USA > Minnesota > Polk County > Compendium of history and biography of Polk County, Minnesota > Part 52
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to the end of their lives. She belongs to all the clubs and other useful organizations in her neighborhood and is an active worker in them and the church societies and a very forceful and effective occasional speaker. She and her husband are active members of the Catholic church of the Sacred Heart. Hail and other storms have seriously injured Mr. Sullivan's
erops at times, and in 1887 a eyelone destroyed a new horse barn which he had just built and injured his house, causing a loss of several hundred dollars. In 1884, when his whole crop was destroyed by hail he was appointed deputy county auditor under P. J. McGuire, who was the auditor for years but is now a resident of St. Paul.
OLE S. BASGAARD.
In his thirty-seven years of residence in this county Ole S. Basgaard, who is now one of the enterprising and prosperous farmers of Esther township, has shown himself to be a man of progressiveness and energy, wise in the management of his affairs and judicious in his support of undertakings for the wel- fare of the county and especially his home township, turning down none of merit and assisting none of doubtful propriety. He is an excellent citizen and is esteemed as such wherever he is known.
Mr. Basgaard was born in Norway, March 25, 1847, and was brought to this country by his parents when he was about one year old. The parents located at Noskes, in Dane county, Wisconsin, about fourteen miles east of the city of Madison. After living there six years they moved to Coon Valley, Vernon county, Wisconsin, and there they died. Their son Ole remained at home until he reached the age of twenty- one, but when he was nineteen he was married to Miss Sevrena Theresa Vigesaa, also a native of Nor- way and brought to this country by her parents when she was young.
When Mr. Basgaard reached the age of twenty-one he moved into this state and took up an 80 aere home- stead in Chippewa county, where he continued to live seven years, but he did not come to Polk county to live until May, 1878. He then took up a homestead of eighty acres on the prairie, but he did not prove up on this, as he sold it before the proving up time came. His brother-in-law, Ole E. Larson, came to this county in 1878, and had acquired the ownership of 160 acres of the land Mr. Basgaard now owns, and the latter
traded his interest in his prairie homestead to Mr. Larson for this quarter section. A few aeres of it were broken up but there were no buildings on the place. It was railroad land and in dispute, but he proceeded to farm and improve it. When the dispute over it was settled he received the sum of $350 as a rebate for the buildings he had erected and the work he had done on the place. The Grand Marais river winds across the land, and for some time a great deal of it was overflowed and swampy. But it is all well drained now and produces excellent hay.
The first dwelling Mr. Basgaard had on this land was made of bark and sod. In a little while this gave way to a little log house, and in this he made his home until he put up his present residence, which was one of the best in its locality when it was built. Grain and hay have been his principal produets on this farm until recently, when he has given a portion of his attention to raising live stock, preferring the Short- horn strain in cattle. In addition to his home farm he owns 120 acres of prairie land in Northland town- ship, three miles and a half distant from his home, but this is farmed by a tenant and is also devoted to grain, principally wheat.
Mr. and Mrs. Basgaard were members of the Grand Marais Lutheran church. Mrs. Basgaard died March 1, 1897. They had nine children, five of whom are living. Hilda is now the wife of John Rule of Bellingham, Washington. Laura is the wife of A. C. Corliss, a street car conductor in Fargo, North Dakota. Stephen is living on a farm in Beltrami county, Minnesota. Eddie and Mandus are still living at
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home. Hendry married Miss Ida Johnson and died at the age of thirty-four. His widow and two chil- dren, Clarence and Walter, are living with his father- in-law. Sigvart was killed by lightning at the age of
twenty-six. Carl died at the age of twenty-five. Emma, who was the wife of Peter Mattson, died at the age of thirty.
JAMES O. HOVLAND.
This esteemed citizen of Polk county, who has been a prominent farmer in Northwestern Minnesota for many years and is now president of the Farmers' State Bank of Winger, was born in Rock county, Wis. consin, May 25, 1861, and is a son of Lars J. and Ingeborg Hovland, who were born and reared in Nor- way and came to the United States in 1857, locating in Goodhue county, Minnesota, and remaining there until 1882, when they moved to Norman county, where the father took up a soldier's homestead. He had served nine months in the Civil war as a private in Company M, First Regiment, Minnesota Volunteer Artillery, and after his location in Norman county he continued to live there until his death in 1908. He was a faithful and consistent member of Faaberg Lutheran church.
