USA > Minnesota > Rock County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 95
USA > Minnesota > Pipestone County > An illustrated history of the counties of Rock and Pipestone, Minnesota > Part 95
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On leaving the scenes of his birth, Mr. Leech's first location was at York, Pennsyl- vania, where he was employed for five years in the machine shop of the York Manufacturing company. He then turned west and in 1898 established a home in Ogle county, Illinois, near Dixon, where he engaged in farming until coming to Rock county five years later. He farmed rented land in Denver township, two miles north- west of Hardwick, where he was located until the spring of 1910, when he moved to Mound township, his present home. Mr. Leech farms 240 acres on sections 25 and 26. He is a member of the Lutheran church.
Eli Leech was married in 1891, at Littles- town, Pennsylvania, to Annie Kunz, who . was born near Emmetsburg, in the same state, in 1870. Seven children have been born to these parents, as follows: Lulu, born January 11, 1892; Lilly, born October 18, 1893; Charles, born October 9, 1898; Alice, born February 21, 1901; Ruth, born June 15, 1905; Rosie, born October 11, 1907; and Mary, born May 15, 1909.
ALVIN A. COOK (1901), a blacksmith and machinist of Luverne, is a native of the old Pine Tree state, and his birth oc- ourred July 3, 1871, at Pittsfield, Maine. There were three other sons in the family, Charles, Alton, Sidney and Alfie, whose par- ents are N. H. and Martha (Adams) Cook, also natives of Maine. They were early day settlers of Nobles county, taking a homestead in Leota township in 1876, where they have lived ever since. N. H.
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ROCK COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
Cook is the owner of a half section of land.
During infancy Alvin moved with his par- ents to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and thence to Eau Claire, and at the age of nine years to Nobles county. After securing an ele. mentary education he was for several years a student at the state university, taking special courses in engineering, butter-mak ing and veterinary science. Until after his twenty-eighth birthday Mr. Cook was for the most part an assistant to his father in the management of the Leota township farm, devoting his attention to threshing in the fall months. On various occasions he was employed in certain St. Paul ma- chine shops and was on the road for Wood Bros. several seasons.
After entirely abandoning the life of the farm, Mr. Cook was employed by the Rust- Owen Lumber company at Drummond, Wis- consin, as a fireman on the logging road maintained by that firm. He also repre- sented the Geiser Manufacturing company as their agent and machine expert. On October 27, 1901, our subject moved to Lul- verne and established his present machine and blacksmithing business. He has a large shop and a complete equipment for handling satisfactorily the most intricate work in his particular line, boiler making, general machine work and repairing and horse shoeing.
In Luverne, on January 15, 1901, Mr. Cook was married to Alice Ramsey, a Ca- nadian by birth, and the daughter of John- son Ramsey, of Vienna township. A daugh- ter, Marrel A., was born to these parents on May 11, 1909. Mr. Cook holds membership in the Masonic and Modern Woodmen lodges.
PERCY A. STORY (1906) farms the north half of section 14, Beaver Creek township, and raises stock to a consider- able extent. He is a native son of Minne- sota and was born in Lyon county January 20, 1884. His father, Albert L. Story, born in Wisconsin, is a resident of Otter Tail county, this state; his mother, Sarah E (Southwick) Story, a Pennsylvanian by birth, died May 12, 1900,
Eight years after the birth of our sub- ject the Story family moved to Yellow
Medicine county, Minnesota, and four years later to Otter Tail county. In those localities Percy acquired a common school education. In 1902 he left the protection of of the parental roof, and from that time he has been a molder of his own fortune. For four years he was employed at farm labor in Minnehaha county, South Dakota, just over the line from Rock county, of which he became a resident in 1906. He rented land several years before locating on his present place in the spring of 1908. Fraternally Mr. Story is affiliated with the M. W. A. of Luverne, and the A. O. U. W. and the Yeomen lodges of Beaver Creek.
The marriage of Percy A. Story to Ethel Jennings was solemnized in Luverne on September 15, 1908. Mrs. Story is a daugh- ter of William T. Jennings, of Hardwick, and is a native of Illinois. To these par- ents were born a daughter, Lillie Fern, on April 15, 1909, and a baby boy, on April 29, 1910.
JOHN McLEISH (1901) is a representa- tive business man of Magnolia, who is known throughout the adjoining territory as the reliable dealer in farm implements, wagons, buggies and hardware. A native of Columbia county, Wisconsin, he was born August 9, 1864, and on his father's farm he passed the greater part of the first twenty-two years of his life. He had made frequent visits to Nobles county, and in 1893 he bought a farm in Lismore town- ship, which he conducted until 1901. That year he moved to Magnolia. Until 1905 he was engaged principally in teaming; then he established the implement business in which he has been eminently successful. During April, 1908, Mr. McLeish in partner- ship with A. W. Bird purchased the Grif- fith stock of hardware, which has been con- ducted in connection with the original busi- ness.
