History of Houston County, Minnesota, Part 64

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge
Publication date: 1919
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1343

USA > Minnesota > Houston County > History of Houston County, Minnesota > Part 64

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Henry O. Tollefsrud, proprietor of one of the best farms in Spring Grove township, situated in sections 26 and 27, was born on the original homestead, which it includes, Sept. 14, 1865, son of Ole and Louise Tollefs- rud. The parents were natives of Norway who came to Houston county, Minnesota, at an early date, taking a tract of wild land in section 26, Spring Grove township. This land they developed into a good farm on which they both finally died, the father, who was born April 28, 1831, at the age

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of seventy-two years, on Oct. 19, 1903; and the mother, who was born March 7, 1827, and who for sixteen years previous to her death was a suf- ferer from rheumatism, on Nov. 15, 1906, at the age of seventy-nine. Their children, eight in number, were: Ole, Arne, Henry O., Tollef, Marie, Chris- tine, Julia and Tella. Marie is now the wife of Gemevald Ingvalson, Christine the wife of Ole Hanson, and Tella the wife of O. K. Wold, of Mabel. Julia is residing on the home farm. Henry O. Tollefsrud acquired the ele- ments of knowledge in the district school, which he attended up to the age of fifteen years. His industrial education was very thorough and comprised an initiation into all the mysteries of farm life and labor, in which he soon became expert. He has never wandered away from the scenes of his youth but has remained on the home farm, which he assisted to develop, and which is now his property. He has much improved the original place, however, and has increased its area, in 1890 buying 195 acres of land, of which he has 150 under the plow. An old frame house, formerly used by the family as a dwelling for about ten years, is now converted into a machine shed, as in 1901 Mr. Tollefsrud built a modern two-story frame house of eight rooms, with a detached summer kitchen, which makes a very comfortable home. He has also erected a frame barn, 32 by 86 by 16 feet, with a full eight-foot basement and concrete floors; a granary 14 by 18; a well house, engine house, corn crib and tool house, while he has a good general operating equipment. For the past fifteen years he has been a breeder of registered Shorthorn cattle, of which he now has from twenty-five to thirty head, and he also raises Poland-China and Chester-White hogs. Always a hard worker, Mr. Tollefsrud has made progress in the world and has become prosperous. In addition to his direct farming interests, he is a shareholder in the Spring Grove Stock and Grain Company and the Farmers' Co- operative Creamery of Spring Grove. In politics he is non-partisan, having formerly been a Republican. The American Society of Equity numbers him among its members. Mr. Tollefsrud was married Dec. 20, 1890, to Christine, daughter of Knute and Berget Wold. She died in 1892, after having been the mother of two children; namely: a daughter, who is now Mrs. Ben Bergrud of Winneshiek county, Iowa; and one who died in infancy. On Sept. 15, 1898, Mr. Tollefsrud married Oline, daughter of Ole and Thore Olsgard, of Spring Grove township. The children of this marriage are: Leonard Kornelihus, born Oct. 2, 1899; Oscar Olvin, born March 9, 1901; Henry Oberlin, born Dec. 22, 1902; Henry O., born April 15, 1904, and Louise Theoline, born Feb. 7, 1907. Of these children Henry Oberlin died in infancy. The others are living, Leonard K. being now a student in the Spring Grove high school. Mr. Tollefsrud and his family are members of the Spring Grove congregation of the Norwegian Evangelical church, and are people who occupy a respected place in the community of which they are members.

Helge T. Haugen, a prosperous farmer residing in section 1, Spring Grove township, on the farm formerly owned by his father-in-law, Ben. E. Henderson, but which is now his own property, was born in Wilmington township Houston county, Minn., Oct. 27, 1868, son of Torger and Kjerste Haugen. The parents, natives of Norway, were among the early settlers

