USA > Minnesota > Rock County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 75
USA > Minnesota > Pipestone County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 75
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The Luverne postoffice was establish- ed in the winter of 1868 and was located in the Hawes cabin, with Ed. Mckenzie as postmaster. For a number of years fol- lowing his settlement in Rock county Philo
Hawes continued to control the contract for carrying the mail on the route be- tween Blue Earth City and Yankton, although various parties were entrusted with its fulfilment under his direction. In 1871 Mr. Hawes was commissioned post- master of Luverne, an office he held for three years, being succeeded at the ex. piration of his term by his son, Charles O. Hawes. Immediately thereafter he en- tered upon the duties of route agent in government railway mail service, first being employed on the St. Paul road between St. Paul and Sioux City and later on the Worth- ington & Sioux Falls branch of the St. Paul & Sioux City, later the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha, railroad. A second time, in 1888, Philo Hawes was com- missioned postmaster of Luverne, and his service continued until the commencement of Cleveland's second administration. Dur- ing the years which then ensued until his death Mr. Hawes was actively engaged in the real estate and insurance business.
At the election of 1871 our subject was elected one of the three commissioners of Rock county and during the three years in such capacity he served as chairman of the board. Philo Hawes was a man of broad mind and never tired in his de- votion to all worthy causes, and for his dauntless energy and his practical meth- ods in the promotion of Rock county's and Luverne's every interest the residents of today have much to be grateful for. The hand of Death visited this first citizen on August 10, 1908. To Philo and Malvina (Hines) Hawes one son and two daughters were born: Charles O., of Luverne; Car- rie M., of Luverne, and Eva Luverne, de- ceased. Mrs. Hawes has survived her husband and resides in Luverne.
PIERCE J. KNISS (1870), deceased. Of all the men who at one time or another have given of their energy and resources in an unlimited extent to promote the ma- terial advancement of the capital city of Rock county, none is more deserving or more willingly conceded a high place of honor in the regard of Luverne's people than is the late P. J. Kniss, who spent the best years of his life in the upbuilding of the town he selected in an early day for
PHILO HAWES The Founder of Luverne.
PIERCE J. KNISS An Early Rock County Settler.
ALEXANDER WALKER A Magnolia Business Man.
GEORGE ELBERT GREEN A Luverne Photographer.
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his home. He is rightly regarded as one of the founders of Luverne, for it was he who surveyed the townsite, and it was he who from the first year of its existence to his own untimely death watched with a parental pride over the needs of the growing young municipality, and in a great measure the city of today is indebted to Mr. Kniss for its prosperous condition.
A native Ohioan, the honored subject of this review was born at Old Defiance, De- fiance county, on the sixteenth day of No- vember, 1839. father His was Jacob Kniss, a Pennsylvanian by birth and
man who won prosperity as a leather mer- chant. The mother of our subject was Minerva (Taylor) Kniss, a native of Vir- ginia. Pierce J. Kniss was left fatherless in early infancy. Until after his fifteenth birthday his home continued to be in the Buckeye state, which he left with the rest of the family soon after that event to be- come a resident or Wisconsin. He com- pleted his education in the academy at Delton, in Sauk county, following which for a number of years he taught school in Wisconsin and in Illinois. Mr. Kniss early became a proficient surveyor and eventually devoted his entire attention to a career as civil engineer. He spent a number of years in the employ of the state in connection with the draining of the state swamp lands.
Mr. Kniss was numbered among the de- fenders of the country's honor in the great sectional struggle of the sixties. He en- listed as a private in company K, Fiftieth Wisconsin infantry, was subsequently pro- moted to sergeant, and at the completion of a sixteen months' service was mustered out as the regimental adjutant. His regi- ment was with the division which bivou- acked on the Missouri river and which was finally ordered to Fort Rice, Dakota, to campaign against the hostile redskins. Sergeant Kniss was an active participant in more than one spirited engagement in the protection of the few settlers on the frontier who were subject to the ravages of the rebellious Indians.
It was in the month of June, 1870, that Mr. Kniss first set foot on Rock county soil. He selected land, and in the fall of the same year he surveyed the town plat of Luverne. But his beneficial operations
were not confined alone to the chosen site of the future town, but were made to em- brace the whole county. He thoroughly covered every portion of the then unor- ganized territory and platted every quar- ter section, camping at night on the prai- rie wherever night chanced to overtake him, until the task was brought to a conclusion. Mr. Kniss was Rock county's first officially selected county surveyor, For a number of years in the early seven- ties he was largely engaged in railroad contracting, building seventy miles of the old St. Paul & Sioux City line of road and also fifty miles for the Milwaukee system.
