USA > Minnesota > Lyon County > An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota > Part 63
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At Elkton, South Dakota, December 11, 1888, occurred the marriage of Mr. Brantner to Julia Enke, a daughter of John C. and Marie (Schmelzer) Enke, of Verdi, Minne- sota. Mrs. Brantner was born at Omaha, Ne- braska, June 15, 1866. To Mr. and Mrs. Brantner have been born the following four children: Cecil F., born August 24, 1892;
Claud B., born December 16, 1893; Ada M., born June 6, 1901; Harold R., born October 31, 1903.
JOIIN BREEN (1SS4), one of Westerheim township's well-known farmers, was born in the county of Kerry, Ireland, October 7, 1849. His parents died while John was a boy, and at the age of sixteen he came to America. He landed in Boston and immediately found an opportunity to learn the leather finishing trade in a courier's leather factory. He worked at the trade eight years, part of the time attending night school and finishing his education.
In 1875 young Breen went to Missouri, pur- chased eighty acres of land in Knox county, and farmed five years. He then went to Chicago and took up his trade again, con- tinuing at that work two years. He came to Lyon county in 1884 and purchased the southwest quarter of section 35, Westerheim township, where he has since lived. There were no improvements on the place and Mr. Breen has planted the groves, constructed the buildings and farmed the land to its best advantage; today he has one of the best im- proved pieces of farm land in the township. He has found the raising of cattle a profit- able business and every year ships a carload of fattened steers and hogs to market. In addition to his 466 acres of Lyon county land Mr. Breen owns some good lands in Canada.
Our subject is a stockholder and vice presi- dent of the First State Bank of Ghent, and he was one of the organizers and is the president of the Farmers Co-operative Ele- vator Company of the same place. He has been active in township affairs and has been for some time clerk of school district No. 44 and is on the board of supervisors.
John Breen's marriage to Margaret Mc- Mahon occurred in Chicago in 1874. To this union four children were born, as follows: Maurice, a real estate agent of Minneapolis; John, a business man of Lewiston; Mary (Mrs. William C. Ahern) of Minneota; and Nellie, a school teacher. Mrs. Breen died in 1883.
On November 21, 1890, our subject was married a second time, to Mary E. Mc- Loughen, the wedding taking place in Lin- coln county, Minnesota. She was born in
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Boston, Massachusetts, and moved with her parents to Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, where they lived several years, finally locating in Lincoln county. To this second marriage the following children were born: Sarah, a clerk in Marshall; Henry, a Marshall High School student; Bessie, Jerry and James, at home on the farm.
The subject of this sketch is one of six children born to Maurice and Ellen (Court- ney) Breen. The other children are Jerry, of Winchester, Massachusetts; Maurice, of Philadelphia; Catherine (Mrs. Patrick Sulli- van), of Winchester; and
Patrick and Thomas, deceased.
Mr. Breen is a member of the Catholic church of Ghent and holds membership in the Knights of Columbus lodge.
A. M. MOORE (1880) is cashier of the First State Bank of Balaton, treasurer of the Village Council, and treasurer of the West- ern Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Bala- ton, a home company that carries two and a half million dollars insurance. Mr. Moore was made assistant cashier of the bank in 1902; in 1904 he was made cashier, which position he has held since.
The subject of this review was born in Cottonwood county, Minnesota, August 7, 1878, and when two years of age accom- panied his parents to Balaton. After finish- ing his schooling he worked five years for the North western Railroad Company as
agent and operator in Minnesota and in North and South Dakota. In 1902 Mr. Moore entered upon his duties in the bank. He is a son of J. A. and Eva D. (Moore) Moore, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Jackson county, Minnesota. The subject of this sketch holds member- ship in the Masonic and Workmen lodges.
On November 15, 1906, occurred the mar- riage of Mr. Moore to Lulu McNabb, a na- tive of Balaton and a daughter of Archie McNabb, an early settler of that village. Mr. and Mrs. Moore have one child, Archie M.
ROBERT M. NEILL (1874), treasurer of Lyon county, is a native son and has spent his entire life within the county. He was born in Lyons township May 3, 1874, on his
father's homestead on section 26. He is the son of pioneer settlers, William and Agnes (Marshall) Neill, who came to the county in 1872, they having been born in Scotland. The mother died in 1891; the father now resides in Marshall and is associated with A. R. Chace in dealing in machinery and live stock.
