An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota, Part 80

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

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Mr. and Mrs. Illian have eleven children living: ] Paulina (Mrs. Mons Larson) and Richard, of Amiret township; Otto, of O'Brien county, Iowa; Louis, Barnard and Olga (Mrs. Fred Miller), of Blackhawk coun- ty, Iowa; Oscar, of Waverly, Iowa; and Frank, Charles, Emilie and Arthur, at home. The oldest child, Fred, died at the age of thirteen months.

Mr. Illian while a resident of Benton coun- ty, Iowa, held the office of school director in his township.

AUGUST PETERSON (1890) is the pro- prietor of a hardware store in the city of Tracy. He was born in Sweden April 2, 1873, a son of Peter and Allan (Hawkinson) Anderson. The father died in 1911, and Mrs. Anderson resides in Sweden. They were the parents of seven children, as fol- lows: Mrs. Rettig, of Denver, Colorado;

August and Henry, of Tracy; Vendla, of San Diego, California; Pete, Nels, Freda and Fritz, of Sweden.

August Peterson resided in the land of his birth until 1890, when he came to the United States and located in Lyon county. He has resided in the county almost continuously since that time. He spent one year in Min- neapolis and farmed a year in Murray coun- ty, after which he moved to Tracy, and he has since lived there. He worked four years for Dr. Farrell, and then tended bar one and one-half years. Then, in company with John Lindeman, he started a saloon, which he conducted two years. Mr. Peterson spent some time as agent for the Standard Broom Company of Mankato, after which he again engaged in the saloon business for two years. On January 1, 1909, he purchased of H. E. Mckenzie the hardware store he now con- ducts. He handles shelf and heavy hard- ware.

Mr. Peterson was married at Ruthton, Min- nesota, August 2, 1901, to Selma Johnson. They are the parents of two children, Delpha and Bernetta.

Our subject was one of the organizers of the Tracy Garage Company (incorporated), which was established in 1910.

NELS P. JOHNSON (1892) is a farmer and land owner of Coon Creek township. He was born in Denmark October 27, 1863, a son of Jens and Margaret (Anderson) Olson. He grew to manhood and received his education in the land of his birth and when nineteen years old immigrated to America. He located in Cook county, Illi- nois, where he worked a short time in a stone quarry and six years on a dairy farm.

In 1892 Mr. Johnson came to Lyon county and rented land east of Russell four years. He then purchased 120 acres on section 36, Coon Creek township, which he still owns and operates. He raises considerable stock, including Durham cattle and Poland China and Duroc-Jersey hogs. Mr. Johnson is a member of the Masonic and Workmen lodges. He was chairman of the school board of dis- trict No. 92 six years and has served on the Township Board three years.

Mr. Johnson was married in Chicago July 10, 1888, to Marie J. Jergenson. She is a native of Denmark, a daughter of Nels and

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Maria (Jacobson) Jergenson, and was born July 16, 1871. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are the parents of the following named five children : Nils Alfred, born October 30, 1889; Louis J., born November 29, 1891; George C., born March 7, 1893; Cecilia M., born March 6, 1895; Etlar A., born April 9, 1902.

LOUIS VERMEERSCH (1892) is the pro- prietor of a pool hall in Ghent and is inter- ested in different business enterprises. He is a stockholder of the First State Bank and of the Ghent Farmers Elevator Company. Mr. Vermeersch is a member of the Village Council, having served three years.

Our subject was born September 6, 1860, in Belgium. His parents, Peter and Coletta (De Bert) Vermeersch, are both dead. Louis - was educated in the land of his birth and later worked at the shoemaker's trade in Belgium until 1892, when he immigrated to this country. Upon his arrival he located in Marshall, resided there six months, and then moved to Ghent, where he worked at various forms of labor until 1900. He then bought lots in Ghent and engaged in truck gardening, a pursuit to which he still gives some attention. During the last few years Mr. Vermeersch has also erected the building in which he conducts his pool hall and a comfortable residence in the village. He is a member of the Catholic church.

ANDREW KELSON (1903) is the proprie- tor of 160 acres of well-improved farm land, the southeast quarter of section 8, Custer township. He raises considerable stock and makes a specialty of Hereford cattle and Berkshire hogs. Mr. Kelson owns shares in the Farmers Elevator Companies of Garvin and Balaton.

