USA > Minnesota > Polk County > Compendium of history and biography of Polk County, Minnesota > Part 57
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As a priest Bishop Corbett is a dauntless defender of truth and justice, though of a retiring rather than of an aggressive nature, he has beeome a power and hesitates not, whatever be the occasion, to speak in no uneertain tones for the great principles of religion, social betterment and good citizenship. He has been called "The Thundering Orator," and while ever in private conversation has convincing argument and
inspires confidence, he is at his best when in the pulpit, warmed by the subject, his logical and forceful ora- tory carries the largest andience, and much of his success is attributed by his friends to this wonderful faculty.
As Chancellor of the Diocese he displayed highest business tact and judgment, not a little of the strengthening of the smaller churches being due to his personal attention and appeal.
As Bishop the administration has already met with the nnqualified approval of all church anthorities. One of the leading secular press said upon his eleva- tion, that "his appointment will prove a boon to the Diocese of Crookston, but with relative loss to the Cathedral of Duluth."
As an American citizen he is thoroughly imbued with sound patriotic principles, no suitable occasion passing without his substantial indorsement of the eor- reet basis of our institutions.
ELLSWORTH D. CIHILDS.
Now of North Yakima, Washington, was for many years one of the most active business men of Crooks- ton. He was born at Westboro, Mass., April 7, 1843. Soon after finishing the grade work in the local school, in 1856, he went with his parents to Pierce county Wis- consin. The end of the railroad was then at Dubuque, from where the trip to Prescott, at the junction of the Mississippi river with Lake St. Croix, was made on the steamer "War Eagle," under command of the noted old riverman, Capt. Harris. This boat and this old captain had much to do with the making of the great northwest, both being frequently mentioned in the annals of its history, nearly all the first settlers having come up the river on the "War Eagle."
The family home was made on a tract of wild land in Clifton township nine miles from Prescott, where was found the nearest church and school. The next ten years were spent in assisting in elearing and operating this farm.
In October, 1861, his elder brother enlisted in the
Union Army and went south, leaving Ellsworth alone to assist his father, who was accidentally drowned in Lake St. Croix soon after the departure of the elder brother ; the full care of the farm, mother, and sister then fell upon the young man.
On Christmas day, 1864, he married Miss Esther Hamblin, of whose companionship and assistance he was deprived of by death less than two years thereafter. When his brother returned at the elose of the war, Ellsworth left the old farm, but continued at farming on rented land, for two years. Having taken all the meagre advantages offered he seeured a license as a teacher, and for some years was so en- gaged during the winters; while the summers were spent largely in a stave mill at River Falls. For parts of two years he was engaged in selling musical instru- ments, traveling with team over much of Wisconsin and Minnesota.
In the fall of 1872 he bought an interest in the firm of Stone & Gray, grain dealers, and which contin-
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ued as Stone, Gray & Childs until 1878, having in those years been extensive dealers not only in grain but also in agricultural implements. In the historical department of this work will be found a very interest- ing reminiscence of Mr. Childs relative to early days in Crookston, to which the reader is referred, and which will be found well worth perusal, and which gives so much of his own relation to the Red River
Valley that we will not repeat it here. July 7, 1873, Mr. Childs was united in marriage at Norwalk, Ohio, to Eliza MeLorinan, whose death of paralysis oe- eurred November 4, 1904. Of four children born, one died in infancy.
In 1907 Mr. Childs removed to the west, engaging in the extensive growing of fruits at North Yakima, Washington, where he still resides.
CORNELIUS J. KELLEHER.