In 1876 P. J. Kniss, in company with O. D. Brown, established a private banking house in Luverne. This institution pros- pered and eventually was incorporated as a state bank. Ten years after the com- mencement of his banking career Mr. Kniss was instrumental in the organiza- tion of the First National Bank of Lu- verne and was its president for a number of years. He was largely interested in the organization and support of many of Lu- verne's leading business and civic enter- prises. In a political way he was selected for preferment on several occasions. Mr. Kniss was elected chairman of the board of county commissioners in 1884, an office he held for several terms. He served as president of the village council and for two terms represented the people of his district in the lower house of the state legislature.
Only a few months before he took up the work which Destiny had selected for him in Rock county, P. J. Kniss was mar- ried to Minerva Donaldson, of Linden, Wisconsin. Mrs. Kniss died in Pasadena, California, November 22, 1887. To this union were born three sons and three daughters, named Lillian M., Everett J., Ella M., Paul D., Ruth G. and Pierce W.
It was in the holiday season of the year 1896 that Luverne was plunged into mourn- ing because of the passing away of her foremost citizen. On December nine- teenth P. J. Kniss answered Death's call.
ALEXANDER WALKER (1893) has been the manager and treasurer of the Magnolia Farmers Elevator company since
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it's organization in 1893 and is an ex-county commissioner from the fifth district. He is one in a family of twelve children, six of whom are now living, and his parents were Robert and Annie (Allanack) Walk- er, who lived and died in Scotland. Of that country our subject is also a native, it heing in Aberdeen shire that his nativ- ity occurred February 24, 1852.
Alexander as a boy began to work on farms, and in agricultural porsnits he was engaged during his long residence in his native land. At the age of twenty-five years he was absent from home for a per- iod of fourteen months, spending that time in Portugal as manager of a large estate owned by an English slate and marhle quarry company. During the year 1885 he came to the United States and direct to Minnesota. For nine years he engaged in farming on section 29, Westside township, Nobles county. In 1893, at the solicitation of the organizers of the Magnolia Farmers Elevator company, he was induced to ac- cept the management of the business, a position he has since ably filled.
Mr. Walker is a land owner and devotes considerable attention to the general over- sight of his farm, the land being the north- east quarter of section 10, Magnolia iown- ship. Hle has been the president of the Magnolia State Bank since its founding. Mr. Walker has been a member of the Magnolia school board and of the village council for many years. He served two terms, during the years from 1900 to 1908, on the board of county commissioners. He belongs to the Presbyterian church and to the M. W. A. lodge.
Mr. Walker has been twice married. Ilis first wife, Annie Wiseman Walker, died August 22, 1901. On November 11, 1903, in Magnolia township he was wedded to Minnie M. Dow, a daughter of Judge C. W. W. Dow, of Worthington. Mrs. Walker was born in Ransom township, Nobles county, on March 26, 1873.
The Magnolia Mercantile and Elevator company, organized in July, 1893, was the first co-operative elevator company estab- lished in the county and one of the first concerns of its kind in the state. The orig- inal stockholders were as follows: E. H. Holbert, A. H. Turner, E. L. Hartwell, T. E. Knowlton, Alexander Walker, J. H.
Sipez. F. A. Baker, A. C. Crawford, L. C. Long, J. G. McLeish, John Whalen, Thom- as Kcalry, Francis Walker, Dennis Boyle, David Hileman, Jacob Michaelson, William Kleine, Michael Martin, F. L. Lindsay, A. O. Shelby, James Soutar, A. J. Calkins, Fred Kearney, Knnte Miking, Theodore Minders, John Bourne, O. J. Baker, L. T. Engen, R. F. M. Smith, Joseph Mneller, O. W. Turner, Kittel Olson, Thomas Robinson, J. L. Calkins, Christ Johnson, F. M. Knowl- ton, J. A. Skyherg. The first board of di- rectors was composed a's follows: L. C. Long, Alexander Walker. T. Robinson, Thomas Knowlton, J. G. Whalen, F. A. Baker, A. H. Turner, Kittel Olson and A. C. Crawford.
The elevator owned by the company was newly erected and its successful manage- ment, under Mr. Walker, has hronght the institution to the forefront as a model in- Istition of its kind. It has gained the repn- tation of being one elevator that always has maintained its prices. The present of- ficers are: President, A. ]]. Turner; vice president. J. H. Sipes, of Minneapolis; sec- retary, G. W. Turner; tresaurer and mana- ger, Alexander Walker. The board of di- rectors consists of the following: A. H. Tur- ner, J. H. Sipes, G. W. Turner, Alexander Walker, L. E. Wodruff, John McLeish, G. A. Lohr, lames Soutar and Francis Walker.