Robert attended the district school and grew to young manhood on the farm. In 1888 he became a student of the Marshall High School and was graduated from that institution with the class of 1893. After his school days he entered the grocery store of F. J. Parker as clerk and was so employed several years. He then took a position as bookkeeper with the H. W. Ross Lumber Company and two years later was promoted to the management of the Marshall yards. He resigned his position in 1906 to become a candidate for county treasurer and was elected that fall. He has been twice re- elected and has since held the office. Prior to his election Mr. Neill served two years as treasurer of Marshall. He is a member of the Masonic Chapter, M. W. A. and B. A. Y. lodges.
Mr. Neill was married at Austin, Minne- sota, August 17, 1897, to Minnie B. Andrew, a native of Canada. They have three chil- dren: Alice Marjorie, Clarence Leroy and Alieen Gwendolyn.
OTTO WEKING (1885), of Lynd township, is a homesteader of Lyon county and has lived on the place he filed upon more than a quarter of a century ago.
Otto was born on his father's farm in Sweden August 22, 1859, and spent his boy- hood days in his native land. He is the only one of the family to come to America. He has one brother and two sisters living in the old country; both of his parents are buried there. In 1880, when he was twenty-one years of age, Otto came to America. He worked in a malt house in Chicago two years, and for three years he worked in the coal mines in Grundy county, Illinois.
Mr. Weking came to Lyon county in 1885, bought the homestead right to the northwest quarter of section 6, Lynd township, proved up on the claim, and has made his home there ever since. He has a fine farm, im- proved with substantial buildings, all the
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product of his labors. He is a member of the Swedish Lutheran church and for eight- een years has been treasurer of school dis- trict No. 38. Mr. Weking is not married.
HENRY C. HEINE (1879) is one of Tracy's first merchants. He located there in 1879 and opened a hand-made shoe factory in a little building on the site of his present store. The original building was burned in 1891 and Mr. Heine then erected the fine two-story brick establishment which he now occupies. He is one of Tracy's foremost business men.
Henry Heine was born in Germany March 26, 1851. At an early age he learned the shoemaker's trade. In 1871 he came to the United States, locating at Tomah, Wisconsin, near which place his sister, Mrs. Zahret, lived. He worked at his trade in Tomah for some time and later in the towns of Oronoco, Dodge Center, and Marshall, Minnesota, be- fore moving to Tracy in 1879. A few years after locating in Tracy Mr. Heine opened a line of shoes in connection with his trade, and later he added other lines to the shoe stock. He has little by little built up a very successful mercantile trade in shoes, gent's furnishings, stationery, periodicals, etc.
Our subject was married at Tomah, Wis- consin, to Miss Pauline Hoffman, July 3, 1881. Five children have been born to this union. The eldest son, Adolph, died March 5, 1903. The living children are George, who is with his father in the store; Edward, of Snohomish, Washington; Walter, a high school student; and Louise. Mrs. Heine is a native of Germany and came to this coun- try when a girl, locating with her parents at Tomah, Wisconsin.
ANDREW E. GREEN (1893) is the cashier of the State Bank of Florence. He was born in Murray county, Minnesota, on September 26, 1873, on his father's old homestead. He is a son of C. F. and Maria (Stina) Green, both natives of Sweden. They came to the United States in 1869 and homesteaded land in Murray county. They remained there un- til 1895, when they moved to Florence, where they now reside. They still own the old homestead and the northeast quarter of sec- tion 29, Shelburne township, which they took as a tree claim in the early seventies.
Our subject grew to manhood in Murray county and after receiving his common school education attended the Sioux Falls Business College. In 1893 he came to Lyon county and located in Florence, where he entered the employ of the Inter-State Grain Com- pany as grain buyer. He continued with that firm until 1896, when he entered the employ of the Northwestern Grain Company in the same capacity. He remained with the latter company until 1905, and then conducted a general store in Florence until 1907. In the latter year, in company with S. A. Christian- son, of Hills, Minnesota, he organized the State Bank of Florence and has since been its cashier.
The State Bank of Florence was estab- lished June 1, 1908, and began business Au- gust 11, following. The bank was capitalized for $10,000 with the following officers: Presi- dent, S. A. Christianson; vice president, M. O. Gorseth; cashier, A. E. Green; assistant cashier, H. H. Benson. The only change made in the officers since that date has been in the presidency, S. A. Christianson's brother, Peter, succeeding him as president. The above named men, together with S. A. Christianson, H. P. Sanden, Ed. Anderson and A. B. Larson, constitute the board of directors. They do a general banking and insurance business. The building which houses the institution was built the year the bank was opened.
The subject of this review is a member of the Swedish Lutheran church. He is a member of the Commandery of the Masonic lodge and also belongs to the Workmen order. Mr. Green has been clerk of school district No. 78 for a number of years and has held the office of justice of the peace.
