USA > Minnesota > Polk County > Compendium of history and biography of Polk County, Minnesota > Part 31
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the Republican party and altho he has evaded active participation in the political arena he has faithfully discharged the duties of good citizenship. As a pioneer citizen of Polk county, he has been honorably associated with its progress and prosperity. His marriage to Alice L. Page of Rock county, Wis., occurred in 1877. Four children have been born to this union, Albert A., who died in 1891, Lucius S.,
Annie M., who is the wife of Harry L. Marsh of Crookston; and Harold P. Mr. Miller is a thirty- second degree Mason, a Shriner and member of the Commandery. He is also a member of the State Historical society of Minnesota. Mr. Miller and his family are communicants in the Congregational church of Crookston.
G. O. HAGE.
G. O. Hage, cashier of the Polk County State bank of Crookston, is a native of the state, born in Norman county, May 7, 1882. He is the son of Ole R. and Martha B. (Birkland) IIage, who came to this country from Norway in 1866, settling in Fillmore county, Minnesota, and as pioneer farmers of the state are identified with its carly history and develop- ment. They lived for a number of years in Norman county and then removed to Crookston, which is their present home. G. O. Hage was reared on his father's farm in Norman county and received his early eduea- tion in the country schools. He then entered Crooks- ton college and after three years of study in that institution, spent one year in the University of North Dakota. After leaving the university he engaged for a time in clerical work in Crookston and then became interested in the real estate business which he
operated with marked sueecss. During this time he also served as assistant elerk for the state legislature for two sessions. Mr. Hage was among the first to promote the establishment of the new bank and it was largely through his unfailing interest and efforts together with P. M. Ringdal that the organization of this successful enterprise was culminated in 1913 and since that time he has been associated with its management as cashier and director. As business man and citizen, Mr. Hage is actively interested in the advancement of the general welfare and pros- perity. He is a member of the Elk lodge. Ile was married in June, 1911, to Nellie Christianson, daugh- ter of N. Christianson, a pioneer of Polk county. They have one child Norma. Mr. Hage and his family are members of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Crookston.
LOUIS GONYEA.
Lonis Gonyea, of Crookston, well known business man and ex-sheriff, has been prominently identified with the history of the county sinee its early settle- ment. He was born in Old-Town, Penobscot county, Maine, March 10, 1845, the son of Henry and Flora (Betters) Gonyea, who were natives of the province of Quebec, Canada. Henry Gonyea engaged in the milling business and for sometime worked in the Maine pineries. In 1874 he went to Minneapolis and ten years later removed to Crookston, where the deaths of himself and wife oeeurred at the home of
their son, Louis Gonyea. The latter was reared in his native state and when eighteen years of age enlisted in Company G of the Second Maine cavalry and saw active service during the remaining two years of the Civil war. His regiment was detailed to the gulf campaign and was under the command of General Butler. After receiving his honorable dis- charge in 1865, Mr. Gonyea returned to Maine and four years later went to Saginaw, Michigan, where he remained until 1871 when he continued his west- ward journey and located in Minneapolis, entering
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the employ of Caleb Dorr in the Mississippi and Rum River Boom company. In 1878 he came to Crooks- ton, then a small pioneer village, and entered a elaim on government land. For several years he engaged in the development of his land and farming interests, meanwhile working for a time with a mill- ing company on the Red river. As a citizen, Mr. Gonyea has been notably associated with the growth of public interests and gave his first official service as a member of the police force of Crookston, which was organized in 1884. He remained on the force for fourteen years and was chief of police for eleven years. In 1901 he was appointed deputy sheriff under E. J. Sullivan and in 1905 was elected to the office of sheriff and continued to give efficient service during two terms. Subsequently he spent some time traveling through the western states and returned to
Crookston to open a real estate office, conducting ex- tensive land transactions which have made the Gon- yea Land company one of the prosperous business organizations of the county. During the many years of his useful career, as soldier, pioneer citizen and successful business man, Mr. Gonyea has earned the esteem and confidenee of all for his many able serv- ices. Ile was married in Minneapolis, in 1873 to Olivia Darwin, who was a native of Canada. Her death occurred in 1906. Eleven children were born to this union, five of whom are now living, Lillian, the wife of Mr. Sandberg of Crookston; Louis J., who resides in Washington; Mamie, who married Mr. C. Langley and lives in Idaho, Alexander C., and George W., who are residents of Crookston. Mr. Gonyea is a member of the Republican party and of the Elks lodge.
