An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota, Part 66

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Marshall, Minn. : Northern History Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 726

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On April 9, 1898, Ida Victoria West be- came the wife of Mr. Swanson. She is the daughter of Per August and Anna Christina West. The former is dead and the latter resides in Kalmarlane. Mrs. Swanson was born February 20, 1874. Mr. Swanson and his wife are the parents of two children: Carl Robert, born October 17, 1903, and Ruth, born February 10, 1909.

BERNER LEKNES (1908) is cashier of the First State Bank of Russell. His mother died when he was eight years old, and his father came to the United States from Nor- way and located in Renville county, Minne- sota, where he still resides. Our subject has one brother, Ingvard, who is a banker at Bricelyn, Minnesota, and the following half- brothers and sisters: Olaf, of Sacred Heart, Renville county; Anna, Edwin, Emma and Alma, who reside at home.

Berner was born in the land of the mid- night sun July 1, 1875, and came to the United States with his father when nine years of age. They settled in Renville coun-

ty, Minnesota, where our subject grew to manhood and attended school. He was a student at the Willmar Seminary and later, in 1895-96, attended the Namsos Academy in Norway. Returning to Renville county, Berner lived there until 1900, when he went to Blue Earth and engaged in the banking business. Later he went to Rake, Iowa, where he conducted a bank for the Ross Bank- ing Company one and one-half years. He then went to Williston, North Dakota, where he was assistant cashier of the First Na- tional Bank.

In May, 1908, Mr. Leknes came to Lyon county and located at Russell, where he has since been cashier of the First State Bank. He is also a stockholder and director of the bank, which was organized as a state bank in 1903, with a capital of $15,000. It does a general banking, loan and insurance busi- ness. W. E. C. Ross is president of the in- stitution

Mr. Leknes holds membership in Blue Earth Lodge No. 57, A. F. & A. M., at Blue Earth, Minnesota, and in Mt. Zion Lodge, R. A. M., at Blue Earth. He is also a member of the M. W. A. and A. O. U. W. lodges at Russell.

Mr. Leknes was married at Rake, Iowa, June 27, 1906, to Dora Engeseth, a native of Faribault county, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Leknes have two children: Thelma and El- bert

EMIEL DE SUTTER (1882) is one of Belgium's native sons who has achieved success and prosperity in his adopted coun- try and his farm is one of the finest pieces of real estate in Westerheim township. He owns the southeast quarter and eighty acres of the southwest quarter of section 29-240 acres-and rents eighty acres in addition to his own land.

Emiel is the son of Charles and Mary (Pauw) De Sutter and was born in Belgium September 19, 1881. When he was one year old his family immigrated to America and located in Lyon county, on the quarter sec- tion where our subject now resides. The farm was then raw prairie land, and the skillful and progressive methods of its owner and his father have made it the splendid property which it is today.

Our subject has lived on his present farm

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since coming to America. He was educated in the township and was brought up with a thorough knowledge of farming. The boy's mother died on August 28, 1896, and the father a few years later moved to Ghent to live, where he died in 1905 at the age of seventy-seven years. Young De Sutter took charge of the farm after his father moved to Ghent and one year before the latter's death Emiel purchased the home farm.

The wedding ceremony which made Emiel De Sutter and Helen Van Hee man and wife was performed in Ghent June 22, 1904. She was born in Grandview township and is the daughter of Angelus Van Hee, one of the township's well known farmers. Emiel De Sutter has seven brothers and sisters living, Andrew, Nathalie, Camiel, August, Peter, Louis and Archie. One sister, Alphincine, is dead.

Archie J. De Sutter, brother of the above, was born in Belgium April 8, 1879, and came to America with his parents. He was brought up on the home farm and resided there until 1907, in which year he married and purchased the northeast quarter of sec- tion 29, Westerheim township, and has since been farming the place with profit. He also owns the east half of the northwest quarter of the same section. He has brought his farm from its original unimproved state to its present one of substantial buildings, well cultivated land and modern advantages. Mr. De Sutter has been road overseer and is the clerk of school district No. 54.

Archie J. De Sutter and Isabelle Moors, a native of Belgium, were united in marriage at Minneota on November 12, 1907. The De Sutter families are members of the Catholic church.

AMUND H. AMUNDSON (1882) owns and farms the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 20, Monroe township, be- sides renting and farming additional land. For the past five years he has been a director of the Garvin Farmers Independent Elevator Company.

