An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 106

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1172

USA > Washington > Skagit County > An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 106
USA > Washington > Snohomish County > An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington > Part 106

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On Christmas eve, 1896, Mr. Johnson married Miss Ida Johnson, daughter of John and Mary (Gustafson) Swanson. Mr. and Mrs. Swanson have passed their entire lives in Sweden, the former dy- ing there in 1905 and the latter still living with a daughter there. Mrs. Johnson is one of seven chil- dren, the other six being Swan, Gust, Peter, Otto, Mrs. Tilla Carlson and Selma. After attending school until fifteen years of age, Mrs. Johnson came to the United States, accompanying her brother,

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Gust, to Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and later to Far- go, North Dakota, making a livelihood at house- work. She came to Tacoma in 1891, supporting herself until marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have three children: Abel, born in January, 1898; Hat- tie, born in June, 1899, and Harry, born in April, 1901. The Johnsons are Swedish Baptists. Mr. Johnson in political affiliation is a Republican. He is essentially a dairy farmer, though his place is well stocked with horses and hogs, as well as cows and other stock. The home farm is a matter of pride to Mr. Johnson, for he alone understands the labor ex- pended in clearing trees, underbrush and roots, all of which he has removed from so much of the land as is cleared with his own hands. Part of the land has at times been overflowed, and much damage followed in the wake of the waters ; but persever- ance has conquered nature and the Johnsons are on the high road to that prosperity which comes in- variably to those who labor and wait.

ANDREW ANDERSON, a prosperous dairy farmer four miles south of Mount Vernon, was born in Sweden in the year 1862. His father was Andrew Anderson, a native of Sweden, who dur- ing his life worked at farming and as a druggist. He died in 1865, when but twenty-eight years of age, leaving a widow and three children. The moth- er. MIrs. Johanna (Yanerson) Anderson, has mar- ried again and still lives in the old country. The Anderson children are Carl, Lena and Andrew. The subject of this sketch remained in Sweden until twenty-one years of age, going to school, working in a mill and acting as stable boss for a number of years. On attaining his majority he immigrated to the United States, going to Michigan, where he drove team for four years, a part of which time he was also inside man in a mill. He arrived in Seat- tle in 1889, just after the big fire, and was employed as teamster for two years, going thence to Ballard, Washington, where for seven years he followed the life of a bolter in a single mill. On leaving Ballard in 1898, Mr. Anderson decided to locate in Skagit county. He bought his present place of forty acres, seven acres being then cleared. In the interim he has cleared the remainder and added ten acres more to his holdings.

While living in Seattle in 1890 Mr. Anderson married Miss Lena Olson, daughter of Peter Olson, a saw filer, who has passed his entire life in Nor- way. Mrs. Anderson has two brothers, August and Victor. She was born in 1872 and lived at home until eighteen years old, when she came to the United States and remained in Michigan for a cou- ple of years. She then came to Seattle where she was united in marriage to Mr. Anderson. The An- dersons have fiye children : Charles, Ellen, Wal- lace. Teddy and Howard. Mr. Anderson and his family attend the Swedish Baptist church. Ile is a Republican in politics. His forty acres of land is

all cleared and under cultivation. He milks nine cows and has several head of young stock, as well as horses. By perseverance, energy and economy he has built for himself and family a pleasant home, establishing himself well financially, and he enjoys the respect and confidence of all his acquaintances.

