USA > Minnesota > Brown County > History of Brown County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries and Institutions (Volume 1) > Part 61
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Julius Melzer received little schooling in his childhood, the pioneer home in which he was reared having been three miles from a school house, and his time from boyhood was given to the labors incident to the development of a pioneer farm, in which development he assisted very materially, be- coming an excellent farmer. Following his marriage in 1882 he bought three hundred and sixty-two acres in Linden
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township, this county, and there has made his home ever since. The home plat on this place was partially improved at the time Mr. Melzer bought it, but the remainder was wholly unimproved and he has brought it all up to an excel- lent state of cultivation, the only one of the old buildings now standing being the old dwelling, which Mr. Melzer now utilizes as a general purpose building. His barn, which is the second largest barn in the county, has steel stanchions and concrete floor and mangers, being thoroughly modern in every detail.
On February 17, 1882, Julius Melzer was united in mar- riage, in Nicollet county to Wilhelmine Luedtke, who was born in Germany and who came to this country with her widowed mother about 1880. To this union seven children were born, one of whom died in infancy, the others being as follow: Emma, who married Albert Olson and has one child; Henry, who lives at home and is a competent assistant to his father on the farm; Albert, who owns a barber shop in South Dakota; John, who also lives in South Dakota; Arthur, at home, and Ella, also at home. Mrs. Melzer died on June 7, 1900. Mr. Melzer is a member of the Lutheran church at New Ulm and his children are also adherents of that faith.
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IVER K. STONE.
A painstaking farmer of Lake Hanska township, Brown county, is Iver K. Stone, who was born in Voge, Norway, March 26, 1850, a son of Knute and Gunhild (En- ersdatter) Stone. The father devoted his active life to farming. He rented land in Norway but owned his place after coming to the United States in 1867, arriving in Brown county, Minnesota, in June of that year. Here he took up a homestead of eighty acres, which he proved up and devel- oped, but finally moved to a farm belonging to his son, in another part of Brown county, where Iver K. Stone now lives. The father resided with his son here the rest of his life.
Iver K. Stone received most of his education in his native land. After coming to America he worked out by the month, receiving only eight dollars a month for his labor at first. But he saved his earnings and in a few years bought eighty acres for which he paid five dollars per acre. Later he added to his original holdings, paying seven dol- lars and fifty cents and eight dollars per acre for land and finally twenty dollars per acre. Any of it is now worth one hundred dollars per acre. He has been very successful as a general farmer, but retired from active work in 1911 and now rents his land. He was one of the organizers of the Security State Bank of Hanska, since which time he has been its president, and his able, honest and conservative management has resulted in building up a strong and popu- lar institution which is well patronized.
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On December 12, 1878, Iver L. Stone was married in Brown county, to Anna Olsen Joramo, who was born in Lesher, Norway, and is a daughter of Ole Joramo. She came to the United States with her parents in the spring of 1873, the family locating in Brown county, Minnesota. To this union one child has been born, Carl I. Stone, whose birth occurred on September 28, 1879. He received a good practical education, and married Julia Brude. They live in New Ulm, and have two children, Ivan and Lloyd.
Iver E. Stone is a member of the Lake Hanska Lu- theran church, being among the first to affiliate with the same after its organization. He also contributed to the founding of the church in Hanska. Politically he is a Re- publican, and he has been township trustee, constable, and also has held other minor offices, always in a faithful and satisfactory manner.
On January 7, 1872, Iver K. Stone and his father were out in a terrific snow storm which they faced for five miles, leading their horses the last two miles. Part of the time they were on their hands and knees looking for the road. The horses finally came up against a post and the younger Stone then recognized his surroundings. He groped his way blindly to where he believed their home stood, but could not see ahead of him three feet. However, he was right, and he and his father reached shelter none too soon. It was one of the worst snow storms ever known in this country.
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J. W. KOESTER.
