyon county: He worked at farm labor near Cottonwood two years and near Minneota three years.
During the war with Spain, in the spring of 1898 Mr. Mohn enlisted as a member of Company I, Fourteenth Minnesota Volun- teer Infantry, was stationed with his regi- ment at Chickamauga Park, Georgia, and at Knoxville, Tennessee, and was mustered out at St. Paul November 18, 1898.
After his discharge from the army Mr. Mohn worked in a livery stable in Minne- apolis a few months and then took up his residence in Minneota. He worked at the carpenter's trade until August, 1903, and then became the first rural mail carrier out of that Lyon county village. Ill health caused his retirement on May 15, 1905, and thereafter until June, 1909, he again worked at his trade. On the date last mentioned he moved to his eighty-acre Nordland farm, where he has since been engaged in farm- ing. Mr. Mohn has been a member of the township board the past two years and is
now chairman of the board. He holds mem- bership in the Odd Fellows- and Yeomen lodges of Minneota.
The subject of this biography was married at Minneota July 10, 1902, to Maria Hanson. She was born at Racine, Wisconsin, April 30, 1879. Her parents, Robert and Ellen M. (Klaith) Hanson, came to Lyon county in an early day and resided in Nordland town- ship and Minneota until their deaths. The names and dates of births of Mr. and Mrs. Mohn's four children are as follows: God- frey Kenneth, born May 29, 1904; Mildred Katherine, born September 21, 1905; Chester Andy, born March 27, 1907; Edgar Raymond, born September 1, 1909.
OLE OLSON GORSETH (1881) is a home- steader of Lyon county and has a residence of thirty-one years to his credit. He owns and farms the southwest quarter of section 26, Shelburne township, land which he home- steaded.
Mr. Gorseth is a Norwegian by birth, and the date of his nativity was December 9, 1851. His father, Ole Paulson, died in Me- nominie, Wisconsin, in 1872, and his mother, Sigrid (Johnson) Paulson, died at the home of her son in Lyon county in 1885.
Until he was seventeen years old Ole Gorseth attended school in his native land, and then he worked at farm labor for a few years. In 1871 the head of the family came to the New World and the next year our subject and his mother came. The first home was at Ishpeming, Michigan, but a year later the family moved to Wisconsin, where the father died. Ole and his mother lived there two years and then moved to Fillmore county, Minnesota. For several years Mr. Gorseth worked there as a farm hand and then, in 1881, he and his mother moved to Lyon county and he took his home- stead claim.
Mr. Gorseth encountered many hardships in the early days but perservered, and pros- perity has been his lot. His mother died in 1885, and since that time Mr. Gorseth has lived alone. He is a genuine lover of Lyon county. He holds membership in the Nor- wegian Lutheran church of Florence.
ADOLPH FURGESON (1877) is the pro- prietor of a blacksmith shop, wood yard and
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feed mill in Minneota. His birth occurred in Freeborn county, near Albert Lea, Minne- sota, November 2, 1876.
In 1877 Adolph accompanied his parents to Lyon county, his father homesteading land in Island Lake township. On that farm our subject resided twenty-five years and then moved to Minneota. He learned the blacksmith's trade under H. E. Knutson, with whom he worked three years. Then he and T. K. Thompson purchased the H. Halvorson blacksmith shop and conducted it three years. Our subject then purchased his part- ner's interest and has since run the business alone. Besides his blacksmith business, he conducts a wood yard and feed mill. Mr. Furgeson is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran church.
The parents of our subject are Kittle and Margaret Furgeson, natives of Norway They came to the United States in an early day and located near Winchester, Wiscon- sin. They later moved to Freeborn county, Minnesota, where they resided until 1877, when they moved to Lyon county. The father died in 1902; the mother is still liv- ing. They were the parents of the following children: Peter, of Canby; Charlie, of Val- ley City, North Dakota; Ole, deceased : Henry, of Island Lake township; Carrie Strand, of Langmont, Colorado: Martin and Betsey Gjervold, of Nome, North Dakota; Annie Amundson, of Lyon county; Mary Hav- erson, of Ferndale, Washington; Adolph, of this sketch.
