USA > Minnesota > Polk County > Compendium of history and biography of Polk County, Minnesota > Part 46
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ANTHON LINDEM.
Anthon Lindem, a prominent farmer of Bygland township and an ex-county commissioner, came to Polk county in 1878, from Buffalo county, Wisconsin. He was born in Norway, September 11, 1855, the son of Arund and Maren Christine Lindem, who located in Buffalo county in 1868, and there Anthon Lindem grew to manhood, receiving his education in the com- mon schools of that county. He assisted in the development of the pioneer farm, working for his parents and then thriftily extending his operations to those of a labor contractor, hiring men to clear and break traets of farm land and also handling town con- traets for road building. This proved a profitable venture and in 1878 he came to Polk county, where a friend Peter Anderson had settled some years pre- vions. Mr. Lindem secured a tree claim in Russia township and resumed his former occupation of break- ing new land and during the first summer experienced the inconveniences of frontier life, securing feed for his two teams with great difficulty and at the expense of a troublesome and tedious journey. In the fall of the same year he disposed of his land and removed to Bygland township, taking a homestead of eighty acres in section twenty-two which he later increased to a quarter section, and later by purchase increased to 241 aeres. His first house was a frame shaek and he later moved to the log house which occupied the second tract of land, which remained his home until the ereetion of the present structure in 1890. He con- tinned to invest in land and has owned various tracts and has made many lucrative transactions in timber lands. He also owns a tract of fruit land in the
Sacramento Valley, California. Although he has devoted his attention principally to his farm, he was, in company with Peter Wardner, also interested for a time in a store at Big Fork, Itasea county. His son, Martin Lindem, was in charge of this store and both he and his sister, Anna Lindem, are owners of land in that county. For many years, Mr. Lindem confined his agricultural activities to the raising of grain but has latterly turned more attention to stock farming, breeding Short Horn eattle for dairying and market- ing purposes. Both from natural location and improved equipment his farm ranks among the finest of this region and attests to its owner's progressive methods and business ability. As a publie spirited citizen and public servant, Mr. Lindem has given efficient service in various township offices and has been actively associated with educational matters as elerk of the school board for many years. In 1891 he was elected county commissioner and held this office for eight years, during which time, in company with his associates, M. E. Kirsch, of Crookston, and A. C. Reinhart, of East Grand Forks, he was identified with the erection of the county jail building and other important publie improvements. He is a member of the Republican party but does not pledge himself to any political powers, preferring to maintain the inde- pendence of his opinions. He was married in 1882, in Buffalo county, Wisconsin, to Christine Thompson, who is a native of that state. They have a family of five children, Anna, who was educated in the University of North Dakota and is a Polk county teacher; Martin, who was in charge of the store in
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Itasea county for some years and is now fitting himself for the medieal profession, in the University of North Dakota; Alfred, who was also a student at Grand Forks and is now managing his father's farm; Oscar, who has entered the same University after
graduating from Concordia college, at Moorhead, Minnesota, and Selma, a member of the sophmore elass of the Grand Forks high school. Mr. Lindem and his family are all active members of the United Lutheran church.
JAMES DRISCOLL.
