USA > Minnesota > Rock County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 74
USA > Minnesota > Pipestone County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 74
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At Luverne, on October 27, 1894, Mr.
Kjergaard was wedded to Annie Kirkhus, a native of Norway who came to this coun- try in 1892. They are the parents of three children, Hulda, Albert and Alma. For ten years Mr. Kjergaard held the office of clerk of school district No. 35, and for the past four years has been one of the direc- tors of the same. He served as justice of peace for a term of two years. He be- longs to the United Lutheran church ot Hills.
ANANIAS G. SOLEM (1886) is one of the well known residents of Kenneth and is the proprietor of the cream station at that place. He is a native of Norway, where he was born September 13, 1856. He received a common school education in his native land and at the age of sixteen be- gan the battle of life for himself. He fol- lowed various occupations until twenty- two years of age, when he enlisted in the army and served three years. On being discharged from the service, he was em- ployed as a fisherman along the bleak coasts of leeland until 1885, the date of his arrival in America.
The first year he worked in the vicinity of Livermore, lowa, then came to Rock county, where for a few years he was em- ployed at farm labor and in the brick yard at Luverne Beginning work on the sec- tion for the Rock Island road, in a year and a half he was promoted to foreman with headquarters at Luverne, and later at To- ronto, South Dakota, where he remained for ten years. On quitting the position, he returned to Rock county and for sev- eral months was employed with a crew in the construction of the new road then be- ing built from Wilmont to Hardwick. In 1900 Mr. Solem took up his residence in Kenneth. For three years he was again section foreman, but at the end of that time was forced to give up the position because of rheumatism, with which he was a sufferer. During the month of October, 1907, he established a cream station in Kenneth and has since been engaged in the business of buying and shipping cream.
Ananias Solem is the son of Goodman and Martha (Olson) Solem, both deceased. They had five children, all of whom are
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dead except the subject of this sketch, lle was married in Luverne on July 27, 1887, to Magretha Olson, a native of Norway, where she was born June 9, 1858. She came to the United States in 1887. They have no children of their own, but have an adopted daughter, Helen, who is a stu- dent in the Lutheran normal school at Sioux Falls. She was born October 5, 1893.
Mr. Solem is a member of the Nor- wegian Evangelical Lutheran church, of which he is the secretary and of which for a number of years he was treasurer.
OLE L. TOSTENRUD (1885) is one of the up-to-date farmers of Kanaranzi township, one who has reaped the fruits of prosperity as the righteous reward of honest and per- sistent toil. His farm on the northwest quarter of section 23, with its modern dwelling and expansive barns, is one that invites attention as the home of a man whose labors have been blessed with suc- cess.
Ole Tostenrud is a Norwegian by birth, and in the land of the midnight sun, at Sigdal, he was born on July 22, 1856. His parents, Lars and Engehor (Velstad) Tost. enrud, are both buried at Osage, Iowa, hav- ing died at the ages of seventy-seven and seventy-nine years, respectively. As
a child of five, Ole undertook the journey to America with his father and mother. The family lived for the first eight years in this country near Decorah, Iowa, and there our subject acquired an education afforded by the district schools. In 1869 a move to Floyd county, in the same state, was made, and there Ole assisted on his father's farm until June, 1885.
During that month he arrived in Rock county and bought the southeast quarter of section 15, Kanaranzi township. For two consecutive years he worked that place during the crop season, returning to Osage, Iowa, to spend the winters. In 1887 he brought his family to Minnesota and re- sided on a farm in Nobles county one year. It was during that winter, on the twelfth day of January, that a terrible blizzard raged in which Mr. Tostenrud's and his neighbors' loss of stock was considerable.
In the fall of 1888 tne family moved to the Kanaranzi township farm, which he
had retained in his possession. He sold the farm on section 15 soon after, however, and bought his present place. During the spring of 1889, while improvements were being made on the new farm, the family lived in the village of Ellsworth. In addi- tion to his Rock county real estate, Mr. Tostenrud owns a quarter section of fine land near Oakes, North Dakota.
