The history of Renville County, Minnesota, Volume II, Part 55

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn; Renville County Pioneer Association
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago : H.C. Cooper, Jr. & Co.
Number of Pages: 986

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the Farmers Milling Co. mill at Sacred Heart for some two years. Then he took a trip of a few months to the Pacific coast. Upon his return he again took charge of the mill at Sacred Heart for a short period. Subsequently he went to Rockford, lowa. where he leased a mill with the option of buying it, but finding that the wheat raising industry was on a decline in that state he decided not to buy. Returning to Minnesota he leased the North Star mill at Granite Falls, Minnesota, and conducted it for about a year. Then, in partnership with C. R. Beal, he went to Warner, South Dakota, leased a mill and elevator, and dealt in wheat and operated the mill for about a year. For some nine months he was in Minneapolis where he received treatment for his eye- sight, and at the end of that period went to Iowa and leased the Okoboji mills at Milford. It was in 1896 that he came to Renville, and in company with Ed O'Connor, purchased the flour mill, which they conducted for three years. Then, Mr. Ashley bought out his partner and became sole owner and proprietor until 1914, when he took August Moline as a partner, an arrangement which still continues. The mill manufactures the "Ideal" and " Harmony" brands, and their four is sold extensively to local dealers. the largest shipping point, however, being Chicago, to which place the flour is sent in earload lots. Mr. Ashley is also interested in agriculture, and has good farm property in Erieson township. Ile is a prominent man in the community, was the first alderman at large of the city. has served the city in various other capacities. and has been mayor for the past five years. He is socially inclined and belongs to the Masonic body and to the Woodhinen. William .I. Ashley was married February 7. 1-98, to Anna O'Connor. daughter of James O'Connor, Sr., and Elizabeth Erickson O'Con- nor. Mr. and Mrs. Ashley have had five children : June, Myrth, Ardna tdeceased, Ruth and James. James W. Ashley was born in New York state, the son of Stephen and Nancy . Waterbury) Ashley, the former of whom, a miller, brought his family to Wis- ronsin at an early day. and there spent the remainder of his life. James W .. like his father, was a miller, and after coming to Wisconsin, spent the remainder of his days in that place. He lied in 1894. By his wife, Laura Narracong, who died in 1873, he had two children. Eva. now Mrs. Charles Bolen. of Black River Falls, Wis., and William J., of Renville, this county. By his second wife, Mrs. Martha (Nelson ) Lord, he had one son. Harry N., now rashier of the First National Bank of Raymond, Minnesota.

Charles J. Whitney, one of the well-known business men of Ilector, is a man of cordial and genial temperament, who for many years has had his part in the commercial and social life of the village where he now makes his home. Ile was born in Fillmore county, this state, September 12. 1872. son of Oscar L. and Amelia M. (Riley) Whitney, and grandson of Lemuel and Fanny

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ASTOR, LEVY 4 TILDEN & 4

MR. & MRS. OSCAR MILLER

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(Gonld) Whitney, and of Volkert and An (Bloom) Riley, and descended From Revolutionary ancestry. The name "Whitney" is of English extraction and is followed back in a direet line to John and Naney Whitney, who landed in Massachusetts, from England, in 1635. Among the very earliest colonial pioneers, and whose numerons descendants have taken an active part in all of the subsequent development of this country. Charles JJ. Whit- ney was brought to Renville county by his parents in 1880, and spent his boyhood in Brookfieldl and Melville townships. this county : Grafton township, Mebeod county; and the city of Min- neapolis, before loeating in Hector with his parents in May. 1890. Ile attended the public schools of the various places in which he lived, and in 1892 completed the business course of the Wesleyan Methodist Seminary at Wasioja, Minnesota. Ile started his career in 1891 in the employ of the MeGregor Lumber Co. at Heetor. In 1893 he became a grain buyer, working in this capacity in Ileetor and in Redwood Falls. In 1898 he connected himself with the Northern Shade-Cloth Co. at St. Paul, where he worked for nine years. It was in 1908 that he again came to Hector and entered into partnership with his brothers-in-law, W. B. Strom and R. F. Clark in the W. B. Strom Drug Co. Ilis courtesy and integrity have helped in the success of this pioneer firm. For eight years Mr. Whitney was assistant postmaster under W. B. Strom. He is an active member of the Commercial Club. Fra- ternally he is associated with Hector Lodge, No. 158, A. F. & A. M. He is also a member of the Minnesota Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Mr. Whitney was married Jan. 30, 1897, to Effie M. Clark, born in Victory, Wis., daughter of Calvin and Sarah ( Wilcox) Clark. They live in a well-furnished, modernly-equipped home, constructed of stneeo work, one of the prettiest homes in the village.

