USA > Minnesota > Todd County > History of Morrison and Todd counties, Minnesota, their people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 31
USA > Minnesota > Morrison County > History of Morrison and Todd counties, Minnesota, their people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 31
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August Schwanke received his education in his native land and from early boyhood was instructed by his father in the secrets of successful hus- bandry. He left his home in 1885, emigrating to America, and came directly to this state, where he secured work in Carver county. He hired out as a farm hand for twenty dollars per month. In this way he continued for several years and came to Randall in 1891, at which time he purchased a tract of eighty acres of timber land from the railroad company. This was located in section 25, of Parker township, and he paid six dollars per acre for the land. He immediately busied himself in making improvements on his newly-acquired land, built a small log cabin and therein resided for four years, when the cabin was destroyed by fire. To replace his loss he erected a frame house, size sixteen by twenty-eight feet. He lived there until 1896, by which time he had cleared and had under cultivation twenty acres, when he moved to Randall for residence. That same year he bought an additional eighty-acre tract, but that he never farmed. He continued to invest in land and after remaining in Randall four years, he returned to the farm, this time living in section 24, of Parker township, and owning in all two hundred and forty acres. In 1915 he returned to Randall for residence and has con- tinued there since. He has disposed of some of his real estate, retaining one hundred and twenty-nine acres, nine of which lay within the corporation limits of the town, on the eastern side, and there he has his residence.
On March 10, 1887, August Schwanke was married to Amalie Rebischke, born on November 5, 1861. near his birth-place in Germany. She came to this country with a sister and brother of Mr. Schwanke and their marriage took place soon thereafter. To their union have been born five children, all residing in or near Randall. The eldest is Ferdinand who is employed in the Randall State Bank; Emma, wife of G. O. Nelson : Minnie, wife of G. Mueller : August, farming on the home place ; and Albert, employed by the railroad as a section hand.
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Mr. Schwanke is a member of the German Lutheran church. In poli- tics he votes the Republican party. He takes a keen interest in political matters, especially as relating to local affairs, and is now serving the town of Randall as its treasurer. Mr. Schwanke is a man who has lived quietly, devoting his time mainly to the advancement of his own interests and now that he has won a pleasing competence, which enables him to pass his remain- ing years in freedom from exacting labors, he takes a lively interest in all matters that make for the advancement of the varied interests of community life. He is a man who has a wide circle of friends by all of whom he is held in high esteem.
JOHN HEDIN.
Among the younger enterprising farmers in Elmdale township, Mor- rison county, Minnesota, is John Hedin, born on January 3, 1884, in that same township, where his entire life has been spent. Mr. Hedin can remem- ber the time when almost pioneer conditions prevailed in his section and he has been an appreciative observer of the gradual coming of modern inven- tions and improvements into the life of the community. John Hedin is a son of Ole Hedin and Mary (Lillberg) Hedin, both natives of Sweden, and is the second child in their family of seven children. Mr. Hedin's parents were married after they came to this country, both having located in Mich- igan, where they became acquainted. They took up their residence in the city of Minneapolis, where Ole followed his trade of stone mason, to which occupation he has given practically all the active years of his life. In the early eighties, he and his wife came to Elmdale township, Morrison county, where he purchased a farm of eighty acres, on which he and his wife still reside. Ile managed his farm in addition to working at his trade whenever opportunity offered.
John Hedin's opportunities for education were rather limited in his youth, although as a young boy he attended the common school in district No. 22, located near his home. However, when a boy of but twelve years, he assumed the work of the homestead and had charge of the farm until he was twenty-nine years of age, at which time he was married.
On October 7, 1913, John Hedin was married to Julia Thompson. She was born in Elmdale township on November 8. 1884, a daughter of Nels Peter Thompson and Meta M. (Madson ) Thompson, who came here in the
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early seventies, and have resided on their homestead in section 18 ever since. Mrs. Hedin has passed her entire life in her native township, having been educated in its puplic schools and remained at home with her parents until the time of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Hedin have one son, Lco Emmett, born on June 3, 1914.