June 23, 1883, is the date of Mr. Tosten- rud's marriage at Osage, lowa, to Mary Isaacs, the daughter of Robert and Sonova (Herre) Isaacs, natives of Norway. To these parents the following nine children have been born: Ralph L., Stella M., Os- wald M., Mabel C., Harry E., Florence E., Arthur L., Alvin C. and Edna M. N. The family are members of the Norwegian Lutheran church and Mr. Tostenrud holds membership in the M. W. A. He served as director of school district No. 62 for eighteen years and for ten years was a member of the town board. He also served as town treasurer three years.
MARCUS C. NELSON (1886) is one of the substantial and progressive agricul- turists and a large stock raiser of Rose Dell township. He is the owner of 640 acres of productive soil in that precinct. Of this, 240 acres are located on section 21, a like amount on section 17, and 160 acres on section 20, all thoroughly improved land. The farm home is situated on the northwest quarter of section 21.
Marcus was born on a small farm in lbestad, Norway, August 11, 1860, the son of Christopher and Terena Nelson. He re- ceived the training of the elementary schools of his native land, which he left at the age of twenty-one years to go to the United States. He made Flandreau, South Dakota, his destination, and near that town he worked on a farm during the sum- mer and attended school in winter in order to increase his command of the English language. For a year he clerked in a store at Pallisades, South Dakota, and then joined a construction crew on the Great Northern railway building into Jasper. On arriving at that point, in 1886, he deter- mined to locate, and, in partnership with L. H. Gilbertson, he established the general
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mercantile business of Gilbertson & Nel- son.
After a business career of nearly ten years, Mr. Nelson became a farmer, locat- ing on his present place, the northwest quarter of section 21, Rose Dell, which he had come into possession of some few years previous. After working the place for three years, he rented out the farm and in 1904 journeyed back to his old home in Norway. He was absent on the trip a full year, and on his return he established a residence in Jasper, which was maintain- ed nntil 1907, when he once more engaged actively in agricultural pursuits and moved back to his own farm. Mr. Nelson is the president of the Farmers Co-operative Mer- cantile company of Jasper, is vice presi- dent and director of the Farmers State Bank of Jasper, and is a stockholder in the Farmers Elevator company of the same place.
In Moody county, Sonth Dakota, on Sep- temper 9, 1892, our subject was joined in marriage to Carrie Ening, a native of Norway, and a resident of the United States since 1885. She is the daughter of Hans and Aagot Ening, who have al- ways lived in Norway. These parents have one son, Clarence H., born on September 9, 1901. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are mem- bers of the Norwegian Lutheran church.
MARK SWEDBERG (1880), postmaster of Luverne, has spent over thirty years of his life in that city. He was born in Sweden November 18, 1855, the son of Carl J. and Maria C. (Lekberg) Swedberg. The father came to America in 1867 and two years later the rest of the family came over. They lived in Chicago until coming to Minnesota in 1879, settling in the lit- tle village of Luverne in 1880. Carl J. Swedberg died in that city in 1900; his wife died there in 1903.
Mark Swedberg is one of a family of nine children, of whom only three are liv- ing, the other two being Mrs. E. O. Krook, of Clinton, Minnesota, and Mrs. John Carl- son, of Magnolia. He received his early education in his native country. Coming to the United States at the age of thirteen years, he lived with his parents in Chicago and there completed his education in the
English schools. In the same city he learn- ed the jeweler's trade and worked at it there until locating in Luverne in 1880.
Upon his arrival in Luverne Mr. Swed- berg engaged in the jewelry business, con- ducting a store until 1899, when he sold ont. He received the appointment of post- master of Luverne under the administra- tion of President McKinley in 1898, and has ever since held the office. His wife is deputy postmaster. For several terms Mr. Swedberg served as city treasurer. He is a member of the Masonic and Knights of Pythias lodges.
Mr. Swedberg was married in Luverne August 31, 1885, to Lizzie C. Rieber, who was born in Tomah, Wisconsin, August 21, 1860. She is the daughter of the late Bonaparte Rieber and Caroline (Frank) Rieber. Her parents were born in Ger- many, came to America when children and were married at Edgerton, Wisconsin. They moved to Tomah, Wisconsin, in 1854 and settled among the Indians, being the first white settlers in that part of the state. Mr. Rieber died there in October, 1906, aged seventy-six years. Mrs. Rieber still lives on the old homestead and is seventy- four years old. The following named four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Swedberg: Luella, Roy, Hulda and Mabel. The three oldest are students at the Min- nesota state university. One son, Carl, died in infancy.
