USA > Minnesota > Lyon County > An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota > Part 64
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PETER P. SLETTE (18SS), of Lucas town- ship, was born in Gubransdalen, Norway, February 29, 1874, and is a son of Peder and Sarah (Bergum) Slette. The former now resides in Lucas township; the latter died in Norway.
The elder Slette came to America in 1886 and settled in Lucas township, where he engaged in farming. The subject of this sketch attended the common schools of his
native land until fourteen years of age, and two years after his father came to America the boy followed. He came to Lyon county and until 1900 worked out for various men at farm labor, most of the time in Lucas township.
In 1900 Peter returned to the Fatherland, where he remained about two years, and two years later once more came to America and resumed farming in Lucas township. He is at present farming 200 acres of rented land on section 16.
The ceremony which united Peter P. Slette and Tolvine Sandbo in the holy bonds of matrimony was performed at Cottonwood De- cember 4, 1903. She is a native of Norway and was born August 1, 1884. Mr. and Mrs. Slette are the parents of the following chil- dren: Malfrid, born June 4, 1905; Sarah, born October 3, 1906; and Valborg, born February 26, 1909. The Slette family belong to the United Norwegian Lutheran church of Cottonwood.
ELMER E. FOSTER (1878), police officer of Marshall, is a native Minnesotan and a son of pioneers of Lyon county.
Charles S. Foster, his father, was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, July 22, 1828. There he spent his boyhood days and resided until twenty-six years of age. He was married in 1854 to Sarah J. Roberts, who was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, May 30, 1837. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. Foster moved to Elgin, Illinois, resided there until 1865, and then located in the township of Elgin, Wabasha county, Minne- sota. On a farm in that township they lived until 1873.
In the year last mentioned the family came to Lyon county, purchased the north- west quarter of section 9, Lynd township, and resided thereon eighteen years. The parents then bought a home in Marshall and resided in the county seat until their deaths. Mrs. Foster passed away September 3, 1900. Thereafter Mr. Foster made his home with his children until his death on May S, 1909, at the age of eighty-one years.
There were twelve children in the family, of whom the following named six are living: Mary A., the wife of James A. Harris, of Lynd township; Lester F. and Ulysses G., of Lynd township: Elmer E., of Marshall;
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Oleanna R., the wife of Henry E. Wilson, of Redwood county; and James S., of Raymond, South Dakota.
Elmer E. Foster was born in Elgin town- ship, Wabasha county, Minnesota, Novem- ber 3, 1866, and he lived there on a farm with his parents until the fall of 1878. He came with the family to Lyon county at that time and until the fall of 1890 lived on the home farm in Lynd township. Then he rented section 36, Grandview township, and farmed it one year. Mr. Foster was married November 25, 1891, to Annie S. Kiel, daugh- ter of M. C. Kiel. She was born in Faribault county, Minnesota, June 6, 1873.
After his marriage Mr. Foster bought the north half of the north half of section 36, Lynd township, and conducted the farm nine years. Then he purchased the home farm of his father and operated the place six years. At the end of that time Mr. Foster was appointed deputy sheriff of Lyon county and served four years and four months under Sheriff Grannan, until May 1, 1911. In the 'latter part of June of the same year he was appointed to the police force of Marshall.
Mr. Foster has held other local offices. For nine years he was assessor of Lynd town- ship and he was also clerk of his school district. He is a member of the M. W. A. lodge of Lynd and of the Blue Lodge and Chapter of the Masonic order at Marshall.
Mr. and Mrs. Foster have five children, as follows: Ethel A., born September 14, 1894; Veo G., born June 25, 1898; Lloyd E., born January 27, 1903; Maxwell R., born July 14, 1905; Prudence M., born June 20, 1911.
HENRY A. MATTHEWS (1883) is a farm- er and land owner who resides in Lynd township. He is a native of Germany and was born near Breslau on November 4, 1846, the son of Joseph and Hedwig (Jopech) Matthews, both of whom died in 1854 when Henry was a boy. It was in the land of his nativity that Henry received his early education. Until he was twenty-one years of age he was employed as an engineer.
When twenty-one years of age Henry Matthews came to America and worked in New York, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Mis- sissippi. After a residence of one year in Clayborn county, Mississippi, he moved to
Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained eight years in the employ of a florist. He then went to Chicago, where he had charge of the Dearborn Avenue Conservatory.
In 1883 our subject immigrated to Lyon county and built a hut on the farm he now operates, which he purchased from the Northwestern Railroad Company. He is at present the owner of four hundred acres of fine land in Lynd township. Mr. Matthews is a member of the German Lutheran church, is a stockholder of the Farmers Elevator Company of Lynd and has been on the board of school district No. 38 for several years. Besides farming, he raises a great deal of stock.
