USA > Minnesota > Polk County > Compendium of history and biography of Polk County, Minnesota > Part 45
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Mr. Haftorson was born in Norway March 24, 1860,
the son of Berssvend and Anna (Balstad) Haftorson, with whom he eame to America and located in Alla- makee county, Iowa, in 1865. There the family lived until 1883, and there the son grew to manhood and obtained his education. In the fall of 1883 they all moved to Polk county, Minnesota, and took up their residence in Liberty township, where the parents resided for many years. Late in life they moved to the state of Washington, but four years afterward returned to this eounty and made their home with their son Haftor. The father died June 24, 1912, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and the mother
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March 17, 1913, when she was eighty-five. They were the parents of seven children, five of whom grew to maturity. They were Haftor, his sister Mary, and his brothers Eleseus, Albert and Louis. Mary is now the wife of G. K. Gulliekson. Elesens died in the state of Washington. Albert is a resident of Idaho and Louis has had his home in Oregon for many years.
Haftor B. Haftorson has lived in Polk county con- tinuously sinee 1883, except for two years and a half, during which he was engaged in publishing the Evan- geli Basun, a Norwegian religions paper. Throughout the rest of his life here he has been engaged in general farming principally. About 1885 he purchased the farm on which he is now living, and this he has greatly improved with good buildings and systematic cultivation until he has made it one of the choice farms in his township. He has taken an active part in all township affairs and has held and ably filled
the offices of chairman of the township board and township assessor in Onstad township.
In December, 1883, Mr. Haftorson was married in Liberty township, this county, to Miss Sarah Olson, who died in Onstad township February 23, 1893. They became the parents of five children, only two of whom are living: Carola, who is the wife of Ole Leiran, and Hannah. Bennie and Alton died near together of diphtheria, the former in his seventeenth and the latter in his fifteenth year. Fifth child was born dead and buried with its mother.
On October 1, 1894, Mr. Haftorson contracted a second mariage, which united him with Miss Belle Olson, who was born in Norway August 28, 1868. Of the eight children born of this union three died in childhood. The five who are living are Harry, Willie, Oluf, Ruth and Irene.
SEVER QUARBERG.
During all of the last forty years this progressive and prosperous farmer and enterprising, public- spirited citizen of Fairfax township, this county, has been a resident of the northwest and at two periods of the time has manfully braved the hardships, priva- tions and dangers of the frontier. Through all diffi- culties, however, he has made his way with steady progress, relying wholly on his own industry, ability and good management to advance liis interests, and forcing every step of his advancement to tell to his benefit.
Mr. Quarberg was born in the city of Ringsaker, Norway, May 20, 1861, and came to the United States with his parents when he was about fourteen years old. The family located in Buffalo county, Wisconsin, on arriving in this country, and there Sever grew to manhood, obtained what education was within his reach and helped to make a traet of wild timber land over into a productive farm. He remained at home with his parents until he reached the age of twenty- five, then came to Polk county in 1885 and bought a
prairie homestead claim in Onstad township some miles east of his present home. The homestead had been proved up on, and Mr. Quarberg paid $800 for it, although he had only $600 in cash at the time when he made the purchase.
On that farm Mr. Quarberg lived twenty-eight years, making good improvements, adding another for which he paid $1,000, and raising good crops of wheat, oats, flax and barley, and also raising and feed- ing live stock for his own use and for the markets. In 1910 he sold his land at a good advance over the original cost and bought the old Himmelsbach farm of 400 acres, on which he now lives, and on which he has erected new buildings at a cost of about $5,000 to take the place of the old shacks the farm contained when he bought it. He has also sunk a deep artesian well on the place, and this furnishes him an abundant supply of excellent water for every purpose.
Mr. Quarberg paid $29 an acre for his new farm and has since devoted his time and energy to mixed farming and his dairy business and live stock industry.
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In 1915 he raised about 8,500 bushels of grain, 3,700 bushels of which were wheat. He also keeps regularly some forty head of cattle and milks fifteen cows, sell- ing eream to the Crookston creamery. The sire of his herd is a thoroughbred Shorthorn, and his stoek is always in good condition. He does not confine him- self to eattle, however, but also raises good draft horses and uses them in his plowing.
