USA > Minnesota > Rock County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 65
USA > Minnesota > Pipestone County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 65
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Now to mention these other interests. In 1900 Mr. Finke began dealing in real estate in connection with his newspaper work and in the following year entered into a partnership with O. B. Severson, under the firm name of Finke & Severson, the firm making real estate and insurance the base of their operations. In 1906 our sub- ject became assistant cashier of the State Bank of Hills and later was promoted to the cashiership. On the merger of the State Bank with the First National Bank of Hills, Mr. Finke remained with the new institution as cashier for a period of a year and a half. In August, 1909, he was instru- mental in organizing the new Farmers State Bank of Hills and since that date has been the active manager of the institution, hold- ing the office of assistant cashier. He has
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full charge over the real estate and loan department of the bank.
In local and county politics Mr. Finke has always been a prominent figure and has been of material aid to his party on more than one occasion. For four years, from 1904 to 1908, he represented the third dis- triet on the board of county commissioners. In the executive branch of local govern- ment he has had several opportunities to distinguish himself, having served for a year as deputy sheriff and as constable and justice of peace. In 1908 he was a candi- date for the nomination as representative to the state legislature from the sixteenth dis- trict, but was defeated at the primaries. He has served on the school board of his home town for nine years.
In Luverne township, on June 14, 1899, August C. Finke was joined in marriage to Ella A. Dunn, who was principal of the Hills schools for a number of years. Mrs. Finke was born in Columbia county, Wis- consin, in 1871. She is the daughter of James B. and Laura (Snow) Dunn, natives of New York and Vermont, respectively. One child, Geraldine Ruth, was born to these parents, on November 15, 1903. Mr. Finke holds membership in the A. O. U. W. and M. W. A. lodges.
P. E. BROWN (1882), of Luverne, is as- sociate justice-elect of the supreme court of Minnesota and for the period of twenty years was judge of the thirteenth judicial district of Minnesota. He is a native of Shullsburg, Wisconsin, and was born June 19, 1856, the son of George O. and Sarah R. (Robson) Brown. Both parents were born in England, his father of Scotch and his mother of English stock. They came to the United States and settled in Wiscon- sin in 1849, where they resided until 1884. That year they moved to Luverne, where they resided until their death.
The subject of this biography attended the common and high schools of Shulls- burg and was graduated from the latter institution. Thereafter he taught school for a few years and then entered the uni- versity of Wisconsin, where he was a stu- dent during the years 1875 and 1876. He read law at Platteville, Wisconsin, in the office of W. E. Carter, and in 1880 and
1881 he attended the Albany (New York) law school, from which he was graduated. From the date of his graduation until Au- gust, 1882, Judge Brown practiced law at Darlington, Wisconsin; then he moved to Luverne and engaged in the practice of his profession until 1891. That year he was appointed judge of the thirteenth ju- dicial district, an office he held until 1911.
Judge Brown was married at Blanchard, lowa, October 22, 1882, to Ellen Ford. She was born at Boscobel, Wisconsin, Septem- ber 15, 1856, and is the daughter of Thomas T, and Nancy Ford. One child has been born to this union, Hazel F., now a student at Vassar college, of Pough- keepsie, New York.
CHARLES E. STEARNS (1873), who is a substantial agriculturist of Denver town- ship, in which precinct he owns the south- west quarter of section 24, can lay claim to a continuous residence in Rock county of thirty-eight years. He is the son of one of the vanguard of Beaver Creek town- ship's pioneers and one who still resides there, J. H. Stearns, a native of Vermont, and formerly a carpenter by occupation. His mother, Amanda (Smith) Stearns, who is also living, was horn in New York state. The Stearns family is of English descent and the Smiths are of Scotch ori- gin.
Charles E. Stearns of this review was born in Addison county, Vermont, ou the fourth day of December, 1857. He was reared on a farm and educated in the dis- triet schools of his native state and later in the public schools of Valley Springs, South Dakota. J. H. Stearns, the head of the family, first came to Rock county in the fall of 1872, driving through by ox team from Fort Dodge, Iowa. He filed a homestead claim to the southwest quarter of section 25, range 47, Beaver Creek town- -hip. He staid by the claim the first win- ter and in the spring following hauled lum- ber from Sheldon and erected a 16x24 feet frame shanty and made other preparations for the removal of his family from Ver- mont.