GEORGE ELBERT GREEN (1885), a pho- tographer of Luverne, is a native of Eliza- beth, Illinois, where he was born Septem- ber 14, 1867. Fle is the son of the late George Green and Frances (Mankey) Green. The former, who was a native of Racine, Wisconsin, died in Luverne .Inne 2, 1910. The mother was born in Eliza- beth, Illinois. Both parents were of Eng- lish descent. Besides George of this sketch, there is an only daughter in the Green family, Mabel (Mrs. A. E. Par- son), of Darlington, Wisconsin.
George E. Green, better known to his friends as Bert Green, was educated in the public schools of Elizabeth. At the age of eighteen, in 1885, he moved with his parents to Rock county and settled with them on a farm in Clinton township and for two years thereafter assisted his father with the work on the place. He
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then went to Woodbine, Illinois, where for a year and a half he filled the position of night operator for the Chicago, Great Western railway. He returned to Rock county and to his father's farm, where he remained until 1890, when the family re- moved to Ashcreek. Bert clerked in the store established by his father in that vil- lage and for a time acted as manager.
Another change within the county was made when Mr. Green located in Mag- nolia. He was in the grocery business for a time; then with I. M. Cady he founded the Magnolia Advance, but disposed of his interest in the enterprise to Mr. Cady after a year and a half. He then engaged in the insurance business with Luverne as headquarters. In 1898 he organized the Pioneer's Life association and was its first supreme secretary. The next year he re- signed and accepted the agency for the Northwestern Mutual Life of Milwaukee. For a year, commencing in 1902, he held a clerkship in the Beatrice (Nebraska) post- office, securing the position through civil service appointment. While there he bought an interest in a photograph gal- lery and became actively engaged in the work. It was in 1908 that he established a gallery in Hills, which he conducted until the fall of 1910, when he moved to Lu- verne and opened a gallery there. Mr. Green was the marshal from December, 1908, to June, 1910. He was also chief of the fire department there. He holds mem- bership in the M. W. A. lodge.
Bert was married in Luverne on March 2, 1897, to Carrie Hayes Booth, who died March 24, 1898, at the age of twenty- seven years. One child, Luella F., was born to this union on March 3, 1898. Since her mother's death Luella has made her home with her grandparents.
J. H. ZENKER (1890) is the hardware merchant of Steen and one of its' influen- tial citizens. He is a German by birth, born in the province of Saxony December 19, 1850. His parents, F. A. and Magdalina (Koch) Zenker, are both deceased, the father dying in Steen in 1903, Mrs. Zenker going to her reward five years before, in Germany.
J. H. Zenker of this review made his
home in the fatherland until a little less than thirty-one years of age. When a boy of fourteen he commenced learning the cabinet maker's trade from his father, who was a master in that line. Our subject be- came and is today an expert in his chosen calling, which he worked at continuously in the old country until coming to America in 1881. He located in Grundy county, Iowa, and for nine years was engaged in the carpentering and contracting business.
In 1890 his work brought him to Rock county. He had taken the contract for the erection of four farm houses in Clinton township, and, having become charmed with the little town of Steen, decided to settle there and make it his home With just capital enough to invest in two cars of lumber, he set up in the lumber busi- ness. There was a period of hard times for a while, because of limited finances, but backed by a good credit and persever- ing endeavor, he soon placed his business on a paying basis and commenced tread- ing the road to prosperity At the end of eight and one-half years, when he sold his yard-the first established in Steen-to the Edmonds company, he was doing an an- nual business of $6000.
For the next five years Mr. Zenker en- gaged in carpentering and contracting in and around Steen. In 1901, with his son, Erwin, he bought the hardware store of Chris C. Berg, the new firm becoming known as J. H. Zenker & Son. Three years later the father bought his son's in- terest in the business but still conducts it under the old name. That Mr. Zenker has prospered since landing in America with a total capital of eight dollars is evidenced by his property holdings. Besides owning a substantial dwelling in the town of Steen he is the possessor of 240 acres of land in Iowa, a quarter section in Martin town- ship, Rock county, and another quarter in Chippewa county, this state. During the years 1902 and 1903 he served as treasurer of Clinton township.
While still living in Germany, on the la"t day of October, 1880, Mr. Zenker was married to Janna Buss, born May 27, 1849, the daughter of Peter and Gretje Buss. The father died some years ago in Grundy county, lowa, but the mother still makes her home with Mrs. Zenker. The family
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are members of the German Lutheran church of Steen.
