USA > Minnesota > Rock County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 60
USA > Minnesota > Pipestone County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 60
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*The date in parentheses following the name of each subject is the year of arrival to Rock or Pipe- stone county.
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Harbor, Jones' Bridge, Five Forks, Yellow Tavern, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek, Appo- mattox, siege of Richmond and many others of lesser importance. At the battle of Five Forks Mr. White received two shots through his clothing and one of his horses was shot three times. At other battles he had three horses shot from under him.
'The promotion of our subject was rapid, he being commissioned in turn, captain, ma- jor, brevet lieutenant colonel, lieutenant colonel, brevet colonel of the United States volunteers by the president, and brevet col- onel of New York state troops by the gov- ernor. The brevet commissions of lieu- tenant colonel and colonel were conferred by President Lincoln. The commission of lieutenant colonel was conferred for con- spicuous gallantry in action at Five Forks, and the commission of brevet colonel for meritorious services. Later a commission of brevet colonel of New York state volun- teers was conferred by Governor Fenton for meritorious services during the war.
After the surrender of the confederate forces Colonel White marched with his troops from Burksville, Virginia, to Wash- ington and participated in the grand re- view in May, 1865. After the review the Sixth and Fifteenth New York cavalry were consolidated under the name of Second pro- visional New York cavalry, and of this consolidated regiment Colonel White was in command. The regiment was sent by General Grant to Louisville, Kentucky, where the rebel forces were disbanding and marching home and where they were re- ported to be making trouble. Colonel White was mustered out with his regiment at El- mira, New York, on August 9, 1865.
After his discharge from the army Colonel White located at Shokan, Ulster county, New York, where he engaged in the lumber and mercantile business until 1876. Then he camo west and stopped at St. Paul, where for a short time he was employed as a clerk in the office of the St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad company (now the Omaha). The branch line of that road had, in 1876, been extended west from Worthington to the little hamlet of Unverne, but the survey had been extended as far west as Sionx Falls, and Colonel White decided to locate and engage in business at some point west of Luverne. It had been decided to build
the next station west of Luverne on Beaver creek, where the village of Beaver Creek is now situated, and at that point Colonel White located in the year 1877. He made a shipment of sixteen cars of lumber to the new station-the first shipment to Beaver Creek,-erected a two-story store building and residence, a flat grain house and opened a lumber yard, becoming the first business man and the founder of the village. Sub- sequently he built an elevator and engaged in the general merchandise, grain, live stock and farm implement business. He also en- larged his store building and built up an excellent general merchandise business, carrying a $12,000 stock-the largest in the county at the time.
In the social, commercial and civic af- fairs of Beaver Creek Colonel White became prominent, as he did in the county at large. When it came time to incorporate the vil- lage he was chosen the first president of the council and he always took a loyal and prominent part in public affairs. In the early eighties Colonel White headed a cam- paign for the removal of the county seat from Luverne to Beaver Creek, and the fight was so vigorously waged that the erection of Rock county's present court house was made at that time.
The building of the Great Northern rail- road between Beaver Creek and Valley Springs in 1889 reduced the trade territory of the former village and Colonel White foresaw the dimunition of his business; he disposed of his interests there and in 1896 moved to Luverne. In the county seat town Colonel White engaged in the implement business, which he conducted until 1902, when he sold to his son, W. H. White. Since selling to his son he has been en- gaged in the real estate and insurance busi- ness.
In 1906 Colonel Harrison White was elect- ed on the republican ticket to the Minnesota legislature and served one term. He was elected again in 1910 from the district composed of the counties of Rock and Pipestone. While in Beaver Creek he served as president of the village council several terms and he was president of the Luverne board of education from 1903 to 1906, resign- ing to assume his duties as a legislator. Our subject has taken an active and prom- inent part in the affairs of the Grand Army
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of the Republic. He has held the offices of junior vice commander and senior vice com- mander of the Minnesota organization and in 1904 he was chosen commander of the department of Minnesota. As the head of the Minnesota G. A. R. Colonel White took his comrades to Boston at the national en- campment in 1904 and in the grand parade he headed the Minnesota forces.
