USA > Minnesota > Lyon County > An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota > Part 91
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Mr. Berg was married at Minneota Aug- ust 15, 1894, to Helen Hellickson, a native of Wisconsin and a daughter of Andrew Hellickson. They have two daughters, Jane Esther and Hazel Iverine. Mr. Berg is a member of the Odd Fellows and Wood- men orders.
In Mr. Berg's father's family are four children, the others being Edward, of Ta- coma, Washington; Martha and Ingeborg, both of Norway.
GEORGE H. CHAMBERLAIN (1894), of Marshall, is a son of A. J. Chamberlain, a native of New York and a Marshall gro-
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ceryman, and Lillis (Fettiplace) Chamber- lain, a native.of Wisconsin.
He is a native Minnesotan, having been born at Geneva, Freeborn county, July 11, 1884. He came to Marshall with his par- ents in 1894 and was educated in the Mar- shall High School. For three years he was engaged in the grocery business with his father. He then spent one year in Water- town, South Dakota, where he was in the mercantile business. Thereafter he learned the printer's trade and for about three years conducted a job printing establish- ment in Marshall.
In January, 1911, Mr. Chamberlain again engaged in the grocery business with his father. He will shortly become engaged as advertising solicitor and ad-writer. He is a member of the Elks lodge at Water- town, of the Commandery at Marshall, and of the Shrine at Minneapolis.
The marriage of Mr. Chamberlain to Blanche L. Davis occurred in Richland, Os- wego county, New York, June 27, 1907. She is a native of the county in which she was married and spent her high school days with an aunt in Marshall. Two chil- dren have been born to this union, Mary Louise, born July 27, 1910, and Horace Franklin, born December 26, 1911.
JOHN HULBURT (1900) is a farmer and stock raiser residing in Lake Marshall township. He was born in Green county, Wisconsin, September 17, 1874, and is a son of John and Lorinda (Smiley) Hul- burt, natives of Wisconsin. John remained under the parental roof until he reached his majority and then farmed rented land in Green county until 1900.
In the year last mentioned our subject came to Lyon county and purchased the north half of section 34, Lake Marshall township, and has resided there since. He has a nicely improved farm. He deals quite extensively in stock, feeding and shipping a great number each year.
Sarah Kennedy became the wife of Mr. Hulburt at Madison, Wisconsin, October 2, 1895. She is a daughter of Michael and Delia (Clary) Kennedy, the former a na- tive of New York and the latter of Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy reside at Dayton, Wisconsin. To Mr. and Mrs. Hulburt have
been born the following named four chil- dren: William B., born January 12, 1897; Ellin L., born December 17, 1898; Maud I., born September 4, 1903; Mary, born January 21, 1905.
MATHEW J. MOORSE (1898). Prom- inent among the rising young business men of Minneota is the gentleman whose name heads this review. Although a young man he holds the responsible position of assist- ant cashier of the First National Bank of Minneota.
Mr. Moorse is a native of Belgium and was born February 6, 1886. He came to America with his parents in 1898 and until he was twenty years of age lived with them on the farm in Nordland township. He was educated in the Marshall High School and in the Normal School at Mankato and took up teaching as a profession. He taught in country schools two years and two years was principal of the Taunton school. In July, 1910, Mr. Moorse entered the First National Bank as bookkeeper and in January, 1911, he was made assistant cashier. Our subject is a member of the Catholic church and of the Knights of Columbus and Modern Woodmen lodges.
Our subject was married at Ghent Octo- ber 4, 1911, to Bertha DeCock, a native of Ghent and a daughter of Julius DeCock.
Peter and Christine (Jacobs) Moorse, our subject's parents, settled in Nordland township in 1898, bought land on section 19, farmed it five years and then bought 600 acres in Lincoln county, where they now reside. There are seven children in the family as follows: Nellie, John, Mathew J., Isabelle, Harry, Lizzie and Sophia.