In 1880 Mr. Matthews was united in mar- riage to Annie Fritsch, a native of Germany. Mrs. Matthews died July 1, 1898. They were the parents of the following named children : Annie (Mrs. Frank Mellenthen), Hedwig, George, Fred, Henry, Karl, Mary, Helen, Sophia, Laura.
EDMOND VAN MOER (1891) is one of Amiret township's successful farmers and lives on the southwest quarter of section 8. He conducts a 200-acre farm and has a fine, well-improved place.
Mr. Van Moer is a Hollander and is a son of Joseph and Pauline (Pielaet) Van Moer, both of whom died in their native land. Edmond was born January 28, 1870, and was brought up and educated in his native land. At quite an early age he commenced to work out at farm labor in Holland, and in the spring of 1891 the young man came to America.
Upon his arrival to the United States, Mr. Van Moer located in Lyon county and worked out at farm labor near Ghent several months. He farmed rented land in Amiret township ten years, after which he purchased the north half of section 17 in company with his two brothers, John and August, and the three boys ran the farm four years. Edmond then purchased the land where he now re- sides, and he has today a farm well im- proved with substantial buildings. In addi- tion to his general farming he engages suc- cessfully in stock raising.
Mr. Van Moer is a progressive citizen and is interested in other enterprises besides farming, being a stockholder in the Amiret
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State Bank and the Lyon County Agricultural Society. He is also a shareholder and treas- urer of the Amiret-Marshall Rural Telephone Company. Our subject was justice of the peace two years and has been a member of the Board of Supervisors the past five years, being its present chairman. He was road overseer five years.
May 27, 1905, occurred the marriage of Edmond Van Moer and Florence Loke, a native of Lyon county. She was born March 26, 1885, and is a daughter of Franz and Mary (Vander Kerkhoven) Loke, natives of Holland and for the last few years residents of Clifton township, Lyon county. To Mr. and Mrs. Van Moer five children have been born, their names being Elsie M., Ida P., Bertha C., George E. and Victor Joseph. The Van Moers are members of the Catholic church.
ABSALOM LLOYD WRIGHT (1883), who owns and farms the southwest quarter of section 20. Rock Lake township, has lived in Lyon county nearly thirty years. He has met with success in his ventures, has taken an active part in the affairs of his commu- nity, and is rated high among the men of his precinct.
Mr. Wright is a Virginian by birth and first saw the light of day November 10, 1861. Andrew Wright, his father, was born in Vir- ginia, served in the army during the Civil War, and lost his life in the sectional strug- gle. Dorothy (Davis) Wright, his mother, died in 1874.
Our subject spent his boyhood days in his native state, attending school and working out as a farm hand. He came to Lyon county in the fall of 1883 and this county has ever since been his residence. He worked out four years and then started in business for himself, renting land and farm- ing in Sodus township three years. He next farmed rented land in Rock Lake township six years and then took up his residence on his present farm, which he had purchased six years before.
Mr. Wright served one year as clerk of Rock Lake township and he has been asses- sor for the past two years. For seventeen years he has been a member of the school board of district No. 18-thirteen years as a director and the last four years as treas-
urer. He has stock in the Farmers Elevator Company of Balaton.
Eliza A. Ford became the wife of Mr. Wright November 24, 1887. She was born in Wisconsin May 8, 1865, and is a daughter of Henry and Margaret ( Marshall) Ford, pioneers and still residents of Sodus town- ship. Mr. and Mrs. Wright have two chil- dren: Margaret, born December 7, 1888, and Clarence, born January 6, 1894.
HENRY O. HANSON (1881) is the man- ager of the Farmers & Merchants Supply Company of Minneota and has resided in Lyon county for the past thirty years. The company by which he is employed was estab- lished in 1894 and has the following officers: President, Gilbert Hammer; treasurer, H. A. Tillemans; secretary, K. E. Kjorness; man- ager, H. O. Hanson. They handle grain, coal and twine. Henry was born in Dane county, Wisconsin, June 20, 1859, a son of Ole and Jane (Peterson) Hanson, natives of Norway who came to Dane county in the days of the early Norwegian settlements of that state. They are both dead.
In 1879 the subject of this review immi- grated to Hancock, Stevens county, Minne- sota, where he resided until 1881, when he moved to Minneota-his future home. He was engaged in the hardware and implement business until 1885, then in the butcher busi- ness, and still later in the livery business until 1895, when he accepted the position he now holds.