The eldest son of Mr Zenker is Erwin, who was born in Germany February 28, 1881. He came with his parents to Amer- ica the same year. His education in the village school at Steen was supplemented by a two years' business course in High- land Park college, Des Moines, lowa. When not yet twenty years of age he bought an interest in the Berg hardware store at Steen, which he conducted until selling to his father in 1904. During the next year and a half he was variously employed in dif- ferent states of the south and west. On his return to Steen he engaged in farming, his present occupation. He works his father's Lyon county farm and is the own- er of land in Minor county, South Dakota. Erwin Zenker married Emelie Butjer on March 14, 1905. They have one child, Ella, born September 22, 1906.
THOMAS J. COLBY (1873), a substan- tial farmer of Martin township, was a lad of seven years when he first identified himself with the interests of Rock county, and his residence here from that time to the present has been a continuous one. He was born in Clear Lake, Iowa, when that town was still in its infancy,. on July 12, 1866. His parents, Erick Sigdals Prestig- jeld and Helena (Thorson) Colby, were born in Stavanger, Norway. Erick Colby came to this country at the age of twelve years and first located near Madison, Wis- consin, later moving to Clear Lake, Iowa, and then to Rock county. He died a num- ber of years ago, but his wife is still living.
Thomas accompanied his parents in their removal to Rock county in the pioneer days of 1873. The elder Mr. Colby filed timber and homestead claims to the north half of section 10, Martin township. On that farm our subject made his home and assisted in the management until arriving at the age of twenty-three. The young man then bought part of his present farm on section 28 and commenced the labors which have since been crowned with suc- cess. In all he owns and farms a total of 155 acres, all finely improved. His farm home, erected in 1907, is one of the most elegant in the township and is arranged
with all modern equipment. Mr. Colby raises considerable stock. He owns stock in the Co-operative Creamery and Farm- ers Elevator companies of Hills. With his family he belongs to the United Norwe- gian Lutheran church of that village.
The marriage of Mr. Colby to Ella Twange was solemnized in Hills on the third day of April, 1896. Mrs. Colby was born December 28, 1875, near Inwood, Ly- on county, lowa, and is the daughter of H. A. and Enga Twange, residents of Hills. They have the following children : Effie Henrietta, born December 28, 1897; Helen Irene, born June 14, 1901; Thelma Dorethy, born March 22, 1903; Alice Gen- eiva, born August 22, 1906; and Inga Juliet, born May 18, 1908.
AMABLE O. MOREAUX (1878), editor and publisher of the Rock County Herald, has spent almost his entire life in Rock county. He was born in the village of Heron Lake, Jackson county, Minnesota, December 28, 1874. Two years after his birth the family moved to Winnebago City, resided there a few months, in Man- kato a few months, and in January, 1878, located in the little village of Beaver Creek.
In November, 1878, the family moved to Luverne, where the subject of this biog- raphy has since continuously resided ex- cepting two years (1886 to 1888), when the family lived at Rushmore. Amable was educated in the Luverne public schools. During the time he was securing his edu- cation he spent the summer months work- ing on farms in the vicinity of Luverne. In October, 1892, he entered the office of the Rock County Herald, then owned by H. J. Miller, and learned the printer's trade-and he has been connected with that paper ever since.
For four years Mr. Moreaux was for- man of the office, and for several years prior to 1907 he was city editor. In the year last mentioned Mr. Miller retired from active management of the Herald owing to ill health, whereupon Mr. Mo- reanx became the manager. He conducted the paper for Mr. Miller until the latter's death in May, 1909, and since then he has pub- lished and edited the paper for Mr. Mil-
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ler's estate. Under his management the Herald has maintained the high standing it acquired under Mr. Miller's direction and today ranks as one of the leading country journals of Minnesota.
Mr. Moreaux is president of the Second Congressional District Editorial associa- tion. He is a member of Modern Wood- men lodge of Luverne and of the Elks of Sioux Falls.
The subject of this biography is the sou of two pioneer residents of southwestern Minnesota. His father was Isadore A. Moreaux, who was born in New Jersey August 11, 1844. He became a resident of Wisconsin early in life and from that state enlisted in the union army at the time of the war of the rebellion. He enlisted at Madison on August 23, 1862, in com- pany G, Sixth Wisconsin infantry, and was later transferred to company D, of the came regiment. He was discharged at Arlington, Virginia, June 6, 1865. After the war I. A. Moreaux returned to Wisconsin and in April, 1871, became a resident of Jackson county, Minnesota, removing to Rock county in 1878. He died at Chicago under an operation September 1, 1892.