J. W. Koester, proprietor of "Grand View Stock Farm" in Linden township, this county, and head of the firm of J. W. Koester & Sons, well-known breeders of regis- tered Shorthorn cattle and Poland China swine, whose place four miles east of Hanska and five miles north of Madelia is the scene of frequent stock sales, attracting buyers from all parts of southern Minnesota, is a native of Illinois, though he has been a resident of Brown county since pio- neer days hereabout, having been brought here when two or three years old by his parents, who were among the early settlers of this county. He was born on a farm in Cook county, Illinois, not far from the then unpretentious city of Chicago, November 17, 1856, son of Henry and Sophia Koester, natives of Germany, the former of whom was born on November 2, 1825, and the latter, December 11, 1824, who later became prominent pioneers of this section of Min- nesota.
Henry Koester was a brick-mason in his native land. He married when twenty-seven years of age and two or three years later, in 1855, he and his wife came to the United States, locating on a farm in Cook county, Illinois, in the neighborhood of Chicago, where he followed both farming and brick-masonry. In 1858 he and his family drove through by ox-team and joined the considerable German colony that was then gathering about the New Ulm settle- ment, and homesteaded eighty acres of land in section 1, Linden township, this county. Erecting a log cabin, he and
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his family established their home there and lived there until the time of the Indian uprising, when they were compelled to flee to Mankato for protection. On November 18, 1862, Henry Koester enlisted in Company L, First Regiment, Minnesota Mounted Rangers, and served until the close of the campaign against the Sioux Indians, being mustered out on December 2, 1863. He then sold his land in Brown county and moved to Nicollet county, where he farmed and made his home until 1878, in which year he and his wife returned to Brown county and spent the rest of their days with their son, the subject of this sketch. Henry Koester died on June 6, 1896, and his widow died on December 5, 1897. They were the parents of eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the fourth in order of birth.
J. W. Koester was little more than an infant when his parents came to Brown county, hence his active years have been spent in this section of the state. He received his edu- cation in the public schools of Nicollet county and in 1875 went to Rochester, this state, in the neighborhood of which he worked on farms for three years, at the end of which time he returned to Brown county and rented a farm, which he operated for five years. He then bought from John C. Rudolph a quarter of a section of land in section 27, Linden township, paying for the same twenty-one dollars an acre, which at that time was regarded as a top price. As he pros- pered in his operations he added to the place by the pur- chase of an adjoining quarter section and now has a very well-kept and profitably operated farm of three hundred and twenty acres, improved with excellent modern build- ings and registered as "Grand View Stock Farm." Mr. Koester early went in for fine stock, with particular refer-
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ence to fine hogs, and in 1895 began the breeding of full- blood Poland China swine, being the first breeder in that line in Brown county. In 1905 he became a member of the Poland China Record Association and holds sales of his high-class stock at frequent intervals, these sales being largely attended by farmers and stockmen from all parts of southern Minnesota.
On May 13, 1887, J. W. Koester was united in marriage to Agnes Wilbrecht, who was born near Hutchinson, this state, January 21, 1869, daughter of Fred and Louise (Per- dun) Wilbrecht, natives of Germany, who came to the United States about 1865, first locating in Pennsylvania, where Fred Wilbrecht worked for awhile in the mines, later coming to Minnesota. To this union five children have been born, namely: Henry, born on January 11, 1889; John, October 27, 1890; Martha, September 21, 1892; Bertha, March 11, 1897, and Albert, March 9, 1900. The Koesters have a very pleasant home at "Grand View Stock Farm" and are quite comfortably situated.
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CARL OLSTAD.
No more progressive farmer and stock raiser is to be found within the borders of Brown county than Carl Olstad, of Lake Hanska township. He was born on February 10, 1875, in the vicinity where he now resides, and is a son of Peter and Elizabeth (Olstad) Olstad. They are not related in blood, but were bearing the same name when they were married, in view of the fact that they took their names from a group of farms, and each came from the same group. These parents immigrated to the United States in 1868 and 1869, respectively, were married in Chicago and lived there six years, being residents of that city during the great fire of October 9, 1871. The father was a carpenter by trade and he worked on the reconstruction of the city after the conflagration. In the autumn of 1874 they came to Brown county, where the father had bought eighty acres in section 16, Lake Hanska township. The father is still living on the old home place. He was one of the settlers that passed through the memorable grasshopper years from 1875 to 1877, inclusive, when three successive crops were destroyed by the insects, but fortunately he was still following his trade of carpenter during that period, and did not lose as heavily as the farmers. He helped organize school district No. 67, but he never sought or held public office. Before this school was organized some of the pupils were compelled to go long distances, and it was customary for the teacher to live in the school house, setting up his bed in one corner of
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the building. Peter Olstad became the father of four chil- dren, namely: Jennie, Carl, John, who married Theodora Anunson, and Casper.