Mr. Hanson was married in Minneota to Annie Werpe, a native of Iowa. They are the parents of eight children, as follows: Clara, Ella, Marvin, Chester, Edgar, Milton, Klenora and Milo.
Mr. Hanson has served several terms on the Village Council of Minneota. He is a member of the M. W. A. and Maccabee lodges.
KNUTE SKAAR (1892) is a farmer and blooded stock raiser of Nordland township and a resident of Lyon county of twenty years' standing. His home place is the south half of the southeast quarter of section 4, a short distance from Minneota, and he also owns the east half of the northwest quarter of section 9, adjoining.
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Knute Skaar was born in Vallers, Norway, September 27, 1884. His parents, Ole and Carrie Skaar, died when he was a child, and in 1892 he came to America with his sister, Barbara Skaar. He came to Lyon county and made his home with an uncle, Knud Dovre. in Eidsvold township. His boyhood days were spent attending the district school and assisting his uncle on the farm. He re- mained on the Dovre farm until the fall of 1908. The next fall he purchased eighty acres of his present farm and started in business for himself. The next year he be- came the owner of the other eighty acres of his farm.
Mr. Skaar specializes on stock, raising thoroughbred Duroc-Jersey swine. He ex- hibited his registered hogs at the Lyon coun- ty fair in 1911 and received two first prizes and one sweepstake. Mr. Skaar has stock in the Farmers Elevator Company of Minne- ota. He is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran church of Minneota and of the Masonic, Odd Fellows and Yeomen lodges of the same village.
Emma Hanson, who was born in Lyon county April 9, 1887, became the wife of Mr. Skaar June 2, 1910, the ceremony being performed at Minneota. Her parents, Robert and Ellen (Klaith) Hanson, were pioneer res- idents of Nordland township and are now deceased. Mrs. Skaar is one of five children, the others being Mrs. Knute K. Mohn, of Nordland township; Peter, deceased; Carl. of Minneota; and Christine, of Nordland township.
WILLIAM F. GIESEKE (1892) is presi- dent of the Marshall Milling Company and at the head of one of Lyon county's largest business enterprises. He has been a resi- dent of Marshall twenty years and is rated among the substantial men of Lyon county.
William Gieseke, the father of the subject of this review, was' born in Hanover, Ger- many, in September, 1831. He came to the United States when seventeen years of age and a few years later sent to the old country for the rest of the family. In 1861 he located in New Ulm and that was his home for the next twenty-two years. During his residence there he served nine years as sheriff of Brown county.
In 1883 William Gieseke, Sr., located in
Sleepy Eye, and the next year he and others founded the Sleepy Eye Milling Company. He was president of the company many years and its guiding spirit. He became interested in the mill at Marshall in 1892 and became a resident of the city. He moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1901, and died there February 23, 1905. Matilda (Roternund) Gieseke, the mother of our sub- ject, was born in Addison, Illinois, and now makes her home in Los Angeles.
In the Gieseke family are five children, as follows: William F., Lydia (Mrs. F. J. McIntyre), of Madison, South Dakota; Mar- garet (Mrs. Carl A. Plath), of Hood River, Oregon; Hugo H., who is bookkeeper and cashier of the Marshall Milling Company; and Blanche (Mrs. Paul Wagner), of Los Angeles, California.
William F. Gieseke was born in New Ulm, Minnesota, March 5, 1869, and spent his boy- hood days there. He was educated in the common schools and in Shattuck College, of Faribault, Minnesota, having been gradu- ated from the last named institution in 18SS. After his school days Mr. Gieseke entered the office of the Sleepy Eye Milling Com- pany and was with the company in Sleepy Eye until May 2, 1892. On that date he located in Marshall to take charge of the company's mill there. He became an officer of the Marshall Milling Company upon its organization a little later and is now the president of the company.
In the city of Marshall, on June 11, 1894, Mr. Gieseke was united in marriage to Ethel R. Paige. Gordon W. Gieseke is their only child.
LOUIS N. REGNIER (1883), a well-to-do farmer of Grandview township, was born in Kankakee county, Illinois, August 15, 1858. He was brought up on the Illinois farm and in 1883 he accompanied his brother George to Lyon county. Louis bought 160 acres of railroad land on section 23, Grandview, and started farming. He improved the farm and in 1902 he bought the southwest quarter of section 24 in the same township, which is known as the James English tree claim. Mr. Regnier has done well since coming to the county and now farms 280 acres of his own and 185 acres, which he rents. He is ably assisted in the farm work by his sons.