JOHN W. STAMMAN (1893) is one of the progressive and substantial farmers of Denver township and is the present chair- man of the township board of supervisors, He is well known as a large breeder of Belgian horses and Poland China hogs.
The subject of this biography was born in Bureau county, Illinois, March 8, 1867. He was eight years of age when the fam- ily moved to Tama county, lowa, and there he was educated in the district schools and grew to manhood. He com- menced his agricultural career in 1891, renting Tama county land. Two years later, in 1893, he became identified with the interests of Rock county. Denver township has been his one residence in the county. Mr. Stamman first rented the southwest quarter of section 18, and a year
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later bought his present home farm, the southeast quarter of section S. Since then he has added by purchase the northeast quarter of section 8 and the northwest quarter of section 17, a total of 480 acres of choice and finely improved land.
Mr. Stamman was married in Tama county, Iowa, on February 17, 1891, to Helena Krudfeldt, who was born in Ger- many June 8, 1872, and came to America nine years later with her parents, Henry and Margretta (Heckt) Krudfeldt. The following four children have been born to this union: Henry P., born December 21, 1891; Louis, born October 8, 1893; Lillie, born December 28, 1896; and Dora, born March 2, 1901.
Our subject is the clerk of school dis- trict No. 51. He owns stock in the Farmers Elevator company of Hardwick, the South Dakota Rural Telephone com- pany, and the Independent Harvester com- pany of Plano, Illinois. In 1911 Mr. Stam- man bought three acres of land and a nice home in the village of Hardwick, where he now makes his home. He has rented his land and retired from active work.
IRA M. CADY (1883). For more than a quarter of a century the gentleman whose name heads this sketch has been a useful citizen of Rock county, ever zealous in the cause of its advancement. More particu- uarly has he been an instrumental agent and a guiding force in the promotion and betterment of his home town of Magnolia. He has been the editor of the Magnolia Advance since it came into being eighteen years ago.
Ira M. Cady is a native New Yorker and was born in Wayne county the first day of June, 1853. His parents, W. H. and Rachel E. (Rapalee) Cady, were also born in New York. Both father and mother are buried at Avoca, New York, having died at the ages of seventy and sixty- seven years, respectively. There were six children in the Cady family, of which our subject was fourth in point of age. Two daughters, Mrs. Helen Randolph, of Bakers- ville, Connecticut, and Mrs. Wiliam Vanda of Cohocton, New York, are the only chil- dren now living beside Ira.
For the first eighteen years of his life Mr. Cady was a resident of the county of his birth. He received a common school education and having journalistic aspirations at an early age, he correspond- ed for the local papers and worked around the printing offices. In 1871 he started west and located in Lansing, Michigan, where for a time he clerked in stores and did newspaper work. He reported the pro- ceedings of the state legislature as a spe- cial correspondent to some of the state pa- pers. His health failed him while there and he returned to New York, and at Brockport he corresponded for the Elmira Telegram.
In 1883 Mr. Cady came to Minnesota, lo- cating for a year and a half at Pipestone, where he was employed as a field agent by Close Bros. & Co., who were engaged in the real estate business. From there he went to Magnolia, which has since been his home. For the first seven years he engaged in farming in Magnolia town- ship. In 1893 he settled in the village and established the Advance, whose destiny he has guided continuously since. Mr. Cady has been honored time and again by elec- tions to offices of trust. For twenty-four years he has efficiently served as a jus- tice of the peace, and for the past six- teen years he has been a valued member of the Magnolia school board. He was clerk of Magnolia township for a decade and is now serving his third term as vil- lage recorder. Fraternally, he is affiliat- ed with the Modern Woodmen.
Our subject was married in Luverne on March 22, 1887, to Mary E. Anderson, a native of White Pigeon, Michigan, where she was born November 25, 1863. They are the parents of three children: Elma A., born June 24, 1889; Alfonso B., born May 12, 1891; and Medora E., born April 5, 1895.
Magnolia's first paper, the Citizen, es- tablished by Mr. Cady on March 16, 1893, had a lease of life of sixteen weeks. It was printed from the old Guardian office at Adrian. The Magnolia Advance, its suc- cessor, made its initial appearance June 16, 1893, printed in the Magnolia office by Cady & Green, publishers. G. E. Green, now a photographer at Luverne, continued a partner in the enterprise until 1895,
.
