USA > South Dakota > Minnehaha County > History of Minnehaha county, South Dakota. Containing an account of its settlements, growth, development and resources Synopsis of public records, biographical sketches > Part 86
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GORDON, P. S., was born in Grafton, New Hampshire, March 22. 1852. He resided in Illinois, Wisconsin and Texas before coming to this county in December, 1885. He resides on section 19 in Logan, where he has a very neat farm with substantial, handsome buildings. He is largely interested in real estate and in sheep raising, and in 1894, in connection with L. W. Roberts, he rented a large ranch near Wessington Springs, and took a flock of sheep numbering 1,300 head to that place. He is an energetic, enterprising business man, and is a highly respected citizen.
GUILD, MYRON L., was born in Holden, Worcester county, Mass., May 25, 1848. When seven years of age he removed with his parents to the state of New York, and remained there until he was eighteen years old, when they removed to Wisconsin. In 1884, he came to Dakota, and has been a resident of this county ever since. He bought and still owns the southeast quarter and the east half of the southwest quarter of section 7, the southeast quarter of section 17, and the southwest quarter of section 8, where his residence is located surrounded by an extensive grove. He has been town treasurer and director of the school board several years, and is one of the promi- nent farmers of Logan township.
GUILD, W. G. A., was born in Attleborough, Mass., July 19, 1819. He resided for several years in Holden, Mass., where he was married to Emma E. Bolton, January 4, 1842. He moved to Fowler, St. Lawrence county, New York in 1855, and in 1861 he enlisted in
WALTER CRISP.
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
the 60th N. Y. Vol., Co. F., remaining in service until 1862, when he was honorably discharged on account of disability. In 1866, he removed to Lake Mills, Jefferson county, Wisconsin. In 1867 he joined the I. O. O. F., of which he was an active member, passing through the different chairs, and remaining up to the time of his death an honored member of the order. In 1884 he removed to Logan township, where he was one of its most prominent citizens, residing with his son, Myron L. Guild, up to the time of his decease, October 28, 1894.
HANSON, ADOLPH, was born in Norway, in October, 1857. He came to the United States in 1866, with his parents, who lived in Minnesota eight years, and in 1874 settled in this county, where the subject of this sketch has since resided. He secured a homestead on the northwest quarter of section 23, and a tree claim on the north- east quarter of section 22, in Logan, where he resides, and has a good farm. He is a respected citizen.
HART, JAMES, was born in Huntingtonshire, England, August 18, 1842. He emigrated to the United States and resided in New York, then in Wisconsin, and came from there to this county, June 1, 1873. He pre-empted the northwest quarter of section 8, in Logan, and in relating his experience on that place in the early days, he said: "Our house and stable were built of sod with a board lining. The first two winters I did not see a person, except those who came with me, with one exception. On one occasion three antelopes came and looked in at the window of our house. Notwithstanding the privations we had to suffer, in a great measure due to the ravages of the grasshoppers, we were happy and contented." Mr. Hart was chairman of the town board of supervisors in Logan for ten con- secutive years, and in the fall of 1892 was elected to the state senate, where he served his constituency with great fidelity during the ses- sion of the legislature in 1893. He is a successful, prosperous farmer, and a thoroughly upright citizen.
HENJUM, NELS, came to the United States on his 24th birthday, having emigrated from Norway, where he was born March 1, 1850. He went to Fillmore county, Minnesota, remained there a few months, and in the fall of 1874, located in this county. He took up as a homestead the northwest quarter of section 33, in Logan. He also secured a tree claim, but sold it and bought eighty acres in sec- tion 29, in the same town. He resided on his homestead until re- cently, when he removed to Blue Earth City, Minn. He was one of the first supervisors of the town board of Logan, and has been a member of the school board in district No. 36.
