USA > Minnesota > Otter Tail County > History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota : its people, industries, and institutions, Volume II > Part 34
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Born in Norway on February 22, 1861. A. G. Anderson is the son of Andrus and Guri (Gronstad) Anderson, the former of whom died in Nor- way. After the father's death, the mother and son, in 1870, immigrated to America and A. G. Anderson received his early education at Story City, Towa, and completed his schooling at the Red Wing Seminary.
A. G. ANDERSON.
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In 1884 Mr. Anderson located at Fergus Falls and, for about seven years was employed as a deputy in the office of the treasurer of Otter Tail county. In 1890 he was elected to the position of assistant cashier in the First National Bank, of Fergus Falls, a position which he held for seven years. In 1898 he returned to Story City, his boyhood home, where he was engaged in the mercantile business for four years. In 1902, however, Mr. Anderson returned to Fergus Falls as a cashier of the Scandia State Bank, a position which he has filled with credit for nearly fourteen years. As one of the executive officers of the bank, he has had no small part in the growth of the prestige of this popular financial institution. He is a man of cordial frame of mind and is popular, not only with the other officers and directors of the bank, but with the depositors and the public generally.
Mr. Anderson's wife, before her marriage, was Dora Olson, a native of Iowa, and to them have been born two children, Merriam and Eleanor. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson and family have a comfortable home in Fergus Falls and enjoy the confidence and respect of a large circle of friends.
GEORGE TRAUTNER.
George Trautner is one of the progressive agriculturists and respected citizens of Candor township. Otter Tail county, Minnesota, and is a native of Germany, having been born on May 3, 1859, in Byran, of that country. His parents were Peter and Annie ( Pitner) Trautner, who remained in Germany until their deaths. Peter Trautner died in 1880. Both were members of the Lutheran church and the parents of the following children : John George, a farmer and saloon keeper in Germany: Peter is a resident of Otter Tail county and lives with George; John is a farmer in Germany; John, deceased; George and Margaret, deceased.
George Trautner received his education in the public schools of Ger- many, and upon the completion of same became a tailor, which trade he fol- lowed until his emigration to America, in 1882. He located in Carver county, Minnesota, for two months and then removed to Otter Tail county, where he was employed as a farm hand until 1887, at which time he pur- chased one hundred and fifty-five acres of partly improved land, in section 34, in Candor township. After clearing this and partially improving it, he sold it and in 1890 purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land on which he now resides. This was one of the Klug homesteads and was merely "proved up." George Trautner is engaged in general farming and makes a specialty of breeding and raising Red Poland cattle.
In 1890 George Trautner was united in marriage to Barbara Sigler, also a native of Germany, and they are the parents of the following chil- (21b)
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dren : Annie, wife of Joe Mistalsky, and living in Dent; Lizzie, who lives at home, and George and another child who died in infancy. Barbara (Sigler) Trautner emigrated to America in 1882, locating in Illinois for two years and then removing to Otter Tail county.
George Trautner has served the community as a member of the town- ship board of supervisors for nine years, and donated the land on which the present school now stands. For the past two years he has served as the chairman of the township board of supervisors and has been a member of the school board for twenty years. Politically, he is an independent voter. Both he and his wife are members of the Lutheran church. in which he has served as trustee for twenty-five years.
THOMAS J. HILDEN.
Thomas J. Hilden, who has been prominent in the political life of Otter Tail county for many years and who was formerly a well-known teacher of the county, is a native of Hadeland, Norway, where he was born on October 29, 1856.
Mr. Hilden is the son of Johannes and Kari Hilden, who never came to America. Johannes Hilden was a farmer and merchant. Both he and his wife died when their son, Thomas J., was an infant. They were the parents of seven children: Peter, who came to America in 1860, served in the Civil War and died on December 25, 1913, at Montevideo, Minnesota : Louis L., who is a farmer in Wisconsin; Andrew J., who spent his early life in Goodhue county, Minnesota, but now lives in Burdette, Minnesota, where he is a merchant; Martha, who married Andrew Larson, and died in Clitherall township; Anna, who is the widow of Ole O. Hoff, lives in Tordenskjold township; Kari, who died in Norway when a child, and Thomas J., the subject of this sketch.
