An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota, Part 82

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

USA > Minnesota > Lyon County > An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota > Part 82

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In 1892 Mr. MeElvain located in Tracy and entered the railroad shops of the North- western Railroad Company, and for the next ten years he was employed as a machinist and engineer. In 1902 he was employed by the city as an engineer of the municipal electric light and waterworks plant. He served as engineer three years and was then promoted to the superintendency and has since satisfactorily served the city in that capacity.

The plant was built by the city in 1892 and the original plant is still operated by the city. The present capacity is two boil- ers of 350 horsepower and American ball engines, one of 120 and one of sixty horse- power. An all-day electric light service is maintained.

Mr. McElvain was married in Fullerton, Nebraska, November 7, 1883, to Charlotte A. Gress, a native of Illinois. They have six children, as follows: Ned O., assistant postmaster of Webster, South Dakota; Mary. J., of Seattle, Washington; Mary, Jay, Floyd and Robert. Mr. McElvain is a member of the Workmen and Modern Brotherhood lodges.

MATHEW HENNEN (1883) is one of the successful farmers and large land owners of Westerheim township. His home place is the southeast quarter of section 21 and he is owner of 520 acres of land on that section and on 27. He has lived in the county since he was a child.

Mathew Hennen was born in Holland No- vember 9, 1878. He came to the United States with his parents in 1883, and for a few months the family lived in the village of Ghent. The next four and one-half years were passed in Wisconsin, but in 1888 the family returned to Lyon county and have since been residents of Westerheim town- ship. They located on the northeast quarter of section 21 in 1892, and on that farm Mathew worked until his marriage in 1906.

After his marriage Mr. Hennen moved to the farm which he has ever since operated. He made all the improvements now on the farm, has prospered, and added to his hold- ings until he is now the owner of nearly a section of land. Mr. Hennen is a stock- holder and director of the Farmers Elevator Company of Ghent. He has been township

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treasurer the past five years, is a mem- ber of the Catholic church of Ghent, and be- longs to the Knights of Columbus order.

Mathew Hennen is a son of Arnold and Helena Hennen. His mother died in 1904; his father makes his home with a daughter, Mrs. Anton Van Uden. Four children of the family are living: Leo, of Westerheim town- ship; John, of Marshall; Marie ( Mrs. Anton Van Uden), of Westerheim; and Mathew, of this review. The oldest child, Joseph, died June 20, 1903, at the age of thirty-five years. Caroline, the wife of Theodore Jensen, of Marshall, died in March, 1907. Hubert died April 1, 1902.

Amelia Engels became the wife of Mr. Hennen on September 12, 1906. She was born in Henry county, Illinois, February 21, 1882, and has lived in the county since she was one year of age. She is the daughter of Mrs. Ludovica Engels, of the same town- ship. The following named three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hennen: Arnold Hubert, born October 22, 1907; Marie Caroline, born June 29, 1909: and Alice Saraphine, born June 12, 1911.

CARL R. HOLDEN (1896) is the senior member of the firm of hardware dealers, Holden & Hughes, of Garvin. He was born in Goodhue county, Minnesota, April 11, 1872. A few years after his birth he accom- panied his parents to Murray county, and until 1896 he made his home on his father's homestead in Lake Sarah township.

In the year last mentioned Mr. Holden set out in life for himself. He farmed one year in Custer township, Lyon county, and then located in Garvin. For a number of years he engaged in the well drilling business and in 1902 formed a partnership with Richard T. Hughes and established the present busi- ness. Holden & Hughes carry a complete line of hardware, gas engines, paints, oils, etc.

Mr. Holden was clerk of Custer township a number of years, succeeding A. G. Bum- ford to that position. He is a member of the local school board and belongs to the M. W. A. lodge.

In Garvin, on December 17, 1896, Mr. Holden was united in marriage to Anna Bredeveien, a native of Fillmore county,

Minnesota. Herman, Clarence and Marvin are the names of their children.

Carl Holden's parents are John J. and Karen (Peterson) Holden. They were born in Norway and were married at Madison, Wisconsin. Later they moved to Dodge county, Minnesota, and in the late seventies homesteaded land in Lake Sarah township, Murray county, where they still reside. Their children are Sophia Jacobson, Julius, Carl R., Charlotte Brown, Anna Halstensrud, John J., Jr., and Matilda Norwood.