Cornelius J. Kelleher, mayor of East Grand Forks, and a prominent business man, has been a resident of Polk county since 1906. Prior to that time he had resided for a number of years in Grand Forks, where he engaged in the plumbing and heating business, to which activity he has devoted his business career with notable success. He is a native of Ireland, born in the city of Cork, March 2, 1867, and accompanied his parents to this country when twelve years of age. For a few years they resided at Ithaca, N. Y., and in 1882 removed to St. Paul, where his parents continue to make their home. As a youth he became apprenticed to the plumber's trade and steadily worked his way to an independent business and for ten years con- ducted a profitable trade in Grand Forks. In 1906 he located in East Grand Forks, where he is recognized as one of the substantial and capable business men of the city. Not only in commercial eireles but in every phase of eivic interest, Mr. Kelleher has made his
influence a factor in behalf of progress and higher achievement, and while his preference is for the serv- ice of a private citizen, his aggressive and capable cooperation has compelled a more active and responsi- ble position. IIe served as a member of the city coun- cil during the term which was marked by the installation of the city water works and was also a member of the charter commission. Upon the launeli- ing of a citizens' ticket in the political arena, through which the voters advocated enforcement of city ordi- nances and a elean and efficient government, Mr. Kelleher was chosen to head the ticket and led it to victorious election and a commendable fulfillment of its pledges. He was married in East Grand Forks to Nellie Racine, daughter of Louis and Mary Racine, pioneers of the city. Mr. Kellcher and his wife have four children, Mary, Firmin, Louis and Cornelius J., and he with his family, is a communicant of the Sacred Heart Catholic church.
PETER A. HOTVEDT.
The late Peter A. Hotvedt, who made a quarter of Seetion 8, Sullivan township, and some other land into choice farms, well improved and highly pro- ductive, and who became one of the leading citizen.3 of his township, began his career in this county with almost nothing in the way of capital, continued it through many difficulties and rendered every step of it one of progress and service to his locality. He was born in Portage county, Wisconsin, February 26,
1856, and died on his Sullivan township farm July 22, 1905. On April 1, 1878, in company with his brother, Nels Hotvedt and O. T. Onneland, he came to the Red river valley, whose promise had been painted in glowing colors to his two companions while they were working on farms in Fillmore county, Minnesota, by a traveling merchant tailor.
Each of the three adventurers selected a homestead, Peter A. Hotvedt taking the southwest quarter, his
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brother Nels the southeast quarter and Mr. Onneland the northeast quarter of Section 8, in Sullivan town- ship. They decided to pool their issues and built a shanty nine by fourteen feet in size on the line be- tween the homesteads of Nels Hotvedt and Mr. Onne- land, with a bed on each side of the one room. They then eut basswood logs on railroad land on the Red river five miles away, and with them they built a house fourteen by eighteen feet for Peter, who had been married the year previous. The three had about $300 among them and they bought two yoke of oxen at $125 a yoke. The two bachelors slept in their own house but boarded with Peter after the arrival of his wife and first child. The wife was Miss Clarissa Lind before her marriage, and they were married young. Soon after they settled here Andrew Anderson, who had been their neighbor in Wisconsin, homesteaded on the remaining quarter of Seetion 8.
A little later Mr. Hotvedt bought eiglity aeres of railroad land in Section 9 at $6 an aere, with a rebate of $3 for each aere he should break up, and his brother and Mr. Onneland made similar deals. Peter passed his time on his land until the death of his first wife five years after she came to this county, and for some time longer, his sister keeping house for him. He then passed two years keeping store at East Grand Forks, but in 1889 returned to his farm and remained on it the rest of his life. He served as township clerk for several years and in other ways rendered good service to the people, as he was always interested in their welfare and ready to aid in promoting it.
By his first marriage Mr. Hotvedt became the father of two sons and one daughter, William L., Charles and Gertrude. Charles is now a resident of Roeky Ford, Colorado, but still owns a farm near the family home- stead. Gertrude died in infaney. William was born in Portage county, Wisconsin, March 31, 1878, and was reared on the Sullivan township farm. He at- tended school in the country near his home and at East Grand Forks, and was with his father until the death of the latter except during five years which he passed on a homestead he took up in Marshall county,
Minnesota, in 1899, which he still owns and now devotes to raising hay. Ile also owns 160 acres near his old home, the father assisting him in the purchase of it, as he aided the other son in making a similar purchase. They all worked together with their father, and the two sons remained in partnership for two years after the father's death.
William withdrew to his own farm at the end of the partnership and Charles worked the home farm until 1909, when William returned to it and Charles rented a farm in Grand Forks township. Now William works his own farm, the home place and Charles' farm, 560 aeres in all, and raises large quantities of grain and other products, his erops in 1915 being more than 10,000 bushels of grain and a great output of potatoes from the twenty to thirty aeres devoted to that vegetable. He also plants a few aeres in corn and keeps a number of eattle of good strains and raises his own horses, having three four-horse teams with which he plows and does other work.
