An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota, Part 69

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Luverne, Minn. : Northern History Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 924

USA > Minnesota > Rock County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 69
USA > Minnesota > Pipestone County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 69

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On the old homestead two miles north- west of Hills Jacob N. Jacobson passed his youth. Ilis education in the rural schools was supplemented by a three years' course in Luther college, Decorah, Iowa, and at the Dixon (Illinois) Business college. He taught school in the county for a number of years and in ISSS commenced a business career, in which he has won success and prosperity. Ile opened a small store at Bruce, the station on the illinois Central two miles west of lfills, and this he conduct-

ed for two years, at the end of which time the business was moved to Hills. In 1890 the Great Northern built through the county and made a junction with the Illinois Cen- tral at Hills, and this is what induced Mr. Jacobson to move to the more strategic point. Twenty-one years ago saw the mod- est and inauspicious beginning of the pres- ent day "Big Store" of Hills, now one of the largest mercantile concerns in this sec- tion of the state.

Mr. Jacobson was married October 17, 1894, in Winneshiek county, Iowa, to Sig- rid Stevens, a native of that county, in which she was born March 24, 1868. Mrs. Jacobson is the daughter of Staale Thosten- son, now deceased. They have no children.

Mr. Jacobson's busy life has prevented him from accepting many of the positions and offices of honor and trust which his fellow townsmen have been anxious to con- fer upon him. For a number of years he served as clerk of the township and for some time served as a member of the vil- lage council. To the presidency of that body he was elected in 1910 and re-elected in 1911. He is vice president of the First National Bank of Hills and a member of the United Norwegian Lutheran church.

P. S. HOIME (1885), a prominent and substantial farmer and large stock raiser of Battle Plain township, has been a Rock county resident since 1885, a period of twenty-six years. He is a native of Norway and was born in Westre Sledre, December 31, 1860. He is the son of Steffen and Mary (Ellestad ) Hoime, both deceased. The for- mer died in the old country about 1880, and the mother who later came to this country, died in Martin township in 1892.

The subject of this review was brought up on a farm in his native land and attended the country schools. He lived at home un- til attaining his majority, then for four years was connected with the Norske Jager corps, a government military school at Christiania. In June, 1885, Mr. Hoime immi- grated to the United States and journeyed direct to Rock county, which has ever since been his home. He lived in Martin town- ship five years, the last two of which he was engaged in farming rented land.

From Martin township Mr. Hoime moved

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to Battle Plain township, the scene of his subsequent activities, After a three years' experience as a renter, he came into pos- session of his present farm, the southwest quarter of section 11. That was raw rail- road land at the time of purchase. Condi- tions are altogether different today, for the observer discerns a thoroughly improved farm with a splendid residence and other substantial buildings of most attractive ap- pearance. In addition to the home farm, Mr. Hoime rents and farms another quarter section of land. He is chairman of the township board of supervisors, a capacity in which he has ably served for the past three years, and he has been a member of the board five years. He was a director of school district No. 58 three years.

Our subject was married in Norway in May, 1885, to Martha Olson. To Mr. and Mrs. Hoime the following five children have been born: Tillie (Mrs. Clarence Hagend- er), of Minneapolis; Ida, Olga, Olaf and Sigurd. The family are members of the Kenneth Norwegian Lutheran church.

TOSTEN T. TOKHEIM (1875), the store- keeper and deputy postmaster at Booge, South Dakota, just over the line from Beaver Creek township, is one of the very early settlers of Rock county, to which he came as a twelve year old boy. He was bern in Hardanger, Norway, on June 27, 1863. His parents were Tosten A. Tokheim, who died in 1887, and Anna (Jelle) Tok- heim, who died in 1906, venerable pioneers and homesteaders of Beaver Creek town- ship.

Tosten T. Tokheim of this review was ap- proaching his tenth birthday when, in 1872, he crossed the broad Atlantic with his par- ents to make settlement in the new world. The family resided in Winneshiek county, lcwa, until the spring of 1875, when they drove through to Rock county. The father filed a homestead claim to the northeast quarter of section 14, range 47, Beaver Creek township, and on that land our sub- ject was destined to reside thirty-three years. He was married at the age of twen- ty, and shortly after bought the old home- stead, which he farmed continuously until 1908. Then he bought the store of S. L. Todd, in Booge, and commenced a mercan-

tile career, which he now follows. Mr. Tok- heim also buys stock. He served for sev- eral. years as a director of school district No. 22.

