USA > Minnesota > Otter Tail County > History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota : its people, industries, and institutions, Volume II > Part 35
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in Candor township, and William, who lives in Detroit, Minnesota. The mother of this family still lives and is residing in Pelican Rapids.
Edwin C. Maneval received his education in the schools of district 121. and was reared on the old home place. As he reached maturity, he assisted in the management of the farm and in 1900 he purchased forty acres of land, which was operated independently. This farm was located just west of his father's place and became his place of residence until 1914, at which time he rented the homestead and now operates both. In 1899 Edwin C. Maneval was united in marriage to Alice R. Blossom, and they are the par- ents of three children, Gladys Ida, Horace Fay and Fernando John. Alice R. ( Blossom) Maneval is the daughter of Fernando and Ida Blossom, who are pioneers of Candor township.
Edwin C. Maneval was one of the organizers of the Farmers Co-opera- tive Creamery, of Vergas, Minnesota, and has been a director since its organization. He is also a stockholder of the Farmers Telephone Company and is serving as vice-president of same. Politically, he votes the Socialist ticket. He served as a member of the township board of supervisors from 1900 until 1915. He has also served on the school board about the same length of time. Fraternally, he is a member of the Order of American Yeomen.
C. E. OLSON.
C. E. Olson, a prosperous farmer and business man and a popular citizen of Tordenskjold township, was born on the farm where he now lives and which he now owns, August 27, 1874, and is the son of Esten Olson Norgaard and Ingeborg (Olson) Olson, the oldest living settlers in Tor- denskjold township.
The paternal grandparents of Mr. Olson were Ole Narjord and Sigrid (Estensdatter) Narjord, the former of whom was a laborer and the latter a daughter of a soldier in the War of 1814. They were the parents of six children, all of whom remained in Norway except Mr. Olson's father and his father's sister, Mrs. Johanna Peterson, who now resides at Waterloo Ridge, Iowa. Mr. Olson's maternal grandparents, Ole Rostbakken and Kirsti ( Sandmor) Rostbakken, never came to America. They died in their native land.
Mr. Olson's parents were born at Roraas, Norway, the father on Jan- uary 24, 1827, and the mother on October 6, 1831. They grew up near Roraas and were married in their native land. In 1869, with three children, they came to America, settling at Waterloo Ridge, Winneshiek county, near Spring Grove, Iowa, and, until 1870. worked on a farm. In 1870 the family emigrated to Minnesota and were able to travel by rail over to St.
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Cloud. From St. Cloud the trip was made to Otter Tail county with an ox team. In the same year Esten Olson Norgaard homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in Tordenskjold township, which at that time was not only a wilderness, but a very tangled wilderness. Shortly afterward he built a dugout and there spent the first summer. Later, however, he built a log house where the present modern buildings stand. The family has lived on this farm ever since. The father has prospered and has added to his land until he now owns three hundred and twenty acres. Both he and his wife are still hale and hearty at very advanced ages. They are devout members of the Lutheran church and were associated with other citizens of the township in founding the church. Mr. Olson's father is a devoted Republican. Mr. Olson is the youngest of five children, the others being : Oliver, who is a former probate judge and also probate clerk of Otter Tail county, is engaged in the insurance business at Fergus Falls; Christine, who married J. N. Langsjoen, lives at Norman, Washington; the third child died in infancy, and O. E., who is a farmer at Berg, North Dakota.
C. E. Olson was educated in the public schools of Otter Tail county, in the Fergus Falls high school and in the Park Region Lutheran College at Fergus Falls. He graduated from the commercial department of the college in 1804, and, during the next five or six years, taught school in Otter Tail county. After his marriage, Mr. Olson returned to the old homestead, where he has lived ever since. In 1911 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, a part of the old homestead, and now operates not only his own land, but the land owned by his father. He is engaged in diversified farming.
Mr. Olson is president of the Underwood creamery and was one of the organizers of this association. He is also secretary of the Park Region Telephone Company and treasurer of the Underwood Grain Association. which was organized several years ago, but which has recently taken on added importance owing to the erection of a new elevator in 1913 and 1914. The elevator has a capacity of thirty thousand bushels of grain and is owned by forty-four shareholders. It does an annual business of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars.