Charles with the rest of the family jour- neyed from the east and from Sheldon drove through to their new home, arriving
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in Rock county on May 15, 1873. Prior to 1876 all the grain raised on the farm was hauled to market at Worthington. The Stearns family eame in for their share of bitter and hazardous experiences incident to pioneer life, but they were fortunate in passing through the dark days of the grasshopper scourge with a minimum of suffering.
Our subject made his home on the old homestead until 1890, and from the time of attaining manhood undertook the active management of the farm. In the year mentioned Mr. Stearns rented a farm near by, which he conducted for five years: then in 1896 he bought and settled upon his present Denver township farm. Many substantial improvements have been added to the place, all through Mr. Stearns' own efforts, and he now possesses one of the ideal farms of the precinct. Mr. Stearns has for five years past been a member of the Denver township board of supervisors and has been the elerk of his school dis- trict since 1897. With his family he is a member of the Presbyterian church of Hardwick.
The marriage of Charles E. Stearns to May Alice Engle was solemnized at Lu- verne on December 7, 1887. Mrs. Stearns was born in Crawford county, Wisconsin, February 24, 1867. They are the parents of the following five children: Harold, born September 10, 1888; Harriett, born December 4, 1891; Arthur, born December 31, 1895; Robert, born May 14, 1898; and Gilbert, born July 19, 1902.
ERIC ENGEBRETSON (1874) is a pio- neer settler of Vienna township, which has been his home sinee he was a boy thirteen years of age. He is one of the well-known. progressive farmers and big stock raisers of the county. His finely improved farm, the northeast quarter of section 2, adjoins the town of Kenneth on the north and west.
A native son of Norway, Eric was born in Hollingdahl July 8, 1861, the son of Rasmus and Bergill ( Erickson) Engebret- son, both deceased. The former parent was born in 1815, arrived in the United States May 15, 1869, and resided for a few years in Allamakee county, lowa, where he en-
gaged in farming which was also his occu- pation in the old country. He came as a pioneer to Roek county in 1873 and died in 1896 at the age of eighty-one years. His wife, the mother of our subject, passed away in the early nineties and was in her fifty-seventh year at the time of her death. Eris was a lad in his eighth year when with his parents he crossed the broad Atlantic and located in Allamakee county, lowa. Thence, in 1874, he came with them to Rock county. The father proceeded to the new country the year previous to make all in readiness for his little family cn the homestead he had taken, the north- east quarter of section 22, Vienna town- ship. A home was established in a diminu- tive, sod-covered frame shack, 12x14 feet in dimension. During those first long, trou- blerome years, attended by the dread grasshopper plague, fearful blizzards and dangerous prairie fires, times which tried men's souls, it was a continual struggle for the heroie parents to keep the wolf from the door. During the winter of 1880-81, memorable for its severity, it was irpossible to secure many necessary pro- visions, and the family were forced to sub- sist for the most part on ground corn, ground in a coffee mill. But deserved pros- perity eventually fell to the lot of the sacrificing father.
Eric Engebretson of this review was educated in the district schools of Alla- makee county and Vienna township and in the public schools of Luverne. He assisted with the management of the home farm until 1892, when he commenced farming in his own right. He bought land in Mcund township, which he operated seven years, or until 1899, when he came into possession of his present farm, just at the time the Rock Island railway was building through the village of Kenneth. Mr. Enge- bretson served for six years as treasurer of school district No. 72. He is a member of the Blue Mound United Lutheran church.
In Winneshiek county, lowa, on May 16, 1894, our subject was married to Sarah Boe, a native of that county. She was born July 3, 1871. To Mr. and Mrs. Enge- bretson have been born seven children, as follows: Bertha, born September 3, 1895; Anna, born February 21, 1897; Rika, born
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February 11, 1899; Ella, born January 27, 1902; Mabel, born September 21, 1903; Robert, born June 10, 1906; and Emma, born March 21, 1909.
NELS BENSON (1876) is one of the homesteaders of Springwater township. He filed a claim to the southwest quarter of section 30 in the pioneer days of 1876, and has for thirty-five years maintained his residence on that location.