JOHNSON, FRED N., emigrated to the United States from Nor- way, where he was born September 5, 1851. After having lived in Iowa for one year he came to Dakota and located in this county in July, 1873, filing a homestead upon the southeast quarter of section 27, and a tree claim upon the southwest quarter of section 26, and bought the southwest quarter of section 10, in Logan. He resides on the tree claim, is a successful farmer and a good citizen, and has held the office of school director.
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
JOHNSON, JOHN E., was born in Norway, December 22, 1847. He emigrated to the United States in 1858, and lived in Iowa and Min- nesota until he settled in this county in June, 1873. He took up as a homestead the southeast quarter of section 28, in Logan, where he resided until his death, which occurred while on the way from his home to Dell Rapids, October 2, 1894. His wife died three years be- fore, but a family of seven children survive them. He was a thrifty, well-to-do farmer, and engaged largely in sheep raising. He had been assessor for thirteen years and school district clerk for twelve vears, and was a highly respected citizen.
KILNESS, JOHN A., is a native of Norway, and was born Sep- tember 22, 1846. He emigrated to the United States and lived in Wisconsin and Minnesota until 1873, when he removed to this county and located on his present farm, which comprises between four and five hundred acres of land in sections 30 and 31 in Logan, and is a fine farm with good buildings and improvements. He has been supervisor of the town board two years, is an industrious, enter- prising farmer, and a good citizen.
KRINGEN, SEVERT P., was born in Norway, January 13, 1851. In 1872 he emigrated to the United States, and located in this county, where he the following vear took up as a homestead the northeast quarter of section 3 in Logan, where he still resides and has a good farm. He has been director of the school board for several years.
MERMAN, HENRY, was born in Germany, in 1831. He emigrated to this country; lived in Kansas and Wisconsin for some time and settled in Dakota in 1882. He then bought the southwest quarter of section 4, and the northwest quarter of section 9 in Logan, and lived there, an industrious farmer and respected citizen, until his death, which occurred in 1886. His son, Henry Merman, now assists his mother in taking care of the farm, and at the same time attends to his own farm in Miner county. Mrs. Merman resides on the north- west quarter of section 9.
MERRY, WILLIAM E., was born in Waupacca county, Wisconsin, March 6, 1861. He came to Dakota October 15, 1873, and entered a homestead in Miner county, and a tree claim in Moody county. He afterwards bought the northwest quarter of section 28 in Logan, where he now resides, and has a good farm. He has been justice of the peace, and chairman and supervisor of the town board, is an enterprising farmer, and a highly esteemed citizen.
STROMME, JOHN J., has been a resident of the United States since 1850. He was born in Norway December 16, 1826. After his coming to this country he resided in Wisconsin four years, and then in Minnesota until his coming to Dakota in 1872, when he located on his present farm the southeast quarter of section 11. He also owned a timber claim comprising the northwest quarter of section 13, which he disposed of to his son Carl J. Stromme. He is a good citizen.
STROMME, CARL J., was born in Goodhue county, Minnesota, September 19, 1856; was reared on a farm and educated in the com- mon schools. On the 28th day of March, 1887, he arrived in Logan, where he pre-empted the northeast quarter of section 1, and bought
JAMES HART.
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GEORGE L. WOOD.
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
the northwest quarter of section 13, and resides there. He has held the office of assessor of the township, is a good neighbor and a re- spected citizen.
THORESON, LORENTZ, is a native of Norway, and was born July 1, 1839. He came to the United States August 1, 1858, and lived in Minnesota twenty-eight years. In April, 1886, he located in this county, and bought land in the southeast quarter of section 32 in Logan, and the northwest quarter of section 5 in Edison, and is en- gaged in farming. November 4, 1861, he enlisted in Co. D, 3d Minnesota Infantry, and served until September 22, 1865, when he was discharged. He is a good farmer and a highly respected citizen.