CHARLES SCHMITZ (1896) is the pro- prietor of the Klondike saloon at Marshall and the leader of the Schmitz orchestra. He was born October 4, 1869, on the island on which is located the Statue of Liberty. New York. The father, who was a United States soldier, was living on the island with his family at the time of the birth of our subject. The elder Mr. Schmitz served twenty-nine years in the army, commencing his military career at the beginning of the Civil War. He was killed in 1885 at Cald- well, Kansas. He was a German by birth and was married to Tressie Schmitz, a native of Hoboken, New Jersey.

The childhood days of Charles Schmitz were spent at various army posts. The family resided at Atlanta, Georgia, for a time and later were in Montana. From 1879 to 1885 the father was stationed at El Reno, Indian Territory. Young Schmitz secured his education at the various army posts and when a boy began making his own living. When a young man he took up circus work, and for several years was with Barnum & Bailey's and Lemon Brothers' shows. While with the last named, in 1896, the circus played at Tracy. There Mr. Schmitz left the show to become a perma- nent resident of Lyon county.

For a few years Mr. Schmitz conducted the Van Dusen elevator at Tracy and for two years conducted a restaurant in the same city. The next three years he was in Walnut Grove, Redwood county, where he was engaged in the hotel and restaurant business. During his residence in Walnut Grove he served as deputy sheriff and vil- lage marshal for three and one-half years. In 1903 Mr. Schmitz became a resident of Marshall. For a little over four years he

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was landlord of the Duluth Hotel and then he became the proprietor of the Klondike saloon, taking charge on January 15, 1908.

Besides his saloon business Mr. Schmitz conducts the Schmitz family orchestra, which is noted over a large territory. Mr. Schmitz plays the clarinet, his daughter, Lilly, the piano, his son, Charles A., the violin, and John Johnson, the trombone.

At Tracy, Minnesota, on September 30, 1898, Mr. Schmitz was married to Ida Schu- macher, the daughter of Martin Schumacher, proprietor of a Tracy hotel. Mr. and Mrs. Schmitz have three children: Lilly, Esther and Charles.

CHARLES E. BLAKE (1887) is one of Grandview township's young farmers. While a young man, Mr. Blake is making a success of farming and has prospered since renting his place, the northeast quarter of section 13.

The subject of this review was born June 15, 1887, in Fairview township, Lyon county, Minnesota, and is a son of Richard and Mary (Versnick) Blake. His parents were pioneer residents of the county, having come to America from their native countries of Ireland and Belgium, respectively. They located in Lyon county in 1873 and now live in Lake Marshall township.

Charles received his early education in the country school and later attended the Marshall High School one year. He then spent several months in the Marshall Busi- ness College, concluding his scholastic ca- reer at the age of seventeen years. The boy then worked for his father on the home farm and later worked one year at tiling. His first experience at farming for himself came in 1911, when lie conducted his father's place one year. Since that time he has been conducting the farm which he rents in Grandview township.

The marriage of Mr. Blake to Josephine Grandpre occurred in Marshall November 15, 1910. She is a native of Fowler, Indiana, and is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Victor Grandpre, residents of Fairview township. To Mr. and Mrs. Blake was born one child, Mary Louise Vina, who died February S, 1912, only a few days after its birth.

Charles E. Blake is one of thirteen chil- dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Richard Blake.

The others are Sylvester, Richard, Margaret, Elizabeth, Irene, William, Leonard, Edward and Vincent, all at home; James, a student of civil engineering at Ames, Iowa; John, a Sodus township farmer; and Mary (Mrs. William Flaig), of Sanborn, Minnesota. Our subject is a member of the Catholic church and is fraternally allied with the Modern Woodmen lodge.

F. M. BIRKENMEYER (1910) is the man- ager of the F. M. Birkenmeyer & Company general merchandise store at Marshall. He was born at La Crosse, Wisconsin, April 21, 1866. At the age of seventeen years he moved to Redwood Falls, Minnesota, and was employed in general merchandise stores there until 1905. for seventeen years of that time in the employ of one firm, Francois & Schmahl, the latter of whom is now his partner. In 1905 Mr. Birkenmeyer went to Montezuma, Iowa, and was manager of the H. G. Moore & Company store for nearly five years.

In December, 1910, Mr. Birkenmeyer located in Marshall and in partnership with H. G. Schmahl, of Redwood Falls, bought the gen- eral merchandise stock of John M. Hollo, in the Messenger Block. The firm of F. M. Birkenmeyer & Company deals in dry goods, shoes, ladies' ready-to-wear garments and groceries. Mr. Birkenmeyer is a member of the Masonic and Workmen lodges.

In Redwood Falls, on April 21, 1893, Mr. Birkenmeyer was united in marriage to Rose Lichlwarck, a native of New Ulm, Min- nesota, and for a number of years a resident of Redwood Falls. They have three chil- dren: Hazel, Frank and Helen.

