USA > Minnesota > Polk County > Compendium of history and biography of Polk County, Minnesota > Part 43
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Mr. Bennes' business has been general farming in the main, but he has for some years given a good deal of attention to raising sheep of superior strains, the Shropshire breed being his favorite produet. In this department of his industry, as well as in his general farming operations, he is studions and careful and his success is pronounced. By means of it he has also contributed essentially to the improvement of the standard of live stock in his own township and others.
HANS II. BANGEN.
For nearly half a century a resident of Minnesota and for over forty years a forceful factor in the life of Polk county in several lines of serviceable activity, Hans H. Bangen, one of the zealous and successful farmers and energetie spirits of Vineland township, who is now, however, living retired from active labor, has been a very useful citizen of his adopted land. 18
repaying it with interest in his elevated manhood and good work for his community for the opportunities for advancement to consequence it has given him.
Mr. Bangen is a native of Norway, where his life began December 24, 1838, and where he was reared and educated. In 1866 he emigrated to this eountry and took up his residence in Freeborn county, Minne-
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sota, where he lived seven years industriously and profitably engaged in farming. In July, 1873, he brought all the family he then had to Polk county, and in 1874 settled on the farm in Section 11, Vineland township, this county, on which he has lived contin- uously since that time. Ile first bought 160 aeres, and to this he has added 100 acres by a subsequent pur- chase. He has also erected good buildings on the place and has all of his land under enltivation.
On May 30, 1870, Mr. Bangen was married in Free- born county, Minnesota, to Miss Eline Thompson, who is also a native of Norway. They have had nine ehil- dren, eight of whom are living, a daughter named Laura having died in infancy. The living children are: Mina S., who is the wife of John Saugstad ; Anton, who is now farming the home place; Marie, who is the wife of Peter Hanske; Clara, who is the wife of Helmer Estenson; Thea, who is the wife of John Stubson; Laura, who is the wife of Olaf Stromsmo; Theo, who married Miss Emma Berg, and Helmer, who is still living at home.
Mr. Bangen has been chairman of the township board for a number of years, and has always taken an
active part in the affairs of the township. He is a member of the Free Lutheran church, and he has led the singing in its religious services and been one of its most liberal and faithful supporters from the time when the church edifice was built. The members of his family also attend and support this church.
Anton Bangen, the oldest son and seeond child of the household, is a resident of Vineland township and conducts the operations on his father's farm. He was born in Freeborn county, Minnesota, March 22, 1873, and was bronght by his parents to Polk county when he was about four months old. All of his subsequent life has been passed in this county and in Vineland township and the daughter of Hans II. Berg. They principal occupation. On December 27, 1913, he was married to Miss Sarah Berg, a native of Vineland township, and he has always followed farming as his have one child, their daughter Harriet E. Like his father, Mr. Bangen takes an earnest interest and an aetive part in the affairs of his township, and is regarded as one of its most useful and representative eitizens.
LEWIS E. FLINT.
This gentleman, who is a resident of East Grand Forks, and who is passing his days and nights in use- ful serviee to mankind as a passenger conduetor on the Northern Pacific Railroad, is exemplifying now the spirit of industry and abiding interest in the wel- fare of his fellow men that has characterized him in all previons periods of his manhood and every oceupa- tion he has engaged in from his youth. He is a native of West Randolph, Vermont, where his life began May 25, 1872, and a son of Joseph J. and Clara L. (Ford) Flint, also natives of Vermont.
The parents eame west in 1879 and located at Jamestown, North Dakota, where the mother is still living and where the father passed the remainder of his life, which ended November 11, 1888. He was a contractor of prominence and snecess, and was well
known and highly esteemed throughout the northwest. Two children were born in the family, Lewis E. and his older brother Harry C., both of whom came with their parents to this part of the country. Harry is still a resident of Jamestown, North Dakota.
Lewis E. Flint obtained his education in the schools of Jamestown and for about three years after leaving school was employed as a elerk in a store in that eity. At the end of that period he entered the employ of the Northern Paeifie Railroad company as a brake- man, and three years later he was raised to the posi- tion of conduetor, in which capacity he has been rendering the railroad company and the general public good service ever sinee.