Colonel White was married at Shokan, New York, May 8, 1872, to Ella Bushnell. She was born at Bushnellville, New York. April 2, 1855, the daughter of A. B. Bush- nell, who was a prominent merchant and tanner of that place. To Colonel and Mrs. White have been born eight children, of whom the following four are living: Wil- liam H., Luverne business man; Grant A., who was graduated with the class of 1906 from the Minnesota state university, now residing at Cambridge, Massachusetts; Lucy J., who was graduated from the Minnesota university in 1910; Grace M., a student of the Luverne high school.
EUGENE N. DARLING (1868). The dis- tinction of being Rock county's pioneer and its oldest inhabitant in point of actual con- tinuous residence belongs to Eugene N. Darling, of Luverne. There were scarce a half dozen souls in the whole county when he first set foot within its borders, and of the very few who ventured to make their homes in the new southern Minnesota county before the year 1870 he is the sole survivor, excepting Mrs. Philo Hawes and Charles O. Hawes. The only settlers whose coming antedates that of Mr. Darling were the Estey family, who settled in Clinton township in 1867, and Philo Hawes, who first made the aquaintance of the region of his future home in 1867, at which time he was employed as the mail carrier between Blue Earth and Yankton. Mr. Hawes built an 8x10 claim shack during the year mentioned but it was not until the spring following that he effected a permanent settlement in Rock county. It was only a few months later, on October 27, 1868, that the subject of this review arrived in the land destined to be the scene of all his later activities.
Eugene N. Darling was born in the town of Borodino, Onondaga county, New York, to Jacob W. and Mary Hart (Buffington)
Darling, the former a native of Rhode Island, and the latter of Angusta, Maine. He was educated in Cortland academy and in the New York Central college, from which he was graduated in 1858. Our subject took up the profession of teaching, which he followed continuously for sixteen years in New York, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Minnesota.
In 1859 Mr. Darling located in Freeport, Illinois, which was his home for a num- ber of years. While there he taught school. conducted an insurance agency, and was engaged in a number of other enterprises. He accompanied a surveying party engaged in the work of laying out a new raliroad to Racine, Wisconsin, after which he moved to Elroy, Illinois, to accept a position as ticket agent of the station at that place. From Elroy he moved to Shakopee, Minnesota, in 1866, to become the local agent for the Minnesota Valley Railway company, a new road with a mileage of only twenty-eight miles at the time.
After two years' residence in Shakopee, Mr. Darling became a resident of Rock county. With two yoke of oxen and a yoke of cattle, accompanied by his family, he undertook the journey. On October 27, 1868, the Darlings reached the country which was to be their home for so many years. They halted on the ground on which a few years later was founded the village of Luverne. They made the acquaintance of Philo Hawes, who built the first hu- man habitation in the future town, a log cabin near the site of the present Rock Island depot. Mr. Hawes extended to his new friends an invitation to pass the winter as his guests in the lone cabin on the wide expanse of prairie. The logs for the dwell. ing had already been laid and there re- mained only to put on the finishing touches. To complete the home Messrs. Hawes and Darling spent considerable time cutting tim- ber in what was known as Round Grove on the Rock river a short distance to the south. The "shakes" from which the crude shingles were manufactured were cut from the soft maples that lined the river bank.
The winter of 1868-69 was an extremely severe one, and more snow fell than in any year since Rock county has been a seat of human habitation. In some places, accord- ing to Mr. Darling's recollections, the snow
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was piled to a level of thirty-five feet and in the same vicinity it is known to have ex- ceeded that depth by five and even more feet.
Our subject's family were guests at the Philo Hawes cabin until the fourth of April, 1869. Mr. Darling devoted himself as far as possible to the erection of a shanty on the land he had taken by "squatter's" right before the cold season set in. At that time the homestead act was not in operation in the new county, as the sectional survey had not been made, although the town- ships had previously been marked out. The land which he selected as his allotment consisted of a full quarter section located on either side of the line between the town- ships of Vienna and Magnolia, Eighty acres of this was located in Vienna, described as the southeast quarter of the southwest quar- ter and the southwest quarter of the sonth- east quarter of section 31. The portion of the claim in Magnolia, also eighty acres, was the northeast quarter of the northwest onarter and the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 6.
The cabin of this pioneer was built on the portion lying in Vienna, but in the suc- ceeding fall the home was established in Magnolia, and there it was that Mr. Darling and family resided continuously for nearly forty years, leaving the old farm in 1908 to commence a retired life in the city of Luverne. Six months after laying claim to his first quarter section our subject pre- empted 160 acres on the same section in Magnolia township, and both of these or- iginal claims Mr. Darling still retains title to, he being one of the very few of the original settiers of the county who can point to such a record.