OLE PEDERSEN (1897) is a farmer and land owner of Clifton township and has lived in Lyon county fifteen years. He was born in Denmark July 1, 1858, and his native land was his home until he was twenty- three years of age.

Upon his arrival to the New World, Ole Pedersen located in Grundy county, Iowa, and worked at farm labor two years. The next two years were spent working in the paper mills at Neenah, Wisconsin, after which he went to Brule county, South Da- kota, and took a homestead claim. After

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proving up on the claim Mr. Pedersen re- turned to Wisconsin, bought a forty-acre tract of timber land in Clark county, farmed it two years, and then sold.

Our subject came to Lyon county in 1897, farmed rented land in Lake Marshall and Clifton townships until 1905, and then pur- chased his present farm, the southeast quar- ter of section 25, Clifton. He raises stock quite extensively and is a shareholder of the Farmers Elevator Company of Milroy.

Mr. Pedersen was married in Iowa Sep- tember 28, 1882, to Bertha Katarie. She was born in Denmark June 16, 1864, the daughter of Nels and Anna C. (Jensen) Nel- son. To Mr. and Mrs. Pedersen have been born thirteen children, as follows: N. Fred- erick, born August 2, 1883; Emelia M., born February 20, 1885; Anna S., born October 19, 1886; Christ, born August 21, 1888; Lorine C., born January 24, 1890; William, born January 20, 1892; Andrew, born March 12, 1894; died July 3, 1899; Tovil, born Novem- ber 26, 1896; Albert, born May 5, 1899; Clara E., born August 21, 1901; Sarah B., born February 8, 1905; Harold, born June 28, 1907: Gladys H., born October 17, 1908.

J. A. LAWRENCE (1910), furniture dealer of Marshall, spent almost his entire life in Kankakee county, Illinois, moving from that county to Marshall early in 1910. His par- ents were Louis and Louise ( Martin) Law- rence, who were born in Canada but who located in Kankakee county, Illinois, in the early forties and engaged in farming. The father went to California during the early gold excitement and made enough money to purchase a farm in his old home. He died there in 1898; the mother died two years later.

On the farm in Kankakee county our sub- ject was born July 18, 1859, and he made his home with his parents until twenty-eight years of age. Then for nine years he en- gaged in farming on his own account, after which he resided with his mother at Bour- bonnais, Illinois, until her death on April 12, 1900. Mr. Lawrence then engaged in the undertaking business at Bourbonnais until his removal to Marshall February 26, 1910. He purchased a building at that time and has since been engaged in the undertaking business, dealing in furniture and musical

instruments. Besides his city property Mr. Lawrence owns a half of section 16, Vallers township, which he purchased about ten years ago.

In Wilmington, Illinois, on May 24, 1889, Mr. Lawrence was united in marriage to Jennie Murphy. She was born in Wilming- ton and died eighteen months after her marriage, leaving one child, Neil Lawrence. The second marriage of our subject oc- curred in August, 1902, when he wedded Albina Brosseau, a native of Bourbonnais. Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence have one child, Pearl.

ALBERT O. REINKE (1904), proprietor of the southeast quarter of section 10, Rock Lake, is one of the well-to-do farmers of the township. He raises stock and ships to the St. Paul and Omaha markets. Mr. Reinke is a shareholder of the Farmers Elevator Com- pany of Balaton.

Our subject was born in Green Lake coun- ty, Wisconsin, August 2, 1862. His parents, Carl and Wilhelmina (Miller) Reinke, both of whom are now deceased, were for many years farmers in Wisconsin. Albert received his education in Wisconsin and worked on his brother's farm until he attained the age of fifteen years. He then worked on his father's farm until 1889. In the spring of that year Albert came to Minnesota and located in Murray county, buying land and residing there until 1904.

Mr. Reinke sold his Murray county farm in 1904 and immediately resumed farming on land which he had purchased in Lyon county, and on which he has since lived. Since moving here he has taken an active interest in affairs of the township and is a progressive member of the community. He has been treasurer of school district No. 40 four years. Mr. Reinke is allied with the German Lutheran church of Balaton.

January 26, 1893, at Tracy, Minnesota, occurred the wedding of Albert Reinke and . Minnie Giese, a native of Germany. Mrs. Reinke was born November 13, 1872, and her parents, Charles and Frederica (Mellen- thin) Giese, settled in Murray county in 1881, where they have since resided. Mr. and Mrs. Albert Reinke have the following children, all at home with their parents :.

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Bernhart, Paul, Henry, Gerald, Elsie, Ernest, Pearl and Elmer.

