USA > Minnesota > Otter Tail County > History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota : its people, industries, and institutions, Volume II > Part 89
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Christian Granrud was educated in the public schools of Norway and later in the schools of Fillmore county, Minnesota, after which he came to Otter Tail county, Minnesota, with his parents, and lived on the home place until the year 1893, when he purchased the farm of his father, adding other land until he was the owner of two hundred acres, which he improved extensively and where he engaged in general agricultural pursuits and stock raising for the remainder of his days. Christian Granrud died on October 24, 1903.
On December 16, 1866, Christian Granrud was married to Dena Quamme, who was born in Bergen, Norway, the daughter of Rognald and Maria (Fraas) Quamme, who lived in their native land of Norway until the year 1882, and then came to America, settling in Norwegian Grove town- ship, of Otter Tail county, where Rognald Quamme homesteaded a farm
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on which he lived for a time and then sold it and moved to a place three miles east of the town of Pelican Rapids, where he lived until the year 1914, when he sold this farm and moved to Pelican Rapids, where he and his wife now live a retired life. Christian and Dena Granrud were the par- ents of nine children, namely: Ed, who died at the age of eleven months; Ed, the subject of this sketch; Carl, who lives at home; Mabel, Oscar, Julia, Olga, George and Clara.
Ed C. Granrud was educated in the public schools of this county, after which he aided his father on the farm until purchasing it from the elder Granrud. He has improved the place and with one hundred and twenty acres of rented land adjoining, he engages extensively in general farming, being known as a young farmer who adopts and follows the most approved and scientific methods of cultivation. Ed C. Granrud is unmarried.
The Granrud family is one of the most highly respected in the com- munity, not only because of their activtty and work in the Norwegian Luth- eran church, of which they are leading members, but on account of their interest and support of those things which are making for the enlightenment and general welfare of the township and county.
FRED J. COCKING.
A life of consecutive industry has been that of Fred J. Cocking, who although interested in many lines of work, devotes the greater part of his time to stock raising and general farming. He is the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Dannett) Cocking and was born in Clinton county, Iowa, on the 15th of July, 1860. His parents were natives of England and after their marriage lived in Lincolnshire, where Mr. Cocking was employed as a nur- seryman. The couple came to America about 1852 and settled in Philadel- phia, where Thomas Cocking opened a florist's shop and continued to work at his chosen occupation on a small tract of land outside the city. A short time after their arrival in this country, Mr. and Mrs. Cocking moved to Clinton county, Iowa. In that community Thomas Cocking bought a farm located near the village of Welton, in Welton township. In connection with the regular duties of the farm he continued to use a part of his time for horticultural interests. He lived on this farm until his death, which occurred in 1866. His wife died in January, 1880. Her last days were spent near Grinnell, Iowa, with her children. During her life she was a devout mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church. Of the twelve children born to Mr. and Mrs. Cocking six grew to maturity, as follow: Annie Marie became the wife of Thomas Maltas, and has lived in DeWitt, Iowa, for a number of years; Elizabeth Ann married B. F. Stockwell, and lived in Grinnell,
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Iowa, for a number of years before her death, which occurred in the state of Louisiana; Mary Jane, who became the wife of Leroy D. Forehand, lived until her death in Grinnell, Jowa; Thomas J. lives in Portland, Oregon, where he is a minister in the United Brethren church; Charles, a farmer, resides in Silver City, Texas; Fred J. is referred to in this sketch.
Fred J. Cocking, after completing the course in the common schools near Grinnell, Iowa, attended the Grinnell Academy. After finishing at the academy he decided to take up the occupation of teaching, which he prac- ticed for four years in Poweshick county. At the end of that time he rented a farm near Chester. After a short time he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in the same township, and managed this farm until 1904. During three years of his residence on this farm Mr. Cocking conducted a general merchandise store at Chester and later at Grinnell.