WILLIAM SEILER (1906) is a farmer of Lynd township who has resided in Lyon county for the past six years. He is a native of Germany and was born at Baden January 13, 1860, a son of Alex and The- resa Seiler. The former died in 1895 and the latter in 1893.
The subject of this review received his early education in Germany, where he at- tended school until fourteen years of age. He then worked in the breweries until
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twenty years of age, at which time he started farming, which occupation he fol- lowed in Germany until twenty-four years of age. In 1884 Mr. Seiler immigrated to America, located at Utica, New York, where he worked in a dairy and as a farm hand for six years, and then went to Morgan county, Tennessee, where he worked in a dairy two years. From that southern state he went to Calhoun county, Iowa, where he worked as a farm hand three years.
In 1905 Mr. Seiler purchased eighty acres of land in Pocahontas county, Iowa, which he operated until 1905. The next year he purchased the northeast quarter of section 24, Lynd township, which he has broken up and improved. He has a fine farm with good improvements. Besides farming, he raises some stock, including Duroc-Jersey hogs and Shorthorn cattle. He is a mem- ber of the German Evangelical church and was trustee in that church in Calhoun county for eight years.
In 1895 Mr. Seiler was married to Selma Widauer, a daughter of August and Teklah Widauer, of LeMars, Iowa. Mrs. Seiler is a native of Germany and was born Janu- ary 20, 1871, coming to America with her parents when ten years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Seiler are the parents of the follow- ing ten children: Freida, born February 4, 1896; William, born April 15, 1897; Rosa, born July 7, 1898; Louis, born Aug- ust 22, 1899; Minnie, born October 4, 1900; Carl, born February 18, 1902; Wal- ter, born December 21, 1904; Emma, born March 8, 1906; Herman, born September 29, 1908; Clara, born May 7, 1910.
WILLIAM E. PHILLIPS (1897) en- gages in painting and paperhanging in Marshall. He was born in Hennepin coun- ty, Minnesota, on November 11, 1852, and is a son of Corlis and Mercelia (Ailsworth) Phillips, natives of Providence, Rhode Is- land. They were the parents of five chil- dren, three of whom are living, as follows: Abbie (Mrs. N. W. Wood), of Excelsior, Minnesota; Luella (Mrs. E. W. Walworth), deceased; William, of this sketch; Edward, of Glencoe; Eugene N., a state rural school commissioner, of St. Paul.
Our subject resided in the county of his nativity until thirteen years of age, when
he moved to Shakopee, Minnesota. There he attended school and learned the paint- er's, paperhanger's and decorator's trades. Later he returned to Hennepin county and followed his trade until 1893. Thereafter he lived in Minneapolis a year and in Daw- son two years.
In 1897 Mr. Phillips came to Lyon coun- ty and located at Marshall, where he has since followed his trade. He is a mem- ber of the Yeomen and Modern Woodmen lodges and owns a fine residence in Mar- shall. He is better known among his friends as "Dad." Mr. Phillips is a great sportsman and a firm believer in out-door life, being one of the crack shots of the county and having won many medals for his marksmanship in the Marshall Gun Club, of which he is an honored member.
Mr. Phillips was married at Shakopee in March, 1865, to May Schooley, a native of Kentucky. They are the parents of one child, Alberta (Mrs. Claud Roebuck), of Marshall.
LARS OSCAR FURGESON (1886), a farmer of Eidsvold township, was born in Lyon county and has spent his entire life here. Island Lake township is his native precinct, and the date of his birth was February 1, 1886.
Ole and Helen (Grasdalen) Furgeson, the parents of our subject, were early set- tlers and homesteaders of Island Lake township. The father continued to reside on the old homestead until his death on June 19, 1908; the mother still makes her home there with two sons and a daughter. There were twelve children in the family, as follows: Rudolph, of Freeborn county, Minnesota; Leneda, Dicka and Otto, who are deceased; Rachael, Gisley, Anna and Orvin, who reside at home; Alma (Mrs. Julian Burg) and William, of Minneapolis; Martin, of Freeborn county; and Lars Os- car, of Eidsvold.