Carl Olstad attended school six months in the year when a boy, and in 1897 he was graduated from the State Agri- cultural College. He lived at home until his marriage at which time he moved to the farm of his uncle, Knute Olstad, operating his place for four years, and finally bought him out in 1904. He has since greatly improved the land. There were only two small buildings on the place when he came here, but now he has one of the largest barns in Brown county, twenty-six by ninety-six feet, and twenty-eight feet to the comb, also a large silo, the first clay-brick silo to be built in the state, A. C. Ochs, of Springfield, erecting the same for experimental purposes, and it proved a decided success. It will hold over one hundred and fifty tons. He has also erected other convenient and substantial buildings, including a large residence, which is of excellent construc- tion and design, set back some distance from the road, sur- rounded by a grove of choice trees of various kinds. The farm is named and registered as the "Cedar Lodge Farm," and it is one of the best-kept and most productive farms in the locality. Mr. Olstad also has other business interests, being at present manager of the Hanska-Linden Creamery Company, and he has been a member of the board of direc- tors of the same for several years. He was secretary of the Hanska-Linden Store Company for seven years. He helped organize the Hanska Rural Telephone Company and has been a member of the board of directors since its organiza- tion, serving as vice-president of the board until 1913 when he was elected president. He has been very successful in a
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business way and is one of the substantial citizens of the county. He has a large herd of fine Guernsey dairy cows.
Carl Olstad was married on May 30, 1900, in Brown county, to Lena Brude, who was born on February 16, 1876, in Albin township, this county, and is a daughter of Lars and Ingeborg (Bjorneberg) Brude, natives of Norway, from which country they came to the United States in 1872, first settling in Albin township, Brown county, Minnesota, where the father homesteaded eighty acres of land which is now owned by John Nessit and is located in section 28. Later the family moved to Lake Hanska township, where the parents spent the rest of their lives. Mrs. Lena Olstad was a student in the State Normal, lacking only a few months of graduation. She taught school for five years in the rural schools of Lake Hanska township. To Mr. and Mrs. Olstad three children have been born, namely: Porter, born on January 13, 1902; Freda, December 8, 1905; Ida, July 18, 1907, died on May 7, 1912, when five years old. Mrs. Olstad and family are members of the Lake Hanska Lu- theran church. He is independent in politics. He is at present clerk of the school district, and has been a member of the school board since coming of age, with the exception of one year. He has done much to encourage better schools in his home district.
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REV. AMANDUS NORMAN.
Contented to be an humble follower of the lowly Naza- rene, Rev. Amandus Norman, of Brown county, has accom- plished much good as a minister of the Gospel. He was born on January 5, 1865, in Hamar, Norway, and is a son of Erick and Anna Marie (Fjedre) Norman. The father was a farmer. His family consisted of six children, five sons and one daughter, Amandus being the youngest child. Amandus attended school in Norway until he was about fourteen years old, then immigrated to the United States. with a relative, and located in Fargo, North Dakota, where he worked on a farm for over a year, then was employed as clerk and in time became a partner in a general store in Reynolds, North Dakota. While there he was given the privilege of attending school during the winter months, and eventually by hard study he managed to master the English language, and was graduated from the high school in the spring of 1885. He then went to Minneapolis where he studied privately with the poet-preacher, Krintofer Janson. In the fall of 1886 he entered the Unitarian College at Meadville, Pennsylvania, from which institution he was graduated with the class of 1891. He made an excellent record and received the Kraft scholarship to Harvard Uni- versity, where he spent the next two years, after which he began his work as minister, having charge of the church of his denomination in Minneapolis, Hanska and Under- wood, this state. He resided in Minneapolis until 1906 when he removed to Hanska, where he has since made his home,
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although he still fills the pulpit at Underwood occasionally. In 1907 he helped organize the Norse Unitarian Association of America and was elected president of the same, and still holds this responsible position and has been the prime mo- tive force in the same from the first. Since coming to Hanska he was active in the organization and building of the Liberal Union Association and hall in Hanska, and is president of the association. He is also an active and influ- ential temperance worker.
