USA > Minnesota > Rock County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 114
USA > Minnesota > Pipestone County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 114
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PIPESTONE COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
southwest quarter of seetion 26. He raises stock quite extensively.
On June 3, 1903, at Edgerton, Joseph G. MeGlashen was married to Sarah Jane Evans, the daughter of David Evans, of Osborne township. She was born in lowa county, Wisconsin, December 31, 1884.
Mr. McGlashen is a Mason and a Macca- hee, being a member of Edgerton Lodge No. 235, A. F. & A. M., and Pipestone Tent No. 142, K. O. T. M.
.
RALPH G. HART (1881), the present editor of the Pipestone County Star, is the youngest of three sons born to Isaac L. and Mary E. (Gardner) Hart, who set- tled in the city of Pipestone during the first year of its existence.
The subject of this review has passed his entire life in the city of Pipestone. Ralph was born February 6, 1881, and was graduated from the Pipestone high school with the class of 1899. From his earliest school days he devoted his spare time in familiarizing himself with the many phas- es of the printing business and was well prepared to assume the editorship of such a paper as the Star, which he did in 1900. In a fraternal way Mr. Hart is affiliated with the United Workmen and Sons of Veterans orders.
On August 20, 1903, Ralph G. Hart was united in marriage to Laulu Heath Reed, who was born in Brooklyn, Iowa, Septem- ber 9, 1883. Mr. and Mrs. Hart have three children: Grace L., born December 8, 1904; Reed G., born January 4, 1908; and Donovan H., born August 1, 1909.
JOHN BECK (1908), a business man of Ruthton, was born in Iroquois county, Illi- nois, on July 16, 1889. lle is the son of Christ and Julia Bock and is one in a family of nine children, the following six of whom are living: Peter, Andrew, Jul- ins, Amelia, John and Arthur. The parents emigrated from their native land of Den- mark in 1871 anl arrived in Chicago the evening before the commencement of the disastrous conflagration in which the city was nearly destroyed by fire. The family settled in Iroquois county, Illinois, where both the father and the mother died.
lohn was reared on his father's Illinois farm and was educated in the near by district schools. Ile farmed two years aft- er the death of his father and in 1908 came to Ruthton. He was employed for nearly a year with a threshing crew and then accepted a position in the Dean Han- sen harness shop. In April, 1910, our snb- ject bought out his employer and has since conducted the business. Mr. Beck con- ducts a harness and shoe repairing depart- ment in connection.
Mr. Beck is a member of the Ruthton Danish Lutheran church and of the Mod- ern Woodmen of America lodge.
AARON S. JACKSON (1897), Gray town- ship farmer, is an Iowan by birth. He was born in Floyd county February 26, 1880, the son of Aaron and Mary (Jeffer- son) Jackson, natives of New Hampshire and Missouri, respectively. Aaron was edu. cated in the distriet schools of Floyd coun- ty and assisted in the cultivation of the home farm, with the exception of three years spent in Cerro Gordo county, until he moved to Pipestone county in 1897. Since the spring of 1910 Mr. Jackson has rented and farmed the southwest quarter of section 29, Gray. He holds membership in the Modern Woodmen lodge.
At Worthington, Nobles county, on April 12, 1905, Aaron S. Jackson was united in marriage to Mary Mickelson, the daugli- ter of Iver and Ause Mickelson, now of South Dakota. Mrs. Jackson was born in Norway December 8, 1879. Three children have resulted from this union: Milton G., born October 26, 1906; Ruth S., born Janu- ary 24, 1909; and Edward C., born July 17, 1910.
GEORGE F. ARGETSINGER (1901), a Pipestone contractor and builder, is a na- tive of the Empire state. He was born in Steuben county, New York, January 24, 1860, the son of George W. and Mary J. (Mariele) Argetsinger, both of whom were also New Yorkers by birth.
Our subject was fourteen years of age when he moved west with his parents. The family located near Faribault, Rice county, Minnesota, where the father bought
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PIPESTONE COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
land and engaged in farming. After eight years Mr. Argetsinger went to Mapleton. Blue Earth county, where he was destined to reside nineteen years. He followed the building trade and also was employed in a lumber yard in that town prior to 1901, when he selected Pipestone for his future home and built a residence in which he has since lived. Our subject is a member of the Baptist church and of three frater- nal orders, the Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen and Sons of Veterans.
George F. Argetsinger was married at Mapleton. Blue Earth county, on October 14, 1884, to Ella Bowman, a native of that town. Mrs. Argetsinger is the daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Dezel]) Bowman, natives of New York, and she was born October 14, 1865. The following five chil- dren have blessed this union: Elsie E., born October 14, 1885; George Leslie, born March 7, 1887; Mary J., born .August 21, 1890: G. Winnifred, born February 20, 1893: and Francis M., born May 9, 1898.
