USA > Minnesota > Todd County > History of Morrison and Todd counties, Minnesota, their people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 25
USA > Minnesota > Morrison County > History of Morrison and Todd counties, Minnesota, their people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 25
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The marriage of George Flint Parker to Edith Muir was solemnized at Baltimore, Maryland, during the year of 1879. Edith Muir was born on October 18, 1851, in Nova Scotia, from which province, at two years of age, she emigrated with her parents to this country and settled in the state of Massachusetts. Mrs. Edith (Muir) Parker died on June 15, 1888.
George Flint Parker and Edith (Muir) Parker were the parents of one child, Edith, who was reared in Randall, Minnesota, where she obtained a liberal education and afterward taught in the public schools of South Dakota. Again the bereaved father was called upon to part with a loved one, his only child, who died when about thirty-one years of age.
George Flint Parker is an ardent Democrat, and his religious member- ship is with the Congregational church. He was the first justice of the peace and notary public at Randall, Minnesota, and performed the duties of these offices for a period of thirty-one years. In all matters relating to the welfare of the city and county. George Flint Parker takes a deep interest
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and is a liberal supporter thereof. Socially, he moves in the best circles, and with his wide acquaintance, acquired from a long career of varied exper- iences, he is deservedly popular. His life, so full of activity and fraught with so many vicissitudes of joy and sorrow, has been rounded out to the age of sixty-nine years.
ERICK ERLANDSON.
Erick Erlandson, one of the best-known farmers of Elmdale township, Morrison county, Minnesota, is one of that interesting class of Elidale township's citizens who came within her borders with but very little in a financial way, but rich in ability and worthy ambition. He has won a grati- fying degree of success, but only such as is commensurate with the strenuous effort put forth. His career has demonstrated the fact that he is one of those strong characters who allow no obstacle to hinder their progress and that each fresh impediment but adds to their determination to succeed. Mr. Erlandson is a man of pleasing personality which has won him a goodly number of warm friends, and possessing civic pride in a marked degree he is one of Elmdale township's citizens who can always be counted on to give his influence to the furtherance of any project which is intended to add to the well-being of the community.
Erick Erlandson was born in the southern portion of Sweden on March 2, 1863, being the eldest child of Peter and Segrad (Swanson) Erlandson. Peter Erlandson was a farmer all his life and never left his native land. His death occurred when he was about fifty years of age, and after his death his widow came to this country to make her home with the immediate sub- ject of this sketch. She was born in 1836 and is still living, a remarkably well-preserved woman for her seventy-nine years. She is the mother of five children, all of whom have become citizens of this country.
Erick Erlandson received his education in the schools near his home and when quite young began working on various farms in the neighborhood. He continued to be thus employed until 1882, and by that time had decided that life in his native country held but few opportunities for him and that his best chance for advancement in the world lay across the waters. Conse- quently, he emigrated to the United States, landing at Philadelphia, travel- ing direct from there to Grove City, this state. At that point he had a brother employed, who had crossed the waters some time previous, and Erick also found work there. He remained in Grove City until the fall of 1884
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when he came to Morrison county and in Elmdale township bought eighty acres of wild land, for which he paid five dollars and fifty-six cents per acre. There were no roadways leading to his land and what few possessions he had, had to be carried from Albany, a distance of twelve miles. The two following winters he spent on his farm, making what progress he could, and in the summers he worked at his old place in Grove City.
Erick Erlandson settled permanently on his farm at the time of his mar- riage on November 21, 1886, when he was united in matrimony with Hanna Johnson, a native of Norway, born about ten miles from the city of Christiana, on September 24, 1864. She grew up in her native land, receiv- ing a fair education, and remained there until twenty-two years of age, when she came to this country with a brother who located in Elindale township. She was a daughter of John Torkelson and Carrie (Hanson) Torkelson, neither of whom ever came to this country, both now being deceased. Mrs. Erlandson and her brother were located not far from where Mr. Erlandson bought his farm and they made the acquaintance of the ambitious young Swede soon after he first came to this section. This acquaintance resulted in marriage, and in the following spring Mr. Erlandson built a little two- room log house on their farm, where they lived for some time. Two addi- tional rooms were later added and eventually a second story, making a most comfortable home.