GUSTAVE C. HOFF, thoughi a man but little over thirty years of age, has already made his mark in Skagit county as one of shrewdness and acumen in private matters and also as one who has devoted time and spirit to the public weal. Mr. Hoff was born in Dane County, Wisconsin, in the summer of 1874, the son of Christian Hoff, native of Norway, born June 16, 1846, who came to this country in infancy. It was an easy matter for Gustave Hoff to develop into an active American citizen, having the example of his father before him as a guide to the best citizenship. Christopher Hoff, his grandfather, laid the foundation of his American patriotismn in the shock of battles of the Civil War. IIe enlisted in the Fifteenth Wisconsin, a command which saw the severest fighting of any of the subordinate commands in the Army of the Cum- berland in the Civil War. Whenever Rosecranz, Hood, Grant or Sherman hammered at the Confed- erate lines in Tennessee, the Fifteenth Wisconsin and Christopher Hoff were there. The private sol- dier and his regiment wrote their names in history at Stone River, Chickamauga, Chattanooga and Murfreesboro and went up Lookout Mountain with General Joe Hooker. Returning from the war, Christopher Hoff became a farmer in Wisconsin and was successful in his management of his re- sources. In 1891 Christian Hoff decided to come to the Pacific Northwest, locating at Lawrence, in Whatcom county. He continued at farming for six years and then entered mercantile life, making a success in that line. Christian Hoff's wife, Caro- line Lunde, was born in Norway, in 1836, and came to the United States in 1851. She became the inothier of three children: Herman C. Hoff and Mrs. Maggie Sorenson, besides the subject of this sketch. Gustave received his education in the pub- lic schools at Lawrence and Tacoma, with a business course in the Pacific Lutheran Academy. At the age of twenty-one years, he went to work in shingle mills of Whatcom county for three years. Two years at farming followed, when he came to Skagit county and bought his present place of eighty acres five miles south of Mount Vernon.

In June, 1894, at Lawrence, Mr. Hoff married Miss Emma Tollum, daughter of Christian Tollum, a native of Norway, who came to the United States in 1871, and was farmer and carpenter in Minne- sota and Dakota for twelve years. Later coming to Whatcom county he now operates a farm of two hundred and forty acres of bottom land near Law- rence. Mrs. Hoff's mother was born in Norway, coming to this country at eleven years of age. She

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is the mother of Mrs. Josephine Iloff, Anton, Clara, Nelse, Christian, Annie and Mary Tollum. Mrs. Hoff was born in November, 1813, lived at home and received her education until she was twenty- one years of age, when she married. Three of her children are living: Cora, born in April, 1895; Chester, born in November, 1892, and Christian, born in September, 1904. Another child, Alice, died in infancy. Mr. Hoff is one of the most successful dairy, poultry and grain raisers on the sound. On his eighty acres of rich bottom land he has twenty- six milch cows, fourteen head of stock cattle, sixty head of hogs and five hundred White Leghorn chickens raised from imported fowl. Mr. Hoff is thoroughly modern and up to date in his methods, using incubators in his poultry department and per- mitting nothing on his place except pedigreed stock, of finest selection, for which he is becoming noted. He fancies Jersey cattle. In politics Mr. Hoff is a Republican. He was a member of the dike commis- sion which expended $3,100 in building the concrete flumes which drain land near Conway, the subject of much opposition during the period of construc- tion, but now pronounced the best possible solution of a much vexed question. In church alliance. Mr. and Mrs. Hoff attend the Lutheran church. Energetic, aggressive, and possessed of the right ideas of progress, both in private and public mat- ters, Mr. Hoff's business judgment and public spir- itedness are recognized and his worth appreciated in the community which claims him as a citizen.

EMERY SPAHR is one of the extensive oat producers of Skagit county. He was born near York, Pennsylvania, in March, 1868, but has been a resident of Skagit county since 1892. He is the senior member of the firm of Spahr Brothers, which in the space of five years has developed a large and successful business in the vicinity of Mount Vernon. The father, Emmanuel Spahr, was born in Pennsylvania and has lived in York County, l'ennsylvania, all his life, still working at his trade of carpenter. The mother is Amanda (Beck) Spahr, also a native of York county, and still a resident there. She is the mother of eleven children, three of whom are deceased. The living are: Mrs. Amanda Nieman, Mrs. Mamie Stremmel, Jesse. Emery, David, George, Noah and Reuben. Emery Spahr attended the schools of his native place and lived at home until twenty-two years of age, at which time he went to Hazleton, Pennsylvania, and worked in the coal mines for two and a half years. For a time after reaching Skagit county he worked in various places and at various things, and then in. company with his brothers, Noah. David and George, purchased the present place of one hundred and fifty-three acres, six miles south of Mount Ver- non, and commenced farming. Starting in this ven- ture, with Emery as the senior partner, the assets of the entire partnership five years ago were $25