Mr. Flint was married December 30, 1899, to Miss Mande A. Bradford, who was born in Detroit, Michi-
MR. AND MRS. J. O. SARGENT
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gan, March 16, 1880, and is a daughter of John G. and Matilda (Zemlin) Bradford, the former a native of London, England, and the latter of Berlin, Germany. Mrs. Flint's father has been in the employ of the Northern Paeifie Railroad company since prior to 1875, and is now its station agent at Staples, Minne-
sota. Mr. and Mrs. Flint have three children, all sons, Harry L., Jerome E. and Charles B. The parents stand well in the estimation of the people of East Grand Forks and richly deserve the regard that is bestowed upon them wherever they are known.
CHRIS EICKHOF.
Having passed all the years of his mature life to the present time in carpenter work, contracting and build- ing, and thereby contributed to the growth and development of the several communities in which he has lived, Chris Eiekhof, one of the esteemed resi- dents of Crookston, has been a useful eitizen, making his time and energy tell to the advantage of the people around him as well as to his own benefit. He was born near the great commercial city of Hamburg, Germany, September 25, 1849, and lived in that country until 1881, learning and working at his trade as a earpenter and builder.
When he landed in New York in April, 1881, he came west at once and located at Red Wing, Minne- sota, where he remained about one year. In May, 1882, he changed his residenee to Crookston, and here he has ever sinee made his home and followed his chosen line of constructive work, building many honses of various kinds and for different purposes, all of
which have aided in the expansion and improvement of the city and contributed in a substantial and endur- ing way to the comfort and general welfare of its residents.
Mr. Eiekhof was married in Germany May 9, 1875, to Miss Johanna Dammann, who was born near Ham- burg, Germany, November 19, 1854. They have nine children living: Bertha E., who is the wife of J. W. Risch ; Hannah M., who is the wife of Gustaf Som- mers; Dora E., who is the wife of Arthur Zaiser; Flora W., who is the wife of J. Arthur Williams; Otto J., who is associated with his father in business under the firm name of Eickhof & Son; Anna S., who is a school teacher; Nettie G., who is living at home; Frances E., who also is teaching school, and William C., who is still under the parental rooftree. All the members of the family are persons of worth and are esteemed as sueh.
JOSEPII O. SARGENT.
Joseph O. Sargent, of Crookston, a well-known pio- neer of the State, was born May 26, 1846, in Rock county, Wisconsin, the son of Zeblin L. and Louisa (Young) Sargent, and is a member of a family that has been identified with the history of the building of the nation as sturdy pioneers and in notable military service and is himself one in the fast dwindling ranks of the Grand Army of the Republic that so valiantly defended the Union in its great erisis. His maternal grandfather, Simon Young, was a soldier in the War of 1812 and was wonnded and became a pensioner
of that war. Zeblin Sargent was a native of Penob- seot county, Maine, born at Exeter in 1818, and in 1839 began his journey into the western frontier country, living for several years in Illinois, and in 1844 removed to the territory of Wisconsin, where he spent ten years. In 1854 he went to Cannon Falls, Minnesota, and continued to reside in this state until his death at Crookston, in 1904. His wife survived him eight years, living to the advanced age of ninety- three years. Of their family of twelve children nine are now living. Three of the sons and the father were
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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY OF POLK COUNTY
soldiers in the war of the rebellion. The latter was made a sergeant in his company and for three years was detailed to detached service in the western cam- paigns under General Grant. Hle also took part in the Indian war of 1862. Joseph O. Sargent was reared in the pioneer home and was familiar from earliest childhood with the privations and hardy influ- ences of frontier life. He secured what edneational advantages the country afforded and the favorite recreations of his boyhood were fishing and hunting trips in which the native Indians were his frequent companions. Ile was nine years of age when the family settled in Minnesota, in territorial days, and from the experiences of a long and eventful career, recalls many interesting and significant incidents. He enlisted when eighteen years of age, February 19, 1864, in Company C of the Sixth Minnesota volun- teer infantry, and was in active service during the remainder of the war, in the compaigns of the Miss- issippi river, the Red river and the gulf eoast, taking part in the battles of Mobile, Fort Blakeley and Arkansas Post and in a number of minor manenvers against the forces under General Price. After the close of the war he returned to Minnesota and located on a farm in Rice county and spent several years