Oscar L. Whitney, for several years a resident of Renville county, was born in Illinois, son of Lemuel and Fanny (Gould) Whitney. lle was reared in that state, and as a young man went to Minnesota, where he married Amelia L. Riley. danghter of Volkert and Ann (Bloom) Riley. They settled in Fillmore county, this state, soon after their marriage, and in 1874, located in Dodge county, this state. In 1880, they came to Renville county, and located on a homestead of eighty aeres in Brookfield town- ship. In 1883 they went to Minneapolis, but in 1884 located in Grafton township, in MeLeod county. In 1890 they came to this county again, and bought a farm in Melville township, from which in 1892 they came to Heetor. For some years Mr. Whitney had combined horse dealing with farming. when, in 1898, he went to St. Paul, opened a feed stable, and continued as a horse dealer. His health failed, however, and he died in St. Paul March 4,

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1910. His good wife died in that city, May 25, 1912. In the family there were three children: Charles J. is a merchant in Hector. Nellie was born May 30, 1874, and is now the wife of John Knox of St. Anthony Park, this state. Roy was born May 30, 1876, and is a steam engineer at Heron Lake, Minnesota. He married Velzora MeAdam of Pine City, Minn., and they have three children, Ruth, Merlin and Lois.

William E. Morris, county agricultural agent, Renville county, and agent of the United States Department of Agriculture, the work being carried on under the United States Department of Agriculture, the College of Agriculture, University of Minne- sota and Renville County cooperating, was born in Middlebury, Wis., Dec. 23, 1886, son of David J. and Clara B. (Theobold) Morris, and was reared on a dairy farm at Ridgeway, Wis. Ile attended the state graded school of Ridgeway, graduated from the Wisconsin Academy at Madison, Wis., in 1905, and from the College of Agriculture, University of Wisconsin, in 1909. In 1909-11 he was eonneeted with the Department of Dairving, Wis- consin College of Agriculture : in 1911-13 he was in charge of the Animal Husbandry and Dairying departments of the La Crosse (Wis.) County School of Agriculture and Domestic Economy. In August, 1913. he started his duties as county agent of Ren- ville county.

Ole O. Enestvedt, Sr., Ilis Family and Times .- A life sketch by Mrs. Anne Enestvedt. My husband, Ole O. Enestvedt was born on the farm Enestvedt in Opdal Annex, Nore parish, Numedal, Norway, March 5. 1835, of parents Ole E. and wife, Joran, born on North Kittilsland in Nore. His grandfather. Ole Tollefsen E. was sheriff in Nore parish. The Enestvedt family was a large one, eleven brothers and sisters grew to mature age, viz., IIelga, Ragnild, Tollef, Kittel, Guri, Ole, Barbro, Reier, Lars, Joran and Gunild. Of these only two are living, Joran, single, at the Enest- vedt home in Sacred Heart. and Gunild, now Mrs. P. O. Kittils- land. I was born on the farm, Sonth Kittilsland, in Nore, Nu- medal, Sept. 5, 1841, of parents Knut Kittilsland and Sigrid, born at Bakke, Veglid. Seven brothers and sisters reached mature age, namely, Vighild, Anne, Liv, Sigrid, Engebret, Margit and Ingeborg. One, Mrs. Liv Knutson, is now living in the town of Swedes Forest, Redwood county, and three are in Nor- way. I was next oldest of the children. My oldest sister Vigheld had to stay on the farm in the valley with the folks, while I had to stay with mother and the smallest children on the sater or mountain dairy, herding stock and taking care of the little ones. I was in this work from 9 until 16 years of age.

One of the last summers up in the mountains, we had an ad- venture which I will relate. There was an old bear in the woods around the sater, which used to break into the stables and chase