The parents of our subject were William and Jane ( Thompson) MeLeish, natives of Scotland, the former of Perth shire and the latter of Sterling shire. Both came to America when young and were married in Columbia county, Wisconsin, in 1854. Mr. and Mrs. McLeish were among the first to settle in Caledonia township of the county mentioned and that was their home until
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called by death. The father died in 1878 at the age of fifty-six years and the mother in 1907 after attaining the ripe old age of eighty-three. They were the parents of five children, as follows: Eliza (Mrs. Thom- as McLean), of Nobles county; William, who resides on the old farm in Wisconsin; Maggie (Mrs. James Towers), of Wiscon- sin; Andrew, of Turtle Lake, North Dako- ta; John, of this sketch.
Mary Marshall, a native of Columbia county, Wisconsin, and an old school mate of John McLeish, became his wife on Febru- ary 22, 1893. Mrs. McLeish was born Au- gust 17, 1865, and is the daughter of David S. and Isabelle (Tennant) Marshall, the latter of whom is deceased.
During his residence in Lismore township Mr. Mcleish served for many years as a member of the township board of supervis- ors and since moving to Magnolia has been an active member of the village council. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Mod- ern Woodmen lodge.
CHARLES C. DAVIDSON (1904), of Lu- verne, is the eldest son of J. A. Davidson, proprietor of the Central house in Rock county's hub. His mother, Rose M. David- son, is a native of Portage, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Davidson were married at Adrian, Minnesota, and are the parents of the fol- lowing named children: Charles C., Maud M. (Mrs. Bert Henton), of Beaver Creek; Grace, Bernice, Fred and Harry. One son, Alton J., died during the summer of 1909 at the age of twenty-one.
Charles is a native of Nobles county and was born January 30, 1881. At the age of ten years he moved with his parents to Bryant, South Dakota, and three years later to Pipestone. He was educated in the pub- lic schools of the two places mentioned. While in Pipestone he assisted in his fath- er's restaurant, and in 1902 moved to Trosky to accept a position with the Daven- port Elevator company. He was a fireman on the Great Northern railroad between Willmar and St. Paul for a short period and after that was employed in the cement works at Luverne. He resumed railroad work after a year, for awhile on the Great Northern, then on the Omaha. Of late
years he has been employed at the Luverne Pressed Brick plaut.
At Adrian on October 7, 1907, Mr. David- son was married to Minnie J. Speers, a na- tive of Rock county, born December 27, 1891, and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Speers, of Luverne. Two children have been born to these parents: Vivian G., born August 4, 1908, and a son, horn March 19, 1910.
CARL STROEH (1902) farms the whole of section 36, Springwater township. He is a native German and was born in the province of Schleswig-Holstein October 16, 1882. He is the youngest in a family of four sons and one daughter born to George and Margretta (Schmidt) Stroeh.
The father of Carl Stroeh died when our subject was seven years of age. He came the same year with his mother to America and located with her at Reinbeck, lowa, where he was educated and grew to man- hood. He worked out for a number of years before coming to Rock county in 1902. Two years later he rented his pres- ent extensive tract of productive land and has prospered in its cultivation. Mr. Stroeh is a member of the Odd Fellows and Mod- ern Woodmen orders. He is unmarried and makes his home with his mother.
HERMAN WIESE (1884) is a business man of Hardwick who has made Rock county his home for the past twenty-seven years. He is the son of Mathias and Anna (Bandt) Wiese, both deceased. The father was killed in an accident in Germany in March, 1881, and the mother died during the month of June, 1887, in Springwater township. Herman is one of a family of five sons, the other four being John, James, Carl and Julius, the latter two being twins. All the children came to the United States together.
Onr subject was born in Germany Decem- ber 3, 1867, and spent his boyhood days on his father's farm in the land of the kaiser. In February, 1883, he arrived in the United States and went at once to Du- rant, Cedar county, lowa, where he lived a year. March, 1884, marks the advent of Mr. Wiese to Rock county. For three years
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ROCK COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
he was employed on different farms in Springwater township, and then in 1889 he set up in farming for himself, renting land on section 3, Springwater. In 1896 he be- came the owner of the land in question and farmed the place several years. He then sold the land but invested in another farm in Rose Dell township, which he conducted until 1909. In that year he traded the Rose Dell farm for the R. A. Heckt stock of general merchandise and implements and the buildings which housed them, and since then he has made his home in Hardwick. He is a member of the Odd Fellows lodge and of the German Lutheran church.