James Driscoll, successful farmer of Huntsville homestead of Z. M. Hunt, in whose honor the township township and a county commissioner, was born in County Lanark, Ontario, May 1, 1860, the son of James and Johannah (O'Ilearn) Driscoll, natives of Ireland, the former from County Cork and his wife from County Kerry. They came to Polk county from Canada in 1879 and the father bought railroad land in Sullivan township, four mile and a half from East Grand Forks, on the Grand Marais. Two sons, Michael Driscoll and John Driscoll, had preceded him the year previous and had secured homestead claims. The father became a prosperous farmer of that region, operating an estate of four hundred and eighty acres. He lived to an advanced age and died March 9, 1894, his wife surviving him until 1912. Of the family of five sons, all were farmers in Polk eounty. The death of the eldest. John Driscoll, a resident of Sullivan township occurred September 24. 1907. Michael Driscoll, Jerry Driscoll and Thomas Driscoll are farmers in the same township, the latter being the present owner of his father's farm. James Driscoll and the members of his family were all communieants of the Sacred Heart church at East Grand Forks. The subject of our sketch has resided in this county since his youth and for a number of years was associated with two of his brothers in the operation of the home farm. In 1891 he purchased the south half of section nine of Huntsville township and entered upon his independent career. This tract has continued to be his home, although he has extended its boundaries to inelude five hundred and eighty acres and also owns a quarter section on the Grand Marias, some two miles distant. The home farm is located four miles south- east of East Grand Forks and includes the former
was named. Mr. Driscoll is one of the progressive and enterprising agriculturists of the county and has built up a prosperous model estate in a justly famed farming community. Aside from his large operations as a grain farmer he is extensively interested in stock raising and also keeps a herd of dairy cattle. His place is stocked with Holstein and Short Horn cattle and he devotes a quarter section to pasturage use. His farm is equipped with good building and modern facilities for efficient farming. Not only in his private interests but as a citizen, Mr. Driscoll stands for progress and the best interests. Ile has given able services in public office and has been honored with various local offices of the township, serving as super- visor and chairman of the township board and has ever exercised his influence for the development of the country's resources through drainage and good roads projects. He was appointed county commissioner as the successor of his brother, Jolin Driscoll, whose death ocenrred during the third year of his term and at the next election, his appointment was endorsed at the polls and he was again returned to office in 1912. Mr. Driscoll is a member of the Republican party. His marriage to Anna Sullivan was solemnized November 23, 1891. She is a native of County Lanark, Ontario, the daughter of Maurice and Anna (Cunningham) Sullivan, of East Grand Forks. Maurice Sullivan is a brother of Tim Sullivan, an eminent citizen of this county, and came to Minnesota when his daughter, Anna, was a small child. Mr. Driscoll and his wife have nine children: James, Lillian, Alda, a graduate of the normal school at East Grand Forks and a teacher in the school at Melville;
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Edna, a student in St. Marys Academy at Milwaukee; They are all members of the Sacred Heart Catholic Louise, who is attending high school at East Grand church.
Forks; Leonard, Charles, Mary aud Ruth Frances.
WILLIAM HENRY BAILEY.
William Henry Bailey, a prominent farmer of Knute township, was born in Winnabago county, Wis- consin, July 5, 1855. His parents were of English nativity and were married in Wisconsin. After the death of his father, his mother became the wife of William Rostron and was a resident of Crookston in the early eighties. William H. Bailey came to Crook- ston in 1880 and has shared in the activities ineident to the rapidly developing prosperity of Polk county, as a public spirited citizen and successful farmer. In his youth he was apprentieed to the mason trade and when twenty years of age, went to Michigan, where he was employed for a time and later removed to Iowa. He made the trip to Crookston in an open buggy and made his home there for years, having sceured a posi- tion with the Great Northern railroad as fireman and brakeman. Being temporarily disabled for railroad work through an injury received in coupling cars, he decided to turn his attention to farming and without inspecting the land which was to be his future home, filed on a homestead on Section 19 in Knute township. He continued his employment with the railroad for a few years and then devoted his efforts to his farming enterprise and has resided on his place since Jannary 8, 1884. During the first years, limited financial resources and the inconveniences of the sparsely settled and nndeveloped frontier country added their share to the hardships which eonfront the pioneer famner. Crookston, thirty-five miles distant across country, was the nearest railway station and the most accessible trading point was at Maple Bay, and this ten mile trip could not be made with a wagon, making it necessary to paek provisions on foot. For several years he worked at harvesting and at the various employment presented by local conditions, assisting in elearing land and digging wells and eellars and found
a further source of revenue in dealing in cord wood, buying the wood for one dollar a eord and selling it in Erskine at a profitable increase. His first house was built of lumber which he hanled from Crookston. After three years he was enabled to purchase a team of oxen and to make rapid progress in the develop- ment of his own farm, clearing the land of the heavy timber and building up his present fine property. He has put sixty acres of the homestead under cultivation and has purchased eighty additional acres, all of which is devoted to grain and stock purposes. Like all progressive farmers, he is interested in raising the standard of farm stock and raises blooded animals and also keeps dairy cattle, being a patron of the co-opera- tive creamery at Erskine, in which he is a stockholder. Mr. Bailey has never been an active worker in political eireles but in the interests of the community has served as justice of peace and on the school board and has ever been influential in behalf of the general welfare and progress. In all activities of life, he has displayed the capable and intelligent management and enter- prise, which have marked his highly efficient aecom- plishments as farmer and eitizen. His estate is equipped with modern buildings, the house having been ereeted in 1911 and commands a fine panorama of Lake Sarah, one of Polk county's most beautifully wooded lakes and popular resorts. In 1915 Mr. Bailey made a valuable addition to his attractive residence in the installation of a carbide lighting plant, a material advance in the conveniences of the modern country home and the first innovation of the sort to be made in the Thirteen Towns. The plant is also utilized in lighting the barn. Mr. Bailey enjoys linnting and recalls the experiences of the earlier days when the large game visited this section and he shot bear and deer upon his own land. He was mar-
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ried in 1879 to Elizabeth Bradt, of Mankato, who was born in Wisconsin. Four children were born to this union, William R., Thomas L., Celia A., the wife of Herman Newman of Everett, Washington, and
Robert O. William R. Bailey and Thomas L. Bailey are residents of Crookston, William R. Bailey being an engineer on the Great Northern railroad and the latter being employed in the postoffice.