Hallingdal, Norway, was the boyhood home of Amund Amundson, and he was born April 14, 1863. The lad was brought up on a farm and received his education in the public schools and also received several months' schooling in America after he immigrated

to this country in May, 1882. During his first year in the United States Amund made his home with an uncle, Ole Amundson, on section 20, Monroe township, Lyon county. The next year his parents came to this country and rented land in Lyon county, and Amund made his home with them. In 1888 the father took a homestead in Monroe town- ship, the place which our subject now owns and which he bought from his mother in 1910. He has farmed the place himself since the father's death in 1895.

Helge Amundson, father of our subject, was born in Norway March 5, 1835. Amund's mother, Sigrid (Anfindson) Amundson, has lived on the farm and kept house for her son since the father's death. Amund Amund- son is clerk of Monroe township, a position he has held ten years. For seven years he has served as clerk of school district No. 33, and he was for several years one of the supervisors of the township. Mr. Amundson is affiliated with the Holand Norwegian Lutheran church and is a member of the Sons of Norway organization of Tracy.

F. CHARLES BURCKHARDT (1895) is one of the successful and prosperous farmers of Coon Creek township, where he has re- sided the past seventeen years. He was born in Stephenson county, Illinois, Novem- ber 3, 1871. His father was the late John Burckhardt and his mother is Albertina ( Watzke) Burckhardt, both of whom were born in Germany. The father came to America when four years of age and located in Illinois, where he resided until his re- moval to Lyon county in 1895. He died in March, 1908. The mother resides on the old home place near Russell.

Charles attended school in Illinois until nineteen years of age, after which he as- sisted his father on the farm until twenty- four years of age. In 1895 he accompanied his parents to Lyon county and took charge of the farm which he now operates, the northeast quarter of section 23, Coon Creek township. He owns 280 acres of land. He also owns village property in Russell. In addition to general farming Mr. Burckhardt raises a great deal of stock, including Duroc- Jersey hogs, Durham cattle and Plymouth Rock chickens. He is a member of the A. O. U. W. lodge and holds stock in the

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Farmers Elevator Company of Russell and in the Farmers Mutual Telephone Company. He was the owner of the first automobile in Coon Creek township, a Maytag car.

Mr. Burckhardt was married December 18, 1896, to Rachael Nina Milner, a daughter of Thomas and Ella (Knapp) Milner, of Russell. The father is a native of Ohio and the mother of Wisconsin. Mrs. Burckhardt was born April 23, 1880, in Coon Creek township. To this union have been born two children : Allie, born June 26, 1899, died April 11, 1901; Allen, born May 20, 1901.

Mr. Burckhardt has four brothers and three sisters, as follows: Alfred, Henry, John, Oscar, Lizzie (Mrs. Fred Henrichs), Ida (Mrs. Henry Siebert), all of Coon Creek township; and Annie (Mrs. John Sullivan), of Matlock, Iowa. Mrs. Burckhardt has one brother and one sister: Vernon, of Russell, and Jessie- (Mrs. Herbert Webster), of Aber- deen, South Dakota.

AUGUST DURRENBURGER (1892) is the proprietor of a Marshall harness shop and has lived in that city twenty years. He is a native Minnesotan, having been born at Henderson February 10, 1870. His father, Gephard Durrenburger, was born in Ger- many, came to America when a young man, bought government land at St. Anthony Park, and made his first home in the new world at that point. Later he moved to Henderson, where he bought land and re- sided until an old man. He died in Nicollet county in 1903 at the age of eighty-three years. Gephard Durrenburger was married in the old country to Tressie Miller. She now resides with a daughter at St. Peter and is seventy-six years of age. There are nine children in the family, as follows: Anton, Tressie, Gephard, Joseph, Lena, Theo- dore, August, Rose and Marie, all residents of Minnesota.

When August was three years of age he accompanied the family from Henderson to LeSueur county and on his father's farm there he grew to manhood. He learned the harness maker's trade at LeSueur and fol- lowed that occupation there until locating in Marshall in 1892. For five years after his arrival in Marshall Mr. Durrenburger con- ducted the harness shop of J. A. Cosgrove. Then he and Gilbert Johnson bought the

shop, conducted it under the firm name of Durrenburger & Johnson two years, and then our subject became the sole owner.

Mr. Durrenburger has made many im- provements since he took charge of the shop, having installed the latest machinery and putting it in first-class shape. He manufactures all kinds of harness and other horse goods and carries in stock trunks and traveling bags. Mr. Durrenburger also owns a half interest in the Marshall hitch barn, one of the largest livery barns in the county. His partner in business is J. V. Williams, in partnership with whom he also owns a farm.

At Marshall, on October 20, 1896, Mr. Durrenburger was married to Louise Reig- ner, a native of Illinois and the daughter of Isaac Reigner, an early settler of Lyon county. Mr. and Mrs. Durrenburger have two children, Olivine, aged eleven years, and Horace, aged four years.