Reverend Norman was married on June 15, 1895, in Minneapolis, to Corrine Kvam, who was born in Toten, Nor- way, and is a daughter of Auders Paulseth. This union has been without issue, but they have taken two children into their home to raise. He is a diligent student and owns a large and well-selected library, containing about two thou- sand and five hundred volumes, and he spends a great deal of time among them; but he is not selfish and likes to loan his books to those who appreciate them. He is interested in astronomy and has a small observatory on the roof of his dwelling in which he has some very fine instruments. He is an earnest, logical and forceful pulpit orator and a prolific writer, especially on religious and social subjects.
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ALBERT O. AMUNDSON.
Albert O. Amundson, a farmer of Lake Hanska town- ship, Brown county, was born on March 20, 1866, in Dane county, Wisconsin, and is a son of Ole B. and Julia (Olson) Amundson, both natives of Numdahl, Norway, where the paternal grandparents engaged in farming, until they came to the United States in 1849, when Ole B. Amundson was seven years old. They located in Dane county, Wisconsin, among the earliest settlers, being among the first Scandi- navians to locate there, and where the father of the subject of this sketch grew to manhood and bought a farm, which he sold in 1883 and removed to Brown county, Minnesota, buying forty acres of railroad land, for which he paid six dollars per acre. It was located in section 17, Lake Hanska township. He added to this until he owned about three hundred acres at the time of his death in 1906. He helped organize the present school district and was one of the first members of the school board here. He was a member of the Koshkonong Norwegian Lutheran church, which he helped to build, and it was one of the first of its kind in the United States. His family consisted of seven children, Albert O. being the eldest.
Albert O. Amundson received his education in the com- mon schools, and he began working on the home farm when a small boy. Back in the eighties he bought forty acres of railroad land, for which he paid seven dollars per acre. This he improved and put under cultivation, later added to it until he owned one hundred and twenty acres. He also
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purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Lake Hanska township in 1898. This land was also unimproved, but he has since placed it under a high state of cultivation and now makes his home there, renting his other farm.
On July 2, 1894, Albert O. Amundson was married to Pauline Ahlness, who was born on August 21, 1872, in Lake Hanska township, this county, a daughter of Christian and Tonetta (Nelson) Ahlness. The father was born on a farm in Norway, December 23, 1843, some distance north of the city of Christiana, on the shores of Mjosen, an inland lake. He left his native land when twenty-one years of age and came to the United States, arriving in Chicago in June, 1864, a penniless emigrant. He worked his way toward the West, arriving in Fillmore county, Minnesota, in June, 1865, remaining there four years. In 1866 he married Ton- nette Nelson, who had very recently come to this country from the same locality in Norway where he was born. In the spring of 1869 they continued their journey westward, in a prairie schooner, drawn by a pair of oxen, finally ar- riving in Brown county, Minnesota, and located on an eighty-acre homestead in Lake Hanska township, in June, 1869. The township was not then organized and had as yet no name, but by a natural instinct for organization a com- munity was created out of the wilderness. School districts and churches were organized and later on the Hanska and Linden Creamery and Store Association were the results of that instinct. Mr. Ahlness served the community in almost every capacity, including the offices of justice of the peace, chairman of the board of supervision, assessor, town clerk, county commissioner, president of the Brown County Farm- ers Alliance, and finally, in 1890, he was elected to represent
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his county in the state Legislature; and last, but not least, he served his fellow farmers for a period of more than twenty years as secretary and manager of the Hanska- Linden Creamery Association. He succeeded as a general farmer, established a comfortable home and enjoys the esteem of all who knew him. His family of nine children were reared and educated so as to form the nucleus of Christian homes, which today he considers the greatest of worldly achievements. After forty years of married life, the faithful helpmeet and kind mother passed to her eternal rest in 1906. Since his wife's death Mr. Ahlness has retired from active life and is now living in a cozy home in the village of Hanska.