HENRY SHAFER (1893) is numbered among the progressive farmers and large stock raisers of Burke township, in which precinct he owns the southeast quarter of section 17. A native of Livingston coun- ty, Illinois, he was born December 23. 1865, and on the farm of his father in that county he grew to manhood. His parents were John and Martha (Leister) Shafer, both of whom came from Germany.
At the age of twenty-one Henry went to Nebraska. He bought an eighty acre farm near North Platte, Lincoln eounty, but at the end of a year sold his right to the land and returned to his native state. He farmed in Illinois until 1893, the year of his advent to Pipestone county and Burke township. For twelve years our subject has been the treasurer of school district No. 32 and has served the town of Burke in a similar capacity for three years. He is a shareholder in the farmers' elevator at Woodstock.
The marriage of Mr. Shafer to Adelia Rickerman was solemnized in Grange town- ship November 21, 1894. Mrs. Shafer, the daugther of George and Jane (Roessler) Rickerman, was born in Clifton, Wiscon- sin, Angust 19, 1868. Three children have
been born to this union. They are Mabel, born .July 22, 1896; William, born Septem- ber 5, 1900; and Esther, born March 6, 1902.
HUGH CORRIGAN (1900) is numbered among the prosperous and progressive farmers of Sweet township. In that pre- cinet he owns 480 acres of choice land, lo- cated on sections 12 and 13, range 47. That land was originally the property of his father, John Corrigan, who bequeathed it all, together with a quarter section in Day county, South Dakota, to his son Hugh.
John Corrigan was born on Christmas day, 1834. in county Caven, Ireland, and in 1863 immigrated to the United States. He located near Aurora, Illinois, and from then until his death, which occurred March 31, 1905, he engaged profitably in farming and stock raising in Illinois. He amassed quite a fortune and his landed interests were large, including 900 acres in Livingston county, Illinois, and three quarter sections in Pipestone county, which he had bought as an investment. The same year that Mr. Corrigan came to Amer- ica came also Jamima Dunlap, who later became his wife. She was also a native of county Caven, Ireland, and was born April 10, 1843. She survives her husband and lives on the old farm in Illinois.
Eight children, four sons and four daughters, were born to John and Ja- mima (Dunlap) Corrigan, all but two of whom are living. The names of the chil- dren follow: Peter, a Livingston county farmer, born February 23, 1864: Engene, deceased, born March 25, 1866, died March 25, 1893; Mary (Mrs. James Wallace), of Cottonwood, Minnesota, born August 29, 1867; Hugh, of this biography, born May 24, 1869: Aliee, who died at the age of twenty-two months; James, in the automo- bile business at Pontiac, Illinois, born Oc- tober 25, 1873; Alice (Mrs. Ray Snyder), of Cornell, Illinois, born December 12, 1875; and Maggie (Mrs. James Grant), of Pontiac, Illinois, born June 12, 1878.
The birth of our subject, already noted, occurred six miles north of Chatswortb, in Charlotte township, Livingston county, Illi- nois. In that county Hugh Corrigan was reared, educated and lived until 1900. He
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PIPESTONE COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
grew up on the farm of his father, then rented land and engaged in farming on his own account. He arrived in Pipestone county March 17, 1900, in company with a brother and a sister, and at once located on the farm, then owned by his father, which has ever since been his home. Mr. Corrigan has made numerous substantial improvements on the farm and recently erected a commodious residence. He is an extensive breeder of high grade stock. lle owns shares in the Farmers Elevator com- pany of Airlie.
At Pipestone, on November 30, 1907, oc- curred the marriage of Hugh Corrigan to Cora Perdue, the daughter of Lee and Lea- lia Perdue, both of whom are living. She was born in Montgomery county, Virginia, November 12, 1881. Mr. and Mrs. Corri- gan are members of the Pipestone Catholic church.
MAX T. G. MENZEL (1891), proprietor of a leading Pipestone drug store, has been engaged in business in that city since 1899, and for eight years prior to that time was in the employ of Robert Scarf as a registered pharmacist. Ile carries a full line of drugs, sundries, paints, oils and photographie supplies, and makes a spec- ialty of his preseription department. He has prospered in his labors and owns con- siderable real estate.
