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 182

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 182
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 182

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In 1885 Mr. Edsberg married Miss Olivia Mar- tenson, a native of Norway and the daughter of Martin and Sigurd Martenson. The father died some five years ago, but the mother is still living in Norway. Mrs. Edsberg has three brothers in Minnesota, one a merchant, the other two farmers. She also has a brother and two sisters in Seattle. To Mr. and Mrs. Edsberg have been born six chil- dren, all of whom are living at home: Julius, Mar- cus. Sophia, Carl, Olga and Sigurd. In politics Mr. Edsberg is a Republican, not especially am- bitious to hold public office, preferring his home life and home effort. The family adheres to the Lutheran church. Mr. Edsberg is one of the con- servative men of the community, with plenty of energy and ability to do hard work. He is highly esteemed by all and is one of the substantial busi- ness men of the northwestern part of Snohomish county, and one who has been prominent in its development from a wilderness.

ANDREW FJERLIE. whose farm lies two and a quarter miles west of Norman and adjoining the railway, has been in Snohomish county but little over a decade, yet he has firmly established himself in business and is one of the hustling men of the community. Mr. Fjerlie was born in Norway March 30, 1872. the second of four children of Halvor and Bereth (Bruseth) Fjerlie, natives of Norway, who passed away twenty years or more ago. Andrew Fjerlie was reared on a farm and early in life learned to work. In spite of having heavy duties to attend to he gained a good educa- tion in the Norwegian schools, which education he has supplemented by extensive reading and ob- servation. Farming occupied his attention until he left Norway for this country. He had friends

in Snohomish county and through them he learned of the natural advantages of the Puget sound country. Coming direct to Stanwood, hie at once took a contract for cutting shingle bolts and for four years thereafter he continued in this general line of activity, though frequently varying his work by entering the employ of loggers. In 1897 Mr. Fjerlie took a contract for cutting cottonwood for the paper mill in Everett. He continued at this work two years, doing fairly well financially, and on the completion of this contract with a brother he bought the forty-acre tract where he has since lived. Since occupying the place Mr. Fjerlie has cleared and slashed twenty acres and erected an eight-room house and outbuildings. At present he is carrying on dairy farming operations, keeping ten head of cows. The brother still retains his interest in the land, but devotes himself to the carpenter's trade.

In January. 1903, Mr. Fjerlie married Miss Mary Jamne, a native of Norway, who crossed the At- lantic alone and after passing two years in Wis- consin came to Washington. Her father died seventeen years ago in the old country : her mother is still living there. Mr. and Mrs. Fjerlie have one child, Ole Harold, who was born in Silvana in December of 1904. In politics Mr. Fjerlie is an independent, bound by no party ties ; in church ad- herence the family is Lutheran. Mr. Fjerlie is con- servative in nature, quiet and unassuming, but markedly intelligent and a student of men and conditions, highly respected in the community for his sterling qualities of character.

REV. PETER ISBERG was born in Norway, not far from the celebrated tourist rendezvous, Odde, in the district of Hardanger, on the 22d of June, 1850. His place of birth was on the "gaard" or farm, Isberg, on the shores of the Hardanger Fjord. so replete with grand natural scenery. In the spring of the year 1867 he begged his grand- father, with whom he made his home, to let him do as a great many of the young people of his age did. find a passage to "The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave." He succeeded in his suit and eventually boarded the sailship "Helvetia" at Bergen, in the first part of April. After seven weeks and four days of tossing about on the At- lantic he finally landed in Quebec. His next des- tination was Chickasaw county, Iowa, where an uncle, Ole Bulken, had settled before, and by rail and steamer the delightful trip was soon made. From this time on working for farmers was the not unpleasant occupation of Mr. Isberg until the fall of the year 1869, when he entered the Lutheran college at Decorah, Iowa. After being five years at this college he was sent to a German theological seminary at Springfield, Illinois. Thence he went