To Mr. and Mrs. Amundson two children have been born, namely: Oliver, whose birth occurred on February 6, 1898, is a student in St. Olaf College; Theressa was born in November, 1903. Mr. and Mrs. Amundson are also rear- ing two orphan girls, having taken the eldest at the age of nine years and the other when seven years old, the latter being his niece; they are Ida B. Rono, the eldest, who was born in 1889, a daughter of Silver and Anna Rono; and Utilda Braley, who was born on October 7, 1901. The former was graduated from the Madison Normal School at Madison, Minnesota, and is now engaged in teaching in the Brown county schools.
Politically, Mr. Amundson is an independent voter. He is now chairman of the township board of supervisors. He was township clerk for several years. He is a director in the Hanska-Linden Creamery Association, of which he has been treasurer for about twenty years. He is a stockholder (33a)
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in the Hanska-Linden Store Company, but has held no offices in the latter. He is also a stockholder and director in the Hanska State Bank, having been a director in the same since its organization. He has been successful in a business way. His farm is one of the best in the county, his build- ings are all substantial, painted and comfortable, and they are surrounded by a beautiful grove. He was one of the first farmers in Lake Hanska township to use a gasoline traction engine to do his plowing and breaking. He is an advocate of advanced methods of agriculture and has done much to encourage better farming in Brown county. He and his family are members of the Lake Hanska Lutheran church. He has four brothers living in this township, namely: John, Martin, Ole and Theo; Julius, another brother, lives near Silverton, Oregon; and a sister, Betsy, who became the wife of Tyler Braley, died when forty-one years old, leaving a daughter, Utilda, who lives with Mr. Amundson.
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Gen. Joseph Bobleter.
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GEN. JOSEPH BOBLETER.
In the memorial annals of Brown county no name stands out more distinctly than that of the late Gen. Joseph Bobleter, of New Ulm, an honored veteran of the Civil War, colonel of the Twelfth Regiment, Minnesota Volun- teer Infantry, brigadier-general of the Minnesota National Guard, merchant, editor, banker, treasurer of state and at the time of his death serving the people of New Ulm as mayor of that city. An appreciation of General Bobleter written by Maj. L. A. Fritsche and read before the thirtieth annual convention of the National Guard Association of the state of Minnesota at New Ulm on October 8, 1909, con- cludes as follows: "It often happens that men with spe- cific proclivities are apt to be one-sided in their ideas of life, but not so with the late General Bobleter. He was highly public spirited; always ready to do favors and assist his fellow citizens in whatever walk of life. A true friend, he probably placed more trust in mankind than he should have done. He was jovial and always ready and willing to assist others in having a good time. He was hospitable and his house was ever open to his friends. He was a good man, a good citizen, indulgent father, a good and kind husband, and no higher compliment can be paid anyone. Tracing his life from childhood to the time of his death, there is one noticeable trait of character which may serve as a worthy example to all young men. His will power, his determination, his consistency in all his undertakings were conspicuous and predominant features, overcoming
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all obstacles and thus leading up to the desired end. All in all, it can be truthfully said that the late General Bob- leter was a man who not only understood the need of his times, but was always ready to offer his services, his strength and his knowledge to meet the demands of the common- wealth as a man, a citizen, a public servant and, above all, as a soldier."
The story of the life of General Bobleter reads like a romance and is all the more interesting, because it is true. He was born at Dornbirn, a village in the Austrian Tyrol, April 19, 1846. His mother died when he was an infant and he was reared by kinsfolk. In 1852 his father and uncle came to the United States, seeking new homes, and located near Dubuque, Iowa. The uncle homesteaded a place there and the father after awhile came to Minnesota, locating at New Ulm in 1856. Two years later, in 1858, the uncle returned to Austria to bring his family to the new home in this country and with them came the lad, Joseph Bobleter, then twelve years of age. Upon his arrival here, Joseph Bobleter began working on farms dur- ing the summers and continued his schooling during the winters, quickly acquiring a thorough and accurate knowl- edge of the English language. Though but sixteen years of age at the time, in September, 1862, he enlisted in the Thirteenth United States Infantry for service during the Civil War and served with that command until honorably discharged nine months later. In December, 1863, he enlisted for service in the United States navy and was stationed on the "Blackhawk," Admiral Porter's flagship. He participated in the Red River expedition and after General Bank's defeat at Pleasant Hill was one of a
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