WOOD, GEORGE LESTER, of Logan, was born in Jefferson county, Wisconsin, October 21, 1845. He attended school and worked on a farm until he was twenty-one years of age. For the next seven years he taught village and county schools. He was mar- ried to Mary E. Hart in 1868. In 1873 he came to Dell Rapids, and very soon took up a quarter section of land in Logan by pre-emption, and afterwards a tree claim and homestead adjoining, and has since then purchased 80 acres. He now owns the south half of section 5, the east half of the southeast quarter of section 6, and the northeast quarter of section 8, making in all 560 acres of land. It is a good farm and he knows how to manage it. In the summer of 1874; he and his wife went down to where the village of Baltic is now located, and upon returning home the same day, found the grasshoppers had taken possession of his premises and appropriated all he had grow- ing. He then moved to Dell Rapids and commenced keeping the Alexander House, in which he remained one year and a half, then took possession of the Dells House and remained the same length of time. During the fall of 1874, he contracted to teach school in Dell Rapids for $20 a month, and taught five months during that fall and winter. He commenced school in Albion Thorne's dugout, nearly a mile from the village, but afterwards moved into what was called the "Joe Irving place" a combination printing office and dwelling house. This place, however, became too cold in the winter, and the school was moved into a vacant dwelling house belonging to Mr. Mann. During the winter Mr. Wood and his scholars would go out and pick up driftwood and anything they could find to keep the school fires going. There were twenty-eight to thirty scholars in attendance, and Mr. Wood says, "the school was made up of the brightest scholars I ever taught." The grasshoppers attended to his farming while he was teaching school and keeping hotel, but when, at the ex- piration of three years, they abandoned the country, he moved back to his farm, which he has since occupied. When constables were elected by the county, before the organization of townships, Mr. Wood was elected constable for four years. In the fall of 1889 he was elected county commissioner from the second districtand served the full term of three years. He was a faithful servant upon the county board, and brought to its deliberations good sound judgment and good business ability. He looks as though he was grown among the tall pines of Maine, instead of having been reared on the prairie. He is always good-natured, a good neighbor and a good citizen, and has a host of friends.
DELL RAPIDS TOWNSHIP.
(104-49)
Dell Rapids township is bounded on the north by Moody county, on the east, south, and west, by Logan, Sverdrup and Burk town- ships. The township lines were surveyed by W. J. Neeley in July, 1859, and the subdivision was made in October, 1864, by Carl C. P. Meyer. According to the government survey, the township con- tains 23,007.85 acres of land. The Big Sioux river enters the town- ship on the north, about eighty rods west of the northeast corner of the township, then flows in a southwesterly course to the southwest corner of section 11, where it turns abruptly and flows for a distance of two miles in a course nearly due west, thence in a southwesterly direction, and leaves the township on the southwest quarter of sec- tion 32. According to the original survey there were a few small streams tributary to the Sioux river having their source in the town- ship.
The first settlement was made in 1868 by Ole O. Langness, Gun- erius Thompson, and Ole Thompson, all of whom are still residents of the township. Rolluf Anderson settled there in 1869. The land. especially along the banks of the river, was soon taken up by actual settlers, and some of the finest improvements in the county can now be found upon the farms in this township.
STORDAL EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH .- This church was organized in 1872, and belongs to the branch known as Hauge's Evan- gelical Lutheran Church of America. In 1882, a church building was erected about two and a half miles south of the city of Dell Rapids, at a cost of about $1,500. The following ministers have been in charge: Reverends, G. L. Graven, C. C. Holter, Chr. C. Moe, and A. O. Mortvedt, who is the present pastor. Services are held every other Sunday. There is a Sunday school and a Ladies' Aid and Mis- sion Society, also a Young Ladies' Mission Society connected with the church.
DELL RAPIDS TOWNSHIP BOARD.
The records of this township for the first few years are so in- complete that it is impossible to obtain a full list of the township officials. The supervisors in 1881, were Peter Morse chairman, O. H. Smith and Rolluf Anderson; clerk, M. R. Kenefick; assessor, L. D. Moran. The first warrant was drawn in favor L. D. Moran in the sum of $50 for services as assessor.