From the first Mr. Erlandson began clearing and cultivating his land and in 1908 he purchased forty acres adjoining him on the north, most of which is now under cultivation. In the fall of 1914 he bought another tract of twenty acres, which joined his land on the east and he now has in all one hundred and forty acres. He gives his land to the business of general farming and the raising of live stock, specializing in Guernsey cattle. His 1915 herd numbers about fifteen head and he has also a number of Poland China hogs, which are half pure bred. He also keeps a number of horses to assist in the work of the farm, which is done in a most thorough and ' systematic manner. This farm home presents an attractive appearance with its well-kept fields and lanes, good outbuildings and fine-appearing stock ; all most complimentary to the ability of the owner.
Mr. Erlandson is a broad-minded man, keenly alive to everything which makes for the advancement of the interests of his community, and he is interested in a number of concerns designed with that intent. He is a stock- holder in the local creamery, a member of the Elmdale Shippers' Associa- tion, a member of the Farmers' Telephone Company and a stockholder in
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the Duluth Electric short line. He is known as a man of most excellent judgment and his name given to any enterprise insures the following of others. Mr. Erlandson is a devout member of the Lutheran church and takes a commendable interest in its affairs. Mr. Erlandson has very little time to give matters of a political nature.
There are eight children in the Erlandson family. as follow: Amel, born on July 9, 1887; Alma, wife of William Samalson, .August 3, 1890; Anna, March 16, 1893; Harry, November 6, 1896; Roy, September 7, 1898; Arved, April 5, 1901; Helen, September 20, 1903, and Elmer, September II, 1906. In the education and training of this family, both parents have made all possible endeavors to bring them to manhood and womanhood well fitted for their places in the world, and the children are proving a credit to this training.
Mr. Erlandson is a man of sound and practical intelligence, keenly alert to everything relating to his interests, and in fact, with all that concerns the prosperity and advancement of the community. Because of his splendid personal characteristics and his genuine worth, he enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him and he is eminently entitled to representation in a work of the character of the one in hand.
SYLVESTER J. SHUTT.
Among the prosperous farmers of Scandia Valley township, Morrison county, Minnesota, is Sylvester J. Shutt, a native of Olmsted county, Minne- sota, where he was born on May 28, 1875. Mr. Shutt is the son of John and Abbie Shutt, the former of whom was born on March 21, 1842, in Adams county, Pennsylvania, and the latter was born on July 20, 1852, at East Hampton, Massachusetts.
John Shutt, who died at Granada, Minnesota, on January 17, 1914, was a flour miller by trade, who immigrated to Olmstead county, Minnesota, about 1870. He there engaged in farming for two years. Afterward he removed to Flandrue, South Dakota, where he resumed milling. Six years later he removed to Kingsbury county, South Dakota, and homesteaded a tract of land upon which he made many improvements and where he farmed for fifteen years. Subsequently, however, he sold out and removed to Martin county, Minnesota, where he rented land until his retirement in 1906. when he removed to Granada, Minnesota.
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Mrs. Abbie Shutt, who is now living with her son, Sylvester, near Ft. Ripley, is the daughter of Sylvester and Aquista Alderman, the former of whom was born in 1824, at East Hampton, Massachusetts, and who immi- grated to Olmsted county, Minnesota, in 1854. He homesteaded land in Olmsted county and improved it and farmed for fifteen years. During this period his nearest market was Winona, Minnesota, fifty miles distant, and it was necessary to use oxen for eight years in order to transport his pro- duct to market. Later he removed to Brookings county, South Dakota, and farnied a few years, when he returned to Stewartville, Minnesota, where he lived with a daughter, Mrs. Harriet Johnson. He died on January 15, 1896. His wife, who was born in North Hampton, Massachusetts, died at Stewart- ville, Minnesota. Both were members of the Congregational church. Mr. Shutt's mother was reared on a farm and attended the district school at Stewartville, Minnesota, and there received her education. She is a mem- ber of the Congregational church.