On August 15, 1896, occurred the marriage of Mr. Green to Annie Johnson at Balaton. Mrs. Green is a native of Sweden. They are the parents of the following children: Alvin F., Harold G., Wallace V., Glen G. and Ken- neth V.
MRS. JERDINE LOE (1886), widow of John Loe, owns and farms the northwest quarter of section 3, Lucas township. She was formerly Jerdine Eikeland and was born in Sokhendal, Norway, December 7, 1869. Her parents, Jacob and Bertine
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(Larson) Eikeland, were the owners of a small farm in the old country.
Her father died when she was ten or eleven years of age, and in 1886 she crossed the water with her mother, two sisters and a brother, the family establishing a home west of Cottonwood. Miss Eikeland was married to John Loe October 8, 1888. He was born in Norway September 30, 1862, a son of Ole and Eline Loe, both of whom are buried in the old country. He came to the United States and Lyon county in 1885, bought the farm now con- ducted by his widow, and resided there until his death in 1907. He improved the farm and made it one of the fine homes of the township. With the assistance of her children, Mrs. Loe has managed the farm since her husband's death.
To Mr. and Mrs. Loe were born the fol- lowing named ten children: Emelie B., Hannah (Mrs. Albert Cole), Benjamin, Hilda L., Clara (deceased), Ella, Edwin, Joseph G. and Judith C. All the children except the married daughter reside at home. The family are members of the Norwegian Lutheran church.
CHRIST JOHNSON (1892) is the owner of 240 acres of land on section 25, Lyons township, and is one of the prosperous farmers of the precinct. He has lived in the county twenty years.
Mr. Johnson was born in Denmark Feb- ruary 24, 1871, the son of Jens and Mar- gretta (Anderson) Olson. When eighteen years of age he came to America with his brother, Andrew, worked in a stone quarry at Joliet, Illinois, one year and then be- came a resident of Lemont, Illinois. He spent two years working on the Chicago drainage canal and in 1892 came to Lyon county.
Upon his arrival Mr. Johnson bought an eighty-acre farm on section 31, Sodus, farmed it four years, and then traded for a 160-acre farm on section 25, Lyons, where he has since lived. Later he bought another eighty acres adjoining and now has a fine farm of 240 acres. Mr. John- son has served three years as a member of the Township Board of Supervisors.
The marriage of Mr. Johnson to Mar- garet M. Neill occurred in Sodus township
on July 29, 1897. Mrs. Johnson was born in Sodus township on April 9, 1874, and is the daughter of Hugh and Elizabeth ( Marshall) Neill, of Marshall. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have three children: Vera M., born February 18, 1900; Dwight N., born September 12, 1903; Alice H., born March 6, 1905.
EDGAR W. SHAVER (1877), who with his son conducts the Enterprise Wood Yard and Feed Mill at Marshall, is a pioneer set- tler of the county and one of its enter- prising citizens. His parents were Almond and Sinah (Roberts) Shaver, both of whom were born in Canada. The father went to California in the fifties during the gold excitement, and in 1860 the family located in Wisconsin. Almond Shaver served a four years' enlistment in the Union Army with a Wisconsin regiment during the Civil War. He became a land owner in Jackson county, Wisconsin, and there he and his wife both died, the former at the age of eighty-seven years and the latter aged seventy-five years.
To those parents Edgar W. Shaver was born in Wayne county, Ohio, November 16, 1850. When a child he accompanied the family to Canada, but in 1860 a return to the United States was made and a home established in Jackson county, Wisconsin. There young Shaver grew to manhood and there he resided until he came to Lyon county in 1878.
Our subject was one of a party of men who in 1877 drove from Wisconsin to Lyon county. He spent that season in the coun- ty, being employed in breaking prairie land on a tree claim owned by E. B. Jewett. Mr. Shaver returned to his old home but came back again the next spring to be- come a permanent resident. Upon his arrival his earthly possessions consisted of fifteen cents, a yoke of oxen and a span of horses, and he owed for the horses. He borrowed twenty dollars and sent for his wife. He went to work with a will and he has made a record worthy of emulation.
Mr. Shaver's first home was in Fairview township. Two years after his arrival he bought the Minor Atherton homestead, the northwest quarter of section 32, and farmed the place four years. He then traded for
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land on sections 22 and 26, Clifton town- ship, and resided there until February, 1911. He erected all the buildings on the farm and made many improvements. He now rents out his 240 aere farm. Upon his removal to Marshall in 1911 Mr. Shaver bought of C. M. Hauks the Enterprise Wood and Coal Yards, consisting of four lots, feed mill, barn and wood yard, and he has since conducted the business in partnership with his son, Vern C.