While this good eitizen is wholly devoted to his farm and its interests, he never neglects the affairs of his township or the public welfare in any way. He helped to organize Onstad township, which was named for a pioneer who is now living at Maple Bay in God- frey township, and has served on the township board in both Onstad and Fairfax townships. He also helped to build Hafslo church, now in Russia town-
ship, and is still a member of it and one of its trustees, and he has served for years on the school board wherever he has lived and taken an active interest in educational matters.
Mr. Quarberg was married while he was living in Wisconsin to Miss Anna Sylversterson, also a native of Norway. They have three sons and one daughter. The daughter is May Matilda, now the wife of Sever Lee, a butter manufacturer in Crookston. The sons are : Alfred Selmer, who is living on the home farm ; Oscar Melvin, who is a graduate of the State Agricul- tural School at Crookston, and Arthur Oliver, who pursued a course of special training at Crookston college and is now a salesman and bookkeeper in Crookston.
DANIEL ANDERSON.
Daniel Anderson, a well known farmer of Knute township, was born in Sweden, July 26, 1848, and spent his early manhood in his native land. IIe was a blacksmith by trade and after coming to the United States in 1879 worked at his trade for some years in Douglas county, Minnesota. He came to Polk county in 1883 and filed on a preemption claim September 3 of that year but did not make his home on the land until four years later. From the first years of hard toil and privations of the pioneer farm life with a meager income, he has risen through native ability and thrift to his present suecess and now owns a half section of Polk county land which he has put in the front ranks of its notably prosperous farming section. Seventy-five acres of the home farm, in seetion fourteen of Knute township, and sixty acres in the second quarter section are under cultivation and his enterprises also include stock farming and dairying. He keeps a herd of twelve dairy cows and is a stock- holder in the cooperative creamery at MeIntosh, four miles east of his farm. His natural aptitude and liking for mechanics led to his operation of a private work shop on his place for many years, where he
worked at his old trade and at wood work for his own benefit and occupation. In his farming activities, Mr. Anderson has displayed the results of enterprise and careful study and has triumphed with notable success over the old belief that apple culture was impossible for this section, and has had some splendid crops of fine grade apples. Willwater lake, of some sixty acres in extent lies entirely within the boundaries of his farm and provides excellent fishing sport beside adding to the natural attractions of the home. The first log farm house was replaced in 1902 by a comfort- able modern home which oceupies a most happily chosen site on the banks of the lake. Mr. Anderson has given his influence in all affairs of public welfare and has given able service as a member of the town- ship board. He has always been an enthusiastic hunts- man, having enjoyed elk hunts as a young man in Sweden and is still a devotee to the hearty out of door sports. He has been twice married. His first mar- riage was in Sweden to Johanna Larsen, who died in Douglas county, and was survived by five children, John, owns a farm in Knute township; Eriek, now farming in Canada ; Willie, who is in the livery busi-
MR. AND MRS. JOHN REMICK
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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY OF POLK COUNTY
ness at Erskine and owns a farm in Knute township; Daniel, who operates a threshing machine outfit, and Andrew, who has a claim in Montana. Mr. Ander- son's second union was with Christina Peterson, of Douglas county, and they have five children, Arthur,
Selma, who like her brothers owns a Montana claim; Minnie, Albin and Esther is at home. Arthur Ander- son has secured a claim in Montana. John and Arthur operate a threshing outfit.