In Luverne, on August 11, 1883, Tosten T. Tokheim was wedded to Ingebor Westun, the daughter of Tosten and Ingebor Westun, both deceased. She was born in the same locality as her husband, in Hardanger, Nor- way, October 8, 1865, and came to the Unit- ed States at the age of eighteen years. Five daughters and three sons have been born to this union. They are Anna, Tieda ( Mrs. Aanen Aanenson), of Beaver Creek town- ship: Alfred, Ida, Martin, George, Elsie and Thelma. With the exception of Mrs. Aan- enson, all the children reside at home. The family belong to the United Lutheran church of Beaver Creek township.

GEORGE SOUTAR (1876), a well known contractor and builder of Luverne, is a pio- neer resident of that progressive city and a man who has been directly responsible for much of its up-building. It was in the spring of 1876 that our subject made his advent into the town of his future residence. That was before the railroad had been built through and he accomplished the journey from Worthington to Luverne, part of the way on foot. What little there was of Lu- verne at that time was for the most part lo- cated to the east of the present Weick feed barn.

The day following his arrival in the town Mr. Soutar took the contract for the erec- tion of a residence near the Omaha depot. In the course of a year he formed a part- nership with Joseph Il. Jones, and the firm of Soutar & Jones, employing a large force of workmen, carried on a large contracting and building business, their operations ex- tending throughout all parts of the county. Among the substantial results of their lab- ors in Luverne are the First National Bank and Rock County Bank blocks and the large brick residence of Judge P. E. Brown, which was built for P. J. Kniss. In 1882 the firm dis- solved partnership, Mr. Soutar continuing the business alone for many years with marked success. Among the business blocks which have been erected by our subject are the S. Kennedy block, the Tom Jones store building, the P. Rober building, and the

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building occupied by the Handy Grocery, which Mr. Soutar later bought and still owns. In 1879 Mr. Soutar erected the first bank buildings in Flandreau and Pipestone. The railroads had not yet been built to those towns, and all the material was hauled from Luverne. For the past fifteen years he has devoted himself for the most part to the management of his own private interests.

George Soutar of this biography was born in Scotland on the sixth day of August, 1851, the son of Charles and Jessie Soutar, both of whom are buried in the land of the Seots. Besides our subject, there are four other living children who were born to these parents. They are David Soutar, of Cupar Fife, Scotland; Elizabeth Mackay, of Dundee, Scotland: Ann Russell, of Burnt Island, Scotland; and Andrew Soutar, of Seattle. Robert Russell, the son of the sis- ter residing in Burnt Island, came to the United States in June, 1910, and is now a resident of Luverne.

After completing his education in tbe common schools of his native land, George was apprenticed to a carpenter, James Cameron by name, under whom he mastered the trade. In 1873, in the first year of his majority, Mr. Soutar departed from the scenes of his youth and crossed the Atlantic to make his future home in the domain of Uncle Sam. He first located in the city of St. Paul, and while there he joined a party of 150 who were sent to North Dakota to assist in the construction of Fort Lincoln, government military post nine milez southwest of the capital city, Bismarck. Mr. Soutar next went to Sibley, lowa, where he

was located for a year prior to his settle- ment in Luverne. He is a large Rock coun- ty land owner, having real estate interests in Rose Dell, Magnolia and Beaver Creek townships. He owns two farms in Rose Dell, located near the village of Jasper.

The marriage of George Soutar to Emily Barrow occurred at Portage, Wisconsin, on August 28, 1883. Mrs. Sontar is a native of England and was born on August 28, 1860. Two daughters, Emily, a school teacher, and Grace, and one son, Paul, have been born to these parents. During the year 1881 Mr. Soutar returned to his old home in Scotland for an extended visit, and on his return to this country he was accom- panied by a cousin, Frank Soutar, and

James Cameron and his family, under whom our subject became proficient in his chosen calling. Mr. Cameron located in St. Paul, where he died several years ago, and since then his widow has resided with the family of Frank Soutar.

EDWARD ERSTAD (1882), who owns and farms the northwest quarter of section 11, range 47, Springwater township, was born in Oxendahl, Norway, the tenth day of June, 1862. His father, Erick Erstad, who was a small farmer and blacksmith, has been dead since 1906. The mother of our subject, Gjertrud Erstad, still lives in the land of the midnight sun and is in her seventy-seventh year.

Up to bis twentieth year the life of Ed- ward Erstad was passed in the land of his birth. He received a common school educa- tion. In 1882 he severed home ties and set out to seek his fortune in the new world be- yond the seas. On arriving in America, he came direct to Rock county and to Beaver Creek township. For the first five years he was employed at labor on farm and railroad, then set up in farming for himself in Beaver Creek township. Since 1900 he has re- sided on and farmed his land above de- scribed, of which he had become possessed thirteen years previous. He has a finely improved farm. Mr. Erstad is a director of school district No. 32 and with his family belongs to the Synod Norwegian Lutheran church.

