Lyon County, Minnesota - Biographical sketches, 1912 (part 1 of 17)

Biographical sketches

CHARLES C. WHITNEY (1880),* expresident of The .Minnesota Editors and Publishers Association, ex-superintendent of state printing for Minnesota, and for thirty-two years publisher of the Marshall News-Messenger, is a man who has taken a most active and important part in the affairs of his county and state. Perhaps no man in Lyon county is better known within the county and throughout the state than is Mr. Whitney. For nearly a third of a century has he labored in the promotion of every worthy undertaking that tended to the betterment of his city and county and he has. wrought well. The life story of such a man is indeed entitled to a place in the History of Lyon County.

Charles Colby Whitney is a product of New England. He was born at Salmon Falls, New Hampshire, March 20, 1846, and resided in New England until he came to Lyon county at the age of thirty-four years. His father was overseer in the cotton mills at Salmon Falls and later held similar positions at Lawrence, Haydenville, and Waltham, Massachusetts. It was while our subject was quite young that the family moved to Lawrence, and it was there that his lifework began. After securing a public school education young Whitney entered the office of the Lawrence American, at the age of fifteen years, and served a most thorough mechanical apprenticeship. Ever since that date, fifty-one years ago, he has been engaged in the printing business. So expert did he become as a printer that he was made foreman of the job department when only seventeen years old.

Upon the outbreak of the Civil War Mr. Whitney was too young to enlist but when he reached the age of eighteen years he left the office and went to the front. He enlisted for three months as a private in Company I, Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, and when his term expired he joined Company D, First Battalion, Twenty-sixth New York Cavalry, in which he remained until the conclusion of the war.

The war over, Mr. Whitney returned to his work in the American office, where he remained until coming to Lyon county in 1880. During the last ten years of his service'on that paper he was employed in the editorial department, first as a reporter, later as city. editor, and during the latter part of his stay he was one of the proprietors of the paper upon which he had begun to work as a young boy. While thus engaged he was also for many years a special correspondent for the Boston Herald. His parents moved to Waltham soon after he began his apprenticeship, but with the persistence which has characterized his later years he remained at his post and secured a mechanical, business and editorial education. During his residence in Lawrence Mr. Whitney became actively interested in politics and public affairs and for two years served as a member of the City Council.

The most marked success of Mr. Whitney's career awaited his coming to Lyon county. The attraction of this region led him to leave Massachusetts in 1880 and locate in Marshall, where his home has ever since been. Upon his arrival he purchased the Lyon County News and in 1885 he bought the Marshall Messenger, consolidated the two, and has ever since continued the publication under the name of News-Messenger. Of his success as a publisher an article in a history issued by the Minnesota Editors and Publishers Association said:

"The first thing which attracted the attention of the newspaper fraternity to Mr. Whitney was the neat typographical appearance of his paper, the result of his thorough Massachusetts schooling. This at once led to the reading of its contents, and it was readily seen that a new editor had come to the state who was bound to make his mark. . . . Mr. Whitney's paper at once took front rank in the politics of Southwestern Minnesota, and as he became more widely known, its influence has been extended far beyond his local bailiwick, and it is one of the influential Republican papers of the state."

Soon after his arrival Mr. Whitney became an active member of the State Editors and Publishers Association and in 1895 he was elected its president. He still participates in the management of that organization and for sixteen years has been chairman of its executive committee. In 1894 he organized the Republican Press Association, was elected its first president, and for many years was represented on its executive committee. He is serving his twelfth year as a trustee of the Minnesota State Soldiers' Home.

in November, 1895, Mr. Whitney was tendered and accepted the office of superintendent of state printing, his selection being made by the board of printing commissioners composed of the secretary of state, state treasurer and state auditor. For ten years he held the office and his administration was highly successful.

Locally Mr. Whitney has also served in official capacities and his work as a member of the Board of Education was exceptionally beneficial. He was secretary of the board twelve years and was one of its most valued members. In social life he has also been active, belonging to the Grand Army of the Republic, Masonic, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Royal Arcanum orders.

Whitney, was born. Mrs. Whitney died in 1877, and in 1879 Mr. Whitney was married to his present wife, Nellie A. Johnson, of Bethel, Maine. To this union have been born the following named children who are. living: Joseph W., Minne Sota (Mrs. Fred A. Hills), Dick and Jack.

CHARLES E. GOODELL (1866), deceased, was the first permanent settler of Lyon county and for over twenty years he was prominent in the affairs of Lyons and Lynd townships.

He was born in Buffalo, New York, August 4, 1843. When a boy he moved to Illinois and was living in that state when the Civil War began. He enlisted in Company D, Seventy-fifth Illinois Infantry, August 14, 1862, and served nearly three years, being discharged July 1, 1865.

In the spring of 1866 Charles Goodell came to Lyon county with a cousin, Will Stone, to trap and hunt. He did not make permanent settlement at that time, but the following spring he came again and took a claim on section 5, Lyons township, where the Lynd trading post had been established years before. He resided in Lyon county until 1888, when he moved to Tennessee and located in a community settled by Lyon county people. He died there June 10, 1908. Mr. Goodell was a prominent Mason and a member of Delta Lodge of Marshall. He was also one of the early members of D. F. Markham Post, G. A. R., having been admitted to membership September 24, 1881.

Mr. Goodell's wife died in 1904. At the time of his death he had four sons living, as follows: George H., of Illinois; Ernest, of Sioux City, Iowa; Frank, of Tennessee; and Roy, who lived with his father.

OREN C. GREGG (1870) is one of Lyon county's earliest settlers and is today one of its most widely known citizens. His work as superintendent of State Farm Institutes took him all over the state and gave him a wide acquaintance, and for the last few years his work under the direction of the agricultural colleges in North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Utah and Colorado has made his name well known, especially in the farming communities of those states. The farm in Lynd and Island Lake townships which Mr. Gregg owned and operated thirty-nine Mais was sold a tew years ago when our subject took up his work in the West, but .Mr. Gregg reserved a comfortable cottage on the place tor the use of himself and wife, and they still make their home on the old farm.

The date of Mr. Gregg's birth was November 2, 1845, and his birthplace is Enosbnrg. Vermont. He is the son of Oren and Clarinda (Comstock) Gregg. The mother died when her son was six years of age and is buried in Vermont, her husband's native state. She was a native of New York State. Oren Gregg, St., was a clergyman, and for forty years he was a member of the Troy Conference of Vermont and New York. At the close of his active work in the pulpit he made his home for a few years with his son Oren in Lyon county, and later he went to California. He lived there with his son. Leslie A. Gregg, and died at the age of eighty-two years.

The subject of this sketch received his early education in Fort Edward Institute and Plattsburg Academy in the state of New York. After finishing school he was employed in the enrollment office of the provost marshal, in the sixteenth district, New- York, located at Plattsburg, a position he resigned at the close of the Civil War. Moving to Mower county, Minnesota, in 1865, he taught school and also filled the pulpits of the churches at Chatfield, High Forest and Eyota. Mr. Gregg came to Lyon countyearly in 1870. when the country was new and unsettled. At that time no clergyman had ventured into the field, excepting traveling missionaries. The community, however, was earnestly desirous of having church services, and Mr. Gregg, who was naturally a fluent speaker and well trained in the scripture on account of his environment as a boy, modestly offered his help and ably conducted worship in the villages several years, never asking any remuneration for his work.

The year 1870 marked Mr. Gregg's arrival to Lyon county, and he located on the northwest quarter of section 30, Lynd township, where he has since made his home and to which he has added adjoining land in Lynd and Island Lake townships, making a total acreage of about 400 acres. The place for vears has been known as the Coteau Farm and the State Farm. Mr. Gregg gave it the first name on account of the little range of hills which extends from southwestern Minnesota west into South Dakota.

.Mr. Gregg was ever a farmer of advanced ideas. He was one of the first winter dairy men in the state, in the days before the cream separator and the silo. Early in his farm experience he began to study the laws which govern the selection of dairy stock and their improvement. It was his original investigation in this line which caused him to be called to aid in college extension work in nearly one-half the states of the union. Mr. Gregg also co-operated with H. W. Campbell in promoting dry farming ideas. To Mr. Campbell may be given the credit of the inception of the idea, but to Mr. Gregg must be given praise for taking hold of the scheme with all his enthusiasm, furnishing the implements and actually working out a good part of the system on his Lyon county farm.

Our subject was becoming well known throughout the state on account of his practical experimenting and advanced theories in farming. In 1893 the State Experimental Station established a branch on Mr. Gregg's farm. They occupied at will the 400 acres and furnished a few scientific instruments, but our subject freely offered the use of his stock, machinery and buildings for the carrying on of the work, met all expenses excepting the hire and board of the experimenting force, and ably assisted the representatives of the state farm school who actively took charge of the experimental work. It was about this time that Gov. Pillsbury created the state farmers institutes. For several months in every year several corps of experts in all branches of farming were sent out over the state, holding a several days' session in the important towns and talking advance methods to . the farmers. The system met the success it deserved, and the farmers were enthusiastic recipients of the idea. To Mr. Gregg was given the position of superintendent of the institutes by Gov. Pillsbury, and that office he held twenty-two years. This work and the compiling of the Farmers Annual, a publication in connection with the institute work, occupied our subject's time, and most of the active farm management was in the hands of a

During Mr. Gregg's early residence in the county he was county auditor twelve years, and was during that time also on the Marshall Village Council and the Board of Education.

Oren C. Gregg was married in Plattsburg, New York. May 25, 1868, to Charlotte I. Carter. She was born December 19, 1840, and is the daughter of Samuel Carter, an old and highly respected citizen of Plattsburg.