farming and operating a wagon and blacksmith shop at Dundas, near Northfield, and at the time of the raiding of that town by the James and Youngers, was one of the posse who trailed and captured the noto- rious band. In 1879 he came to Polk county and took a homestead claim in Hamlin township, where he was the first settler. Ilis first home was a frame shanty and he again lived among primitive surround- ings, engaging in the task of clearing wild land for cultivation. He developed a fine farm and remained on the place for fourteen years and then disposed of his farming interests and removed to Crookston and became a building contraetor. He conducted a pros- perous business for a number of years, erecting many of the public buildings and homes in that city, and is one of its most highly respected citizens. Mr. Sar- gent has always been a loyal supporter of the Repub- liean party and has given valuable service in offices of publie trust. in township affairs, as a member of the school board of Hamlin township, and also super- visor and assessor, and for six years served on the city council of Crookston. Ile was married in 1870 to Lucinda Kingsbury, who was born in Iowa county, Wisconsin. Two daughters were born to them but neither are now living.
ANDREW N. HOFFE.
Having come to the United States at the age of twenty years, and having made good use of every opportunity that has presented itself to him to im- prove his condition and advance his interests, Andrew N. Hoffe, one of the leading farmers of Liberty town- ship, this county, has made steady progress to a eon- dition of liberal and substantial comfort in a worldly way, and has, in his useful and progressive carcer, given a fine illustration of the possibilities open to industry, frugality, upright living and good business management in this land of almost boundless wealth and opportunity.
Mr. Hoffe is a native of Norway, where his life began January 3, 1856, and where he was reared to
the age of twenty and obtained his education. He was reared on a farm, and throughout his subsequent years he has adhered to the oeeupation with which he began his industrial record. In the spring of 1876 he emigrated to this country, landing at Philadelphia and coming at once to Houston county, Minnesota, and there working out as a farm laborer for two or three years. His wages were small and the work was hard, but his spirit and determination kept him at it, and he was careful in saving what he could of his earnings.
From Houston county Mr. Hoffe moved to Goodhue county, this state, and there he continued to work as a farm laborer for four years. In 1883 he came to
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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY OF POLK COUNTY
Polk county and purchased 160 acres of land south- east of the village of Fertile, paying $800 for the tract. He improved his land as much as he could, but as he was still compelled to earn his living by working for other farmers, his efforts in this direction for some time were limited. But he continued them until the spring of 1899, when he moved to the farm on which he now lives, and he has kept them up ever since, both on that farm and ou all his other tracts. He now owns 1,240 acres of first-rate land improved with good buildings and constituting one of the most desirable and valuable homes in his township, all of
which has been acquired by his own industry and thrift.
Mr. Hoffe was married in Grand Forks, North Dakota, in the spring of 1888 to Miss Sarah Dall, who, also, is a native of Norway. They have two children, their sons Nels and Peder O. The head of the house has served for some years on the township board and also as a member of the school board, and he is one of the directors of the Farmers' State Bank of Fertile. He and his wife are members of the Synod Lutheran church.
WILLIAM HOLLEY.
William Holley was for a quarter of a century actively engaged in farming in Polk county, but since 1905 lived retired from active pursuits and making his home in East Grand Forks, until his death December 9, 1915. William Holley contributed a liberal share of enterprise and assistance in building up and devel- oping this county, and won the lasting esteem of all who knew him by the uprightness of his life, his suc- cessful management of his own affairs and his cordial and helpful interest in the progress and enduring welfare of his locality.
Mr. Holley was born near Toronto, Canada, August 1, 1842, and remained there until 1880 progressively engaged in farming after leaving school. In March, 1880, he became a resident of Polk county, locating in Grand Forks township, where he purchased a farm of nearly eighty acres. He developed and improved this farm and made his home on it until the autumn of
1905, when he retired from business and changed his residence to East Grand Forks. His farm now com- prises 240 acres and is all under cultivation and well improved with good buildings and all necessary equipment for its vigorous and systematic tillage according to the most approved present-day methods.