OLE P. SLETTE (1883) owns 200 acres of Lucas township's fertile land and farms in addition 250 acres which he rents. He re- sides on section 16; his own property is located on sections 22 and 28.
Mr. Slette was born in Guldbransdalen, Norway, June 14, 1866. His parents, Peder and Sara (Bergum) Slette, were the owners of a small farm in the old country, on which our subject grew to young manhood. He came to America in 1883 and direct to Lyon county. The first seven years were spent working at farm labor near Marshall. Then he bought the southwest quarter of section 22, Lucas township, engaged in farming on his own account. and resided on that farm until 1905. At that time he moved to his present residence. Mr. Slette is treasurer
of school district No. 74 and a member of the Norwegian Lutheran church.
Mary Odden became the wife of Mr. Slette at Cottonwood on October 7, 1893. She was born in Norway November 25, 1868, a daugh- ter of Amund and Kari (Sather) Odden. Mr. and Mrs. Slette have two children, Alfred and Leola.
WILLIAM R. EDWARDS (1887). For a quarter of a century W. R. Edwards has resided in Tracy and during all of that time was the publisher of a newspaper. His newspaper career covers a period of thirty-two years, and for fifteen years be- fore that he engaged in teaching. He has served as postmaster of Tracy and has held many offices of trust within the gift of his neighbors.
Mr. Edwards was born at Ravenna, the county seat of Portage county, Ohio, Sep- tember 4, 1840, of Welsh descent. In 1849 he accompanied his parents to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and there grew to young man- hood. He was educated in a normal school at St. Louis and in the Bloomington, Illi- nois, Normal. After securing his educa- tion Mr. Edwards entered the teaching pro- fession, with which he was identified fif- teen years. He was superintendent of the Faribault, Minnesota, public schools in 1870 and 1871, and for four years was principal of the Osage, Iowa, schools.
In 1878 Mr. Edwards gave up teaching and became a journalist, which pursuit he followed until his retirement from active labors in 1910. He published the New Hampton Courier from 1878 to 1882, edit- ed the Warren, Minnesota, Sheaf four years, was connected with a Minneapolis religious paper several years, and pub- lished the Hutchinson Leader for a time. He located in Tracy in 1887 and bought the Tracy Republican, added the Tracy Trumpet in 1900, and published the Re- publican-Trumpet until his retirement in 1910.
Mr. Edwards has always been an ardent Republican and has been active in the councils of his party. He has never sought office but on numerous occasions has been called to serve in offices of trust. He was a delegate to the St. Louis convention that nominated President Mckinley, and when
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Knute Nelson was governor of Minnesota he was a member of the state central com- mittee. In 1888 he was appointed county superintendent of schools to fill a vacancy and at the next election was chosen to a full term. For ten years Mr. Edwards was secretary of the Tracy District Fair Asso- ciation, was at one time president of the Tracy Board of Trade, and for ten years was secretary of the Tracy Board of Edu- cation.
Mr. Edwards is a Presbyterian in re- ligious faith and is an elder of the Tracy church. Fraternally he is associated with the Masonic, Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen lodges.
Richard and Anne (Jones) Edwards, the parents of our subject, were born and mar- ried in Wales. Upon their arrival to Amer- ica they settled in Ohio and in 1849 made settlement in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where both died. There were nine children in the family, of whom the only ones living are William R. Edwards and Mrs. Margaret Gittings, of Oshkosh. One child of the family, Richard Edwards, LL. D., D. D., born in 1822, had a national reputation as an educator and lecturer. The deceased children of the family were Richard, David, Elizabeth, Isaac, Mary, John and Hugh.