Our subject is associate editor of the Northwestern Agriculturist. He is a stockholder in the Dakota Telephone Company. He and his wife have for many years been prominent members of the Methodist church. Mr. Gregg's fraternal affiliations are with the I. O. O. F. lodge.

MAJOR JOHN WINSLOVY BLAKE (1872), deceased. One of the leading men of Marshall and Lyon county in the early days was Major John W. Blake, who was one of the founders of Marshall and a man who played a most important part in the business, political and social life of the community in pioneer days.

John Blake was born at Dover, Maine, August 29, 1839. He moved to Wisconsin in 1840 and to Lyon county, Minnesota, in 1872. He was educated in Milton Academy and in the University of Wisconsin and by profession was a civil engineer. In 1860 he established and published the Jefferson County Republican, at Jefferson, Wisconsin, and was conducting that journal when the war began.

Our subject enlisted for three months' service as a private soldier and afterwards re-enlisted for three years in Company E, Fourth Wisconsin Infantry. In October, 1862, he was made first lieutenant of H Company, Twenty-ninth Wisconsin Infantry, and was regimental adjutant from December, 1862, to June, 1864. Then he was commissioned captain of H Company and detailed on the staff of General Cameron, acting as A. A. Q. M. general of the Thirteenth Army Corps and later as A. A. C. S. of La Fourche district. Department of the Gulf. In October, 1864, he became major of the Forty-second Wisconsin Infantry. The next month he was made provost marshal on the

The first active service of the young soldier was in 1861 in Maryland under Generals Butler, Dix, Wool and Lockwood. He went to the Gulf Department with General Butler and participated in the capture of Fort Phillips, Jackson and New Orleans and the engagements at Red Church, Grand Gulf and the first attack on Vicksburg under General Williams. He took part in the battle of Baton Rouge and was later with General McClernand in the expedition up White river and the capture of Arkansas Post. He was in the Vicksburg campaign under General Grant, took part in the battles of Fort Gibson. Fourteen-Mile Creek, Edward's Station, Raymond, the siege of Vicksburg, and was at the capture of Jackson under General Sherman. He was again in the Gulf Department under General Banks and participated in the battles of Carrion Crow Bayou, Opolusas, Sabine Cross Roads, Mansfield. Marksville Plains and the capture of Fort Esperanza.

After the war Major Blake returned to Jefferson, Wisconsin, and engaged in the lumber business in company with W. G. Ward. Later they built mills and conducted an extensive business at Wolf River, Wisconsin. In 1867 Major Blake built a foundry and a machine and agricultural implement manufactory at Jefferson and conducted the same successfully for some years. In 1872 he engaged in the employ of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company as a civil engineer and assisted in the location of and construction of the Winona & St. Peter railroad from New Ulm to Kampeska. and that year paid his first visit to Lyon county.

During the summer the railroad was built Major Blake bought the land upon which the city of Marshall now stands and in company with others platted a town and founded .Marshall. His home continued in the new village until January, 1891, when he located at Dalton, Georgia. He died at that place May 15, 1903, and was buried in the Marshall cemetery.

Major Blake was a guiding spirit in the affairs of the community for many years. He held the office of county surveyor many terms and represented his district in both houses of the Minnesota Legislature.

RUPUS H. PRICE 1 1 NT i i. A very few men have had a longer continuous residence in Lyon county than has the gentleman whose name heads this review. He came to .Minnesota in Territorial days and he came to Lyon county when the prairie was broken only occasionally by the claim shacks of homesteaders. For forty-one years he has been a resident of Lucas township. He was the third settler to locate in that township and his house was the first erected there. He is deservedly given a place in this History of Lyon County.

In Will county, Illinois, on February 3. 1846, Rufus H. Price was born. His father, Charles Price, was an Englishman by birth who located in Illinois in 1838. He was killed in Indiana in 1854. The mother of our subject, Abigail (Fuller) Price, was born in Ohio. She came with her son to Lyon county in 1S71 and resided with him until her death in 1884.

Rufus Price left his native state and came to Minnesota when it was yet a territory, in 1 857. He located near Rochester and resided there the next fourteen years of his life, purchasing land and engaging in farming after growing up. When he reached the age of eighteen years, on February 18, 1864, .Mr. Price enlisted at Rochester in Company C, Ninth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, and spent the next seventeen months in the service of his country, having been mustered out at St. Paul July 18, 1865. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.

After the war Mr. Price continued his residence in Eastern Minnesota until 1871. In June of that year he came to Lyon county and filed a homestead claim to the southwest quarter of section 2, of what is now Lucas township. His nearest trading point at the time he located on the claim was Yellow Medicine, on the Minnesota river, which consisted of a store, postoffice and blacksmith shop. The lumber for his house was hauled from Willmar. In that pioneer home was taught the first school in the township, conducted for three months by Miss Ella Williams. Mr. Price encountered many hardships in the early days, but he passed successfully through the period -of travail and in time came upon prosperous times. He now has one of the finest farm homes in the county and is the owner of 320 acres of excellent land on sections 2 and 3.

.Mr. Price took a leading part in affairs in the early days. He was one of those who brought about the organization of Lucas township in INT:: and he was appointed township clerk by the Board of County i'oinmissioners at the time of organization. He held the office several years, was assessor four years, and has been a member of the town board. He assisted in the organization of school district No. 19 and has held the office of treasurer of that district. He is a member and one of the trustees of the Presbyterian church of Cottonwood.

In local business matters Mr. Price has also taken a part. He owns a controlling interest in and is vice president of the Home Telephone Company of Cottonwood. He is a stockholder of the Lyon County National Bank of Marshall and of the First National Bank of Cottonwood.

Mr. Price was married in Lucas township January 4, 1890, to Helen Elmer. She was born in Gothland, Sweden, July IS. 1862, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Elmer, who came to Lyon county in ISSN. Mrs. Price's mother died in December, 1910: her father lives in Northern Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Price have seven children: Logan, of Graceville, Montana; Marvin, of Alberta, Canada; Fern, Willard, Hazel, Porter and Ray, who live at home.

LEVORIT AVERY (1868), of Lake Marshall township, is a native of the Gopher State, having been born in Rice county, Minnesota, November 9, 1858. When ten years of age, he accompanied his parents to Lyon county and his father homesteaded land in Custer township. Our subject received his early education and grew to manhood while residing at home, living on the home place until twenty-four years of age.

At the latter age he started working out on farms and in 1884 he rented his father's farm and conducted it one year. He then returned to Waseca county. Minnesota, where he rented land three years, after which he returned to Lyon county and has resided here since, with the exception of eighteen months spent in Colorado. In 1908 he rented the northwest quarter of section 21, Lake Marshall township, where he now resides.

Mr. Avery was married at Waseca, Minnesota. February 14, 1883, to Minnie Norcutt, a native of Minnesota. She was born June 22, 1862. and is a daughter of Xorman and Sarah (McKinley) Xorcutt, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Avery are the parents of the following children: Clyde, born May 17, 1884; Guy, born August 12, 1886; Percy, born December 25, 1SSS: Daisy M., born March 21. 1891; Denzil, born December 9, 1893; Edith Blanche, bom April 30, 1896; John, born August 8. 1898; Minnie P.. born January IS, 1901; Robert, born April 11. 1904.

JAMES MITCHELL (1869), ex-county commissioner of Lyon county and one of the earliest settlers, owns 280 acres of land and operates one of the finest improved farms in Amiret township. He has been a continuous resident of Amiret township fortythree years. Mr. Mitchell served twelve years as county commissioner when there were but three commissioners in what is now Lyon and Lincoln counties and when the county seat was at Lynd. It was also during his term of service as commissioner that the various townships of Lyon county were created and organized.

Our subject was born in Jefferson county. Wisconsin, September 16, 1848. His parents were James and Margaret (Barclay) Mitchell, now deceased. His mother died when James was a child and his father was married a second time to Martha Lane, a native of Maine. James Mitchell. Sr., was born in Scotland, came to America in 1838. and settled in Wisconsin in 1842, where he made his home until 1866. That year he moved to Plainview, Minnesota, and farmed in the vicinity three years. In the spring of 1869 he and his son, the subject of this biography, came to Lyon county and each took a quarter section of land on section 30, Amiret township, as homesteads. The father resided on his Amiret farm until his death on September 14, 1901, at the age of eighty-one years.

year, after which he moved to Plainview, Minnesota, with his parents, and worked there two years. After the family moved to Lyon county James made his home with his parents until he married in 1884, after which he moved to his present place, the southeast quarter of section 5, Amiret township.

James Mitchell's marriage to Trena Rude occurred in Amiret township May 31. 1884. His wife is a native of Butler county, Iowa, and is a daughter of Michael and Olena Rude. The family were pioneer settlers of Brown county, Minnesota, locating there in 1869 and making it their home until thendeaths. Mrs. Mitchell was born April 9, 1858. She and her husband are the parents of three children, as follows: Margaret (Mrs. Neil Currie),, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts; Jeanette, a school teacher of Austin, Minnesota; and Jay (deceased).

Mr. Mitchell was for a number of years a member of the Amiret Township Board of Supervisors and was chairman of the township's first board. He was one of the organizers of school district No. 64 and has served continuously as clerk of the board since its organization. Our subject is a member of the .Masonic lodge.

REES PRICE (1871), one of the earliest settlers of Monroe township, was born in Wales May 31, 1847. His parents were David and Mary (Rees) Price, both natives of Wales. The family came to the Cnited States in 1866, when Rees was nineteen years old. The boy made his home for a few months with relatives in Goodhue county, Minnesota, and then journeyed to Rock Island, Illinois, where he worked in the coal mines until 1868. That year he was married to Ruth Thomas, a Milwaukee girl and a sister of Benjamin, James and Joseph Thomas, all of whom became early Lyon county settlers.

