USA > Minnesota > Lyon County > An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota > Part 88
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Jesse Finnell is unmarried and makes his home with his parents, his father assisting him with the management of the business. Our subject is a member of the A. F. & A. M. and A. O. U. W. lodges.
JOHN A. BURCKHARDT (1887) is a son of the late John Burckhardt, Sr., and a land owner of Coon Creek township. He is a na- tive of Stephenson county, Illinois, and was born April 2, 1877. When seven years of age he accompanied his parents to Lyon county, the family locating in Coon Creek township, where his father bought land and where our subject received his schooling and grew to manhood.
In 1907 the subject of this sketch took charge of the farm which he now owns and operates. Besides farming, he raises a great number of cattle and hogs. He is a member of the M. W. A., A. O. U. W. and R. N. A. lodges.
Mr. Burckhardt was married at Tyler, Min- nesota, on January 16, 1907, to Anna M. Lar- son, a native of Nebraska and a daughter of
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Casper and Julia (Quaine) Larson, of Tyler, the former a native of Denmark and the latter of lowa. Mr. and Mrs. Burckhardt have two children: Alice V. and Bernice V.
EUGENE SIMMONS (1903) has been the superintendent of the Marshall Power & Light Company's plant for the past nine years. He was born in Howard county, Iowa, January 20, 1869, and during the first thirteen years of his life resided with his parents in several different places. At the age of thirteen he located in Minneapolis, lived in Fargo, North Dakota, for a time, and then settled permanently in Wadena, Minnesota.
In the city of Wadena Mr. Simmons se- cured a high school education and then took up railroad work. For a year he was em- ployed in the shops of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company at that point, and for the next five and one-half years he was a fire- man on the Northern Pacific. Thereafter for a time he operated stationary engines and for six years had charge of the Wadena lighting and waterworks plant. In 1903 he gave up that position and located in Mar- shall to assume his duties as superintendent of the city plant.
Mr. Simmons is an electrician of more than local fame. He is first vice president of the Minnesota Electrical Association and is an associate member of the American In- stitute of Electrical Engineers. He is a member of several Masonic orders and of the A. O. U. W. lodge. In the local Royal Arch Chapter he is high priest.
At Wadena, Minnesota, on December 23, 1896, Mr. Simmons was married to Hattie M. Brate, who was born in Hancock county, Iowa, and who moved with her parents to Wadena when a child. Mr. and Mrs. Sim- mons have four children: Arthur B., Eugene C., Margaret L. and Peter.
The parents of our subject are Samuel W. and Sarah C. (Ellis) Simmons, who are now residents of Portland, Oregon. The father was born in Kingston, Canada, the mother in Lewis county, New York. There are four children in the family, as follows: Sarah E., of Portland; Nora L. Knight, of Otter Tail county, Minnesota; Eugene, of Marshall; and Guy R., of Portland.
ALFRED KELSON (1903) is a young farmer of Rock Lake township who in com- pany with his brother James rented the north half of section 13 four years ago and has since been farming the place. The boys are wide-awake lads and hustlers, and they have been successful in their venture. They are realizing, as are so many of the farmers in this section, the wisdom of entering into the stock raising business in addition to general farming, and are raising cattle for market every year.
Alfred was born in Kankakee county, Illi- nois, October 21, 1890, and is a son of An- drew and Mary (Sorenson) Kelson, early settlers of Illinois. The family came to Lyon county in March, 1903, and the father purchased land in Custer township, where the parents now reside. Our subject re- ceived his early education in Illinois and later attended the country school of Custer township and the village school at Balaton. When eighteen years of age he and his brother started in their farming venture.
Our subject is a member of the Degree of Honor lodge of Balaton, of which he is in- side watchman.
CARL F. BERG (1906) is the manager of Bingham Brothers' grain elevator at Minne- ota. He is a native of Yellow Medicine county, was born on his father's farm Feb- ruary 2, 1887, and there grew to manhood. His father, P. M. Berg, was an early settler of Yellow Medicine county and is now a merchant of Minneota. Carl located in Min- neota in 1906, worked a few years in his father's store, and then ran a dray line one year. He then returned to his parents' old farm and conducted that one year. In March, 1911, he entered the employ of Bingham Brothers and has since bought grain and managed the elevator for that firm.
Carl F. Berg was married at Canby, Min- nesota, Angust 7, 1908, to Sarah Josephson, a resident of Minneota and a daughter of Asbjorn Josephson. Two children have blessed their union-Henry and a baby girl.
Mr. Berg is a member of the M. W. A. lodge and of the Minneota Fire Department.