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in this county. Helge T. Haugen attended the district school up to the age of fifteen years, and for some years after that continued to reside with his parents. He worked for others until his marriage, which took place Nov. 8, 1893, uniting him with Ingre Helga Amelia, daughter of Ben. E. and Anna (Olson) Henderson. He and his wife began domestic life on a forty-acre farm in Wilmington township, which, however, they later sold, and until 1897 operated rented farms. In that year Mr. Haugen bought his father- in-law's farm in section 1, Spring Grove township, a farm of 102 acres, on which he and his wife are now living, Mr. Henderson residing with them for several years. Mrs. Henderson died in 1887. Mr. Haugen has now seventy-five acres of the land under the plow and is cultivating it with profitable results, the rest being in timber and pasture. He is living in the original log house built by Mr. Henderson, which is a very comfortable dwell- ing, and is provided with running water, as also is the barn, the latter being a structure 30 by 66 by 20 feet in size. Among the other farm buildings are a corn crib, 18 by 24; two tool sheds, 14 by 24 and 18 by 24; granary, 18 by 24; and poultry house, 12 by 30. All the buildings are in good condi- tion and the farm is well fenced. Its location is in a beautiful valley one and a half miles north of Spring Grove village. Mr. Helge is successfully raising Shorthorn and Red Poll cattle and Poland-China swine. He is a stockholder in the Spring Grove Stock and Grain Company, and the Farmers' Co- operative Creamery and the Hospital, both of the same place. Politically he is a Republican and he and his family are members of the Spring Grove congregation of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran church. Honest, industrious and thrifty, he is respected in the community and recognized as a good and reliable citizen. He and his wife are the parents of two children, Benjamin Tillman and Harold Alton. Benjamin Tillman, who was born Oct. 24, 1895, after attending the district school, spent two years in the high school. Beginning industrial life in a drug store as clerk, he has been for the last three years an employee of the Onsgard State Bank at Spring Grove. Harold Alton, born Jan. 29, 1908, is residing on the home farm.

Ben E. Henderson, one of the old pioneers of Spring Grove township, who is still in good health and active for one of his years, was born in Ring Ger Aget, Norway, Oct. 9, 1843, son of Helge and Kari Henderson. In his sixteenth year, in the spring of 1859, he accompanied his parents to America, the family landing at Quebec, Canada, after a seven week's voyage, and coming directly to Houston county, Minnesota. On arriving here, or soon afterwards, they settled on a farm of forty acres just north of Spring Grove village, where they remained until about 1875. The parents subsequently died at the home of their son Ole in Spring Grove township, the mother, July 17, 1887, and the father Jan. 13, 1889. Their family num- bered in all six children: Ole, Mari, Kjerste, Inga, Ben E. and Gunhild, of whom Ben E. and two sisters are now living. Ben E. Henderson, who had attended school in Norway, was a well grown boy when he arrived in Houston county, and soon found work as a farm hand. In that occupation he continued until 1866, when he was married, Oct. 7, to Anna Olson, daughter of Helge and Anna Olson. In the same year he bought forty acres

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of land in section 1, Spring Grove township, of which tract ten acres were broken, and on this he built a log house, which is still standing, and he and his wife began domestic life in this primitive residence. To this farm he has since added until he now has 102 acres in it. He also owned a farm in Black Hammer township, and in 1908 took a homestead in Haaken county, South Dakota, later buying another quarter section of 160 acres, so that at the present time he owns a half section there. For some ten or fifteen years Mr. Henderson was engaged in the marble business in Rushford, Minn., in partnership with Joseph Peasley, but finally sold his interests to his partner and returned to his farm, which he had rented out in the mean- while. His principal work while in that business was as salesman, Mr. Peasley attending to the manufacturing of the goods. On Oct. 14, 1887, Mrs. Anna Henderson died on the home farm, but Mr. Henderson continued to reside on it until 1907, when he sold it to his son-in-law, Helge T. Haugen. The next two years he spent in South Dakota, but returned to Spring Grove, this county, in 1909, having finally retired from farming. Mr. Henderson is a Republican in politics, and on one occasion he ran for the office of county treasurer on the Democratic ticket, being defeated by only seven votes though the county is strongly Republican. He is a prominent mem- ber of the Spring Grove congregation of the Norwegian Evangelical Luth- eran church, which he has served in various capacities. He still resides on the old farm now owned by his son-in-law, and on which he erected good buildings. Of the land seventy-five acres are under the plow. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Henderson, as follows: Caroline, born Feb. 14, 1868, who died Dec. 17, 1868, at the age of ten months and three days; Caroline (second), born March 5, 1869, who became the wife of Bernt Ness, but died March 17, 1890; Anna Helme, born Feb. 16, 1872, now de- ceased; Ingre Helga Amelia, now the wife of Helge T. Haugen, proprietor of the old Henderson farm ; Hannah Christine, born Dec. 15, 1874, who is the wife of Peter Bergrud of South Grove; Annette, born Oct. 27, 1877, who died at Vermillion, S. D., Oct. 24, 1886; and Adoline Brocilia, born Feb. 25, 1879, who died Oct. 24, 1886. As one of the oldest pioneers of Houston county now living, and a man who has always done his full duty as a citizen, Mr. Henderson is widely known and highly esteemed. Few men of his years can be found so strong and active, which is doubtless due to the in- heritance of a good constitution and the healthful, though strenuous life he has led, free from dissipation or excess.