Edward Erstad was married in Beaver Creek township October 26, 1893, to Lena Vixen, who was born February 27, 1870. Mrs. Erstad is the daughter of Lars and Maret (Jordal) Vixen, both natives of Norway. The father died in Norway in 1893. Her mother came to America in 1909 and resides in Sherman, South Dakota. There are six children in the Erstad family, as follows: Gusta D., born June 30, 1894; Lella M., born April 8, 1899: Olga E., born August 10, 1902; Elmer W., born March 14, 1904; Mabel B., born November 3, 1906; and Earnest W., born January 26, 1908.

FRANK SHURR (1877), a well known Battle Plain township farmer and stock rais- er, is a native of Rock county. He is the

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son of pioneer settlers, John B. and Har- riet (Cackett) Shurr, the farmer a native of Germany, and the latter of New York. They came to Rock county in 1869 and took as a homestead claim the southwest quarter of section 34, Kanaranzi township.

On the Kanaranzi township homestead Frank Shurr was born April 5, 1877. His education in the district schools was supple- mented by a six months' course at the Man- kato Commercial college. He assisted with the work on the home farm until attaining his majority: then, after hiring out to other farmers for two years, he commenced farm- ing for himself on rented land in Lyon county, lowa. He went from there to Bot- tineau county, North Dakota, where he prov- ed up on a quarter section homestead. On disposing of that land, he returned to the county of his birth and joined the ranks of prosperous farmers. In 1909, he bought the northeast quarter of section 19, which he now cultivates. Mr. Shurr raises a large number of Chester White hogs. He served for four years on the township board,

The event of the marriage of Frank Shurr to Bertha Ganfield occurred at Luverne Feb ruary 18, 1903. Bertha Ganfield is the daughter of George W. and Taletha (Mason) Ganfield and was born April 13, 1877. These parents have two children: Percy L., who was born November 4, 1904, and Olive F., born August 30. 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Shurr are members of the Edgerton Congrega- tional church.

C. W. FINKE 1886), Clinton township farmer, is a native of Dane county, Wis- consin, where he was born April 23, 1867. He was reared on a farm eighteen miles west of Madison and secured his education in the district school near by. Up to his fifteenth birthday our subject lived on the home farm, then became the molder of his own fortune. For the next four years he hired out to several different Dane county farmers.

April, 1886, is the date of Mr. Finke's arrival to Rock county. For the first year he worked on the farm of his brother, Fred Finke, in Martin township. He then bought his present farm, the southeast quarter of section 7, Clinton township. From a raw piece of prairie land, for which Mr. Finke

gave $10 per acre, the property has devel- oped to be one of the finely improved farms of the precinct. He raises considerable stock. In local affairs Mr. Finke has al- ways been prominent. At present he is serving his second term as town supervisor. For one year he held the office of clerk and for a period of nine years served in the same capacity for school district No. 61.

The marriage of Mr. Finke to Mary H. Nuffer took place in Martin township May 9, 1895. Mrs. Finke was born near Inwood, Lyon county, lowa, on December 28, 1872. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Finke, namely: Roy E., born Febru- ary 24, 1896; Herbert G., born January 9, 1899; Alvin M., born March 25, 1902; Fran- ces P., born January 28, 1905; Walter C., born April 19, 1908.

WILLIAM N. DAVIDSON (1878), attorney at law of Luverne, is an early day settler of Rock county and a man who has taken an important part in the affairs of his county and village. He was born in Sar- dinia, Erie county, New York, November 7, 1833, the youngest of a family of seven children, all of whom except himself are dead. His father was Nathaniel N. David- son, a native of Troy, New York. His moth- er was Amira (Edwards) Davidson, who was born at Northampton, Massachusetts.

Our subject was taken when a baby from his native county to Cleveland, Ohio, and from that time until the year 1851 lived in ten different counties in Ohio, his father being an itinerant millwright, working at his trade in different places. During this period of his life young Davidson se- cured his education, after which he engaged in the millwright business with his father and brothers. In 1851 he moved to Iowa, worked at his trade awhile, and then began the study of law. He was admitted to the bar September 15, 1856, in Clinton county, Iowa, and has been practising his profession ever since-a continuous period of fifty-five years.