A native of Norway, Nels Benson was born on the farm of his father in Tell- marken on the first day of October, 1846. His parents were Ben and Annie (Aas) Romberg, and with them he came to Amer- ica in 1873, at the age of twenty-seven years. For the first three years thereafter the family lived in Fillmore county, Minne- sota. In the spring of 1876 our subject journeyed to Rock county and filed a claim to the land described above. He re- turned to Fillmore county for the winter, and the following spring came back and commenced the process of improvement, which, slow but certain, has transformed a barren, trackless prairie into a land of fruitful acreage. Mr. Benson was a direc- tor of his school district for many years. He owns stock in two prosperous enter- prises, the Farmers Elevator company and the Farmers Telephone company of Beaver Creek.
Nels Benson was married in Springwater township April 15, 1886, to Esthru John- son, who was born October 11, 1859. She is the daughter of John and Esthru (O)- son) Johnson, residents of South Dakota. The following named children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Benson: Johanna Amelia, Bernt J., Arthur W., Ella C., Clar- ence E., Annie L., Ethel V. and Jessie L.
E. A. BROWN (1872). The city of Lu- verne has become known far and wide for its attractiveness and the substantial char- acter and the constantly increasing expan- sion of its business enterprises. In this respect there are very few municipalities (f its size that can compare with the Rock county metropolis. The citizens of Lu- verne to a unit take a justifiable pride in the prosperity of their city, and her men
of business are men of accomplishment, every one of whom is enthusiastically con- cerned in the welfare and progress of his home town. Perhaps no citizen and busi- ness man of Luverne has achieved a greater success through individual effort or is more universally known over a wide territory tributary to that city than is the subject of this biography, E A. Brown, the controlling spirit of the large grain and commission business of E. A. Brown & Co.
Since 1872, when Mr. Brown was a youth of sixteen years, he has been a resident of Rock county and actively engaged in pursuits of achievement. He received a common school education in the town of Winneconne, Wisconsin, where he was born on October 15, 1856. Direct from the Wisconsin home, the Browns moved to Rock county, the father establishing the family home on the northeast quarter of section 14, Clinton township, land to which he filed a homestead claim. One son, Wil- liam F. Brown, the brother of our subject, had come to the new land of promise so early as 1869 and had at that time taken a homestead on the same section in Clin- ton. William F. Brown, now a resident of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, enjoys the dis- tinction of being the very first Rock county settler to secure title to his land by liv- ing the alloted five years on his original claim. Both the home farm and that for- merly owned by William Brown is now the property of our subject, who owns' a total of over 1000 acres in the vicinity.
During the first few years in Rock county E. A. Brown assisted with the cul- tivation of the old homestead; then, fired with an ambition to utilize a storehouse of energy for his own personal gain, he left the farm and turned his attention to rail- roading. Young Brown established him- self as a sub-contractor, and in such ca- pacity he contributed to the building of two railroads which were at the time seeking a foothold in the new but promis- ing country. He was employed in the con- struction of the Omaha line to Rock Rap- ids and the St. Paul & Sioux City road from Sioux Falls west to its terminus at Mitchell. After this work was accom- lished Mr. Brown successfully carried out a large contract in lowa, requiring three years in its accomplishment.
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Following this venture Mr. Brown de- cided to embark in the grain business, and, securing a position as buyer for an elevator in the little village of Ashcreek, he laid the foundation for the extensive business in this line which he eventually developed, solely through his own energy and remarkable business tact, Today E. A. Brown & Co. own and control thirty- five grain elevators in Minnesota, Iowa and South Dakota. In 1894, to obtain bet- ter railroad facilities and for the educa- tion of his children, Mr. Brown moved to Luverne, which since that date has been the headquarters of his growing business.
As one of Luverne's prominent citizens onr subject has at all times had its varied interests as a growing city at heart. It was while Mr. Brown was serving as pres- ident of the village council, and largely through his efforts, that the old village form was supplanted by the city form of government, and in the new order of things he became Luverne's first mayor, an office he creditably filled two succes- sive terms. A busier man than E. A. Brown is hard to find, a fact that is eas- ily surmised when one recounts the many responsibilities with which he is con- cerned. In addition to his vast grain busi- ness he is identified in an official capacity with a number of progressive local enter- prizes, some of which are even wider in extent. Mr. Brown is the active head of the Minneapolis commission house of E. A. Brown & Co., the president of the Ger- man State Bank, of Ellsworth, Minnesota; vice president of the First National Bank of Luverne; president of the Luverne Pressed Brick company; vice president of the Luverne Automobile company; vice president of the Luverne Realty company; aud president and leading stockholder in the Luverne Telephone company.