After his marriage in February, 1868, Mr. Price and his wife farmed in Blue Earth county. Minnesota, renting for a couple of years. In 1870 Mr. Price and others came to Lyon county to look over the country. They homesteaded in 1871 and Mr. Price moved his family to their new home on the northwest quarter of section 18, Monroe township, in 1872. The family lived on the farm for the next forty years.

It was frontier life for those earlj comers tn Lyon county. Mr, Price hauled logs from the Cottonwood river with which to build his first dwelling. The old cabin, a 1.4x16 feel log hut, still stands on the place and Is the oldest house standing in Monroe township. The other residents of the township at that time were Ed. Healy, David Stafford and George White, a brother-inlaw of Mr. Trice and now a resident of California. These four broke the first ground in the precinct with oxen. Until the railroad came in 1872 all trading was done at New I'lm.

During the years when the grasshopper scourge was in Southwestern Minnesota, Rees Price and others worked at farm labor in the eastern part of the state and succeeded in keeping themselves and their families from want. The winter of 1880 and ISM brought more hardships, lint the early settlers were of hardy stock and had faith in the country, which led them to endure the discomforts of the early days. The settlement grew and Mr. Price was one of those who helped organize the township of Monroe. He was the first justice of the peace and was on the town and school boards for several years, besides holding various other offices from time to time. The Price family lived in the original log cabin for twenty-eight years, when they built their present comfortable dwelling. The fine groves on the Price farm were set out from slips brought years ago from the Cottonwood river by Mr. Price.

Seven children have been barn to Rees and Ruth Price, as follows: Elenor (Mrs.. Hugh Tones), Mary (Mrs. Bert Wilford), Mabel (Mrs. Philip Hughes), Joseph, William, Winifred, who is at home with her parents, and Diana (Mrs. Ruben Harris), of Kernan, California. Mr. and Mrs. Price have for years been active members of the Congregational church.

CHARLES H. WHITNEY (1S69). A man who occupied a most important place in the early history of Lyon county is Charles H. Whitney, now a resident of Cookeville, Tennessee. More than any other man was he responsible for the advertising of this frontier region in the seventies and the immigration that settled upon its broad prairies. He is an optimist, and many a resident of Lyon county of this day owes his presence to the wonderful word-pictures painted by Mr. Whitney. Willi several others he was the founder of Marshall and in most everj important event of the early times he figured. He has a fund of pioneer reminiscenses and the author of this volume is indebted to him for many of the items contained herein.

Charles II. Whitney was born at Bridgton, Cumberland county, Maine, January Hi. 1838. His father, George W. Whitney, was a Free Will Baptist minister and during the boyhood days of our subject the family resided in several different places where Rev. Whitney served his church as pastor. Charles lived in his native town until four years old. in dray, Maine, three years, in Bethel, Maine, two or three years, and then in Rochester, New Hampshire.

While residing at Rochester, when eleven years of age, Charles H. Whitney started to earn his own living. His first employment was in a woolen mill, where he worked fourteen months. He then went to Salmon Falls, Xew Hampshire, and was employed in a cotton factory two years, beginning work in the weaving room, but later becoming office boy. He next located in East Abington (now Brockton), Massachusetts, and for several' years was employed in a shoe factory which later became the W. L. Douglas factory. He became foreman of the stitching room when sixteen years of age and continued his work in the factory until he was eighteen and one-half years old.

During this time, by strict economy, young W'hitney had saved money, which he expended in completing his education. He took a course in the North Parsonsfield, Maine, Academy, a Free Will Baptist school, and was graduated in December, 1856. He decided to locate in the West, and to earn money to pay his transportation he secured a position as clerk in a store.

On March 25, 1857, Charles H. Whitney arrived in Waupun, Wisconsin, where his brother, J. W. Whitney, a building contractor, resided. Our subject took work with his brother and learned the business in all its branches, which was of great help to him later in his new home on the prairies of Lyon county. He lived in Waupun six vears.

During his residence there, on October 28, 1860, Mr. Whitney was united in marriage to Mary A. Wirt, a daughter of Elder Noah Wirt, of the Christian church, and Fannie (Mapes) Wirt. Mrs. Whitney was born at Willoughby, Ohio, July 22, 1843, and died at Cookeville, Tennessee, February 11, 1911. As a result of this union five children were born, as follows: George O, bora at Waupun July 25, 1861, died November 1, 1862; Zula M.. born at Oronoco, Minnesota, December 27, 1866, married John H. Schneider at Marshall June 16, 1886; Mille A., born at Oronoco May 7, 1888, married Fred H. White, of Marshall, Minnesota, at Cookeville, Tennessee, December 31, 1888; Fannie W., the first white child born in Marshall, born November 24, 1870, married James T. Snodgrass at McMinnville, Tennessee, September 16, 1891; Gertrude, a musician and artist of considerable note, bora at Marshall April 21, 187.".

In April, 1863, Mr. Whitney became a resident of Minnesota, locating at Oronoco, Olmsted county. He resided there six years, during five of which he served as town clerk. During the war he had. entire charge at Oronoco of filling the quoto of troops. After the war he engaged in contracting and building, operated a furniture manufactory, and "bought a farm.

of ten men, in covered wagons, on a prospecting trip to find a suitable location in Western Minnesota for new homes'! They traveled three weeks, visited St. Cloud, Denson and Hutchinson, but not liking the country about any of those towns they turned southward and passed through St. Peter. There the party met "Uncle Abner Tibbetts. register of the United States Land Office, who advised them to visit that part of Redwood county which is now Lyon county. They did so, making the trip by way of Redwood Falls, and arrived at the little .settlement of Lynd on June 9, 1869. The operations of this party upon their arrival in Lyon county have been told in detail in the historical part of this volume, so it will not be necessary to repeat here. Suffice it to say that all members of the party were delighted with the country and all located, Mr. Whitney selecting as his claim The southeast quarter pi section 4, Lake Marshall township, upon which was

After selecting his land Mr. Whitney broke a little land and on June 15, with the rest of the party, set out on the return home. At St. Peter they made filings on their claims. Mr. Whitney spent the next winter in his old Wisconsin home and interested several others in the new country, who accompanied him on the return in 1870. He arrived in Lyon county again on June 1, 1870, and erected a sod shanty on his claim, the first dwelling put up on section 4, of the Marshall site. It was located about twenty rods east of the Third Street bridge on the quarter section line. In the fall our subject secured the establishment of the Marshall postoffice and he became the first postmaster.

Mr. Whitney engaged in farming and booming the country. He located fourfifths of all the settlers who arrived prior to 1875. In the summer of 1872, in partnership with others, he platted the village of Marshall and it was largely through his influence that the Marshall station of the new Winona & St. Peter was located where it is, in preference to a point at the crossing of Three-Mile creek. In the fall of 1872. before the railroad had reached the new station, Mr. Whitney erected a hotel building, one of the first buildings in the town, hauling the lumber from the end of the completed track. At the first meal in the hostelry 250 people were fed. The location of Jhe pioneer hotel building was on the site of the present Atlantic Hotel. Mr. Whitney erected the first brick kiln in Marshall and was prominent in many of the pioneer business enterprises.

He engaged extensively in land selling from the time of his arrival, and in 1876 he became the field agent and general outside representative for the railroad company, being thus employed ten years. In 1877 he established the Homeseekers Guide to the West, a monthly emigration paper of 5000 circulation.

Mr. Whitney originated the scheme of exhibiting the products of Lyon county and of the lands embraced within the railroad's land grant at the state fairs. The first exhibit was made in 1876, and first premiums were secured on all exhibits. Following is a list of premiums awarded Lyon county at early day Minnesota state fairs for largesl and best displays of grains and vegetables: lsTlt, lirst for grains and second for vegetables; 1880, first tor both exhibits; L881, lirsi for grains and second for vegetables and a silver medal for five best varieties of spring wheat; 1882, first for each exhibit and silver medal for spring wheat exhibit. On .March 8, 1881, the county was awarded first premium by the Minnesota State Butter and Cheese Association for the best fifty pounds of dairy butter, and in 1NN2 at the Wisconsin state fair Lyon county was awarded a diploma and given special mention for the largest, best and most artistically displayed exhibit of grains, vegetables, fruits, grasses, woods and soils made by one exhibitor.

In 1886 Mr. Whitney secured for the railroad company the right-of-way for the Willmar & Sioux Falls Railroad Company from Marshall to the north line of the county. On May 1, 1886, Mr. Whitney went to St. Paul to become circulation manager of The Farmer, an agricultural paper. In six months he raised the circulation of the paper to 30,000. After one year at that work his health failed, and in September, 1887, Mr. Whitney moved South, becoming a resident of Cookeville, Tennessee, where he has ever since resided.

During his long residence in Lyon county Mr. Whitney held a number of offices of trust. Besides being Marshall's first postmaster, he served for a time as judge of probate and was deputy county treasurer two terms, serving under Jacob Rouse and James Williams. He was justice of the peace of Lake Marshall township and held other township offices and was one of the first to hold the office of Marshall village recorder. From the time of the organization of the Marshall school district until it became an independent district he was chairman of the Board of Education.

JACOB ROUSE (1870). Only a few of those who took part in the early history making of Lyon county are still living in the county. However, one of those who took part in the early events and who came before the county was organized is still here, with a continuous residence of fortytwo years to his credit. He is Jacob Rouse, a former county treasurer, who now lives in the Camden valley of Lynd township.