On March 18, 1899. Mr. Olson was married to Hannah Holbeck, the daughter of P. N. Holbeck, whose family history is contained elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Olson have two chiklren, Alvin E., born on May 5, 1900, and Herman P., born on March 23, 1902.
C. E. Olson is identified with the Republican party. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Wood- men of America. Mr. and Mrs. Olson are members of the Lutheran church and they not only attend services regularly, but contribute liberally to the support of the church in this township.
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OLE H. NODSLE.
Recognized as an authority on affairs pertaining to general farming and stock raising, Ole Nodsle occupies an enviable position in the industrial life of Otter Tail county, Minnesota, where he has been a resident for over thirty years. He is a native of Hedemarken, Norway, having been born there on April 13, 1859. His father, Hans Nodsle, was born in the same country, on the 12th of September, 1826, and his mother, Bertha (Dyreson) Nodsle, on the 29th of March, 1827. His parents were married in their native land and in 1880 came to America, where Ole Nodsle had already established his residence. Upon arriving in this country Hans Nodsle took a claim of one hundred and sixty acres of land in Maplewood township, located in section 24, where he and his son, Ole, worked at the occupation of clearing the land and building cabins of logs. In 1889 Hans Nodsle sold his farm to the son who had assisted him, but continued to occupy the resi- dence until his death, on September 2, 1914. His wife, who passed away on August 30. 1910, was survived by the following children: Dena, the wife of Andrew Elton, who is a resident of Kidder county, North Dakota; Ole, who is the subject of this sketch; Julia, Mrs. Thomas Nelson, a resident of Kidder county, North Dakota; Annie, Mrs. Alfred Olson, who resides in Clay county, Minnesota, and John, who is a farmer and a resident of Clay county.
Ole Nodsle received his education in the public schools of Norway, and at the age of twenty sailed for America. He was unaccompanied by friends or relatives, and after his arrival in this country went directly to Otter Tail county, Minnesota, where he was employed on the farms near Rothsay for over three years. He assisted his father during the first few years of the latter's stay in this country. Since purchasing the old home place, in 1889, Ole Nodsle has continued to add to his possessions until now he has a farm of two hundred and forty acres, forty acres of which are in an excellent state of cultivation. In 1900 he erected a modern dwelling on the farm, which he uses as his present residence. He has also made a number of valuable improvements on the stock buildings of the farm.
On June II. 1886, the marriage of Ole Nodsle to Lena Vasaason, the daughter of Christian and Dorothy Vasaason, natives of Norway, took place. Mrs. Nodsle is also a native of Hedemarken. Norway. She and her husband have reared an interesting family, in which the following children are numbered : Harry, who is employed in North Dakota, but who owns a homestead in Beltrami county; Christian, who resides on a homestead in Beltrami county; Betsey, the wife of Hjalmar Stenseth, who lives in North Dakota: David, John, Oscar, Clara, Lewis, Martin, Alfred and Bennie, who reside on the home place.
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Mr. Nodsle is a man who has always entered heartily into the affairs of the community in which he lives. He was instrumental in organizing the Erbard Farmers Creamery, and for some years acted as director of the same concern. He helped to organize the Maplewood Telephone Company, of which he is now president. In politics, Mr. Nodsle is an independent voter and has served as road supervisor for the last twenty years. For twelve years he has been director of the school district. His church mem- bership is given to the Lutheran church.
CHARLES M. DOLSEN.
Born in Schuyler county, Illinois, January 21, 1850, Charles M. Dolsen, a well-to-do farmer of Inman township, Otter Tail county, Minnesota, is a son of Charles M., Sr., and Mary E. Dolsen, who were early settlers of the state of Illinois. Mr. Dolsen's father was a merchant, who died in 1852, while his mother died in 1862. Charles M. Dolsen, Sr., and wife were the parents of seven children, Albert, John, Mary, Catharine, Margaret, Celia and Charles M., Jr.
Charles M. Dolsen was ten years of age when he went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to make his home with Mr. and Mrs. William Moffet, the former of whom was his brother-in-law, having married Mr. Dolsen's sister. Mary. Charles M. Dolsen received his education in the public schools of Minnea- polis, and when old enough learned the cooper's trade in that city. He lived in Minneapolis until 1880, when he removed to Otter Tail county and pur- chased eighty acres of land in Elmo township. He sold this farm and in 1893 moved to Inman township, where he purchased one hundred and twenty acres, in section 22. A little later he sold this second farm and purchased eighty acres of land in the same section and township, and here he is living today. He has built a new and modern residence on this farm, and has otherwise improved it in many ways.