in cash and lots of hustle. They bought a second hand threshing outfit and made money enough to secure the purchase of the farm. They added a hay baler to their belongings and success- fully operated that. The old machines have been replaced with new, and the brothers are doing a good business with their machinery. In addition to operating the original land purchase, one hundred and twenty acres of leased oat land is farmed by the partners. A few sheep have been secured as a nucleus of an extensive venture in sheep raising. Mr. Spahr in politics is an independent. Ile has no lodge connections and is not a member of any denominational church. As the head of the firm of Spahr Brothers, Emery has made an enviable suc- cess out of what was a very small beginning.

ANDREW ANDERSON, whose dairy farm is about four miles northwest of Mount Vernon, is not one of the early pioneers of Skagit county, but he is a man who in a little more than a decade of resi- dence here has established himself firmly in the business circles of the community and has earned for himself the best regards of all who come in con- tact with him. Mr. Anderson was born at Broden in Sweden in 1852, the son of Bent Anderson, who: came to the United States in middle life and settled in Minnesota, where during twenty years of farm- ing, he accumulated a competency and is now re- tired from active pursuits. The elder Anderson was married twice, the first wife being Hannah ( Ben- son ) Anderson, who died in the old country in 1864, leaving two children, Bina and Andrew. The sec- oud wife, Mrs. Nellie ( Peterson) Anderson, a native of Sweden, is still living in Minnesota, the mother of seven children: Christina, John, Nels. August, Joseph, Otto and Peter. Andrew Ander- son lived at home until he was twenty-one years of age, but left school six years earlier to learn the trade of blacksmith, which he followed until he came to this country and commenced farm life in Illinois in 1828. Eleven years were then passed at farming near Litchfield, Minnesota, Mr. Anderson coming to Tacoma in 1889 and working in a groc- ery. Three years later, in 1892, he came to Skagit county and bought a place of ten acres, to which have been added twenty-three more, constituting his present farm holdings.

In 1884 while residing in Minnesota Mr. Ander- son married Miss Agnes Hanson, daughter of Alex- ander Hanson, a Swedish carpenter who came to the United States many years ago and died in Idaho in 1901. Mrs. Hanson is still living near Moscow, Idaho. Mrs. Anderson was born in 1851 and died in 1899, leaving two children, George and Oscar. In 1890 at Tacoma, Mr. Anderson married again. the second wife being Miss Olea Tofte, daughter of Hanse Tofte, a Norwegian farmer who died in 1880. Mrs. Mary ( Hanson) Tofte is still living, at the age of seventy-eight years with Mr. and Mrs.

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Anderson. Mrs. Anderson was born in 1857 and lived with her mother until her marriage. One child, Albert, has been the issue of this union, but he died in infancy. In politics Mr. Anderson is a Democrat and is active in the councils of his party. In lodge circles he is a Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica. The Andersons attend the Methodist church. The thirty-three acres of the Anderson farm are all cleared and under cultivation, and a fine eight-room house has been erected. Mr. Anderson's dairy herd numbers twenty head of selected stock. His horses are draft animals and sufficient in number for the work about the farm. Mr. Anderson is one of the successful business men of the community and in character stands very high in the esteem of his fel- low-citizens.