Jackson, Fairmont, Sioux City and Sioux Falls were the nearest available trading points during the first few years of Mr. Darling's residence in Rock county, He came in for his share of the tribulations in- cident to the memorable grasshopper per- iod, but, possessed of a determination not to be shattered, he bore the sufferings in patience and eventually reaped the deserved reward of prosperity. During his long resi- dence in Magnolia township Mr. Darling was prominentiy identified with many move- ments of progress and took an active part in the civic and political affairs of his
community and county at large. He was honored by election to the board of county commissioners, served for a time as deputy treasurer, and for a total of twenty-two years he faithfully discharged the duties of clerk of the township board. He is a Mason by fraternal affiliation, and holds membership in the Lodge, Chapter and Commandary of the order. He was one of the charter members of the Blue Lodge of Luverne and was its first master, an of- fice he held for a number of years.
In the town of his birth, Borodino, Onon- daga county, New York, on March 10, 1863, Eugene N. Darling was joined in marriage to Jennie E. Hulce. Mrs. Darling's birth occurred on October 9, 1845. To these par- ents have been born the following named children : Guy F., born January 30, 1865, died November 18, 1894; May E. (Mrs. Charles Brockway), of Luverne, born April 19, 1866; Hattie M. (Mrs. Glen Brockway), of Royalton, Minnesota, born April 17, 1871; Ray Nelson, born September 28, 1874, died July 22, 1875; Winnefred, born July 30, 1876, died June 22, 1909; George C., who conducts the old homestead in Magnolia township, born October 6, 1878; Laura El- vira, born January 5, 1882, died December 18, 1894.
WILLIAM O. CRAWFORD (1872) is one of Rock county's citizens of sterling worth, a man who during his long residence, dating from the pioneer days of 1872, has given much of his time and energy in the furth- erance of every project that has meant for a greater and better Rock county,
At Freedom, New York, on January 28, 1845, occurred the nativity of William O. Crawford. His parents were Isaac and Iane (Selfridge) Crawford, also natives of the Empire state. William was left father- less at the age of seven years, After finish- ing the curriculum of the district school he was a student for five years at Rushford academy. The great sectional struggle was being waged while Mr. Crawford was yet in his teens. in January, 1864, he laid down his books and shouldered a musket as a volunteer in company D, One Hundred Ser- enty-Ninth New York infantry, He was taken prisoner at the disastrous battle of Petersburg, At the time of the mine explo-
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sion, and the following year, he was wound- ed in the battle that resulted in the cap- ture of Petersburg. He was discharged from the army on June 17, 1865, at the time being a patient in the Chestnut Hill hospital, at Philadelphia.
Upon the return of peace Mr. Crawford continued his educational career. He en- tered the university of Michigan and was gradnated from the law department of that institution in 1869. Two years later, in search of a desirable location, he chanced to go to Luverne, and cared to proceed no further. The following spring he took as a homestead the southwest quarter of section 4, Martin township, and at the same time hung out his shingle in Luverne. He prac- ticed his profession until 1876, when he was elected to the office of county auditor, which he ably filled for three terms. in 1882 he was chosen to represent his dis- trict in the state legislature and served in such capacity one term.
In the spring of 1883 Mr. Crawford de- parted on an extended trip to the Pacific coast, returning to Rock county in the fall. He took as a pre-emption the southeast quarter of section 20, Beaver Creek town- ship, and resided on the place for nine years. His health having failed, in 1892 Mr. Crawford disposed of his farm and for six years thereafter he traveled widely over the states of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan, enjoying the novel experience of living two summers of that time in a covered wagon.
On returning to Beaver Creek in 1898, our subject bought back his place on sec- tion 20, and that has continued to be his home up to date, with the exception of the year 1903, which he spent at Caldwell, Idaho. He is now the owner of 200 acres of as finely improved land as can be found in the precinct. Mr. Crawford is an enthus- isatic church worker and is a member of the Baptist denomination. Some twenty years ago he pursued a short course at the Baptist Theological seminary at Morgan Park, Illinois, and for a time filled the pul- pit of the church at Beaver Creek. He was obliged to give up preaching because of the poor condition of his health.