In 1879 Mr. Dolsen was married in Minneapolis to Mary E. McLeod, who was born in Clearwater, Minnesota, but who lived in Minneapolis. Mrs. Dolsen's parents were John and Mary ( Perkins) McLeod, the former of whom was born in New Brunswick, Maine, in 1814. and the latter of whom was born at Topsham, Maine, about 1824. They emigrated to Minneapolis in the fifties, and from that city removed to Clearwater, Minnesota, where they conducted a hotel. Later they returned to Minneapolis, and were the proprietors of the Tremont house. From the latter city they returned again to Clearwater, where they were engaged in the hotel business for a short time until 1868, when they removed to Alexandria, Minnesota. After living in Alexandria for three years they moved to Garden City, and here kept a hotel for one year, after which they lived on a farm. The family later
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returned to Alexandria, where they conducted a boarding house. After living in Alexandria for about a year, they went to Melrose, and kept a hotel there for a year, when the returned to Minneapolis and kept a board- ing house. In 1879 the family emigrated to Helena. Montana, and here Mrs. Dolsen's father died in 1884, while her mother died in California in 1910. John and Mary McLeod were the parents of ten children, four of whom are now living, as follow: Mrs. Celeste Heaton, of Rice, Minne- sota ; Mrs. Charles M. Dolsen, wife of the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Lucy Bucke, of Pasadena, California, and Mrs. Jessie Thompson, of San Jose, California.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Dolsen are the parents of five children, as follow: Charles Edwin, James Mortimer, deceased; Mary Ethel, William Oscar and Ray Addis. Mary Ethel is the widow of Lewis Wait, who died in 1912, leaving four children, Amherst Douglas, Asenath Coral, Lloyd Leroy and Louis Agnes Alma.
Mr. and Mrs. Dolsen and family are prominent in the life of the com- munity where they live, and they have a host of friends in Inman township, where they have made their home for so many years.
CHARLES PAULSON.
Charles Paulson, who has succeeded in a large measure as a farmer of Nidaros township, Otter Tail county, Minnesota, and who is a native of Norway, was born there on February 4. 1858. Mr. Paulson is a son of Frederick and Mina Paulson, both of whom were born in Norway, and spent their entire lives in that country. They were the parents of seven children. two of whom died early in life, while two others, Bertha and Fred- erick, are deceased. The living children are Charles, Anna and Clara.
The eldest child of his parents' family. Charles Paulson was educated in the public schools of Norway. When Mr. Paulson was twenty-three years old, in 1881, he came to America, and for some time worked at vari- ous occupations in Otter Tail county. He worked one summer in Canada. In 1894 Mr. Paulson purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land in section 29. of Nidaros township, and shortly thereafter erected buildings on the farm. He is a general farmer and stockman, and has been very suc- cessful in all the aspects of farming in this county.
In 1888. seven years after coming to America, Mr. Paulson was mar- ried to Anges Olson, who was born in Norway, December 12, 1867, and who is a daughter of Svend and Matilda Olson, the former of whom died in Norway, and the latter came after her husband's death in 1873. to Goodhue county, Minnesota. Mrs. Paulson's mother died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1889. Mrs. Paulson was the only child born to her mother's first mar-
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riage. After the death of her father, her mother was married to Christ Hanson, and to this union one child was born, Nettie.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Paulson are the parents of seven children, all of whom are living, as follow : Anna, Minnie, Frederick, Clara, Mabel, Myrtle and Thorfin. The Paulson family is highly respected and esteemed in Nida- ros township, where all the members of the family are well known.
Mr. Paulson is known not only as a successful farmer, but he has been more or less prominent in politics, having served as treasurer of the school board for more than ten years.
COLBEN M. SORKNESS.
Born in Norway on January 6, 1864, Colben M. Sorkness, a well-to-do farmer of Henning township, Otter Tail county, Minnesota, is the son of Martin Christiansen and Oleana (Halversen) Christiansen, who were natives of Norway and who were married in that country prior to the time they emigrated to America. They came to this country in 1871 and settled in Otter Tail county, taking up a homestead farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Eagle Lake township. The father of Mr. Sorkness died in Eagle Lake township in 1896 and his wife nine years later, in January, 1905. Of their ten children, two, Gunda and Martha, are deceased. The living chil- dren are: Halver M., Knut, Colben M., Peter, Mary, Otto, George and Minnie.