Thor B. Kolsrud, one of the extensive farmers of Spring Grove town- ship, is proprietor of the Hillsdale Stock Farm, three miles south of Spring Grove, as good a place as can be found in the community. He is doing his share in the development of the county and is highly regarded by all who know him. Born August 4, 1860, the son of Bear and Joroud (Olestaater) Kolsrud, he was reared on the home place in section 26, Spring Grove town- ship, and educated in the district schools, also studying a few months each in Spring Grove Village and in Decorah, Iowa. When he was but eighteen his father died and the care of the farm descended to him and his brother, Gilbert, then sixteen years of age. In the fall of 1885 a division of the property was made, Thor B. taking 170 acres in sections 25 and 26,

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the southern half of the old home. Since then he has purchased 240 acres more, making a fine farm of 410 acres. Some years ago he built a brick house, 26 by 30 feet, two stories, to which he has since added a wing 20 by 20, thus giving him a comfortable sightly thirteen-room house. He also built a barn 40 by 60 by 20 feet, with a full stone basement of eight feet. In 1912 he built a swine house, 26 by 80 feet, with a cement feeding floor. Among his other buildings are a stone silo, 14 by 38 feet, and a machine shed 16 by 50 feet, together with a shop, 12 by 14 feet. The farm is well equipped with teams, tools, machinery and implements and is well fenced. About 200 acres are under the plow, and the remainder in pasture and tim- ber. For the past fifteen years Mr. Kolsrud has been a breeder of registered Hereford cattle, and now has a herd of thirty pure breds and forty good grades. His drove of Poland-China swine headed by several pure blooded sires numbers about 100. Mr. Kolsrud has stock in the Spring Grove Stock & Grain Co., in the Spring Grove Farmers' Co-operative Creamery and in the Spring Grove Hospital. He has been the treasurer of his school district for fifteen years. Mr. Kolsrud was married April 12, 1883, to Mary Kroshus, born April 11, 1860, daughter of Andrew and Thurine (Hackness) Kroshus, of Spring Grove, and this union has been blessed with seven children : Josephine Adelia, born Feb. 3, 1884; Theoline Belinda, born Aug. 5, 1889; and now wife of Henry Rank of Black Hammer township; Bernard, born Sept. 27, 1891; Arthur, born Jan. 21, 1893, and died in infancy ; Anna Marie, born June 9, 1894, and now a teacher in North Dakota; Amos, born June 6, 1896; and Oscar, born Sept. 5, 1899. The family faith is that of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran church.

Bear Kolsrud, the pioneer, was born in Norway in 1816, and was there married in 1848 to Joroud Olestaater, who was born in 1820. In 1848 they set out with their two daughters, Gertrude and Anna, and found their way to Rock county, Wisconsin, where they stopped for a short time. From there they started for Houston county. The trip was made in true pioneer style, the ox cart which brought their goods being a primitive vehicle with wheels sawed from logs, and with a wooden axletree. They drove two cows, and the wife walked most of the way, carrying a baby. Upon their arrival in Spring Grove they had but seventy-five cents. They settled on forty acres of government land in section 26, and moved into a dugout. In this dugout the twins, Anna and Gumbjor, were born. These twins died of typhoid at the age of ten years. Bear Kolsrud devoted the remainder of his life to the development of his farm. He added to his possessions until he owned 410 acres, on which he made many improvements. After a useful life he died in 1878. His wife died in 1907. They were the parents of three sons and five daughters, all of whom are dead except Thor B.

Andrew P. Kroshus, one of the earliest pioneers of Spring Grove town- ship, was born in Norway, and was there reared to young manhood. Then resolving to try his fortunes in the New World he set sail for America and landed after a long voyage of fourteen weeks aboard a sailing vessel. Coming at once to Wisconsin, he found employment in the Putnam sawmill at Muskego, some eighteen miles from Milwaukee. There, in addition to board and room his monthly wages were $6 the first year, $11 the second