ANTON K. LIEN (1902), a prominent farmer of Lucas township, was born in Dane
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county, Wisconsin, November 13, 1879. His parents, Knut and Lena Lien, came from Norway in an early day and made settlement in Wisconsin, where they engaged in farm- ing.
Anton secured his education in Wisconsin and resided there until 1900. That year he accompanied the family to Cottonwood coun- ty, Minnesota, lived with them there two years, and then the family came to Lyon county. Knut Lien bought the west half of section 26 and forty acres on section 35, Lucas township, and established a home there. Anton Lien has ever since lived on that farm. In 1907 he rented the land from his father and has since conducted it to his own account. His parents moved to Cotton- wood, where the father died soon after and where the mother still has her home. Anton Lien is a director of school district No. 17.
The marriage of Anton Lien and Ronog Mattestad occurred in Cottonwood March 21, 1908. Mrs. Lien was born in Guldbrundalen, Norway, September 3, 1886, a daughter of Hans and Rande (Olson) Mattestad. Mr. and Mrs. Lien have two children: Lila V., born December 30, 1908; and Arden K., born May 9, 1910.
ARCHIE S. MONGEAU (1887) is the man- ager and grain buyer for the Northwestern Elevator Company at Marshall. He was born in Kankakee county, Illinois, January 11, 1885. His parents are Atler and Agnes (Smith) Mongeau, the former a native of Canada and the latter of Illinois. They came to Lyon county in 1887 and located in Fair- view township. The mother died in 1897. They were the parents of eight children, as follows: Josephine (Mrs. M. D. Devereant), of Illinois; Leah (Mrs. N. J. Robinson), of Tracy; Archie S., of this sketch; Edmond, a fireman on the Northwestern railroad at Huron, South Dakota; Napoleon, a student of the Tracy High School; Oscar, a student at Kankakee, Illinois; Emma and Ziphere.
When two years of age our subject accom- panied his parents to Lyon county and lo- cated in Fairview township. There he grew to manhood and obtained his education in the district schools and in the Marshall High School. He then worked on his father's farm until March 15, 1910. On the, latter date he entered the employ of the North-
western Elevator Company at Marshall as manager and grain buyer. He has held this position since that date.
The elevator was built by the Northwest- ern Elevator Company about fifteen years ago. The company buys and ships grain and handles coal and seed. The home office is at Minneapolis and C. A. Magnuson is president. The company owns 105 elevators on the Great Northern Railroad, with a storage capacity of 5,500,000 bushels.
ALBERT WILD (1902), of Lake Marshall township, was born in Germany November 4, 1859. His parents are Defler and Mary (Hacker) Wild. Albert worked at home un- til twenty-four years of age, when he came to America.
Upon his arrival to America, Mr. Wild first. located in Illinois, where he worked as a farm hand three years. He then moved to Nobles county, Minnesota, where he bought eighty acres of land and farmed ten years, when he sold out and moved to Lincoln county, Minnesota. He resided in the latter county until 1902 and then came to Lyon county and.purchased the southeast quarter of section 18, Lake Marshall township, where he now lives. Mr. Wild is a member of the German Evangelical church.
In Nobles county, May 30, 1889, occurred the marriage of Mr. Wild to Anna Suhler, a native of Germany. She is a daughter of John and Margrette (Hahn) Suhler and was born June 9, 1863. To Mr. and Mrs. Wild have been born the following children: Ed- ward J., born November 6, 1891; John A., born March 7, 1893; Alfred N., born No- vember 25, 1898; Esra, born January 12, 1902.
OSCAR VANDEN BERGHE (1906), propri- etor of the Corner Saloon in Ghent, is a na- tive of Belgium and was born August 12, 1884. His father, Joseph Vanden Berghe, is deceased, and his mother, Sophia (Vergote) Vanden Berghe, resides with her son in Ghent.
Oscar was brought up and given his edu- cation in Belgium. At the age of fourteen years he gave up school and became an employe of a can-making factory in Eeghem, Belgium, where he worked four years. Com- ing to America in 1904, our subject located
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at Duluth, Minnesota, and there worked on the ore docks for three years.
Our subject came to Lyon county in 1906, located in Ghent, and engaged in farm labor in the vicinity for two years. Mishawaka, Indiana, was his home for the next three years, Oscar being employed in a shoe fac- tory during that time, but he had become attached to Lyon county and returned to Ghent in August, 1911. He purchased the Corner Saloon from Ernest De Keyser and has since conducted the place, handling wines, liquors and cigars. Oscar Vanden Berghe is a member of the Catholic church.
JOHN DeVOS (1883) owns and farms 450 acres of land on sections 29 and 32, Val- lers township, and has a well-improved place. He has lived in Lyon county since he was fifteen years of age and has been farming on his own account nineteen years.