HANS P. SOLSTAD.
Hans P. Solstad, one of the pioncer Norwegian Intheran pastors of the Red River valley, was the first preacher of the Norwegian Synod church to minister to congregations of that denomination in Polk county. After about seven years work in the ministry he was compelled by failing health to retire from active pastoral labor and has since resided on his homestead in Bygland township.
Reverend Solstad was born in Hapedalen, near Christiania, Norway, August 15, 1843, he was educated in the publie schools and grew to manhood in his native land. At eighteen years of age he entered the military service of Norway and served for five years in the artillery corps stationed at Christiania. At the end of his military service he decided to emigrate to the United States. In July, 1866, he arrived at Albert Lea, Minnesota. He at onee seenred work. From 1866 to 1869, he worked as a farm laborer, on railroad work, and in a machine shop, all the time in the southern part of the state.
In 1869 he entered Luther College at Decorah, Iowa, as a student in the normal course, graduating from that course three years later. He then taught parochial school for one year in congregations near Albert Lea. Several of his friends working as ministers had for several years been encouraging him to take up the study of theology preparatory to enter- ing the field as a minister of the gospel to his Nor- wegian American countrymen. This also became his choice for a calling and accordingly in 1873 he en- rolled as a student in the Concordia Theological Seminary of St. Louis, Missouri. This institution had at that time the great German Lutheran theologian Dr. C. F. Walther as its president. After two years of study at St. Louis Mr. Solstad was transferred to
the Seminary at Springfield, Illinois. Here he was graduated in the spring of 1876.
After his gradnation he received through the Church Council of the Norwegian Synod a call from three recently organized frontier congregations in Polk county, Minnesota, and one in Grand Forks, North Dakota ..
In July, 1876, he was ordained with five other young men for the ministry by President, Rt. Rev. H. A. Preus in the Washington Prairie church, near Decorah, Iowa: In the fall of 1876 he came west to take charge of his call: The Bygland, congregation in Bygland township; Our Saviours, at Crookston ; St. Peters, on the Sand Hill river and Walle, in Grand Forks county, North Dakota. These congregations were organized about two years previous by Rev. B. Harstad, of Mayville, North Dakota, who had ten- porarily under great difficulties and hardships minis- tered to their spiritnal needs. The Bygland congre- gation had begun the erection of a log church in 1876. The other congregations had no special building for worship. Services were held in the sod houses and log cabins of the early settlers. In some of the congre- gations served by Rev. Solstad the beautiful custom prevailed that the family at whose house services were held very hospitably entertained the whole gathering for dinner.
Rev. Solstad made his home in Bygland township. HIe reecived no definite salary from his congregations. In those early days of struggle and hardships no one had much to give. What the members of his congre- gations had to give, they gave gladly and generously towards the support of the pastor and his family.
In 1877 in order to get a home he filed on the piece of land that sinee has been his homestead. The same
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summer members of the Bygland church hauled oak logs to the claim and the minister got the house built with the aid of the congregation and moved his family into it. In those early years what he could raise on the farm was a necessary supplement to the financial assistance his parishioners were able to make towards his living expenses.