Otter Tail county, Minnesota, attracted Mr. Cocking in 1904, when he came to this community and bought two hundred and forty acres of land in section 19. Dunn township, and eighty acres in the village of Pelican Rap- ids. Later he traded the eighty-acre tract for a farm of two hundred and forty acres adjoining his larger farm. Mr. Cocking lived on this land, which was improved, for three years and during that time devoted his inter- ests to stock raising and general farming. He is living at the present time in Pelican Rapids, where he owns fifty acres of land in the village corpora- tion. His special occupation is the rearing of Poland China hogs. The farm owned by him in Dunn township is managed by two of his sons. Throughout his career as a business man, Mr. Cocking has shown a keen interest in affairs pertaining to the welfare of the community in which he lives. He assisted in organizing the Farmers Co-operative Shipping Asso- ciation, of which he is a director. In his political interests, Mr. Cocking is an independent voter and before coming to Otter Tail county served as township assessor and school treasurer in the district in Iowa in which he resided.
On the 13th of March, 1883, Fred J. Cocking was married to Ida A. Bacon, a native of Vermont, and the daughter of Joshua and Mary Jane ( Humphrey ) Bacon. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Cocking the following children have been born: Edward, who resides on the farm in Dunn town- ship; George, now a farmer in Dunn township, attended business college in Fargo and in Minneapolis, and for two years was a book-keeper in Fargo; Esther Grace, who lives at home, is a junior in the high school at Pelican Rapids, and Horace, who is at home with his parents.
Joshua and Mary Jane ( Humphrey ) Bacon were natives of Vermont, but were married in Carlisle, Indiana. In 1865 they moved to Poweshiek county, lowa, where Mr. Bacon followed the occupation of a farmer. He
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retired in later life to Grinnell, Iowa, where he is living at the present time. Mr. and Mrs. Bacon reared a family of the following children: Etta, the widow of Milton Sears, who lives with her father at Grinnell; Fred, who died in Chester in 1889; Ida, the wife of Fred J. Cocking; William, who died in Grinnell in 1882; Albert, a farmer residing in Grinnell, łowa; Hiram, a farmer at Burt, lowa: Hattie, the wife of Frank Wesco, of Newburg, lowa, and Edith, who died in 1882.
HERMAN HOSTERMAN.
Herman Hosterman was born in Germany, April 21, 1845, the son of Henry and Adelhiede Hosterman, who lived in Germany, in which country they were born. They came to America, locating in Carver county, where they lived for some years and then moved to Otter Tail county, Minnesota, where they lived until their death. Henry Hosterman died on February 14, 1885, and Adelhiede Hosterman died on March 26, 1891.
Mr. and Mrs. Hosterman were the parents of four children, all of whom were born in Germany, and came with the parents to America. The children were Henry, who married Mary Burgner and lives at Waconia, Minnesota; Adolph, who was a soldier in the Civil War and died at Mem-' phis; Elizabeth, who married Philip Luthiener and lives at Waconia, and Herman, the subject of this sketch.
Herman Hosterman was educated in the public schools of Germany, after which he came to America and settled in Otter Tail county, Minnesota, where he became a farmer on two hundred and forty acres of land which he owned. He also operated a saw-mill on the river near his home. On taking possession of his land, part of which he homesteaded and a portion of which he purchased from the Northern Pacific Railway Company, Her- man Hosterman proceeded to clear his land and to build the necessary build- ings together with the preparing of his soil for cultivation, later erecting new and more modern buildings, on his land, which after a short time proved to he among the best and most productive of the community, devoted to general farming and stock raising.
On March 26, 1883, Herman Hosterman was married to Albertine Ott, who was born in Germany, and who came alone to America in the year 1881. To the marriage of Herman and Albertine Hosterman were born the following children : Emma, who married Sever Orphus; Augusta, who mar- ried Oscar Schow: Elsie: Cecilia, who married Charles Damschen; Selma, Clarence. Frances and John. Herman Hosterman was an active and faith- ful member of the German Lutheran church, a denomination of which his widow and children and now members and in which church they are inter- ested and devout workers.
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NILS HAAGENSON.
Nils Haagenson, a native of Norway, was born on September 25, 1848, and is a son of Haagen and Amelia ( Nelson) Hermanson. Herman Olson, the grandfather of Nils Haagenson, was a large landowner in his commun- ity and lived and died in his native country. He was a soldier of the War of 1814. He was a prominent and active member of the Lutheran church.