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
The parents of our subject were Isaac and Mary (Tonscheke) Regnier, natives of Canada. They were early settlers of Kanka- kee county, Illinois, locating there at a time when Chicago was a mere hamlet. Coming to Lyon county in 1884, they located in Grandview township, where Mr. Regnier died in 1896. Mrs. Regnier is living with her daughter, Mrs. Gus Durrenberger, in Marshall. Besides the subject of this sketch the elder Regniers were the parents of the following children: Joseph, of Marshall; Mary (Mrs. Patrick Grant), of Kankakee; Florence (Mrs. Aime Bennett), of Kankakee; Emma (Mrs. O. Letournan), of Chicago; George, of Grandview; John, of Cottonwood; Ambrose, Harry and Louise (Mrs. Gus Dur- renberger), all of Marshall.
On February 20, 1884, occurred the mar- riage of our subject to Elizabeth Caron, a native of Kankakee. She is a daughter of Theodore Caron, one of the early settlers of the county. To this union have been born Archie, Jerry, Philip, Eugenia, Zephyre, Rob- ert, John, Henry and Sarah, the two last named being twins.
Mr. Regnier has been a member of the school board of district No. 21 for about twenty years and is road overseer. He is a member of the Catholic church.
CHARLES MILLER (1885), who farms the north half of section 4, Stanley township, has lived in Lyon county since he was a child. He is the son of William and Hulda (Muel- ler) Miller. The former was born in Wis- consin August 7, 1852, and is now engaged in farming in Lake Marshall township. The mother was born August 16, 1856, and died August 25, 1895.
Charles Miller was born in Wisconsin August 19, 1879. He came to Lyon county with his parents in 1885 and until he was sixteen years of age lived with them and attended school. He was handy with ma- chinery and when only fourteen years of age began to work with engines. Two years later he was granted an engineer's license and became the youngest man in Minnesota to hold such license. During the next ten years he operated engines exclusively. Then he began farming and has been so engaged ever since.
The marriage of our subject to Minnie
Apfel occurred April 6, 1901, at Evansville, Wisconsin. Mrs. Miller's parents, H. Apfel and Fredericka Apfel, reside in Wisconsin. To Mr. and Mrs. Miller have been born the following named five children: Jeanette, Violet, Melvin, Hazel and Hal.
ARTHUR H. ROWLAND (1881), postmas- ter of Tracy, has spent all except the first few years of his life in that city. He was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, April 5, 1874, and on January 11, 1881, he accompanied the family to Tracy. With the exception of the winter of 1881-82, when he was in Pierre, South Dakota, Mr. Rowland has ever since made his home in Tracy.
Arthur received his education in the Tracy school. When a boy he served one year as call boy in the employ of the Northwestern Railroad Company, and then for two years he was employed by the American Express Company. In 1897 he and his father opened a grocery store, which they conducted eleven years. Mr. Rowland received the appoint- ment of postmaster on April 1, 1908.
Mr. Rowland was city recorder six terms previous to receiving the appointment of postmaster. He has been a member of the fire department since 1892 and is the second oldest member of that organization. Fra- ternally Mr. Rowland affiliates with the Ma- sonic and Workmen lodges, holding member- ship in both the Blue Lodge and Chapter of the former.
The father of our subject is Richard Row- land, also of Tracy. He located in that village in 1879 and for more than thirty years was a conductor of the Northwestern Line. He was the first conductor to locate at the division and his first service was in charge of a construction train. His service has been confined to the Dakota division. The mother of our subject, Harriet S. (Par- ker) Rowland, is deceased. She was born at Janesville, Wisconsin, and was the daugh- ter of Captain Parker, a member of Com- pany M, Second Wisconsin Cavalry. He died in the service at Vicksburg. A. H. Rowland has three brothers and one sister, namely: Leonard, Robert, Hattie and Harlan. The last named is deputy postmaster.
A. H. Rowland was married in Tracy Sep- tember 6, 1910, to Annie Lorenz, a native of Madison, Wisconsin.
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
LEWIS E. SCOTT (1880), of Amiret town- ship, is a Lyon county boy, having been born in Sodus township July 29, 1880, and having been a resident of the county since his birth.
John and Mary (Lewis) Scott, parents of our subject, came to the county in 1874 and located on a homestead in Sodus township, where they still reside. Lewis was born on the farm and grew up amid a farmer boy's environments. He attended the country school and later the village school in Ami- ret, and his education was completed when he was twenty-one years of age. He then worked for his father on the old homestead until October, 1905, when he engaged in farming for himself. During his Sodus resi- dence Lewis held the office of road overseer for the township two terms.