The marriage of Mr. Shaver to Emma C. Frank occurred in Jackson county, Wis- consin, in April, 1875. Mrs. Shaver was born in the county in which she was mar- ried. Seven children have blessed this union, as follows: Clarence, Nettie (Mrs. William Watson), of Amiret; Minnie ( Mrs. Clarence Twogood), of Lyon county; Vern C., of Marshall; Gertie (Mrs. William Smith), who resides on the Clifton town- ship farm; Nellie and Ethel.
Mr. Shaver has been a member of the Masonic lodge for the past forty-one years, having joined the order at Humbird, Wis- consin, in February, 1871. Mr. Shaver is one in a family of two children. His sis- ter, Bertha, who is twenty years his junior, resides on the old homestead in Jackson county, Wisconsin.
OSCAR H. BURCKHARDT (1893). One of the enterprising young farmers of Coon Creek township is Oscar Burckhardt, a graduate of the Marshall High School and the Sioux Falls Business College. He is a native of Illinois and was born at Florence Station, Stephenson county, on May 9, 1890, a son of John and Albertina (Watzke) Burckhardt, early settlers of Lyon county.
The father was one of the most pros- perons farmers in the county and also one of its largest land holders. He passed away on March 15, 1909, and with his death Lyon county lost one of its best citizens, one who did nobly his part in the upbuilding of the agricultural district. To Mr. and Mrs. John Burckhardt were born the following children: John, Alfred, Charles, Henry J., Oscar, Mrs. F. J. Hen- richs, Mrs. H. Seibert, all of Lyon county; and Mrs. Annie Sullivan, of Matlock, Iowa. Mrs. Burckhardt resides on the home place
near the village of Russell, and it is with her that the subject of this sketch lives. Mr. Burekhardt, Sr., served two years in the Civil War and received an honorable discharge.
The young man whose name heads this sketch accompanied his parents to Lyon county when he was only four years of age. He attended school in district No. 63, in the Russell schools, and later in the Marshall High School two years. He also attended the Sioux Falls Business College. After finishing his course at the college Oscar worked for some time for the Tuthill Lum- ber Company, at Sioux Falls, as bookkeeper. After his father's death he returned home and has since had charge of the home farm. He is the owner of the southeast quarter of section 26, Coon Creek township, and farms 340 acres in addition to that. He raises considerable stock, including Duroe- Jersey hogs and Holstein cattle. He is a member of the German Lutheran church. Mr. Burckhardt is unmarried. He is a successful farmer and stock raiser.
DR. ANTON G. SANDERSON (1883) is a physician and surgeon of Minneota, where he was born February 1, 1883 .- He is a son of the late Dr. Samuel Sanderson, a pioneer physician of Lyon county. The father settled at Minneota in the spring of 1881 and died at Madison, Wisconsin, February 5, 1909. There are five children in the family still living: Dr. E. T. Sanderson, of Minneota; Fred, of Madi- son, Wisconsin; Theresa, a trained nurse of Madison; Anton G., of this sketch, and Mel- ville, a student.
Anton grew to manhood and received his early education in Minneota. After finishing school he went to Madison, Wisconsin, and worked for a lumber company two years. He then spent two years with the Rogers Lumber Company at Velva and Kenmare, North Dakota. In 1904 Mr. Sanderson went to Chicago and attended the Bennett Medi- cal College, from which he was graduated in 1908. After his graduation, Dr. Sanderson lived one year in Minneota, after which he was on the medical staff of the St. Peter insane asylum. He continued in the latter capacity six months and then went to Ruth- ton, where he practised until November, 1910. On the latter date he again took up
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his residence in Minneota and has practised there since with his brother, Dr. E. T. San- derson.
The subject of this sketch is a member of the A. F. & A. M., I. O. O. F. and M. W. A. lodges. He also holds membership in the T. A. E., a medical fraternity, and in the Illinois State Medical Association.
Dr. Sanderson was married at Ruthton November 18, 1910, to Ida Heacock, a native of Kingsley, Iowa. They are the parents of one child, Donald.
MARVIN E. MATHEWS (1876), a Mar- shall attorney-at-law, is a pioneer of Minne- sota and of Lyon county. He has lived in Minnesota nearly sixty years and in Marshall thirty-six years. He is a man of prominence in his profession, but of a retiring, modest disposition, adverse to notoriety. He is rich- ly entitled to biographical mention in this History of Lyon County, being a representa- tive man and an eminent member of the bar of Southwestern Minnesota. Not only in the law is he prominent, but also in business and social circles.