Mr. Davidson practiced law in Hampton, Iowa, seventeen years, in Ackley, Iowa, two years, lived in Bloomington, Illinois, one year, in Denver, Colorado, one year, and since 1878 in Luverne. Mr. Davidson has been in official life many years. In Franklin coun-

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ty, Iowa, ho served as county judge and as prosecuting attorney. In Rock county he has been county attorney and judge of the probate court, was city attorney for Li- verne nine years, and for the past thirty years has been county surveyor. He is a literary man and a poet of considerable lo- cal note, many of his writings having been published in public journals. Mr. Davidson is a Mason, holding membership in the Blue Lodge and Chapter.

At Ackley, lowa, on August 13, 1875, Mr. Davidson was united in marriage to Thais DeLaurier, a native of Beekman- town, New York. Mr. Davidson has three daughters: Vivian (Mrs. Fred Dewey), of St. Cloud, Minnesota: Zillah M., of Min- neapclis; Wildavine, who resides at home.

AUGUST LOOSE (1872), deceased. One of the honcred and beloved of Rock coul- ly's pioneers was "Father" August Loose, as he was familiarly known, who died on June 2. 1904, after rounding out a well-spent life cf ninety-three years. For many years his was the distinction of being the oldest citi- ren of the county in point of age. He set- tled in Rock county in the days of its initial settlement and experienced the bitterness of the struggle against the many adversities white Fate chose to settle upon the sturdy shoulders of the determined and unconquer. able makers of the county-a county that in time was to be favored with prosperity to an unusual degree. In the events of the transition from the primitive wilderness to Minnesota's garden spot cur subject was an interested and active participant.

The city of Reetz, Prussia, is the birth- place and May 17, 1811, was the date of the nativity of August Loose. In 1840 he was joined in the bonds of matrimony to Jo- hanna Roemer, and to this union were born eight children, only one of whom now sur- vives, Frank Loose, of Beaver Creek. Mrs. Loose died in 1886.

It was in the year 1867 that the Loose family departed from the fatherland and cast their fortunes in the domain of Uncle Sam. August Loose farmed for four years in Blackhawk county, lowa, which he left in 1872 to join the procession westward to the newly opened country of southwest- ern Minnesota. He filed a homestead claim

to the southeast quarter of section 30, Lu- Yowie township, during the first year of his residence in Rock county. lle devoted his energies for a good many years to active agricultural pursuits, and then finally sold the homestead to his son Frank, with whom he lived a retired life until called by death.

ALFRED P. ENGELSON (1878) is the son of those early day settlers of Springwater township, Paul and Bertha (Erickson) En- gelson, natives of Sweden and Norway, re- spectively. On coming to America they es- tablished the family shrine in Winneshiek county, lowa.

In the town of Calmar, Winneshiek coun- ty, on the twenty-first day of July, 1865, oc- curred the birth of Alfred P. Engelson of this review. He was a boy of thirteen when he accompanied his parents to Rock county. The father bought a relinquishment to the southeast quarter of section 30, Springwater township, on which place our subject grew to manhood. At the age of twenty-three, in 1888, he commenced farming for him- self on rented land. In 1900 he bought the northwest quarter of section 30 and lived there until the spring of 1010, when he rented the northeast quarter of section 24, mange 47, and has since made his home thereon. He farms 265 acres of productive land. Mr. Engelson is a stockholder in the Farmers Telephone company. He was for fifteen years a school director and is now serving a term on the township board. He belongs to the M. W. A. and R. N. A. lodges.

In Luverne, on October 27, 1887, Alfred P. Engelson and Mary Ellen Murray were joined in the holy bonds of matrimony. Mrs. Engelson, who is a daughter of William and Lizzie (Craig) Murray, was born October 1, 1870. The following four children have blessed this union: George W., born Febru- ary 22, 1892; Roy C., born October 15, 1894; Alfred, born June 12, 1897; and Florence L., born February 23, 1899.

WILLIAM T. DEAN (1873) is one of Rock county's oldest residents, having come with the pioneers of 1873. For the past eleven years he has been the well known and popular village blacksmith of Magnolia. William is the eldest son in a family of

AUGUST LOOSE (1811-1904)

Who Was a Pioneer of Rock County and Lived to the Age of Ninety-three Years.