Educated in the public schools of his native land, Thomas J. Hilden had passed through the middle school at the age of fourteen. when he came to America. After arriving in this country, Mr. Hilden settled in Goodhue county, Minnesota, where he worked on a farm in the summer, attending school in the winter until 1877, when he moved to Red Wing and there attended high school.
Subsequently, Mr. Hilden started out alone for Otter Tail county to visit his sister. En route to this county he met the county superintendent of schools. G. F. Cowing, with whom he rode to Fergus Falls. Mr. Cowing asked him to teach school and, after having been appointed as a teacher at Vining, he began teaching at that place and for the next ten years was engaged in educational work. At the time Mr. Hilden began his educa- tional career, he had been in America only six years. In 1882 Mr. Hilden
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purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Tordenskjold township, paying nine hundred dollars cash on a purchase of land which amounted to thirteen hundred dollars. Of this farm only twenty-five acres were cleared and the only other improvement was a small log house. Mr. Hilden pur- chased a yoke of oxen and began to clear the land, teaching school in the winter and farming in the summer. Subsequently, he replaced the log build- ings with frame ones and has lived on this farm ever since, engaged in gen- eral farming and stock raising.
On September 16, 1883, Thomas J. Hilden was married to Maria C. Hoff, a native of Norway and the daughter of Christian C. Hoff, deceased, and Martha C. Hoff, who is still living. Mrs. Hilden came to America with her parents when only three years old. To them have been born nine children : Afton, who is a grain dealer and farmer at Starkweather, North Dakota; Nellie, who married John O. Hesby, lives at Halstead, Minnesota; Clifford, who is a farmer in North Dakota; Mabel, who married W. L. Brown, and lives in North Dakota on a farm; Thomas, who is a graduate of an agricultural college and lives at home with his parents; Marcus, who is a clerk at Deep, North Dakota; George, Laura and Alton, who live at home with their parents.
Thomas J. Hilden is a prominent Republican of Otter Tail county. He was defeated as the Republican candidate for the Legislature in 1892, but has since served in more important local offices and has been very active in politics all of his life. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hilden are members of the Lutheran Synod church. Mr. Hilden was prominent in raising the funds for the erection of a new church. He is a successful farmer, a well-known and highly-esteemed citizen and altogether an ideal man.
NILS H. NELSON.
As an extensive farmer and stock raiser and a man who has large interests in business circles in Otter Tail county, as well as a citizen who has served in various public offices and has taken an active part in the affairs of the community, Nils H. Nelson has a prominent place in the record of valued citizens of this community.
Nils H. Nelson was born in Norway, at Gansdahts, Prestegjeld, Gudbrandsdelm, near the town of Lillehammer. May 19, 1853, the son of Hans and Randi (Gunderson) Nelson, both of whom were natives of Nor- way, the father born on April 17, 1817. and the mother on December 8. 1810. Hans and Randi Nelson, following their marriage, bought a farm in Norway, where they engaged as farmers until the year 1869, when they came, with their children, to America, and settled in Otter Tail county. Minnesota, where they bought the improvements of a land squatter, in
4
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sections 17, 19 and 20, of Tordenskjold township, and lived there until the opening of United States government land to homesteaders and then they took up one hundred and sixty acres of land in Tordenskjold township, a place on which they built a log cabin for a home, together with other neces- sary improvements. On this farm Hans and Randi Nelson lived for the remainder of their lives. Hans Nelson dying in the year 1902, at the age of eighty-five years, and his wife, Randi, dying in the year 1880. Hans Nel- son and his wife were among the most highly respected of the community and they took an active part in the founding of the Free Lutheran church of Minnesota. In politics, Hans Nelson was a Republican. To Hans and Randi Nelson were born two children, Nils H., of this sketch, and Randine, who died at the age of forty, unmarried.
Nils H. Nelson was educated in the public schools of Norway, where he attended classes until, with his parents, he came to America and then for a time studied in the schools of Otter Tail county, Minnesota. After his schools days, Nils H. Nelson helped his father on the farm for some years and later became the owner of the home place, land to which he added sixty acres adjoining, on the west and the north.
Nils H. Nelson has taken an important part in the public life of Tor- denskjold township and Otter Tail county, Minnesota, where for more than thirty-two years he has held the office of township clerk. Mr. Nelson has served as treasurer of the school district in which he is located and for some time he served his county as deputy county treasurer. In church circles, Nils H. Nelson is affiliated with the Lutheran church, an organization for which he served as treasurer. In business life, Mr. Nelson is no less con- spicuous, for he is a stockholder in the Otter Tail Co-operative Store, in the Farmers Elevator Company, in the Creamery Company and in the Telephone Company, of Otter Tail county.