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BIOGRAPHICAL

to Madison, Wisconsin, to attend a Norwegian Lutheran seminary. In September, 18?8, he was ordained a minister of the gospel at the Lutheran church at La Crosse, Wisconsin. lle took up his first work at Alpena, Michigan, from which point he was called to Perry, Wisconsin, in 1881, and he remained there until the spring of 1888, when he resigned his position in the church in order to en- gage in farming in Fillmore county, Minnesota. But at this time the Puget sound country was booming and Mr. Isberg, having been born on a sound or fjord, what was more natural than for him to go to another such place and try to make a home on its shores? Therefore in the spring in 1889, with two companions from Rushford, Minnesota, he set out for Seattle, Washington. Ile bought some lots in that city and was engaged in build- ing houses on the property when one day he met in town his old schoolmate, Rev. Chr. Joergensen, who invited him to visit him at his home near Thorn- wood. Soon after he took the steamer "Henry Bailey," commanded by Captain Denny, for Stan- wood, and in due time reached the town and the fertile flats that surround it. He was so pleased that only for short periods has he been away from it since, his occupation there being mostly build- ing houses, boats, scows, etc., which trade he still follows. He is a firm believer in the Puget sound country, its people, its prospects, its climate and its ability to produce not only a good living for all but as high a civilization as this or any other country on the face of the earth can boast.

OLE O. FJARLIE, one of the Stanwood coun- try's progressive farmers, of Norwegian descent, has attained to an enviable position in the com- munity by reason of his desire to give everybody a square deal, and his thrift. He was born in Norway in September, 1872, the son of Ole Fjarlic. a farmer. The elder Fjarlie died in 1884 at the age of sixty-six ; his wife survives him, still living in the old country in her sixty-ninth year. Of the six children in the family the subject of this sketch is the youngest. Very early in life, while yet only fourteen years of age. Ole O. was obliged to con- tribute to the family's support, remaining at home, however, until he was eighteen years old. At that time he came to the United States, locating first at Utsalady, where he obtained employment in a sawmill. A few months later he engaged in farm work, then for two years and a half he cut shingle bolts by contract. Ilis next step in business was to take a homestead in Chehalis county, where he remained two years. Coming then north to Nor- man. he began logging on the place he now owns. About this time a falling tree destroyed his en- gine, seriously crippling him in a financial way, but. with that natural honesty which characterizes the

man, he at once disposed of his homestead to pay his debts and started all over again. Hle and his brother in 1897 bought 100 acres of timber land, on which, however, five acres had been cleared, and immediately began its improvement. Now twenty acres of it are under the plow and twenty more in pasture, the farm being devoted principally to dairy- ing. A fine barn, 41 by 12 feet in size, with a wing 28 by 11 feet, has been erected, also a thirteen- room modern dwelling, making the place a com- fortable one indeed. Thirty-five head of cattle con- stitute the herd kept on the ranch. Politically Mr. Fjarlie is a believer in the principles of the People's party as originally laid down. He is a man of energy and force and is highly esteemed in the community.

EMIL GUNDERSON, of the lower Stilla- guamish valley, is one of those far-sighted men who have recognized the special fitness of Puget sound for intensive agriculture and its branches and he has accordingly devoted his energies and skill to the dairy and poultry business. For this purpose he utilizes twenty acres, lying near the Norman settlement. Born in Carver County, Minnesota, in November, 1861, he is the son of Norwegian par- ents, pioneers of that state. His father, Ostend Gunderson, came to the United States when a young man and gave up the greater part of his life to the development of the new country, dying at the advanced age of seventy-four ; his widow, Mrs. Wallie (Anderson) Gunderson, still survives. Emil, second oldest of five children, as a lad at- tended the public schools and until he was eighteen years of age worked on his father's farm, then took a course at the Augsburg seminary, Minneapolis. Two courses of study in the high school followed, upon the conclusion of which young Gunderson chose medicine as his profession ; but he had pur- sued its study only a short time when ill health overtook him, compelling his retirement from school to a vigorous life in the open air. So turning to agriculture as the most p'easing field, he commenced farming in central Minnesota and be- came so interested that for sixteen years he fol- lowed that occupation in Ottertail county, during ten of which he was with his parents. In 1900, however, he sold his Minnesota interests and came to the Pacific slope to establish a new home, settling at Norman on his present place. The land is of the heaviest character of cedar bottom, especially adapted to intensive farming, and regarding it Mr. Gunderson says it is worth eight times as much as the land he formerly worked in the east. Both his dairy and poultry stock are high grade and his product of the same class.

Miss Mary Knutson, a native of Minnesota, be- came the bride of Mr. Gunderson May 18, 18SS. Her parents, Torgor and Mary Knutson, were born

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in Norway: the former is now dead, the latter re- sides in Ottertail County, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Gunderson have four children, Ella. Theodore. Amanda and Julia. In politics Mr. Gunderson is an unswerving Republican, who was prominent in his party in Minnesota and is active here. He served his community as justice of the peace and county assessor while residing in Ottertail county, making a highly creditable record in each of these offices. Wherever he has lived he has been as- corded a position among the leaders of the com- munity because of his ability, discretion and ag- gressiveness in whatever he undertakes, qualities which are still to be contributed to the upbuilding of Snohomish county as they have been so gener- ously during the past five years.

