USA > Minnesota > Rock County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 101
USA > Minnesota > Pipestone County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 101
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PIPESTONE COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
Gertrude L. (Mrs. Patrick Sullivan), of Pipestone; Lydia (Mrs. J. W. Watt), of Burk county, North Dakota; Robert E. and May D. (Mrs. Leonard Avery), of Aetna township. One daughter, Nettie (Mrs. Hen- ry Mortensen), died January 29, 1908.
W. M. LUDKE (1878), who with W. W. Foster was the very first to homestead land in Rock township, has maintained a con- tinnous residence in that precinct since April, 1878. A few other settlers came later in the season. Mr. Ludke did not put in a crop the first year, and it was perhaps just as well, for promise of even a meager yield was destroyed by the rav- ages of the grasshoppers. He broke land and put in his first crop in 1879. His first dwelling in the new country was a 12x16 feet board shanty, covered with sods.
Near the city of Berlin, Germany, on November 22, 1853, Mr. Ludke was horn. His father, Charles Ludke, died in July, 1903, but his mother, Minnie (Tesky) Lud- ke, is living and resides at Oshkosh, Wiscon- sin. . In the spring of 1854 the Ludke fam- ily departed from Germany and made set- tlement in the new world. They were lo- cated for the first four or five years in Mil- waukee, Wisconsin, which at that time was simply an over-grown village. From Mil- waukee they went to Fond du Lac county, where our subject resided until he moved to Pipestone county. He was reared on a farın and acquired an education offered by the country schools. He commenced working out on farms in the vicinity of his home at the age of eighteen. The land which Mr. Ludke homesteaded and which is his home to this day is the southeast quarter of section 10, Rock. With many other hardy pioneers he was forced to struggle against the disastrous prairie fires and dreaded blizzards, events which tried men's souls and proved their calibre.
It was Mr. Ludke who circulated the pe- tition which resulted in the organization of Rock township, and at the first election he was chosen one of the supervisors. For eight terms he was a valued member of that governing body. He has always been deeply interested in the welfare and im- provement of the county educational sys- tem and for many years lent of his ener-
getic spirit as a member of the board of district No. 7. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen lodge at Woodstock.
Mr. Ludke is a man of family. His first wife, whom he married in Winona county, Minnesota, in March, 1878, died in the fall of the same year. On May 13, 1880, he was joined in marriage to Carrie Goodman, a native Minnesotan. She was born in Fillmore county January 10, 1864. Mr. and Mrs. Ludke are parents of the follow. ing named children: Minnie (Mrs. James Wadland), of Canada, born September 21, 1883; Emma (Mrs. Adolph Voght), of South Dakota, born June 28, 1886; Elva, of Idaho, born July 9, 1888; William, born June 19, 1894; Florence, born March 1, 1896; Walter, horn January 23, 1901; and Fred, born April 8, 1903. One son, Charlie, is deceased. He was horn June 26, 1890, and died April 15, 1892.
JAMES F. DELANEY (1877), of Wood- stock, is an early settler of Pipestone county and has enjoyed a continuous resi- dence in the county since he was a youth of sixteen years. He is a native of the North Star state and was born in Bine Earth City, Faribault county, September 27, 1861.
With his parents James moved to Pipe- stone county in 1877, and for thirty-two years following he was a leading agricul- turist of Osborne and Burke townships. He bought the northeast quarter of section 5, Osborne, the nucleus of later land hold- ings. He has been the owner of an addi- tional eighty acres on section 5, an eighty on section 4, and 240 acres on section 33, Burke township. He still retains posses- sion of these lands, with the exception of a quarter on section 5, Osborne. He made substantial improvements on all his farms, and since moving to Woodstock in 1909, the farming interests have been conducted by Frank and Ray, sons of James F. De- laney.
Mr. Delaney became a resident of Wood. stock to assume the management of the Farmers Elevator company, a successful co-operative concern in that village. He also engages in buying and shipping live stock in partnership with John Hoog. Mr. Delaney is treasurer of the Farmers Grain
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PIPESTONE COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
Dealers association of the state of Minne- sota. For many years he has been a school director of Osborne township.
In Luverne, on November 6, 1883, our subject was joined in marriage to Lizzie Lynch, a native of Fillmore county, Minne- sota, who was born May 6, 1866. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. . Delaney, as follows: Frank, Nellie and Ray. The family are members of the Catholic church.