Lars Oscar Furgeson attended the school of Island Lake township until seventeen years old and then until his marriage in the spring of 1908 he worked at home and for neighboring farmers. After his mar- riage he farmed two seasons in Coon Creek township and two seasons in Island Lake township. In the fall of 1911 he moved to
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his present location in Eidsvold, farming the northeast quarter and the north half of the southwest quarter of section 33.
The marriage of Mr. Furgeson to Ruby Wahlstrom occurred in Island Lake town- ship February 26, 1908. Mrs. Furgeson was born in Rockford, Illinois, February 11, 1890, and she is a daughter of Emel and Selma (Johnson) Wahlstrom. The family came to Lyon county in March, 1895, and now live in Nordland township. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Furgeson: Bernice, born March 4, 1909, and Stanley, born July 17, 1911. The family are members of the Norwegian Lutheran church of Minneota.
DR. J. B. ROBERTSON (1892) is a physician and surgeon of Cottonwood. He is also county coroner, a position he has held the past ten years. He was the first licensed physician to settle in the village of Cottonwood.
The subject of this review was born in Freeborn county, Minnesota, December 4, 1866. The parents were Peter and Helen (Robertson) Robertson, the former a na- tive of Glasgow and the latter of Edin- burgh, Scotland. Soon after their marriage they came to the United States and set- tled in Wisconsin, in 1850. The father and a brother John conducted a store in Cook county, Wisconsin. In 1864 Peter Robertson came to Minnesota and located in Freeborn county, where he soon after- ward died. The mother died when the subject of this sketch was only six years of age.
Left without parents at an early age, our subject and his brothers began life's struggle. He grew to manhood in Free- born county and in Mitchell, Iowa, where he worked at various occupations and at- tended school. He also attended school three years at Willmar and taught in Free- born and Kandiyohi counties several years. He then spent two years in Day county, South Dakota, where he pre-empted a claim and taught school.
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J. B. Robertson attended the Medical Department of the State University and was graduated from Rush Medical College in April, 1892. He spent several months practising at Waseca, Minnesota, and in
September, 1892, located at Cottonwood, where he has since practised his profes- sion. Dr. Robertson was president of the Cottonwood Village Council two terms and was a member of the Board of Education nine years. He has been county coroner the past ten years and is chairman of the Board of Health. He is a director and stockholder of the First National Bank of Cottonwood and is president and direc- tor of the North Star Implement Company. Dr. Robertson holds membership in the M. W. A., A. O. U. W. and A. F. and A. M. lodges.
Dr. Robertson was married at Austin, Minnesota, April 7, 1893, to Rose B. Marsh, who was born near Waupun, Wisconsin. She died November 30, 1897. To this union were born two children, Exine and Lew. Dr. Robertson was married a sec- ond time at Rochester on January 1, 1898, to Olga L. Paulson, a native of Chicago. Her father, Ole Paulson, conducted a hard- ware store in Chicago, which was burned in the big fire of 1871. He then moved to Dakota and later to Yellow Medicine county, Minnesota, where he died. To Dr. and Mrs. Robertson have been born two children, Murl and Gwen.
Our subject has the following brothers and sisters: David, a lawyer of Conde, South Dakota; Dr. E. P., president of Wesley College of Grand Forks, North Da- kota; William, who was professor and superintendent of the Crookston, Minne- sota, Agricultural College at the time of his death in January, 1910; and Helen (Mrs. H. P. McConnell), of Brush, Colo- rado. He also has a half-brother, Thomas G. Bonnallie, the mayor of Tracy; and a half-sister, Lora (Mrs. J. A. McNiven), of Marshall.