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ROCK COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
when he disposed of his interest to Mr. Cady, who has been the faithful scribe up to date. The paper is now entering its eighteenth year. It was started as an independent organ but has ever gone on record in support of the republican na- tional ticket, the party to which the edi- tor most naturally inclines. The Advance was and ever has been a seven column quarto and is issued regularly every Fri- day.
HERMAN THOMTE (1877), a merchant of Kenneth, was one of the very first busi- ness men to locate in that town. He is a native of Allamakee county, lowa, and was born August 10, 1872. He is the son of the well-known pioneers of Rock coun- ty, Hans and Karee ( Hanson) Thomte. Hans Thomte is now a leading tailor of Luverne, a sketch of his life appearing elsewhere in this volume.
Herman passed the first tive years of his life in the county of his birth, accom- panying his parents to Rock county in 1877 and settling in Vienna township, the northwest quarter of section 14 of which the father filed upon as a homestead claim. After seven or eight years our subject moved to Luverne, remained four years, and then returned to manage the home farm. lle was a boy of fifteen at that time, but his capabilities were those of the most mature man, and for twelve years he successfully conducted the place, living during the entire time in the "bliss of bachelorhood." in 1899 Mr. Thomte re- tired from farming and moved to Ken- neth the spring following the founding of the town. He built a livery barn and ho- tel, which he conducted alternately for abont a year and a half.
He traded his property for a stock of goods at Hatfield, where he lived eighteen months. His next move was to Edgerton and from there to Chandler, where he engaged in business for a year. He next went to Lismore to accept a position as manager of the Alberding & Son store. The firm opening a store at Kenneth,
Mr. Thomte was invited to assume the man- agement of the business and since then his home has been in Kenneth, the scene of the commencement of his business career.
Mr. Thomte was married in Luverne on February 20, 1895, to Lena Jacobson, a na- tive of Norway, born June 5, 1877. She came to the United States when two years old and settled with her parents in Alla- makee county, Jowa, where she lived until the year of her marriage. One child, Clar- inda, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomte, February 22, 1897.
FENTON A. LEICHER (1891). One of the institutions of which the people of Luverne are proud is the Luverne Automo- bile company, makers of the popular "Lu- verne" car, and of this company Fenton .1. Leicher is the manager.
Our subject was born in Logansville, Wisconsin, March 20, 1873. He is the son of A. Leicher and Mariette (Kendall) Lei- cher, natives of Germany and New York state, respectively. The father came to America when ten years of age and set- tled at Neosho, Wisconsin, where he learn- ed the carriage maker's trade and where he was married. Soon after the civil war he moved with his wife to Logansville, Sauk county, and in that town he lives to- day.
Fenton A. Leicher grew to young man- hocd in his native town, securing a con- mon school education. He and his three brothers learned the carriage maker's trade under their father's instruction, our subject beginning work in the shop when thirteen years of age and serving a five years' apprenticeship. When eighteen years of age, in 1891, he left his home town and located in Luverne. There he entered the employ of W. F. Kendall, a carriage maker, and continued with him and his successor two years. Mr. Leicher then located in Trosky, where he engaged in the carriage making business one year. Returning to Luverne, Mr. Leicher and his brother, Edward L. Leicher, bought the carriage making shop of Elias Kreps, who had succeeded W. F. Kendall. This shop the brothers have ever since conducted, that branch of their business now being under the management of C. G. Larson.
In 1903
the brothers originated and
manufactured their first antomobile. This proved to be a success and for a few years they made cars and engaged in the
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business in a small way, continually im- proving the cars. Local capital was in- terested and in 1906 there was organized the Luverne Automobile company, which took over the business of the brothers, the latter become managers. From the plant of the Luverne Automobile company are now turned out seventy-five cars annually. Mr. Leicher is secretary of the Luverne Commercial club and is a member of the fire department.
In Winfield, Wisconsin, on November 21, 1895, Mr. Leicher was united in marriage to Anna L. Krug, who was born in the town in which she was married August 8, 1874. She is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wiliam Krug, now residents of Reeds- burg, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Leicher have two children, Robert Fenton and Theodore Alfred.
