USA > Minnesota > Todd County > History of Morrison and Todd counties, Minnesota, their people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 24
USA > Minnesota > Morrison County > History of Morrison and Todd counties, Minnesota, their people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 24
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George M. Riedner was born on September 30, 1862, in Bristol. Dane county, Wisconsin, the son of Michael and Margareth ( Holtzinan ) Riedner. Michael Riedner was born in 1830, in Bavaria, Germany, and came to America with his parents when thirteen years old. They landed in New York city and then moved to Dane county. Wisconsin, where they purchased eighty acres of land for one hundred dollars. This tract was partly under cultivation. Michael Riedner was educated partly in Germany and partly i11 Dane county. Wisconsin. He lived with his parents until the death of his father, in tS91. and then took over the home farm. A little later, he sold the farm and moved to the eastern part of Faribault county, Minnesota, where he lived for eight years. In the spring of 1899, he removed to Bird Island, Renville county, Minnesota, and purchased eighty acres of land. He
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farmed there for two years and then moved to a farm near St. Paul and finally to San Diego, California, where he remained one year on account of his wife's health. Upon returning, Michael Riedner settled in Stevens county, Minnesota, where he still lives. His wife was born in Bavaria, Ger- many, in 1836, and, when seven years old, came to America with her par- ents. They also settled in Dane county, Wisconsin, where they purchased eighty acres of land, and where Mrs. Riedner lived until her marriage. She has borne her husband eight children, all of whom are living: Mary married John Batz; Caroline married Joe Englerch; George M. is the subject of this sketch; Matilda; Henry A .; John; Josephine, who married Frank Doyle; and Albert F. Michael Riedner and wife are members of the Catholic church. He votes the Democratic ticket.
Until he was twelve years old, George M. Riedner attended the parochial school in his home neighborhood, Dane county, Wisconsin. Afterward, he attended the public schools for two years and then went to work on the farm with his father. He remained on the farm until reaching his majority. At the age of twenty-one, Mr. Riedner went to Sargent county, North Dakota, took a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, proved up and lived there four years. Upon leaving the claim, he moved to Easton, Faribault county, Minnesota, where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land.
On December 17, 1889, George M. Riedner was married to Helena Linder, a native of Columbiana county, Wisconsin, who came with her par- ents to Faribault county, Minnesota, when three years old. There she was educated and lived until her marriage. She has borne her husband four chil- dren, Elenora, Julia, William and Elsie, all of whom live at home. Mrs. Riedner is the daughter of Jacob and Mary Ann ( Dann) Linder, the former of whom was born in Bavaria, Germany. Mrs. Riedner's mother is a native of Wisconsin.
About 1898 Mr. Riedner purchased some two hundred acres of land near Bird Island, in Renville county, Minnesota, upon which he lived until 1906, when he sold out and purchased two hundred acres of land in Mor- rison county, Minnesota. In 1913, he sold his first Morrison county farm and purchased one hundred and forty-five acres in Belle View township, Morrison county. In the spring of 1914 he added one hundred and sixty acres and now owns altogether three hundred and five acres.
Mr. Riedner has a magnificent farm. He is a man of excellent repu- tation in the community where he lives and is known far and wide as a good farmer. His children are all well educated, having had the very best educa-
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tional advantages. Mr. Riedner served as supervisor of Barbara township, Faribault county, for a few years, and also as assessor for two terms. Later he served as assessor in Renville county, and also as township clerk for two terms. He has served as assessor of Belle View township for one term, and as school trustee of independent district No. 40, Royalton, a position which he has held for five years. Above everything else, Mr. Riedner is a farmer. He is interested in both hogs and cattle. He is both a stockholder and director of the Royalton Co-operative Creamery Company.
The Riedner family are all members of the Catholic church at Royal- ton. Mr. Riedner is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen of Minnesota as well as the grand lodge. He is a past master workman. In the Catholic Order of Foresters he is a past chief ranger.
JONES PALM.
Among the well-known business men of Eagle Bend, Todd county, Minnesota, is Jones Palm, the manager of the Eagle Bend Implement Con- pany, of Eagle Bend.