EDWARD W. DAVIES (1879), a Welsh- man by parentage and an Englishinan by birth is Edward W. Davies. He is the only surviving son of John and Elizabeth (Owens) Davies, natives of Wales, who settled over the border in Shropshire, England, a few years before the birth of our subject, which occurred April 5, 1855. Two years later, in July, 1857, the family departed from Britain and embarked in a sailing vessel, which consumed six weeks in the journey to America. The Davies resided for a time in Canada, then in Mil- waukee, Wisconsin, and later settlement was made in Rock county, Wisconsin. There Edward lived ten years and there he acquired his first taste for learning.
The family became residents of Minne- sota in 1869. They came as pioneers to Jackson county, where the father, John Davies, homesteaded land in Middletown township, and there our subject grew to manhood and finished his education in the back-woods school. At the age of twenty- one Edward W. Davies set out from home to see what the world had in store for him. His first employment was a clerk- ship in the store of the pioneer merchant of Jackson, Minnesota. He was for two years the deputy in the office of the coun- ty treasurer and then accepted a position to manage the yard of the C. L. Colman Lumher company, which was established at the new town of Lakefield. It was nothing but a hare townsite in July, 1879, and the very first building erected was the office of the Colman Lumber company, which young Davies himself built. He is also credited with the naming of Lakefield.
The occasion for the settlement of Mr. Davies in Pipestone came through his connection with the lumber company. He
was transferred to the management of the yard at the then infant village of Pipe- stone, a position he filled for seven years. His hanking career commenced November 23, 1886. At that time he acquired an in- terest in the Pipestone County Bank, now the Pipestone State Bank, was made its cashier, and four years later was promoted to the presidency, an office in which he has continued to the present day. He is one of the principal stockholders in this strong financial institution and is also in- terested in banks at Jasper, Woodstock and Ruthton, all in Pipestone county. M1. Davies has served several terms on the city council, and for the past twelve years has been a member of the board of county commissioners. He is prominent in Ma- sonic lodge circles, holding membership in the Blue Lodge, Commandery and Shrine.
John and Elizabeth (Owens) Davies, the parents of our subject resided on the old Jackson county homestead until 1886, when they settled in the village of Jackson, where they both passed to their reward after having spent lives of fruitful effort and charity. Mrs. Davies died in February, 1907, at the age of eighty-six years, and Mr. Davies, in October, 1909, at the age of seventy-nine.
The marriage of Edward W. Davies to Nellie G. King, the daughter of William V. and Antonette L. (Porter) King, early set- tlers of Jackson county, was solemnized at Jackson on January 5, 1881. Mrs. Davies was born in Walworth county, Wisconsin, on Christmas day, 1858. The following two living children have been born to this union: Kittie A., born December 27, 1884; and Bonnie, born April 17, 1907.
JOHN A. KLINSING (1879) is one of two residents of Sweet township who still reside on and are actively engaged in the farming of their original homesteads. The other early setuer is Joseph Crawford. Mr. Klinsing drove through to Pipestone county from Wisconsin and homesteaded the northwest quarter of section 32, Sweet township, in June, 1879. He prospered and fifteen years ago added to his original holding by the purchase of the southwest quarter of section 29.
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PIPESTONE.COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
John is the son of Nicholas and Mary (Honsinger) Klinsing, who came to Amer- ica from their native land of Germany shortly after their marriage. They first located in Milwaukee and later made set- tlement in Dane county, Wisconsin, where the father died. Mrs. Klinsing was mar- ried a second time to William F. Lang and died in 1894.
Our subject was born in Dane county, Wisconsin, on January 31, 1855. He was early thrown upon his own resources and was employed at agricultural labor until he located in Pipestone county, at the age of twenty-four years. His first crops in the new country were devastated by the grasshoppers and he was forced to seek other employment to meet living expenses.
Mr. Klinsing hauled the lumber to build the first house on his farm from Luverne. He was one of the hay-burners during the long, disastrous winter of 1880-81. On sev- eral occasions during that season he jour- neved to Pipestone on snow shoes to get supplies, but the only staple to be se- cured at any price was "black-strap." Mr. Klinsing vividly recalls the burial of a child of Al. Lincoln, who lived on the southeast quarter of the section on which his farm was located. The child met death as the result of a scalding. The few neighbors, traveling on snow shoes, gath- ered at the Lincoln home to perform the last sad rites. Food was a scarce article, and after the child was buried in the yard the company ground wheat in the coffee- mill and made bread. That was one of the earliest burials in the history of the coun-
t.y. The grave, still intact, is located on the farm now owned by Peter Johannsen.