Directly after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Hedin came to live on his farm of eighty acres in Elmdale township, section 16, where they intend to make their home. This land is partly under cultivation and Mr. Hedin is making rapid progress toward having it all under the plow. His intention is to make a stock farm of it and he will raise pure-bred stock only. The season of 1915 found him with eighteen hogs, four head of cattle and three horses. He follows twentieth century methods in conducting the work of his farm and is already well on the road to a gratifying degree of material success.
Mr. Hedin is a man who takes more than a passing interest in the development of the various phases of community life, and as an expression of this interest he acts as superintendent of the Farmers' Telephone Com- pany, and keeps its property in good shape, thus realizing the highest possible efficiency from the equipment. In politics, Mr. Hedin votes independently and he holds his fraternal affiliation with the body of Yeomanry.
Mr. Hedin represents that most interesting type of American citizen- ship,-the men who do things, and from his earliest boyhood he has proven that he possesses industry in a marked degree coupled with executive ability of a high order.
FRANK ANDERSON.
Among the enterprising citizens of Elnidale township, Morrison county, Minnesota, who are natives of the land of Sweden, none is better known than Frank Anderson, the respected subject of this short biographical sketch. Mr. Anderson's home is known as "Cedar Hill Farm" and was so named and recorded in 1910. The tract was purchased in 1884, before lie was mar- ried. This land is located in section 21, of the township mentioned, and at the time Mr. Anderson secured possession of it, was all wild land. Fifty acres of it are now under cultivation, and each year sees a few additional acres given to the plow. In addition to his general farming, Mr. Anderson raises stock as a side line, which he finds most lucrative. He has thirty head
(41)
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of cattle, good stock; thirty hogs and seven horses, the latter used in con- ducting the work of the farm.
Frank Anderson was born in the central part of Sweden, March 17, 1857, being a son of Andrew Abreson and Breta Christina (Carlsdotter) Abreson, and the fourth child in their family of nine children. One child died in infancy and the other eight are still living. Neither parent ever left their native land, and their entire lives were given over to the farming industry. Andrew, the father, was born in 1824, and died in 1910, when eighty-six years of age, while the mother, who was born in 1824, died at the age of sixty-four, in 1888.
Frank Anderson received a good common-school education in his native land and remained under the parental roof until twenty-three years of age, when he set out for America. He first located at Joliet, Illinois, where for a time he worked in the rolling mills and later in the stone quarries with which that districts abounds. After spending two years in that locality, he went to St. Paul, where he secured the position of coachman in the family of John A. Berky, in which service he remained for nine years, a faithful and trusted employee. Mr. Anderson had higher ambitions in life and was frugally saving all money possible, which he used in purchasing the hundred and twenty acres of land where he now makes his home. Mr. Anderson was married in 1883, but did not take up his residence on his farm until six years later, continuing to reside in St. Paul in the meantime.
Mrs. Anderson before her marriage was Marie Elizabeth Johnson, born on an island in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden and belonging to that country. She was a daughter of John Nelson, born in 1835, and Breta Kajsa ( Pehrson) Nelson, born in 1838, and first saw the light of day on September 21, 1862. Her parents were farmers on their island home and never left their native land. John Nelson died in 1910, at the age of seventy- five years, and Breta Nelson died in 1874, when but thirty-five years old. Mrs. Anderson comes of a family of six children, being the third child in order of birth. She received a good common-school education in her girlhood home and when eighteen years of age, emigrated to America, locating in St. Paul where she was employed until the time of her marriage on Novem- ber 3, 1883.
Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have two sons, Freddie Alvin, married and residing on his farm in section 22, of Elmdale township, and Sidney Leonard. remaining at home with the parents. Both these sons own a farm of one hundred acres and have it partly under cultivation. In addition to his own responsibilities and as an evidence of the high esteem in which he is held,
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Mr. Anderson has been entrusted with the guardianship of Dagmer Judith Pehrson Anderson, an orphan girl.