Haagen Hermanson, the father of Nils Haagenson, received his educa- tion in the public schools of his native country, where he grew to manhood and came to America in 1861 with his family. They landed in Quebec, after a voyage of nine weeks in a sail boat. The family moved to St. Peter, Minnesota, where Mr. Hermanson purchased three hundred and sixty acres of land, living there until the time of his death, in 1910, reaching the age of ninety years. The wife and mother died in 1907. The family were members of the Lutheran church and were very active in the work. They were the parents of ten children, seven of whom grew up: Nils, Herman (deceased), Margaret (deceased), Lars (deceased), Sisel, Ole and Olive, the latter of whom is and has been a missionary in China for the past twenty years. The old homestead is now occupied by Ole, the youngest of the children.
Nils Haagenson attended school in Norway, where he lived until he was thirteen years of age, when he came to America with his parents and com- pleted his school work in the common schools of Nicollet county. He left home when eighteen years old and went to Minneapolis, where he lived for four years and while there was married to Mary Johnson in 1870, when they moved to St. Cloud. He left his wife in St. Cloud and went out look- ing for land. He started from St. Cloud on April 3, 1871, on foot, in com- pany with two others, and walked to Alexandria, but owing to the fact that the snow had just melted, the creeks were so high that they had to hire a team there to take them to Fergus Falls, where they started out on foot again and walked over a great part of Otter Tail county and finally located a claim in Oscar township, in section 32. Then Nils Haagenson walked all the way back to St. Cloud. The first part of June, the following year, he secured a young pair of horses, a cow and a heifer and, with his wife, started for the homestead in a covered wagon. Here he cut logs and built a log cabin about sixteen feet square, in which they made their home, which in those days was considered a good house. As he only had a pair of horses and all his neighbors had oxen he could not do any breaking but had to hire it done. That year he got only four acres hroke, for which he had to pay five dollars per acre. Late in the fall he traded his team of horses for two yoke of oxen and he felt very much relieved. He made two pair of bob-
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sleighs out of oak logs and commenced hauling logs. He took two yoke of oxen and two sleighs and chopped two loads while others chopped one. They went in the government timber and cut posts, rails and wood.
In the early part of February, in 1873. Mr. Haagenson was caught in a severe snow storm and when three miles from home he could not get any further but had to take shelter with a farmer and got to Mr. Kievell's place. Here he found room for one yoke of oxen in the stable but the snow had drifted so it was even with the top of the door and he had to dig it out to get the oxen in. He got room for the other yoke of oxen in a shed, which was also covered with snow, and while digging the door out one of the oxen wandered away and was lost in the blizzard. It was found five days later frozen to death. The blizzard lasted three days. In the spring, after fenc- ing in his field, he went out to work on the railroad, where he earned money to buy another ox. After doing the haying and harvest he started out with his two yoke of oxen and a third one which he drove on shares, and commenced hanling freight for the government. He made one trip from Breckenridge, Minnesota, which was their loading point, to Jamestown, North Dakota, in company with another, the two of them driving seven yoke of oxen and seven wagons loaded with freight. Returning to Breckenridge he wanted to make another trip, but found that the only thing there to haul was three loads for Ft. Totten which no one wanted to take, and the freight master could not make any one make that long trip alone, so Mr. Haagenson took these loads with his three yoke of oxen, and his partner returned home with the other four. He made the trip alone over country which he had never traveled before, taking eleven days to make the trip. On the ninth and tenth days it rained all day and on the eleventh day it snowed and turned into a very severe blizzard from the northwest. When he got into Ft. Totten his clothing, which had been drenched for three days, was frozen stiff. When he notified the quartermaster that he was there with the loads, the quartermaster told him he would not unload in such "dog weather" as that was; but when Mr. Haagenson told him that he would not be responsi- ble for the loads, which still were in good condition, he sent a number of soldiers to unload them and Mr. Haagenson had all he could do to make the oxen stand still while they were unloading. He finally got his oxen in a log stable used by the government butcher. After waiting there for three days for the storm to subside and the snow to disappear, he started for home. While there he learned that a company of soldiers were going to move to Ft. Abercrombie and he got a chance to haul their trunks and two families from Ft. Totten to Ft. Abercrombie. The weather turned out to be nice and he made fifty dollars extra on this trip on the way home.
