USA > Minnesota > Rock County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 63
USA > Minnesota > Pipestone County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 63
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The untiring labors of Senator Herbert J. Miller have born abundant fruit and to him the state of Minnesota will ever feel indebted for much of value on the statute books. He was first elected to the state senate in 1894 from the district com- prising the counties of Rock, Pipestone, Nobles and Murray, and was re-elected in 1898 from the present sixteenth district, embracing Rock and Pipestone counties. Senator Miller was regarded as one of the ablest men who ever labored in the halls of the legislature and at all times his record proved him to be the sincere and abiding friend of the people. The legislation he introduced and to which he gave his deter- mined support was for the most part direc- ted against the free hand methods of the railroads and otber common carriers, and he was responsible in a marked degree for the powers of restraint which have been vested in the state rai road and warehouse commission. In 1904 Mr. Miller entered the congressional race in the second district
and conducted a noteworthy campaign. He was an advocate of the tariff revision plat- form, at that time an issue within the party for the first time. He waged bis fight prac- tically single handed and against great odds, and although defeated in his first at- tempt to gain a coveted seat in the national congress, he was recognized by his oppon- ents as a factor to be seriously reckoned with. In the succeeding campaign Mr. Mil- ler was unable to take advantage of the promising prospects for capturing the nomination by reason of the fatal illness which at that time befell.
At Mitchell, South Dakota, on October 28, 1880, Herbert J. Miller was joined in mar- riage to Lillian Crane, who with two daugh- ters born to this union, Edna E. and Ella- bert, survive him. Our subject was prom- inently identified with the Masonic order and other worthy organizations.
EMORY T. THORSON (1878), of Hard- wick, is one of Rock county's most substan- tial and progressive farmers, who owns a full section of productive land in Battle Plain and Denver townships. He is the able representative of the first district on the board of county commissioners.
In Fayette county, lowa, on May 27, 1856, Emory, the son of Thor and Lizzie (Inge- bretson) Thorson, was born. Both parents were natives of Norway. They married there and on coming to the United States in 1850, settled on government land in Fay- ette county, lowa, upon which they lived until called by death. The mother died in 1857. Thor Thorson was wedded a second time and died in February, 1905, at the ripe old age of four score and ten years.
Emory was educated in the schools of Clermont, Iowa. He assisted his father with the management of the home place until after his twenty-fourth birthday. He then struck out for himself and the same year found his way to Luverne, where he was employed two years. Meanwhile, he pur- chased a homestead right to the southwest quarter of section 30, Battle Plain township, which formed a nucleus for his increased real estate holdings of the later days. In the spring of 1880 Mr. Thorson moved on his claim and made that his home for fifteen years. He then moved, buildings and all,
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to land he acquired on section 25, Denver township, and that has been his home to the present date. He has experienced un- usual success in his farming operations and now owns one of the most thoroughly improved farms in the precinct and county. With his sons he farms one-half of his land, and he engages extensively in stock raising.
Mr. Thorson has from the earliest times been an active and instrumental force in the promotion of the civic and political good of his community and county at large. He was elected to the office of county commis- sioner in 1904 and was re-elected in 1908, his present term expiring January 1, 1913. Prior to the incorporation of the village of Hardwick, which includes the home farm, he was the chairman of the board of super- visors of Denver township. He was treas- urer of his school district in Battle Plain for a number of years and was a member of the school board of Hardwick at the time the contract for the erection of the present building was let. For the past four years Mr. Thorson has been the treasurer of the Rose Dell Mutual Fire Insurance company, and for six years previous he was the president of the same organiza- tion. He owns stock in the Hardwick Farmers Elevator company and in the South Dakota Telephone company.
Emory T. Thorson was married in Lin- coln county, South Dakota, on January 6, 1880, to Helen Lien, a native of Norway. She was born April 15, 1860, the daughter of Hovel and Bertha Lien, and came to this country at the age of six years. These parents have the following five children: Lulu (Mrs. John Remme), of Battle Plain township; Bertha ( Mrs. Cornelius Fodness), of Lincoln county, South Dakota; Theodore E., Harry and Henry E. One son, William A., died February 7, 1908, at the age of six years. Mr. Thorson and family are mem- bers of the United Norwegian Lutheran church.