1882. The township was divided into four road districts.
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
April 17, Albion Thorne resigned as assessor and Wm. M. Carr was appointed. It appears from the records that on January 12, 1883, Rolluf Anderson was chairman of the board.
1883. On the 24th day of February there was a meeting of the board and R. S. Alexander was chairman. March 10, E. F. Harring- ton was appointed constable. The clerk was instructed to procure a certified copy from the secretary of state of an act passed by the leg- islature amending the charter of the village. April 21, E. T. Sawyer was appointed supervisor, E. F. Pierce clerk and Rolluf Anderson assessor.
1884. Supervisors, R. S. Alexander chairman, Ole Thompson, O. F. Bowles; clerk, E. F. Pierce; assessor, Rolluf Anderson; justice, John W. Walters; constable, P. M. Thompson.
1885. Supervisors, Rolluf Anderson chairman, O. F. Bowles, Ole Thompson; clerk, E. F. Pierce; treasurer, Eistin Eistinson; as- sessor, R. S. Alexander.
1886. Supervisors, O. F. Bowles chairman, Ole Thompson, Ole Langness; clerk, R. S. Alexander; justices, George T. Fargo, Rol- luf Anderson; assessor, Tollef Anundson. March 17, George T. Fargo was appointed supervisor in place of Ole Langness who failed to qualify.
1887. Supervisors, O. F. Bowles chairman, Ole Thompson, George T. Fargo; clerk, Rolluf Anderson; treasurer, Eistin Eistin- son; assessor, R. S. Alexander; constable, W. D. Richardson.
1888. Supervisors, O. F. Bowles chairman, Ole Thompson, E. T. Sawyer; clerk, Rolluf Anderson; treasurer, Eistin Eistinson; assessor, R. S. Alexander; justices, J. W. Walters, P. M. Thomp- son: constable. George T. Fargo. March 27, board met and ap- pointed Rolluf Anderson justice in the place of P. M. Thompson who did not qualify. June 18, a special meeting was held to determine whether or not there should be a resurvey of the township, and to raise a tax of two mills to meet the expenses of the same. The vote was 30 for resurvey and 17 against. August 18, the board author- ized O. F. Bowles to employ the county surveyor to make the new survey.
1889. Supervisors, C. L. Thompson chairman, E. T. Sawyer, Ole Thompson; clerk and justice, Rolluf Anderson; treasurer, Eistin Eistinson; constables, John W. Walters, W. D. Richardson. The bill of Surveyor Van Antwerp for $350.85 was presented to the meet- ing and a vote taken upon its being allowed, which resulted in 30 votes for and 32 against.
1890. Supervisors, C. L. Thompson chairman, Ole Thompson, E. T. Sawyer; clerk, Rolluf Anderson; treasurer, Eistin Eistinson; assessor, Tollef Anundson; justice, J. W. Walters; constable, D. W. Richardson. The board was directed to employ H. J. Austin of Vermillion, South Dakota, to make a legal resurvey of the township. March 25, the board, having been informed by Mr. Austin that he was unable to survey the township for some months, voted to post- pone the survey until he could do it. June 24, E. T. Sawyer having resigned as supervisor, Lorentz Thoreson was appointed. October 28, Surveyor Austin commenced the resurvey of the township. No-
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
vember 8, the board settled all the bills arising from the resurvey, amounting to $191.10.
1891. Supervisors, R. S. Alexander chairman, Lorentz Thore- son, Ole Thompson; clerk, Rolluf Anderson; treasurer, Eistin Eistin- son; assessor, Tollef Anundson; constables, W. D. Richardson, George T. Fargo. May 16, the board amended by resolution the record of the proceedings of October 28, 1890, in reference to the re- survey so that it should be complete. October 27, the board ap- pointed J. W. Walters chairman of the town board in the place of R. S. Alexander who had removed from the township, and E. F. Pierce was appointed constable in the place of W. D. Richardson for the same reason. At the end of the year there was $735.30 in the treasury.