On December 28, 1878, Nils H. Nelson and Maren Hansina Rasmussen were married, she being a native of Denmark, the daughter of Jorgen and Christine Rasmussen, who came to America about the year 1866, and lived for a time at Cleveland, Ohio, and then, in the year .1871, they moved to Otter Tail county, Minnesota. and settled in section 20, of Tordenskjold township, where they took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres of land, and where Jorgen and Christine Rasmussen lived until May 23. 1914. when Jorgen Rasmussen died, at the age of ninety-two years, his wife, Christine Rasmussen, having preceded him in death about four years, she dying on August 13, 1910, at the age of eighty-two years.
To Nils H. and Maren Nelson were born the following children : Harald, who for some time attended the state agricultural college at Min- neapolis, and who now lives at home; Ragna, a dressmaker of Fargo, North
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Dakota; Lucy Cecelia, who lives at home; Clara, who married Edwin Wag- strom, and lives in Maplewood township, on a farm; Agnes, who lives at Fargo, North Dakota; Pauline, who is a teacher in the public schools of Otter Tail county ; and Helen, who lives at home.
In politics and in private life, Nils H. Nelson fills an important place in the community and is among those men who have the respect of the entire county and district. Well and favorably known, he is one of those citizens of whom the township and county may rightfully be proud.
HENDRICK ARNOLD HANSON.
Prominent in the political life of Tordenskjold township and a success- ful farmer of Otter Tail county for many years, Hendrick Arnold Hanson was born on his father's homestead farm in Tordenskjold township on June 10, 1873.
Mr. Hanson is a son of Nils and Anne (Monsen) Loken, both of whom were born in Norway, and who were married in that country. They came to America in 1868, and for two years lived near Red Wing, Minnesota. About 1870 they emigrated to Otter Tail county, being accompanied to this county by Mr. Hanson's maternal grandmother, Ingebor Monsen. The latter took up a homestead claim of forty acres in Clitherall township, and on this tract the whole family lived for two years, after which Mr. Hanson's father homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in Tordenskjold township, which he gradually improved from time to time. Here the family lived until 1908, when the farm was sold to E. J. Hanson, the youngest son. At this time the father retired from active farm life and removed to a home near that of his son, Hendrick Arnold. Both Mr. Hanson's father and mother are living at this time, his father now being seventy-eight years, and the mother is seventy-nine. At one time Mr. Hanson's father was identified with the Populist party, but is now an independent voter. Both he and his good wife are devout members of the Lutheran church, and he was one of the founders of the Trefoldighed church in Clitherall township. They were the parents of seven children, of whom Hendrick Arnold was the fourth in order of birth. The others, in the order of their birth, are as follow: Hans Jacob, a farmer living at Landa, North Dakota; Inga, the wife of Hans Olsen, a farmer of Landa, North Dakota; Dena, the wife of Herman Lillestrand, of Landa, North Dakota; Mollie, the wife of J. B. Highdale, a farmer of Tordenskjold township; Edwin Julius, living on his father's farm, and Sarah, the wife of Jule Morstad, lives at Wall Lake, Minnesota, where her husband is a merchant.
Hendrick Arnold Hanson was educated in the public schools of Otter Tail county, and reared on his father's farm. After reaching maturity he
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engaged in farming for himself. In 1897 Mr. Hanson purchased one hun- (Ired and sixty acres of land in Tordenskjold township from Jacob Fred- erickson for the sum of one thousand six hundred dollars. Since that time Mr. Hanson has erected a handsome new house and barn, and has cleared forty acres of the land himself. He is a general farmer and stockman.
In 1895 Hendrick A. Hanson was married to Emma Nelson, who died in 1904, leaving five children, Nora, Alfred, Herbert and Hilma and Norris, twins. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Hanson was married, in 1907. to Fina Haldorson, and to this union have been born seven children, Alida, Emma, Niola, Francis, Eddie, Ruby and Marwin. Mrs. Hanson was born on July 21, 1875, and is a daughter of Andreas and Agnetta Haldorson, who are still living at Finmark, Norway. Mrs. Hanson's father is sixty- seven, and her mother is sixty-five years of age. Mrs. Hanson came to America in 1901, and settled in Tordenskjold township.