James O. Hovland got his academie education at St. Olaf's school at Northfield and afterward pursued a course of special instruction in a business college in Rochester. In 1884 he moved to Rindal, in this county, where he opened a general store in partnership with Martin Anderson. As the firm had only $2,000 capital the store was a small one, but the sales were large, and the venture was profitable. Mr. Hovland sold his interest in the business at a profit at the end of three years, and then opened a store at the old Winger postoffice one mile and a half east of the site of the present village of Winger. The goods for this
store had to be hauled from Beltrami, a distance of 37 miles, and the freeze of 1888 injured the farmers' crops to such an extent that they were unable to pay their bills. In consequence of these difficulties the store was closed.
Mr. Hovland's next move was the purchase of his father's farm in Norman county, which he still owns and has enlarged to 400 acres. He operated this farn until 1908, and since then it has been cultivated by a tenant, but Mr. Hovland made his home on it until 1914, when he changed his residence to Winger. In connection with his farming industry he bred graded cattle for dairy purposes and also raised numbers of O. I. C. hogs, of which he still owns a fine drove. He also erected substantial and commodious buildings on the farm and equipped it with every modern machine needed for its advanced and progressive cultivation.
In 1912 Mr. Hovland conceived the project of reorganizing the old state bank at Winger and induced many farmers to take stock in the enterprise. The reorganization was effected under the name of the Farmers' State Bank of Winger with Mr. Hovland as its president. He has since devoted a part of his time and energy to the affairs of this institution, and it is flourishing vigorously under his prudent and energetic management, taking rank as one of the strongest and best managed fiscal institutions of its elass in this part of the state of Minnesota.
HANS O. LEE.
Hans O. Lee, of Badger township, a prominent farmer of the county and proprietor of the Badger Valley Farm, is a pioneer of this region, having located in Wisconsin in the early seventies. He was
born in Norway, April 30, 1858, and came with his parents, Ole and Martha Lee to Grant County, Wis- consin, when ten years of age. There the father died. He assisted in the elearing of the timber land in Wis-
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consin. When he was sixteen years of age he left home to seek employment as a farm laborer and for ten years worked on a Fillmore and Norman county farm. During this time he helped defray expenses on the home place in Wisconsin, and thus was not able to advance his own interests by saving from his wages. Upon the opening of the Thirteen Towns, in 1883, he filed on land in section seven, Badger township, and entered upon his farming career with a capital of seven dollars. During the first years he worked in the harvest fields in Norman county and had but little time to give to the improvement of his tract. In 1886 he was married to Lena Weger of Fillmore county, Minesota, and his finanees permitting but a small pay- ment, he purchased a team of horses and wagon from her father, on eredit, and brought his wife to the new home in the wilderness. Their first home was in the sod elaim shanty with the humble surroundings of pioneer life. The thrift and competent management which marked the years that followed appear in the model farm and prosperous interests of Mr. Lee. He has steadily added to his property and owned five hundred and twenty aeres, but has given two hundred and forty to his sons, Ole Lee and Herman Lee. Badger Valley Farm now comprises two hundred and eighty aeres of land, which in natural advantages of
fertility of soil, as well as in its great productiveness under the direction of its owner, ranks as one of the most desirable farms in the county. The extent of his operations may be seen in his harvest of 5,000 bushels of grain in 1915 and in his sueeessful enter- prise in stock farming. He keeps a large herd of eattle, raising for the market and dairying purposes and is breeding Short Horn stock. In 1903 he ereeted the present country home, which replaced the log house which was the second home of the family. Mr. Lee has always manifested an active interest in the welfare and progress of the community and has given able service to publie interests as a member of the township board and of the school board. He has also been associated for five years with the co-operative ereamery at Erskine as stoekholder and director, and is a shareholder in the Scandia Bank at Erskine. Ile is a member of Sorum Lutheran Church and is prom- inently identified with church affairs as trustee. Mr. Lee has a family of five children, Ole, Herman, Nels, Carl, and Martha, who married O. T. Fretta, and lives about three miles east of her old home. Ole Lee is the owner of a one hundred and sixty acre farm, and Herman Lee of eighty aeres, given them by their father, and they are associated with him in his agricultural interests.