Jones Palm was born on March 18, 1878, in Sweden, and is the son of John and Bertha Palm, who were natives of Sweden. The former was a farmer in his native land and served a term in the army. He came to America in 1881, and after landing in New York city traveled to Otter Tail county, Minnesota, where he purchased a homestead right from a Mr. Torgerson, comprising one hundred and sixty acres of wild land, a part of which was covered with timber. There was a log cabin on the farm. Dur- ing the first year he was unable to raise a crop and the next year was able to plant only ten acres of wheat. He is now living on the same farm and has about eighty acres under cultivation. He became a naturalized American citizen many years ago. His log house was replaced by another log house and the second log house, subsequently, by a frame house, in which Mr. and Mrs. Palm are now living. They are not only engaged in general farming, but operate a dairy. Mr. and Mrs. John Palin were the parents of four children, John, Jr .. Ole, Jones and Erick. Of these children, John, Jr., lives near Sisseton, South Dakota, where he is engaged in farming. His wife is Mary Palm and they have several children. Ole, who also lives near Sisse- ton, is married and has several children. Erick lives with his parents and manages the old homestead farm.
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Jones Palm came to America with his parents, and received his educa- tion in Otter Tail county. He also attended the high school at Evansville, Minnesota, for two years and then was a student at the academy at Glen- wood, Minnesota, graduating in the spring of 1900. Afterward, Mr. Palm taught school for three or four years.
Mr. Palm was married and was afterward employed by his father-in- law, A. G. Johnson, in a general store at Melby, Minnesota. After working for Mr. Johnson for five or six years, Mr. Palm was employed by the Inter- national Harvester Company as a traveling salesman and worked for them for two years. He moved to Eagle Bend in the spring of 1910 and took full charge of the Eagle Bend Implement Company as general manager, a position which he now holds.
The Eagle Bend Implement Company, which is incorporated under the laws of the state of Minnesota, was started in connection with the bank of Eagle Bend. The first stock was very small and incomplete. It was oper- ated in connection with the bank until the bank was incorporated as a national bank. In February, 1898, a separate stock company was formed and the implement business incorporated as the Eagle Bend Implement Com- pany with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars. The first manager was WV. A. Sleeper, who had charge a short time, when William Rodman suc- ceeded him. Mr. Rodman was succeeded by Mr. Palm. The company now handles a complete line of lumber, building material, farm machinery, bug- gies, wagons. harness, coal and wood. The company is agent for the Ford automobile, the John Deere and International Harvester Companies' farm implements and the De Laval cream separator.
Jones Palm was married on October 26, 1901, to Eleonora Johnson, who was born in Douglas county, Minnesota, August 30, 1883, and who is the daughter of A. G. and Sigrid Johnson, the former of whom was born in Sweden. Mrs. Sigrid Johnson was born in Norway. They were pioneers in Douglas county, Minnesota, and were farmers in their earlier days. Later they engaged in the mercantile business at Melby, Minnesota, and Mr. John- son is still actively engaged in this business. Mrs. Johnson died a few years ago, at the age of forty-five years. They were the parents of ten children, two of whom are living at Eagle Bend, Joseph and Eleonora, now Mrs. Palm. Joseph is employed by Mr. Palm in the implement business. Mrs. Palm received her education in Douglas county and made her home with her parents until her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Palm have four children, Hugo, Evelina, Eldora and Howard.
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Mr. Palm is a Republican in politics and was a member of the village council for one year. He and his wife are members of the Swedish Lutheran church and Mr. Palm is treasurer of the church board. He is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity and has served as junior deacon for two terms.
Jones Palm was a member of the Fourteenth Regiment, Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, during the Spanish-American War. This regiment was reserved for the Havana campaign, but the war ended before the regiment was called to the front. Mr. Palm was mustered out at St. Paul in Novem- ber, 1898.
Jones Palm is a successful business man, a popular citizen and enjoys the confidence of many friends in this part of Todd county.
AUGUST SANDAHL.
Among the farmers of Morrison county, Minnesota, who believe in following twentieth-century methods, is August Sandahl of Elidale town- ship. Mr. Sandahl is a man of honorable characteristics, one who has always been strong for right living and industrious habits and for all that contributes to the welfare of the commonwealth. Such people are welcomed in any community, for they are empire builders and as such have pushed the frontier of civilization ever onward, leaving the wide-reaching wilderness and the far-stretching plains populous with contented people and beautiful with green fields.