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ROCK COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.

ten children whose parents were William C. and Martha ( Buckingham) Dean, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of England. Martha Dean died on the old home- stead in 1880. William C: Dean, born No- vember 8, 1840, moved to Indiana ten years later and from there to Wisconsin, where he enlisted in company C, of the Thirty-First Wisconsin infantry. He was a corporal and served three years in the civil war. Aft- er his discharge he went to Butler county, lowa, in 1865. In 1872 he homesteaded the northwest quarter of section 24, Magnolia township, on to which he moved the year fol- lowing, and where he resided until 1888, for a year thereafter farming on section 13, Vienna township. Then, consecutively, he was a resident of the towns of Worthing- ton, Luverne, Garden City and Chatfield, Minnesota, and Norfolk, Nebraska, where his death occurred August 22, 1901. Mr. Dean was married a second time to Mar- garet Sutherland.

William T. Dean was born in Butler coun- ty, lowa, July 7, 1866, and was seven years of age when he accompanied his parents to Rock county and settled with them on the homestead in Magnolia township. For two years after coming of age his summers were spent assisting his father on the farm, and during the remainder of the year he operated a feed mill in Magnolia. For one year thereafter he farmed the northwest quarter of section 24, Vienna township, which he had bought. About this time he also became the owner of a threshing rig and for a number of years operated it dur- ing the harvest seasons in various parts of Rock county. He secured employment in Minneapolis with the Minneapolis Thresh- ing Machine company and worked as a me- chanic in that manufactory, in all but the harvest seasons of the year, until the spring of 1894. That spring he again became a farmer on his own land, and continued so until 1898, when he sold out and moved to Magnolia. He built a residence in the vit- lage and also the shop which has since housed his blacksmith business. He con- ducts a general repair, machine and horse shoeing shop and also builds and repairs au- tomobiles.

An experience that Mr. Dean is not likely to forget occurred on June 12, 1896, when he was living on his Vienna township farm.

That is the date when a violent cloud burst wrought so much havoc in that section of the county. In a brief time Mr. Dean's entire form was inundated and most of the stock swept off the place. The waters sur- rounded his house, and fearing for the safety of his family be set about converting a mor- tar box into a serviceable boat, with the in- tention of ferrying them to a less dangerous position. The flood began to recede, how- ever, and it was not necessary to use such stringent measures for safety. Mr. Dean then set out to reach a near by neighbor, wading in water up to his waist most of the distance. He secured a team and wag- on, in which he intended to move his fan- ily if necessity occasioned. On the return journey to his home the man and his team were caught in a small sized cyclone, which literally carried the outfit and its occupant for a distance of forty rods in as many sec- onds.

Mr. Dean was married at Magnolia on March 20, 1893, to Martha Wassmund, who was born in Germany October 17, 1878. They are the parents of the following nine. chil- dren: Harry, Florence, Elsie, Jimmie, Ma- bel, Hazel, Ethel, Iva and a baby boy. Mr. Dean holds membership in the M. W. A. lodge.

LEWIS O. LARSON (1889) is a substan- tial Springwater township farmer and owns the northeast quarter of section 23, range 47. His parents are Ole and Tor- bjor (Tvedt) Larson, the former of whom was at one time a merchant in the city of Odda, Hardanger, Norway, at which place our subject was born February 6, 1866.

In 1881, when Lewis was in his fifteenth year, the family came to the United States, the father the same year buying land in Minnehaha county, South Dakota. The family resided there eight years and then settled in Rock county. Ole Larson bought the north half of section 23, range 47, Springwater township. In 1898 his son Lewis purchased the northeast quarter of the section, land he has continued to farm up to the present date. His is one of the well improved farms of the precinct. Mr. Larson is a director of school district No. 52 and is a member of the township board. On November 11, 1898, in Springwater

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township, Lewis O. Larson was married to Guro Jordahl. She was born in Nor- way September 22, 1870, and is the daugh- ter of Helge and Torbjor ( Heldal) Jordahl, both of whom are buried in the old coun- try. Mr. and Mrs. Larson are the parents of the following children: Helge, born August 2, 1899; Elmer A., born July 27, 1900; Arne T., born March 4, 1903; Edwin J., born September 27, 1905; and Tea Mi., born June 7, 1907. The family are mem- bers of the United Norwegian Lutheran church.

Ole and Torbjor (Tvedt) Larson were the parents of five sons and two daughters, who, besides Lewis O. of this review, are: Arne, Belle, Ole, Kmidt, Gunder and Gurtu, the last two named being twins. Gunder, the youngest son, who assists his father in the management of the home farm, came to this country from Norway when a child two years of age. He located with his parents in Minnehaha county, South Dakota, where he received his schooling. He has lived on the Rock county farm since the family removed from South Da- kota.

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An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota, Part 69

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970 Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Luverne, Minn. : Northern History Publishing Company Number of Pages: 924

Author: Rose, Arthur P., 1875-1970
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Luverne, Minn. : Northern History Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 924