J. F. KING.
J. F. King, of Euclid, proprietor of a full line of agricultural implements and a hardware store and well known citizen of the county, is a native of Ontario, Canada, and has been a resident of Polk county since 1890, when he was appointed station agent for the Great Northern railroad, at Mallery. Until recent years, his career has been devoted to railroad work, having been employed by the Great Northern road as station agent in Polk county for twenty-two years and previous to that time he had spent several years in the same occupation in North Dakota. In 1904 he was transferred from Mallery to Euclid and here he retired from his former interests after the many years of his able and competent service as a railroad man. He entered upon his present mercantile enterprise in 1915, establishing a hardware and agricultural imple- ment business and erecting a modern and well equipped building. During the years of his residence
in the county, Mr. King has earned the respect and confidence of its citizens and has been given a pros- perous welcome in his commercial activities. He was married to Mary O. Hunter, in 1891. She is the daughter of Thomas Hunter, who for twenty years, was section foreman at Mallery, for the Great Northern railroad and now makes his home in Alberta, Canada. Nine children have been born to Mr. King and his wife, Catherine, Nellie, Clara, William, who is associated with his father in the hardware business, John, Mary, Hazel, Edward and Estelle. The two oldest daughters, Catherine King and Nellie King are graduates of the high school at Warren and of the State Normal school and are both employed as teachers in the schools of Polk county, the latter being the principal of the high school at Euclid. The third daughter Clara is bookkeeper and secretary of the firm's accounts.
JOHN REMICK.
John Remick, one of the progressive and prosper- ous farmers of Grove Park township, this county, is practically a self-made man in the best sense of the term, as he has made his advancement in life wholly by his own efforts, nnaided by the favors of fortune or propitious circumstances. Every step of his progress has been planned and worked out by himself, and none that he has taken has ever been retraced because he was unable to hold his ground.
Mr. Remick was born in Rice county, Minnesota, November 15, 1871, the son of Joseph and Lizzie (Ault) Remick, natives of Germany. He was the sixth horn of their nine children, five sons and four 19
daughters. He grew to the age of nineteen on his father's farm in Rice county and obtained his edu- cation at the country school in the neighborhood. In 1890 he came to Polk county, and here he has ever since resided. For a while after his arrival in this county he lived with his sister Mary, who is the wife of Charles Damann, and worked out on farms in the vicinity. He then rented land and farmed on his own account as a tenant until 1894, when he bought 160 acres of land in section 3, Grove Park township, on which he has since maintained his home.
By subsequent purchases Mr. Remick has doubled the size of his farm, and his whole tract of 320 acres
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is in an improved condition, under systematie eulti- vation and yielding exeellent returns for the labor and skill he expends upon it. He has ereeted attrae- tive and comfortable buildings, making his place one of the desirable rural homes in his township. lle follows general farming and does it in an intelligent and progressive way, making all of his industry tell to his advantage, and add, also, to the attractiveness and prosperity of the township.
On Oetober 23, 1894, Mr. Remiek was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Quesnel, who was born in wife are members of the Catholic church.
Canada, October 12, 1875, a daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth Christine (Charien) Quesnel, also natives of Canada. They were the parents of ten children, of whom Mrs. Remick was the fourth in the order of birth. She and her husband have five children, Viola, Lloyd, Herbert, Robert and Roy. Mr. Remick has taken an active part in the publie affairs of his town- ship and filled several of its important public offiees, as a member of the township board, with credit to himself and benefit to the township. He and his
JOIIN E. TICE.