William R. Edwards and Josie Bigelow were married at Charles City, Iowa, July 19, 1870. Mrs. Edwards is the daughter of Chauncey and Laura (Curtis) Bigelow, old New York State settlers, and she was born in Cattaraugus county of the Empire State. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Edwards, of whom the following named four are living: Joseph- ine, the wife of George A. Pearce, Duluth; Vera L., the wife of Dr. Don Casselman, Tracy; Hazel, who resides at home; and Maurine, a graduate of the Mankato Nor- mal School and a school teacher.
IVER A. OUSMAN (1886) is a farmer and land owner of Nordland township who has lived in Lyon county since he was a child. Iceland is his native land and he was born November 26, 1880. Steffen Ousman, his father, died in 1907, and Rosa (Christenson) Ousman, his mother, lives in Minneota.
The family emigrated from the north-
land in 1886 and came to Lyon county. After residing a few years in Westerheim township, they took up their residence in Nordland, on the farm now owned by the son. lver attended the district school until seventeen years old and worked for his father until he reached his majority. Then he purchased the east half of the north- east quarter of section 9 and commenced farming for himself. In 1909 he purchased the home place, the north half of the southeast quarter of section 4, and makes his home there. Besides general farming, Mr. Ousman raises cattle, horses, sheep and hogs. He is a member of St. Ed- ward's Catholic Church of Minneota and of the Yeomen lodge of that village.
Mr. Ousman was married at Minneota June 24, 1909, to Catherine G. Donnelly. She was born in Yellow Medicine county March 20, 1888, a daughter of Charles and Mary Donnelly, now residents of Nordland township. Mrs. Ousman died February 1, 1912. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Ousman, as follows: Catherine Rose, born June 21, 1910, and Magdeline, born January 8, 1912.
Iver Ousman is one of a family of thir- teen children, of whom five are living. His brothers and sisters are Arne, of Seattle; Sadie (Mrs. Maurice Hennessy) and John, of Two Harbors, Minnesota; and Johanna, of Minneota.
SAMUEL J. FORBES (1880) is cashier of the Marshall State Bank and has spent the greater part of his life in Lyon county. He is a native of Wingham, Ontario, Can- ada, and was born May 4, 1870. He accom- panied his parents to Lyon county in 1880 and during the next ten years lived on the home farm, the southwest quarter of sec- tion 14, Fairview township, a few miles north of Marshall.
Mr. Forbes was graduated from the Mar- shall High School and thereafter for sev- eral years clerked in Marshall stores. He then took a position as traveling collector for the Milwaukee Harvester Company and the Champion Machine Company and in 1900 located in Gary, South Dakota, and engaged in the banking business. One year later he became associated with the First National Bank of Canby and was
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cashier of that institution until 1909. In the year last mentioned Mr. Forbes re- turned to Marshall and in partnership with Spurgeon Odell and J. A. McNiven founded the Marshall State Bank. He has since been cashier of the bank. . Fraternally, Mr. Forbes is affiliated with the Masonic, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Wood- men and Workmen lodges.
In the city of Marshall, on June 21, 1896, occurred the marriage of Mr. Forbes to Sonora M. Simons, a native of Platteville, Wisconsin. Her parents, Richard and Anna Simons, were born in Wales and set- tled in Lyon county in 1881. Mr. and Mrs. Forbes have two children, Vincent L. and Eleanor E.
The parents of the subject of this re- view were Alexander and Margaret (Dun- das) Forbes, who were born in Canada and died in Marshall. They were parents of thirteen children, of whom the ten follow- ing are living: John, of Ontario, Can- ada; Rev. Robert, of Philadelphia; Isaac, of Amiret township; William, of Fairview township; Joseph G., an attorney of Wah- peton, North Dakota; Eleanor (Mrs. Isaac Clendenning), of Marshall; Mabel ( Mrs. John Taylor), of Marquam, Oregon; Eliz- abeth (Mrs. James Springsteen), of Blen- heim, Ontario; and Mary (Mrs. John La- monby), of Toronto.
ALBERT L. BLANCHETTE (1886) has been engaged in farming the one farm in Vallers township for the last twenty-six years. His farm is the southwest quarter and the west half of the southeast quarter of section 31, a good farm and improved with substantial buildings. He has made the farm what it is, for when he came it was raw prairie land without a building on it.