Mr. Brown is a man of family. On De- cember 22, 1884, he was joined in mar- riage to Jennie E. Olds, a native of Wis- consin. She died August 16, 1907. Four children were born to this union, one of whom, Florence E., is deceased. She passed away November 25, 1900, at the age of fourteen years. The names of the sur- viving children are Susan K., Marion and Edward W., who is associated with his father in business. Mr. Brown was mar-
ried a second time on November 25, 1908, at Fulton, Illinois, to Mary E. Mitchell, a native of that place. The family are iden- tified with the Presbyterian church of Lu- verne. By fraternal affiliation Mr. Brown is a Mason and Modern Woodman.
FRANK T. LOOSE (1872), one of Beaver Creek's respected citizens, is num- bered among the very earliest of Rock county's pioneers. Mr. Loose was perhaps the first man to engage in the business of threshing in Rock county, an occupation he has followed continuously for more than thirty-five years and in which he is still actively engaged.
The only surviving son of August Loose, the oldest citizen in Rock county in point of years at the time of his death in 1904, and of Johanna (Roemer) Loose, our sub- ject was born across the seas in the land of the kaiser on the thirteenth of July. 1850. He was still a youth in his teens when the family departed from Germany to make their home in America. This event occurred in the year 1867. The Looses first located in Blackhawk county, Jowa, for a few months in the town of Cedar Falls, and later in the village of Ep- lington. From that place they moved in 1872 to identify theniselves with the won- derful progress in store for Rock county.
Luverne township was the family's first place of residence, on section 30 of which father and son each laid claim to a choice quarter section of land under the homestead act. August Loose selected as his allot- ment the southeast quarter of the section, while Frank located on the northwest quarter. It was during the year following that he made permanent settlement there- on, which was continued for a period of eight years. Mr. Loose then purchased the farm homesteaded by his father, which he substantially improved, and for a quar- ter of a century gathered the bountiful harvests it. produced. In 1905 Frank Loose turned over the management of the home place to his son William, retired from farming and moved to the village of Bea- ver Creek, which continues to be his home.
Mr. Loose is known far and wide over the county by reason of his successful
1
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career as a thresherman. His first thresh- ing outfit, secured in the seventies, was a crude affair in comparison with the intri- cate arrangement and wonderful capabili- ties of the present day machine. This first machine was purchased at LeMars, Jowa, and relied solely on the faithful old horses on the farm to furnish the motive power. The territory covered by the threshermen, of which there were few, in those days was in no wise limited as it became later cñ. His field of operations covered the entire western half of the county from its northern to its southern extremeties, and even extended so far into Iowa as Rock Rapids. Mr. Loose vividly recalls a some- what singular occurrence that fell to his experience one day while moving hls threshing outfit to the locality of Ash- creek. As he was crossing the stretch of prairie he was attracted by the seemingly curious phenomenon of smoke issuing from the ground. His curiosity as to the ex- planation of the event was soon satisfied. A man in indignant rage mysteriously ap- peared and promptly ordered the intruder off from his premises. He had planted himself on the roof of a concealed dug-out, one of the relics of pioneer days.
For twenty-five years Mr. Loose served faithfully as a director of school district No. 13, and for a decade he efficiently per- formed the duties of road overseer. Fra- ternally he is identified with the M. W. A., W. O. W. and M. B. A. lodges, and holds membership in the Methodist church. The subject of this review was married on the Luverne township homestead No- vember 19, 1874, to Minnie Nurnberg, and to this union have been born the follow- ing five children: Charlie, William, Oscar, Clarence and Elvin.
Mrs. Loose is one in a family of six chil- dren who were born to William and Hen- riette (Wolgast) Nurnberg, who settled in Rock county in 1873. Mrs. Loose was born in Berlin, Germany, December 4, 1854, and was three years of age at the time of the family's removal to the United States. William Nurnberg, the father, was born in the country's capital on January 20, 1820. After arrival in this country in 1861, the Nurnbergs took up their residence in Buffalo, New York, which they left two years later to go to Shelby county, Illi-
nois. A removal was later made to Cedar Falls, lowa, whence they came to Rock county in the days of sparse settle- ment. William Nurnberg died in Luverne April 9, 1910. His wife, Henriette (Wol- gast) Nurnberg, preceded him to the grave by five years, the date of her decease be- ing April 18, 1905.