Mr. Anderson is interested in various enterprises dealing with the development of community life and is one of the stockholders of the Upsala Creamery Company, having in the past served as vice-president of that organization. Mr. Anderson is also a member of the Elmdale Stock Ship- pers' Association. He is a member of the Baptist church at Elndale and is one of the faithful members of that society. He has charge of the church building and serves the society also as moderator. In politics he is a Repub- lican, although not an especially active worker in the ranks. Mr. Anderson is a man of excellent principles and proper ambitions, devoted to home and family. His farm and buildings bear witness to the fact that he is a good manager and possesses good business ability, while his well-regulated mode of life stamps him as a man of uprightness and unvarying integrity. Per- sonally, he has many warm friends for he is ever willing to render any service to assist his fellow man.
WILLIAM RODMAN.
Among the best-known citizens of Eagle Bend, Todd county, Minne- sota, and among the most prosperous business men and bankers of Todd county, is William Rodman, who is a native of Goodhue county, Minnesota, where he was born on April 10, 1868.
Mr. Rodman is the son of Martin and Mary Pauline ( Morris) Rod- man, the former of whom was a well-known citizen of New York, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, a farmer and school teacher by occupation and a veteran of the Civil War. He was born in Schoharie county, New York, May 25, 1832. Martin Rodman was the son of Asa and Oliver (Culver ) Rodman, who were natives of Massachusetts. After their marriage, Asa and Oliver Rodman settled in Schoharie county, New York, where they remained during their entire lives, and where they were engaged in farming. Asa Rodman died in 1842 and his wife, Olive (Culver) Rodman, died in December, 1880, at the age of ninety years. They were the parents of fifteen children, thirteen of whom grew to manhood and womanhood, were married and had children of their own.
Martin Rodman was educated in the rural schools of New York state, and when sixteen years old entered the Schoharie Academy, studying there
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for eighteen months. Afterward he was engaged in ship building in New York city for one and one-half years and then returned to his home, teach- ing school the next winter in Schoharie county. During the following summer he worked at the carpenter's trade, and in the fall entered the New York Conference Seminary where he was a student for one year. He then made a trip to Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois and during the winter of 1853-54, taught school in the state of Illinois. ¡ In the summer of 1854, he worked at the carpenter's trade at Lockport, Illinois, after which he obtained a position on the Illinois Central railroad with headquarters at Chicago. In 1854 he enlisted in the regular army and after having served one enlistment was dis- charged and returned to Chicago where he remained one winter. After- ward he made a trip to Wisconsin and followed the carpenter's trade during the summers of 1859 and 1860.
In April, 1861, Martin Rodman enlisted in the Second Regiment, Wis- consin Volunteer Infantry, and served until June 27, 1863, when he received an honorable discharge at Philadelphia. He participated during the first term of his service in the first and second battles of Bull Run and spent a week in fighting along the Rappahannock. Mr. Rodman was wounded in the second battle of Bull Run and, as a result of his wounds, was confined in the hospital at Washington, D. C., and in a hospital at Philadelphia for ten months. Subsequently, he was detailed for provost duty and remained at Camac's Woods hospital until discharged. After his discharge he returned to New York state and taught school during the winter of 1863-64. He then took up the study of medicine during the summer of 1864 and the winter of 1864-65 and the summer of 1865. In the fall of 1864, however. he had enlisted in the Veteran Reserve Corps and was discharged in Novem- ber of the following year. Afterward he took a trip to Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin and in the spring of 1866 settled in Goodhue county, Minnesota, where he farmed for nine years.
Upon leaving Goodhue county, Martin Rodman moved to Red Wing, Minnesota, and there engaged in the grocery business, but in 1881 sold out and moved to Todd county, Minnesota, purchasing a farm in Reynolds town- ship, where he farmed for several years. In 1885 he retired from the farm and moved to Long Prairie. Minnesota, where he lived until his death on March 10, 1904.
Mrs. Mary Rodman was also a native of New York state and lived at home with her parents in that state until her marriage. She is now living at Long Prairie and has three children, William. Fred and Bert. The late
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Martin Rodman was a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Grand Army of the Republic, Mr. and Mrs. Rodman were married on October 3, 1866. Mrs. Rodman, before her marriage, was Mary Pauline Morris, the daughter of David and Sally (Millington) Morris.