In 1873 there came up a big wind storm from the northwest and to
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protect his property from a prairie fire, which was at a distance, Mr. Haag- enson set out to start a back-fire outside of a fire break, when a gust of wind blew a tuft of burning grass across and set fire to three large stacks of hay ( all he had ), barely saving his four grain stacks when the fire was put out- it was about three feet away from them. After this he started for Brecken- ridge to earn some money to buy hay with. He started from Breckenridge to Ft. Wadsworth with two loads, sixty-five miles. Getting five miles out he camped, but in the middle of the night had to break camp on account of a snow storm. Getting out twelve miles, where there was a settler ( the only one on this whole distance ), he went to get some hay. When he came back one of his ox-teams had become entangled and thrown. To release them he had to cut the bows. One ox got up, the other had broken his neck. Then he could get no further and had to unload and return home.
After having his homestead fairly well improved, feeling one hundred and sixty acres not enough, Mr. Haagenson bought more land, later grad- ually increasing his acreage from time to time as he felt able to. He has now placed his children each with a nice farm and has left for himself over two sections of land ( part in North Dakota). He now lives in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, where he has bought a commodious residence on the corner of Vernon avenue and Court street, where after many years of hard work he proposes to take life more leisurely. His children are: Annie, now Mrs. Julius Skooholt, of Dwight. North Dakota; Herman, a retired farmer of Fergus Falls ; John, an attorney of Fergus Falls ; Alfred, proprietor of Chris- tiania hotel and cafe, Fergus Falls; Emily, now Mrs. Bernard Lein, of Car- lisle, Minnesota : Nicolai, a farmer at Carlisle, Minnesota.
ANDREW T. LUND.
Andrew T. Lund was born at Vining, Minnesota. December 21, 1885, the son of Andrew T. and Annie K. ( Amundson) Lund, both of whom were natives of Norway, the father being born in the year 1848, at a settle- ment called Lund, in Kolvereid, Namdalen, and the mother being born near Christiania, in the year 1850. When seventeen years of age, Andrew T. Lund, Sr., in the year 1866, came to America, making the trip alone, while his wife, as a girl, came to this country with her mother and father. Andrew T. Lund and the parents of Annie Amundson settled at Hudson, Wisconsin, where Andrew Lund was engaged in logging on the St. Croix river for ten years, and during which time he was married, and later he and his wife moved, in the year 1870. to Otter Tail county, Minnesota, where they took up a homestead of about one hundred and sixty acres of land in Nidaros township, a place where now a part of the town of Vining is located. On taking possession of his land. Andrew T. Lund proceeded to clear the land
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and to plant crops, together with the erecting of a log house in which to live, at the same time buying grain for the Andrews & Gage Grain Com- pany, at Minneapolis. A few years later Mr. Lund leased the local elevator from his former employers and for the next twenty years he conducted this industry on his own responsibility, being interested in the only lumber yard at Vining during the same time. In 1904 Andrew T. Lund discontinued the grain business and organized a private bank, which he conducted until 1908, and then the institution was incorporated as Lund's State Bank, a financial house which the sons of Mr. Lund now operate.
Andrew T. Lund, Sr., was a most active man during his entire life and held many important positions. Mr. Lund was a member of the firm of Nyhus & Lund, general merchants; he took an important part in the organ- ization of St. Luke's Hospital at Fergus Falls, Minnesota, an institution of which he was a trustee for some years; he was instrumental in securing for the town of Vining a railway siding from the Northern Pacific railway, and he was the donor of the land and one of those who secured funds for the building of the Lutheran church at Vining, a church in which for many years he was a trustee. Andrew T. Lund, Sr., was a Republican in politics and was at one time the candidate of his party for a seat in the United States Congress; he served in several local offices, including a place on the school board and other offices in the township and in the town of Vining. Mr. Lund was a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was prominent in the organization of the Sons of Norway, at Vining. Andrew T. Lund was one of the most honored men of Otter Tail county and but for the fact that the state of Minnesota pos- sessed one postoffice named Lund, the present town of Vining would now bear that name. Andrew T. Lund, Sr., died on December 16, 1908, his wife having preceded him in death about four years, she dying on July 3, 1904.