Mr. Blanchette is of French descent and was born in Kankakee county, Illinois. February 27, 1868. Eli and Bessauger ( Boulez) Blanchette, his parents, were born in Canada and settled in Illinois in the fifties. Albert received a district school education and lived in his native county until eighteen years of age. He came to Lyon county in 1886 and located on his present farm, which his father had bought three years before. Mr. Blanchette is a
member of the Catholic church and of the Modern Woodmen lodge.
In his native county, on February 1, 1888, Mr. Blanchette was united in mar- riage to Selina Bouchard. She was born in the city of Chicago June 11, 1867, and is the daughter of Godfrey and Esther (Desleaurier) Bouchard, natives of Canada. Mr. and Mrs. Blanchette have been blessed with children, being the parents of the following named fourteen: George J., Louise, Leah, Agnes, Annie, Harry, Archie, Arbu, Neldeah, Blanche, Eli, Eba, Ella and Elmer.
HALVOR K. KVANBECK (1877) in partnership with his brother Jacob, farms the west half of section 14, Eidsvold town- ship. He owns an eighty-acre farm in Bur- ton township, Yellow Medicine county, and for several years he has been engaged in farming that land.
His father is Knute Kvanbeck, who was born in Norway April 5, 1853. The parent came to the United States in 1873, lived one summer in Minneapolis, and then took up his residence in Freeborn county, Min- nesota. He was married in lowa in 1876 to Rosa Halvorson, the mother of our sub- ject. She was born in Norway and came to America when four years of age. Knute Kvanbeck came to Lyon county in 1876 and took as a homestead claim the north- west quarter of section 14, Eidsvold town- ship, where he has ever since lived. The first home was a little log cabin, and Mr Kvanbeck has made all the improvements on the place, now owning also the south- west quarter of section 14. Knute Kvan- beck has been prominent in the affairs of his township. For the past eighteen years he has been township clerk and he has been a member of the school board for a number of years.
There are four sons and two daughters in the family, as follows: Helen (Mrs. P. J. Thorson), of Swede Prairie township, Yellow Medicine county; Sven (married to Clara Hall), a carpenter of Kansas City; Jacob, who is one of the partners in the management of the home farm; Halvor K., of this sketch; Nellie (Mrs. Rasmus Ander- son), of Eidsvold township; and Albert, of Minneota.
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Halvor Kvanbeck was born in Lyon county and has always made his home here. The date of his birth was March 16, 1877, and the place was two miles southeast of Minneota. He is not married and has always resided at home. Besides farming his own land in Yellow Medicine county, he assisted with the work on his father's farm, and in the spring of 1912 he and his brother rented the half section owned by their father and are now engaged in its management.
HYPPOLIT MAERTENS (1883) since August 10, 1911, has held the position as buyer for the Van Dusen Elevator Com- pany at Ghent. Previous to that time Mr. Maertens for three years held a similar position with the Mutual Elevator Com- pany at Taunton.
Mr. Maertens claims Belgium for his native land and is a son of Henry and Annie (De Ruee) Maertens. Hyppolit was born September 25, 1875, and when only eight years old the family came to Amer- ica, the father buying land in Grandview township, Lyon county. His father re- turned to Belgium in 1895, where he died four years ago. The mother died while the family were on the Grandview farm.
Hyppolit attended the Sisters' School two years in Belgium, and after coming to Lyon county he received a good education in the country school in Grandview. At the age of nineteen years he took up farm- ing in Grandview and continued in that pursuit until 1907, when he returned to Belgium for a sojourn of six months. Re- turning to Lyon county, he was given the position with the elevator people at Taun- ton.
The marriage of Hyppolit Maertens and Marie De Langhe occurred November 6, 1907, at Minneota. Mrs. Maertens is a native of Belgium and she and her hus- band are members of the Catholic church. They are the parents of three children, Edward, Henry and Margaret.
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