Born and reared in Goodhue county, Minnesota, William Rodman was educated at Red Wing, Minnesota, and after completing the common branches entered the high school at the age of twelve years but as his parents moved to Todd county in 1881 he was unable to finish the course there and only attended that high school for a little less than one year. While his parents were living on the farm he attended district school and when they moved to Long Prairie he attended that high school for about one year. After teaching in the district schools of his county for four terms he entered Beeman's Actual Business College, at Red Wing, Minnesota, graduating with the class of 1889. After that time he taught another term of school in the same county and then was employed in a general store owned by A. S. Strauss & Company, at Long Prairie, for one year.
On August 25, 1890, Mr. Rodman began work as bookkeeper for the Bank of Long Prairie and remained with that bank until May 5, 1892, when he moved to Eagle Bend, Minnesota, and became cashier of the Bank of Eagle Bend, an institution that had just started business at that place. This was a private bank with the Hon. William E. Lee as president and continued as such until 1902, when it was merged into the First National Bank of Eagle Bend. Mr. Rodman continued as cashier for a few years and was finally elected as vice-president and as such continued as the active head of the bank until September. 1911, when his health failed. Eleven months and ten days following this time he spent in a sanitarium at Wauke- sha, Wisconsin, and upon the advice of his physician decided to retire from active work in a bank and to live an out-of-door life. He then engaged in the fancy poultry business and commenced raising high-class Single and Rose-comb Rhode Island Red fowls until at the present time he has a large poultry plant with fine buildings, yards and equipment and with a large number of very high-class "Reds."
At the time that Mr. Rodman moved to Eagle Bend there was an opening for a large amount of business to be done in the purchase and sale of hard and soft cordwood, as the territory around Eagle Bend was heavily wooded, and there was a large demand for the wood for fuel in the western part of the state as well as in the states of North and South Dakota, so the bank engaged in the business of handling cordwood and
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bought and sold large quantities for a number of years. As the partners in the bank thought that there was also a good opening at Eagle Bend for a farm implement business they also engaged in that line for several years before the Bank of Eagle Bend was merged into the First National Bank. This business was also conducted under the name of the bank. At the time that the private bank was merged into the First National Bank the fuel and farm implement part of the business was taken over by the Eagle Bend Implement Company, a corporation, and all of the stock was taken by the original partners of the Bank of Eagle Bend. This corporation also engaged in the lumber business and is one of the most prominent business institutions in that place. Since its organization Mr. Rodman has been its secretary and treasurer and is still the vice-president of the bank although he is not now active in the management of either institution.
On July 2, 1893, William Rodman was married to Lizzie B. Abbott, who was born in Parkers Prairie township, Otter Tail county, Minnesota. on March 20, 1873, and who is a daughter of Benjamin F. and Mary (Crichton) Abbott. Benjamin F. Abbott and Mary Crichton were married on October 20, 1871, and lived on their homestead in Otter Tail county, Minnesota, until the spring of 1883, when they moved to the village of Eagle Bend and engaged in the mercantile business until his death in 1888. The Abbott store was the first one in Eagle Bend, and at the time, only two other families were living in the town. After her husband's death. Mrs. Abbott continued the business for several years and then retired and lived with her daughter, Mrs. Rodman, until her death on October 24, 1913.
Mr. Abbott was a widower at the time of his marriage to Mary Crichton and by a former marriage had five children, two of whom are now living. Edward. of Long Beach, California, and Albert, of Eagle Bend, Minnesota. Gilbert died when about fourteen years of age, Mary was married to L. P. Leech and died in 1888, and Lawrence died in infancy. To the second marriage of Mr. Abbott three children were born and are now living: Mrs. Lizzie B. Rodman and Andrew, of Eagle Bend, and Mrs. Evelyn M. Gilpin. of Ossco, Wisconsin. Mrs. Lizzie B. (Abbott) Rodman moved to Eagle Bend with her parents and was educated in that community. She taught school in Todd county for two years and made her home with her parents until her marriage in 1893.