PETER PETERSON, engaged in farming in the Skagit valley four miles southwest of Mount Vernon, is of Swedish birth and descent, born May 1, 1846. Ilis father, Peter Engmunson, also follow- ed agriculture in the old country. Carrie Engmun- son, the mother, died in Sweden some years ago, leaving five children of whom the subject of this sketch is third in age. Peter attended school until he was fifteen years old, then struck out for himself. He obtained employment on neighboring farms and for three years was thus engaged, then took up the life of a sailor. Seven years he followed the sea or until he had attained the age of twenty-five, relin- quishing that occupation in 1871 to return to the farm. During the next nine years he resided in Sweden, but in 1880, came to the United States, settling first in Saline County, Kansas, where he farmed seven years. From there he went to Min- nesota, and he spent two years in that state, then came to Washington. Skagit county attracted him, so lie rented a place on the north fork of the river, but two years later he removed to Skagit City, where he purchased sixty-six acres of school land and commenced improving it with all the energy and skill at his command. Desiring to engage in intensive farming, he did not wish so large a farm, so he sold all but sixteen acres. This tract he has improved to an unusual degree, setting ont 300 fruit trees, erecting a small, comfortable dwelling and other buildings, etc. To this he has since added an adjoining ten-acre tract, secured by pur- chase.

While a resident of Sweden, in 1821, Mr. Peter- son married Miss Hanna Peterson, who is also a native of Sweden. Carl, the older of their children, born in 1872, is now living at Skagit City, but Pearl, born in 1875, died in the land of her nativity. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson are members of the Luther- an church, and politically, he is a Republican. A successful farmer, a public spirited citizen and pro- gressive man, Mr. Peterson may justly be classed as one of the builders of Skagit county.

NELSE H. LEE is one of the enterprising citi- zens of the section a few miles southwest of Mount Vernon, where he operates a dairy farm and in the course of a very few years has established himself firmly as one of the leading business spirits of the neighborhood. Mr. Lee was born in Norway, July 19, 1862, the son of llans N. and Bertha ( Nelsen) Lee, born respectively in 1837 and 1810, and who are still living on the farm across the sea. He is one of nine children, the others being Corina, Andrew, Nellie, Jacob, Alete, Mary, Inga and Oli. Until he was fourteen years of age young Lee attended the schools of Norway and passed the four subsequent years at the carpenter's bench. He came to this country and settled on a farm in Kansas in 1885 for a short time, later coming to Seattle and ultimately to Snohomish county. For six years he worked in the woods. subsequently embarking in the hotel and restaurant business in Everett. This venture was fairly successful, but after two years Mr. Lec de- cided to become a farmer. He then came to Skagit county and after locating on twenty acres, bought the land and has lived there ever since.

In the same year Mr. Lec married Miss Mary Hanson, daughter of llans Helda, a farmer and school teacher of Norway who died in that country in 1885. Mrs. Olga Helda is still living in the old country. Mrs. Lee was born in Norway, in April, 1864, one of seven children, the others being Bert, Hans, Ole, Mary, Segrid and Rande. She came to the United States in 1888, and was working in a hotel when married. Seven children have been born to this union, of whom Olga, Hattie, Ilarold, Beatrice and Noble are living. In politics Mr. Lee is a staunch Democrat, while religiously the family attend the Swedish Methodist church. The Lee home consists of a fine nine-room house, well locat- ed on their forty-acre tract, fifteen acres of which are cleared, supporting twenty-one head of milch cows, and young cattle and horses for carrying on the farm work. Mr. Lee has been successful in all his undertakings and is rated as one of the solid and energetic men of his neighborhood.

ANDREW A. BERGSETH GELD was born in Norway June 11, 1857, the son of Aslak A. Berg- seth Geld, a man who passed all his life as a farmer of Norway, where he was born in 1824. The mother. Gura Bergseth Geld, still lives in the old country. She is the mother of two children. Andrew passed his life in Norway, going to school and working on the farm, until twenty-nine years of age. In 1888 he came to the United States, stopping at Fir, Skagit County, Washington, first, where he remain- ed for one year at farm work. In 1890 he bought fifteen acres of land which constitutes a part of his holdings at present, four miles southwest of Mount Vernon. It was then covered with stumps, but Mr. Bergseth Geld has completely removed them, estab- fishing in their place a dairy farm. Recently he has

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added by purchase twenty acres and is enlarging his dairy operations. The land is very fertile, and what is not necessary to the maintenance of the thirteen cows Mr. Bergseth Geld is now milking, is well adapted for general purposes, and is being utilized in the raising of hogs and the establishment of an ex- tensive poultry ranch.