Rev. Solstad cheerfully cast his fortune with his people, dedicating himself to the advancement of his Master's work and laboring shoulder to shoulder with the settlers for the upbuilding of the best in com- munity life. Besides his congregations he was assigned to minister to the spiritual needs of the scattered Norwegian settlers on both sides of the Red river extending north to the Canadian boundary.
In performing his pastoral duties he endured all the hardships of the early days, of no roads and bridges and the settlers few and far between. ITis mission field ineluded about one hundred miles of territory. The first year he traveled on horseback, in summer crossing streams in a canoe and swimming his horse aeross. Rev. Solstad organized four new congregations and did the first church work at many other places where since flourishing churches of his faith have grown up. But the many arduous demands and strenuous exertions of the work told upon his strength and after seven years of ministration failing
health required his retirement. Since that time he has engaged in farming on his homestead which is located on section twenty-two, Bygland township. A son, Alfred Solstad, is associated with him in working the farm.
Mr. Solstad was married in Freeborn county, Minnesota, in 1876, to Annie Marie Hanson, who was educated at St. Olaf College at Northfield. Six chil- dren were born to them: Joseph, Peter, Martin, Alfred, Tiedmand and Albertina. The latter died in infancy and Mr. and Mrs. Solstad adopted a daughter Elena, who is now Mrs. Joel Ohnstad of Montfort, Wisconsin. Joseph, Peter and Martin were employed for several years as teachers in public schools in Minnesota and North Dakota. Martin and Tiedmand are now engaged in the mercantile business at Lang, Saskatchewan, while Joseph is superintendent of Rheinhardt's Sheet Metal Works at Grand Forks. Peter has also followed a mercantile career and is located at Eldred, Minnesota.
Rev. Solstad is one of the oldest living settlers of the valley. He has many memories of the carly years -of their struggles, disappointments and hardships, and treasured, dearly-memories of the friendships, joys and prosperity the years brought him; and he is deeply grateful that his life was cast among the people in this of the-Lord-richly-blessed, Red River valley.
FRANCIS MARION SLYTER.
If he who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before is a publie benefactor, much more is the man who starts a new enterprise in a community, the development of which leads to increased prosperity and comfort for hundreds and greatly augments the industrial and commercial importance of the con- munity, entitled to this distincion and large credit for fruitful enterprise. Francis Marion Slyter, an exten- sive and progressive farmer of Andover township, has earned the right to sueh consideration. When in 1912 he located on the farm which he still occupies there were not twenty-five dairy eows within six miles. Now
there are nearly ten hundred in the same territory, and the business is a source of great wealth and progress. Mr. Slyter brought ten cows and began making butter for sale, others having since followed his example with excellent results.
Franeis M. Slyter was born in Grundy county, Illinois, January 16, 1853. He moved to Benton county, Indiana, in 1872, and lived there nineteen years. In 1894 he changed his residenee to Kossuthı county, Iowa, where he bought a farm of 240 acres, which he sold in 1901 for more than double its cost. His two sons, L. E. and D. S. Slyter, had bought 160
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acres of Polk county land in Fairfax township, four miles southeast of Crookston, and their father eame to visit them and take a look at their purchase, but with no intention to make one himself. The county proved so attractive, however, that he soon made a selection of his present farm purchasing at a eost of $27.50 an acre. It comprises 320 aeres and was then almost wholly unimproved. He has expended about $5,000 in substantial and lasting improvements, and has the land well drained and all under cultivation and yield- ing excellent erops.
Mr. Slyter's place is the north half of section 25, Andover township, and lies four miles south of Crooks- ton. It is devoted principally to raising oats and barley and raising and feeding cattle, the strain pre- ferred being the Shorthorn breed. He has an artesian well 227 feet deep, which furnishes an abundant supply of excellent soft water for all purposes. His grain erop in 1915 amounted to some 7,000 bushels, and the yield per aere has been fair for years. He feeds regularly about 20 head of eattle and milks seven cows. Almost immediately after coming he began to set out some fruit trees and praetieally all the small fruits, ineluding grapes, his sueeess with them having been very gratifying.