OLE NAAS, one of the Stanwood country's prosperous oat growers and dairymen. has been a resident of that section for more than twenty- five years now and has been connected with its de- velopment into one of the most celebrated farming districts in the northwest. He was born in Nor- way April 16, 1852, to the union of Lars and Helen ( Johnson) Naas, the former of whom during his life was a well-to-do farmer of the old country. He passed away thirty years ago. Mrs. Naas, the mother of Ole Naas, died in Norway in 1896. The subject of this sketch received an education in the public schools of his native country and thereafter remained at home with his father on the farm until twenty-two years of age. In 1876 he joined his countrymen setting out to make new homes across the sea in the United States and eventually settled in Union County, Dakota, and engaged in farming on his own account. That was his home for two years, after which he resided in different places until the fall of 1880, when he was attracted to the Stanwood flats by the writings of his countryman, C. E. Joergenson. An investigation pleased him and he immediately filed on a piece of land near where the town of Florence was afterward built. The whole region, aside from the salt marshes, was at that time covered by a heavy growth of timber. a typical Washington jungle that could hardly be penetrated. Mr. Naas cleared eight acres of his place in the two years he lived there, then sold and bought twenty-five acres of James Perkins, the old pioneer of the Stillaguamish. This tract was also a dense forest and for it Mr. Naas paid thirty dollars an acre. He cleared a portion of it, built a substantial house and made it his home five years, then sold it also to purchase thirty-five acres on the flats. This place he has cleared of tim- Ler and brush, improved with substantial buildings and drained, making it one of the fine farms of the community. Since Mr. Naas has made it his home he has purchased the old Annie Gunderson farm on

the river for his sons. Besides raising oats and hay he maintains a dairy herd of twenty-five select cows.

Mr. Naas was married in South Dakota, in 1880, to Miss Mary Helseth, the daughter of Gunder and Karen Helseth. Gunder Helseth was one of Stan- wood's early pioneers, having come there from Union County, South Dakota, in 1880. His resi- dence in Dakota dated from 18:0, when he came to the United States from his native country, Nor- way. His death occurred in Snohomish county. Mrs. Helseth was also born in Norway; she is still living, residing at present near Norman on the Stillaguamish. Mrs. Naas was born in Norway in 1859 and received her education there and in the schools of South Dakota. She was married when twenty-one. To this union six children have been born, all at Stanwood, and all still living. Gunder, born in Union County, South Dakota, in 1881; Helen, in 1883; Obert, in 1886; Malie, in 1888; Elmer, in 1890; and Alfred, in 1898. The family are members of the Norwegian Lutheran Synod church : politically Mr. Naas is a Republican. In all he owns seventy-five acres of valuable farming land at the delta of the Stillaguamish, which he is farming to the best profit ; indeed, he is regarded as one of the most successful farmers in his district. By his industry and good management he has at- tained a competency in material wealth, while his integrity and square dealing have won him the re- spect and esteem of his neighbors and associates.

FRED JENNY. farmer and mill man of Cedar- home. Snohomish county, is one of the active and successful business man of the community. He has been a resident of Snohomish county since he was sixteen years old and has made an excellent place for himself in the commercial life of his home town. He was born in Minnesota, January 28, 1860, the son of Jacob and Matilda (Rhodes) Jenny. The elder Jenny was a native of Switzerland, a black- smith by trade, who came to the United States in 1844 and located at Herman, Missouri, where he followed his trade for six years. In 1850 he crossed the plains by ox-team to California, oc- cupying six months en route, and he put in six years mining there. He then returned to the east and located in Minnesota, where he lived until coming to Washington in 1877. He had a very distinct recollection of the Minnesota massacre of 1863. On his arrival in the Puget sound country Mr. Jenny rented land on the Samish flats and later took up a homestead near Ferndale, where he died in 1885. Mrs. Jenny was born in Prussia, but came to Minnesota when young. Her father, a pioneer of Minnesota, is dead now, as is also her mother, though the latter reached the remarkable age of ninety-eight years, dying only very recently.