Jacob Rouse was born in Louisa county, Iowa, October is, 1844. His fa I her, Ebenezer Rouse, was born in Canada, of German descent. 1 lis mother. Alary (Harlan) Rous.', was born in Kentucky. The parents located in Iowa in L840 and shortly after the birth of their son they moved to Illinois, neat- Galena, where they engaged in farming. There the father contracted yellow fever and died in L850.

After the death of the head of the family Mrs. Rouse and her children, two sons and two daughters, moved to Lafayette county, Wisconsin, and near Elk Grove she bought five acres of land. Later the family moved to New Diggings of the same county. At the age of fifteen years young Rouse left home and went to Jones county, Iowa, where he resided two years, working on a farm in the summer and attending school during the winter. He then spent a short time attending school and working out at East Galena, Illinois, and worked in a hotel at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, six months.

Returning to Galena, Illinois, in the spring of 1864, Mr. Rouse enlisted in Company C. One Hundred Fortieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He was discharged seven months later and the following February enlisted in Company E, One Hundred Fifty-third Illinois Infantry, served six months, and was mustered out in September, 1865. After the warhe returned to New Diggings, Wisconsin, and during the next few years engaged in farming and mining.

In 1870 Mr. Rouse came to Lyon county and filed a homestead claim to the northwest quarter of section 22, Lynd township, being one of the first to file in that neighborhood, and he proved up on the claim. In the fall of 1870 Mr. Rouse, in partnership with James Cummins and John Cook, erected a sawmill on the Redwood, where was later founded the village of Camden. He was in charge of the sawmill four years, and then it was remodeled into a flouring mill by Smith, Ellis & Rouse. The village of Camden was founded and soon boasted two stores, a blacksmith shop, harness shop, postoffice and mill, becoming one of the principal towns of the county.

One year after the flouring mill was started Mr. Rouse disposed of his interests, but for eighteen years he was employed by the firm that operated the mill. Since that time he has devoted most of his time to farming, although he was manager of an elevator at Lynd two years and at Russell one year. He raises stock and makes a specialty of Duroc-Jersey hogs.

Mr. Rouse took an active part in political affairs in the early days and served as deputy county treasurer under A. R. Cummins, the first treasurer. Later he served a term as county treasurer. He was chairman of the Lynd Township Board of Supervisors one year and has an unbeatable record as a school officer, having been clerk of his district since it was organized in 1871. Mr. Rouse is a member of the Grand Army and the Masonic lodge.

In Lafayette county, Wisconsin, on May 5, 1868, Mr. Rouse was united in marriage to Elizabeth J. Day. She was born in the county in which she was married December 2, 1849, a daughter of Joseph H. and Martha M. (Dickey) Day. Both parents were born in Pennsylvania. The father died in Wisconsin in 1886 and thereafter Mrs. Day made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Rouse, until her death in 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Rouse have five children: Mary Etta, Joseph C, Ira E., Maud and Myrtle F.

OLE H. HATLESTAD (1874) is a prominent farmer of Lucas township and a most enthusiastic believer in the advantages of living in Lyon county. Mr. Hatlestad is well known throughout the county at large and has a host of friends in every community. For the last twelve years he has served continuously as a member of the Board of County Commissioners from distinct No. 1, and previous to that he had already served in the same capacity for four years. Mr. Hatlestad, besides farming 400 acres of land, owns seven lots and a fine residence in Cottonwood and is interested in other enterprises, being a stockholder of the Farmers Elevator Company of Cottonwood, of which he was for several years president.

Our subject was born March 4, 1853, in Song, Norway, and is a son of Hans O. and Martha (Anderson) Hatlestad, both of whom are now deceased. The parents came to America in 1854 and first located in Columbia county, Wisconsin, where they resided ten years. Their next heme was in WTinona county, where they lived until their deaths. Ole Hatlestad was the oldest of the children and he received his education in the common schools of Winona county, attending until he had reached the age of nineteen years. Coming then to Lyon county, he engaged in the mercantile business with Andrew Ostlund one year and then went into the farm machinery business in Marshall, an enterprise which held his attention for the next five years. In 1879 Mr. Hatlestad commenced to acquire land and now owns a large acreage. He purchased a tree claim on the southwest quarter of section 18, Lucas, from Ole Dahl, which he still owns and operates. Subsequently he bought 200 acres on section 19 and later another forty. Mr. Hatlestad manages his farms and has made his home in Cottonwood since 1901.

Mr. Hatlestad has been affiliated with the Silo Norwegian Lutheran Church since its organization in 1SS0 and was formerly one of its trustees. He was a director of school district No. 15 three years and has held the office of assessor three terms. For a number of years he was chairman of the Township Board of Supervisors.

The subject of this sketch was married December 19, 1876, to Carrie Anderson, at Porter, Minnesota. His wife was a native of Norway. To this union were born: Andrew, on June 19, 1878; Martha, deceased, on January 29, 1880; Bertha, on January 25, 1882; Cora, on August 22, 1885; Clarence, on April 5, 1887; Harris, on May 10, 1889; Clara, on September 13, 1891; William, on February 16. 1894; and Oliver, on December 16, 1895. Mrs. Hatlestad died March 20, 1897.

Mr. Hatlestad married a second time in July, 1901, wedding Mrs. Dena Foss, a native of Wisconsin. To this union has been born one child. Aldrie, born March 3, 1904.

The subject of this sketch has several brothers and sisters living. Annie (Mrs. Elling Fenney) resides in Minneapolis. Christ is a resident of Otter Tail county. Gertrude (Mrs. C. Martinson) lives in Madison, Minnesota. Christie (Mrs. Andrew Ness) resides in Fillmore county. Martin is a resident of Lyon county.

Lyon county and settled in the northern townships, and with the vanguard of these was the Family of Knud A. Mroughton, who took a claim in Westerheim township and Who has ever since had his home there. In the early days many hardships were encountered and inconveniences endured. Mr. Brought! n hauled his flour from New London, did most of his trading at Redwood Falls, and remembers the time when Marshall consisted of one store and a sod shanty.

Mr. Broughton took as a homestead claim the southwest quarter of section 12. Westerheim, and another quarter section as a tree claim. Later he added to his holdings by purchase from the railroad company until he was the owner of 960 acres of land in Westerheim and Vallers townships. He has sold most of his farm lands to his children, hut he is still the owner of 360 acres.

The gentleman whose name heads this review was born in Norway November 27, 1845. His lather, Andrew K. Broughton, died in Norway in 1864, and his mother, Annie (Olson) Broughton, died there in 1910. Knud secured a high school education in his native land, attending to his studies until twenty years of age, and later had the management of his father's farm. He then came to America, arriving June 5, 1868. He located in Dane county, Wisconsin, and for the next four years worked at farm labor for an uncle. He came to Lyon county in the spring of 1872, took his claim, and has ever since been a citizen of Westerheim township. He lived on the homestead until 1S99 and then moved to his present farm on section 11.

Mr. Broughton was a member of the first Board of Supervisors of Westerheim township and he has been assessor, road overseer, and a director of school district No. 3. He has been prominent in church work, holding membership in St. Lucas United Norwegian Lutheran Church of Normania township, Yellow Medicine county. It was largely through his efforts that that church was organized, and his name was the first one attached to the papers that led to its being founded. For several years he was a church trustee and he was church representative a number of terms.

who was born September 3, 1840. As a result of this union the following children have heen horn: Andrew, George, Anton and Annie (Mrs. O. J. Stensrud), all of Westerheim township, and Gertie (Mrs. Sever Erickson), of Vallers township.

LUCIUS E. TOWN (1871), a farmer of Rock Lake township, was born in Steele county. Minnesota, March 4, 1870, and is a son of Lucius and Mary (Clark) Town, pioneer resident of Lyon county. Lucius Town. Sr., in company with his three brothers. Julius. Ralph and Alvah S., came to this county in 1871, and each brother took a quarter section on 22, Rock Lake, as a homestead.

Lucius Town, Jr., accompanied his parents to Lyon county, where his boyhood days were spent. His early education was acquired in the country schools of the township and in Balaton. At the age of fifteen years he attended school for a time near Owatonna and later took a course in the Wilder Business College, graduating in 1895. Ret mning to Balaton, our subject followed the painting and paper hanging trades for eight years.

From 1903 until 1906 Mr. Town's residence was North Yakima, Washington, where he was engaged at the same work. Then he returned to Minnesota and has since been farming on the old Rock Lake homestead, working at the trade of painting in some of his spare time. Mr. Town has other business interests, being a stockholder of the Lyon County Co-operative Company and of the Current Lake Telephone Company. He is a member of the Presbyterian church of Balaton and belongs to the A. O. U. W. lodge.

Lucius E. Town was married to Lizzie Hughes, a resident of Blue Earth county, Minnesota. To them were born two children: Elbert, born December 28, 1899; and Leslie, born May 13, 1902. Mrs. Town died in North Yakima in 1903. Our subject's mother died in 1881 and his father is still living on the old homestead at the age of eighty-two years.

farmer, a former member of the Board of County Commissioners, and a man who has taken a leading part in the affairs of his community and county is Jens B. Johnson, of Xordland township. For the past fortyone years he has lived on the farm he now conducts, being one of a few men of the county who still live on the land they took as a claim in the early days.

Siljord, Telemarken, Norway, is the birthplace of Mr. Johnson and February 14, 1840, was the date of his nativity. His parents, Jens and Engebor (Jacobson) Johnson, were farmers and Jens was country raised. He attended school until fifteen years of age and was then obliged to shift for himself, his father having died at that time and his mother having passed away when he was nine years old. Until he was twenty-one years old he worked out at different jobs, and then, in 1861, he left his native land and journeyed to America.