PHILO HAWES (1867), deceased. Won- derful and nnparalleled has been the de- velopment of Minnesota's richest agricul- tural county since that day in June, forty- four years ago, when Philo Hawes-the very earliest of Rock county's valiant band of pioneers-from the summit of the Blue mounds gazed in profound ad- miration at the scene which met his eye as he turned it in the four directions. With his eye he followed the course of the winding Rock into Iowa, its banks skirted with the only indication of timber in the vicinity. The rich expanse of prairie, here and there undulating into delightful billows of green, but for the most part one level tract of splendor, unbroken by a single evidence of human habitation or handicraft, was a view to rightly inspire the beholder. We know that it did prompt this intrepid frontiersman to exclaim in rapture to his sole companion at the time' that he was not to be shaken in the belief that it was given to him to be the dis- coverer of the Garden of Eden. The mem- ory of Philo Hawes, Rock county's first citizen, will never want for guardians to insure its perpetuation.
New York was the state which gave Mr. Hawes birth. He came to old New Eng- land stock, and his parents were Cyrus and Caroline (Cotter) Hawes, both na- tives of Connecticut, They established a
home at Danhy, in Tompkins county, New York, where it was that Philo Hawes, on December 18, 1830, for the first time gazcd upon the things of this earth, He was a lad in his twelfth year when the Hawes moved from the Empire state and wended their way westward to Wisconsin, living there several years before that territory was granted statehood. There our sub- ject grew to manhood and in 1850 was married to Miss Malvina Hines.
Mr. Hawes was twenty-three years of age when he first settled in Minnesota. It was in the year 1853 that he located at Red Wing and established a stage route, which he operated successfully for a num- ber of years between that point and Fari- bault, Zumbrota and other towns, which were few and far between in southern Minnesota. It was while engaged in this manner that Philo Hawes commenced the long and eventful career he was destined to pursue in the government mail ser- vice. His first contract, entered into in 1856, was to carry the mail from Red Wing to Blue Earth City. At the outbreak of the civil war he laid aside for a time all personal interests in his desire to aid in the preservation of the union. He was commissioned second lieutenant of com- pany D, Eleventh Minnesota infantry, in which comand he served throughout the war.
At the return of peace Mr. Hawes took up his residence in St. Paul, and it was not long before he was again a useful member of the government mail service. In 1867 he was the successful bidder for the contract to establish and maintain the proposed mail ronte from Blue Earth City, Minnesota, to Yankton, Dakota ter- ritory. While engaged in laying out this new ruote, our subject first set foot in the untempered territory of Rock county. He established a camp on the east side of Rock river near the mounds on the thir- teenth day of June, 1867. He was so fa- vorably impressed with the country and the many advantages it offered that he made up his mind then and there to es- tablish a home for himself and family in the favored location. At that particu- lar time he completed his work in hand and returned to Blue Earth.
On September 18 of the same year he
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again visited Rock county with a few companions and three teams, prepared to build a stable, put up some hay and es- tablish a station of the mail route. He se- lected a claim, but did not make an ac- tual filing on the same until some months later. With his assistants Mr. Hawes put up a considerable quantity of hay during the season of 1867 and before he left con- structed a dug-out, or "half cabin and half cave," in which he installed a Ger- man named John Lietze to hold the claim. Lietze remained there during the win- ter.
.
During the following spring, on March 25, 1868, Philo Hawes, accompanied by his family, arrived in the new country selected for a future home and establish- ed himself in the dug-out before mentioned, until a log house, 16 feet square, could be erected. This old log cabin, which was built on a hill near the site of the pres- ent Rock Island depot, and to which an addition was built in the fall of 1868 by Mr. Hawes and E. N. Darling, the next arrival, was for a number of years the one center for all local interests. Be- sides serving its purpose as a residence, it was several times converted into a school, a church, a "hall" for public meetings, a polling place, as well as the postoffice. At this early day the nearest neighbor was distant many miles. The little village of Jackson was the nearest trading point, and all lumber had to be hauled from Madelia, a distance of one hundred twenty-five miles.
The fame of the new Rock county was not long in spreading to the more thickly settled portions of the state and to the east, and it was but a matter of one or two years before other settlers, converted to the same view-point as the first one, came and established homes and laid the foundations for future prosperous settle- ments. It was in 1870 that Mr. Hawes set aside forty acres of his farm for a village plat and founded the village of Luverne, which was named after his old- est daughter, Eva Luverne Hawes.
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