On February 6, 1877, Mr. Holley was married in Canada to Miss Margaret Wallace, of the same nativity as himself and born March 4, 1859. They had one child, their son William Henry Wallace Holley, who was born in Grand Forks township, this county, August 31, 1890. The parents were zealous and active members of the Presbyterian church, and the father always took a good citizen's part in the work of pushing the progress of Polk county forward along all lines of wholesome development and seeing that its public affairs were wisely, honestly and economically managed.
OLE F. BRUUN.
Coming to the United States at the age of eighteen, with no eapital but his resolute spirit, active mind, habits of industry and frugality and quick perception of opportunities for advancement, and using all his chances to better his condition to good advantage, Ole F. Bruun, one of the leading and successful farmers
of Vineland township, this county, has accumulated a well-earned competency for life and raised himself to influence and general esteem among his fellow men by his sterling citizenship and useful services to his community. His career furnishes a striking illustra- tion of the value of pluck, energy and persistency,
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coupled with determination to win, especially in a land of such abundant opportunity as this one dis- plays.
Mr. Bruun is a native of Norway, born October 27, 1862. In the spring of 1880 he emigrated to the United States and located first in Ottertail county, Minnesota, where he arrived May 24 and worked at farm labor until October. He then came to Polk county, and here he continued to work out as a farm hand until the spring of 1888. On June 4, of that year, he was united in marriage with Miss Gea Thore- son, who was born in Fillmore county, Minnesota, September 8, 1868.
After his marriage Mr. Bruun took np his residence on a farm in Section 24, Tynsid township, Polk connty, buying eighty acres of land, which he still owns and which he has improved with good buildings
and made highly productive. In 1901 he bought 363 acres in Section 2, Vineland township, and changed his residence to that traet, on which he also erected a fine set of buildings. He now owns 683 aeres in all, and has the whole extent under cultivation and yield- ing excellent crops under his judicious and progressive tillage. He has served as a member of the township board of supervisors, township treasurer, assessor and treasurer of his school district. For some years he has also been the treasurer of the Lutheran Free church, of which he and his family are members.
Mr. and Mrs. Bruun have twelve children : Clara, Julia, IIelga, Freda, Thelma, Frederick, Ida, Harold, Georga, Olinda, Norman and Alpha. Clara is the wife of Ole Dahlen, and has her home in Crookston. The other children are living at or near the home of their parents.
OLE N. OLSLUND.
Neither the favors of fortune nor adventitious eir- cumstanees, except as he found or made them, have had anything to do with the progressive and successful career of Ole N. Olslund, one of the enterprising and prosperous farmers of Polk county, whose comfortable and attractive country home is located in Section 24, Reis township. Every step of his advancement in life has been hewed out by himself, and all his aequisi- tions and possessions are the fruits of his own diligenee, thrift, good management and fine business capacity.
Mr. Olslund was born in Norway December 3, 1856, and when he was betwen eight and nine years of age came to the United States with his father and brother John. They located first at Rockford, Illinois, and two years later moved to Allamakee county, Iowa. The father died in that county at the age of seventy years, and Mr. Olslund's brother John also died there when he was about twelve. Mr. Olslund himself con- tinued to live in Allamakee county, Iowa, until he reached the age of nineteen, and then made his home at different places until 1881. In April of that year
he became a resident of Polk county, Minnesota, taking up a homestead of 160 aeres in Section 14, Reis town- ship. He improved his land and lived on it for some years, then sold it and bought the fine farm of 200 aeres in Section 24, Reis township, on which he now has his home, and on which he erected the buildings.
The public affairs of the county, especially those of his own township, have always deeply and practically interested Mr. Olslund, and he has been of great serv- ice to the people in helping to administer them wisely, having filled every local office except that of township clerk, and winning high approval by the excellent record he made in each. As a private citizen, too, he has been very useful by the force of his example, his enterprise, progressiveness and breadth of view in all undertakings for the general welfare, and his un- hesitating readiness to assist in promoting them.