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BIOGRAPHICAL

Fred Jenny received his education in the com- mon schools of his native state and on coming to Washington commenced to work in the logging camps, later entering the mills. In 1889, in com- pany with his brother-in-law, he built a saw-mill at Florence, the first one in that town, and he operated it until 1896, when he sold out. Prior to this he had taken up a preemption and a home- stead near Florence. These he has since sold. For the past two years Mr. Jenny has been foreman of the Crescent Lumber Company of Cedarhome.

In 1890 at Florence Mr. Jenny married Miss Jenny B. Haven, daughter of George W. Ilaven, a native of New York, who settled in Michigan in the early days, later becoming a pioneer of Nebraska and coming to Washington in 1885. He is still living in Snohomish county. Mrs. Jenny was born in Nebraska, but received her education in Michi- gan. She and Mr. Jenny are parents of nine chil- dren : Isabel, Clyde. Walter, Rufus, Ollie, Evaline, Edna. Frank and an unnamed baby. In fraternal circles Mr. Jenny is a member of the Woodmen of the World, the Knights of Pythias and of the An- cient Order of United Workmen. While with the Republicans in polities on general lines, Mr. Jenny scans the qualifications of candidates before cast- ing his ballot and in all local elections votes for the man. He has forty acres of land under cultivation, but devotes the most of his attention to his duties in the mill. He is a man of energy, conscientious- ness and thoroughness in his understanding of everything relating to saw-milling and the manu- facture of shingles.

GUSTAF NICKLASON, merchant, mill man and postmaster of Cedarhome, has been a resident of Snohomish county for nearly thirty years and in that time has accumulated a competence. He is possessed of a fine quality of executive ability. which, coupled with his business foresight and ca- pacity, has enabled him to forge to the front in the affairs of his community. Mr. Nicklason was born in the southern part of Sweden April 10. 1851. the son of Nicholas and Christina Peterson, agri- eulturists of Sweden, who never left their native land. They were the parents of five children, of whom the living besides Gustaf are Peter J., Carl and Anders. A sister, Sophia, is dead. Mr. Nick- lason attended school and made his home with his parents until he was eighteen years of age, going at that time to Germany, where he passed two years on a farm. During this period his atten- tion was called to the United States as a fickt for a young man and he determined to come here, but spent six months at his old home before crossing the Atlantic. In 1822 he found himself in New York, where he lingered for a short time before going to St. Louis. In the Missouri metropolis he

obtained employment in a brick-yard, and at that work he remained for five years. In 1877 he came to La Conner, Skagit county, where he passed the following seven years at farming. The next five years were spent on the Stanwood flats operating a farm. In 1889 Mr. Nicklason came to Cedarhome and opened a general store, and eight years ago, in company with Carl Walters, he built a mill at this place and commeneed the manufacture of shingles. The enterprise proved successful and two years years ago a saw-mill was added to the property, which now has a capacity of 80,000 shingles and 10,000 feet of lumber. It has been in operation constantly, the demand for its products being steady and in good quantity.

In 1878 Mr. Nicklason married Miss Christina Ilanson, daughter of William and Elsa Hanson, farmer folk who passed their entire lives in Sweden. leaving five children surviving them : Hannah, Inga. Christina, Elsa and Nels. Mrs. Nicklason was born in 1850, came to the United States in 1815 alone, and worked in Omaha, Nebraska, until her marriage. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Nicklason :

Conrad, August, Mrs.

Minnie Nelson, Vietor, Ethel. Emily and Almeda, the last three named being dead. In politics Mr. Nicklason is a Republican : in secret society affilia- tions a member of the Concatenated Order of Hoo Iloos. In addition to his store at Cedarhome he has a four-fifths interest in a store at Milltown. His real estate holdings consist of twenty-six acres in his home place, with a large, commodious ten-room house : a fifty-acre farm on Brown's slough, and his interest in 600 acres of timber land owned by the milling partnership. Mr. Nicklason has had his triumphis and reverses but is now on the advan- cing wave of prosperity. fle is one of the most in- fluential men of the Cedarhome community, an energetic and intelligent worker in whose judgment and motives the people place the highest confi- ‹lence.

DAVID T. MUNSON. one of the honored pio- neers of Washington, now residing a quarter of a mile west of Florence, was born in Washington County, Maine, July 21. 1828. His parents, Jona- than and Margaret ( Tinker) Munson, were both born in Maine. The father died in 1887, the mother some years previous at the age of seventy-five. The third of a family of nine children, David T. Munson acquired his education in the common schools, beginning life for himself at the age of twenty with pluck, energy and a

Puritan ancestry

as the sum of his capital.