Mr. Durrenburger has served two terms as a member of the Marshall City Council. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum lodge.

GRIFF. HUGHES (1885) is a retired farmer who makes his home in Garvin and who has been a resident of Lyon county twenty-seven years. He was born in Wales on the fourth of July, 1867, and when eight- een years of age, in 1885, he came to America and has ever since been a resident of Lyon county.

The first four years of his life in the county Mr. Hughes spent in the home of his aunt, Mrs. Benjamin Thomas, in Custer township. He worked on the Thomas farm for one year and on other farms in the vicinity three years, and then bought a 160-acre farm on section 9, Custer, and erected the first house on the section. Mr. Hughes maintained bachelor's hall on that place and engaged in farming continuously until he retired from active pursuits in October, 1910, and moved to Garvin. Besides his farm Mr. Hughes owns property in Marshall. He is a member of the M. W. A. lodge. At the present writing Mr. Hughes is visiting at his old home in Wales.

The only near relatives our subject has in America are one brother and two nieces, Mrs. Everett Harris, of Blue Earth county, and Mrs. Ole Olson, of Custer township. In

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his father's family are ten children, named as follows: Thomas, John, William, who died December 19, 1911, at the age of fifty- two years; Owen. who lives in Utica, New York; Hugh, Griff., Richard (deceased), James, George and Jane. All the children except himself and Owen live in Wales. The parents of these children were William and Elizabeth (Williams) Hughes. The mother died in 1872, the father in 1907, at the age of seventy-five years.

THEODORE M. THOMAS (1874), propri- etor of the Rexall drug store, of Marshall, is a native of Lyon county, having been born in Grandview township July 9, 1874. His parents were Jacob and Clara (Baldwin) Thomas, who were among the earliest set- tlers of Lyon county.

Jacob Thomas was born in Elmira, New York, and his wife in Warren, Pennsyl- vania. They came to Lyon county in 1872, before the railroad was built to the county, and they hauled their supplies from Red- wood Falls. Homesteading in Grandview township, they lived the first winter in the usual sod shanty, and the next year Mr. Thomas assisted in making the survey for the Northwestern railroad. The family re- sided on the farm until 1890, when they lo- cated in Cottonwood and Mr. Thomas en- gaged in the drug business with his son. He moved to Sioux Falls in 1907 and died there November 22, 1909, at the age of seventy-one years. Mrs. Thomas died in Cottonwood in 1906. There were seven chil- dren in the family, of whom the following three are living: Frank, of Lemon, South Dakota; Mrs. A. M. DeLand, of Watertown, South Dakota; and Theodore M.

The subject of this biography spent the first eighteen years of his life on the farm in Grandview township. He completed his education in the Marshall High School and clerked in the drug store of W. W. Salis- bury. He took a course in the Minneapolis School of Pharmacy and during the next four years was employed as a pharmacist in the West Hotel drug store. He then located in Wood Lake, Minnesota, where he conducted a drug store six years. Mr. Thomas returned to Marshall in 1907 and established his present business in the Dib- ble Block. He carries a complete line of

drugs and specialties .and gives special at- tention to prescription work. He also han- dles cigars, tobacco, ice cream and soda.

Mr. Thomas was married at Cottonwood September 18, 1901, to Jean Lowe. She is a native of Lyon county and the daughter of George Lowe, a pioneer settler. Mr. Thomas is a member of the Masonic, East- ern Star, K. P. and M. W. A. lodges. For three years he was master of the Wood Lake A. F. & A. M. lodge. He has been treasurer of the city of Marshall for the past three years.

SANDER SANDERSON (1892) is the owner of 340 acres of land on sections 29 and 28, Shelburne township, upon which he has resided for the past twenty years. He was born in Hollingdahl, Norway, May 6, 1847, the son of Sander and Turi (Larson) Olson, both of whom are deceased.

Sander lived in Norway until he was twenty-two years of age. He attended school until fourteen and thereafter worked at the tailor's trade. He came to America in 1869 and for the next twelve years worked in Olmsted county, Minnesota, as a farm laborer. He then moved to Lac qui Parle county, pre-empted eighty acres of land, and engaged in farming until the fall of 1892. At that time he purchased his Shelburne township farm and he has ever since resided on it. In late years he has turned the man- agement of the property over to his sons.

Mr. Sanderson was a member of the Shelburne Board of Supervisors one year and has been a member of the school board of district No. 57 for about fifteen years. He is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran Synod church of Ruthton and was formerly a trustee of that church.