A German by birth, our subject first saw the light of day in the hamlet of Giersdorf, province of Silesia, on May 18, 1870. He is the son of Ernest Menzel, a revenue officer in the employ of the Ger- man government. When Max was seven years of age the family moved to Hirsch- berg, in the same province, and there at- tended the common schools until his de- parture for America in 1884, at the age of fourteen. le first located at Odessa, Minnesota, and for a number of years was engaged in various occupations. In the fall of 1887 he went to Webster, South Dakota, where he familiarized himself with the drug business under the tutelage of G. D. Peterson. He later completed the course offered by the Minnesota Institute of Pharmacy and in 1891 settled in Pipe- stone. Mr. Menzel was elected city re- corder in 1901. lle holds membership in
the Masonic, Knights of Pythias, Odd Fel- lows and Modern Woodmen lodges.
Mr. Menzel was married in Pipestone on October 24, 1896, to Pearl Cogswell, a native of Marshalltown, lowa. She was born November 2, 1876.
MATT J. CALDERWOOD (1900) is the junior member of the firm of Wright & Calderwood, dealers in farm machinery, pumps, windmills, etc., at Pipestone. He is a native of Scott county, Iowa, and was born near the city of Davenport Sep- tember 24, 1858. His father, James Calder- wood, is still living at the ripe old age of eighty-four and but recently returned from a visit to Ireland, the land of his birth. The mother of our subject is Henrietta Calderwood, who was born in New York state, of Scotch parentage.
Mr. Calderwood was educated in the district schools and grew to manhood on the Scott county farm of his father. He was twenty-four years of age when the family moved to Poweshiek county, in the same state. After assisting with the management of the home place for three years longer, our subject
commenced farming on his own account and was so engaged until 1900, when he moved to Pipestone county. He established him- self in the implement business at Ruth- ton, and iwo years later became a banker in that town. He moved to Pipestone to Form his present partnership with Mr. Wright in 1905. Mr. Calderwood still re- tains possession of his Iowa farm. He is a member of the Blue Lodge, Comman- dery, Knights Templar and Eastern Star.
While residing in Poweshiek county, on March 2, 1886, Mr. Calderwood was join- ed in marriage to Minnie Whitcomb, a native of Brooklyn, lowa.
FRED LOMKER (1883), of Altona town- ship, was eleven years of age when he first located in Pipestone county. He was born in Marshall county, Kansas, October 6, 1872, the son of Henry and Christine (Koneke) Lomker, both natives of Germany. The former parent died April 24, 1902, while the mother died in 1891.
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PIPESTONE COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
From Kansas the Lomker family moved to Pipestone county in 1883. They locat- ed on section 13, range 47, Altona, and on the home farm our subject resided un- til 1900. That year he went to Kenabec county, Minnesota, where he was engaged in farming for nine years. Mr. Lomker returned to Pipestone county in the sum- mer of 1909, and since then has resided on the Altona farm he now conducts, which consists of 240 acres on sections 32 and 33. He owns eighty acres of land in Aitkin county, Minnesota.
During his residence in Kenabec county, at Mora, on June 15, 1903, Fred Lomker was united in marriage to Amelia Pottratz, a native of Pipestone county. She was born August 28, 1885. To this union the following three sons and one daughter have been born: Fred, born March 21, 1904; Robert, born October 6, 1905; Clara, born April 21, 1907; and Leonard, born August 28, 1909. Mr. and Mrs. Lomker are members of the German Lutheran church.
SELAH S. KING (1888), the first and present postmaster of Jasper and the edi- tor of the Jasper Journal, has in the true sense of the word grown up with the town. In the spring of 1888, from which he dates his residence in Jasper, the only visible evidences of a town were the stakes which marked the townsite. He was among the first to build and lay the foundation for Jasper's future prosperity. From the start he has been one of the instrumental agen- cies in the promotion of every public en- terprise and today is one of Jasper's most esteemed and popular citizens.
Near Whitewater, Walworth county, Wisconsin, Selah S. King was born Octo- ber 15, 1864. At the age of three he ac- companied his parents to Jackson county, Minnesota, of which his father is one of the pioneer settlers and influential men of affairs. Our subject lived on the old home- stead in Wisconsin township, Jackson county, until 1873, when the family moved to the village of Jackson, where the fa- ther, William V. King, assumed his duties as county auditor, to which office he had been elected the same year. In Jackson Selah secured his education and grew to
manhood. In the spring of 1885 he left home and went to Pipestone, where he re- ceived his first taste of printer's ink in the office of the Republican, now defunct. At the end of a year he moved to Elkton, South Dakota, and for the two succeeding years worked on the Elkton Record.