In June, 1894, Mr. Klinsing fell victim to the fury of a disastrous cyclone. The roof of the farm residence was blown away level with the top of the stairs, the granary was blown down, the barn totally destroy- ed, and other buildings damaged to a greater or less extent. One steer was kill- ed and a horse, which was carried forty rods by the force of the wind, was badly crippled. The only one of the family to suffer injury was Mr. Klinsing, who was struck by a wagon seat which inflicted a slight wound on his head. This misfor- tune was made all the harder to bear be-
cause of the poor crops, due to a dry year.
Our subject was married in Pipestone on March 25, 1880, to Mary Niermeier, a na- tive of Dane county, Wisconsin. Seven children have been born to these parents, of whom five survive. A daughter, Ida, died April 17, 1908, and a son, Richard, died in infancy. The names of the other children are Rose (Mrs. L. L. Pritchett), of Herrick, South Dakota; Charles Henry and William Frank, of Sweet township; and Bessie and Clarence Paul, who reside at home.
Mr. Klinsing is an ex-member of both the township and school boards and is overseer of his road district. He is a stockholder in the farmers' elevators at Pipestone and Ihlen and holds member- ship in the A. O. U. W. lodge at Jasper.
ALVA C. SMITH (1878), a progressive and long established farmer of Fountain Prairie township, dates his residence in the county from the year of its first settle- ment. His parents, Clark W. and Phoebe (Carpenter) Smith, natives of Pennsyl- vania and New York, respectively, settled in an early day in Vernon county, Wis- consin, where occurred the birth of our subject on February 6, 1872.
Alva was in his sixth year when the Smith family established a home in the new Pipestone county. The father home- steaded the southeast quarter of section 12, Fountain Prairie, which since then bas been the home of our subject. He was educated in the district schools and for a year was a student at Avon, New York. Mr. Smith works the home farm. He owns the northeast quarter of the same section, which he secured in 1894 as a tree claim. All the land is thoroughly improved. Mr. Smith is a large stock raiser and makes a specialty of Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs.
Alva C. Smith has contributed much time and energy to the promotion of the com- munity's welfare. For two terms he served on the board of county commissioners. He was an organizer of the farmers' elevators at both Holland and Ruthton. He was the first president of the Holland company and has been the only vice president of
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PIPESTONE COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
the organization in Ruthton. Fraternally he is a Mason and Modern Woodman.
Mr. Smith was married on Chirstmas day, 1904, to Jessie Warner, who was born in Iowa, the daughter of N. S. and Emily Warner, natives, respectively, of Ohio and Michigan. There are two children from this union: Raymond, born July 17, 1906; and Clark, born December 4, 1908.
LORENZO W. KINGSBURY (1882), sec- retary and treasurer of the Edgerton Flouring Mill company, a leading enter- prise of that flourishing Pipestone county village, has been identified with the coun- ty's interests since the very earliest period of its settlement. It was on the home- stead of his brother, Alonzo D. Kingsbury, the northeast quarter of section 28, Os- borne, that the town of Edgerton was platted. Charles H. Kingsbury was another brother who is counted among the worthy pioneers of Edgerton.
The parents of our subject, Charles W. and Louisa (Stocker) Kingsbury, natives respectively of Massachusetts and New York, were early settlers of Independence, Iowa, and died at Littleton, Iowa, where they are buried. At Independence, on Sep- tember 14, 1862, Lorenzo W. Kingsbury was born. Six other children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Kingsbury, one of whom, Chester B., is deceased, having died in 1909. The remaining members of the fam- ily are Alonzo D., of Quartermaster Har- bor, Washington; Carrie M., of Gig Har- bor, Washington; Charles H., of Edgerton; Edwin J., of Independence, Iowa; and Al- vin C., of Gig Harbor, Washington.
For the first several years after casting his lot in Pipestone county Mr. Kingsbury engaged in agricultural pursuits; then in company with his brother Alonzo he built and for three years operated Edgerton's first creamery. He retired from that busi- ness to hecome a blacksmith, an occupa- tion he followed in Edgerton seven years. Mr. Kingsbury was later a general mer- chant, so engaged for a period of four years. In February, 1909, he became a member of the firm controlling the Edger- ton flour mill and has since served as sec- retary and treasurer of the company. Un- der the new management the mill has
been thoroughly remodeled, and for its manufactured products there is a wide and increasing demand.