Our subject was born in Denmark June 17, 1865, and at the age of six years went to live with an uncle, the boy's mother, Johanna C. (Sorenson) Kelson, having died. Andrew Kelson, the lad's father, died before Andrew was born. The youth was reared in his uncle's family and received his schooling in his native land. At the age of seventeen years he came to this country in company with a cousin, Engar Sorenson. The boys located at St. Mary's, Iroquois county, Illinois, where Andrew worked on a farm about

fifteen years, later renting land and farming for himself. The fall of 1903 found Mr. Kel- son in Lyon county. He bought the land in Custer on which he has since resided.

Mr. Kelson's marriage to Mary E. Soren- son occurred at Kankakee, Illinois, February 27, 18SS. She was born in Denmark Sep- tember 26, 1869, and her mother, Annie Sor- enson, is living at the age of seventy-three years. The father, Andrew Sorenson, died in 1899 in South Dakota. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kelson. They are James, born November 25, 1889; Alfred C., born September 21, 1891; Annie C., born March 4 1893; and Louise A., born June 12, 1897.

The Kelsons are members of the Lutheran church. Mr. Kelson is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen lodge.

JOHN M. ANDERSON (1891) is pro- prietor of the Liberty Lunch Room in Cot- tonwood, having purchased the business from Henry Hanson in May, 1907. He serves short orders and lunches and han- dles cigars, candies, ice cream and soft drinks. He has been enjoying a liberal patronage, owns his store building, and has a nice residence in the village. In May, 1912, he purchased T. Fossum's res- taurant and moved to his new location June 1. He carries on the business under the old name.

Our subject was born in Crawford coun- ty, Wisconsin, January 2, 1877, and is a son of Magnus and Ingeborg Anderson, the former of whom is now a resident of Clark- field, Minnesota, the latter having died at Cottonwood in May, 1903. John received his early education in Dakota and about four years of schooling in Lyon county after the family moved from Dakota and settled on a farm near Cottonwood.

From his eighteenth year until he at- tained his majority John worked on the farm and then hired out to Bolsted & Mero, liverymen of Cottonwood. He worked for that firm a while and later for George Anderson several years. He then engaged in the livery and dray business with his brother-in-law, Sam Olson, and at the end of six months bought his partner's interest in the dray line. He continued that busi- ness two and one-half years and then was

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compelled by ill health to sell and cease active work. One year's rest found Mr. Anderson greatly improved and he engaged in the dairy business for a little over two years, after which he bought the Liberty Lunch Room and took charge.

John M. Anderson and Hulda Larson were married September 20, 1902, in Yel- low Medicine county. The bride was born November 29, 1882, and is a daughter of Ole Larson, a Yellow Medicine county farmer. Mr. Anderson is a member of Silo Norwegian Lutheran Church of Cot- tonwood. He has served as a member of the Village Council of Cottonwood for the past two years.

PHILIP A. NELSON (1893) is the pro- prietor of a' well-improved half section of land three and one-half miles north of Tracy, one of the best farms in Amiret township. Besides this place Mr. Nelson owns eighty acres of land in Redwood county. He raises Shorthorn cattle ex- tensively and may well be proud of his stock.

Mr. Nelson was born in Nicollet county, Minnesota, July 5, 1869, and is a son of C. J. and Emily ( Pierson) Nelson, natives of Sweden. His parents came to America in 1859 and remained in New York one year, where C. J. Nelson found employ- ment. They then moved to Fillmore coun- ty, Minnesota, and after spending one year in that county settled in Nicollet county, where they had taken a homestead. It was during the family's ten year residence in that county that the subject of this sketch was born.

The Nelson family moved to Minneapo- lis from Nicollet county, and after one year's residence in that city they went to Redwood county, in 1873, and took pre- emption and tree claims. There Philip received his education, remaining at home until twenty-one years of age. He then bought eighty acres of railroad land in the county and started farming for himself, shortly after buying an additional eighty. After three years of farming our subject traded his quarter section for the south- east quarter of section 36, Amiret town- ship, Lyon county, and has since acquired additional land.

Mr. Nelson was married in Redwood county December 31, 1895, to Anna John- son. She was born in England September 7, 1871, and is a daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Charlton) Johnson, natives of England. The parents now reside in Ami- ret township. To Mr. and Mrs. Nelson three children have been born: William, born April 7, 1897, and Dorothy, born October 12, 1906.

FRED W. COPELAND (1874) is a painter and paperhanger of Marshall. He was born in Olmsted county, Minnesota, on October 22, 1868, a son of Dr. J. F. and Lydia (Crossman) Copeland, natives of Pennsylvania. She died in June, 1875; Mr. Copeland is a resident of Marshall. They were the parents of three children, as follows: J. L., Fred W. and Lydia A.