JAY A. KENNICOTT (1885). The city of Luverne, so substantially built as it is, is unusually fortunate in the class of enter- prising citizens who, from small beginnings, have builded it and zealously directed its progress to its present favored position in
the forefront of Minnesota's smaller cities. A representative citizen and leading man of affairs is Iay A. Kennicott, city attorney, member of the board of county commission- ers and president of the Luverne board of education.
For a quarter of a century Mr. Kennicott has been identified with Luverne and Rock county interests. A native of Chicago, he is the only surviving son of Charles and Cordelia (Boyden) Kennicott, both of whom came from families of old and prominent colonial stock, their ancestors being among the passengers of the Mayflower, which brought the very earliest of the English settlers to this country. Cordelia (Boyden) Kennicott has for many years resided in Luverne at the home of her son. Mr. and Mrs. Kennicott moved from the east to the city of Chicago in 1850, where the former died twenty years later. Charles Kenni- cott was for many years connected as edi- tor with a former influential agricultural journal, "The Prairie Farmer." He and a brother, Robert Kennicott, were among the founders of the old Chicago Academy of Science.
Jay A. Kennicott of this review was a young man just out of his teens when he settled in Luverne. For the first six months of his residence in the community of his choice he was employed in the real estate office of the town's pioneer and great de- veloper, P. J. Kniss. At the end of that period our subject established himself in the real estate business, and soon became the exclusive agent in Rock and Nobles counties for the great land firm of Close Bros. & Co., to whom this section of the state owes much for its early settlement and subsequent development. This company, at an early date, bought extensive tracts of unimproved railroad land through south- western Minnesota and northwestern lowa, all of which they disposed of to actual set- tlers on easy terms. During the eight years of service with Close Bros. & Co., Mr. Kon- niectt was instrumental in the disposition of 300,000 acres of their lands. In connec- tion with his increasing real estate busi- ness, he engaged in the harness business in Luverne, finally, in 1899, selling the same to Ed Lynch.
In order to prepare himself for the legal profession, Mr. Kennicott entered the law
JAY A. KENNICOTT
Luverne Attorney and a Member of the Board of County Commissioners.
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school of the university of Minnesota, from which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1903. Immediately thereafter he opened a law office in Luverne, where he has since practiced, and with the ex- ception of one year has served as city at- torney. For one year, in 1888, he served as the president of the village council.
Our subject is actively connected with a number of Luverne's leading commercial en- terprises, being the treasurer of the Lu- verne Automobile company, a director of the First National Bank, vice president, sec- retary and treasurer of the Luverne Tele. phone company, and a stockholder in and attorney for the Luverne Pressed Brick company. He has large land interests in Vienna and Springwater townships and owns considerable valuable city property. Fraternally Mr. Kennicott is affiliated with the Blue Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of which he is past master; the Knights Templar, of which he is past commander; the Elks and the Modern Woodmen
In St. Paul, on September 6, 1887, Jay A. Kennicott was united in marriage to Maud Helm, cf Luverne, a native of Sagi- naw, Michigan. To them have been born two sons, Kenneth, a student at the uni- versity of Wisconsin, and Robert, a senior in the Luverne high school. The town of Kenneth, on the Rock Island road in the northern part of the county, was named after Kenneth Kennicott. This was by rea- son of the fact that the land upon which the town was located was bought for the rail- road company by his father, who also se- cured the right of way for the railroad.
JAMES B. DUNN (1871) has been identi- fied with the agricultural interests of Rock county since the pioneer days of 1871. Ho is a native of New York, as were his par- ents, Patrick and Elizabeth (Blunt} Dunn. His birth occurred on the last day of the year 1843. He was a lad of twelve years when he accompanied the family in their removal to Dodge county, Wisconsin. His father bought a quarter section of land near the town of Clyman, upon which our sub- ject lived until the outhreak of the war of the rebellion.
In 1863 Mr. Dunn enlisted in company A, Fifty-second Wisconsin volunteers, and
served the union cause until October 20, 1865. At the cessation of hostilities he re- turned to manage his father's Wisconsin farm. in 1871 Mr. Dunn started west and found the goal of his desire in the then raw and undeveloped Rock county, but there was abundant evidence of a future pros- perity. That year he filed a homestead claim to the northeast quarter of section 24, Beaver Creek township. He returned to Wisconsin and worked in the woods the next winter. He made permanent set- tlement on his claim the following spring. For twenty-six consecutive years Mr. Dunn resided on the old homestead, and then in 1898 he bought the southwest quarter of section 15, Luverne township, which he is still actively engaged in farming. He is a large stock raiser and makes a specialty of thoroughbred Hereford cattle. He has serv- ed his township as a member of the board of supervisors and also as assessor.