John E. Tiee, a prominent farmer of Grove Park township, was born near Niagara Falls, Ontario, December 23, 1856, and came to the United States and to St. Paul October 29, 1878. For two years he was employed in farm labor in Ottertail county and in April, 1880, filed on his Polk county homestead, in seetion twenty-eight of Grove Park township. In the following spring he suffered the loss of his farm house, the ereetion of which had required the investment of his entire capital and he was compelled to build up his finanees in other oeeupation for a time. He worked in the harvest fields and became foreman in the briekyard at Crookston, 1881, where he directed the manufacture of the material used in the First National bank building. In 1882 he went to Fergus Falls and for two years was foreman of the brickyard there, some of the output being used in the construc- tion of the Grand Hotel. Since then he has devoted his attention to his farm which in the original tract consisted of prairie and timber land. IIe has now added sixty acres to his homestead and has one hun- dred and forty aeres in cultivation. This is one of the most prosperous estates of the community and a notable example of the thrift and enterprise of the farming population of Polk county who have advaneed the general welfare of the region to its present high standard of development. Mr. Tice engages in grain and stock farming and as a dairy farmer is a patron
of the cooperative creamery at Mentor. Although he was not present at the first eleetion held in the town- ship, being employed at brick making in its season, he has always been prominently associated with the direction and promotion of publie interests and a forceful supporter of any projeet which tended to the welfare of the community. As a pioneer of the section he recalls the significance and associations of the naming of the township and town, the first receiv- ing its name from the many groves which dotted its territory and the postoffice town having been named Mentor by Mrs. E. E. Abbott in honor of President Garfield's home. Mr. Tiee is a member of the Demo- eratic party and has ever been interested in politieal activities and was allied with the Farmers Allianee and Peoples party of earlier days. Ilis official serv- iee has been almost continuous, in the various offices, as treasurer for 19 years, justice of peace 2 years, and as a member of the township board, being ehair- man of that body for seven years, and as a mem- ber of the school board. He is now president of the school board of Mentor. In business enterprise, he is associated with the cooperative elevator ereamery and store as a shareholder. Mr. Tiee has been a mem- ber of the Modern Woodmen of America for many years and was one of the organizers of the Episcopal church at Mentor and has since served its interests. He was married in Fergus Falls, July 3, 1883, to
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Louise Kenline, a native of Dubuque, Iowa. Eight children have been born to this union, Essica, for- merly a teacher in Polk county schools and now the wife of Albert Strand, of Staples, Minnesota ; Frankie ; Elwood, associated with the mercantile interests of Reed's Store at Black Duck, Minnesota, for six years; Dorothy ; Anna, a student in the Mentor high school ; Joyce, who is attending high school at Crookston ; Rob- ert and Elaine, attending the Mentor school. Frankie
Tice and Dorothy Tice have both been employed in the Polk county schools. The former who has taught ten years continues to teach near East Grand Forks, while the latter, a teacher of four years, is a student in the business college at Crookston. The Tice home is an attractive residence and is situated but a short distance from Mentor, as the farm is partly within the village boundaries.
LEWIS E. LARSON.
Lewis E. Larson, a well known farmer and early settler of Esther township, has been a resident of Minnesota since he was a lad of ten years, when he came with his parents to Vernon county. IIe was born in Norway, in November, 1852, the son of Eriek and Caroline Larson, who after living for several years in Vernon county, settled in Chippewa county, where the latter is still living, having survived the death of her husband some fourteen years. Lewis Larson grew to manhood in Chippewa county, work- ing at farm work and in the winters was employed in the pineries of Wisconsin and during the years spent as a lumber man made a number of log drives down the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers to Hanni- bal, Missouri, St. Louis and other river ports. In the spring of 1877, in company with James Peterson, he traveled through Dakota with the intention of securing farm land but Minnesota became their choice and they secured land in Polk county where they have sinee remained neighbors. Mr. Larson's homestead was in seetion thirty of Northland township, along the Marais river and he made his home in a log house on that tract for several years meanwhile purchasing eighty acres of sehool land, bordering the river and a quarter section of railroad land in section thirty-one of North- land township. After six years he moved on the school land and this place has since been his home. On coming to Polk county, he possessed a small capital and a team of horses and during the first season put some fifteen acres under cultivation which yielded him
a good crop and that fall, in company with his brother- in-law, James Peterson, with whom he had formerly been associated in the threshing business, he journeyed back to Chippewa county, where they invested in a threshing machine, which they operated that season near Climax, in Polk county. In the following fall they transferred their activities to the Marais river and to territory in Dakota. Their machine was the first to be brought north of Grand Forks and after selling this, some years later they bought a steam thresher and continued in partnership for some time. Mr. Larson has met with success in his agricultural interests and has built up a fine farm property which he devotes mainly to the raising of grain. IIe also is interested in stoek and dairy farming and breeds a fine grade of Short Horn cattle. As a pioneer citizen he was identified with the early organization of Esther and Higdem townships and was a member of the first township board and has continued to give efficient service as a member of that body ever since, serving for many years as chairman. His influence has ever been prominent in matters of public betterment and he has been especially active in the interests of educa- tional movements and the public school system. He has always been a loyal supporter of the Grand Marais Lutheran church and was one of the original members of that organization. Of his family, two sisters lived in Polk county and a brother, Andrew Larson resides at Oslo, Minnesota. The sisters were Carrie Larson, the wife of Eriek Peterson of Northland township and
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Severina Larson who married Ole Bosgard and lived in Esther township. Both are now dead. Lewis Larson was married in Chippewa county, to Agnes Peterson, a sister of James Peterson, and a native of Sweden. Five children were born to this union, Adolph, of East Grand Forks; Annie, who died at the age of nineteen, a few months after her marriage to Peter Baker of Goodhue county; Aretrander, who lives on the home place; Julius, who resides in East Grand Forks, and Amanda, the wife of Osear Steele,
a mail carrier on an East Grand Forks route. The death of Mrs. Larson oeeurred eleven years after their marriage and in 1889, Mr. Larson contracted a second union with Anna Dalberg, who is a native of Sweden and they have four children, Elmer, who is a graduate of Aaker's business college at Grand Forks, Wilhelm, Elvin and Rudolph. After twenty-six years union, the latter Mrs. Larson died on December 6, 1915. Mr. Larson is still on the farm.