HON. A. D. STEPHENS.
Hon. A. D. Stephens, president of the Merchants' National Bank of Crookston, former mayor of Crooks- ton and state senator, is a typical representative of its best and most serviceable citizenship. Ile has lived in Crookston continuously for more than thirty years, and has passed the whole of his life in Minne- sota to the present time.
Mr. Stephens was born in Carver county, this state, in 1855, a son of Lars and Hannah (Peterson) Stephens, natives of Sweden, where they were reared, educated and married. The father came to the United States in 1851 and the mother in 1853. They located in Carver county, Minnesota, in 1854, and were among the pioneers of that county, clearing a farm there from the wilderness, and helping to lay the foundations of the county's industrial, civil, social and educational institutions. The father filled with credit to himself and benefit to the county several different local offices, and stood high in the regard of the people. He died in Kandiyohi county a number of years ago. The mother is still living and is now ninety-seven years of age.
A. D. Stephens was reared and educated in Carver county in part, completing his academic course at Gustavus Adolphus College. After leaving college he passed some years in clerking, as a salesman on the road and in other occupations, and in 1880 located at Fisher, Polk county, where he engaged in general merchandising. In 1884 he took up his residenee in Crookston as the representative of the Corbin Bank- ing company. In 1891 he purchased an interest in the Merchants National Bank of Crookston, of which he became president after serving the bank some time as cashier. The bank has grown in patronage and influence under his careful management, keeping progress with the current of events and up to date at all times in all departments and features of its business. It is held to be one of the safest, soundest and most satisfactory banks of its rank in the North- west. Mr. Stephens is interested also in several other banks in Polk county and other places in Minnesota. He is one of the directors of the Scandinavian- American Bank of Minneapolis and president of a bank in Montana.
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The public affairs of his city, county, state and country have always received careful, studious and serviceable attention from Mr. Stephens, and he has taken an active part in them. He served as mayor of Crookston in 1893 and again in 1900. In 1902 he was elected a member of the state senate, and during his service in that body he was the chief instrument in obtaining the location of the Northwestern School of Agriculture at Crookston. This institution has done a great work in promoting advanced farming in the northwestern part of the state.
Mr. Stephens is a public speaker of ability, elo- quence and force, and is in frequent demand for publie addresses of various kinds. He has been par- ticularly snecessful in political speeches in many campaigns, advocating and defending the principles and candidates of the Republican party, to which he has always belonged and in which he has long been prominent. Ile has been strongly brought forward by his friends as the candidate of that party for the governorship of the state at different times and was a delegate to the Chicago Republican National con- vention of 1904 which nominated Theodore Roosevelt for the Presideney, and in the campaign which fol- lowed he urged Mr. Roosevelt's election with great fervor and effeet.
Even when out of office Mr. Stephens has devoted considerable activity to promoting the welfare of the state and its publie institutions. He was the leading force in bringing about improved methods of admin- istration at the State Reformatory for Boys at Red Wing. He preferred charges before the legislature against the management of that institution, and the investigation that followed resulted in the abolition of corporal punishment there and other reforms in the discipline and government of the institution.
In 1878 Mr. Stephens was united in marriage with Miss Christie Cameron, a native of Canada. They have two sons, Marcus, Merriam and one daugh- ter Andrea. The sons are employed in the Merchants National Bank of Crookston and Miss Andrea is attending school. Fraternally their father is a mem- her of the Masonic Order, the Order of Elks and the Swedish Order of Vass.
During his service in the senate he introduced the bill which provided for the payment of inmates of state penal institutions for labor performed. The first. law of its kind in the world and on which the state is now paying from $75,000 to $80,000 per annum, and which has worked wondrous good among the inmates. Is also a member of State Immigration board serving second term.
THOMAS A. HARRIS.