August Sandahl was born in Sweden, in Orebrolen, in the central por- tion of that country, on June 28, 1859. He was the only child of his par- ents, John and Carolina (Elholm) Akholm, although each had had children by a former marriage. Mr. Sandahl's parents never left their native country and passed the latter years of their lives engaged in farming. The father was a tailor by trade, which occupation he followed for a number of years, but which he finally abandoned and took up agricultural work.
August was educated in the common schools located near his home and hired out as a farm hand for a few years before emigrating to America. He landed in Boston, but started almost immediately for Minneapolis, reaching the latter city on June 1, 1882. For a few weeks after reaching his destination he was employed as a repairer on the street car tracks and spent the balance of the summer in a stone quarry. The late fall of 1882
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found him in the pine forests of Pine county, this state and he passed the entire winter on Snake river. The spring of 1883 found him again in Minneapolis, where he spent that and the following summer working on the city streets, with the winter spent in the woods of Pine county, as the previous one had been. In the fall of 1884 Mr. Sandahl came to Morrison county, looking for a tract of land, and he found eighty acres to his liking, located in Elmdale township. This was wild land, all covered with trees and undergrowth and he paid the sum of five dollars and twenty-five cents per acre for it. He spent the winter on his new possession, making detail plans of what he hoped to accomplish in succeeding years, and making a start at his large task, and spring again found him in the city of Minne- apolis. That summer he began the laying of sidewalks for the city, follow- ing that occupation for eight years.
In 1893 Mr. Sandahl came to his land in Elmdale township where he has since made his home. His first work was to make a small clearing where he could erect his cabin and his next task was to cut the timbers for the cabin. He completed his log house, having at first but two rooms, and to this he has made considerable addition since. Then he began the arduous task of preparing his land for cultivation, and so industriously did he labor, that for some years practically all his land has been under cultivation and pasture. Mr. Sandahl does a considerable amount of grain farming, but only such amount as is properly proportioned to the number of cattle he raises. He has a fine strain of Guernsey cattle and his 1915 herd contains about twenty-five head. He has twenty hogs and four horses. His farm land and buildings proclaim the careful, thrifty man; all are in good repair and have a most attractive appearance.
Mr. Sandahl was married on March 4, 1887, to Augusta Hokenson, also a native of Sweden. She first saw the light of day in Ellsbergersland on April 1, 1863, and received her education in her native land. She came alone to this country, and secured work in the farm homes on Long Island, New York, and in 1884 moved to Minneapolis where she was employed until the time of her marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Sandahl have been born seven children, namely: Anna, wife of Fred Ahlberg; Erick Henry, Axel Roy. Arthur Amanuel, Ruth Judith, Oscar Daniel and George Arnold.
Since first making his home in this county, Mr. Sandahl has taken an active interest in the life of his community. He was one of the organizers of the Upsala Farmers Co-operative Creamery Company and is one of its largest stockholders. He was also one of the first to advance the movement
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which resulted in the organization of the Elindale Stock Shippers' Association and is one of the auditors of said association. Mr. Sandahl's life has been a most active one and in the fall of 1914 he added to his original purchase, eighty acres of land in section 20, of Swanville township, this county, mak- ing his entire holdings one hundred and sixty acres. He is a member of the Congregational church and gives earnest support to that society. Mr. Sandahl's career has been characterized by untiring energy, uncompromising fidelity and an earnest desire to advance his own interests and those of the community in which he has chosen to make his home. He has won and retains the high regard of all with whom he comes in contact by the honor- able course which he has pursued.
OLOF SAMUELSON.
One of the substantial citizens of Elidale township, Morrison county, Minnesota, is Olof Samuelson, a retired farmer and native of the land of Sweden. Mr. Samuelson was born in the western portion of that country, close to the border between Sweden and Norway, and was a son of Samuel Pehrson and Maria ( Pehrson) Pehrson, farmers. Mr. Samuelson first saw the light of day on November 8, 1847, and remained in his native land until thirty-five years old. Neither parent ever left Sweden, but closed their lives in the land of their birth. Both just reached the allotted mark of three score and ten.