OLE O. ENESTVEDT AND FAMILY

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the sheep and goats away in the nights. Sometimes he would kill two or three, at other times he would get seared so he would get nothing. One night he eame and got the goats and sheep out, drove them past our sater house. Mother heard it at once, and rushed ont, calling back again to me: "Anne, now you must get up, the bear has taken the small stock out," and then ran after the flock in her nightgown, without having any shoes on even, the sheep running ahead followed by the bear, and mother following him. It must be remembered that there were no men- folks up there for miles around. I came out of bed pretty fast, but put on my shoes and dress and woke my younger sister, bid- ding her take care of the little ones if necessary. When I came. out, mother called again: "Anne, you have to take the north mountain road, the goats went that way; I have the sheep and the bear." I ran through the fir thiekets up along the mountain side, for about one mile, calling to the bell-goat, which at last stopped above the forest line. I took hold of her bell-collar and ealled to the others and a whole flock of seared goats Followed and we started back again. At times the goat ran so fast that I would fall over, but I held fast to the collar and was dragged along, running and falling alternately. In this way we soon got down again to the sater, where mother already was waiting for us. She had scared old bruin away, had got the sheep together and was baek ahead of us. We now chased the whole flock into the stable and hunted up nine more sheep in a corner of the broken shed where they were bleating piteously. While engaged in this we heard a erushing, breaking noise in the thieket outside. In the morning we discovered that the bear had been back again and had devoured an old carcass left there by a hunter some time ago. That day we found all the missing sheep, except a small goat kid, which mother said the bear had to have for his trouble. But late in the fall this young goat also was found.

I will also tell about a wolf that came to our sater when mother was in the hayshed. She heard the goats jump and act scared outside and looking out she saw that two of the goats were miss- ing. Looking way up the hillside, she discovered a large wolf in the act of throwing a dead goat on his back, and heard a goat- kid bleat. She ran to the place and found that the wolf had torn the kid from the goat, and that it was still alive. But as the little thing would be motherless, she thought best to end its sufferings by killing him. Then she ran after the wolf who with his burden had disappeared in a thicket. When she got there she found the other goat torn to pieces, but Mr. Wolf made good his escape with the one he carried on his back. To us children it was a sad event that mother had killed the little kid. We would have brought it up for curiosity's sake.

At the age of 23 years I was married to Ole O. Enestvedt on

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.Inne 4, 1864, in Nore church, by Rev. C. C. Olsen. The same day we moved to the okl Enestvedt home, where we lived for two years. On the seventeenth of December, 1865, our first child, Ole O., was born. and the following spring. in May, we came to America. We stopped a while at Christiania, where my Ims- band, on the recommendation of Prof. Gisle Johnsen, bought religious books for $150. One-half the number of these books were the Konkordibogen, and Luther's Explanation to the Epistle of Galatians, and other books.

We bought a ticket with the Allan Line and were the first ones to come by steamship. It was the "Peruvian " and we were three days in erossing the North Sea and eleven days across the Atlantic : we landed in Quebec, Iune 20, and came to Madison, Wis .. the twenty-sixth. Here we happened to meet okd Nils Smithbark. who said he was next neighbor to my Aunt, Ambjor Morkvolden, already settled on Koshkonong. He offered to let us ride with him home, but it was twenty miles out, and the oxen jogged along at a slow rate. We rode the rest of the day and half of the night in a wagon without a spring seat. a board across the box serving this purpose. Our little boy was sick at the time and Mr. Enestvedt was ill from drinking iced water at a hotel in Madison, so it was a very dreary and unpleas- ant journey. But we were received with such genuine hospitality on our arrival, that our troubles were soon forgotten. My aunt was a widow and lived here with her youngest son Gjermund. We enjoyed a week's rest here. when they took us to Stoughton, Wis., where we boarded the train for Prairie du Chien, and crossed the Mississippi on a ferry boat to MacGregor, Iowa. From this place we drove nearly all night in a pouring rain for 22 miles to Hans Svensrud and a few days later came to our destination with Lars Reiersen Oset, who was second cousin to Mr. Enestvedt. With these hospitable and cordial people we stayed about one year. Many other newcomers, whether relatives or not were well received here by the lively and able housewife. Gunild, and found a temporary home, until they could get a home of their own. During harvest my husband hired out to Ole Evensen Lien from Skudalen, Numedal. He had to sit on a reaper and rake the grain in bunebes off the platform (the hand rake reaper) myself and the boy going there also, but after harvest we all went back to Reiersen. I shall never forget the . good-will and hospitality we received during our stay there. Reiersens had three children and an adopted daughter. a son, Nils, was born later. They afterwards moved to Blooming Prairie. Minn., where Mr. Reiersen recently died as a well-to-dlo man, respected by the whole community. His wife Gunild is living.

We stayed with these people all winter. and had a room by ourselves and had a pleasant stay altogether. Mr. Reiersen did

WIFE AND CHILDREN OF OLE O. ENESTVEDT, SR.