Fred came to Lyon county in 1874 and located at Marshall, where he has prac- tically made his home since, receiving his education in the Marshall schools. In De- cember, 1883, he commenced learning the trade of painter at St. Charles, Minnesota, where he resided a little less than three years. He also learned carriage and wagon painting while there. He then returned to Marshall and has since lived there, follow- ing his trade. 4 . Mr. Copeland was married at Minneapo- lis on March 14, 1906, to Mabel Crane, a native of Canada.

OTTO M. KEEHL (1893) is a man who has seen a good deal of farm life and has become well acquainted with business life in the great American city. With expe- rience in both he seems to prefer farming. good Lyon county land, and he rents the southwest quarter of section 12, Rock Lake township.

Our subject was born in Germany May 14, 1876, and came with his parents to America in 1882. The family made their residence for some years in New York City, and there Otto received his early educa- tion in the public schools. In the fall of 1893 the family came to Lyon county, the father purchasing land in Rock Lake. Otto had preceded the family in the spring and worked on the farm of Charles Breen-

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ing in Rock Lake one year. After his par- ents located in the county, the boy worked on the home farm three years and then returned to New York City and worked at the painter's trade one year. Then enlisting in the United States army, he served six years. During that time he was stationed in various parts of the world and was advanced to the office of first sergeant.

Resigning from the army, Mr. Keehl entered business life in New York, becom- ing agent for the Metropolitan Life Insur- ance Company and serving several months, later becoming assistant superintendent of the Staten Island and the Buskirk dis- tricts. For six months Mr. Keehl was home office inspector of the company. In March, 1912, our subject returned to Lyon county and rented the land which he now operates.

Otto Keehl and Margaret Schroeder were married in New York October 22, 1902. Mrs. Keehl, a native of New York City, was born November 18, 1876, and is a daughter of Julius and Magdalene Schroe- der, the former of whom is dead and the latter a resident of New York. The Keehls have one child, Mabel Lillian, born August 24, 1903. They are members of the Ger- man Lutheran church of Balaton. Mr. Keehl's parents resided in Lyon county until 1899, in which year they returned East and are now residents of New Jersey.

D. M. KING (1895) has devoted almost his entire life to railroad work and for the past seventeen years has been agent of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company at Marshall.

In Orleans county, New York, on Sep- tember 20, 1857, D. M. King was born. He was brought up in that county and until he was past twenty-two years of age he lived on the farm. In the spring of 1880 he came West and for one year studied telegraphy in an office at Grand Rapids, Wisconsin. He was then assigned to the office at City Point, Wisconsin, and held the office until 1888. That year he entered the employ of the Northwestern, and until he moved to Marshall in 1895 he was agent at Stockton, Winona county, Minnesota.

Mr. King is a member of the Congrega-

tional church. He holds membership in the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Commandery and Eastern Star of the Masonic orders and in the Workmen and Royal Arcanum lodges.

Mattie M. Brooks became the wife of Mr. King at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on Sep- tember 20, 1882. She is a native of the city in which she was married. Mr. and Mrs. King have two children, Erna M. and Vera.

John and Mariah (Vessey) King were the parents of our subject. They came from England in 1853 and lived in Orleans county, New York, until their deaths. The other children of the family are John, of Seattle, Washington; Mrs. F. J. Ames, of Penn Yan, New York; Sarah, Jennie and Alice, all of Albion, New York.

DR. F. D. GRAY (1911), a physician and surgeon, is proprietor of the Marshall Hospital and also maintains a training school for nurses in connection, the latter branch having been opened in September, 1911.

Dr. Gray is a son of Robert J. and Eliza- beth A. (Porteus) Gray, the former a na- tive of Ireland and the latter of Pennsyl- vania, and was born at Lisbon, New York, April 4, 1870. He grew to manhood in the town in which he was born and was gradu- ated from the Ogdensburg Free Academy and from the University of Michigan. He then went to Chicago and entered the Med- ical Department of Northwestern Univer- sity, from which he was graduated in 1899. He was an interne at St. Joseph's Hospital, St. Paul, for a time and then opened a hospital at Vesta, Minnesota, which he con- ducted nine years.

In 1911 Dr. Gray located in Marshall and in March of that year he opened the hospital. This is one of the large medical institutions of Southwestern Minnesota and has met with marked success. was opened through the solicitation of the busi- ness men and the Commercial Club of Marshall. The hospital has a forty-bed capacity and is modern in every respect, being one of the best equipped hospitals in the state. Three hundred operations were performed during the first year after the institution was opened.