Sylvester J. Shutt was reared on a farm and educated in the public schools of Flandrue, South Dakota. Mr. Shutt left home when twenty- five years old, and until 1901 worked as a farm hand at fifteen dollars a month. In 1901 Mr. Shutt came to Morrison county and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 22, of Scandia Valley township. Ten acres of the land had been cultivated and there was a log house and barn on the farm. In 1913 Mr. Shutt erected a barn, twenty-eight by forty feet, and in 1914 built a house, one and one-half stories high with nine rooms, at a cost of about two thousand dollars. Mr. Shutt now has sixty acres of land under cultivation.
On June 30, 1900, Sylvester J. Shutt was married to Phebe Campbell, who was born on February 22, 1863, in Illinois, and who is the daughter of James and Evelyn (Clemmins) Campbell, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania, in 1821, and who immigrated to Minnesota in 1903. Subse- quently, he returned to Pennsylvania and lived with a daughter until his death, March 29, 1915. Mrs. Shutt's mother was born in Illinois. She died in 1895, at the age of fifty years.
Mr. and Mrs. Sylvester Shutt have had two children, Joseph, born on August 17, 1902; and Claud, May 30, 1903.
Although they are not members of any church, Mr. and Mrs. Sylvester Shutt are regular attendants at church. Mr. Shutt is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. He is an independent voter, has served as chairman of the township board and is now a member of the school board.
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HEMAN D. SNOW.
Few of the farmers of Morrison county, Minnesota, are better known than Heman Snow who has been a resident of that section for almost forty years, and who through quiet, persistent and honorable effort has reached a responsible position in the world of agriculture. His career is a story of a struggle under difficulties, and a courageous fight against all the hardships incidental to establishing a home in an undeveloped section of timber land and prairie. As a result of a well-directed life he is now enjoying the pros- perity he so well deserves. The father of Heman Snow was a pioneer settler of Minnesota having taken up his residence there shortly after the Civil War.
Heman D. Snow was born on November 12, 1847, in Pennsylvania. He is the son of James R. and Elizabeth ( Shelp) Snow, the parents of seven children, one of whom is deceased. James Snow was a native of Pennsyl- vania, and after reaching the age of manhood, worked at the carpenter's trade. In 1868 he came to Wright county, Minnesota, and began the romantic but difficult life of a pioneer of the wilderness. He homesteaded eighty acres of land, which he sold and went into the hotel business in Minne- apolis. Later, he went to Morrison county, Minnesota, and cleared twenty acres of land in Parker township, section 23. This land gave good returns for labor, and Mr. Snow remained there for a number of years. He gave up farming and the farm was later left to a daughter.
Mr. Snow was married twice, first to Elizabeth Shelp, a native of Penn- sylvania, who died in 1863. His second wife was Mrs. Charles Geary, who had four children by her first husband. Mr. Snow died in 1909, at the advanced age of eighty years.
The life of Heman Snow has been one of constant industry. After leaving Pennsylvania with his parents he worked as a laborer until twenty- three years of age. Later he became a stationary engineer at Howard Lake. Minnesota, for the grist-mills and remained at that occupation for six years. In 1878 he came to Morrison county, Minnesota, where he had a homestead claim on eighty acres of land in section 26, Parker township. He was obliged to cut the underbrush, clear the tract of timber and make an entrance to the land. During the difficult times of homesteading he made his home with a family by the name of Pierce. The first year of his arrival in Parker township, he built a small log cabin in which he lived for a while with his small son. his first wife having died before he came to Morrison county.
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The men who braved the dangers of the forest and the long journeys through scantily populated regions and all the privations incidental to estab- lishing a home in the wilderness deserve all the praise of the community in which they live. Mr. Snow fought most of his hardships alone and it was four years before he got a start at farming. His son Francis, who was born by his first wife, is now living in Courtney, North Dakota, and is the husband of Fawn Sight. The second marriage of Heman Snow was to Mrs. Eliza ( Mills) Allen, the widow of D. Allen, and a native of Ohio. She had five children by her marriage to Mr. Allen. Mr. Snow had the misfortune to be left alone again, and six years later married Mrs. Mary E. Eastman, widow of James W. Eastman. Mr. and Mrs. Eastman had seven children, six sons and one daughter, the latter being deceased.