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year, $16 the third year and $24 the first four months of the fourth year. He was offered $30 to remain, but having saved practically all his earnings he decided to start farming. Accordingly in the fall of 1853 he set out on foot and after a walk of 275 miles, found a friend, John Kroshus, living in Spring Grove township. He bought John's claim of 200 acres for $150, and re- mained with him that winter, getting out rails, and making a few improve- ments. In the spring he walked back to Muskego, married, bought a yoke of oxen and an old wagon, and brought his wife back here. He gradually increased his holdings until he was the owner of 313 acres of good land. He died Nov. 12, 1882. Thurine Haakeness, the wife of Andrew P. Kroshus, was born in Norway, June 18, 1834, and was brought to this country by her parents, who set sail from Christiania, Norway, in a small sailing vessel · loaded with iron, April 14, 1840, and landed at New York, Oct. 14, 1840, after a voyage of six months. From New York they went by rail to Albany, then by Erie Canal to Buffalo, thence by the lakes to Milwaukee, where they were met by friends who took them to Muskego in an ox cart. That fall, in company with Torger Aastensen Luraas, they built a single room log cabin, 14 by 14 feet. Mr. Haakeness had but twenty-five cents when he reached Muskego. Mr. Luraas had but $6. But they had brought tools and axes with them from the old country, and with these set out with a will to better themselves. The first winter, the two families of fourteen people lived in the single room. In the spring of 1842 each family purchased a forty-acre tract of land. In 1853 the cholera epidemic swept the com- munity, and carried away Mr. and Mrs. Haakeness, after they had secured a pledge from the daughter Thurine that she would look after her brother. Mrs. Kroshus died in February, 1916.

Olaus A. Kroshus, an influential and energetic farmer of Spring Grove township, was born Jan. 28, 1858, on the home farm in section 27, son of Andrew P. and Thurine (Haakeness) Kroshus. He received his early educa- tion in the district schools, and had the advantage of two winters at the Breckenridge Institute at Decorah, Iowa. With this preparation he taught school in his home district for six winters. In 1887 he married and moved onto 120 acres which he had secured from his father, in sections 28 and 34, and on which he had built a small frame house. To the operation and development of this farm he has since devoted his attention. To his original holdings he has added until he owns 289 acres, nearly all under the plow, and in addition to this he has 640 acres in North Dakota. The farm is well equipped with tools, implements and machinery. The modern two-story frame house was built in 1910, and the farm buildings consist of comfortable barns, granary, tool sheds, swine house and the like, together with a good garage. Mr. Kroshus carries on general farming and raises the usual crops. He has a herd of some fifty head of graded Shorthorn cattle, and a drove of some 125 Duroc-Jersey swine. A prominent man in his community, Mr. Kroshus served several terms as town assessor, and he has been on the school board some thirty years. He has stock in the Spring Grove Stock & Grain Co. and the Farmers' Co-operative Creamery, both of Spring Grove, and is a member of the American Society of Equity. Mr. Kroshus was mar- ried March 31, 1887, to Christine Sagdalen, of Spring Grove township,

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OLAUS A. KROSIIUS AND FAMILY

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daughter of Knute and Margerite Sagdalen, early settlers. This union has resulted in six children, Andrew, Cora, Elmer Oberlin, Mabel Thurine, Geneva Evelyn and Carleton Orlando. Andrew was born June 28. 1888, and works with his father. Cora was born Nov. 30, 1889, graduated from the Southern Minnesota Normal College at Austin, Minn., and is a book- keeper for a firm in that city. Elmer Oberlin, who was in the automobile business in Spring Grove Village, died Jan. 9, 1919. He was born in August, 1893. Mabel Thurine was born Dec. 1, 1896; Geneva Evelyn was born in July, 1900, and Carleton Orlando was born July 20, 1906. The family faith is that of the Norwegian Lutheran church of Spring Grove.

Andrew K. Roverud, who was a resident of Spring Grove township for thirty-seven years, and was widely known as an industrious and success- ful farmer and reliable citizen, was born in Norway, Sept. 29, 1847. When twenty years old he accompanied his parents to Minnesota and they settled in Spring Grove Township, Houston county, taking a tract of wild land in section 2, on which a log house had been built. On this place Andrew spent the rest of his life, in his younger days assisting his father to develop the farm, which in time became his property. Later in life he erected a number of new buildings, including a good frame barn, granary, machine shed, stave silo and residence. The last mentioned, built in 1902, was a neat and com- modious frame house of two stories, consisting of an upright and wing. In the fall of 1904 Mr. Roverud sold the farm to his sons, Conrad T. and Henry S., and it subsequently came into the sole possession of Conrad, who is now the proprietor. He continued to reside on it, however, until his death, which occurred Jan. 27, 1905. Mr. Roverud was married June 19, 1882, to Mrs. Bertha Elida Risty, widow of Ole Risty. The children of this union were as follows: Conrad T., born April 15, 1883, now proprietor of the home farm; Henry Sylvester, born Jan. 26, 1885, who is now living in Spring Grove township; Ida Georgine, born Jan. 17, 1887, who for some time kept house for her brother Conrad and then married Casper Sandeger, of Iowa; Gerhard Antonius, born Feb. 2, 1889; Mollie Josephine, born Feb. 4, 1891, who is now Mrs. Alvin Anderson, of Spring Grove township; Arnold Emil (first), born March 9, 1893, who died Feb. 5, 1895; Arnold Emil (sec- ond), born Feb. 15, 1895, now living on a farm at Humbolt, Minn .; and Edward Cornelius and Knute, who died in infancy. Mr. Roverud was a successful stock and grain farmer, whose labors added to the general agri- cultural wealth of the county, and in his own township he was esteemed as a reliable and useful citizen. His wife is still residing on the farm with her son Conrad.