The marriage of our subject to Ingborg Starkson occurred in Olmsted county, Min- nesota, March 17, 1882. She was born in the county in which she was married May 8, 1862, and is a daughter of the late B. Starkson, a pioneer of Olmsted county. The following eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Sanderson and all reside at home: Augusta Turina, born March 6, 1883; Berton, born August 12, 1885; Sander, born September 21, 1887; Louis, born July 29, 1890; William and Ida, twins, born March 28, 1893; Lina, born October 8, 1895; Simon, born October 20, 1900.

THEO. M. THOMAS, DRUGGIST

The Rexall Store.

FAMILY OF S. SANDERSON, SHELBURNE TOWNSHIP

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MICHAEL G. OFSTAD (1886) is a suc- cessful farmer and stock raiser of Shelburne township and owns 120 acres of land on the south half of section 19. His brother An- drew owns land on the north half of the same section.

Michael Ofstad was born in Trondhjem, Norway, in 1853, the son of Gunder S. and Mary ( Holstad) Ofstad. Both parents are now dead. Attendance in the common schools in Norway occupied the first years of the boy's life, and, as was the custom, Michael had to help with the farm work. At the age of fifteen he discontinued his school work and gave his whole time to work on the farm.

Soon after passing his nineteenth birth- day Michael left his native land for the United States, and after seeing the wonders of the city of New York he journeyed to Michi- gan, where he had heard of the chances for work in the mines. Near Ishpeming he found employment in the iron mines and remained two years. The underground work did not appeal to the young man who had been accustomed to work in the open, and he found something much more to his taste in the lumbering camps of Wisconsin, where he worked as teamster for the next five years. The next year found the subject of our sketch back in Ishpeming, which con- tinued to be his home for the next five years.

During this residence in Ishpeming Mich- ael was married, on January 6, 1881, to Ingeborg Henrickson, a girl who had come to America from Trondhjem, Norway. In the fall of 1886 the Ofstads came to Minne- sota and located in Lyon county. Mr. Of- stad purchased the land upon which he now has his home and where the family has maintained an uninterrupted residence of more than a quarter of a century. Mr. Ofstad is a member of the Norwegian Lu- theran church of Florence. He was road overseer several years and was also mem- ber of the Board of Supervisors several terms.

Eleven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Michael Ofstad. Annie (Mrs. Mike Frink) and Gytia live in Faribault. Mary (Mrs. Mont English) lives in Marshall, where Carolina, another daughter, is a high school student. Minnie teaches school at Burchard. Lida, Gilbert, Ralph, Helma, Em-

ily and Esther live at home with their par- ents.

JOHN TEGELS (1899) owns a quarter of section 24 and an adjoining quarter on sec- tion 25, Fairview township, and farms the' whole half section. He bought the place one year after he arrived in Lyon, made all the improvements on it, and now has a splendid place. He raises a great deal of stock in addition to his general farming.

Holland is Mr. Tegels' native land, and he was born May 17, 1856. He came to America with his parents, Henry and Eliza- beth (Beckers) Tegels, in 1863, and the fam- ily located in Wisconsin, where they lived about ten years. From there they went to Carroll county, Iowa, where the parents lived until their deaths. John received his schooling in lowa and was on the farm with his father about four years, after which he rented land in the county and farmed for himself several years.

In 1885 Mr. Tegels moved to Humphrey, Nebraska, where he lived three years and was employed on the section and in an elevator. His next residence was in Sheri- dan county, and there he took a homestead, proved up on it, and farmed until 1899. That year he came to Lyon county, located in Fairview township, and one year later moved to his present place. Mr. Tegels is a di- rector of school district No. 86 and has served since 1901, with the exception of one year.

The subject of this sketch was married June 17, 1879, to Elizabeth Horn, the wed- ding occurring in Carroll county, Iowa. She was born in Illinois October 25, 1857. To this union have been born the following children : Catherine (Mrs. George Ray- mond), born February 22, 1880; Matilda (Mrs. John Blake), born September 5, 1881; Frank, born August 21, 1883, died February 29, 1884; Anton, born December 1, 1884; Elizabeth, born June 20, 1887; Stephen (killed by train November 16. 1910), born December 18, 1888; Henry, born March 10, 1890; Mathias, born October 11, 1892; May, born December 2, 1894; Joseph, born Feb- ruary 3, 1897; and Lawrence, born February 1, 1899. The last four children named are at home with their parents. The other liv-

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ing children are residents of Stanley town- ship.

The Tegels family are members of the Roman Catholic church. Mr. Tegels' fra- ternal affiliations are with the Modern Woodmen lodge.