C. M. BERG.
C. M. Berg, president of the First National bank at MeIntosh, has been a resident of the county sinee early childhood. He was born in Norway, at Grue Prestegjeld Solor, April 10, 1873. In 1888 his par- ents eame, with their son and two daughters, from Norway to Minnesota, where the father, Martin T. Berg, settled on land in King township, Polk county, and became a well-known pioneer of that seetion. He is now a retired farmer and resides in MeIntosh. C. M. Berg was reared on the Polk county homestead and attended the publie sehools. When he was seven- teen years of age he entered upon his business eareer and for some years was employed as a elerk in a
general store at MeIntosh and later sold agricultural implements on the road. His association with the banking interests of the eounty began in 1901, when he secured the position of bookkeeper and later was made assistant eashier of the State bank at MeIntosh, and sinee that time has been identified with the sneeessful operations of that institution. In 1901 W. S. Short was the president of the corporation and S. II. Drew was the eashier. Two years later the bank was eon- verted into a national bank and continued to be eon- dueted by the same officials until 1911, when Mr. Berg became president, having served as eashier from 1905 until 1911, and in that position and as active
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manager has displayed able executive ability and financial genius in directing its activities to a steadily increasing prosperity. In 1913 the present bank building was erected at the cost of $11,300 and was adequately equipped with interior furnishings and safety deposit vaults. Aside from his financial enter- prises, Mr. Berg has interested himself in quite ex- tensive investments in farm lands. As a public-spir- ited and progressive citizen, he has freely contributed his services and influence in behalf of the develop- ment and general welfare of the town and county and enjoys the respect and confidence of his asso- ciates in every field of activity. He is a member of the Minnesota and American Bankers associations and
of the Independent Scandinavian Workingmen's as- sociation. Mr. Berg was married November 18, 1896, to Bertha Bjorgo. Mrs. Berg's parents were among the early settlers of the Thirteen Towns. Mr. Berg has served on the school board for nine years, one year of which he was president (in 1914), and was appointed mayor of McIntosh in 1906, serving as such until April, 1907. In church affiliations he is a mem- ber of St. John's church of the Norwegian Lutheran church, serving as treasurer for the past twenty-three years. He is a stockholder and treasurer of the North Star Dairy association, of MeIntosh, and is now presi- dent of the MeIntosh Commercial club.
OLE LIND.
This progressive and prosperous farmer, who owns the Southwest quarter of Section 22, Higdem town- ship, this county, and has his residence but one- quarter of a mile from that of his father and brother John, who live on the adjoining traet, is a native of Sweden, where his life began June 7, 1875. In 1888 he was brought to the United States by his parents, Nels and Carrie Lind, who located for a few months at Warren, in Marshall county, Minnesota, and in the fall of the same year took up their residence on the farm on which the father still lives, and which he then purchased. The farm had 30 acres of its land plowed and contained a small log house which the family used as a dwelling until the father erected the present larger and more convenient residence.
During the first summer the father worked out but did not save much, as the living of the family took nearly all his earnings. He went in debt for his land, but soon after locating on it bought a yoke of oxen and began to make it yield something in the way of crops. To keep the family, however, during the winter he cut cord wood and hauled it eighteen miles to Warren, where he received about $3 a cord for it. The father has added forty acres to the farm and made all the improvements there are on it. He has recently sold it to his son John but continues to make
his home on it. The mother died January 28, 1914. The father has served as road overseer.
The four sons in the family, Peter, Ole, Johann and John, all worked at home during their minority. When they left home Peter, Ole and Johann bought 240 acres of land which the three worked together until the death of Johann at the age of twenty-one. One year later Peter and Ole divided the land, Peter taking 160 acres and Ole eighty acres. Each has since bought an additional tract of 160 acres, the two purchases constituting the South half of Seetion 22. The boys all made their home with their father until 1911 except Johann, who died prior to that year.