LEFT TO RIGHT-TOP ROW : KEIER JOIN, CARL CHRISTIAN, OLE O., JR., THEODORE, ENGEBRET G. BOTTOM ROW : SOPHILA HELENE, MRS. ENESTVEDT, JORGINE CAROLINE, ANNA REGINE, LOUISE MARIE,

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not only eare for the material well-being of his people, but also ministered to their spiritual wants by reading a chapter . every evening out of the Bible, and questioning his children about what he had read to be sure that they had understood the words. Blessed be his memory. Many books of those which Mr. Enest- vedt brought from Norway were sold here in Clayton county, lowa. My husband also went to school a couple of months here, and acquired in this short time a working knowledge of the English language.

In the spring of 1867, in April, Mr. Enestvedt and his brother Tollef started out afoot from Clayton county, they having heard of free homestead land along the Minnesota river. They took a northwesterly course from Albert Lea, through New Ulm and Redwood Falls and crossing the river to Renville county, they took their claims side by side, making a few necessary improve- ments, bought a yoke of oxen each, and borrowed wagons. With these they came back as far as St. Peter, where they found myself and "the boy" and the household goods which all had come by steamboat along the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers: Another newcomer, Erick Nilsen, had come with me from Clayton county, and now joined the party. We now had a four days' journey by oxteam to our destination and it rained nearly all the time, so that the country was flooded in many places. When we ar- rived at Beaver creek, on the north side of the river, people told us that we could not eross the stream, that many wagons had tipped over and been carried away by the current. Mr. Enest- vedt, being a tall man, waded out into the stream and found a rock in the ford that had been the cause of the wagons tipping over. His oxen were so well broke that while he remained stand- ing on the rock he commanded them to come on past him, and we got well aeross, although the water reached to the top of the wagonbox. I sat on a chair with baby in my lap and by hokling my dress well around me, I only got wet on my feet. After that all went well and in the evening of the twenty-seventh of .Inne we arrived at our farm in South Sacred Heart, where we continued to make our home.

The first year of our stay here everything was high priced and no erop was raised. This was the second year of the settle- ment. A barrel of flour cost $16 and had to be hauled 35 miles, the driver receiving $2 for every barrel hanled for the neighbors. But we were in good health and time passed fast. Although we had no minister we had good books to read and we used to gather in each others' honses Sundays, where Lars Rudi from Opdal Numedal (who had been a lay preacher in the old country) would lead in prayer. He then read a sermon in "Luther's Postille," and we sang out of "Guldbergs" hymn book. Mr. Rudi died in 1913, 86 years old, but his wife is living. During

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these first years the balance of Mr. Enestvedt's book supply was sold, or given away to those in poor circumstances. The fall of 1875 was a time of trouble and accidents for our family. Our horses ran away and tipped the wagon and broke my left arm at the wrist, and about a month later when the doctor was ready to remove the bandage from my arm, he had to administer to Mr. Enestvedt who in another runaway had broken his leg above the knee. The trips of the doctor these 20 miles and other ex- penses amounted to some $350. But through these hard times the Lord helped us out, so that we never suffered any privation. But deeper sorrow settled on us in the early eighties when my hus- band through exposure on long trips in winter and during thresh- ing life in early days, contracted the disease which after seven years of battle, laid him in an early grave. He died in 1887 at the age of 52 years. A loving husband and a Christian, helpful neighbor passed away and left me a widow with nine children, the youngest barely one year old. Still even through these, the darkest days of my life, the Lord was with us, and I have been able since then, to give all my children a good education and seen most of them start a home of their own and in good cir- cumstances.

Our eldest son, Ole O., who came with us From Norway, attended Willmar Seminary two winters, but was obliged to leave on account of his father's death. He managed later to take up a course at the Minnesota School of Agriculture, gradu- ating from this institution in March, 1894. He married Anna Johnson in 1895 and is a farmer in South Sacred Heart near the old homestead. His children are: Ole, Alfred, Richard, Carl, Agnes, Inga. Hle is at present secretary of the Numedalslag of Ameriea.

Jorgine Caroline, graduate of Willmar Seminary, taught common school for several years, was twelve years teacher at Martin Luther Orphans' Home, Stoughton, Wis. Then she followed the missionaries to Teller, Alaska, where she was em- ployed as a teacher at the Esquimaux Mission Station there for seven years. She is at present teaching in Santa Barbara, California.

Sophia Helene attended Willmar Seminary, taught common school and Norwegian school, worked at the Orphans' Home. Stoughton, Wis., attended Palmer School of Chiropraetice, Daven- port, lowa, from which institution she graduated in 1909, and on January 15, 1911, took the State Board examination and re- ceived license to practice in Chicago, Ill. She is at present prae- tieing physician at 2321 Milwaukee avenue, Chicago, Il.