Mr. Hanson is a Democrat in politics, and has served his fellow citizens as township treasurer for the past fifteen years. He also served eleven years as school treasurer, and has always taken an active interest in all movements which have for their object the betterment and welfare of his community. He and his wife and family are earnest and devout members of the Lutheran church.
MARTIN S. MOKLEV.
Martin S. Moklev, a prosperous farmer of Clitherall township. and a well-known sportsman of Otter Tail county, is a United States citizen born in Sulledal, Stavanger, Norway, on June 17, 1870.
Mr. Moklev is the son of Somjo Thorstenson Mokley and Kari Thor- stensdatter Helgenes. His paternal grandparents were Thorsten Somjoson Moklev and Mallena Levarsdatter Forland, who were born at Sulledal, Stavanger, Norway, and, who, after their marriage, spent their entire lives in their native land. They were farmers by occupation and had two chil- dren, Somjo Thorsenson Moklev, the father of Martin S., and Anna, who married Gabriel Falkelie, and died in Norway. She left one son, Olai G. Twedt, who lives in Dunn county, North Dakota. Another son, Jacob, died in Norway.
Mr. Mokley's maternal grandparents were Thornsten Lali and Mallena Knutsdatter Halgenes, who came to America in 1867 and settled in Illinois. where they lived only one year. With their sons. Thorsten and Knut, and their daughters, Martha and Mallena, they moved to Otter Tail county in 1868 and soon afterward settled on what is now the Hans Olson place in Tordenskjold township. After living on this farm for three years, they homesteaded the farm now owned by Christian L. Moe. There they lived
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for some years, or until 1881, when they moved to the place now occupied by their son, Tosten, which was purchased. There Thorsten Lali died at an advanced age, about 1886. He was the father of six children, Kari, Brita, Martha, Maline, Thorsten and Knut.
Martin S. Moklev's father was born on September 10, 1835, and his mother on August 4. 1843. They grew up in their native land and were married in the spring of 1867. Mr. Mokley's mother remained in Norway with her husband, while her parents and her brothers and sisters came to America. Mr. Moklev's father was connected with the fishing industry for twenty winters and, in the summertime, was employed in the woolen mill, operated by his father, and in farming. In 1880 he and his wife and two children came to America, joining his wife's relatives in Tordenskjold town- ship. In June, 1880, he homesteaded one hundred and twenty acres of land in Clitherall township and the family moved to this farm on July 2, 1880. It was timber land principally, but some of it was ready for cultivation. Here the family built a log cabin with bark and dirt for a roof. They immediately began to clear the land, and, in a few years had a most pro- ductive farm, which is now occupied by their son, Martin S. Mr. Moklev's father died in July, 1910, at the age of seventy-five years. His mother, who is seventy-two years old, resides with her son on the old home farm. She is a member of the Free Lutheran church, as was also her husband. They were the parents of three children, Thorsten S., a farmer of Clitherall township; Martin, and Dena Karina, who married John Nelson and lives in Tordenskjold township.
Martin S. Mokley was educated in the public schools of Norway and, when old enough, engaged in farming. When he was nine years old, he was brought to America by his parents and grew up in this country. When he was eleven years old, he was employed in carrying water for a railroad crew. When he was old enough, he took over the management of the home farm and, in partnership with his brother, rented the farm for a number of years. In 1896 he bought the old homestead farm of one hundred and twenty acres and has been its sole owner ever since. Besides this farm, in partnership with his brother, he bought one hundred and sixty acres south of the homestead and now owns eighty acres of that farm. Altogether, he has two hundred acres. Mr. Moklev's parents lived with him all the time, his father dying several years ago. In 1902 Mr. Moklev built a house and in 1913 added a barn. He is extensively interested in the dairy business and keeps fourteen or fifteen cows, and is interested also in poultry and fruit growing. He is a stockholder in the farmers creamery, farmers elevator and farmers telephone companies of this township.
In 1910 Mr. Moklev was married to Randi Halvorson, a native of
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Sulledal, Norway, who was born at Havreval, and who is the daughter of Halvor Halvorson Tvedt and Ellerie Lifeson Aarhus. They still live in Norway, where they are farmers and landowners. Mrs. Moklev came to America in 1904 and lived in Fergus Falls until her marriage. She was born on August 15, 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Mokley have two children, Mallena Karina Eldren, born on December 22, 1912, and Sigurd Henry, August 9, 1914.