Belgium is the native land of John DeVos and September 21, 1868, was the date of his birth. His mother, Matilda (Lambrecht) DeVos, died in 1876, and in 1883 he came with his father, Charles DeVos, to Amer- ica. The first home was in Minneota and later John and his father lived at Ghent. For several years our subject worked out at farm labor, but in 1893 he rented his fa- ther's farm and started in business for him- self. In 1899 he bought his Vallers farm and the next year moved to his new home. Mr. DeVos is a member of the Catholic church and was a director of school district No. 48 for two years.
Mr. DeVos was married in Ghent to Clem- ense Van Daele, who is also a native of Belgium. She is a daughter of Serel and Melae (Cuman) Van Daele. Our subject and his wife have eight children, Mary, Camiel, Serel, Sadie, Lizzie, Elsie, Julia and Bertha.
FRANK L. WOODRUFF (1906) was born in Faribault county, Prescott township, Min- nesota, January 10, 1879, and made that place his home until moving to Marshall. His parents, Wallace A. and Sarah Jane (Snyder) Woodruff, natives of Vermont and Illinois, located in Faribault county in 1863, in company with Wallace A. Woodruff's fa- ther, Joseph C. Woodruff. Joseph C. took a homestead and bought forty acres and
resided in the county until 1890, when he moved to Marshall, and he resided there up to the time of his death in 1893.
Wallace A. and his wife located in Mar- shall in 1902, where they now reside. They bought 240 acres of land in Stanley town- ship, which they still own, and also the Beebe place of six acres just east of town, where they make their home. They have two children living, J. C. Woodruff, propri- etor of a dray line in Marshall, and Frank L., who after coming to Marshall assisted in running his father's farm.
The grandfather, Joseph C. Woodruff, was a participant in the Indian outbreak of 1862, being a member of the Winnebago City Guards. Wallace A. Woodruff enlisted in Company H, First Minnesota Heavy Artil- lery, and served during the last year of the Civil War, and at the time of the assassina- tion of Lincoln he was stationed at Chat- tanooga.
DANIEL F. SALMON (1890) is manager of the Western Elevator Company's elevator at Taunton. He is a son of William and Ellen (Gould) Salmon, both natives of Ire- land. They came to the United States when young and settled in Illinois, where they were married. In 1881 they came to Lyon county, where the father died a few years later. The mother now resides in Minne- apolis with a daughter. The family still own the old farm in Lyon county.
Daniel was born in Bloomington, Illinois, June 27, 1872, and resided there with his grandparents until eighteen years of age. In 1890 he came to Lyon county and joined his parents, who had moved here in 1881. He resided with them about nine years. He at- tended the Marshall High School and taught school five terms. Later he returned to the farm and operated it several years.
In 1898 Mr. Salmon went to Minneapolis and worked three years as a motorman for the Twin City Rapid Transit Company. His next move was to Waverly, South Dakota, where he had charge of a grain elevator and lumber yard. In 1903 he moved to Taunton, where he has since been manager of the Western elevator. Mr. Salmon is also en- gaged in the butcher business, having start- ed a shop in 1908. Our subject is a member of the M. W. A. lodge and has been justice
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of the peace in Taunton eight years. He is a member of the Village Council and the School Board.
Mr. Salmon was married at Ghent June 1, 1904, to Mary L. Regnier, a native of Kankakee county, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Salmon are the parents of three children: Joseph D., Edwin and Allen.
FRANK E. HOOK (1901) is proprietor of the Mint Saloon in Tracy. He was born in West Bend, Wisconsin, September 10, 1866. His father was Eugene F. Hook, a native of Germany who came to the United States when a year old with his parents and set- tled on the land where the city of Milwaukee now stands. At that time Milwaukee was a hamlet of eight or ten houses. He was mar- ried there to Mandeline Strahmyer. They moved to Grundy Center, lowa, and to Cedar Falls in 1881. In 1901 they came to Lyon county and bought land in Monroe township. where the father died November 16, 1907, aged sixty-three years. Mrs. Hook resides in Tracy.
In 1872 Frank Hook accompanied his par- ents to Grundy Center, Iowa, and in 1881 to Cedar Falls, Iowa, where he resided on the farm with his parents until twenty-seven years of age. He then entered the employ of the Diamond Joe Line of steamers, which plied between Memphis, Tennessee, and Stillwater, Minnesota. He served as fire- man two years, was promoted, and served as chief engineer ten or eleven years. His headquarters were at St. Louis during that service.