The subject of this sketch farmed in Cus- ter township six years, and in November, 1911. he moved to the farm he now operates, known as the Webb farm, on sections 17 and 20, Amiret township. He has since rent- ed and farmed the place, having charge of a half section. He raises considerable stock, giving his attention to the Shorthorn and Hereford cattle and the Poland China hog.
Mr. Scott married Ada Edwards in Tracy, Minnesota. October 18, 1905. To this union were born three children: Paul, born August 24, 1907; Clarence, born December 23, 1908; and William, born June 24, 1910. Mrs. Scott is a native of Sioux City, Iowa, and is a daughter of Edward and Agnes Edwards, for- merly residents of Tracy and now of Sioux City.
GEORGE F. FIFIELD (1886) has lived in Lyon county since he was eleven years of age and is a farmer and land owner of Rock Lake and Shelburne townships. He engages quite extensively in stock raising, farms 380 acres in the two townships, and owns eighty acres in Shelburne township and 160 acres in Roseau county, Minnesota.
The parents of our subject were Ira A. and Emily E. (Rueber) Fifield, natives, re- spectively, of New Hampshire and New York. They came to Lyon county in 1886, bought land in Lyons township, and resided on the farm there until their deaths. The father died in 1903, the mother in 1909. They were the parents of nine children, as
follows: Nellie (Mrs. William Buell), of Roseau county, Minnesota; May (Mrs. S. Goodmund), of Lyons township; Ella (Mrs. J. W. Andrews), deceased; Ann (Mrs. W. E. Magandy), of Tyler; George F., of this re- view; James, deceased; Charles, of Minne- apolis; Walter and Elmer, of Lyons town- ship.
The gentleman whose history we are chronicling was born in Wabasha county, Minnesota, October 10. 1875. He came to Lyon county with the family in 1886, attend- ed district school until nineteen years of age, and worked for his father on the Lyons township farm until after reaching his ma- jority. Then he was married and engaged in farming in Lyons township three years. He conducted a meat market in Balaton six months and then went North, to Roseau county, Minnesota. There he secured a homestead and resided two years. Upon his return to Lyon county he engaged in farm- ing in Shelburne and Rock Lake townships and has since been so engaged. He raises Durham cattle and Poland China hogs.
Mr. Fifield has stock in the Lyon County Co-operative Company of Balaton and he has been treasurer of school district No. 60 for the past six years. He is a member and one of the trustees of the Presbyterian church of Russell and holds membership in the Workmen and Woodmen lodges of the same village.
The marriage of Mr. Fifield to Mary L. Persons was solemnized in Rock Lake town- ship June 28, 1899. She was born in the township in which she was married August 19, 1879. Her parents, Orville E. and Ella (Weeks) Persons, were among the first set- tlers of Rock Lake township and resided on their homestead until 1905. Then they moved to Clarkston, Washington, where they now live.
Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Fifield, of whom four are living. Their names and dates of births are as follows: Arthur R., born November 24, 1901; Elsie, deceased, born November 6, 1902; Harold G., born April 12, 1906; Addie, deceased, born April 11, 1908; Beatrice, born January 23, 1910; Ethel, born June 13, 1912.
PAUL GITS (1883) is the proprietor of . blacksmith and wagon shop in the city
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
of Marshall. He is a native of Belgium, was born October 13, 1864, and resided in the land of his nativity until nineteen years of age. He is a son of Francis and Louise (Corielt) Gits, who reside at Ghent. The other children in the family are Paul, Julius, Joseph, Victor. Clement (Mrs. Charles Fou- lon), of Ghent; Edmund, of Ghent, and Ar- thur, of St. Paul.
Paul Gits learned the blacksmith's trade from his father, whose father and grand- father had also been in the same business. In 1883 the Gits family immigrated to the United States and located at Minneota. where they resided a few months and then moved to Ghent. At that place Francis Gits opened a blacksmith shop, and our subject worked in the place for a while, after which he went to Faribault and engaged in his trade two years. He then returned to Ghent and started a shop which he conducted until 1894, when he sold out and moved to Mar- shall, where he has since resided. Upon his arrival to Marshall Mr. Gits entered into partnership with Gustav Vergote, and started a blacksmith shop and a saloon. They built the Klondike saloon building and were in partnership two years, when they dissolved and our subject purchased his present place of business. Mr. Gits is a member of the Catholic church, the Catholic Order of For- esters and the Knights of Columbus lodges.
Mr. Gits was married at Ghent May 12, 1887, to Judith Vanhee, a native of Belgium. They are the parents of eighteen children, fourteen of whom are living. They are as follows: Albert, Mary, Ida, Julius, Louis, Edmund, Victor, Lucy, Louise, Gustav, Celia, Victoria, Julian and Margaret.
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