At Fall River, Wisconsin, the second of March, 1869, our subject was united in mar- riage to Laura E. Snow, the daughter of Harvey and Sarah (Webster) Snow, of Mas- sachusetts descent. Mr. and Mrs. Dunn have been blessed with the following chil- dren: Ella E. (Mrs. August Finke) ; Thom- as R., of Hinckley, Minnesota; Frank A., of Little Rock, Iowa; Ollo E., Albert J. and Harold E., who reside at home.
OLE HANSEN (1872) is one of Rock county's carly pioneers and one of the county's largest land owners. Seven hun- dred twenty acres of Kanaranzi township's soil and 520 acres in Clinton township are recorded to his credit. The son of Hans and Mary Christianson, he was born in Den- mark on December 13, 1848.
On his father's farm in the native land he grew to young manhood, receiving a common school education at the village school near by. At the age of twenty his career in America began. The first five years he lived near Cedar Falls, Iowa. In 1872 he cast his lot with others who were to pave the way for Rock county's future prosperity. He homesteaded the northwest quarter of section 8, Kanaranzi township, and in those days it was necessary to walk to and from Jackson, where the government land office was localed, to file on land
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claims. Mr. Hansen retained this original holding for only six months, when he dis- posed of his right to P. Jensen. Soon after, he bought the southwest quarter of section 30, in the same township, and made that his home until 1905, when he moved to his present location in Clinton township, the southwest quarter of section 25, where his labors continue to be blessed, as they have for nearly forty years past.
Mr. Hansen is a man of family. His mar- riage to Esther Olson, the daughter of Ole and Sennef Blinsmon, of Clinton county, lowa, who were early day settlers in Amer- ica from their native land of Norway, took place in Kanaranzi township on September 26, 1876. The following named eight chil- dren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Han- sen: Handy O., Carl G., Albert H., Mar- tin H., Viola A. and two girls and one boy who are deceased. Mr. Hansen is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church. For twenty years he served school district No. 24 as its treasurer, and at the present time he is treasurer of district No. 1. He was a mem- ber of the township board four years.
IVER D. EITREIM (1874) is one of the most prominent citizens of Beaver Creek township, where he is extensively engaged in farming and stock raising. He home- steaded his present finely improved farm, the northeast quarter of section 11, town- ship 102, range 47, in 1874. He has from time to time added to his original holding until today he is the possessor of 720 acres of as productive soil as Rock county af- fords. He is a large stock raiser and in that line makes a specialty of breeding thor- onghbred llereford cattle and Poland China hogs.
In Oddo, Hardanger, Norway, on October 26, 1850, the subject of this biography first gazed on the things of earth. He is the son of Daniel and Guro (Asbjornson) Eit- reim. Ilis father was a shoemaker in the town in which Iver was educated and grew to manhood. In 1871, during his twenty-first year, he bade farewell to native shores and alone undertook the long journey to Amer- ica. ile first located in Winneshiek county, lowa, following the trade of carpenter there for three years, until making settlement in Rock county. Mr. Eitieim has at all times
been actively interested in the promotion of every cause for his community's good, and he has had an opportunity to exhibit this spirit by a twenty years' service both as township supervisor and clerk of school district No. 22, of which he is at the pres- ent time a director. He is the vice presi- dent, and a director of the Farmers Eleva- tor companies at Beaver Creek and Booge, South Dakota.
At Luverne, on September 19, 1875, Iver D. Eitreim was joined in marriage to Sy- neva Arneson, also a native of Hardanger, Norway. She came to America in 1868 and settled with her parents, Ole and Kari (Tok- heim) Arneson, in Lee county, Illinois. Mrs. Eitreim died April 16, 1909. The following ten children were born to this union: Dan- iel, born October 15, 1876; Ole, born Au- gust 11, 1878; George, born .Inly 19, 1880; Gurina, born February 2, 1884; Andrew, born September 28, 1886; Edward, born June 12, 1889; Carl, born March 16, 1893; William, born March 4, 1896; Joseph, born November 13, 1898; and Lewis, born Janu- ary 13, 1902. The family are members of the United Lutheran church.