In 1888 he was on the ground at Jasper. In a little building erected in hurry-up time, the Journal was launched on its suc- cessful and useful career. The first issue was dated July 25, 1888, and from that day to this it has continued under the same management, an unusual record in country journalism. The paper is a five column quarto. Mr. King received his appointment as postmaster of Jasper dur- ing the summer of 1888. He served four years under the appointment. He was again appointed in 1897 and has held the office continuously since that date. At different times he has held offices of trust in the administration of his village and school district.
S. S. King is the son of William V. and Antonette (Porter) King, old and respect- ed residents of Jackson. William V. King was born in Oldham, England, on Septem- ber 26, 1831. He came to America with his parents four years later. For a while the family home was near Utica, New York; then a move was made to Walworth county, Wisconsin, where Mr. King was married and lived until his thirtieth year. He is a veteran of the civil war, having served as first sergeant in the Forty-third Wisconsin volunteer infantry. At the close of the war, Mr. King took up a residence in Austin, Minnesota, where he resided until the spring of the following year, 1866, when he located in Jackson county as one of its pioneers. He homesteaded a quarter section in Wisconsin township. During thirty-one years of his residence in Jackson county Mr. King has held coun- ty office-a record held by no other man in that county. He has served his county as judge of probate, superintendent of schools, county attorney and auditor, hav- ing held the last mentioned office twenty- one years.
Selah S. King of this sketch was mar- ried October 19, 1898, at Flandreau, South Dakota, to Carrie Ramsdell, the daughter of William and Mary A. Ramsdell. Mrs.
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PIPESTONE COUNTY BIOGRAPIIIES.
King was born in Osage, Jowa, November 5, 1872. They are the parents of four chil- dren: Kenneth, born August 16, 1899; Beth A., born October 29, 1902, died Oc- tober 10, 1910; Paul S., born August 14, 1908: and Eloise M., born April 21, 1910. Mr. King is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Masonic and Woodmen orders.
HENRY D. SIEBRING (1901), a represen- tative business man of Ilolland, is a native of Brown county, Illinois. He is the oldest son in the family of eight children, the others being Rena, Claude, Richard, Sev- ert, Morris and Mabel, who were born to Bartlet and Maggie (Neeland) Siebring. The latter is a resident of Brown county, Illinois.
Henry was born on the twenty-sixth day of August, 1876. He was brought up in the country and received a district school edu- cation. He was left fatherless at the age of sixteen, and for six years thereafter he assumed the management of the home farm. He left Brown county to move to George, lowa, where he was employed for three years by Will Colman. In 1901 Mr. Siebring established his residence in Hol- land. In that year, together with E. J. Feld- man, he bought the hardware and implement business of Mahoney Bros. Several years later Mr. Siebring purchased his parner's interest.
He now deals exclusively in farm imple- ments, vehicles, pumps, engines, etc., hav- ing disposed of his hardware stock to A. T. Serrurier in November, 1909.
Our subject was married at George, Iowa, on March 12, 1902, to Helen Hede- brink, who was born in Adams county, Illinois, January 17, 1879. The first child of this union, Bartlett, was born April 18, 1905, and passed away in infancy. They have two living sons, Thomas, born Oc- tober 9, 1909, and Bardlet, born October 1, 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Siebring are members of the Lutheran church.
ERICK J. ASLESEN (1900), one of the most prominent and influential citizens of the town of Jasper and a member of the firm of Aslesen Bros, & Rudd, the largest business house in the town, was born at
Brownsville, Minnesota, October 21, 1872.
At the age of five years Erick moved with his parents to the northeast corner of Minnehaha county, South Dakota, where his father homesteaded land ad- joining the Minnesota line just west of the present site of Jasper. Our subject lived on that farm four years and then removed with his parents to Sioux Falls, where they remained seven years, return- ing at the end of that period to the old homestead. Erick was educated in the Sioux Falls high school. He returned to the farm with his parents and remained for some time. He then went to Minneapolis; where he engaged in business for three years with K. Aslesen. On leaving the Minnesota city, he went to Sioux Falls and entered the employ of his cousins, pro- prietors of the Bob & Nels clothing store.
At the outbreak of the Spanish-Ameri- can war in May, 1898, Mr. Aslesen enlist- ed in the First South Dakota volunteer in- fantry, which saw service in the Philip- pines. He enlisted as a corporal but at the time of his discharge, October 15, 1899, he was first sergeant.
In March, 1900, Mr. Aslesen located in Jasper and in company with his cousins of Sioux Falls, before mentioned, he estab- lished the clothing business which was known under the firm nanie of E. J. Aslesen & Co. Two years later he bought out his partners and the business was changed to that of general merchandise and clothing. In the expansion of the business Mr. Aslesen took as partners his brother, William C. Aslesen, and John Rudd, and the firm is composed of the same partners today, doing business as Aslesen Bros. & Rudd. The firm owns two stores, one confined entirely to gen- eral merchandise and the other to the ex- clusive housing of the clothing depart- ment-the building in which Erick origin- ally began the business.