PETER KILLE (1871) is one of the very oldest settlers and a well-known resi- dent of Beaver Creek township. During the forty years of continuons residence in the county he has played an important and notable part in many of the events which have led to progress. His total worldly wealth when he permanently lo- cated in Rock county on May 29, 1872, consisted of nine dollars in cash, a team of horses, a colt, and two cows. An in- ventory today will show an entirely dif- ferent condition of affairs. In Mr. Kille's name are recorded the northeast quarter of section 4 and the northwest quarter of section 3-a half section of the most pro- ductive and finely improved land in Beaver Creek township, and every acre worth at least $100. Mr. Kille also owns a half section of land in Edmonds county, South Dakota, near Aberdeen.
A native of Wirttemberg, Germany, the subject of this biography was born on June 27, 1845, the son of Ignatius and Catherine (Mauthe) Kille, both of whom spent a useful life and died at a ripe old age. The father was an employe of the forest service of the German government and died in 1880. The mother passed away six years previous, in 1874.
Peter lived in the land of his birth un- til attaining his majority. He received a careful scholastic training in the city of Obernheim, and on completing his educa- tion he learned the trade of weaver, which he followed until his departure for Amer- ica in 1867. He landed in New York City cn the first day of April and went directly from that city to Chicago. There he se- cured employment in the breweries. Ow- ing to ill health, he was compelled to seek new scenes and other labors and in 1871 he journeyed westward in search of a location. He traveled through Iowa,
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came up into Rock county and then went on for seventy miles beyond Sioux Falls.
Mr. Kille returned to Chicago fully de- termined to establish a new home in Rock county, although it could boast but a very limited number of inhabitants. He induced Jacob Arends to become a companion on the trip and the two drove through the whole distance. That was in the year 1871. Our subject pre-empted the southeast quar- ter of section 35, Beaver Creek township, and upon his claim erected a sod shanty, which was his home for three years, or until 1875, when he sold out his rights and located on his present farm, the north- east quarter of section 4, to which he se- cured title as a homestead
The grasshopper pestilence descended unon the land with many attendant suf- ferings. and Mr. Kille, no less than others as sturdy of heart and resolute of purpose, was caught in the maelstrom. He man- aged to raise a fair crop in comparison with some of his neighbors but he was hit hard later with the blight. He recalls dis- tinctly the charitable assistance offered the poverty stricken settlers, most of them just making a start and handicapped for want of means, by the residents of Lu- verne.
The terrible blizzards and the destruc- tive prairie fires were no less antagonistic to all cherished and ambitious hopes of our valiant pioneers. The loss of stock in the severe blizzard of January, 1873, was enormous, although Mr. Kille was one of the very few who were spared from dis- aster. The year following his stable and entire crop of hay were destroyed by the ravenous flames. But hungry as it was, the "Inrid leveler" was powerless to con- sume the little sod shanty, although en- veloped in flames and its outer covering of dry grass sacrificed to the destroyer.
In 1875, on coming into possession of his home quarter, Mr. Kille erected there- on a frame shanty, 12x16 feet, the place previously being absolutely devoid of any improvement. Times have changed, the s'piles of fortune have been freely grant- ed, and now Mr. Kille's farm, which was enlarged by purchase in 1885, is a model one. He lived in Luverne for three years following 1902, but since has resided on the old place, the scene of triumphal la-
bors. Since retiring from active manage- ment, his son Albert has conducted the farm with success. Mr. Kille is the treas- urer of school district No. 73 and is a member of the Lutheran church.
In Beaver Creek township, on December 21, 1877, Peter Kille was married to Annie Johnson Janes, the daughter of John John- son Janes and Astory Johnson Janes, both deceased. Mrs. Kille was born in Norway December 5, 1856, and came to the United States in 1870 and to Rock county five years later. Five children, two of whom are deceased, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kille. They are Joseph A., born Oc- tober 29, 1878, died December 1, 1892; Ichn H., of Luverne, born February 10, 1880: Catherine S., born May 27, 1882, died December 1, 1907; Albert L., born April 22, 1887; Clarence A., born June 11, 1893.
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