1892. Supervisors, D. J. Kennedy chairman, Ole Thompson, Gunerius Thompson; clerk, J. W. Walters; treasurer, P. G. Thomp- son; assessor, Lorentz Thoreson; justices, Rolluf Anderson, Tollef Anundson; constable, O. M. Landstad. March 29, the board ap- pointed C. L. Thompson and E. E. Eaton justices, and E. F. Pierce constable, those elected having failed to qualify. October 1, J. W. Walters tendered his resignation as clerk, and Rolluf Anderson was appointed clerk, and W. T. Hill justice.
1893. Supervisors, D. J. Kennedy chairman, E. E. Eaton, Gunerius Thompson; clerk, Rolluf Anderson; treasurer, P. G. Thompson; assessor, George T. Fargo.
1894. Supervisors, D. J. Kennedy chairman, P. D. Neister, Gunerius Thompson; clerk, Rolluf Anderson; treasurer, P. G. Thompson; assessor, Elden E. Eaton.
1895. Supervisors, D. J. Kennedy chairman, Gunerius Thomp- son, O. O. Lyng; clerk, W. S. McGill; treasurer, P. G. Thompson; assessor, Geo. T. Fargo.
1896. Supervisors, D. J. Kennedy chairman, George Merry, O. O. Lyng; clerk, R. E. Muckler; treasurer, E. Eistinson; assessor, Tollef Anundson.
1897. Supervisors, D. J. Kennedy chairman, O. O. Lyng, Geo. S. Merry; clerk, E. E. Eaton; treasurer, E. Eistinson; assessor, N. A. Esteinsen.
1898. Supervisors, Tollef Anundson chairman, George Merry, (). O. Lyng; clerk, W. S. McGill, resigned September 28, 1898, and J. J. Mortvedt was appointed to fill vacancy; treasurer, E. Eistinson; assessor, A. P. Bakken.
1899. Supervisors, Ole Thompson chairman, George Merry, Tollef Anundson; clerk, J. J. Mortvedt; treasurer, P. G. Thompson; assessor, Jas. Irving; justice, O. O. Langness; constables, D. H. Richardson, M. J. Vingness; poundmaster, M. O. Floren.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
ANDERSON, ROLLUF, a native of Norway, was born May 20, 1842. He emigrated and located in Wisconsin, but removed from there to Dakota and located in this county, September 27, 1869. He took up as a homestead the southeast quarter of section 28, and as a tree claim the south half of the southeast quarter of section 17, to which
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
he added by purchase, and at the time of his decease was the owner of over 500 acres of land in Dell Rapids township. He was clerk of the town board for several years, was an enterprising, industrioas farmer, and a highly respected citizen. He died suddenly on his farm, the 6th day of October, 1898.
BAKKEN, A. P., was born at Roros, Norway, November 19, 1860. He emigrated with his parents to the United States in the spring of 1869, and lived in Goodhue county, Minn., four years. On the 2d day of June, 1873, they arrived in this county, and his father, P. J. Bak- ken, secured a homestead on the southeast quarter of section 3, in Sverdrup township, where he still resides. The subject of this sketch now owns the east half of the southwest quarter of section 33, in Dell Rapids township, where he resides engaged in farming. He was assessor of Dell Rapids township in 1898, is a good farmer and a good citizen.
EATON, E. E., was born in Illinois, March 4, 1858. He resided in Iowa a few years and came from there to this county in 1886, and settled on the northeast quarter of section 7, in Dell Rapids, where he has since resided. He has held the office of town supervisor an.i justice of the peace, and is a good citizen.