Colben M. Sorkness was reared on the old homestead farm in Eagle Lake township and educated in the public schools of the township. When he was old enough he took up farming on the old home farm, but, subse- quently, purchased eighty acres in section 33. of Henning township. in 1822. . Mr. Sorkness has added to this farm until he now owns three hun- dred and twenty acres situated in sections 28, 29. 32 and 33. Mr. Sorkness has a natural grove on his home farm and has cleared practically all of the land, one hundred and sixty acres. He built a magnificent barn, thirty-four by seventy-two feet, in 1914, and also has a good house. He has a silo twelve by twenty-six feet, which is extensively used in his cattle business. Mr. Sorkness has made a specialty of breeding and raising Holstein cattle. He is a stockholder in the creamery at Henning and the farmers elevator. also at Henning.
In 1900 Colben M. Sorkness was married to Lena Olson, and to them was born one son, Otto, now deceased. Mrs. Lena Sorkness died on March 1. 1903, and on August 27, 1904, Mr. Sorkness was married to Hannah Trangsrud, who was born in Norway on May 7. 1877, but, who at the time of her marriage was Mrs. E. B. Anderson, of North Dakota. By this second marriage there have been born five children, of whom one, Harris, is
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deceased. The living children are: Hilda, Chester, Lilian and Agnes. By hier first marriage, Mrs. Sorkness was the mother of two children, Selmer B. and Beatrice.
Mrs. Sorkness is the daughter of Arne H. and Bolette Trangsrud, both of whom were natives of Norway. Mrs. Sorkness's father was born in 1849 and her mother in 1852. They were married in Norway and, upon their arrival in America, settled in Cass county, North Dakota, in 1882. After living in that county for one year, they moved to Sargent county, North Dakota, and purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. Mrs. Sorkness's father now owns six hundred and forty acres of land.
To Mr. and Mrs. Arne H. Trangsrud were born ten children, five of whom, Hannah, Bernhard, Agnes, Emelia and Amelia, twins, were born in Norway, and five in North Dakota, Bernhard, Agnes, Alfred, Henry and John. Of these children, Bernhard, Agnes, Emelia, Amelia and Henry are cleceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Colben M. Sorkness are members of the Free Lutheran church. Mr. Sorkness is a very successful farmer and, having begun to buy land when he was eighteen years old, has made a most praiseworthy success. He is not only one of the leading farmers of Henning township, but one of the leading citizens of Otter Tail county.
HON. ALVINZA BAXTER COLE, M. D.
Among those who stand as distinguished types of the world's workers is Dr. Alvinza Baxter Cole, a well-known physician and surgeon of Fergus Falls, who is now serving his fourth term as the mayor of the city. He is the Nestor of the Otter Tail county Medical profession, a man of fine intel- lectual and professional attainments and of most gracious personality and is clearly entitled to rank, not only as the best-known physician of Otter Tail county, but as one of its most enterprising citizens.
Doctor Cole is a native of Canton, St. Lawrence county, New York. where he was born on December 30, 1848, son of Oltas C. and Alvira ( John- son ) Cole. the former of whom was a farmer by occupation.
It was upon the farm that Doctor Cole was born and reared. He received his education at the Canton Academy and, soon after completing the course in that institution, entered the office of Dr. Sanford Hoag. In 1879 he was graduated from the New York Homeopathic College and in the same year purchased Dr. Hoag's entire practice and continued on his own account in the practice of medicine there until 1881. when he came to Minnesota and settled at Fergus Falls, where for nearly thirty-five years he has been engaged in the active practice of medicine. Doctor Cole is deeply interested in all phases of public questions and has taken a most prominent
HON. ALVINZA BAXTER COLE, M. D.