Mr. Mathews descends from one of the old American families. His paternal grandpar- ents were Caleb and Margaret (Van Salis- bury) Mathews, natives, respectively, of Ver- mont and Pennsylvania. The former died near Jamestown, New York, at the age of eighty years; the latter died at the age of seventy-five years. The parents of our sub- ject were Joseph V. and Clarissa (Chipman ) Mathews. Joseph V. Mathews was born at Albany, New York, and at the age of five years accompanied his parents to Gary, New York. He located in Rochester, Minnesota, in 1854, took government land in Murray county in 1872, and died in that county. The mother of our subject was born at James- town, New York, and was a daughter of James Chipman. She also died in Murray county. There were six children in this family, as follows: James W., of Tracy; Charles, of Minneapolis; Edward, of Duluth; Ellen J. Endersbe (deceased) and Sidney (deceased).
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M. E. Mathews was born at Jamestown, New York, September 25, 1849. . He accom- panied the family when it moved to Roches- ter, Minnesota, in 1854 and he has ever since been a resident of this state. He spent his
boyhood days on a farm near Rochester. At that time Southeastern Minnesota was very thinly settled, the country being marked only occasionally by the log cabins of settlers, the advance guard of civilization. For the most part the country was occupied by Indians and wild animals. There were no school laws, teachers or schools when the Mathews family made their home in this western country and it was several years before a school was established in the vicinity. When one was finally established instruction was given only a few months of the year, held in some claim shanty and supported by sub- scription. In the school which onr subject first attended the shanty was supplied with seats and desks made by splitting logs into slabs and placing them on logs driven into the ground; the school room had no floor except that provided by nature and it was heated by an open fireplace built of stone. No certificate or qualification and bnt little education was required of the teacher. Read- ing, writing, spelling, geography and arith- metic were the branches taught, and those desiring further education were obliged to obtain it by their own unaided exertions. Mr. Mathews studied grammar and other branch- es while working in the fields and soon made the contents of such volumes his own, and he is now a master of the English language.
After completing the course provided by the country school Mr. Mathews continued his studies in the Rochester High School, which had then been established. From the age of seventeen years he made his own way in the world. He worked as a farm hand and chopped wood in the forests dur- ing the winter months and later taught a country school. For a time he studied law in the office of R. A. Jones, at Rochester, and in 1872 he moved to New Ulm and taught in the high school. While thus en- gaged he continued his law studies in the office of George W. Kuhlman until the fall of 1873. From that time until he located in Marshall in 1876 he practised his profession at New Ulm.
From 1876 until the present date Mr. Mathews has engaged in practice in Mar- shall. He took a course in the Law Depart- ment of the University of Michigan and was gradnated with the class of 1881. He has become one of the leading attorneys of the state and has been connected with much
M. E. MATHEWS Who Has Practised Law in Marshall Since 1876.
MRS. M. E. MATHEWS
THE MATHEWS HOME IN MARSHALL
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important litigation in this section of the state.
Mr. Mathews has been a life-long Demo- crat, a recognized leader in politics, and prominently identified with several Demo- cratic organizations of the state. He has served as mayor of Marshall, county attor- ney, and was receiver of the United States Land Office at Marshall during President Cleveland's second administration. He was a candidate for the office of judge of the district court, but was defeated by the pres- ent incumbent, Hon. I. M. Olsen.
In many fraternal orders Mr. Mathews holds membership, among them the Council, Consistory, Mystic Shrine and Eastern Star of the Masonic orders, the Knights of Pyth- ias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America.
Mr. Mathews was married at New Ulm, Minnesota, on August 21, 1875, to Minnie Boesch, a native of Brown county and a daughter of Werner Boesch. To them were born four children, named as follows: Wer- ner B., born February 17, 1878, died April 14, 1896; Logan B., born March 31, 1880, died March 27. 1891; Sidonia A. (Mrs. Howard Harmon), of Marshall, born June 16, 1887; Rolland M., born January 6, 1889. Mr. Mathews and his wife are great lovers of children and have done much for a number of them in Lyon county, having assisted them in their schooling and getting a start in life. Besides their own they have two adopted children which they brought up from infancy. They are Arloine, at one time a leading nurse in Rest Hospital, Minneapolis, now the wife of Garfield Jaeger and a resi- dent of Spokane, Washington, and Joseph P. Mathews, a student at the University of Minnesota. They are the daughter and son of Edward Mathews, a brother residing at Duluth, Minnesota.
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