Thomas A. Harris, of Crookston, a well known citizen and pioneer, has been a resident of that city since 1877 and actively associated with the history of its growth and progress. He is the son of George P. Harris, a native of Ireland and Jane (Burns) Harris, who was born in New York state. George P. Harris was a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church and came to Canada to undertake missionary work. lle gave eminent service in this field and became the presiding elder of the district of upper Canada. In 1861 he removed to Wabasha county, Minnesota and soon afterwards, enlisted in Company I of the First Minnesota mounted rangers and re-enlisted a year
later in Company D, Second Minnesota cavalry, serving in the Indian wars of the northwest during four years and took part in all the engagements of the uprising of 1862. Ilis son, John Harris, was also active in the subjection of the insurrections of that vear. George Harris was one of those, who by integrity of character and noble service lay the foun- dations for the progress of civilization. His death occurred in California and that of his wife in Wash- ington. Their two sons survive them; John Harris now residing in Spokane. Thomas A. Harris was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1848 and came to Minne- sota with his father when a lad of thirteen. In 1877
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he located in Crookston, then but a village of a few log cabins and has pursued a long and honorable career as business man and citizen and enjoys the respect and esteem of all for his many worthy services. He has conducted an extensive business as a contractor for the moving of buildings and also has farming interests in the county. He is a member of the Republican party and has been honored with several public offices, giving efficient service as a member of the city council for ten years and as deputy sheriff. Also served as first justice of the peace and assessor of Crookston in 1878-79. Mr.
Harris is a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted at the age of seventeen in Company I of the First Minnesota battalion of infantry and serving with his regiment in Virginia during the last few months of the war. He was married in 1870 to Adelaide L. Gordon, who is a native of Michigan. Five children were born to them, of whom the eldest son, Albert G. Harris, is dead. The surviving members of the family are, Frederick B., Brnee F., Arthur, Elmer D. and Ethel A. Mr. Harris is a member of the Elk fraternity.
HENRY O. BALSTAD.
lIenry O. Balstad, stoek farmer and well known citizen of Sletten township, is a native of Minnesota, born at Fergus Falls, June 2, 1886, the son of K. O. Balstad and Gina (Weiby) Balstad. When he was nine years of age his father located on a farm in Slet- ten township and here Henry Balstad was reared and received his early training. He decided to devote his attention to farming and to the practical experience which he had already attained, he added two years of study in the State Agricultural college at St. Anthony Park, in preparation for his work. He has always been associated with his father in his business opera- tions and transactions and like his father, devotes his farming interests to the stock business. His farm of one hundred and sixty aeres is in section twenty-eight of Sletten township and he is using three hundred
and twenty acres in his farming operations. He is breeding Hereford stock and grazing and feeding cattle for the market. Mr. Balstad is one of the younger farmers who are capably carrying on the development of the county, increasing the prosperity established by the thrifty pioneers. Able and in- telligent management and alertness to anything which will promote the efficiency of his work combine to render him successful in all undertakings. He with his father were among the first to build silos in the township. Aside from his private interests, Mr. Balstad finds time to consider matters of public moment and welfare and serves as clerk of the school board. He was married to Olga Olson who was a resident of Sletten township.
F. L. LARSON.
II. L. Larson, a prominent manufacturer and ex- mayor of Crookston, is a native of Norway, born near Bergen, December 11, 1864, the son of Ole M. and Helen Larson. The father engaged in farming in his native land during his lifetime and the mother still resides at the old home. Of their family of seven children, four emigrated to Ameriea, HI. L. Larson came to Minnesota when seventeen years of
age, in company with a sister and located at St. Peter, where he worked as a laborer for a time and then secured employment with an unele in a factory. He later removed to St. Paul, where his older brother was living and worked at the earpenter trade with him, for several years and then engaged in the con- tracting business at Little Falls, enjoying an ex- tensive trade and erecting many of the more sub-
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stantial homes of that city. Subsequently he removed his contracting business to Ada, in Norman county, where he remained for nine years. He then located in Crookston and has since been notably associated with the business interests of that city. During the first four years of his residence, he continued his lucrative operations as a contractor and then estab- lished a manufacturing plant for the production of sash door and store and office fixtures. This enter- prise has become one of the leading industries of the eity and commands a steadily growing trade. As a successful business man and prominent citizen, Mr. Larson enjoys the esteem and confidence of his busi- ness associates and fellow citizens and was honored
with public office in 1911, when he was elected mayor, with the additional distinction of being the only mayor ever elected on the socialist ticket in this part of the State, and won the approval of his constituents for his competent executive service. Ile was married in 1886 to Mary Johnson, whose death occurred in 1900. Three children were born to this union, all of whom reside in Crookston, Lilly, who was married to Mr. Waade; John and Elmer. Mr. Larson contracted a second marriage in 1915 with Mrs. Lee, who was a widow. In social organizations, he is affiliated with the Sons of Norway and the order of Eagles and Scandinavian Workmen Association.