The first home in the New World was the city of Chicago, where he resided a short time with a sister. In Rock county, Wisconsin, Mr. Johnson worked at farm labor until 1871; then he rented land in Goodhue county, Minnesota, and farmed two years. The year of Mr. Johnson's arrival to Lyon county was 1873 - the first year of the grasshopper scourge. He took as a pre-emption claim the northwest quarter of section 2, Xordland township, just south of the future village of Minneota. At the time ten acres of the land were under cultivation and on the place was a small log house. Mr. Johnson paid $200 for the claim and secured title later. On that place he has ever since had his home. He has added to his holdings until today he is the owner of 430 acres of well-improved land, having property in Eidsvold and Westerheim townships.

Mr. Johnson served a four-year term as a member of the Board of County Commissioners, has been chairman of the Nordland Township Board of Supervisors, and treasurer of school district No. 71. He is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran church.

The marriage of our subject to Annie Kittelson occurred in Rock county, Wisconsin, in July, 1864. She was born in Nommedal, Norway, December 26, 1839. Her parents, Kittel and Beret (Hellekson) Gundvoldson, died in the old country. To Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have been born the following named

JOHN J. GRIFFITH (1870) has been a resident of Lyon county since he was nine years of age. His parents, David E. Griffith and Mary J. Richards, were natives of Wales and Pennsylvania, respectively, and came to Wisconsin in an early day. John was born in Columbia county, Wisconsin, October 6, 1862, and when three years old his parents moved to Blue Earth county, Minnesota, which was their home six years.

In 1870 the Griffith family moved to Lyon county, Minnesota, and located on the east half of the east half of section 12, Custer township, to which the father had bought the homestead right. There John received his schooling and assisted his father until twentysix years of age, at which time he bought eighty acres on section 7, Monroe township, and commenced farming for himself. For five years our subject remained on that place, and then he sold his land and rented the northwest quarter of section 7, where he has since lived. He has a well improved piece of land and is prospering. He is giving much attention to the breeding of Percheron horses.

John J. Griffith and Katie Wunderlich were married July 4, 1891, in Custer. Mrs. Griffith was born in Wisconsin July 6, 1874, and is a daughter of George and Catherine (Young) Wunderlich, natives of Germany and France, respectively. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Griffith, as follows: Leon, born 1893; Fred, born 1895; Louise, born 1897; Irving, born 1898; Leslie, born 1900; Annie, born 1903; Morris, born 1905; and Merle, born 1908.

ANDREW NELSON (1868), of Marshall, is the earliest living settler in Lyon county. He was born in Denmark February 1, 1852, and when twenty-three years of age came to the United States. On arriving in his adopted country, Mr. Nelson settled in Wis consin, where he resided until 1868.

The latter date marks the arrival of our subject to Lyon county, where he took as a pre-emption claim the northwest quarter of section 13, Lynd township, which later proved to be land which the government had granted to the railroad company.' Mr. Nel- son, having done some work on the land, purchased it from the company. He Later purchased the southwest quarter of the same section and built his firsl home, which was log cabin with a thatched roof. He later hewed logs and hnilt another house, 20x26 in dimensions, on the top of the hill about forty rods from the first house. Mr. Nelson traded at Redwood Falls and New 11m, having to make the trip by ox-team. Our subject resided on the farm until lltos, or about forty years, when he moved to .Marshall and has since led a retired life. He still owns the old farms on section 13, Lynd township, and 180 acres more in the county.

When Mr. Nelson came to Lyon county in 1868 there were but few people in the county. Among the settlers of that time were A. R. Cummins and his sous, James and George; Mr. .Muzzy. Rev. Wright, .Mr. Langdon and four sons. .Mi'. Ticknor and family, George and Hiram Marcyes. Our subject was treasurer of his school district fifteen consecutive years and is a member of the Danish Lutheran church. He has one brother living, Christian Nelson, of Lynd township.

On February 23, ist',7, at Racine. Wisconsin, occurred the marriage of Mr. Nelson to Anna Matson, a native of Denmark. She was born September IS, 1845. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are the parents of the following children who are still living: Albert, Daniel, and Clara (Mrs. Fred Mannerman), of Lynd township. Those deceased were Clara A., Lois T., Mary J., William A. and Custer D.

ROBERT A. MITCHELL (1868) is one of the largest land owners in the township of Amiret and is one of the earliest residents, having come to the county with his parents forty-four years ago. At that time Robert was only three years of age. Mr. Mitchell owns 480 acres of fine farming land on sections 30 and 16, and his home on the east half of the southeast quarter of section 30 is one of the finest in the township.

The father and mother of Robert Mitchell were natives of Scotland and the state of Maine, respectively. James S. and Martha (Lane) Mitchell came to Lyon county in 186S, and James Mitchell took as a homestead the east half of the southeast quarter of section 30, Amiret township. The Mitchells were among the very first settlers of the county. They had been living several years in Wisconsin prior to coming to Lyon county, and Robert A. Mitchell was horn in Jefferson county of that state June 30, 1S65.

Roberl grew to manhood on the home farm in Amiret. lb- attended country school and finished his education with a year's attend ance at the Marshall High School. He then assisted with the work on the home place, and in 1885, 1S86 and 1887 the young man taught school in the southern part of this county and in Murray county. In 1890 he took charge of Bingham Brothers' grain elevator at Amiret. holding the position three years. In 1893 he erected an elevator of his own and conducted it two years, after which he sold and re-entered the employ of Bingham Brothers, having charge of their Amiret elevator ten years. At the close of that period, in 1905, Mr. Mitchell retired from the -rain business and engaged in farming. He has a splendid farm and is having success in the raising of Red Polled cattle. He owns stock in and is a director of the Amiret Stale Bank, and he has two town lots in Amiret and a share in the company which owns the town hall.

The marriage of Robert Mitchell and Augusta Manke took place in Tracy on March S, 1892. She was born in Germany March 8, 1873, and came to this country with her parents, William and Wilemina (Mack) Manke, in 1881. The family first located in Chicago, where they lived five years, and later moved to Tracy. There the father died in 1910; the mother is still a resident of the town. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Mitchell. They are William R., born November 19, 1893, and Clarence C, born March 4. 1897.

Mr. Mitchell was clerk of Amiret township fifteen years and served on the township board from the time he was twenty-one years of age until 1908, when he retired. He also served several terms as treasurer of school district No. 13. He is a member of the Methodist church, and his lodge membership is in the A. F. & A. M. and the Modern Woodmen organizations.

E. M. HAMM (1871), secretary of the Western Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Balaton, is one of the very earliest settlers of Lyon county, having resided in Rock Lake

Mr. Hamm was born in Tioga county, Pennsylvania, August 2, 1855, and in July, 1865, he accompanied the family to Rochester. Minnesota, which was then the western terminus of the Northwestern railroad. He came to Lyon county with the family in May, 1871, driving through by ox team, and until he was twenty-seven years of age he worked on his father's homestead, the southeast quarter of section 24, Rock Lake, not far from the future village of Balaton. The usual lot of the pioneer was theirs, and for some years they lived in a little log cabin. During the grasshopper days it was impossible to raise enough to support a family, and, while the rest of the family remained on the claim, the father and our subject worked during the summer seasons in the counties to the east to earn the money necessary to support the family.

After coming of age E. M. Hamm took as homestead claim the northeast quarter of section 34, Rock Lake, but did not live on the place after proving up. When he was twenty-seven years of age Mr. Hamm started farming on his own account on land which he purchased on section 16. He resided on that farm until 1902 and then moved to Balaton. He has ever since been identified with the Western Mutual Fire Insurance Company and has been its secretary since 1907. He served as township treasurer of Rock Lake and has been a member of the Balaton Village Council for the past three years. He is a member of the A. O. U. W. lodge.

Mr. Hamm was married in Lyon county by O. C. Gregg March 20, 1882, to Ida Melissa Woodard, a native of Buffalo, New York, and a daughter of M. F. Woodard.

Our subject is a son of William and Mary (Peu) Hamm, Pennsylvanians by birth. The father died about twelve years ago and the mother resides in Balaton. E. M. Hamm has two sisters: Inez (Mrs. B. P. Terry), of Balaton, and Lucy (Mrs. Henry Searles), of Tracy.

when he homesteaded in Lynd township, he has had continuous residence in Lyons township. In January, 1910, Mr. Stiefel moved to Russell and has retired from active work.

Germany is our subject's native country, and he was born in Wurtenberg June 13. 1842. His parents were Charles and Christina Stiefel. At the age of twelve years the young lad's term of education in the common schools was ended and he was put to work on his father's farm, where he did his share of the work for the next five years. The irresistible call of the great country across the Atlantic came to David, as it was doing to so many of his countrymen, and in 1863 he set sail for America and landed in Philadelphia, where he found occupation for a few months at the shoemaker's trade. Mr. Stiefel worked at that and other labor until he enlisted in Company H, Ninety-first Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers. He served until the close of the war, taking active part in the battles of Petersburg, Hatches Run. Erlinda Railroad and the siege of Richmond. At the close of the war he was mustered out at Philadelphia and soon afterward returned for a nine months' visit to his native Germany. Returning to America, Mr. Stiefel settled in Illinois and worked with a brother one year. He came to Lyon county and homesteaded in Lynd township in 1869.

David Stiefel was married in 1881 to Jennie Jones, a daughter of E. C. Jones, Sr., of Russell. They are the parents of the following children: Charles, Christine, Louise. Jennie, Katie and Lovina. Two children. William and Katie, are deceased.

SAMUEL HALVORSON (1871) came to Lyon county when a boy and his period of residence here is exceeded by only a few men. He has lived in Nordland township forty-one years. He owns and farms 160 acres of land.