Mr. Eitreim has returned twice to visit his native land, once in 1901 and again in 1910. He was accompanied on the first trip by his son Ole. On the second trip he was accompanied by several neighbors: Ole P. Rollag and wife, H. C. Jordahl, son and daughter, Ole T. O. Tokheim and wife, Am- und Johnson and Torger Sandven.
AUSTIN MAXWELL (1872), who now lives in the village of Kanaranzi, is one of the earliest of Rock county's settlers. The birth of Mr. Maxwell took place on October 17, 1844, at Preble, Cortland county, New York.
When a boy of ten years our subject ac. companied his parents in their removal to the then new state of Wisconsin, which had been admitted to the union only the year previous. After a residence of five years there, the family moved to Winona county, Minnesota, where Mr. Maxwell passed his early manhood. At the call to arms in 1863, he was the youngest of five brothers to respond, all of whom served in the war at the same time. The company in which Mr. Maxwell enlisted and served was com-
.
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pany A, Second Minnesota volunteer cav- alry.
After the close of the great contlict Mr. Maxwell returned to his eastern Minnesota home and remained there until 1872, the date of his arrival in Rock county. He homesteaded on section 34, Magnolia town- ship, and lived on his land for the next seven years. Then he moved to Rock Rap- ids, lowa, where for twenty years he was one of the town's business men, taking an active part in its promotion and develop- ment. He was engaged in the real estate and insurance business while there. Since 1899 his residence has been in Kanaranzi, where, among other duties, he serves as clerk of the school board. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the G. A. R.
Two years after settling in Rock county Mr. Maxwell was united in marriage to Mary E. Loveland, the daughter of G. Q. and Rowena (Honse) Loveland, natives of Ohio. The ceremony occurred on October 4, 1874. To them the following children have been born: Rosa R., on July 12, 1875; Anstina Sioux, on October 4, 1878; Walter E., on October 6, 1876; Clyde R., on November 2, 1882; Alta B., on February 22, 1890; and Gay Q., on March 24, 1892.
PETER N. STEEN (1872) is a prominent resident of the town of Steen and a farmer of Clinton township whose entire life has been spent in and near the scene of his present active and manifold lahors. Peter N. Steen was born April 23, 1872, in Clinton township on the farm that later became and is today the townsite of Steen.
He is the son of John P. and Lena (Clem- entson) Steen, both deceased. The father of our subject, John P. Steen, was one of the very earliest settlers of Clinton township, and during his life one of the most active forces in its upbuilding. He was born in Norway and on his coming to America at an early date located on a farm in Wis- consin. During the war of the rebellion he served for two years and ten months with the Fiftieth Wisconsin volunteer in- fantry. He arrived in Rock county during the pioneer days of 1871 and homesteaded the northwest quarter of section 32, Clinten township. In partnership with a town lot
company, Mr. Steen assisted in the platting of the town of Steen, named in his honor, and gave twenty acres of the homestead for the purpose. The worthy citizen died in 1887.
Peter N. Steen of this biography grew to manhood on the old homestead. His educa- 1tion was secured at the log schoolhouse, an old landmark east of the town. At the age of twenty-four he rented the farm from the estate, to which it still belongs, and has successfuly conducted it up to the pres- ent time.
His interests outside of the farm have been many and varied. He has always tak- en a deep interest in the civic and educa- tional welfare of his community. Mr. Steen served his township for one year as asses- sor, three years as road overseer, and Is now entering upon his seventh term as con- stable. For six years he has been one of the board of directors of school district No. 14. He has been director of the com- pany that owns the town hall at Steen, erect- ed by public subscription, for the past twelve years. Mr. Steen has been the ad- ministrator of his father's estate since bis death in 1887 and is the guardian of the minor children. He is affiliated with the M. W. A. lodge of Steen.
At Rock Rapids, Iowa, on December 28, 189S, Mr. Steen was united in marriage to Josie Johnson, the daughter of John Daniel- son, deceased. Mrs. Steen is a native of Norway, coming to this country when a girl seven years of age. The following seven children, all living at home, have been born to them: Virgil, born September 19, 1899; Nina, born May 27, 1902; Alice, born Decem- ber 9, 1904; Marie, born September 16, 1905; Evelyn, born March 31, 1906; Clif- ford, born September 4, 1908; and Winston, born November 16, 1910.