REV. OLAF GULLERUD (1906) has for the past five and a half years been pastor of Zion Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tracy. In addition he supplies Holand Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church, near Tracy.

Olaf Gullerud's parents were natives of Norway who came to America and settled in Goodhne county, Minnesota. The father. Michael Gullernd, died in the fall of 1902 and the mother, Karen (Lunde) Gullerud, still lives on the old home farm in Goodhue county. Olaf was born on the parental farm near Zumbrota June 19, 1876. He re- ceived a common school education, attending until the age of sixteen. Then he spent a year each at the well known Luther College of Decorah, Iowa, and at Valder's Business College.

It was the boy's ambition to enter the ministry, and the next few years of his life were spent with that end in view. A year of work on his father's farm and a year spent as clerk in a St. Paul store furnished the means for a course in the Luther Nor- mal School of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, from which Olaf was graduated in June, 1902. After one year's teaching at Cashton, Wisconsin, the subject of our sketch at last realized his hope of attending Luther Theo- logical Seminary at St. Paul, from which he was graduated in 1906. At his graduation a call from the charge which he now oc- enpies was awaiting him. He accepted the call and moved to Tracy in the fall of that year.

Just previous to taking up his pastoral labors in Tracy Rev. Gullerud was married, September 12, 1906, to Sarah Tyssen, a na- tive of Iowa and a daughter of Knute K. and Anna Tyssen, residents of that state. Rev. and Mrs. Gullerud have a son, Karl Monrad, born May 6, 1908, and a daughter, Adele Kristine, born February 15, 1910. Our subject has two brothers, John Melven and Hans Peter, living on the old Goodhne coun- ty farm, and one sister, Mary (Mrs. Rogn- lie), of Franklin, Minnesota.

SIGURDUR M. ASKDAL (1882), a suc- cessful farmer of Westerheim township, was

born in Iceland November 12, 1862. When he was five years old his mother died and after the age of ten years he made his home with a minister, by whom he was educated.

In 1882 young Askdal came to America and after living in Duluth three weeks he located in Minneota. There he resided ten years, working at the carpenter's trade. He bought his 160-acre farm on section 5, West- erheim, in 1892. At that time not a furrow · had been turned on the land, it had no im- provements, and he paid the railroad com- pany eleven dollars per acre for it. He set out the grove and erected the buildings on it and now has a fine farm. Mr. Askdal breeds thoroughbred Duroc-Jersey hogs and Shropshire sheep and feeds hogs for the market.

The father of our subject, Sigurbjorn Christianson, lives in Yellow Medicine coun- ty; his mother, Oddny (Sigurdordottir) Christianson, died in Iceland in 1867. Be- sides our subject are two other children: Sigurbjorn, a Minneota butcher, and Ellen Horsford. Mr. Christianson was married a second time, to Willborg Einarson, and they have three children, Runa, Jona and Mar- garet.

Sigurdur Askdal was married at Granite Falls October 14, 1892, to Finna Gunlaug- son. She was born in Iceland and came to the United States in 1879. They have four children: Sigurd M., Haraldur M. S., Lilly O. S. and Jonas S. E.

Mr. Askdal is a firm believer in educa- tion and is giving his children the advan- tage of village schooling. For this purpose he maintains a residence in Minneota, where his family resides during the school months. Two of his sons attend the Minneota High School and the daughter is through the sec- ond grade.

For twenty-four years Mr. Askdal has been a Mason and he now holds membership in both the Blue Lodge and the Chapter. In 1908 he was master of Equity Lodge No. 238, Minneota. For fifteen years he served as clerk of school district No. 80.

ALEXANDER J. LORD (1883) is a resi- dent of Ghent and devotes his time to thresh- ing, machine work and engineering. He is a native of Illinois and was born in Kan- kakee April 18, 1877. In 1883 he accom-

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panied his parents to Lyon county, locating on the father's farm in Grandview town- ship. He resided with his parents on the farm for fifteen years, when he commenced threshing, and he has continued in that line of work since.

The parents of our subject are Edmund and Angeline (Paradis) Lord, natives of Canada who came to Illinois when children and were married there. They came to Lyon county in 1883 and resided on their farm in Grandview township until 1905, when they moved to Marshall to reside. Mr. Lord died January 9, 1903; Mrs. Lord re- sides in Marshall. They were the parents of four children, as follows: George, of Mar- shall; Alexander J., of this sketch; Mrs. Lizzie Ryan, of Minneapolis; Mrs. Ida Bergh, of Marshall.

Alexander Lord is a member of the M. W. A. lodge and the Ghent Fire Department. He was elected assessor of the village but resigned because of his continued absence from the village.