ANTON JENSEN.
Anton Jensen, of MeIntosh, proprietor of the Me- Intosh Flour mills and of the electric light plant, is a native of Denmark, born July 7, 1857, and came to this country when six years of age, with his parents. They located in Waupaca, county, Wisconsin, and there Anton Jensen grew to manhood. In 1880 he came to Polk county and took a homestead claim four miles east of Fertile and spent the next few years developing his land and also worked as a harvester and in other farm work. In the fall of 1883 he went to Crookston and in the following year entered upon his first venture in the commercial world, opening a general store at Valley and operating the postoffice in conjunction with it. This enterprise which was established with a small capital met with a marked snecess, represented by an increase to a $4,000 stock and under able management was soon commanding an annual trade of $8,000. In 1893, Mr. Jensen sold the store and removed to MeIntosh, having bought, at some time previous a quarter interest in the flour mills at that place and has continued to be identified with this industry as manager and as sole proprietor since 1897, when he bought the interests of the other shareholders. The mills, one of the leading business institutions of that region, were erected in 1889 by
the J. P. Johnson company, with an investment of some twelve thousand dollars, and are operated by the roller process, with the capacity for handling seventy- five barrels per day. Mr. Jensen has enlarged the original building and has installed machinery for the milling of rye and buckwheat; the plant now repre- senting a capital of about twenty thousand dollars. He conduets a custom and exchange business with an extensive patronage in the surrounding territory and as a grain dealer, ships many ear loads of wheat. In the mercantile trade, his I X L brand of flour has attained a high reputation among the retailers. In 1900, he installed the electric light plant, using the mill power to operate the machinery, which required an investment of $5,000. This enterprising under- taking received the ready approval and support of the citizens of MeIntosh and the company, which is managed by William Jensen, supplies lights for the streets and homes. Aside from his business activities, Mr. Jensen has given some attention to agricultural pursuits and makes his home on his farm which adjoins the town, the residence standing within the city limits. Ile also owns a quarter section of farm land north east of MeIntosh and two hundred aeres of swamp land which he is reclaiming with drainage
I le Bayly
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and developing. During the many years of his career in the county, Mr. Jensen has become widely known as a sueeessful business man and publie spirited citi- zen and has been prominently associated with the publie interests of the community, giving active service in various offices, as a member of the school board and of the town eouneil and was president of the latter body for several terms. He is a member of the Lutheran church and of the Knights of Pythias
and Modern Woodmen of America. He was married, at Fertile, in 1884, to Nicoline Hendricks, of Nicollet county, Minn. They have a family of six sons and one daughter, Arthur C., who is employed in a bank in North Dakota; Alvin II., who lives at Trail and is in the lumber business; George E., the manager of the home farm and Clara S., Ernest C., Ralph W., and Vernon B., all of whom make their home with their parents.