CHARLES C. DREW (1876), of Luverne, has been a prominent man of affairs in Rock county for the past thirty-five years. Pipestone connty, too, has been a fruitful field of endeavor for the exercise of Mr. Drew's talents. He was a pioneer furniture merchant of both Luverne and Pipestone and in both counties is a large land owner. Of late years Mr. Drew has retired from active business pursuits but, despite his ad-
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vanced age, he continues to personally man- age his extensive farm and city property interests. His has been a career of use- fulness, well entitled to a review in a vol- ume of this character.
Charles Cheney Drew, the son of Levi and Rhoda (Ames) Drew, was born at Hold- erness, New Hampshire, October 24, 1825. The Drew family, members of which were numbered among the very first of New Eng- land's pioneers, has an illustrious history. The genealogical record shows that the first of the family to settle in America were grandsons of Sir Edward Drew, Drewscliffe, Devonshire, England, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1589. So early as 1648 the name of William Drew was recorded on the tax books of Dover, New Hampshire. He later moved to Oyster River (now Dur- ham), New Hampshire, where also resided a brother, Thomas Drew, who was born in 1632. William Drew, born in 1627, died in 1669 and left three sons, one of whom sur- vived the father only a few years. Thomas Drew was killed by the Indians while de- fending his blockhouse in 1694. He left several children. It is to these two brothers that the founding of the American branch of the Drew family is credited.
The subject of this biography is of the eighth generation removed from John Drew, the son of William Drew already mentioned. John Drew was born in 1612 and located at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1660. In direct line our subject's de- scent is traced through Nicholas Drew, son of John, born in 1670; Josbua Drew, son of Nicholas, born in 1695; Levi Drew, son of Joshua, born in 1720; Levi Drew, son of Levi, born in 1745; Joseph Drew, son of Levi, born in 1772; Levi Drew, son of Jos- eph, born in 1800; and Charles C. Drew, the subject of our consideration, who was born to Levi and Rhoda (Ames) Drew. Levi Drew was born April 20, 1800, and died July 13, 1850, while the mother's birth of- curred July 4, 1796, and her death in Sep- tember, 1852. Five chilrren besides Charles C. were born to this union, as follows: Nathan LaFayette, born July 30, 1824, and died June 4, 1898; Levi Burleigh, born May 17, 1827, and died September 18, 1872; Dan- iel Kelly, born November 20, 1828, and died July 16, 1851; Rhoda Elizabeth, born March
24, 1830, and died December 2, 1891; Amanda Melvina, born October 27, 1833.
The first eleven years of the life of Char- les C. Drew were passed on the farm of his father near Holderness, New Hampshire. In 1836, in order to more advantageously provide for the growing family, Levi Drew moved with his family to a larger farm in the town of Plymouth, also in Grafton coun- ty. Charles attended the district school during the few winter months and later was for two terms a student at the Holderness high school. After fourteen years spent on the Plymouth farm, he associated himself with his father in carpenter work in the village of Holderness until the latter was called by death in 1850. Mr. Drew contin- ued his residence in Holderness until 1854, when he set out to engage in carpenter work in several New England cities: Nash- ua, Boston and Chelsea.
In March, 1856, our subject departed from the east and with his wife began a resi- denee in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Mr. Drew became actively identified with the lumber- ing interests of that city and was part own- er of the first circular-saw mill established there. This plant was destroyed by fire in 1860, resulting in a serious financial loss to Mr. Drew. His capital was exhausted, but, possessed of an optimistic spirit and boundless energy, he at onee set to work to repair his fortunes. He moved with his family to Charles City, Iowa, in 1870 and remained there for seevral years, visiting, meanwhile, in California, Boston and other places, and also devoting some attention to the logging business on the Chippewa river, in Wisconsin.
It was in October, 1876, that the Drews commenced their long residence in Lu- verne. Charles Drew immediately home- steaded land and also took a tree claim over the line in Pipestone county. lle broke ten acres of this land in the spring of 1877 and sowed it to wheat. In the same field with the wheat he planted young trees, in rows twelve feet apart. When the grain was ready for harvest the trees were bent over and covered with sod so as to cause no interference with the reapers. The trees were not damaged a particle by the experiment and grew normally. The tree planting was only the beginning of improve- ments made by Mr. Drew on bis original
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ROCK COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
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