In 1901 Mr. Hook came to Lyon county and farmed in Monroe township seven years. In April, 1908, he purchased the Mint Sa- loon of J. W. Alexander and has since con- ducted the place. Mr. Hook is a member of the Eagles lodge. He was school treasurer four years and has served as road overseer in Monroe township.
At Tracy, on June 28, 1910, occurred the marriage of our subject to Zetta Rudd.
EMIL J. KRUEGER (1906), after being in business more than twenty years, came to Lyon county six years ago, bought the south half of section 21, Monroe township, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He has
made many improvements on his farm, in- cluding tiling, fencing, etc., and is becoming interested in stock raising. He is president of and was responsible for the organization of the Farmers Club of Tracy in March, 1912, the club now having a membership of 100.
Our subject was born near Hamburg, Ger- many, October 6, 1866. His father, Carl Krueger, was a steel mill worker. He died some years ago in Germany. The mother, Mary (Wauteg) Krueger, lives in Hamburg. Emil was brought up and educated in Ger- many, and when sixteen years of age he came to America and located at Peotone, Illinois, where he lived until 1898, most of the time being employed in a general store. In 1898 he moved to Manteno, Illinois, and engaged in the general merchandise business for him- self, making his home in Manteno eight years and then coming to Lyon county and buying the farm where he now resides. While a resident of Manteno Mr. Krueger was a member of the Village Council four years, and he was city clerk two years during his residence in Peotone.
Emil J. Krueger was married at Manteno, Illinois, to Grace Smith, the ceremony taking place April 16, 1900. His wife was born in Manteno May 3, 1878. To this union a daugh- ter, Dorothy, was born March 16, 1910. Mr. Krueger has one son, Walter Krueger, by a former marriage. Our subject is a mem- ber of the Catholic church. His fraternal affiliations are with the Modern Woodmen lodge of Tracy.
HARRY C. MILLER (1905), painter, pa- perhanger and decorator of Marshall, was born at Sterling, Nebraska, August 15, 1873. ยท When he was a child he accompanied his parents to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he re- sided many years and learned his trade.
After mastering his trade Mr. Miller worked as a journeyman painter for several years in that part of the country extending from Toledo, Ohio, and Chicago to the Pa- cific Coast. He was at Ottumwa, Iowa, three years, and in 1905 he located in Mar- shall, opened a shop, and has ever since resided in that city. He has decorated and painted the interior of the Methodist church, the Carnegie library, city hall, the M. W. A. building, and a number of residences.
Mr. Miller was married at Montgomery,
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Minnesota, October 5, 1898, to Lydia Wolf, a native of the village in which she was married. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have three children: Edna, Evelyn and Matah.
Our subject is a son of Oliver and Kate (Greenfield) Miller, who were pioneers of Nebraska, having settled at Sterling before the coming of the railroad. The father was born in Germany, the mother in New York. There are six sons in the family, as fol- lows: Luther, of Sterling, Nebraska; Harry, of this sketch; Frank, of Ottumwa, Iowa; Lester, of Marshall: Clyde of Adams, Ne- braska; Robert, of Lincoln, Nebraska.
JOHN WAMBEKE (1886) owns 480 acres of land in Westerheim township and is one of the successful farmers of the community. He was born in Belgium July 8, 1872. His parents were Ferdinand and Rosalie Wam- beke, who came to this country and settled in Fairview township in 1886. John received his early education in his native land and attended the country schools for a short time after the family came to this country. His mother died in 1910 and his father one year later.
John began farming when a young man. He has always been a hard worker and a careful manager, and those qualities with a thorough knowledge of the best methods of farming have brought him success. He has in the last ten years bought 480 acres of fine land, which is increasing in value every year.
The marriage of our subject to Sadie Van Daele, a native of Belgium, occurred in Ghent February 4, 1902. To this union six children have been born, named Ferdinand, Bertha, Lenora, Elizabeth, Anna Maria and Leona Maria.
John Wambeke has living three brothers and four sisters, as follows: Charlie, Henry, Peter, Mrs. John Tholen, Mrs. Frank Buysse, Mrs. Adolph De Vose and Mrs. August De Sutter. Mr. Wambeke is a member of the Catholic church of Minneota.
ANDREW JOHNSON (1902) is manager of the Laird-Norton Yards at Balaton and has been a resident of that village ten years. Sweden is the country of his nativity and he was born October 10, 1873. He came to
America in 1892 and has ever since lived in Minnesota.
Mr. Johnson located at Stewartville, Olni- sted county. Near that place he engaged in farming for a number of years, and for three years he worked in a lumber yard in the village. He moved to Balaton in 1902, worked in the Hayes-Lucas yard until 1907, and then accepted the position of manager of the Laird-Norton Yards, which he has since held.