CHARLES W. WILDER.
Since March 15, 1899, Charles W. Wilder, of Crooks- ton township, has been a resident of Polk county, and during nearly all of the time has been engaged in market gardening on a large scale and the leader in that industry in this part of Minnesota. He has also been carrying on general farming operations for a number of years on three different farms which he owns and has cultivated under his direct personal supervision and control. He was not the pioneer in the market gardening line but has been very successful in it, having the best years of the trade at his com- mand during the activity of the big lumbering mill in Crookston, which is now dismantled. His success in the business has led to aetive competition, but he is still the leader in the particular line which he started in this locality.
Mr. Wilder was born and reared in the province of Ontario, Canada, and in 1883 went to Dickey county, North Dakota, and took up a pre-emption and a tree elaim. IIe lived on these claims sixteen years and was engaged in raising grain. When he went to North Dakota he had no eapital, and was one of the first settlers on the prairie in what is now Diekey county. The prairie was then covered with buffalo in that region, and the soil is strewn with their bones, for they were slaughtered with relentless extravagance.
On his arrival in this county, with $2,500 in cash as his eapital, Mr. Wilder began operations as a market gardener on 34 acres of land. He raised vegetables
and small fruits for sale and disposed of them at houses and stores in Crookston. He put up a hothouse of fair proportions to which he added others as his trade inereased. From time to time he bought addi- tional land, and he now owns and cultivates his home farm of 164 acres in Section 32, Crookston township, and another river farm of 160 acres and one of 40 acres on the prairie in Section 33, Fairfax township. For some of this land he paid $50 an aere, but he has made good use of it and rendered it far more valuable. He also ereeted all the buildings on his farins, expend- ing in doing so upwards of $5,000.
In his truck gardening Mr. Wikdler has about 40 aeres devoted to raising potatoes and 15 in tomatoes and sweet corn, onions, cabbage, ete., regularly with other products in proportion. He employs several per- sons in carrying on his work and uses modern machin- ery of the most approved models. He also condnets a general farming industry principally devoted to rais- ing grain, and has averaged 38 bushels of wheat to the acre on a tract of 15 aeres, and reached averages almost as high on other tracts from year to year.
Mr. Wilder was married while living in Dickey county, North Dakota, to Miss Lillian Coddington, a native of the state of New York. They have four children : Florence Elizabeth, who was graduated from the Crookston high school and taught school in Polk county three years, one of them in the town of Beltrami, and is now the wife of J. D. Dewar, of
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Hammond township; Jessie II., who is also a graduate of the Crookston high school and was a Polk county teacher, and is now the wife of F. R. Hedley, of Fair- fax township; Jay E., who is a graduate of the Agri- cultural College at Crookston, and Harvey A. Mrs. Wilder is a member of the Andover-Fairfax Social club and takes an active part in its proceedings and
is zealous in promoting its welfare. Mr. Wilder has served as treasurer of the township board and also as a member of the school board while living in North Dakota. ITis home farm is located just one mile east of the center of Crookston and is one of the best in Crookston township.
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