DAVID L. MCLAUGHLIN (1888) is the proprietor of a blacksmith shop and dealer in farm machinery in the village of Amiret. He was born at Racine, Wisconsin, May 18, 1850, the son of William and Catherine (Gray) Mclaughlin, natives of Scotland. They came to the United States in 1848 and located at Racine, later moving to Sparta, Wisconsin, where the father died in 1899. The mother died in 1855, and the father was married a second time, to Catherine Hurley.

David came to Lyon county in 1888 and for the first eighteen months was stationed at Camden, working on the grade for the Great Northern railway. He then moved to Amiret and opened a blacksmith shop, which he has since conducted, also dealing in im- plements in a small way. Eight years ago he put in a complete stock of farm imple- ments in partnership with his son Louis, the firm name being Mclaughlin & Co. Mr. Mclaughlin is a member of the Yeomen lodge and was a school director for nine years.

Our subject was married in Steele county, Minnesota. April, 1869, to Hanna E. Ellis. They are the parents of the following chil- dren: Catherine (Mrs. William Huddeston), of Cottonwood; Alice (MIrs. William Curry), of Amiret; Agnes (Mrs. Fred Shaffer), of Amiret; Louis, of Amiret.

Mr. Mclaughlin has two brothers and three sisters: Margaret Ramsey, of Michi- gan; John, of Garrett City, Indiana; Anna Ellis, of Owatonna; Nettie Schaffer, of Sparta, Wisconsin.

DR. W. D. JAMES (1890) has been en- gaged in the practice of dentistry in Tracy for the past twenty-two years, having been the first resident dentist to locate in the city. He has taken an active part in the affairs of the city in which he has lived so long and was mayor in 1897 and 1898. Dr. James is interested in several Tracy insti- tutions and has a farm in Lyon county and one in Murray county.

In Hudson, Michigan, on July 30, 1866, Dr. James was born. He attended the Hud- son High School and then took a course in the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, from which he was graduated in 1889. In May of that year he and his brother, Dr. F. P. James, opened an office for the prac- tice of their profession at Sleepy Eye, Minne- sota. One and one-half years later, on October 1, 1890, Dr. James opened his office in Tracy and has ever since conducted it. In 1905 he admitted as a partner his nephew, Dr. Don Casselman, and the business has since been conducted under the firm name of James & Casselman.

Dr. James is the son of William D. and Harriet D. (Perkins) James. They were born in New York State but were early settlers of Michigan, the father having lo- cated there in 1856. The mother still lives in Hudson, Michigan; the father died Oc- tober 27, 1897. Besides our subject there are three other children in the family, name- Iy: Dr. Fred P. James, of Sleepy Eye; Mrs. Minnie Hume, of Hudson, Michigan; and Dr. Frank S. James, of Winona.

The marriage of Dr. James to Susie M. Steel occurred in Tracy December 9, 1901. She is a danghter of G. M. and Lucy A. (French) Steel, of Scotch-English ancestry, and was born in Appleton, Wisconsin. Dr. and Mrs. James have two daughters, Eloise and Ruth.

The doctor holds membership in the Ma- sonic, Knights of Pythias, Modern Wood- men, Royal Neighbors and Eastern Star lodges.

HERMAN SHEUTZEL (1882) has been a resident of Lyon county for thirty years and for the last few years has been a farmer of Rock Lake township.

Mr. Sheutzel was born in West Prusen, Germany, June 27, 1854. His father was a farmer and he was raised on the farm and educated in the country school. At the age of fourteen the opportunity was given him to study music, and he devoted himself to this three years, afterward entering the army and serving five years. After leaving the army our subject farmed for himself in his native land until 1882. Then he came to the United States, located in Marshall, Lyon county, and worked on the railroad

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one year. He moved from there to Tracy, and for twenty years was employed in the car shops of the Northwestern railroad.

Our subject's farming experience in Lyon county began when in 1903 he traded his Tracy residence property for forty acres of land in Rock Lake township. That he con- ducted six years, then trading it for a quar- ter section near Crookston, Minnesota. Mr. Sheutzel again traded, the last transaction finding him once more the owner of a Rock Lake farm, and he has since made his home on the north half of the southwest quarter of section 21.

Two years before leaving Germany, Her- man Sheutzel was married, on December 10, 1880, to Augusta Weber, daughter of Julius and Albertine Weber. She was born Febru- ary 2, 1855. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Sheutzel: Martha, Gust, Lena, Frank, Harry, Augusta, Millie, Tillie, Adolph and Rudolph. Mr. Sheutzel is a member of the German Lutheran church.

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An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota, Part 66

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970 Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Marshall, Minn. : Northern History Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 726

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Marshall, Minn. : Northern History Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 726