The date of the marriage of Herman Wiese to Anna Hemme was November 30, 1889. Mrs. Wiese was born in Germany April 21, 1866. Three children have been born to them: Louis M., born December 6, 1890; Maggie, born April 11, 1892; and Anna, born December 23, 1893.
NICK BENDT (1898) has been a Spring- water township resident for thirteen years. He was born in Holstein, Germany, June 8, 1879, the son of Henry and Dora (Schmidt) Bendt. Nick was a child five years of age when he crossed the Atlantic with his par- ents and made settlement in the new world. He passed his youth on his father's farm in Scott county, Iowa, and received an educa- tion in the district school near by. He commenced working as a farm laborer at the age of eighteen, and the year following he came to Rock county. He worked out until the spring of 1910, when he rented the east half of the northeast quarter of section 19, Springwater township, land he contiues to farm.
Mr. Bendt was united in marriage in Luverne on March 24, 1910, to Ella Bonne. Mrs. Bendt is the daughter of George and Agnes (Schinidt) Bonne, both natives of the fatherland.
GUS H. MORK (1902), is the proprietor of the pool and billiard hall in the village of Kenneth, where he has been engaged in business for nine years. He was born in Lincoln county, South Dakota, May 21, 1873, the son of Halvor O. and Ingri (Ode) Mork, both of whom were natives of Nor-
way. The parents of our subject immigrat- ed to the United States in 1867, making settlement for a number of years in Winng- shiek county, lowa, and then establishing a home in Lincoln county, South Dakota, where Halvor O. Mork still lives at the age of sixty-eight years. Mrs. Mork died in 1905.
Gus H. Mork resided on the Lincoln county farm of his birth until twenty-six years of age and was educated in the dis- trict school of the home precinct. In 1900 he moved to East Sioux Falls, South Da- kota, and there entered upon a business career. He was a general merchant of that place for two years, leaving there to establish a residence in Kenneth, then a town in the second year of its existence. For seven years, in partnership with his brother, Otto H. Mork, our subject was en- gaged in the general merchandise business. In 1907 the store was sold and Mr. Mork engaged in his present line of business. He deals in tobacco, cigars and soft drinks and buys and ships cream.
Mr. Mork was married in Rock county February 23, 1906, to Marie Remme, who was born January 1, 1887, the daughter of two early settlers of the connty, Mr. and Mrs. C. N. Remme, of Battle Plain town- ship. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mork: Gladys, born January 30, 1907; Hazel. born January 5, 1909; and a son, born December 28, 1910.
JOHN E. McKISSON (1878), of Beaver Creek, has spent all but the first twelve years of his life as a resident of Rock county. He was born in Fillmore county, Minnesota, April 19, 1866, and came with his parents to Rock county in 1878. His father homesteaded in Beaver Creek town- ship, and on the home farm John passed his youth and attended the near by district school. After his father's death in 1885, our subject with his mother and brothers mov- ed to a farm of their own, a mile west of the original farm. He lived here until 1902 and then moved to Beaver Creek vil- lage, which has since been his home. He was variously employed during the first three years but of late has been a har- tender in a saloon which passed into the
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ROCK COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
hands of his brother in April, 1909. 1Ie also takes care of his farming interests.
John E. McKisson is the son of John R. and Polly (McDermott) McKisson, natives of Scotland and Butler county, Pennsylvan- ia, respectively. They were married in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and in 1854 came west and located in Decorah, Iowa. The entire trip was made by stage. Two years later the family moved to Fillmore county, Minnesota. Mr. McKisson was the proprie- tor of a blacksmith shop in the village of Carmony for a number of years and later was engaged in farming. Rock county was his home from 1878 to the time of his death on February 25, 1885, aged sixty-six years. Mrs. McKisson died April IS, 1908. They were the parents of two sons and two daughters, as follows: William H., John E., Nina (Mrs. J. W. Foster), who died at Alberta, Minnesota, April 6, 1909; and Jen- nie (Mrs. C. H. Morse), of Madison, South Dakota.
HALSTEN M. MOEN (1879) is a con- tractor of cement work in the village of Hills and dates his residence in Rock coun- ty from 1879. A Norwegian by birth, he was born July 14, 1857, in Valders. He is the son of Michael and Gertrude (Moen) Grundahl, both deceased, the latter dying in Hills in 1905.