Conrad T. Roverud, proprietor of an excellent farm in section 2, Spring Grove township, two miles north of Spring Grove village, was born on this farm, April 15, 1883, son of Andrew K. and Bertha Elida Roverud. From his early years he was associated with his father in the development of the old homestead, which he bought in partnership with his brother, Henry S., in the fall of 1904. In 1909 the partnership was dissolved, Conrad buying his brother's interest, since which time he has been the sole proprietor. The farm contains 197 acres, of which area 150 acres are now under the plow.

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To the substantial buildings erected by his father he has added, in 1916, a modern cement-block hog-house, 26 by 60 feet in size, with hip roof and cement floor. As a general farmer and stock breeder he is making good progress, breeding registered Shorthorn cattle, of which he has a herd of 25 to 30; also having a herd of about 27 Angus feeders, and a herd of 50 to 75 Poland-China hogs. He is a shipper of full-blooded sires through the north and west. His farm is well fenced and in a good state of cultivation, the land being fertile and productive. The buildings stand on elevated ground and command a beautiful view, the surroundings being picturesque. Mr. Roverud's equipment includes a fine automobile, and his teams, tools and machinery are fully adequate to all the purposes of modern and scientific farming. He is a stockholder in the Spring Grove Stock & Grain Company, the Spring Grove Farmers' Co-operative Creamery and the Spring Grove Hospital, of which last mentioned institution he is a director. In politics he is a Republican, while his religious affiliations are with the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran church, he having been a trustee of the Spring Grove congregation for the last three years.

Mr. Roverud was married, June 17, 1918, to Anna M. Hensrud, a grad- uate nurse of Spring Grove. They have one child, Elida Mathilda, born June 2, 1919.

Hans E. Lageson, for many years an active farmer in Spring Grove township, but now living retired in Mabel, Fillmore county, was born in Dane county, Wisconsin, Dec. 26, 1851, son of Elling and Martha Leageson. The parents, born near Margried, Norway, came to America in the spring of 1851, locating first in Dane county, Wisconsin, and coming thence to Houston county, Minnesota, in 1867. They settled on what is now the Peter A. Foss farm in section 33, Spring Grove township, but which was then merely a tract of wild land. With hardly any resources they began the arduous work of pioneer farming, in which they were assisted by their son, Hans E., who was already a strong boy of 16 years when they arrived in this county. He had had but little schooling, as even in Dane county he had been obliged to spend most of his time working on the farm, and his opportunities were no better here, as there was even more for him to do. However, at the age of 17 he began working out as a farm hand and was employed in that manner for several years. On Dec. 18, 1876, he married, his bride being Isabelle, daughter of Bendik and Annie Larson, of Win- neshiek county, Iowa, in which state she was born, March 17, 1856. After his marriage Mr. Lageson worked his father-in-law's farm for awhile; but in 1877 he moved to Houston county and bought 80 acres of partly improved land in section 31, Spring Grove township. This farm he worked until 1882, when he sold it to William Sinclair and moved to the Sever Hanson farm in section 34 of the same township. Later he sold this farm also and bought the Everett farm, consisting of 160 acres of improved land in sec- tion 32, Spring Grove township. Though improved, the buildings on the place were very ordinary, consisting chiefly of an old frame house and some straw sheds. Here he lived until 1910, and during his occupancy of the estate he made valuable improvements on it, erecting a comfortable frame house of two stories, with upright and wing, and containing nine rooms,

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HANS E. LAGESON AND FAMILY

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History of Houston County, Minnesota, Part 64

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge Publication date: 1919 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1343

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge
Publication date: 1919
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1343