His parents, Andrew and Annie Halvorson, were born in Norway and at the time of their son's birth on September 8, 1864, were living in Green county, Wisconsin. In 1871 the family came with the pioneers to Lyon county and the father took as a homestead claim the northwest quarter of section 28, Nordland. In the nearby district school Samuel secured his education and on his father's farm he worked until his marriage in 1885.

Hiograpiiu'Al History

After his marriage Mr. Halvorson started farming for himself on a 240-acre farm on sections 28 and 29 which he had received from his father. In 1902 he sold that property and bought his present farm. He engages quite extensively in stock raising and is a successful farmer. He is a member of the Congregational church and has served as a director of school district No. 24.

Mr. Halvorson was married in Xordland township December 5, 1885, to Betsey Helgeson. She was born in Winnebago county, Wisconsin, April 16, 1866, and is a daughter of Ole and Margaret Helgeson, of Norway. Mr. and Mrs. Halvorson have five children. Alma Marea, Andria Sofea, Oscar Melven, Helda Bertine and Edwin Clarence, all born in Nordland township.

JOHN SCOTT (1872) is a homesteader of Sodus township and one of the oldest settlers of that precinct, having lived on the one place an even forty years. In common with other pioneers of Lyon county, Mr. Scott endured many hardships in the days when the festive grasshopper harvested the grain and the fierce winter storms swept the unbroken prairies.

Our subject was born in Wayne county. New York, March 27, 1852, and he descends from an old New York family. His parents were Charles and Delia (Shaw) Scott. The father died when John was three years old, and soon thereafter he accompanied his mother to Michigan, where he was educated and grew to manhood. In 1872 Mr. Scott came to Lyon county and took as a homestead the southeast quarter of section 24. Sodus township, on which farm he has ever since resided.

Mr. Scott was married in Marshall August 23, 1875, to Mary A. Lewis. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 12, 1853,. and is a member of one of the pioneer families of Minnesota. Her parents, Lewis D. and Jane (Davis) Lewis, came from Wales in an early day and made their home at Pittsburgh. They settled in Blue Earth county, Minnesota, in 1857, and members of the family participated in the Sioux War of 1862. Mrs. Scott's father was wounded by the Indians, and an uncle, James Edwards, met his death at the hands of the redskins.

married. They are as follows: Lewis, of Custer township; Jane, the wife of Henry l^d wards; Irwin, of Sodus township; Mabel, the wife of Charles Edwards, of Custer township.

CHARLES C. BELLIXGHAM (1871), deceased. One of the most highly esteemed residents of Lyon county was the gentleman whose name heads this review. When Mr. Bellingham came to the county in 1871 and settled in the vicinity of the future village of Marshall, there were only a few scattered settlers in the county and Lynd, the countj seat, was the only village: no railroad had yet penetrated the county and the country was almost barren of improvements.

Charles C. Bellingham's parents were Charles Thomas Bellingham and Martha (Long) Bellingham. They came to America from England in 1849, lived at Janesville. Wisconsin, until 1854, in Fillmore county, Minnesota, until 1871, and then moved to Lyon county. Both parents died here.

To these parents, in London, England. Charles C. Bellingham was born March 20, 1847. He was brought with the family to the United States when he was two years old and continued to make his home with his parents until after coming to Lyon county. He and his father and Charles Durst drove an ox-team from Fillmore county in the spring of 1871, camping on the night of May 25 on the site . of the city of Marshall. There were then only a few settlers in the vicinity, including C. H. Whitney and C. H. Upton, the first residents of Marshall. A few days after his arrival our subject selected a homestead three miles south of the future county seat of Lyon county and there made his home.

For eighteen years Mr. Bellingham lived on the homestead; then he moved to his home on the outskirts of Marshall, continued his agricultural career, and resided there until his death on January 10, 1910. He was a man held in high esteem and his life was one of activity. Mrs. Bellingham still makes her home on the farm adjoining the city.

Louisa Durst was married to Mr. Bellingham in 1872. She was born in Maryland November 1, 1846, a daughter of Michael and Julia (Yeast) Durst. Her parents spent the winter of 1872 in Lyon county, but returned

Four children were born to Charles Bellingham and wife, namely: Alice (Mrs. Ray .D. Baldwin), of Forest Grove, Oregon; Gertrude, deceased; Martha (Mrs. Roy W. Williams), of Lake Marshall township; and Georgie, who resides at home.

OLE HELGESON (1871) owns and farms a good 160 acres of land, the northwest quarter of section 28, Monroe township. He was born June 14, 1870, in Fillmore county. Minnesota, and when about a year old he accompanied the family to Lyon county, the trip being made in a prairie schooner. The father, Ole Helgeson Brevig, took a homestead on the quarter section where our subject now lives, and resided on the place until his death in 1892.

Until his father's death Ole worked for him on the home farm, afterward farming the place for several years in partnership with his brothers, Helge and Louis. Later he took personal control of the farm and has been conducting the place with success.

Mr. Helgeson was married June 28, 1900, to Clara M. Helleson, the wedding occurring in Monroe township. His wife was born in Fillmore county, Minnesota, November 24, 1877, and came to Lyon county at the age of two years. Two children have been born to this union. They are Ingeborg Amelia, born June 26, 1902, and Oscar Julius, born April 7, 1905.

Our subject's father was born in Norway on November 9, 1840, and came to the United States in 1869, living a few years in Fillmore county, Minnesota, prior to coming to Lyon county in 1871. Ingborg (Olsdatter) Helgeson, mother of our subject, was born in Norway and died in 1903, aged seventy years.

For three years Ole Helgeson was treasurer of school district No. 33, and he served as a member of the township board of Monroe one year. He is a member of the Holand Norwegian Lutheran Church.

SAMUEL W. GALBRAITH (1871), dealer in general merchandise and hardware in Balaton, is one of the oldest settlers living in Lyon county, having a continuous residence of forty-one years to his credit. He served as postmaster of Balaton under the two Democratic administrations and has been a prominent factor in the business life of his village.

Mr. Galbraith is of Scotch-Irish descent. His parents, William and Eliza (Woods) Galbraith, were born in Canada and died in Wisconsin. Our subject is one of a family of five children, the others being Charles and William J., of Adams county, Wisconsin, and Martha Manney and Jenette Tyrnel, of Waupaca county. Wisconsin.

The subject of this review was born at Rochester, New York, January 8, 1841. At the age of one year he was taken by his parents to Logan, Ohio, and when sixteen years old moved with them to Wisconsin and lived on a farm until the Civil War began. He enlisted in Company I, of the Thirtyfourth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, on November 25, 1862, and served until the close of the struggle.

After the war Mr. Galbraith spent one year in Wisconsin, farmed for some time in Dodge county, Minnesota, and later in Steele county, and on the ninth day of June, 1871, became a resident of Lyon county. He drove from Steele county with an ox team, and on the date mentioned he filed a homestead claim to the northeast quarter of section 28, Lyons township. He still owns that farm and is one of the few homesteaders who still own the land they secured from the government.

Mr. Galbraith's experiences in the early days were not different from those remembered by most of the pioneers of Lyon county. He had trying times but weathered the storms of adversity and has lived to see the county develop into one of the most fruitful in the Northwest. His first home on the bleak prairie was a sod shanty, in which he lived two or three years. Then he built a more pretentious home, a 16x20 feet board house. The lumber contained in the new building was sawed from logs he cut on "Section 37", that being the name by which the early settlers designated a certain timber tract in Coon Creek township, the mill in which they were sawed being located at Camden. The shingles and outside lumoer were hauled by ox team from Mankato.

to make his borne until 1886 and then moved io Balaton, baving been appointed postmaster of that village by Presidenl Cleveland In May of thai year. 11«' ;iis<> served a second term under Presidenl Cleveland. During his second term Mr. Galbraith erected ;i building and engaged in the hardware business, which he has since followed. He deals in general hardware, shoes, groceries, etc. In the management of his store he is assisted by his son, Walter C, to whom he gave a half interest in 1906. The business is now conducted under the firm name of S. \V. Galbraith & Son. Mr. Galbraith, in addition to his other duties, attends to the management of his farm, being the owner of 240 acres of land.

While a resident of Lyons township Mr. Galbraith served ten or twelve years as clerk of school district No. 11, having been the first clerk of the district. In Balaton he served as a member of the Village Council four years.

The marriage of Mr. Galbraith to Ellen Orbin, a native of Port Elizabeth. Xew Jersey, occurred in Dodge county. Wisconsin, January 14, 1863. Seven children were born to this union, of whom four are deceased. The living children are Ferdinand S., Walter C. and Lola P.

OLE A. BROUGHTOX (1871), one of the first settlers of Vallers township, was born on a small farm in Vallers, Norway, February 9, 1849, a son of Anders and Anna (Olson) Broughton. He was reared in his native land and at the age of eighteen set out alone to seek his fortune in America.

Upon his arrival in America young Broughton located in Iowa county, Wisconsin, where he worked at farm labor and in the pineries the following two years. He then moved to Trempealeau county and was occupied there until the spring of 1871 in the pineries and as a laborer on the railroad. Our subject had then by careful saving accumulated $120, and with this he came to Lyon county and took as a homestead the southwest quarter of section 6, Vallers township. The township was not organized at that time and there were only two other claims taken that year, John Hella filing on the northeast quarter of section 6 and John Anderson on the northwest quarter.

ers, ami the first few years of Mr. Broughton's residence in the township he wenl Easl during the falls and worked in the harvest fields. During the grasshopper years the pests took all his oats and he realized on 1 > about seven hushels Of wheal to the acre. Better years came before long, however, and our subject prospered and improved his land, and todaj Mr. Broughton's fine 240-acre farm and fine home is an evidence1 of his thrift and perserverance. He helped organize the township, attended the first election, and has served on the township board six years. He has also been a member of the school board of district No. 56 since it was organized.