The father of Halsten died when our sub- jest was a child of two years, following which he was taken to live in the family of his grandfather Moen, from whom he took the surname Moen. Coming to the United States with his mother at the age of nine, he located at Decorah, lowa. In that city and in the country near by our subject grew to manhood.
Arriving in Rock county at the age of twenty-one he located in Martin township, working for five years as a laborer on dif- ferent farms. Pipestone county was the scene of his operations for the next four- teen years. lle filed on a homestead claim in Elmer township, on which be proved up and engaged in farming for the period men- tioned. In 189t, retiring from the farm, he removed to Hills, where he has since con- tinned to reside. He is engaged in the business of work in cement. A large share of the cement walks in the town were put
in by Mr. Moen. For a term of three years Mr. Moen served as a member of the vil- lage council of Hills.
At St. James, Minnesota, on the ninth of June, 1883, Mr. Moen was married to Mary Davis, the daugther of Jorgen and Ingeborg Davis. She was born September 10. 1858, at Grand Rapids, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Moen are members of the Synod Norwegian Lutheran church of Hills.
WILLIAM HUMPHREY (1894) has been a resident of Beaver Creek township for the past seventeen years. He first saw the light of day in Washington county, Ken- tucky, on the first day of August, 1848. His parents, Joe and Mary (Richardson) Hum- phrey, were also natives of Kentucky.
Eight years after his birth, William ac- companied his parents in a removal to Il- linois, where he lived until 1887. He was educated in the district schools and after- wards engaged in farming. In the year last mentioned, with his family, he established a residence in Hyde county, South Dakota, and remained there until coming to Rock county in 1894. The following year he rent- ed his present Beaver Creek township farm, the northwest quarter of section 32. Mr. Humphrey and family are members of the Presbyterian church.
Our subject was united in marriage in ISSI, while still a resident of Illinois, to Elizabeth Jenkins. The following named children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey: James, William L., Arthur B., Everett, Earnest, Eldridge, May, Ethel, Eliz- abeth and Maud. One son, Eldridge, and a daughter, Ethel, are dead.
ED. GABEL' (1902) is a progressive farm- er of Mound township. lfe is the son of Henry and Victoria (Segenfuss) Gabel, who came from Germany at an early date and settled near Darlington, Lafayette county, Wisconsin, where the subject of this biog- raphy was born December 8, 1875.
In his earlier years Ed. attended the dis- triet schools of his native county, and at the age of thirteen he commenced to do the work of a man on the home farm. With the exception of three months spent as an employe of the Stover Windmill company,
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ROCK COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
at Freeport, Illinois, his whole life has been spent in agricultural pursuits. His career in Rock county dates from 1902. He work- ed through the summer of that year near Magnolia, returning to his Wisconsin home to spend the winter. He was on the ground in Rock county the following spring and has never since left it. He rented and mov. ed on his present place, the northeast quar- ter of section 30, Mound, in 1905.
Mr. Gabel is a married man. He was joined in the bonds of matrimony to Bertha Brandenburg at Luverne on November 27, 1907. Mrs. Gabel was born February 6, 1882, and is the daughter of Henry and Ter- sie (Dill) Brandenburg, of Luverne. An adopted daughter, Irene DeRose, an orphan from the state public school, has been re- ceived into the home. The child was born June 20, 1898.
FRED WALLENBERG (1900), farmer of Beaver Creek township, is a native German and was born in Bromberg September 30, 1856. He is the son of John and Floren- tina Wallenberg, both of whom passed away in the fatherland.
Fred received a common school training in his native land and resided on the home farm until after his twenty-third birthday. Then he came to America and located in La Crosse county, Wisconsin, and there he resided twenty years. He was engaged in farming most of that time, but for a period was employed in construction work on the old B. C. R. & N. railroad, and was a par- ticipant in the great strike of 1895. In 1900 Mr. Wallenberg moved with his family to Rock county. For six years thereafter he farmed in Martin township, and since then has resided on his present farm, the northeast quarter of section 6, Beaver Creek township, which he rented for a term of five years.
hut three of whom are living. The deceas- ed children were: Herman, born May 1, 1883, died July 23, 1884; Ernest, born July 29, 1884, died April 20, 1888; Gusta, born August 18, 1889, died the same week. The living children are: Minnie L., born No- vember 8, 1885; William L., born October 8, 1886; Adolph, born October 26, 1887; Charley, born October 18, 1891; Ed, born June 3, 1893; George, born December 27, 1894; Fred, born April 15, 1895; John, born September 5, 1897; August, born May 31, 1899; Lydia, born January 24, 1901; Clara, born March 10, 1902; and Rosa, born March 14, 1905. The family are members of the German Lutheran church.