Mr. Slyter had $6,000 in cash, live stock and some portions of a farm equipment. These combined with industry, good management and up-to-date farming methods he has wrought out results that are in the highest degree satisfactory. Ilis land was at first over- run with wild growths destructive of regular erops. Ile follows a judicious system of crop rotation, thus keeping the land in prime condition. In 1913 his profits totaled $3,300 and in 1915 they reached $3,700. He has refused offers of nearly $75 an aere for his farm and discouraged all attempts to get him to sell.
Mr. Slyter was married in Grundy county, Illinois, in 1870, to Miss Anna E. Steep, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. They have five children; Lewis Edward, who lives at Red Lake Falls, Minnesota; Derwin Sheri- dan, a farmer near Akron, Colorado; Ada Helen, the wife of J. F. MeAdams, of Sioux City, Iowa; Clara Belle, the wife of Ray Murphy, of Chariton, Iowa, and Irene Winifred, the wife of Walter Mergan, of Andover township. During the last few years Mr. Slyter has been a member of the school board and he is now also supervisor of the township. He is a Re- publican in political alliance and a Presbyterian in religions affiliation, membership being in Crookston.
HEURICK JOHANSON.
This progressive and prosperous farmer of Higdem township, this county, proprietor of the Valley Home farm, fifteen miles north and one west of Grand Forks and seven miles southeast of Oslo, has demonstrated in his career in this loeality the value of persisteney and determination when conditions are discouraging. Ile was born in Sweden May 3, 1856, and came to the United States in June, 1879, locating in Renville county, Minnesota, where one of his sisters was then living. He still owed for his transportation from his native land when he arrived in this state, but he worked at his trade of shoemaking in the different homes around him, making shoes for whole families, also did farm work and was employed one winter in
a shoe shop at Sacred Heart in Renville county, and so got a start after having devoted all his earnings to helping his parents before leaving home.
On May 8, 1880, Mr. Johanson filed on his first quarter section of land, Carl Krinersberg having eome to this county with him. His location was in Seetion 24, Higdem township, and the next fall he huilt a dwelling on it, borrowing some of the money needed for the purpose as he had paid part of the passage money for one of his parents and a brother. His dwelling was a little log house the logs for which he had to bring from Snake river four miles east of his home. For some time he eut eord wood in the winter and worked on railroad grading in the summer, hiring
GEORGE KRONSCHNABEL
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a man to break and enltivate his land. In the spring of 1883 he bought a yoke of oxen and rented a piece of land in order to get a crop. The land was wet and the erop was poor, and the next year the frost injured his grain and it brought a low price. Many settlers left the neighborhood at this time but he determined to remain, and in a short time he began to prosper.
As soon as he was able he bought forty acres of railroad land at $6 an aere, and a little later another traet of forty acres at $10 an acre and still later forty aeres more for which he paid $32.50 an acre. He also began to buy young cattle, but butter was only six cents a pound and eggs six cents a dozen, so he could not make much of his venture in this direction. His farm now comprises 280 aeres and is registered on the county records as "Valley Home Farm" in English, "Dalhem" in Swedish. It has a fine grove or wind- break planted by Mr. Johanson in 1896, and the judi- cial diteh, No. 1, through Polk and Marshall and into Pennington and Red Lake counties, forming an outlet from Snake to Red river, passes his farm on the
section line, although he had good drainage without this aid. He also owns ten acres of timber land on Red river.
Mr. Johanson was married in 1886 to Miss Elin Johanson, whom he knew in Sweden, her native land, and who came to this country to become his wife. They have four children: Elin, who is a senior in the Duluth Normal school and has been a teacher in Polk and Marshall counties; Hjalmar, Hihmna and David, who are living at home. The members of the family hold membership in the Swedish Mission church. In relation to public affairs Mr. Johanson is independent, striving always to give his support to the candidates best qualified for the offices they seek. He is now in his twenty-fifth year of continuous service as town- ship assessor, an office he does not desire bnt continues to fill from a sense of duty, and has been chairman of the school board for nineteen or twenty successive years, also one year town supervisor, one year road overseer and three years justice of the peace.
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