M. D. BAIR (1895), a successful farmer of Amiret township, was born in Pennsyl- vania May 4, 1874. He is a son of William H. and Agnes (Coons) Bair, natives of Pennsylvania and now deceased. The fa- ther moved to North Dakota after his wife's death and took a homestead. He died in 1906.

Our subject lived in his native state until the age of twenty-one years. During that period he received his education, and when he attained his majority he was ready to - start out in life for himself. The boy's mother had died the previous year, and in the spring of 1895 young Bair came to Lyon county. He worked at farm labor three years in Amiret township and then pur- chased the farm he now owns, the north- west quarter of section 22. He rented land in the township three years before he moved to his present place, and during his eleven years' residence on his own farm he has several years rented and farmed additional land. His farm is well improved and is one of the best quarters in the township. Mr. Bair engages extensively in stock raising.

Mr. Bair married Lydia Mitchell in Amiret township March 9, 1899. She was born in Illinois October 10, 1875, and is a daughter

of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Mitchell of the township. Mr. and Mrs. Bair have two chil- dren, Esther Agnes, born September 17, 1906, and Mack Donald, born July 11, 1910.

The Bair family are members of the Presbyterian church. Our subject is a mem- ber of the Yeomen lodge of Amiret, of which he is the master of accounts. He has been a member of the Amiret Township Board the past three years and served as chairman of the board one year.

ORLANDO J. OESTERN (1900) has been the manager of the Atlantic Hotel of Mar- shall for the last twelve years. He is a native of Luverne, Minnesota, and was born March 3, 1882. He received his education in the schools of that city and when a young man took a position as clerk of the old Luverne Hotel.

In 1900 Mr. Oestern moved from Luverne to Marshall and has ever since been the manager of the city's leading hotel. He is a member of the Masonic, Elks and Modern Woodmen lodges. He has taken the thirty- third degree in baseballdom and is one of Marshall's most ardent "fans."

The parents of our subject, Olof J. and Martha (Greenland) Oestern, were born in Lansing, Ohio, and Rushford, Minnesota, re- spectively, and were homesteaders of Rock county. The father was traveling auditor for the Walter A. Wood Harvester Com- pany. While transacting business at a bank in Sherburn in 1896 he was shot and killed bv robbers, who held up the bank. The mother of our subject resides at Alhambra, California. There is one other child in the family, Rose, an instructor in the schools of Alhambra.

DAVID LIEDTKE (1903), farmer and land owner of Lynd township, is a German by birth. His nativity occurred October 18, 1861, and his parents were David and Augus- ta (Weis) Liedtke.

Our subject was educated and grew to man's estate in his native land, and he served three years in the German army. He came to America in 1886 and located in Poweshiek county, Iowa. There he worked out several years and then rented land and farmed until he came to Lyon county in 1903. Upon his arrival he bought the south-

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east quarter of section 19, Lynd township, and resided there until 1909. Then he moved to his present home, the northwest quarter of section 26, only a short distance from the village of Lynd, which he had purchased in 1906.

Mr. Liedtke was married in lowa in 1892 to Bertha Weis. She was born in Germany April 1, 1873, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ludwig Weis. To this union the following seven children have been born: Olga, Min- nie, Benno, Alma, Otto, Emma and Arnold. The family are members of the German Lutheran church.

GUNNAR B. BJORNSON (1877), postmas- ter of Minneota and editor and proprietor of the Minneota Mascot, is one of the prom- inent and respected citizens of his village and county. As a newspaper man Mr. Bjorn- son ranks high, and his paper is one of the most liberally quoted of the country weeklies of the state. He is a fearless and able writer and his editorials on political, economic and social questions attract state- wide attention. Mr. Bjornson is a self-made man and a Lyon county product in which its citizens take pride.

The subject of this review was born in Iceland August 17, 1872. His father, Bjorn Bjornson, died in 1885; his mother, Kristin (Benjaminsdottir) Bjornson, resides with her son in Minneota. Gunnar Bjornson ac- companied his mother to the United States in 1877 when a child five years of age. Until 1885 he resided on farms in the vi- cinity of Minneota and then moved to the village. For two years he had charge of the town herd, attending school during the winter months. Thereafter for several years he did carpenter work and clerked in stores.

In 1895 Mr. Bjornson bought a half inter- est in the Minneota Mascot, helped in its production less than a year, and then sold to his partner. The next year he attended the Gem City Business College of Quincy, Illinois, and for another year had charge of a general merchandise store. He then en- tered the law office of C. M. Gislason and read law two and one-half years, attended to the collections and other matters.

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An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota, Part 82

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