The company for which Mr. Johnson works was the first to engage in the lumber busi- ness in Balaton. It was established as the Laird-Norton Company, Incorporated, in 1855 and changed to its present title in 1900. The general offices are at Winona and the officers are M. G. Norton, president; F. A. Thatcher, vice president; F. S. Bell, secretary and treasurer; O. M. Batchford, manager. The company has 110 yards in South Dakota and Minnesota and deals in all kinds of building material, coal, etc.
Mr. Johnson was married at Balaton De- cember 29, 1910, to Nora S. Sorenson, a na- tive of Illinois. They have recently erected a fine home in the village. Mr. Johnson is a member of the Modern Woodmen and Workmen lodges.
JOHN E. KLEINE (1903), Lake Marshall township farmer, was born in Hanover, Ger- many, December 28, 1871. He received a common school education in the land of his birth, coming to the United States when seventeen years of age and locating at Le Mars, Iowa. He worked on different farms near Le Mars until 1899, when he married. rented land, and started farming for himself.
In 1903 Mr. Kleine came to Lyon county and purchased the northwest quarter of sec- tion 30, Lake Marshall township, where he now lives. Later he purchased the east half of the southeast quarter of section 25, Lynd township. Mr. Kleine is a member of the German Lutheran church. He served four years as director of school district No. 7.
Mr. Kleine was married at Le Mars, Iowa, March 8, 1899, to Katherine Ahlfs, a native of Hanover, Germany. She is a daughter of John H. and Anna (Renkin) Ahlfs. The former died in Germany at the age of sev- enty-one years and the latter at the age of seventy-three. Mrs. Kleine was born August
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19, 1876. To this union was born one child, Anna L., born July 16, 1901, died April 14, 1911.
HARVEY H. ADAIR (1895) is a well drill- er and a dealer in windmills and pumps in Marshall. He was born in Green county, Wisconsin, May 23, 1866, a son of Ezra and Elizabeth (Cummins) Adair, the former a native of Canada and the latter of the United States. The parents are deceased. In the family are eight children: Harvey H., of this sketch; Charles, of Marshall; Alex, Ezra, Maud and Josephine (Mrs. Fred Wil- lard), of Artesian, South Dakota; Bertha (Mrs. Ed. Willard), of Pierre, South Dakota; and Libbie (Mrs. Carl Santee), of South Dakota.
When four years of age our subject went to Parsons, Kansas, and lived on a farm with his parents until 1885, when he moved to Sanborn county, South Dakota, where he farmed and conducted a well drilling ma- chine until 1895. In the latter year he came to Lyon county, located at Marshall, and has since been engaged in the well business. He is one of the best and oldest well drillers in the county, having learned the business under his father, who was an expert at the business. He makes all kinds of tubular wells and handles windmills and pumps. Mr. Adair is a member of the Modern Woodmen and Royal Neighbors lodges.
On January 4, 1887, at Carthage, South Dakota, occurred the marriage of Mr. Adair to Louise Boudine. To this union were born the following children: Ethel, Clyde and Les- lie. Mr. Adair was married a second time at Northville, South Dakota, on January 24, 1905, to Magdaline Pluman, a native of Min- neapolis. They have two children: Margaret and Angeline.
CLAUS FRAHM (1904) is the blacksmith in the village of Lynd. He is a native of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, and was born March 16, 1849. He is the son of Jerry and Wibke Frahm. The father died in 1852, in Germany, and the mother died in 1889, in Tama county, Iowa.
Our subject received his education in the land of his nativity, where he attended school until seventeen years of age. In 1866 he
moved to Scott county, lowa, where he re- sided a short time, working at farm labor. He then went to Jackson county, where he remained a year, engaged in the same work, and then went to Clinton county, Iowa, where he remained a year. We next find our sub- ject in Tama county, Iowa, where he resided eighteen years. While there he and an older brother conducted a blacksmith shop. In 1888 he moved to O'Brien county, Iowa, where he rented a farm and operated it until 1904. During that time he was super- intendent of the county farm.
In 1894 Mr. Frahm came to Lyon county and rented a farm near Lynd, which he op- erated for seven years and then moved to the village of Lynd, where he opened the blacksmith shop which he still operates. Mr. Frahm is a member of the German Lutheran church.
In 1876 the subject of this biography was united in marriage to Annie Klink, a native of Germany and a daughter of Jerry Burns. Mr. Burns died several years ago. Mrs. Frahm died February 27, 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Frahm were the parents of the following children: Julius, Herman, Theodore, George, Frank, Annie, Ella.
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