Mr. Hotvedt is a Demoerat in his political faith and allegianee, and is at present (1915) a justice of the peace. His father was a Republican in the early life but beeame a Democrat before he died. By a sceond marriage he became the father of four children, Ger- trude M., Clara, Walter and Arthur. Gertrude mar- ried O. E. Bjoring and died at the age of twenty-five, leaving a daughter, Margaret, who lives with her grandmother. Clara, Walter and Arthur are living at home. Clara has been a teacher in the sehools in North Dakota. She was edneated in Grand Forks, pursuing the summer normal course and also a course in business training. For two years she was em- ployed as a stenographer in Grand Forks.
Peter A. Hotvedt's second marriage took place in East Grand Forks, November 28, 1888, and united with him Miss Mary Bergman. His venture in mer- eantile life was an unfortunate one. The business was eondueted largely on eredit and turned out disas- tronsly. When he died his estate was heavily eneum- bered, but his widow displayed rare business ability as the head of affairs, and within a few years had all
THEODORE NELSON
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the indebtedness paid off and the new buildings now standing on the farm erected. She assumed a weighty burden with the heroic fortitude of a Spartan woman
and bore it to a triumphant relcase with the self- denial of a devotee and the skill of a veteran financier.
THEODORE NELSON.
Theodore Nelson, cashier of the State bank at Erskine, is a native of Polk county, born in Badger township June 14, 1885, the son of Torger and Mary Nelson, who came from Norway to Polk county in 1882. Torger Nelson became a well-known pioneer citizen and merchant and after many years of a suc- cessful career, retired from commercial activity and is now living at Erskinc. Three of his sons are resi- dents of the county, Anton Nelson and Theodore Nel- son, who live in Erskine, and O. T. Nelson, a promi- nent business man of Gully, and Oscar Nelson, the fourth son of Mary and Torger Nelson, is teller at the Northern National bank at Bemidji, Minnesota. Theodore Nelson was educated in the schools at Erskine and all the interests of his career have been
confined to his native county. He has earned his responsible position in the financial world through native ability and ambition backed by competence and industry. His first position in the bank was that of bookkeeper, which position he held from 1902 until 1906, when he was advanced to the position of assist- ant cashier and in 1912, at the time of the reorganiza- tion of the bank, he was elected cashier and became financially interested in the institution. Mr. Nelson is one of the younger business men of the county who have already won their mark of success and enjoys the confidence and respect of a wide circle of friends and associates. He is interested in farm lands but devotes his attention to the affairs of the bank.
EDWARD HAMLIN NESBITT.
To avoid confusion it should be remembered that this family name is spelled three different ways by the persons who bear it in Polk county. The name of the township, which was chosen in honor of the mem- bers of the family who were the first settlers in it, is "Nesbit;" the name of the family to which the subject of this sketch belongs is "Nesbitt," and that of still another family is "Nisbet."
Edward Hamlin Nesbitt, who lives on Section 27, Nesbit township, four miles and a half north of Fisher, was born in Kalamazoo county, Michigan, four miles south of the city of Kalamazoo, September 19, 1845. His father went to Michigan from Ireland and his mother from the state of New York. The son grew to manhood in Michigan and then traveled some years through the south after the Civil war. On his return to the north he located near Rockford, Illinois, on a prairie farm which was already improved. After
remaining four years in Illinois he returned to Michi- gan and passed another year with his parents in that state.
The south had still a winning voice for Mr. Nesbitt, however, and he was unable to withstand its per- suasiveness. He went to Florida and passed four years in the cotton country near Tallahassee. But he found that a region must have more than climate to make it attractive. The soil in Florida was poor for what he wished to do, and he determined to return again to the north, where he could raise wheat and other grain. His attention was drawn to the Red river val- ley, and in June, 1880, he came to Polk county, Minnesota, and bought a whole section of railroad land at $7 an acre, with a rebate of $3 an acre if three- fourths of the land should be broken up within a speci- fied period of time.