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part in the political life of Otter Tail county. From 1894 to 1898 he served as a member of the Minnesota Senate and four years later was re-elected to a second term of four years. During the Spanish-American War, Doc- tor Cole was surgeon of the Fourteenth Minnesota Regiment, with the rank of major. Doctor Cole is a member of the Park Region Medical Society and a member of the Masonic fraternity. He joined the Masonic lodge at Hermon, New York, and upon locating at Fergus Falls demitted to Corner Stone Lodge No. 99. Doctor Cole also is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Many years ago Doctor Cole was married to Effie E. Westcott, who was born at Hermon, New York, daughter of John and Frances ( Hemen- way) Westcott. Doctor and Mrs. Cole have adopted three sons and one daughter. Of these children, Carl V. Cole is now a physician in Lake City, Minnesota. He married Ann Seeley and they have two children. Claud L. Cole is a practicing dentist at Alexandria, Minnesota. He married Tena Raiter, and they have one daughter. Herbert E. Cole is a physician and surgeon of Mobile, Alabama. He married Jesse Wells, of Canton, New York. They have no children. Ester Monson married Dr. Theodore N. Kittelson, of Fergus Falls. She died in 1913.
In the history of Otter Tail county Dr. A. B. Cole is entitled to a high rank. He has won distinction in the medical profession and in political life because he has devoted himself unselfishly to the best interests of his fellow men.
ZEBA WRIGHT.
Zeba Wright, for the past twenty-five or thirty years township clerk, is the type of man who reminds us that agriculture, no less than other industries, is demanding better farmers today, in order to keep step with the onward march of civilization. Mr. Wright has always kept abreast with the times and is in the vanguard of the farming industry as pursued in this county. Mr. Wright, a native of Rock county, Wisconsin, was born in the township of Johnstown on September 23, 1849, and is the son of Wesley and Thankful ( Campbell) Wright.
The Wright family was an old and honored one and it was for them that the village of Wrightstown was named. Many of its early settlers were connected with it and several uncles of Zeba Wright built their homes on what was then wild land, near enough together to form a settlement later. Wesley Wright was born in Greene county, New York state, and his wife was born near Niagara Falls. Both were single when they went to Wisconsin and met and were married in 1848. settling in the township of (22b)
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Johnstown, where he began to cultivate the small farm which he owned. In 1876 he and his wife and their only child traveled to Wadena, Minne- sota, where they packed their household goods in wagons and started for this township, where they took up a soldier's homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in section 12. This was possible because of his services in Com- pany F, Thirteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry. He was in active service for a while, but illness kept him much of the time in the hospital. On their frontier wilderness, these stout-hearted people established their new home in a log cabin, which Mr. Wright built on the east side of his quarter sec- tion. The land was heavily covered with timber, but a stout heart and a resolute will accomplished what seemed at first almost impossible. This was the family home for many years, and by good methods became a valuable source of livelihood for Mr. and Mrs. Wright and their family. The former lived to the ripe old age of eighty-one, dying on the farm on section 12, and his good wife died in North Dakota in 1910. Mr. Wright was an active politician, allying himself with the Democratic party. He and his wife belonged to the Free-Will Baptist church. Their children were Zeba and Miranda: the latter married Jefferson Wheeler and died while still a young woman, living in Wisconsin.
Zeba Wright was a youth when the war broke out, and too young to enlist. Having gone to the nearest country school. he varied his schooling with farm work and at the age of twenty-six moved to Minnesota with his young wife, to whom he was married on April 16, 1876. Mrs. Wright was. before her marriage, Annette Ely, a native of New York state, but at that time a resident of Wisconsin. After living with his father for four years. Mr. Wright bought eighty acres of the homestead of the southern section and converted a wild frontier into productive fields. He later built a mod- ern frame house, whose attractiveness is enhanced by an avenue of spruce and balsams leading to it from the road. Mr. Wright soon was recognized as a successful general farmer and stock raiser. Years of toil and frugality have enabled him to live in comparative ease and retirement for more than three years past, during which time he has rented his farm to tenants.
To Mr. and Mrs. Wright were born three children, Charles, who is now engaged in small fruit raising, was formerly a jeweler. He now lives in Deer Wood, Minnesota, and is the father of two daughters. Archie the second son, was killed in an accident when a young man ; Ray passed away about 1912, leaving two daughters.
Mr. Wright, who is a Prohibitionist in his political tendencies, has been for nearly thirty years township clerk and has also served many terms as school director and also as town treasurer. Both he and his wife are mem- bers of the United Brethren church, in which Mrs. Wright takes an active
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part. The long tenure of office with which Mr. Wright has been honored, speaks volumes regarding his trustworthiness as a public official. Public duty is to him a sacred obligation, and in repayment for the confidence of his fellowmen, Mr. Wright has rendered efficient and honorable service.
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