E. E. HANSEN.
E. E. Hansen, superintendent of the MeIntosh public schools, was born at Thor, Humboldt county, Iowa, on November 19, 1880. He was reared on a farm and received his preparatory edneation in the country sehools, later matriculating at St. Olaf college, at Northfield, Minn., where he graduated ill 1909, with the degree of bachelor of arts. He imme- diately entered the teaching profession and taught in the graded schools at Donaldson, Minn. In 1911, he eame to Polk county, to accept the position of super- intendent of the graded sehool at Fisher and con- tinned to give competent serviee there until 1913, when he taught at Henning in Ottertail eounty and in the next year, returned to this county to assume the superintendeney of the schools at Me- Intosh. This is one of the notable educational insti- tutions of the county, a record of its achievements being found elsewhere in this work, and its direction entails one of the most responsible pedagogieal posi-
tions in the county, for which Mr. Hansen has proven himself eminently fitted. His rapid promotion in his vocation attests to his ability and marks him for further distinetion in his profession. His theories of education are broad and peculiarly adapted to the direction of an agricultural and voeational school and he considers a healthy interest in atlıleties, a beneficial phase of school activity. IIe is himself an out of door sportsman and enjoys his favorite recrea- tion of fishing. Mr. Hansen is an accomplished saxo- phone player, having been a member of the band of St. Olaf college, which made a tour of the Seandi- navian counties in 1906 and in 1909, played a week's engagement at the Alaskan Exposition at Seattle. He was married in 1915, in Ottertail county, to Edna Evanson, a former teacher at Henning. She is a native of Seattle and was educated in the Normal school at Moorhead and before her marriage, had been successfully engaged in the teaching profession.
SUMNER CHESLY BAGLEY.
Sumner Chesly Bagley, prominent lumberman and years occupied in lumber and mining projects. He well-known farmer of Polk county, was born at Ar- gyle, Maine, June 1, 1831, and died at his home near Fosston, July 27, 1914. Throughout the greater part of a long and active eareer lie engaged in the lumber business, where his wide experience and native ability brought him deserved sueeess. In 1860 he left Maine and went to California, where he remained for nine
came to Minnesota in 1870 and became associated with T. B. Walker of Minneapolis in the lumber business, Mr. Bagley taking charge of large logging contracts. He operated on the Clearwater and Mississippi rivers, and got out about thirty million feet of timber during each winter season. During the summer months he took contracts with the railroads for grading and em-
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ployed some two hundred men the year around, with an equipment of one hundred teams which he owned. Ile built part of the grade on the Duluth division of the Great Northern railroad and engaged in similar work in Montana. Soon after coming to Minnesota he took a homestead claim in seetion 17 in Rosebud township and made this farm his home throughout the remainder of his life. When failing health neces- sitated his retirement from the contracting business he turned his entire attention to his farming interests, which comprised 1,000 acres. He later sold 200 aeres from his estate. Mr. Bagley was a man whose influ- onee was to be felt back of any cause which enlisted his allegiance. Ile was actively identified with mat- ters of publie concern and interested in the growth and development of Fosston. The naming of the village of Bagley stands as a memorial to his eitizen- ship. He was a member of the Republican party, and although he evaded political honors, he gave his ef-
forts freely to promote its success. He was possessed of great individuality and was strong in his convic- tions; a great lover of nature in all its forms, he refused to see life taken from animals, saying that "one should not take that which could not be re- stored." IIe took the keenest enjoyment in the life of the woods and lakes and eamp life in the wilder- ness was one of his favorite recreations. He was married in Argyle, Maine, to Lydia Fernald. Three years after his marriage his wife died, leaving two sons, James, who is in the government employ in Maine, and Alfred, engaged in the manufacture of wooden articles at Bemidji, Minnesota. In 1897 Mr. Bagley was married to Gertrude Nelson, a native of Norway, who came with her parents to this country and located at Crookston. No children were born to this union and Mrs. Bagley has taken her nephew, Lilmer Tygson, into her home.
ALLAN J. MCKINNON.
Allan J. Mckinnon, a prominent business man and pioneer manufacturer of Crookston, was born near Montreal, Canada, on May 29, 1858. He is the son of Archibald and Jeanette (Gillis) MeKinnon, natives of Inverness, Scotland, who emigrated to Canada in 1854. Allan MeKinnon is one of five brothers who have been eminently identified with history of Crookston since its early days. He was reared in Canada, where he attended the public schools until he was eighteen years of age when he came to the United States and for three years worked at St. Croix, Wisconsin, learning the trade of wagon maker. In 1879 he came to Crookston where his brother Alexander McKinnon had opened a wagon and carriage shop and in the following year, John R. MeKinnon joined them in their business operations. This was the first industry of the kind in the county and they engaged in the manufacture of a full line of wagons, carriages and sleighs, finding a ready market in the surrounding territory and building up
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