Ole Lind's farm was originally the tree claim of Robert Olson, and that gentleman set out ten or eleven acres in trees which have already yielded a profitable supply of sawlogs, the trees being principally cotton- wood and box-elder. Mr. Lind has set out 500 or 600 additional trees mainly to serve as windbreaks. He has built a good dwelling house and made other improvements on his land and is engaged principally in raising grain, but he also keeps five or six milk cows regularly. He has taken an active and helpful part in the affairs of the township and served it as supervisor.
On July 16, 1908, Mr. Lind was married to Miss
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Clara Olson, a daughter of Ole E. Olson, of Higdem township, who came to Polk county in his young man- hood. Mrs. Lind was born in Marshall county but not far from her present home. Two children have been born of the marriage, Matilda Caroline and Nicholas Oliver. All the members of the family
belong to the Kongsvinger Lutheran church, of which Ole Lind is now one of the trustees, and in which his father has been active during the whole of his resi- denee in this county. During seven years of the life of the late Thomas Hendrickson Mr. Lind was his partner in operating a threshing outfit.
STEENNER KNUTSON.
Steener Knutson, father to the Steenerson family who have been prominent in the history and develop- ment of Polk county, was born in Telemarken, Nor- way, June 30, 1819, and was the only son of Knnt and Annie Steenerson, of Berge, in Margedal, Norway.
He was edueated in the common school of that Parish and graduated as teacher from the Kvitseid Seminary, and taught school for several years in neighboring parishes. In 1844 he married Birgit Liefson Roholt, who was born Mareh 30, 1821. They bought a farm named Ronmdal, but sold it in a short time and removed to another farm named Moaas, which they owned and operated for several years, and finally sold out in 1851 and sailed for America.
At this time three sons had been born to them, Knute, Leif, and Christopher. He used to say his resolution to leave his native land was based upon economic conditions. His earthly possessions were small and there was little prospeet of any inerease in them, except in the item of children, in which line he had already made a good start. Reading about the opportunities in America and its free institutions, he desired to get there before his family would be so large and his purse so small that he would be unable to get away. This ealeulation proved quite correct, for when he arrived in Dane county, Wisconsin, he had just enough money left to buy a cow and a couple of two year old steers. Here he rented forty aeres of land, and taught school in the neighborhood for a time. Finally, hearing of Minnesota Territory and its cheap lands, he decided to go there and locate a home. Leaving his family in Dane county, he reached LaCrosse and was told by Mons Anderson, a merchant
there, that he could get a homestead north of what is now LaCrosse, and he went out to look at it, but thought the soil was too sandy ; so he went on across the Mississippi into Houston county, Minnesota, and selected a homestead at Luna Valley. Here he hired ont to ent eord-wood for some one at LaCrosse, and was cheated ont of his pay.
One day, towards spring, he was walking across the Mississippi on the iee with an ax on his shoulder. The ice, being weak, broke under him and he fell in and in the struggle to get out the ax fell on his left hand and ent the middle finger elean off. This laid him up for the balance of the winter. When spring opened he was so far recovered that he was able to go to work and hired out to go on a raft from LaCrosse to St. Louis, which trip netted him fifteen dollars.
In 1853 the family joined him at LaCrosse and they settled down on their elaim at Luna Valley. By this time the family had inereased to four, another boy having been born and named Halvor. They came riding behind a yoke of oxen on a wagon, with wheels made of blocks sawed from a log. The names of the oxen were "Duke" and "Dime." The eow was also along, her name was Jevrei, meaning precious and she proved herself to be precious in faet as well as in name; she was the mainstay of the family for years, and was famous far and wide for the quality and quantity of her milk, and the fine ealves she raised.