Ole A. Broughton and Helena Nelson were joined in the holy bonds of matrimony in Yellow Medicine county March 10, 1874. She was born in Dane county, Wisconsin, January 23, 1859, and her father and mother were Jonas and Marit (Melvatne) Nelson, natives of Norway. The father died in 1890 and the mother lives with her daughter and son-in-law at the advanced age of ninety-one years. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Broughton. their names being as follows: Andrew, Matilda, Annie, Anneta, John, Julia and Anton. Mr. and Mrs. Broughton belong to the Norwegian Lutheran church.

ANDREW SANDEN (1872), whose parents were the first settlers in Shelburne townchip, is a retired farmer of Florence. Leaving the farm in 1902, Mr. Sanden moved to Florence and engaged in the hotel and livery business. He sold his interests in .'.910 to Erick Erickson and retired from active business life. Mr. Sanden is a stockholder of the State Bank of Florence and still owns a 200-acre farm in Lincoln county and an eighty-acre tract in Lyon county, besides his commodius home and six acres of land adjoining Florence.

In 1871 Peter and Karen (Corneliuson) Sanden, parents of Andrew Sanden, immigrated to the United States from Norway. The family located first in Fillmore county, Minnesota, making a stay of only five months before moving to Mankato for the winter of 1871-1872. In the fall of 1872 the family came to Lyon county and homesteaded in Shelburne township.

Our subject was born in Trondhjem, Norway. September 12, 1855. He attended the common schools until the age of sixteen, at which time the family moved to America. Andrew helped his father on the farm during the early years and experienced the hardships of pioneer days. During the summer months from 1872 to 1876 Andrew worked with a railroad construction crew. In 1876 a quarter section in Lincoln county was taken by the subject of our sketch as a homestead, and there he made his home for twenty-six years, until renting the place and making his residence in Florence.

March 17, 1888, Andrew Sanden married Mary Storle, a native of Norway and a daughter of Arnt and Olive (Storle) Storle. Mrs. Sanden was born November 6, 1867. Two children have been born to the Sandens. They are Clara, born June 7, 1895, and Alma, born July 24, 1900. Andrew Sanden has three brothers living, named Hans, John and Andrew. Ingeborg (Mrs. Erick Ronning) and Melena (Mrs. Paul Ronning), both of Florence, are sisters of our subject.

C. M. GOODRICH (1869), retired farmer and for the past five years a resident of Garvin, is one of the county's old settlers. He is the owner of 213 acres of well-improved land in Custer township and is a stockholder in the Farmers Independent Elevator Company of Garvin.

The Empire State is the birthplace and boyhood home of C. M. Goodrich. His father, Allen Goodrich, was a native of Connecticut, and his mother, Elizabeth (Stevens) Goodrich, was born in Vermont Both are deceased. Our subject was born January 17. 1846, and his first years were spent in New York State. In 1S54 he and his mother and two sisters moved to Wisconsin and made their home on a farm. The following spring they moved to Olmsted county, Minnesota, where they resided until 1858. Then until 1862 they lived in Waseca county. Thev returned to Olmsted county for another year's residence and later spent several years in Rice county.

homesteads in Custer township in the early seventies. They were among the first settlers and their experience is the story of pioneer days, punctuated with struggles and hardships. Mr. Goodrich farmed on his homestead practically all of the time from the early seventies until he moved to Garvin a few years ago.

Mr. Goodrich is a member of the Masonic lodge. He is a respected citizen of the community and is enjoying a well-earned rest after a lifetime of hard and honest toil. He has watched the country grow and prosper from the time where there was only an occasional settler's rude cabin to be found within a radius of miles of unbroken prairie until the present day, with farms of rich land and modern buildings.

JEROME MORSE (1871), of Lynd township, is one of the first settlers of Lyon county. He was born in Colden, Erie county, New York, on February 13, 1858. His father, Milo B. Morse, a native of Island Pond, Vermont, went to Colden, New York, when a young man and married Clarinda Irish, a native of Utah City. They removed to Columbia county, Wisconsin, in 1868 and resided there one year. They then came to Minnesota, locating in Oronoco. Later they came to Lyon county, with C. H. Whitney. The father died at Steele, North Dakota, and the mother, aged seventy-four years, still resides at Steele with her three sons. There are four sons living: Jerome, Edward, Frank and William, the last three residing with their mother. One daughter, Phoebe (Mrs. Robert Bellingham), died in 1891.

Jerome Morse came to Lyon county with his father in 1871. The father pre-empted the southwest quarter of section 4, Lake Marshall township, now a part of the city of Marshall, and C. H. Whitney took the southeast quarter of the same section. They built a sod house, 16x24 feet, across the present Northwestern tracks. There they lived until the fall of 1872; then Milo Morse sold to the townsite company and homesteaded the southwest quarter of section 6. Lake Marshall township.

In 1877 the father sold to George Link and moved to Bellingham, Lac qui Parle county, where he purchased a farm and where our subject took a pre-emption claim.

The latter lived on his place until the spring Of 1882, when he went to Brown county, South Dakota, and homesteaded land, upon which he resided until 1885. He then moved to Lac qui Parle county and again took up his residence on his pre-empted farm, where he resided till 1893. On the latter date he sold out and went to Roberts county. South Dakota, and took a claim in the Sisseton country, where he resided until 1907. He then went to Lewistown, Fergus county, Montana, and worked at his trade of plasterer until 1909. He returned to Lyon county and has resided in Lynd township since. He follows his trade of plasterer.

Mr. .Morse was married in Marshall December 20, 1878, to Melissa Smith, a native of Horicon, Wisconsin, born May 10, 1861. She is the daughter of Thomas B. and U. K. Smith. The former died during the Civil War in a hospital at St. Louis. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Morse was one of the first in Marshall. The license was secured from James Williams, who was then clerk of court. They have no children.

GREGAR AMUNDSON (1872). A pioneer settler of Lyon county, one of the few men who still live on the homestead they took in an early day, and one of the big land owners, farmers and stock raisers of Nordland township is Gregar Amundson, who for forty years has lived on the southwest quarter of section 22. His farm consists of 560 acres on sections 22 and 27, improved by good substantial buildings and a fine home. He had practically no means when he came to Lyon county and his rise has been accomplished by his own unaided efforts.

In Tellemarken, Norway, on October 10, 1850, Gregar Amundson was born. His parents were Amund and Ragnild (Levson) Olson, both of whom are buried in the old country. In 1872, when he was twenty-two years of age, Gregar broke home ties and journeyed to America. After spending two months in Boone county, Iowa, he came to Lyon county and took his claim in Nordland township, and upon that place he has ever since lived. After passing through the days of adversity that accompanied the grasshopper scourge, he came upon prosperous times and is in comfortable circumstances. He is an extensive stock raiser and makes a specialty of Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs. He is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran church and a director of school district No. 25.

Mr. Amundson was married in Minneota May 12, 1878, to Annie Furgeson. She was born in Winnebago county, Wisconsin, December 14, 1860. Her father, Kittle Furgeson, was born in Norway and died in 1902. Her mother, Margaret (Helgeson) Furgeson, was also born in Norway and now resides in Minneota at the age of eighty-two years Mr. and Mrs. Amundson have twelve children, named as follows: Ferdinand A., Carl M., Ragnild, Fredericka, Clara, Freda, Alice, Anna, Rudolph, Leonard, Mabel and Abner,

EDWIN W. HEALY (1871). The oldest Lyon county settler now living in Tracy is Edwin W. Healy, who with his wife has for forty-one years resided continuously in Monroe township and the city of Tracy. There were only a few people living in southeastern Lyon county when they came and Mrs. Healy was the first American-born woman to live in Monroe township. The family experienced many of the hardships of pioneer days and are richly entitled to a place in this History of Lyon County.

In Dudley, Massachusetts, on the eleventh day of September, 1840, Edwin W. Healy was born. His parents were Davis and Zeruiah (Williams) Healy. Both are deceased, the mother having lived to the age of ninety-three years. Until he was ten years old Edwin attended the Dudley Hill school and later the public school at Merino. He completed his schooling at the age of twenty years, having taken a course in Dudley Academy. For two years after quitting school Mr. Healy worked in the mills, and then until 1868 he worked at the carpenter's trade in Webster and Dudley.

In the spring of 1868 Mr. Healy came West. For three years he rented land and farmed in Houston county, Minnesota, and then in 1871 he took up his residence in Monroe township, Lyon county, where he has ever since lived. After taking up his residence in Tracy Mr. Healy for a number of years worked at his trade and also conducted a feedmill. Tn thet spring of 1911 he retired from active pursuits.

He was one of the first clerks of Monroe township and one of those who organized the Methodist church. For a number of years he was one of the church trustees.

On September 22, 1864, occurred the ceremony that made E. W. Healy and Sarah Bates man and wife. She is the daughter of John and Mary Ann (Jacobs) Bates, natives of Connecticut and early settlers of Dudley, Massachusetts, and was born August 29, 1847. They have two children, Fred W. and Arthur F.

OLE L. ORSEX (1874), retired farmer, has lived in Minneota since the fall of 1905. He is the owner of 320 acres of fine, improved land in Westerheim township and also of a fine residence and five lots in the village. Mr. Orsen was county commissioner from district No. 2 eight years and was street commissioner of Minneota one year. He is a stockholder of the Farmers & Merchants Supply Company and was one of the promoters and organizers of the Norwegian Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Eidsvold, Lyon county, of which he has been a director since its organization and of which he was for twenty-one years secretary.