Mr. Snow has always been an advocate of the principles of the Demo- cratic party. In his church membership he is linked with the Episcopalians. Fraternally, he is a member of the Masons and enters heartily into the affairs 1 of that order. In public affairs, Mr. Snow has always been extremely popular and has served as road supervisor in Parker township, and also as a member of the school board.
EDWARD M. LAFOND.
Among the progressive citizens of Little Falls, Morrison county, Min- nesota, is Edward M. LaFond, treasurer and business manager of the Tran- script Publishing Company of that city. Mr. LaFond stands in high repute among his fellow citizens and both in his business capacity and as a private citizen he has been an important factor in the development of the town where he resides.
Edward M. LaFond was born in Little Falls on August 26, 1875, son of Moses and Harriet (Finnegan) LaFond, the former a Canadian by birth and the latter a native of the Emerald Isle. Moses LaFond was born in Three Rivers, province of Quebec. on March 7. 1836, and when a young man of eighteen years came to Little Falls, in the vicinity of which city he he passed the remainder of his life. For many years he was connected with the cattle industry as a trader and after a few years given to this pursuit he opened a general store in Little Falls, which he operated for the following fifteen years. His next business venture was the operation of a saw-mill about seven miles west of Little Falls, to which enterprise he gave twelve
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years of his life. He then retired from active duties and his death occurred on October 2, 1905, when sixty years of age.
Harriet Finnegan, wife of Moses LaFond and mother of the imme- diate subject of this sketch, was born near the city of Killarney, in County Kerry, Ireland, on October 10, 1838. Her parents died while she was still a small girl and she was brought to this country by the older members of the family a few years later. She located in Little Falls, where the balance of her life was spent. She was the mother of five children, the subject of this sketch being the youngest of the family. The eldest is George and the next in order of birth is Charles. Then follow Ellen, wife of Robert Herron, Mary, now deceased. and Edward M.
Edward M. LaFond received his elementary education in the common schools of his native city and later attended St. John's College, in Stearns county, where he studied one year in the commercial department. After completing his commercial course, young LaFond secured a clerkship in the law offices of his brother-in-law, Congressman C. A. Lindbergh, where he remained for two years. His next position was with the Herald Printing Company, of Little Falls, and he remained in the mechanical department of that company for five years. For a short time (some four months) Mr. LaFond was employed in St. Paul by the McGill-Warner Company, who had the contract for the state printing, but he soon returned to his native city and assumed the foremanship of the Transcript Publishing Company. That position he most efficiently filled from 1899 to 1906, when he was made business manager of the company in recognition of his ability and faithful service. He is at the present time a large stockholder in the company and has been serving as its treasurer since November, 1908.
On February 18, 1902, Edward M. LaFond was united in marriage with Grace W. Hill, born in Little Falls on December 13, 1876, daughter of Elvin G. and Isadore (Mix) Hill. the father a native of Maine and the mother from Vermont state. Elvin G. Hill came to Little Falls when a young man and there met the young woman who afterwards became his wife, she having been brought to that section some time before by her par- ents. For four years previous to her marriage, Mrs. LaFond was a teacher in the public schools of Little Falls. She received her education in the schools of that city and has the distinction of being one of the first class to be graduated from the Little Falls high school. There were but four mem- bers of that class. After finishing her studies there, she became a student at St. Cloud Normal, from which she was graduated in due time. Mr. and Mrs. LaFond have one child, a daughter Rose, who was born on March 15.
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1903, and is at present attending the grade schools. Mr. and Mrs. LaFond have a wide circle of friends, move in the best social circles of their city and are numbered among its most enterprising and progressive citizens. In addi- tion to his interest in his company, Mr. LaFond has unimproved city prop- erty. In politics he is a stanch Republican, although devoting but a small amount of time to political work. His fraternal affiliation is held in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica, Knights of the Maccabees and the Red Men. in the work of which orders he takes more than a passing interest.
Mr. LaFond is numbered among the best business men of his city, and under his management the enterprise in which he is interested has made rapid advancement along legitimate lines. Of broad and liberal views and of undoubted business integrity, Mr. LaFond is eminently entitled to the pleasing degree of esteem in which he is held by his fellow men.