JOSEPH V. MATHEWS (1907), attor- ney at law of Cottonwood, is a native of Southwestern Minnesota, having been born on his father's homestead on section 8, Shetek township, Murray county, on March 30, 1879. He grew to young manhood on the farm and in 1902 was graduated from the Tracy High School. He then took a one year's preparatory course in Macales- ter College, after which he matriculated in
JOSEPH V. MATHEWS A Practising Attorney of Cottonwood.
DR. J. B. ROBERTSON Coroner of Lyon County and a Physician of Cottonwood.
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VICTOR J. LA VOY Proprietor of a Marshall Saloon.
PETER H. BLY Manager of the Ross Lumber Com- pany's Yard at Cottonwood.
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the St. Paul College of Law, from which he was graduated in June, 1906.
Mr. Mathews was admitted to the bar on June 22, 1906, and was admitted to practise before the United States district and circuit courts on November 4, 1910. After his admission to the bar Mr. Math- ews practised seven months with Judge L. S. Nelson, of Slayton, and on March 12, 1907, became a resident of Cottonwood, where he has since practised his profes- sion, with offices on the second floor of the Grieve & Laingen Building. Mr. Math- ews has been very successful in the law. He is a self-made man and has had to rely almost wholly on his own exertions, having worked his way through college. Mr. Mathews takes a leading part in the affairs of his community. He is secretary of the Cottonwood Commercial Club and was village attorney in 1906 and 1907. He is a member of the Masonic and Wood- men orders.
The parents of our subject, J. W. and Alice (Robins) Mathews, are pioneers of Southwestern Minnesota. The father is a native of New York State, the mother of Rochester, Minnesota. They settled in Murray county in 1870 and still reside upon the farm which they took as a home- stead. They have five sons and two daugh- ters, as follows: Clara J. (Mrs. P. M. Hart), of Hillyard, Washington; Joseph V., of this review; John E., of Murray county; James A., of Murray county; Ar- thur R., Murian and Mildred M.
PETER H. BLY (1903) has for eight years and more been manager of the H. W. Ross Lumber Company's yard at Cotton- wood. The company handles lumber, coal and all kinds of building material. Mr. Bly is the owner of a fine residence and is active in the town's affairs. He is clerk of the Cottonwood school board, a position which he also held while a citizen of Hills, Minnesota, prior to moving to Cottonwood. He served on the Village Council two years and was its president one year. Mr. Bly is a member and one of the trustees of the English Lutheran church.
Mr. Bly was born in Lee county, Illi- nois, June 3, 1860. His parents, Helge P. and Julia (Sexe) Bly, are both deceased.
Our subject received his early education in his native state and when eighteen years old entered Northwestern College at Na- perville, Illinois, remaining one year. The next two years Peter taught district school near his home, and in 1882 he accepted a position as manager of the Farmers Lumber & Grain Company's yard at Lee, Illinois, where he remained seven years. In 1889 our subject moved to Bruce, Min- nesota, was manager of the A. T. Sexe lumber and grain business one year, and then went to Hills, Minnesota, and worked for the same man three years. In 1893 the business was sold to the Tuthill Lum- ber Company, and Mr. Bly continued as manager ten years, when he took charge of the Cottonwood yard for H. W. Ross Lumber Company.
Our subject married Inga Severson at Lee, Illinois, June 27, 1882. His wife was born September 16, 1864, and is a native of Kendall county, Illinois. The Blys are the parents of the following children: Julia (Mrs. C. E. Colby), of Russell; John P., of Estelline, South Dakota; Martha (Mrs. Edward Risty), of Brooklyn, New York; Helge, a student at the University of Minnesota; Helen, a clerk in Larson's store, Cottonwood; James, Pearl, Gertrude, Eva, students in the Cottonwood schools.