The Edgerton flour mill was built in 1895 by D. J. Forbes, who conducted the enterprise for a number of years. Several changes in ownership followed before the business was finally taken over by the present proprietors in 1909. The officers of the company are: President, Oscar J. Lar- son; vice president, F. M. Schultz; secre- tary and treasurer, L. W. Kingsbury. New appliances for high grade flour making have recently been installed. and now sixty harrels per day is the capacity of the plant. The leading brands of flour manu- factured by the Edgerton mill are the "Golden Crust" and "Our Friend."
From 1898 to 1904 L. W. Kingsbury served efficiently as Edgerton's assessor. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Ma- sonic and Modern Brotherhood of America lodges. At Edgerton, on September 5, 1898, our subject was married to Emma L. Mc- Venes, a native of Independence, Iowa. She is the daughter of Thomas McVenes, who resides in that lowa town and is now in his eighty-ninth year.
JAMES ARROWSMITH (1881), of Aetna township, came to Pipestone county as a boy in the early years of the county's his- tory. His parents, Aaron and Elizabeth ( Wittel) Arrowsmith, are both buried in the county. The family started life in the new county under most adverse financial conditions, but hard times eventually van- ished and there came the dawn of more prosperous days.
Across the sea, in Lancashire, England. on March 28, 1865, was born the subject of this biography. James was reared and educated in the city of Wigan, which was his home until he was seventeen years of age. Then, in 1881, the Arrowsmith family immigrated to America and journeyed di- rect to Pipestone county, the father home- steading land in section 12, Grange town- ship.
On attaining his majority our subject filed a tree claim to the northeast quarter of section 30, Aetna, and after holding it six years changed the filing to a home- stead and proved up on the land. During
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PIPESTONE COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
that time he lived at home with his par- ents, working out at intervals. He farmed in Grange township seven years; then in 1897 moved on and commenced the im- provement of his homestead. He has a nice home and a well improved farm. He raises considerable stock. Mr. Arrowsmith belongs to the Catholic church of Pipe- stone and is affiliated with the Odd Fel- lows, Modern Woodmen and Royal Neigh- bors lodges of Holland. He has served the past seven years as treasurer of school district No. 30.
At Pipestone, on April 4, 1893, Mr. Ar- rowsmith was married to Julia Dixon who was born in St. Croix county, Wisconsin, August 8, 1872. Her parents, Thomas and Catherine (Conway) Dixon, were Pipestone county pioneers of 1879 and among the earliest homesteaders of Eden township. Mrs. Dixon still lives in that precinct. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Arrowsmith, as follows: Flora, born January 14, 1894: Frank, born November 4, 1895; Catherine, born February 18, 1899: Lloyd, born December 16, 1902: and Myr- tle, born February 9, 1905.
C. W. GILMORE (1882), municipal judge of Pipestone, is a prominent member of the Minnesota bar, and in point of resi- dence and continuous practice is the pio- neer attorney of Pipestone county. He has lived in the county seat since 1882. Judge Gilmore has presided over the municipal court for five years past. He is an ex- county attorney, an office he held for three terms. He is one of the progressive citi- zens of the city and county and has been actively identified during his long resi- dence within its horders with many of the movements that have brought Pipestone county to the forefront, industrially, polit- ically and otherwise. Mr. Gilmore was the supervisor for the second Minnesota dis- trict of the 1910 federal census.
A native of Potsdam, New York, the subject of this review was born July S, 1852. In that city he acquired a thorough academic training, and then tanght school for several years in the county. In 1874, in the first year of his manhood, lie joined the western procession and selected Min- nesota as the field for future achievement.
He located at Rochester, where he studied law and where by examination he was ad- mitted to the bar. In 1877 he moved to Mankato and entered upon the practice of his profession. Five years later he made settlement in Pipestone, which has ever since been his home. A public-spirited citizen, he has given of his time and tal- ent to the promotion of the city's every helpful influence. Mr. Gilmore has served as a member of the board of education and for the past six years has been a member of the library board.
Our subject is best known throughout this section of the state as Captain Gil- more, a title he earned for distinginshed service in the conflict with Spain. It was largely through his individual efforts that company M, Fifteenth Minnesota regiment, was recruited, and of that company he was elected leader. The company under Cap- tain Gilmore was encamped successively at Camps Ramsey and Snelling, Minne- sota: Camp Meade, Pennsylvania; and Camp Mckenzie, near Augusta, Georgia. The war ended before there was need of its services at the front.