The mother of our subject was Anna M. Tweeton. She was born in Norway June 30, 1854, came to the United States at the age of nine years and located in Dane county, Wisconsin. In 1871 the family lo- cated in Jackson county, Minnesota, where she was married to Mr. Moreaux July 17, 1872. Mrs. Moreaux was married to Nels B. Staff November 7, 1895, and now resides in Luverne.
In the Moreaux family are four children, those besides A. O. being Emaleon L. (Mrs. .M. H. Voelz), of Luverne; Augustus T., of Chicago; and Charles H., city editor of the Rock County Herald. Three children died in infancy.
GEORGE W. SHURR (1875) is a Rock county product and was horn, reared and now lives on the old homestead filed upon by his father in the pioneer days of the county's history. He is the son of J. B. and Hattie (Cackett) Shurr, now residents of Sioux Falls. The elder Mr. Shurr was among the very first settlers of Kanaranzi township, locating his homestead on the
southwest quarter of section 34, of that pre- cinct.
George of this sketch was born on the farm mentioned on the fifth day of January, 1875. In the district school near by he mas- tered the subjects of the curriculum. At the call for volunteers in 1898, he was one of the first to respond. On July 2 he en- listed in company G, of the Fifteenth Min- nesota regiment. The company was first encamped at St. Paul, later at Camp Meade, Pennsylvania, and was discharged March 27, 1899, at Camp Mckenzie, Georgia.
After the discharge Mr. Shurr returned home and took up farming, renting his fath- er's place. For two years, from 1901 to December, 1903, he made his home in Bot- tineau county, North Dakota. There he filed upon a claim and secured title to the land. The land cost him $1.25 per acre, and in 1905 he sold the farm at a handsome profit. In 1907 he bought the home farm from his father and has since conducted it. It is known as the Lone Tree farm, the name having been suggested by the pres- ence of a single tall tree on the line be- tween sections 33 and 34, very near to the border line of the state.
At Ellsworth, on January 5, 1904, Mr. Shurr was married to Daisy Walker, a daughter of James Walker, an early set- tler of Nobles connty and for several years its auditor. They have one living child, Harriet M., born March 9, 1910. A son Clif- ford died on August 21, 1906, at the age of eighteen months. Mr. and Mrs. Shurr are members of the Congregational church.
LEWIS ARNESON (1876) is one of the pioneer settlers of Beaver Creek township and has resided on the farm he now con- ducts since he was eight years of age. He owns the northeast quarter of section 1, range 47, one of the finely improved farms of the precinct. As a stock raiser he has met with abundant success.
Lewis is a native of Norway and was born near the city of Bergen on June 16, 1868, the son of Lars and Anna (Borson) Arneson, both deceased. The father died February 20, 1910, his faithful wife having been called by the grim reaper September 17, 1908. As a year old infant our subject crossed the broad Atlantic with his parents
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and made settlement in the new world. The family lived in Fillmore county, Minnesota, previous to the establishment of a residence in Rock county.
The family drove overland in an ox team conveyance and arrived in the land of prom- ise in the month of June, 1876. Lars Arne- son at once homesteaded the land describ- ed above. His son Lewis was educated in the district schools and in 1892 commenced farming for himself on the home place, of which several years later he became the owner. Mr. Arneson is a stockholder in two farmers elevators, the one at Beaver Creek and at Booge, South Dakota.
On July 20, 1894, in Beaver Creek town- ship, our subject was married to Anna Rein- saas, who was born in Norway February 3, 1874, and came to the United States at the age of eighteen years. To Mr. and Mrs. Arneson have been born the following three sons and two daughters: Arthur, born Au- gust 23, 1895; Oscar, born July 28, 1898; Luella, born May 27, 1901; Alice, born Sep- tember 21, 1905: George, born March I, 1911. The family are members of the Sy- nod Norwegian Lutheran church of Beaver Creek.
MARTINUS ENGEBRETSON (1881) is the cashier of the Farmers State Bank of Ilills and is interested in two of the active and prosperous real estate agencies in Rock and Pipestone counties. His birth occurred October 2, 1881. on the old farm on section 35, Martin township, homesteaded by his father, Lars Engebretson, in the early sev- enties. The pioneer Rock county settlers, Lars and Martha (Hanson) Engebretson, natives of Norway, and the parents of our subject, are now esteemed and respected residents of Hills. They are the parents of seven living children, who besides Mar- tinus, are Hans, of Walworth county, South Dakota; Isabelle (Mrs. W. A. Hill), of Sioux City; Emma (Mrs. A. G. Krogness), of Chicago: Clara (Mrs. John Johnson), of Minnehaha county, South Dakota; Edward, of Aberdeen, South Dakota; and Carl L., of Jasper.
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