At great expense Dr. Gray has had in-

DR. F. D. GRAY

Proprietor of the Marshall Hospital.

THE MARSHALL HOSPITAL And Training School for Nurses.

R. B. DANIEL

"The Corn Land Man," Marshall.

H. M. CLARK Secretary Lyon County Fair Association.

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stalled a deep soft-water well, by drilling 250 feet. That supplies the hospital with all its water. An excellent system of fire protection has been installed, and every precaution has been taken to make the building as near fire-proof as possible. This, with the spacious grounds which sur- round the building, which is constructed of stone and brick, makes it very safe. Hot water heat, electric lights, elevator, and a modern operating room, make it an institution that Marshall and surrounding towns are proud of.

During his surgical career, Dr. Gray has operated on about three thousand patients. He holds membership in the county, state and national medical societies, and he is a member of the Masonic lodge.

On July 14, 1908, at Vesta, Minnesota, occurred the marriage of Dr. Gray to Net- tie W. Urbach. They are the parents of two children, Elizabeth Anna and Robert Fred.

HORACE M. CLARK (1905), of Mar- shall, has been a resident of Lyon county only a few years, but during that time he has been prominently identified with the affairs of his city and county. The part he has played in local affairs during the seven years he has been in the county has resulted in good. His most noticeable achievement is that in connection with the Lyon County Fair Association, of which he has been secretary since 1910. To Mr. Clark and R. B. Daniel belongs much of the credit for putting the association on a pay- ing basis and bringing the county fairs to their present high standard. Mr. Clark is richly entitled to biographical mention in this history of Lyon county.

The gentleman whose name heads this review was born in Burlington, Iowa, July 29, 1858. When the Civil War came on his father entered the Union Army and at the close of the war the family located in Washington, where the elder Clark held a government position. In the capital of the country Horace Clark spent his boyhood days and secured his primary education. In 1872 he accompanied the family to Wa- hoo Valley, Nebraska, where his parents homesteaded land and where our subject

resided practically all the time until com- ing to Lyon county in 1905.

Horace Clark matriculated in the Uni- versity of Nebraska, but because of the ravages of the grasshoppers he was obliged to give up his studies and work to help support the family. He taught school sev- eral years in his home county and later engaged in farming and stock raising. He was successful and in time accumulated considerable land. He took an active part in politics and held several offices of trust, among them being auditor of Saunders county four years, assistant secretary of the Nebraska State Senate two terms, and superintendent of the State Industrial School for Girls from 1900 to 1905.

In 1905 Mr. Clark bought two farms in Fairview township, Lyon county, and since that date he has made his home in Mar- shall, devoting his time to their manage- ment and other duties. He is chairman of the Republican County Central Committee and is quite active in local politics. Mr. Clark holds membership in the Knights of Pythias, Workmen and Woodmen lodges.

At Mead, Nebraska, on March 3, 1880, occurred the marriage of Mr. Clark and Tilla Larson, she being a native of Sweden. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have six children, named as follows: Jessie, Henry, Helen, Arthur, Bernice and Thomas. Two children, Flor- ence and Ruth, are deceased.

The parents of our subject were Thomas C. and Mary (Martin) Clark, both deceased. The former was born in Martinsville, Indi- ana, in 1831 and located in Burlington, Iowa, in 1834. During the War of the Rebellion he was chaplain of the Eighth Iowa Cavalry. Mrs. Clark was a native of England. The following five sons and one daughter constitute the children of this family: Horace M., William, Fred, Walter, Oscar and Lulu.

RICHARD B. DANIEL (1901), real es- tate dealer of Marshall, is a man who has been active in the affairs of his city and county during his eleven year residence here and one who has done much to ad- vance the interests of his community. He has been a moving spirit in the county fair association and has assisted largely in making that popular institution a suc-

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cess. Perhaps his greatest claim to dis- tinction is the success he has met in the development of corn and the interest he has aroused in its culture. For the past ten years he has expended time and energy in that direction and he has a wide repu- tation all over the Middle West as the "Corn Land Man" among real estate men.

The subject of this review was born at Logan, Kentucky, November 23, 1860. When he was ten months of age the family moved to Macoupin county, Illinois, and there our subject grew to manhood and made his home until 1889. He received a good education and was graduated from the Valparaiso, Indiana, College with the class of 1888.

Mr. Daniel took up teaching as his pro- fession and in 1889 he moved to Marble Rock, lowa, and for two years was prin- cipal of the public schools there. There- after until 1901 he held like positions in the schools of Dows, Sanborn and Prim- ghar, all in Iowa.