He worked in the woods until 1860, at which time he went to San Francisco via Panama and in a few days started for Puget sound. Lo- cating at Port Gamble, he followed logging for thirty years in the adjacent country. In 1888 he

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SNOHOMISHI COUNTY

purchased the farm he now owns, making it his home since that time. Although all heavily tim- bered at that early date, he now has it in an excel- lent state of cultivation and is devoting it largely to dairying. He has also a fine little orchard and raises the various fruits that thrive best in this climate. When he came to this part of, the state in 1821 there were only five settlers on the entire Stillaguamish river. These were brave, hopeful men like himself, who believed in the future of this great wilderness and had the patience to toil on year after year until their dreams were at least in a measure realized. The only means of traversing the river were the rude canoes of the Siwash In- dians. Mail reached them about once a week.

Mr. Munson was married in 1858 to Martha A. Robinson, born in Maine in 1839. Coming to the west soon after their marriage, Mrs. Munson gladly shared the hardships and dangers of pio- neer life. Her death occurred March 31, 1905, and was an occasion of profound sorrow through- out the community of which she had been for so many years a loved and honored member. Her parents, Robert and Nancy (Fox) Robinson, were both born in Maine. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Munson, Mrs. Anna McNamara of Green Lake, Washington, and Mrs. Ida Barron, now living at home. Mr. Munson is prominent in the Masonic fraternity. Although a lifelong Re- publican, he has never desired political preferment, but has loyally served his party in the quiet walks of life. The respect and honor accorded to Mr. Munson is but a fitting tribute to his upright, manly character, which has borne the test of these many years, fraught with peculiarly trying experiences.

ALEXANDER ROBERTSON. Among the prominent citizens of Florence, Washington, is the man whose name gives caption to this review. He was born in Ontario July 29, 1843, the son of Alexander and Matilda (Simons) Robertson. His father, a native of Scotland, born in Paisley in 1795. was a merchant and farmer who settled in. Canada in 1823. During the rebellion of 1837-8 he was a captain of cavalry troops, making for himself an enviable record as a brave and fearless commander. His death occurred in January, 1855. The mother of English and German extraction, was born in Canada in 1807 and died in August, 1855, leaving the memory of a noble life. She was the motlier of thirteen children. Enjoying the advantages of excellent home training, Alexander Robertson spent his boyhood at home and acquired a common school education. At the age of eighteen he went to Michi- gan, and he remained there until the Civil War broke out; then, in the full flush of early man- hood, fired with patriotic zeal for his adopted coun- try in her hour of need, he enlisted in Company

E, Nineteenth United States infantry, under Cap- tain V. Ilart. The following five years were full of active service, he having been in the battles of Pittsburg Landing, Chickamauga, Murfreesboro, and many less famous engagements. At the battle of Peach Tree Creek he was severely wounded, being shot through the neck. Poorly nourished by the insufficient rations provided by the govern- ment, he was stricken with that terrible disease, scurvy, which left him almost blind. He was mus- tered out of the service in 1867 and returned to Ontario, where he attended school at Hamilton for two years. He then accepted a position as teacher in the school for the blind in Dunderne Castle, Hamilton. On leaving Ontario he located at Fort Smith, Arkansas, being there employed as in- structor in English in the school established by the Lutheran church. The succeeding year he taught in the public schools, resigning at the end of that time to accept a position in the United States mail service from Fort Smith, which he retained four and a half years. In 1876 he migrated to Cali- fornia, and he spent the next three years in farming and teaching ; but in 1879, having decided to find a home in the northwest, he came to the sound, stopping at Steilacoom, Washington, to attend a teachers' examination held there. Immediately af- terward he made the trip from Seattle to Port Susan by foot. To him belongs the distinction of having been the first male teacher in the schools of Florence. That was in 1880. His work there proved to be his last in the profession to which he had devoted so many years of his life. Pre-emi- nently successful in this noble calling, he left behind him a record of which any man might well feel proud. When he first taught in Snohomish county, the Florence district comprised the territory lying between the Skagit county line on the north and the Tulalip Indian reservation, and extended from the sound to the summit of the Cascades, the en- tire width of the county. save a small district in the vicinity of Stanwood. The enrollment was seven- teen, the average attendance sixteen. The entire number of school children in the district within a radius of five miles was but twenty, of whom only four were white children ; there were two Indians, and the balance were half-breeds.

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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 182

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