Olof Samuelson is the eldest of a family of seven children, and when a boy received a good common school education near his childhood home, and soon after finished his studies, was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade. This he mastered and it was the means of his livelihood for a number of years, until the time he took up his residence in Morrison county and became an agriculturist. When a young man, Mr. Samuelson was married to Hulda Millan, born in Sweden on January 11, 1850, and to that union has been born, thirteen children. Those living are, Gustav, John, Signe, Jennie William and Ebba. When thirty-five years of age, Mr. Samuelson emi- grated to the United States and located in Minneapolis. He left his wife and family of five children in Sweden and was in this country one year before they joined him. In that time he had become recognized as a carpen- ter of ability in the city where he had chosen to make his home, and for eight years was a resident of that city. He found plenty of work at his trade
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and prospered. By the time he decided to leave the city and take his family to the country, he had acquired a comfortable home, and this he disposed of in trade for eighty acres of land in Elmdale township, Morrison county, and brought his family to his new possession in 1889. Part of his ground was cultivated, but the greater portion was wild land and Mr. Samuelson had before him the task of clearing it and making it ready for the plow. From the first he carried on general farming, such as practiced throughout this section, in addition to raising a limited number of cattle each year for the market. Now that he has retired from the active duties about his home place, he still does a small dairy business, milking five cows. Since first becoming a citizen of this township, Mr. Samuelson has taken a commenda- ble interest in various community affairs. He is a stockholder in the Upsala creamery and is also a member of the Farmers' Fire Insurance Company of Elmdale and a stockholder in the telephone company.
That Mr. Samuelson has prospered is not to be wondered at, for he is a man of proper principles and is possessed of those traits of industry and frugality which are sure to win a pleasing degree of material success for their possessor. Mr. Samuelson holds his religious membership with the Congregational church, to the support of which he contributes liberally of his means, and in politics he votes independently, chosing his candidate rather than endorsing the whole ticket of any one party.
GEORGE FLINT PARKER.
George Flint Parker is one of the most historic characters of Morrison county, Minnesota, for his name is not only written in the history of the great war of emancipation, in which he gallantly fought and suffered, but it is also linked closely with the early memoirs of Minnesota. He is equally noted as a man whose honorable life and vigorous application to business affairs have placed him in the foremost ranks of the citizens in his com- munity. Strong in his determination to overcome all obstacles, ready to lend a helping hand to any laudable enterprise, his sterling qualities as a man have won for George Flint Parker the praise and admiration of his many friends and associates.
George Flint Parker was born on December 26, 1846, at Brockton, Plymouth county, Massachusetts, and is the son of Gould and Mary ( Flint) Parker. Gould Parker was born in January, about the year 1803, at Dover.
GEORGE F. PARKER
.
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Maine, and was engaged in the furniture business. His death occurred in 1853, at the place of his birth. Mary (Flint) Parker was born on August 16, 18II, at Danvers, Massachusetts, where she died in 1908. For many years she was an enthusiastic worker in the Porter Congregational church, of which she was the first member and the last surviving original member of this church to embrace the Congregational faith. Five children were born to the union of Gould and Mary (Flint) Parker: Mary (Mrs. King- man), deceased; Caroline E. (Mrs. Packard), living at Brockton, Massa- chusetts; Susan ( Maria Lathrop), deceased; Gould E., deceased, and George Flint Parker, of Randall, Morrison county, Minnesota.
George Flint Parker secured his education from the public schools of North Bridgewater, Massachusetts, the same being afterward changed to Brockton, the famous shoe manufacturing city, and in this city, at the age of fourteen years, he began his career by working in a shoe factory. At the commencement of the Civil War, George Flint Parker offered his services in the support of his country. He was then fifteen years and six months' of age. The following is taken from the memorial record volumes of Fletcher Webster Post No. 13, Grand Army of the Republic, of Brock- ton, Massachusetts :
"Comrade George F. Parker entered the service as per adjutant-gen- eral's records as a private in Company C, of the Forty-second Massachusetts Regiment (nine months), accredited to North Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Mustered October 11. 1862; termination of service August 20, 1863, at expiration of term. He re-entered the service as per adjutant general's records, as again accredited to North Bridgewater, mustered January I, 1864, as a private in Company F. Second Regiment of Massachusets Cav- alry Volunteers, and served to the end of the war. His expiration of service is recorded as July 20. 1865, over three months after Lee's surrender. He joined Post 13, Grand Army of the Republic, was balloted for and elected on November 13, 1867, and mustered or initiated on January 8, 1868. He has two sisters and a brother now living in Brockton. His brother, Gould E. Parker, volunteered in the Second Massachusets Battery in war time and was transferred to, and discharged from the Sixth Massachusetts Battery.