Carl Christian attended Willmar Seminary, then located in Belleview, Minn., as grain buyer. afterwards going in company with Belleview Mercantile Company, and is at present eashier in

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the State Bank of Belleview. He is married and has three chil- dren : Myrtell, Norman, Harold.

Theodore attended Enther College two winters but had to discontinue his studies on account of poor health. He visited Norway in company with his sister Jorgine, where he stayed one year. On coming back he settled down as a farmer near the old homestead. The three brothers' land joins, amounting to 802 acres. He is married and his children are: Oliver, John, Louis, Marie, Janette, Anna, Valborg.

Anna Regine graduated from Willnar Seminary, taught com- mon school several years, married G. Il. Kravik, now of Everett, Washington. They have six children, Viola, Harold. Sylvia, Kunt, Mildred and Gerald.

Engebret German, a graduate from the Minnesota School of Agriculture, is operating the old home farm. Ile makes a special- ty in fullblooded Holsteins and seed corn. He is married and has three children : Odin, Alberta and Johannes.

Reier John studied chiropractice and is located at Chicago, Il.

Lonise Marie graduated in 1906 from the Lutheran Normal School, Sioux Falls, S. D., taught English and Norwegian school near home and died Sept. 13, 1908.

As for myself I visited Norway a few years ago and found my aged mother living (she is dead now), and renewed old acquaintances and saw the places where my happy childhood was spent. Later I visited my daughter, Mrs. G. Il. Kravik, on the coast and am at this writing staying with my daughter in Chicago. 1 am usually in good health, and have only this to say when I think of the past. "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant." Gen. 32: 10.

Further Remarks on the Enestvedt Family .- The immediate cause of Ole O. Enestvedt, Sr., leaving the old country was that in order to buy the old home farm he would have to go in debt for a large sum of money and the process of getting ahead in a ma- terial way was very slow in that country in those days. lle once thought of moving farther out of the valley, where the country was more adapted to agriculture, but then his father-in- law uttered these brave words: "If you have to move any way, go to a country where it seems to be decidedly easier to make your way in the work than here." Brave words, indeed, be- cause he knew what it meant to have his dear ones go away where he might never see them again in this work. Acting on his advice, they bid their friends good-bye and took leave of the dear old places where their "fathers had worked and their mothers had wept" and went to the unknown country with barely enough of worldly possessions to give them a start.

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Mr. Enestvedt was a devoutly religious man and therefore provided for spiritual as well as material needs by buying re- ligious books to the value of $150 to take with him and sell or give away to his countrymen in the distant land. His bosom friend, Lars Rudi, who emigrated the same spring was perhaps instrumental in his going to America. They both stayed for a while in Clayton county and in the spring of 1867 (although not in the same company) they came to Renville county and chose claims about a mile apart. Mr. Enestvedt accompanied by his brother Tollef made the journey afoot from Clayton county, Iowa, up here, some 300 odd miles in the spring about April 1, with only their coarse leather boots and their homemade clothes to protect them. Rubber clothes and boots were not dreamed of in those days and while journeying up they were compelled to go for days with wet feet and clothing. Luckily they came from a country where hardships were not unknown, and they never stopped until their purpose was accomplished. Mr. Enestvedt took a claim under the hill in the river bottom on section 15. township of Sacred Heart, and Tollef located on adjoining land on the hill. Lars Rudi, who came a little later located a mile farther down the bottom in seetion 22.

How these three neighbors kept together through good and bad. for their spiritual as well as material betterment is known to all here. Being of the same religions belief they were instru- mental in getting the neighbors together on Sundays for reading and singing their old church songs and later in getting missiona- ries out into the new country to preach the word of God. Mr. Enestvedt's log house was for a number of years used as a meet- ing house in winter, while in summer when the attendance was larger, the temple of nature was resorted to as a place of worship. On a level place in the grove below the house, under some mag- nificent basswood trees a space was raked off clean, and provided with boards to sit on, and a platform for the minister between four large trees, and here in communion with Nature and their Creator the settlers worshipped their God as devoutly as in the most magnificent cathedral.

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The history of Renville County, Minnesota, Volume II, Part 55

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn; Renville County Pioneer Association Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Chicago : H.C. Cooper, Jr. & Co. Number of Pages: 986

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn; Renville County Pioneer Association
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago : H.C. Cooper, Jr. & Co.
Number of Pages: 986