On the trip on the raft to St. Louis he contracted the fever and ague and was laid up with the disease for nearly a year. When his wife told of these times and of the hardship endured it was enough to moisten the eyes of the most stolid. The country was full of
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Indians, which constantly engendered fear, as the county was sparsely settled, the buildings poor, pro- visions low, want and starvation staring them in the faee, and she the only provider and protector to the sick husband and the four small children. The yoke of oxen had to be mortgaged to get flour and pro- visions. A year and a half passed before Steener got his health baek, and a chance to sell his claim for enough to get out of debt and to make a new start. They then moved to the town of Sheldon, Houston county, and took up a elaim in Seetion 30, where they resided for over twenty years and raised a big family ; the children, in addition to those already mentioned, being Andrew, Elias, Ellen, Anne, and John.
At the outbreak of the Civil war the parents had a nucleus for a small army, which taxed their ability to the utmost to keep in proper discipline; but under the stern orders of their superiors the younger ones soon became efficient in planting, hoeing, and husking eorn, and other duties on the farm, and chafing under the situation that all were too young to partake in the defense of their country. Mr. Knutson finally, in 1864, volunteered in Company K of the Eleventh Min- nesota, and served to the close of the war.
In 1871 the two older boys took land in Polk county, Minnesota, and selected a elaim for the father in Section 30, town of Vineland, to where he went in 1875, and the rest of the family followed in 1876. Here he lived until he passed to the other life, in 1881. He served as Town Supervisor of Vineland for several years. He was also aetive in church work, and one of the organizers of the first Lutheran Church in
Houston county. Mother Steenerson died twelve years later, or in 1893, and both are buried in the Climax Cemetery, where appropriate monuments mark their last resting plaee.
Few have been more closely identified with the growth and development of the State than they were; and few have reared as large a family of boys and girls, under adverse conditions, all of whom grew to manhood and became prominent citizens of Polk county, and elsewhere.
The following is a chronology of the offices held in the County and State by the Steenersons: Knute, sheriff of Chippewa county in 1876; Levi, county eom- missioner of Polk county for several years; Christo- pher, the first superintendent of schools of Polk county, in 1876, and later elerk of court for many years; Halvor, eounty attorney of Polk county, state senator, and member of Congress; Andrew, sheriff of Polk county ; Elias, postmaster of Crookston for nine years, and mayor of Fisher in the early eighties ; John, mayor of Esmond, North Dakota; Anne, teacher and member of the school board at Climax; Ellen, teaeher.
No doubt but that the old folks longed to go baek to their native land during the times of distress, when pioneering in Houston county, and possibly felt they had made a mistake, yet that thought never found an utterance. Their faith in their adopted country and its institutions seemed to be implieit, and their hope for final suecess seemed to be instinetive. They be- eame part of their adopted country, and that they had made no mistake they were well satisfied during their declining years.
JAMES NISBET.
James Nisbet, an early eitizen and for many years a prominent farmer of Huntsville township, was born in county Lanark, Ontario, June 7, 1846, and died in Polk county, November 27, 1910. He was the son of William and Cristena (Lindsay) Nisbet, who were natives of Seotland. James Nisbet was one of four brothers who located in Polk county in the early 22
seventies and were widely identified with the settle- ment and development of the western part of the county. David Nisbet died a number of years ago; Robert Nisbet was a resident of Nisbet township, which was named in his honor and Thomas Nisbet was for many years a farmer in Huntsville township and was living in Grand Forks at the time of his death in
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1914. James Nisbet remained in Canada until his early manhood when he went to Wiseonsin and for nine years worked in the lumber woods on the Chip- pewa river, employed in the camps in winter and during the summer season, driving logs on the river. In 1875 he came to Polk county, where his brother, David Nisbet had already located, and seeured a homestead. For several years in company with Joel Robertson, he lived at the bachelor home of David Nisbet, each member of the household owning and operating his own farm. In 1880 he returned to Canada and was married in February of that year to Cristena Morrow, daughter of William and Margaret (Geddes) Morrow. David Morrow, a brother and Mary, a sister, the wife of Thomas Welch were already residents of Polk county and another sister Janet, who married Robert Bain, later located at Fisher, where she now lives. After his marriage, Mr. Nisbet erected a house of hewed logs, eut from the timber along the Marais river, which erossed his farm. This house which is still standing, with a few simple fur- nishings was the first home of the family and they continued to live there until 1883 when the present modern house was built. Mr. Nisbet steadily pros-
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