Mr. Nesbitt had left then about $1,300, and he put
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up a frame house, which cost him $800, and which he lived in until 1912. IIis first teams were oxen. These were superseded in a little while by mules, and later he used only horses. He broke up as much of his land as he could, but, while he suffered no total loss of erops, he had no grain to sell during his first three years on the farm. The land was so wet much of the time that it could not be worked and the farmers were helpless for years under this condition. Then, hail storms would come and destroy a large part of what a fairly good season gave them hopes of harvesting. and so discouraging were the circumstances that there was no demand for the land, and it was at times impossible to give it away. Since the present ditehing system was inaugurated about sixteen years ago all have been able to raise good crops and the value of the land has risen
rapidly, Mr. Nesbitt's being now worth at least $100 an acre.
In 1912 Mr. Nesbitt erected his present dwelling house, which is a very good one, and he also has good barns and other improvements, among them ten acres of trees which form an attractive and useful grove. In 1915 his farm yielded about 13,000 bushels of grain and a large quantity of hay. He is at present town- ship assessor and has also served as supervisor of the township. At the age of twenty-two he was married in Michigan to Miss Celia M. Van Hoesen. They have three children, Cora B., Vietor HI. and Irene, all of whom are still members of the parental family cirele. Mr. Nesbitt gives a good deal of attention to raising white-faced Hereford cattle of superior strains in ad- dition to his general farming operations, and is sue- cessful in the enterprise.
MARTIN SANDS.
This first settler and long the leading citizen of Sandsville township, this county, which he helped to organize and which was named in his honor, has had a varied career in his struggle to aid in making the wilderness docile and productive. The fine farm which he has made of his wild and for years very wet land in the southwest quarter of seetion 8, with its northern border on the line between Polk and Marshall eoun- ties, lies one mile and a half south of Alvarado, seven- teen miles north of Grand Forks and forty-two miles northwest of Crookston, and is now one of the choice ones in the township.
Mr. Sands was born in Norway November 23, 1854, and came to the United States with his parents in his fifteenth year, loeating with them near La Crosse, Wis- consin. The father soon afterward took a homestead in Kandiyohi county, this state, on which his son Mar- tin grew to manhood. In 1875, when he was just twenty-one, the young man visited the Red river valley and stopped a short time at Fisher's Landing. But he returned to his father's home and remained there two years. In 1877 he eame back to Polk county and select-
ed his homestead and also chose one for each of his two brothers, Ole and Casper, and another for Martin Johnson, their cousin.
In making his selections Mr. Sands chose land suit- able for grazing with an extensive open range around it, for he coneluded that it would be years before the loeality was much settled. In March, 1878, he built three shacks and slept one night in each of them. Ile then returned to Kandiyohi county, and in May or June, as soon as the grass was fit for pasture, he brought over ninety head of eattle, two yoke of oxen and one pair of mules and three saddle ponies. He and his two brothers owned all the land, and all their subsequent operations were carried on in partnership, although Casper, who died in 1914, was a conductor on the Great Northern railroad for thirty years, and necessarily absent from the land a great deal of that time. When Martin drove his eattle to his land miles of the distance between it and Grand Forks were all under water.
Ole Sands was married, and his wife and one-year old son accompanied him to his new home. Martin also
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COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY OF POLK COUNTY
brought his sister Maren with him to be his house- keeper. She afterward married Martin Jolinson, and is still living near Alvarado. The live stock did well and the Sands boys found a ready market for all they had to sell among new settlers, and they kept bringing up new supplies from Kandiyohi county. But in the course of a few years the settlers were all supplied and the market grew slack, especially as the range for the cattle was settled up.
In this contingency Martin Sands moved to Crooks- ton and had a meat market, where he remained three years, and also handled live stock on his own account. IIe then traded young stock for mares and bronchos in Montana, and hired a man to care for them. In 1889 he returned to his farm. He then had some thirty acres of his homestead under cultivation, and also had a tree claim some distance away, which he plowed up. He had helped several persons to come over from Nor- way, among them his three uncles, Amun Berg, Ole Holt and Ole Gulbrandson, bringing their families with them. The Sands brothers paid their passage over and helped them after they came. Each of the uncles took a homestead. They have all died here, but their children are still living in the locality.