HENRY OTTO (1909) is the landlord of Hardwick's popular hostelry, the Commer- cial hotel. He was born in Germany Novem- ber 3, 1869, and is the son of William and Lena Otto, who came to the United States from Germany in 1880. Mr. Otto lives in Aspinwall, Iowa; his wife is deceased.
Henry Otto of this review was eleven years of age when he accompanied his par- ents to the United States and to Aspin- wall, Crawford county, Iowa, where the family residence was established. He at- tended the schools of his home town and later assisted with the work on his father's farm, to which the family had moved. At the age of twenty-two years he married and commenced farming for himself on rented land in Crawford county. He re- mained there until 1907 and then went to Day county, South Dakota, where he was a farmer for two years. In the fall of 1909 Mr. Otto arrived in Hardwick and became the owner of the Commercial hotel. Since coming into his hands the property has been greatly improved and made first-class in every respect.
Mr. Otto was married in Shelby county, Iowa, on May 27, 1892, to Christina Mum- son, who was born in Germany and who came to this country in 1891. Seven chil- dren have been born to this union, the first born, Willie, dying in infancy. The names of the living children are Freda, Johanna, Herman, Freddy, Henry and Robert. Mr. Otto holds membership in the Odd Fellows
Mr. Wallenberg is a man of family. He was married in Wisconsin on September 2, 1883, to Bertha Hoffman, who was born in Germany May 19, 1864. Mrs. Wallenberg is the daughter of Earnest and Minnie (Wolf) Hoffman. The former parent died in Germany and the latter in La Crosse county, Wisconsin, in 1907, at the age of seventy-seven years. To Mr. and Mrs. Wal- and Modern Woodmen lodges of Manning, lenberg have been born fifteen children, all Iowa.
30
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ROCK COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES.
WILLIAM DOLGE (1900) has for eleven years been a resident of Rock county and a farmer of Rose Dell township. He was born in Germany the second of May, 1866, and two years later came to this country with his parents, Joseph and Maty (Rabe) Dolge. The family located in Benton coun- ty, lowa, where the father bought land and where our subject was reared and educated. William commenced farming rented land for himself in 1890, and ten years later he made settlement in Rock county. He farm- ed on section 2. range 47, Rose Dell town- ship, until 1906, since which time he has rented and been established on his pres- ent place, the northeast quarter of section 26. Mr. Dolge is a member of the German Lutheran church and of the I. O. O. F. lodge.
Our subject was married in lowa on April 1, 1890, to Annie Schnitker, who was born January 2, 1867, the daughter of John Schnitker. Eleven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Dolge, named as follows: Amanda, William, Lydia, John, Mary, Al- bert, Clarence, Catherine, Dorthia, Anna and Walter.
JOSEPH RISS (1903), the owner of a well improved farm in Clinton township, is the son of Henry and Caroline (Whaler) Riss, natives of Germany and early settlers in the country adjoining the city of Streator, Illinois. It was on his father's farm in that locality that Joseph was born on Christ- mas day in 1860.
His whole life, up to the time of his com- ing to Rock county in 1903, was lived in and around Streator. He attended the dis- trict schools and at an early age began to be of invaluable service to his father on the farm. At the age of twenty-three our subject rented a portion of his father's land and set up in farming for himself. Later he bought the same land, which he re- tained until 1902. Disposing of his hold- ings, he moved to Rock county and purchas- ed the northwest quarter of section 28 and the southeast quarter of section 21, his present home in Clinton township.
Mr. Riss was married at Ottawa, Illinois, in February, 1885, to Sophia Funk, daugh- ter of Fred and Sophia Funk, natives of. Germany, who now make their home with
Mrs. Riss in Clinton township. The follow- ing are the children in the Riss family: Arthur H., born January 15, 1887; Emma M., born July 4, 1888; Walter J., born No- vember 2, 1889; Clara L., born May 24, 1894; Erwin F., born May 1, 1896; Joseph H., born December 23, 1900; Lawrence B., born June 15, 1906. Mr. Riss is an active church worker and is a trustee of the Ger- man Evangelical congregation at Steen.
HAAGEN O. TUFF (1874) is one of Mar- tin township's most successful and pros- perous farmers and since the days of the sod shanties and grasshoppers one of those instrumental in bringing about the growth and development of the township to its present day prosperity. In Grans Presteg- jeld, Hadeland, Norway, on August 16, 1851, Mr. Tuff was born, the son of Ole and Ber- tha Tuff, both of whom are buried in the old country.
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