EISTINSON, EISTIN, was born in Trondhjem, Norway, in 1838, and emigrated to the United States and settled in Calumet, Michi- gan, in 1866. In 1871, he removed to this county, and settled in Dell Rapids township. He took up a homestead in section 28, and has now a fine farm of 440 acres with substantial buildings and improve- ments. He has been town treasurer several years, is a thrifty, well- to-do farmer, and a respected citizen.
ESTEINSEN, N. A., was born near the city of Hammerfest, Nor- way, the most northerly city on the globe, on the 6th day of Decem- ber, 1865. He emigrated to the United States in 1880, and settled in this county, where he has since resided. When he attained his majority he took up a homestead comprising the south half of the southeast quarter of section 27, in Dell Rapids, where he now re- sides. He held the office of assessor in Dell Rapids township in 1897, and is an enterprising, good citizen.
HILL, REV. WILLIAM T., was born in Illinois, July 23, 1832. He enlisted in Co. C, 69th Illinois Volunteers, in 1862, and was ap- pointed postmaster for the Confederate prisoners at Camp Douglas, Chicago, his duty being to examine and read all letters received or sent by them. After the war he resided in Wisconsin a few years, and removed from there to this county and settled at Dell Rapids June 1, 1873. He took up the northwest quarter of section 13, as a homestead and secured a tree claim in section 14. He was the first settler in the eastern portion of Dell Rapids township and in order to build a house he had to haul the lumber from Worthington, Min- nesota, and he says: "It was a four days' trip, and the mosquitos were perfectly awful." He was the first pastor of the First Baptist church at Dell Rapids, and was the first resident minister in that place. During those early days he frequently drove twenty miles in
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
a lumber wagon to fill his appointments on the Sabbath. Mr. Hill was an earnest pioneer worker, and is greatly respected as a citizen and minister.
KENNEDY, DAVID J., was born in Canada December 28, 1853. After coming to the United States he resided in Kansas and Minne- sota, and in 1890 settled in Dell Rapids, purchasing the southwest quarter of section 13, where he resides. During his short residence in Dell Rapids he has established a good reputation as a citizen, and was chairman of the town board of supervisors from 1892 to 1898.
LANDSTAD, OLE M., was born in Norway in 1851. He emigrated to Dakota in 1882, and has been a resident of this county ever since. He bought and still owns 240 acres of land in section 21, in Dell Rap- ids, where he resides and has a good farm. He has been treasurer of school district No. 8 several years, and is a good citizen. Before coming to this country he was eight years in the Norwegian cavalry.
LANGNESS, OLE O., is a native of Norway, and was born in 1847. He emigrated to the United States in 1867, and lived in Minnesota until the year following, when he removed to Dakota, and located in this county, where he has since remained. He took up a homestead in section 32, in Dell Rapids township, and a tree claim and pre- emption in sections 10 and 15 in Logan township. Afterwards he sold the tree-claim, and bought 80 acres in section 5 in Sverdrup township, and owns at the present time several hundred acres of land in this county. He resides on his homestead, which is very prettily located on the Big Sioux river, and is a fine farm, with fine buildings. Unlike his brother, John O. Langness, he takes very little interest in political affairs, but attends strictly to farming, and is highly esteemed as a neighbor and citizen.
MERRY, MRS. MARGARET, was born in New York in 1824. She married Lyman Merry and they came to Dell Rapids in 1873, and took up as a homestead the southeast quarter of section 13 in Dell Rapids. Mr. Merry died in 1878, and Mrs. Merry continued to live on the farm until 1898, when she also died, survived by two daughters and a son, who reside in this county, and one son who re- sides in Wisconsin. She was a good Christian woman, and greatly beloved and esteemed by all who knew her.
OIEN, HALVOR H., a son of Heinming H. Oien, was born in Nor- way in 1870. He came to the United States with his parents in 1872, and to this county in 1874. He has inherited his father's industry, is well educated, and is one of the highly respected young farmers of Dell Rapids.
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