VICTOR J. LaVOY (1895), proprietor of a saloon in Marshall, was born in Chi- cago August 28, 1879. His parents, George and Lonise (Boudreau) LaVoy, were born in Canada but located in Chicago when children. The mother lives in Chicago; the father died in Lyon county in Septem- ber, 1895. Nine children of the family are living, as follows: Rame, Amma, Louise, Lucy, Henry, Josie, John, George and Victor.
Victor made his home with the family in Chicago until a young man and was educated there. In March, 1895, he ac- companied the family to Lyon county and made his home on the farm in Fairview township. A few months after the arrival of the family the father died, and the man- agement of the farm then devolved on our subject and his brother, George. They en- gaged in farming until 1904. Since that time Victor has lived in Marshall. For a
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number of years he was employed as a bartender and since December, 1910, has been engaged in business for himself.
Mr. LaVoy was married in Marshall Oc- tober 8, 1909, to Calla Snapp, who was born in Kentucky. They have one child, William H. LaVoy. Jacob and Sarah (Mann) Snapp, the parents of Mrs. LaVoy, were born and married in Nicholas county, Kentucky. The former served in the Ken- tucky Home Guards during the Civil War. The Snapp family moved to Marshall in 1885 and Mr. Snapp has since lived in that city, spending part of his time with his children in Kentucky. Mrs. Snapp died in Marshall July 14, 1908, at the age of seventy-two years. Mr. Snapp is now eighty-five years of age.
JOHN W. WELSH (1908) is a farmer residing in Lake Marshall township. He is a native of Massachusetts and was born February 21, 1861, a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Kingsley) Welsh, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of Massa- chusetts. When our subject was eleven years of age, the family moved to Lyon county, Iowa, where our subject received his schooling and grew to manhood.
When eighteen years of age, the subject of this review started out for himself, en- gaging in various occupations. In 1908 he came to Lyon county and rented a quar- ter section of land on section 29, Lake Marshall township, where he still resides. Mr. Welsh is a member of the Catholic church.
The subject of this review was married at Marshall in September, 1892, to Ellen A. Meehan, a native of Wisconsin. Mrs. Welsh was born December 13, 1861, and is a daughter of Merick and Charlotte (Harding) Meehan. Mr. and Mrs. Welsh are the parents of the following named three children: Gertrude E., born Novem- ber 15, 1893; Francis T., born October 7, 1900; Ellend M., born April 4, 1903.
OSCAR A. HOLLAND (1907), a Monroe township farmer, is a native of Cotton- wood county, Minnesota, where he was born October 30, 1879. His parents, Mar- tin and Anna (Albertson) Holland, were
born in Norway and came to America in an early day, the father taking a homestead in Cottonwood county.
Until twenty-two years of age Oscar lived on his father's farm in Cottonwood county. There he attended the country schools, and when his education was fin- ished he helped with the work on the home place. When he left the farm his first employment was in W. W. Rounds' hardware store at Conde, South Dakota, where he remained five years. In 1907 Mr. Holland moved to Tracy, where he worked two years, first in the employ of D. H. Evans and later for E. F. Klocow. Mr. Holland then rented land in Monroe township and commenced farming; in 1911 he rented his present place, the southwest quarter of section 16. He is making the raising of Hereford cattle a-specialty and bas a fine lot of White Leghorn chickens.
Mr. Holland was married June 5, 1907, to Martina Bjorn, the wedding taking place at Lamberton, Minnesota. To this union three children have been born: Ar- nold, born May 12, 1908; Hazel, born March 8, 1910; and Orval, born October 27, 1911. Mrs. Holland was born at Clin- ton, Iowa, December 5, 1882, and is a daughter of J. F. and Gertrude (Nelson) Bjorn, natives of Denmark.
The Hollands are members of the Nor- wegian Lutheran church. Mr. Holland be- longs to the Tracy Farmers Club and the Southern Minnesota Development League, and his fraternal associations are with the Modern Woodmen lodge. He is chairman of the board of school district No. 33.