Mr. Gilmore was married at Rochester in 1878 to Carrie A. Mount, a native Min- nesotan. She died May 26, 1894. Two sons, Fred C. and Charles R., of Seattle, Washington, and one daughter, Florence M., were born to this union. Fraternally our subject is a member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery branches of the Maronic order; the Elks, and the Modern Woodmen of America.
GEORGE F. LANGE (1879), a pioneer of Eden township, having resided there since he was ten years of age, is one of the most prominent and influential men of af- fairs in that precinct. A native of Dane county, Wisconsin, he was born January 18, 1869. Both his parents were native Germans. His father, William F. Lange, was born near Berlin on February 8, 1828, came to this country at the age of twenty- seven years, and died December 29, 1894. His mother, Mary (Hoisinger) Lange, who was born May 17, 1830, died February 24, 1909.
The Lange family lived in Dane county until 1879. In June of that year they trav-
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PIPESTONE COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
eled overland to Pipestone county, and the father at once homesteaded the northeast quarter of section 6, Eden. A small frame house was erected on the claim, and for a number of years they experienced hard times, but prosperity came in due season. Our subject resided on the home farm for fifteen years. In 1893 he married and commenced farming on his own account. For five years he rented the southwest quarter of section 5, Eden, then bought the place and has since lived there. He also owns the northwest quarter of section 8, land he purchased in the fall of 1909, and farms the entire half section. Mr. Lange is a successful stock raiser and makes a specialty of the Chester White hogs.
In the promotion of every worthy enter- prise and in matters of local government Mr. Lange has always taken an active in- terest. For three years he was chairman of the Eden township board and bas for four years past been one of the supervis- ors. He is clerk of school district No. 22, an office to which he was elected six years ago, after having served the district for three years as treasurer. Mr. Lange has been township assessor two years and he was census enumerator for Eden township and Jasper village in 1905. In 1907 he was made a director of the Sweet Town- ship Fire Insurance company, and since 1909 has been the vice president of that strong concern. Onr subject owns stock in the farmers' elevators at Ihlen and Jas- per and also in the Ihlen State Bank. Fra- ternally he is a Mason and a Workman, be- longing to the lodges of those orders at Jasper. Of the latter lodge he is the mas. ter workman. He and his wife are mem- bers of the Eastern Star lodge of Jasper. With his family he belongs to the Evan- gelical church of Sweet township.
The subject of this biography was mar- ried October 25, 1893, near Luverne, to Ida Engel, who was horn in Rice county, Min- nesota, May 22, 1874. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lange, of whom one, Clifton, is deceased. He was born July 5, 1899, and died January 25, 1907. The names of the three surviving are: Nita, born August 7, 1894; Etta, born Jan- uary 6, 1897; and Walter, born September 13, 1903.
IVER I. PETERSON (1878) has for thirty-one years been a well known and prominent citizen of Edgerton. The son of [ver and Ingebor (Anderson) Peterson, his nativity occurred in the land of the Norse April 7, 1851. The United States has been his adopted country since he was ten years of age. He made the journey across the broad Atlantic in a sailing ves- sel which consumed eleven weeks and two days on the trip. His parents had preced- ed him to this country five years and had taken a homestead in Winneshiek county, lowa, whither the youthful traveler made his destination.
At the age of eighteen years Iver left home to become a molder of his own for- tune. He first went to Lansing, Iowa, where he remained eight years, working in stores and in a lumber yard. Then he married and moved to LaCrosse, Wiscon- sin. In 1878 he located in Luverne and for awhile conducted a boarding house and worked for the firm of Landin & Nelson. The following year he bought a homestead right in Vienna township, which he re- tained but a short time, establishing, In 1880, his present residence in the village of Edgerton. He clerked in three different stores before he entered the employ of C. S. Howard, with whom he remained twenty- two years. Since resigning his position with that firm in the spring of 1910, be has devoted his time to the conduct of the va- riety and grocery store established by his son Clifford H. Peterson two years previ- OuS.
In the "snow winter" of 1881, when every road was blocked, Mr. Peterson hav- ing been dispatched to Luverne for a sup- ply of tobacco, made the journey of twen- ty-one miles each way on a pair of Nor- wegian snowshoes. In those days land could be had for nearly a song. Our sub- ject traded a yoke of two-year-old steers for a quarter section in Battle Plain town- ship, now owned by K. G. Oldre, of Lu- verne.
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