Mr. and Mrs. William Rodman never had any children. William Rod- man has been a life-long Republican but now aligns himself with the pro- gressive element of that party. He has always taken a deep interest in the political affairs of the country and has helped in the organization work of
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his party. He has always taken a large interest in local public affairs and has been the secretary of the local school board, secretary of the Eagle Bend Commercial Club, secretary of the first volunteer fire department of Eagle Bend, a member of the village council for a number of terms and is now serving his fifth term as president of the village council, or mayor.
Mr. Rodman is now a director in the Minnesota branch of the Rhode Island Red Club of America and the superintendent of the poultry depart- ment of the Todd County Agricultural Society, or what is generally known as the Todd County Fair Association. For many years he was one of the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Eagle Bend. Mr. Rodman is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and has been the worthy advisor of Eagle Camp No. 3397. Modern Woodmen of America, and has been noble grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodge in Eagle Bend.
JOHN D. MARLIN, JR.
John D. Marlin, Jr., dealer in real estate and kindred lines, was born on January 7. 1871, in Page county, Iowa, son of John D. and Melissa (Stratton) Marlin, both natives of Pennsylvania, the former born in Arm- strong county, July 4, 1835, and the latter a native of Beaver county, born on December 9, 1834. John D., Sr., was engaged in farming all the active years of his life and after his marriage on September 17, 1857, he came west in the hope of having still greater opportunities in his chosen vocation. He lived in Illinois at the beginning of the Civil War and enlisted as a private in 1862, at Springfield, in the One Hundred and Twelfth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He served until the close of hostilities and saw much active service in the Southern states. After returning home, he brought his family to Page county, Iowa, in 1867, and was engaged in agri- cultural work there until about 1895. IJe owned and operated eighty acres of land and was a heavy stock feeder. His farm was skillfully managed, well improved and was considered one of the show farms of the county. John D. Marlin, Sr .. also owned three hundred acres of land in Kansas. He retired from active work some years ago, and died on September 10, 1915. and was buried at Clarinda. Iowa. Mrs. Melissa Marlin makes her home with John D., Jr., the immediate subject of this sketch.
There were three children in the family of John D. Marlin, Sr., John D., Jr., being the youngest. Ella J. (Mrs. Hepburn) died in 1894, and
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Lizzie A. (Mrs. Hoge) resides at Heavner, Oklahoma. John D., Jr., passed his boyhood on the farm in Page county, Iowa, attending its public schools, where he received his elementary education. He later attended Amity Col- lege at College Springs, Iowa, where he took the normal course. In 1888 he entered Western Normal Coillege at Shenandoah, Iowa, for a complete com- mercial course. He was graduated from that institution in 1890 and in the same year he came to Staples and assumed the position of bookkeeper in the Staples bank. He continued in that relation until 1894 when he resigned, and upon the organization of another bank the following year he became its cashier. A few years later he purchased the business of the bank and became its sole owner. He disposed of that business in 1900, when he became interested in real estate and insurance, in which he has continued and has succeeded so well that he is considered among the leading men in this section of the state in his chosen field of endeavor. In point of years of service, he is now the oldest man in his line in Staples.
Mr. Marlin is the owner of considerable city property and in addition has eight hundred and twenty acres of land scattered throughout the northern central counties of the state. He has taken a keen interest in the con- mercial life of Staples ever since first coming here and has done much to advance its best interests along legitimate lines.
John D. Marlin was married on May 18, 1898, to Etta O. Tull, an accomplished young woman, born on May 15, 1877, in Aitkin, this state, and a graduate of the Staples high school. Mrs. Marlin has considerable talent as an artist, being quite accomplished in the use of the brush in oils. water colors and also as a decorator of fine china. Her talent, which was early recognized by her parents, was developed by private instruction, and she has demonstrated that she possesses far more than ordinary ability in this line.
Mrs. Marlin is a daughter of David E. and Saralı A. (Cornish) Tull, both natives of Wisconsin. David Tull has for many years been connected with the Northern Pacific railroad, first as station agent at Audubon: later he was proprietor of a general store, at Aitkin, Minnesota, and he is now located at Minneapolis where he is freight agent at the north town transfer point of the Northern Pacific railroad.
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