Erick Aslesen is the son of Christ As- lesen, a native of Norway who came to this country in 1844 and first settled at Spring Grove, and later removed to Lan- sing, Iowa, where he married Sigrid Ellef- son, the mother of our subject. She is also a native of Norway, but came to Amer- ica when five weeks old. The young couple made their first home at Browns-
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S. S. KING
Postmaster of Jasper and Publisher of the Jasper Journal.
E. J. ASLESEN
A Jasper Merchant, Member of the Firm of Aslesen Bros. & Rudd.
200
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H. D. SIEBRING AND FAMILY Mr. Siebring is the Proprietor of an Implement Business at Holland.
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PIPESTONE COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
ville, Minnesota, where Mr. Aslesen en- gaged in the mercantile business in com- pany with the well-known church worker, Iver Larson, of Decorah, Iowa. Imbued with all the characteristics of the hardy, courageous pioneer, in 1877 Mr. Aslesen moved with his little family to the new and unsettled Minnehaha county, South Dakota. He proved up on a homestead and then moved to Sioux Falls, where he was engaged in the mercantile business for seven years. Returning to the farm soon after disposing of his business, he became interested in the development of the new town of Jasper. That was before the railroad had been pushed through to that point. He bought land and platted the section that is now known as West Jasper. In 1899 Mr. Aslesen took up his residence in the town, which is his home at the present time. He engages in farm- ing land he owns adjourning the town.
Erick J. Aslesen was married October 9, 1907, to Selma Tower, who was born in Pipestone county July 13, 1886, and who is the daughter of W. A. Tower. One daughter, Gertrude, was born to this union, December 15, 1908. Mr. Aslesen has from the very earliest taken a deep and active interest in the civic affairs and welfare of his home town. He is a member of the village council and of the school board. He is affiliated with the K. P., A. O. U. W. and M. W. A. lodges.
ARTHUR A. BAKER (1901) has been a resident of Osborne township for the past ten years and is one of that precinct's successful farmers and stock raisers. His finely improved farm of 320 acres com- prises the southeast quarter of section 9 and the southwest quarter of section 8. He is a native of Holland, and in that country he was educated and spent the first eighteen years of his life. He is the son of a Dutch farmer and laborer, Wil- liam Baker, and of Artie (Wesshaus) Baker, and was born on December 23, 1852.
The Baker family immigrated to Ameri- ca in 1870 and the first year resided in New Jersey. Marion county, Iowa, was the next home, and there Arthur com- menced his agriculaural career. He worked out for ten years and then rented
land in Nebraska, which he farmed eleven years. Then he farmed in Ringgold and Osceola counties, Iowa, coming from the last named county in 1901 to Pipestone county. He farmed rented land in Os- borne township until 1907, when he came into possession of his present property. Mr. Baker was a director of school dis- trict No. 44 four years. He is a stock- holder in the Farmers Elevator company of Edgerton. With his family he belongs to the Christian Reformed church.
Arthur A. Baker was married in Marion county, Iowa, December 23, 1875, to Eliza- beth Beerman, also a native of Holland. She was born March 20, 1855, the dangh- ter of Hessel and Lilly Beerman. The following seven children have been born to this union: Etta, born October 30, 1877; Hessel, born April 1, 1879; Lilly, born January 15. 1881: William, born May 3, 1883; John, born August 31. 1886; Anna, born October 14, 1888; and Henry, born October 6, 1891.
ROBERT F. WRIGHT (1903), a Pipe- stone dealer in farm implements in part- nership with M. J. Calderwood, is a na- tive of Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he was born August 16, 1867. He is the son of Robert and Catherine Wright, both na- tives of Scotland. The father died in Halifax the year following the birth of our subject, and his mother passed away in Iowa in 1907. There are seven living children in the Wright family, as follows: Nicholas H., of Brooklyn, Iowa; Nelle (Mrs. A. Ricker), of Los Angeles, Cali- fornia; Maggie (Mrs. G. H. McMurray), of Grinnell, Iowa; Charles, of Brooklyn; John, Belle, of Los Angeles; and Robert of this sketch.
During the infancy of Robert, following the death of bis father, the family moved to the United States and for a year and one-half resided in New York City. They then went to Brooklyn, Poweshiek county, lowa, and there until he was of age Rob- ert made his home on the farm of an uncle, William Deacons. Arriving at man- hood, Mr. Wright commenced farming for himself and later purchased real estate in Poweshiek county, which he still owns and which he farmed until moving to
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