To Andrew T. and Annie Lund were born the following children : Thea, who married the Rev. J. C. Herre, and lives at New York City; Melvin B., who is a farmer of Henning township, and lives at Vining, is a graduate of the agricultural school at Minneapolis; Charles A., who is cash- ier of Lund's State Bank, is an attorney and graduate from the St. Paul College of Law: Oscar A., who is a partner in the firm of Nyhus & Lund, general merchants at Vining ; Harry A., who lives on the home place near Vining ; Andrew T., the subject of this sketch ; Emil A., who is a real-estate dealer and land owner of Vining; Gundrun, who married Theodore Thoen, of the firm of Thoen Brothers' Clothing Company, at Minneapolis, Minne- sota, and Baletta, who married William H. Huntington, and lives at Paynes- ville, Minnesota. Four children of Mr. and Mrs. Lund are deceased.
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Andrew T. Lund was educated at the Fergus Falls, Minnesota, high school and later at Concordia College, where he graduated in the class of 1908, with the degree of Bachelor of Accounts, and after finishing his schooling he entered the lumber business at Vining, continuing in this busi- ness for four years and then he sold his interests and has since followed the real-estate business together with the duties of his office as president of Lund's State Bank, a position in which he succeeded his father. Andrew T. Lund has found time from his busy life to serve his town as recorder since it was incorporated, in the year 1909, and he takes an active part, as owner, in the plotting and in the development of "Sunny Side," a resort on East Battle lake, one mile from Vining. Andrew T. Lund has served several years as president of the local society of Sons of Norway and he is now dommer of that organization.
On June 27, 1915, Andrew T. Lund was married to Alma Korum, who was a school teacher of Otter Tail county, and the daughter of John Korum and wife, old settlers who are now deceased. The Lund family is one of the well-known families of the community, they being strong financial support- ers of Concordia College, an institution from which seven of the children of the family have graduated.
Andrew T. Lund and his wife are leading members of the Norwegian Lutheran church at Vining and in church circles as well as the social and business circles of the town and county are esteemed and respected for their part in the life of the community.
JOHN MAURIN.
John Maurin, postmaster, Elizabeth, Otter Tail county, Minnesota, was born on January 4, 1888, in Austria, and is a son of John and Katherine (Schauer ) Maurin. His early education was obtained at the public schools in Alten Markt, Austria, and later at the German schools at Cottschee for three years. At the age of fourteen years he came to America, landing at New York, and coming directly to Elizabeth, Minnesota, where he entered the public schools for one year, and later attended St. John's University, in which he took a commercial course, graduating in 1905. After completing his education, Mr. Maurin went to North Dakota, and was employed in the State Bank at Sykeston. From that place he went to Breckenridge, Minne- sota, where he clerked in the store of Vertin Brothers for three years, and from that place returned to Elizabeth and worked for his uncle, Peter Mau- rin, for six years. In 1915 he was appointed postmaster, in connection with which office he conducts a confectionery store. He is special agent for the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company of California. Mr. Maurin is a
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Democrat and has held some of the local offices, among them being that of assessor, which he held for two years. He is a devout member of the Catho- lic church, while fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Columbus. Mr. Maurin's brother, Peter, is a sergeant in the Austrian army and served in 1915 at the Russian front, and later at the Italian front. His brother-in- law is also a soldier.
John Maurin, Sr., was born in Austria, as was also his wife, Katherine (Schauer) Maurin. He was well educated in Austria, where he attended the normal school, and later entered the military service, where he was appointed captain of the Seventeenth regiment in the War of 1878, at Bosnia, Herze- govina, during which service he contracted rheumatism. After the war Mr. Maurin conducted an inn at Unterwold, and was also the owner of a farm consisting of one hundred and sixty acres. Religiously, he was a member of the Catholic church. His death occurred on August 17, 1905. To Mr. and Mrs. Maurin were born the following children: Catherine, Jolin, Anna, Peter, Francis, and five others who are dead, John being the only one to come to America.
Marcus Maurin, the paternal grandfather, was a native of Austria, and was a soldier in the Napoleonic War, and was afterward engaged in business in Austria, from which he retired and spent his latter life in travel, visiting Switzerland, France and America, where he sold goods. His children were: Peter, Marcus, Martin, John and Mary, all of whom are dead, Peter and Marcus being the only children who came to America.
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