In 1886, while yet in Norway, Mr. Bergsethì Geld married Miss Gura Bergseth, daughter of Ole and Ingabor (Udagar) Bergseth, both of whom died in their native land in 1888 and 1855, at the age of eighty-two, and forty-nine, respectively. Mrs. Bergseth was born in Norway and lived at home until her marriage. Mr. Bergseth Geld is a Republican and a member of the Swedish Meth- odist Episcopal church. He has erected on his home place a fine house and takes much pride in keeping his buildings in fine repair. His place shows thrift as well as energy and his farm is well cared for in every particular.

HIRAM E. WELLS is one of the numerous settlers of the Puget sound country who came from New Brunswick and brought with them the ideas of thrift and application to work which is a domi- nating trait of the people of their native province. Mr. Wells was born June 21, 1854, the son of Judas Wells. The latter's father was originally one of the American colonists, but during the Revolutionary War cast in his lot with the royalists and moved to New Brunswick. Judah Wells returned to the States in 1883, and coming to Washington he took up as a homestead the land which is now occupied by Samuel Dunlap. He died at La Conner in 1899. Mrs. Hannah (Starratt) Wells was also born in Nova Scotia. She is still living, making her home at La Conner, the subject of this sketch being the eldest of her five children. Hiram E. Wells was educated in the schools of New Brunswick and con- tinued on the old home farm until eighteen years of age, at which time he apprenticed himself to the blacksmith's trade for a term of three years. Mas- tering the knowledge of the industry, he continued at the anvil and forge for two years, migrating to Washington in 1872. Mr. Wells located in what is now Skagit county, being the first settler in the Ridgeway section of that county. His first place was acquired by squatter's rights on railroad grant- ed land, where, as soon as it was opened for settle- ment, he filed his homestead. Mr. Wells built the first road to the old Isaac Jennings place, and it was he who opened the first trail from Ridgeway to the Skagit river country, four and a half miles in length. During this period Mrs. Wells was the only white woman in the Ridgeway country. In 1893 Mr. Wells sold off 100 acres of his homestead, all of which he had cleared, and moved to British Co- lumbia, locating at Mission City. He remained there for seven years, directing his attention to various enterprises and in 1900 returned to his old

place in Skagit county. He has now sixty acres of cleared land and is building up a dairy ranch.

Mr. Wells married in New Brunswick in 1877, Alfreda L. Marsters, the daughter of Thomas Marsters. a scafaring man who was lost at sea about the time his daughter was born. Mrs. Wells' moth- er was Martha (Canning) Marsters, who is buried in New Brunswick. Mrs. Wells was born in Sum- merville, Nova Scotia, and received her education in the schools of that province and of New Bruns- wick. At the close of her high school course she received a first grade certificate and taught school for four years, leaving the teacher's desk to become a bride and at once start on a honeymoon trip across the continent to La Conner and Ridgeway. Nine children have been born to this union, all but the youngest being born in Skagit county. They are Hulet M., Carl A., Effie C., Mrs. Lorna D. Aber- crombie of British Columbia; Lincoln, Starratt, Bruce, Marsters and Lawrence, the last named born during the residence of his parents in the province of British Columbia. Mr. Wells is a member of the Woodmen of the World, of the Grange and of the Baptist church. He is a Republican in politics. His sixty acres of land are all under cultivation, half of them being in pasture. The nucleus of his dairy herd is twenty head of the best milkers obtainable.