Martin S. Moklev is a thorough-going sportsman, who is interested in fishing and hunting and who spends a great deal of his time along the streams of this state. Mr. and Mrs. Mokley are members of the Free Luth- eran church. Politically, Mr. Moklev is an independent voter.
OTTO J. OAK.
One of the well-known farmers of Folden township and of Otter Tail county, a man who has lived a profitable and helpful life and one who, as a citizen, has not been neglectful of his duty to the community, is Otto J. Oak. A native of Norway, who, on reaching America, applied himself industriously to an effort for success, he has proved of value to the com- munity, and is one of those men who have a place in a record of successful and appreciated citizen.
Otto J. Oak was born at Drammen, Norway, on March 7, 1867, the son of John and Randi ( Nelson) Oak, both of whom were born and mar- ried in their native land, where John Oak was a farmer. In 1886 John Oak, his wife having died, came with his children to America, and settled at St. Croix county, Wisconsin. Though at that time an elderly man, he bought a farm and established a home on which he lived, with his second wife, Anetta ( Nelson) Oak, until his death, about the year 1906. To the first marriage of John Oak were born the following children: Christian, who died at the age of twenty-one years, in Norway; Bertha, who married Hans Nicolai Larson, and who died at Drammen, Norway, her three children later coming to America; Caroline, who married Anders Larson, and live . in Norway: Olava, who lives at Christiana, Norway; George, who is a farmer of Canada: Gina, who married Edward Richardson, and lives in Canada, and Otto, the subject of this sketch. John Oak and his second wife, Anetta ( Nelson) Oak, were the parents of one daughter, Annie, who married William Albertson, and lives in the state of Wisconsin.
Otto J. Oak, following his education in the public schools of Norway, at the age of sixteen years,' came to America with his brother, George, about three years before the arrival of the elder Oak and his children, and on reaching Lake Park, Minnesota, he worked for about four months on farms of the neighborhood, after which he took up employment in the pine
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woods of the state of Wisconsin, during the winter months and in the sum- mer worked on farms and on the railroad.
In 1893 Otto J. Oak took up a homestead in Wilkin county, Minne- sota, a place on which he lived for six years, and then sold his land and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 8, of Folden town- ship, a farm which he cleared and improved until it is now highly cultivated and well improved and where he is engaged in general farming.
In 1895 Otto J. Oak was married to Mary Lyngstad, who was born in Norway, and came to this country at an early age. To this union were born eleven children, Edward, Ragna Nathalie, Julia Petrine, Myrtle Olava, Edna Ruth, Lillian Mabel, Cora Adela, Clifford Herman and Oscar Norman, twins; Laura Marie and Norah Pauline.
In public life, Mr. Oak has served his community as school director for two terms and has, as a private citizen, in the ranks of the Republican party, done many things which have aided the progress and advancement of political and social conditions of the locality. Mr. Oak and his wife are devont members of the Lutheran church at the town of Folden.
EDWIN C. MANEVAL.
Edwin C. Maneval is one of those men who take great pride in the progress of the community in which they live, and who become active in all questions pertaining to the welfare of their fellow citizens. He was born on July 19, 1874, and is the son of John and Catherine ( Bergner ) Maneval. John Maneval was born in Pennsylvania, but is of German descent and when a young man came to Otter Tail county, Minnesota, where he met and married Catherine Bergner. She is a native of Switzerland and emi- grated to America when a girl of ten or twelve years. Her parents were among the early settlers of Minnesota, in which state she grew to maturity.
After the marriage of John Maneval and Catherine Bergner, they located in Carver county, Minnesota, and purchased a farm and this place became their home until 1877. The farm was then sold and the family removed to Otter Tail county, where eighty acres of homestead land was purchased, in section 10, Candor township, which place became their home until the death of John Maneval, in 1897. The first house was of logs and was located on the banks of the creek and south of the road. Some years later, forty-nine acres of adjoining land was purchased and, later still. another piece of land, consisting of forty acres, was added. In 1885 a more modern home was erected in place of the former one of logs. The names of their children follow: Carrie is the widow of Peter Damschen, who lived in North Dakota: Alice is the wife of Jacob Damschen, and their home is in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota ; Edwin C .; Horace S., who lives
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