"Comrade George F. Parker participated in the notable service of the Forty-second Massachusetts Regiment, which, although varied, is recorded in history as well performed, and the enlisted men in its ranks are given special praise officially. On December 3. 1862, the regiment embarked from (37)
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New York for distant service, the subsequent service was chiefly Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi, ending on August 20, 1863. Subsequent to his being mustered into the Second Regiment of Massachusetts Cavalry Volunteers, January 1, 1864, that regiment added laurels to its already good record by its participation in engagements on February 22, 1864, near Drainsville, expeditions in Fauquier and Loudoun counties, Virginia, also, commencing some three months subsequent, participated in engagements and battles at Halltown, followed by Opequon, Winchester, Luray, Waynesborough and Tom's Brook. As early as February 27, 1865, expeditions under General Sheridan, followed by battles at Cedar Creek, South Anna, White Oak Road, Berryville, Berryville Pike, Charleston, Virginia, Dinwiddie Court House, Five Forks, Saylors Creek, and Appomattox Court House, when the Confederate army surrendered.
"In the service sketch of George F. Parker it should be stated that Parker was taken prisoner while serving in the Second Regiment of the Massachusetts Cavalry and imprisoned in the Andersonville prison for sey- eral months. Several North Bridgewater soldiers were associated with him in the prison, namely: George T. Whitcomb, Company H, Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, who, with himself, survived prison life while their asso- ciates, Summer A. Smith, Company H, of the Second Regiment of Massa- chusetts Heavy Artillery, and Christopher Brannagan, of the same company, George E. Holmes and George H. Thompson, of Company F, of the Fifty- eighth Massachusetts Regiment, Frank E. Drake, Company I, of the First Regiment of Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, died at the hands of their prison keepers. The names of these five are on the tablet in the rotunda of Brockton city hall. Comrade George F. Parker and Whitcomb were plucky boys and while their good grit pulled them through and they survived prison life and escaped the tortures and horrors of the Andersonville death pen. yet they were obliged to see many of their comrades waste away and give up their precious lives."
The exact time which George Flint Parker spent in the Andersonville prison was four months and twenty days. His final discharge occurred on July 20, 1865, at Fairfax Court House, Virginia. After peace was declared he returned home and again resumed his occupation in the shoe factory, where he remained until February 1, 1869, after which he removed to Bangor, Maine, and assumed the management of a shoe factory for J. O. B. Darling and remained in that position for a period of four years. After this he continued in the harness and shoe business in the East until 1879, when,
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having formed a favorable impression of the opportunities in the western country, he decided to locate permanently in that section and came to Mor- rison county, Minnesota, where he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in Parker township in the north half of the south half of section 12, where he now lives.
This property was never cultivated by George Flint Parker, as he began contracting with the Northern Pacific and Great Northern railroads in cut- ting ties, on which work he employed a large number of men. In addition to this contract work he managed a saw-mill concern, operating six mills, and was overseer for the tie cutting at the time the Northern Pacific was being constructed and was the first man to introduce sawed ties for railway construction.
George Flint Parker, in those early pioneer days, was the first white man to locate in Parker township, which settlement occurred on the 17th of April, 1879, the township having been named for him. From June, 1889, until October, 1892, he was employed as a manager and clerk in the general merchandise store of Brooks & Company, the duties of this position being tie contracting. In October, 1893, he was honored with the appointment of postmaster of Randall, Morrison county, Minnesota, in which capacity he served with credit until his retirement from that office and active business life in 1896. He is the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of timber land, also of town property, on which he has erected a fine residence in Randall. Morrison county, Minnesota.
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