THOMAS G. LOCKHART, one of the Skagit valley's prosperous farmers, is an lowan by birth, born in the year 1820. His father Samuel, an Ohioan by nativity, went to Iowa when a child and there made his home until 1886, when he bought his present farm in Skagit county, upon which he re- sides. The ancestry of this branch of the family is Scotch-Irish. Mrs. Mary (West) Lockhart, also a native of Iowa, is the mother of six children of whom Thomas G. is the oldest. Coming to Skagit county when sixteen years of age, having received in Iowa a thorough education in the public schools supplemented by a high school course at Sumner, young Lockhart at once went on his father's farm. An unfortunate accident shortly resulted in a bro- ken leg and upon his recovery he was sent back to Iowa where he continued his studies a year and a half. Returning to Skagit county in 1891, he first became clerk in the Brunswick hotel at La Conner. Five months later he went to Stevens County, Washington, and took up a homestead, which he sold four years afterward. Again returning to the sound he rented the Bartlet place near Bay View, operating it two years, then in succession of one year leases worked the Leonard place on the Sam- ish and the McCormick farm on the Swinomish flats, always meeting with success. In 1900 he was thus enabled to purchase his present substantial home five miles northwest of Mount Vernon, the tract once having been school land.

Mr. Lockhart was united in marriage to Miss Rossie Martin at La Comer in 1896, and to this

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union two sons have been born: Martin, February 15, 1897, and Purcell, September 21, 1899. Mrs. Lockhart was born in 1816, her parents being Wil- liam and Bettie (Garner) Martin, both natives of Tennessee. MIr. Martin was of German extraction and lived for a time in Illinois. Both parents are laid at rest in the Southern hills they loved so well, the mother when her daughter Rossie was only six years of age. Mr. Lockhart is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Wood- men of the World; the family attends the Meth- odist church. An unusually attractive home is that of the Lockhart family, the residence being modern in construction and furnishing, and a spirit of prog- ress and culture pervading the atmosphere. Espe- cially docs its founder take a just pride in the thor- ough equipment of his place and in the success he has attained in dairying. It seems little short of incredible that such a transformation can be made in a place as that which has been wrought by Mr. Lockhart. When he came, the woods were so dense that he had to clear a space upon which to set his cabin and it was impossible to reach the place by road. Now he has one of the prettiest, best im- proved places in the community.

FRANK G. OLSON is another of Skagit coun- ty's citizens who has helped to convert her wild lands and forest wildernesses into fruitful farms and prosperous homesteads. Born in Henry Coun- ty, Illinois, the son of Olof T. Olson, he comes of Swedish-American parentage. The elder Olson left Sweden when twenty years of age and settled on a farm in Illinois, from which he removed to Kansas in 1822. In Kansas he spent the most of his life, coming to La Conner in 1904 to make his home for the rest of his days. Mrs. Bertha Olson, the moth- er of the subject of this sketch, also a native of Sweden, is likewise passing her declining years in Skagit county. She is the mother of seven children of whom Frank G. is the second. As a lad young Olson passed through the usual routine of a farm- er boy's life, attending the common schools and as- sisting about the farm until he reached his majority. Then with characteristic faith in his own sturdy ability to make a home for himself, he left the fields of Kansas in 1883 and came to Washington, spend- ing the first few days in Seattle. That summer he spent in the harvest fields of eastern Washington, returning thence in the fall to Puget sound, and vis- iting La Conner. During the subsequent winter he returned to Kansas, spent a year farming there, and by 1886 he was back to Skagit county. Only a sca- son did he spend on the coast this time, returning to Kansas, where he was married. Taking up his res- idence on the sound once again, Mr. Olson worked a year at various occupations then pre-empted 120 acres on the Sauk river near Sauk City, proving up seven months later. From Sauk City he went to La Conner and erected a substantial residence.

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An illustrated history of Skagit and Snohomish Counties; their people, their commerce and their resources, with an outline of the early history of the state of Washington, Part 106

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.) Publication date: 1906 Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1172

Author: Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: [Chicago] Interstate Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1172