Mr. Sands has bought and sold a great deal of land, but he now owns only one half-section. For many years he has devoted his attention to raising grain as his principal dependence, but in 1901, on account of floods had only partial crops and lost several of his horses from swamp fever. For eleven days that year he was forced to go abont on his place in boats, and the crops on 600 acres of his land were wholly spoiled. Because of this disaster he moved to Warren and opened a meat market.
Merchandising was not to his taste, and Mr. Sands and his brothers organized a ditch district and suc- ceeded in having a ditch dug direct to the Red river
at a cost of $80,000, which was not finished, however, for four or five years. When the Soo railroad was building and Alvarado was started he moved to that town and built a hotel to aid in starting the town, but afterward sold the structure withont making any money on the deal. When the new ditch was com- pleted he decided to return to his farm, and he has had excellent crops ever since, the ditch being the making of this region as a farming country.
When the township was organized it extended 11/2, miles farther north than it does now, the extra strip of 11/2 miles being now in Marshall county. Mr. Sands has filled every office in the township from time to time, has served many times on juries in Crookston, has helped to build roads, and in every other way has aided in promoting the progress and development of the township. He and his brothers procured the building of the first road from the Red river back into the prairie, and this has been a great help to the region.
Mr. Sands was married in 1884 to Miss Annetta Larson, a daughter of Andrew Larson in Higden and the sister of Lonis Larson, now of Sandsville town- ship. They have ten children, Clara, Hilma, Effie, Alfred, Ella, Agnes, Stella, Frederick, Marvin and Margaret. Clara is the wife of Anton Frugard of Devon Mount. Hilma is the widow of Robert Fering, of Alvarado. Effie is the wife of Adolph Batalden, of Cottonwood county. Agnes is a teacher in Mar- shall county. Frederick is a student in the high school at Warren. The others are all at home. The members of the family all belong to the Novst Luth- eran church, which Mr. Sands joined with thirty others in starting. The church edifice they built was moved to Alvarado when that town was begun. In the early days Mr. Sands shot many deer in his neighborhood, also one big bear and a wolf.
AMUND CHRISTIANSON.
Amund Christianson, who is one of the progressive and successful farmers of Polk county, and whose 24
choice farm is located in section 18, Sullivan township, five miles northeast of East Grand Forks and half
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a mile back from the main road running through this locality, is a native of Norway. When he came to the United States he located in Renville county, Minnesota, where he was variously employed for six years, then took up a homestead which he converted into a good farm.
In 1878 Mr. Christianson came to Polk county and took a pre-emption claim on the land on which he now lives, which is the southeast quarter of section 18, Sullivan township. He was accompanied to this county by his present brother-in-law, Ole Rice, and Mrs. Rice, the mother of Ole. Mr. Rice took a pre- emption claim on the northwest quarter of section 18 and his mother a tree elaim on the east half of the northeast quarter of that seetion. Ole Riee lived in this eounty about twenty years, then moved to Oregon. His mother died here, and her tree claim became the property of her daughter, Mrs. Chris- tianson. Mr. Christianson, who is now living retired from active pursuits has sold a large part of the land he once owned, and now owns only his original farm, the cultivation of which he supervises. When his son Christian married he gave him 160 acres.
Grasshoppers destroyed the erops of Mr. Chris- tianson in Renville county, so he hooked up his ox teams and drove to this county for a new start and a better opportunity for advancement. His first home here was a crude dugout on the banks of the Marais, but this was soon succeeded by a log house, which lasted until he built his present abode. To his first marriage was born one child, his son Christian Amund- son, who was named according to the Scandinavian custom. Mr. Christianson's first wife was Miss Gena Rice. She died in 1897. His second marriage, in
1903, was to Ingeborg Ollestad, whose son John by a former marriage, is making his home with them. Mr. Christianson is a devout and zealous member of Grand Marais Lutheran church.
Christian Amundson, the only son and child of Amund Christianson, was born in Norway September 9, 1868, and at the age of eighteen years came to Polk county, Minnesota. In 1898 he was married to Miss Sena Ilotvedt, a sister of the late Peter A. Hot- vedt. At the time of his marriage he bought his pres- ent farm of Ole Riee and the tree claim which belonged to Ole's mother first and Christian's step- mother afterward, the free claim being the tract on which he is now living. Ile had in addition the 150 acre farm in Northland township, five miles north of his home, which once belonged to his father.
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