In 1901 Mr. Daniel became a resident of Marshall. He purchased the abstract business of L. D. Fosket, which had for- merly been owned by the Lyon County Na- tional Bank, and conducted the business one year. On August 1, 1902, he entered into partnership with J. W. Humphrey and engaged in the real estate, insurance, loan and abstract business as the senior mem- ber of the firm of R. B. Daniel & Company. The partnership was dissolved in 1904 and since that date Mr. Daniel has conducted the business alone. He has met with suc- cess and has built up an enormous busi- ness.

In many lines of endeavor besides his personal business has Mr. Daniel been in- terested. He was one of the prime mov . ers in the county fair organization and was made its first secretary. He resigned the office after two months' service but served again during the years 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1909 and he has since been assistant secretary. He served as alderman two terms and during his incumbency and largely through his instrumentality the city electric lighting plant was developed to its present efficiency.

Mr. Daniel holds membership in several worthy orders, among them the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Shrine and Eastern Star

of the Masonic orders and the Knights of Pythias. While a resident of Marble Rock, Iowa, he served as chancellor commander and he has been eminent commander of the Commandery at Marshall.

At Primghar, Iowa, on October 24, 1900, Mr. Daniel was united in marriage to Helen Seckerson, a native of Wisconsin and a former county superintendent of schools of O'Brien county, Iowa. She died May 3,

1904.

The second marriage of Mr. Daniel oc- curred at Marshall March 24, 1909, when he wedded Mrs. Hannah Olson, the widow of John G. Olson, a former clothing mer- chant of Marshall. By her first marriage Mrs. Daniel has one child, Agnes.

Our subject is a son of Addison N. and Mary F. ( Brake) Daniel, both natives of Kentucky. The Daniel family is of Vir- ginia stock and the Brake family were originally from North Carolina.

BOYD T. REESE (1900). One of the younger and progressive farmers of Lyon county is Boyd T. Reese, who owns and operates the southeast quarter of section 3, Lynd township. He engages in general farming and raises thoroughbred Shrop- shire sheep, Shorthorn cattle, Poland China hogs and Barred Plymouth Rock chickens. He has resided on his present place for the past twelve years.

Boyd Reese was born in Evansville, Wis- consin, December 3, 1878, a son of Ed- ward and Jane ( Swancutt) Reese, who still reside at Evansville. From the age of seven until fifteen our subject attended the country school near Evansville, later at- tended high school three years and the Evansville Seminary two years. He then worked for his father on the farm for about a year and also clerked and worked as a bookkeeper for some time in Evans- ville. In 1899, in company with R. L. Finn, Mr. Reese purchased the southeast quarter of section 3, Lynd township, and moved to the place the following year. In 1909 Mr. Reese purchased his partner's interest in the farm.

On January 21, 1900, Sophia Larson became the wife of our subject at Evans- ville, Wisconsin. She is.the daughter of Louis and Lena (Gilbertson) Larson, of

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

Janesville, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Reese are the parents of the following named children: Warren, born October 27, 1901; Leroy, born March 25, 1904; Arthur, born October 17, 1908. One child died when eleven days old.

HALDOR G. JOHNSON (1902) is the junior member of the firm of Johnson & Son, general merchants of Minneota. He was born in Lincoln county, Minnesota, January 30, 1882, and grew to manhood on his father's farm in that county.

In 1903 our subject accompanied his parents to Minneota and entered the em- ploy of G. A. Dalmann & Company. In 1908 he and his father purchased the busi- ness of Mr. Dalmann and have since con- ducted it under the firm name of John- son & Son. Mr. Johnson is a member of the Masonic and Modern Woodmen lodges. He was a member of the Village Council in 1910 and is at present village recorder.

The subject of this review was married in Minneota June 14, 1911, to Martha L. Hognason, a native of Lyon county. She is a daughter of S. . Hognason, a pioneer resident of the county.

The parents of our subject are Arngrim and Johanna Johnson, natives of Iceland. The father was born August 5, 1849, and came to the United States in 1876, locat- ing in Westerheim township, Lyon county. He resided in that precinct one and one- half years and then moved to Lincoln coun- ty and homesteaded land in Royal town- ship. He resided in Lincoln county unti! 1902. In the fall of the latter year he moved to Minneota and in 1903 bought an interest in the general store of G. A. Dal- mann. The firm name was then changed to G. A. Dalmann & Company.

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An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota, Part 80

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