Mr. Olslund was married March 13, 1884, to Miss Hannah Johnson, a native of Allamakee county, Iowa, and the daughter of John G. Johnson, who settled in Reis township in 1879, and was one of its revered pioneers. He died in that township in the autumn of
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1914, when he was about seventy-six years old. Mr. and Mrs. Olslund are the parents of ten children, Elmer, Grace, Milton, Orley, Harrietta, Myrtle, Reuben, Ethelyn, Curtis and Lewis. Grace is now the
wife of Earnest Dennison. The parents are active and zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Beltrami.
ERICK O. STORTROEM.
This progressive and successful farmer of Vineland township, Polk county, is one of the foreign born men of sturdy and sterling worth who have come to this country for better opportunities for advancement than their native lands seemed to offer and have not only helped themselves but have also aided vastly in the development and improvement of the country by doing so. He is a good representative of the reliable manhood of Norway, where he was born September 1, 1855, and where he was reared to the age of twenty- two and obtained a common school education.
In June, 1877, Mr. Stortroem emigrated to this country and located first in Pierce county, Wisconsin, where he remained until the spring of 1878, then came to Polk county, Minnesota, and pre-empted 160 acres of land in Section 20, Vineland township. Two and a half years later he turned in that 160 acres as part of a homestead in the same section, and on that he lived until the fall of 1883, when he moved to Section 19, on which he has since had his home. He now owns 200 acres, all of which tract is improved and under advanced cultivation according to the most approved
methods of present-day farming and yielding excellent crops.
Mr. Stortroem has taken a cordial and helpful interest in all the public and business affairs of his township and rendered the people good service in con- nection with many of them. He has held the office of secretary of the Vineland Mutual Fire Insurance com- pany for ten years and now held the same position again, and has been township treasurer, township assessor and for a long time a member of the board of supervisors, of which he has been chairman for a number of years. He is also treasurer of the Sand Hill Norwegian Lutheran church, to which he and the members of his family belong.
On June 1, 1883, Mr. Stortroem was united in mar- riage with Miss Mary Bangen, who is, like himself, a native of Norway. They have seven children, Serena, Ole, Jennie, Walberg, Stella, Mabel and Ernest. Serena has become the wife of Thomas Gilbertson. The rest of the children are still members of the parental family circle.
OLE H. DALE.
Since the age of twelve years Ole H. Dale, one of the successful and progressive farmers of Knute town- ship, Polk county, and at the time of this writing (1915) chairman of the township board, has been a resident of the United States and the northwest. He is, therefore, fully in touch with the residents of this section of the country and heartily in sympathy with all their proper aspiration and undertakings. The people of his township regard him as one of their most useful and enterprising men and a representative citi-
zen among them, sterling, sturdy, public-spirited and reliable.
Mr. Dale was born in Norway July 3, 1850, the son of Halvor T. and Anna (Jacobson) Dale, who belonged to families long domesticated in that country. In 1862 they emigrated to America and took up their residence in Dane county, Wisconsin, where they remained about two years. At the end of that period they moved to Faribault county, Minnesota, and on a homestead in that county, which he took up soon after
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his arrival there, the father died in 1871 aged nearly cighty-three years. The mother also died in that county in 1891 at an advanced age and well esteemed, as was the father wherever he was known.
Their son Ole reached manhood on his father's farm in Faribault county and completed his education in the State Normal School at Mankato. For a number of years he taught school in Waseca county, Minne- sota, and in the spring of 1883 came to Polk county and filed on 160 acres of land in section 27, Knute township. For the first fifteen years of his residence in this county he again taught school while improving his farm and bringing it to productiveness, but since the expiration of the period named he has devoted his energies wholly to his farming operations except what have been required in the performance of publie duties to which the people have chosen him. He has the
greater part of his land under cultivation and the farm is well improved with good buildings suitable to its needs for every purpose.
Mr. Dale has always taken au active and serviceable part in the public affairs of his township. Ile has served as assessor three years, town clerk six years, justice of the peace fourteen years. During the last thirteen years he has been chairman of the town board.
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