WILLIAM C. BAMFORD (1885) is the senior member of the firm of Bamford Brothers, proprietors of the City Livery Barn of Marshall. He is a native of the county and was born on his father's farm in Lake Marshall township August 5, 1885. His parents, William E. and Catherine Bamford, natives of Wisconsin and Mary- land, are both deceased.
Our subject was educated in the district schools and worked on the farm until 1911. On February 27 of that year he and his brother, C. Fred Bamford, bought the City Livery Barn from John Wilson and have since conducted the business.
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There are four children in the Bamford family, as follows: George, who farms in Lake Marshall township; William C., Charles F. and Nell (Mrs. Daniel H. Min- nick), of North Dakota.
BERNT E. LUND (1898) came to Amer- ica from his native Norway in 1891, but has been a resident in Lucas township only about three years. He first saw the light of day on June 23, 1873, in the county of Trondhjem, Norway. His mother, Meta (Sunde) Lund, is still living in Norway; his father, Einar Lund, died some years ago. Bernt received his education in Nor- way, and as was usual for the farmer boy of that country his schooling was finished when he was fifteen years of age. After leaving school the lad worked out at farm labor for about one year and a half and then decided to come to America.
In the summer of 1891 young Lund landed in the United States, and his first home in the new country was in Jackson county, Minnesota, where he worked at farm labor for about seven years. In 1898 he came to Lyon county and found work with a farmer near Cottonwood the follow- ing two years and a half. He later worked in and around Cottonwood until 1903 and has since then been engaged in farming for himself on rented land in Lyon and Yel- low Medicine counties. For the past three years he has been conducting the quarter section on 23, Lucas township. He is doing well and is successfully engaging in stock raising.
Our subject's marriage to Bessie Gran- mo occurred in October, 1898. She is a native of Norway and was born March 5, 1872. One child has been born to this union, Alfred, born October 26, 1899. Mr. and Mrs. Lund belong to the Norwegian Lutheran church of Cottonwood.
FRED H. CASE (1882) has spent his entire life in Marshall, having been born in that city March 17, 1882. He was graduated from the Marshall High School and then learned the printer's trade in his father's office, the Lyon County Reporter. His father gave him a half interest in the paper, having previously given a half in- terest to another son, Frank W. Case.
Our subject sold his interest in the pa- per to his brother in 1905 and during the next three years engaged in the hardware business in Marshall. He sold out at the end of that time and has since been con- nected with the Reporter.
Mr. Case was married January 19, 1906, to Minnie Johnson. She was born at Tracy and is the daughter of Thomas Johnson, now in the real estate business at Marshall.
C. F. Case, the father of our subject, is one of the early settlers of Lyon county and a pioneer journalist. Our subject's mother is Fannie (Waller) Case. There are three children in the family, Frank W., Fred H. and Dorothy A.
ELBRIDGE GIFFORD (1890), a success- ful farmer of Rock Lake township, rents the southeast quarter of section 14 and also farms land on section 11 in the same town- ship.
Mr. Gifford was born in Custer township April 23, 1890, and is a son of George and Ruth (Hughes) Gifford, pioneer residents of Lyon county. In the early days they moved to the county and have lived here ever since, witnessing the growth of the county and experiencing all the trials and hardships of the early settlers.
Elbridge received his education in Bala- ton, where he attended school until the age of eighteen years. He then went into busi- less, conducting a livery and feed barn in the village about a year and a half. Farm labor occupied his time for the period of one year after he disposed of the livery business, and in November, 1911, Mr. Gifford rented the farm which he has since conducted.
Our subject was married November 8, 1911, at Balaton. His wife, formerly Lucy Anderson, is a native of Lyon county. She was born May 20, 1890, and is a daughter of Charles and Mary Anderson, of Rock Lake township.
WILLIAM MURPHY (1903) is the owner of the Riverside Hotel at Russell and an employe of R. E. Benson, the implement dealer. He has been a resident of Lyon county only nine years, but for many years he lived just over the line in Redwood county.
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