SURVETUS C. COCHRAN.
One of the good citizens of Morrison county, Minnesota, to whom Randall and vicinity are largely indebted for considerable impetus to the commercial life, is Survetus C. Cochran, formerly a merchant of Randall and now one of its enterprising real estate men. Mr. Cochran first came to this county in 1882 and since that time he has been a well-known citizen of the county of his adoption, first as a school teacher and later as a merch- ant. He is a man of excellent parts and has faithfully and efficiently dis- charged the duties devolving upon him in the different phases of community life to which he has given his attention.
Survetus C. Cochran is a native of Iowa, born in Marion county, September 25, 1863, son of Survetus J. and Susan (Barns) Cochran, and the second of their family of three children. The eldest child of the family is James, residing at Plainville, Kansas, and the youngest is Fannie, (Mrs. Bonebrake) a resident of Stockton, Kansas.
Mr. Cochran's father was born in Ohio, May 10, 1834, and throughout the active years of his life he was engaged in farming. He went to Iowa in 1856 and settled in Marion county, where he farmed for a number of years. In 1882 he came to Morrison county and purchased a tract of eighty acres in Parker township. This was covered with timber and hc set about putting his land in a state for cultivation. In his farm work at that stage,
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he used oxen and he continued to farm that tract of land until 1896, when he retired from active labor and moved to Randall, where his death occurred in 1908. Mr. Cochran's mother was a native of the state of Kentucky, born April 21, 1824. She was twice married, her first husband being Woodson Fletcher, a farmer of Kentucky, by whom she became the mother of four children. The two eldest, Martha, wife of J. Cochran, and Nancy, wife of William Whitlach, are deceased. Linnie, who is Mrs. Hibbitts, resided in Marion county, Iowa, and Robert lives at Lacona, that state. Mr. Fletcher died about twelve years after marriage, and his widow became the wife of Survetus J. Cochran. She died in September, 1913, at a ripe old age.
Mr. Cochran was reared on a farm and attended the district schools of Marion county, lowa. near liis home. At the age of seventeen he had so diligently applied himself to his books, that he was able to commence teach- ing, finding a position in his native county, and when his parents came. to Morrison county in 1882 he accompanied them, and took up the work of teaching in Two Rivers township, Morrison county. This work he con- tinued for about twelve years, when he decided to enter the mercantile field, and opened up a general merchandise stor in Randall. He started with but a small stock and gradually added to same until he was carrying about seven thousand dollars worth of goods, when he sold out in 1911. He spent the following year in Oregon, but returned to Randall and opened up another general merchandise store, disposing of that business in the spring of 1915.
Mr. Cochran was postmaster of Randall for nine years, receiving his appointment in 1897. After selling out his second store early in 1915, on March I, of that year, he opened up an office in Randall for the transaction of real estate and kindred businesses. He bids fair to meet with the same pleasing degree of success in this venture as has attended him in the past. for lie stands high in the estimation of his fellow citizens and puts into any undertaking such effort as is bound to win success. Mr. Cochran is a land- owner of considerable importance, his holdings in Morrison county totaling six hundred and forty acres, and in addition to this, he is also interested in the Randall Co-operative Creamery Company and has served as its presi- dent in the past.
Survetus C. Cochran was married on December 17, 1885, to Ella Rick- erson, born in Wright county, Minnesota, on May 12, 1865, a daughter of Charles N. and Cathrine ( Brooks) Rickerson, natives of Kentucky, both of whom are now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Cochran have been born three children, namely : Mable, wife of Hans N. Elvig, living in Randall: Zelma, at home with the parents, and Verner, who died on July 5, 1902.
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Mr. Cochran is a faithful member of the Presbyterian church, in the work of which he displays a commendable interest. He gives his political support to the Republican party. Although not especially interested in politi- cal matters, he at one time served his party as school director for Randall school district No. 72. His fraternal affiliation is held with the Modern Woodmen of America through the local lodge at Randall. Mr. Cochran has led a quiet and well-regulated life, so ordering his affairs as to win the trust and confidence of those who know him best and in every walk of life he has proven himself a broad-minded and honorable man.
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