The Norwegian Mutual Company was incorporated February 22, 1879. The head office is at Cottonwood. Minnesota, and the company is authorized to do business in fifty townships of the counties Lyon, Lincoln and Yellow Medicine. There are now over 2400 policy holders and the company has nearly $5,000,000 of insurance in force. The board of directors for 1912 comprises the following members: O. C. Wilson, Granite Falls, president; C. G. Nelson, Canby, vice president; A. E. Anderson, Cottonwood, secretary; I. L. Kolhei, Cottonwood, treasurer; O. L. Orsen, Minneota: H. G. Odden, Echo; H. P. Rodness, Clarkfield; Chris Wollum, Porter; and Chr. Ramlo, Hendricks, directors.

Our subject was born in Romsdalen, Norway, February 28, 1849, and is a son of Lars O. and Magnild (Aandhal) Aasen, both of whom are dead. The parents came to America in 1874 and located in Allamakee county, Iowa. Two children, Ole and Magnild, had preceded the family to America several years. The family moved to »Lyon county and took a homestead on section 18, Westerheim. in 1875, and there the father died eleven years later, the mother living on the farm until ten years before her death, June 6. 1910, at the home of her son Ole in Minneota.

Ole Orsen received part of his education in Norway and later attended high school two years in Monona. Iowa, one term at Waukon, and one year attended a common school of Allamakee county. In the spring of 1874 he came to Lyon county and took a homestead on section IS, in the town of Westerheim, where he farmed until moving to Minneota in 1905. Mr. Orsen is a member of the Hemnes Lutheran church of Lyon county and is a trustee. He was the first town clerk of Westerheim, holding office four years, served on the town board, school board and .as justice of the peace, and was one of the organizers of the township. To him belongs the honor of bestowing the name Westerheim upon the township.

In 1878 Ole Orsen married Theoline Strande, a native of Westre Thoten, Norway. They have the following children: Amalia. Lewis, Nickolai Martinus, Alfred, Ludwig, Magnild, Theoline. Mamie Attilia, Nora Sophia and .Martin Olai.

REESE DAVIS (1871). One of the oldest settlers of Lyon county now residing in the county and a highly respected citizen of Marshall is Reese Davis. For more than forty-one years he has had a continuous residence in the county and he has seen it develop from a sparsely settled, treeless expanse of prairie to the populous and prosperous conditions of today. Only a few men have had more opportunity than he to participate in the history making of Lyon county.

In South Wales, on April 15, 1844, Reese Davis was born. At the age of three years he accompanied his parents to the New World and grew to young manhood in Jackson county, Ohio. When a little past seventeen years of age, on October 15, 1861, he enlisted in the Union Army and fought for the preservation of his adopted country- He served four years and seven months as a member of Company C, Fifty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, having been discharged in May, 1866.

Mr. And Mrs. Reese Davis Bhmjkai'Iiu'Al History

participated during his service were the following: Pittsburgh Landing, April 6, 1862; siege of Corinth, May, 1862; Port Gibson, .May. 1863; Champion Hill, May. 1863; siege of Vicksburg, May, June and July, INC.:;; Jackson, July 12 to 15, 1863; Carrion Crow Bayou. November, 1863; Sabine Cross Roads, April, 1864; Monette Ferry, April, 1864; Snaggy Point, May, 1864; and many minor engagements. At the close of the war he was stationed with his regiment at New Orleans. Because of threatened trouble in Mexico, his regiment was retained in the service for a year after the close of the war.

Upon receiving his discharge in May, 1866, Mr. Davis returned to his home in Jackson county and went through a siege of serious illness. Upon the advice of his physician to seek a change of climate, in September, 1S66, Mr. Davis moved to Blue Earth county, Minnesota. There he purchased an -eighty-acre tract of land, upon which he resided until he came to Lyon county.

It was during the month of June. 1871, that Mr. Davis located in the county which has ever since been his home. He took as a soldier's homestead claim the southeast quarter of section 8, Monroe township, on which he resided about eight years, and to which he secured title. His first home was a 12x16 feet dug-out, and Mr. Davis asserts that some of the happiest days of his life were passed in that rude shelter. The dugout was later replaced by a frame house. During the summer of 1872 Mr. Davis had a contract to do the grading for the Winona & St. Peter railroad between Lamberton and the future city of Tracy.

Mr. Davis lived on the farm until the railroad was built westward from Tracy in 1879. Then he moved to Tracy and worked with the bridge builders on the new line between Tracy and Huron. He resided in Tracy until 1887, part of the time working at the carpenter's trade. In the year last mentioned Mr. Davis took up his residence in the county seat, where he has ever since lived. Until ten years ago he worked at his trade, and since that time he has lived a retired life. Mr. Davis is a member of Joe Hooker Post No. 15, G. A. R., of Tracy. He is a member of the Presbyterian church of Marshall and has been an elder of the church

The parents of the subject of this biogra phy were Thomas E. and Nancy Da\is. They came to the United States in L847 and both died in Ohio. Four children of the family are living, as follows: Reese, of this review; Daniel, of Ironton, Ohio; Jane Davis, a widow, of Columbus, Ohio; and Ann Morgan, of Columbus, Ohio.

Reese Davis was married in Blue Earth county, Minnesota, January 22, 1868, to Jane Jones, a native of Ohio. They have the following named five children: Esther, the wife of William Russell, of Moorhead, Minnesota; Mary, the wife of Oscar Krook, postmaster of Marshall; Thomas E. and John I. (twins), the former mayor of Marshall and a prominent attorney; and Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Regney, of Laurel, Montana.

JOHN S. OWENS (1S74) owns 120 acres of the southwest quarter of section 26, Custer township, and is one of the prosperous farmers of the community. His parents, Robert and Hannah (Jones) Owens, came to Minnesota from Kansas and lived for a time in Brown county before moving to Lyon county in 1874. The father is dead and the mother is living with her daughter, Mrs. Mary A. Weed, at Garvin.

John Owens was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, August 25, 1858, and while very young moved with his parents to Brown county, Minnesota. The lad received his early education in Brown county and finished it in the common schools of Custer township, Lyon county. At the age of eighteen, his schooling being finished, John worked out at farm labor three years, after which he returned to work on the home farm until twenty-eight years of age, when he married and moved to his present farm, land which he had taken as a homestead at the age of twenty-one years. Mr. Owens has prospered and owns a valuable piece of farm land. He has been road overseer of the township and is a stockholder of the Farmers Independent Elevator Company and the telephone company of Garvin.

April 21, 1886, was the date of the wedding of John Owens and Sephorah Roberts, a native of Wales. She was born March 25. 1866, and is a daughter of Richard and Mary Roberts, pioneer settlers of Lyon coun- ty and Lyons township. Mr. and Mrs. Owens are the parents of the following children: Lizzie May, Minnie. Winnie, Marion, Esther, Hazel and Garvin, all of whom, except Winnie, reside at home. Mrs. Owens' father is dead and her mother resides at Russell. Mr. Owens is a member of the M. W. A. lodge of Garvin and was formerly an officer of the lodge. He and his wife are members of the Congregational church.

RICHARD BLAKE (1872), Lake Marshall township farmer, is a native of Ireland and was born at Kilcaske in 1848. He is the son of Charles and Mary I McCarthy) !',!ake. of whom the former died in Ireland and the latter died in Minnesota at the age of eighty years.

When twelve or thirteen years of age our subject came to America with his mother and brothers, locating in Boston. Massachusetts, where the family resided about eighteen months. He then moved to Grant county. Wisconsin, where he workpd at farm labor and later at the trade of blacksmith in Platteville for several years. The year 1872 marks the date of his arrival in Lyon county, when he filed on the northwest quarter of section 18, Fail-view township, as a homestead. He proved up on his claim and improved it. Later he purchased the northeast quarter of section 13, Grandview township, upon which he built and where he lived until 19tr4. On the latter date he moved to Marshall and spent the winter there. In the spring he moved to a forty-acre tract on section 10, Lake Marshall township, which he owned. Later he purchased forty acres adjoining, making the eighty-acre farm upon which he now resides. Mr. Blake is a member of the Catholic church.

February, 1885, to Mary Versnick, a native of Belgium. She was born November IS. 1864, and is a daughter of Philip and Rosalie (De Bert) Versnick. To this union have been born the following named children: Elizabeth Julia Mae, born September 13, 1885; Charles E., born June 15, 1887; Sylvester F., born December 12, 1888: James E.. born April 14. 1891; Richard W.. born February 28. 1893; Margaret E., born July 19. 1895; William J., born December 19. 1898; Leonard W., born April 23, 1901; Edward L.. born February 24, 1903: Irene H.. born October 3, 1905; Vincent George, born Februarv 23. 1908.

MRS. OLAVA MYRAX (1874) is the widow of C. P. Myran, and she and her husband were early settlers of Lyon county and among the first in Shelburne township. Mr. Myran died September 28, 1907, and the widow still resides on the old homestead farm, the southwest quarter of section 20. The farm is run by two of her sons. Ole and Peder. Mrs. Myran also owns forty acres on the southeast quarter of section 19, Shelburne. She was among the first members of the Norwegian Lutheran church of Florence.

Our subject is a native of Opdahl, Norway, where she was born December 21, 1850, a daughter of Ole and Brielt (Storlie) Gorseth, both of her parents being now deceased. She attended school during her early teens and remained at home helping her parents. In 1S71 Miss Gorseth came to the United States in company with Mr. and .Mis. Peder Myran, the parents of the young man she later married. The young woman worked for private families in Mankato two years and then came to Lyon county, where soon after occurred her marriage to C. P. Myran.