On July 21, 1879, at Luverne, Mr. Craw- ford was joined in marriage to Martha E. Donaldson, the daughter of John R. and
Margaret A. (Waddell) Donaldson, natives of Virginia and Indiana, respectively. Mrs. Crawford was born in Baraboo, Wisconsin, November 16, 1852. She came to Rock county in 1873 and was engaged in teaching school until the year of her marriage, To this union have been horn the following children: Calla, born February 5, 1881, died March 18, 1885: Margaret E., born Novem- ber 23, 1882, died February 29, 1884; Paul, born March 19, 1885; Alice M., born Oc- tober 4, 1888.
NIELS JACOBSON (1874) is an ex-mem- ber of the Minnesota house of representa- tives and a pioneer settler of Rock county. For many years he engaged in farming in Martin township and in recent years has lived a retired life in Hills. He is a native of Tellemarken, Norway, and was born March 3, 1844. His father, Jacob Abraham- son, died in Winneshiek county, Iowa, in 1879; his mother, Groe (Gjermunds) Abra- hamson, died in the same Jowa county in 1882.
At the age of four years, in 1848, Niels Jacobson accompanied his parents to Amer- ica and settled in Racine county, Wiscon- sin. Two years later the family moved to Winneshiek connty, lowa, which was then on the outskirts of civilization. Only a few families had preceded the Abrahamsons to Winneshiek county, and Decorah, now a thriving little city, had a population of only three families. In that frontier region young Jacobson grew to manhood, attending the district schools and working on the farm. He completed his education with a short term in Augustana college, Chicago.
On October 11. 1862, Mr. Jacobson enlisted in company D, of the Sixth Jowa volunteer cavalry, and served an enlistment of three years, having been mustered out at Sioux City, Iowa, October 17, 1865. His entire service was in the Indian campaigns in the Dakotas. He participated in the battle of White Stone Hill on September 3, 1863, in the battle known to history as Talı-kak-o. kuty on July 28. 1864, and in the battle of the Bad Lands on August 8 and 9, 1864.
After the war Mr. Jacobson bought land in Winneshiek county and engaged in farm- ing there until 1874. In May, 1873, he filed a homestead claim to the northwest quarter
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of section 20, Martin township, and on the sixteenth day of February, 1874, he set out for his new home. lle traveled over- land and brought a load of machinery and other goods for his new home. He en- countered severe weather, for three days was obliged to lay up at Blue Earth City on account of a snow storm, and at times suffered severely from snow blindness. Aft- er a journey of 250 miles, he arrived at Lu- verne March 30, 1874. He erected a sod claim shanty on his homestead, and a lit- tle later put up a 12x18 feet board shanty, in which he lived two years. That gave way to a more pretentious house. Mr. Jacobson encountered the usual hardships of pioneer days and had many of the experiences that tried men's souls. From his old home he brought a small sblacksmith's outfit, and in the early days he worked some at the trade for the benefit of his neighbors. In 1879 he invented a feed mill, constructed of native stone, and thereafter he manufac- tured and sold quite a number. Although the mill was built on a principle never he- fore used and proved a success, the idea was not patented by the inventor, Mr. Ja- cobson lived on his homestead and engaged in farming until 1908, when he retired from active pursuits and located in Hills. He still owns the farm upon which he lived for so many years.
On several occasions Mr. Jacobson has been called upon to serve in an official ca- pacity. He was a member of the board of county commissioners in 1876, having been elected to fill a vacancy. For several years he was a member of the Martin township board of supervisors and for one year was the precinct assessor. In 1902 he was elect- ed a member of the lower house of the Minnesota legislature on the republican tick- et and was re-elected in 1904, serving four years as one of Minnesota's law makers.
The subject of this review was married in Winneshiek county, lowa, May 14, 1866, to Sarah Sexe, who was born in Norway August 5, 1845, and who came to the United States in 1857. To these parents have been born the following named five children: J. N., of Hills, born August 6, 1867; Julia G. (Mrs. O. R. Sletten), of Des Moines, lowa, born March 3, 1870; Margaret L. (Mrs. Otto Sather), of Martin township, born Septem- ber 13, 1873; Theodore, of Martin township,
born June 6, 1875; Helga C. (Mrs. Hans Nordby ), of Hills, born October 13, 1879.
RASMUS HALVORSON (1873) is one of Rock county's most prosperous and success- ful agriculturists and one of its early day settlers. He lives on the northeast quarter of section 12, Mound township, land he homesteaded 1873. His well-improved farm and elegant residence are unequalled in the precinct. Mr. Halvorson farms two of the seven quarter sections he owns and is an extensive breeder of high grade stock. Besides his present land holdings he has re- linquished claim to three other quarter sec- tions to his children. And this man came to Rock county penniless thirty-eight years ago.
Hollingdahl, Norway, is the birthplace of Rasmus Halvorson, the event of his na- tivity having occurred on the nineteenth of May, 1850. Both his father and mother, Halvor and Haldes (Olson) Rasmussen, pas- sed away in Rock county, the former in 1906 and the latter just fifteen years pre- vions. Our subject was brought up and received a meager education in the village of his hirth. The family were poor and at the early age of eight he was forced contribute towards his own support. The first occupation the boy obtained was that of herding stock.
Rasmus was a youth of nineteen when in 1869 he left the Norwegian vales and be- came an adopted son of Uncle Sam. He re- sided for a short period in Allamakee coun- ty, Jowa, and went from there to Fayette county, of. the same state, where he was employed four years as a farm hand. While there he was joined hy his parents, who journeyed from Norway to the United States in the spring of 1870. A determination to settle in the new Rock county, Minnesota, was carried into effect. The family made the trip from lowa to the land of promise via the ox team route, and arrived at their destination on June 18, 1873. Claim was at once laid to the homestead on section 12.
Those early days brought hardships and calamities to the Halvorson family, as well as to many others of the heroic pioneers. The home the first summer was merely a covered wagon out on the dreary prairie. When fall came a little 12x14 feet board
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shanty covered with sod was erected, and for nearly two years that answered the pur- pose of a dwelling. The timber for the structure was obtained from Lost Timber, in Murray county, supplemented by a few board secured at Worthington. Settlers in the vicinity were few and scattered, and none at all were to be found to the north of this pioneer family.
The old sod house gave way to a log cabin, which was purchased near Luverne and moved to the homestead in Mound, and greatly did it add to the conveniences of the homesteader's family. The grass- hopper scourge with its attendant anxieties came and occasioned untold suffering in the land-then in its formative stage. None was spared, all the brave hearts were made to experience the bitter sting. Crops were repeated failures, and to obtain the bare necessities of life, Mr. Halvorson was forced to other expedients than grain cul- tivation, He managed by sacrifive to come . into possession of an extra yoke of oxen, and assisted by the faithful beasts he was able to earn a pittance by breaking the prairie land for the later arrivals. There were three months during those troublesome times that Mr. Halvorson never possessed a cent. not even enough to mail a letter if he had so desired.
Experiences with the dread prairie fires and fearful blizzard were not few. On one occasion, in the winter of 1876, only for the sagacity of his ox team, Mr. Hal- vorson would never have lived to enjoy the brighter days of sunshine which were to come as the just reward of perseverance and industry. Mr. Halvorson was driving home from Luverne when he was suddenly overtaken by a raging blizzard. He was ren- dered powerless and it was only through the intervention of fortune that he was saved from a bitter death. Whether by chance or by judgment, the oxen finally brought up against the sod stable on the homestead.
Just a month previous to settling in Rock county, Rasmus Halvorson chose a faithful wife, one who has since shared alike his trials and triumphs. He was married in Fayette county, lowa, May 15, 1873, to Lizzie Thorson, who was born in that Jowa county on the second of April, 1854. She is the daughter of Thor and Leve ( Engebretsou)
Thorson, both deceased. Six sons and five daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Halvorson, and their names are as follows: Henry, who farms the southwest quarter of section 32, Battle Plain township, born April 24, 1874; Elizabeth, born February 5, 1876, died August 26, of the same year; Theodore, who resides at home, born Janu- ary 26, 1878; Ole, a Denver township farm- er, born September 22, 1879; Lizzie (Mrs. P. W. Gerhart), of Seattle, Washington, born February 26, 1882; Willie, born Janu- ary 23, 1884; Hattie, born March 16, 1886; Alfred, born May 20, 1888; Lillian, born May 10, 1890; Stella, born July 5, 1892; Leonard, born January 27, 1896. The last six named are all living at home.
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