Pipestone County, Minnesota - Chapter 34: Pipestone County Biographical, 1911 (part 1 of 7)

Chapter 34: Pipestone County Biographical

CHARLES H. BENNETT (1873), the oklest settler of Pipestone county now residing in the county, is deservedly referred to as the "Father of Pipestone City." Since the day in Api'il, 1874, when he erected the first human habitation in Pipestone county he has been a guiding spirit of the community. In company with D. E. Sweet, he platted the original iipestone City in the spring of 1876, and ever since he has been a generous-hearted resident of the city, ever zealous of its welfare. He has seen Pipestone develop from a site without a building or an inhabitant, through the pioneer stages, into the substantial city it is today. During all those years none have given more of his time or talent to the promotion of every worthy cause than has Mr. Bennett.

Not only has he taken a leading part in the material advancement of his city and county, he has preserved in memory and records the events of historical importance from the earliest days, and to Charles H. Bennett the author of this volume is indebted more than to any other person for assistance in compiling this history of Pipestone county. Without the aid furnished by him, much of historical importance must have remained unrecorded.

Mr. Bennett comes from a family of town founders. His father, Isaiah W. Bennett, was a co-founder of the cities of Union City, Ann Arbor and Jackson, three of the prosperous cities of Michigan.

that vicinity he spent his boyhood days. He served an enlistment in the civil war of 1861 to 1865, in 1864 as a member of company D, One Hundred thirty-fourth Illinois infantry, and after the war moved to the western country. Prior and subsequent to service in the army he had qualified himself as a pharmacist, as a student with Professors Proctor, Sargent, and other prominent pharmacists in Dubuque, Philadelphia, Chicago and Omaha.

In 1867 Mr. Bennett located in the village of Sioux City, Iowa, then a town not larger than Pipestone is now and without a railroad. For two years he was employed as clerk in a drug store in that frontier village, and in 1869 he located on the site of the present city of LeMars, Iowa, erecting the first business building in the town, in which he established a drug store. He conducted that business about seven years, or until taking up his residence in Pipestone county.

Mr. Bennett first beheld the scenes of his later activities in August, 1873. At that time he paid a visit to the famous Red Pipestone quarries, accompanied by his wife, who died the following year; his sister, Mrs. Annie E. Wright; his baby nephew, Cenie C. Wright; and Mr. and Mrs. Frank Flint. While at the quarries on that visit Mr. Bennett selected the site of Pipestone for a future home and as the point at which he would some day found a city. In carrying out his plans, Mr. Bennett, accompanied by others, visited the site again in April, 1874, and erected the first building in the county. That was on a claim of 160 acres he had pre-empted - the southeast quarter of section 12, township 106, north of range 46 west. The exact site of the claim shanty is lot 14, of block 12, original plat of Pipestone City, and is diagonally across the street from Commerce block, at the northwest corner of the Intersection of Centennial and Hiawatha streets. The lumber for the pioneer shanty was hauled from Luverne. (A large reinforced concrete cement building is now being erected on the foregoing site by Joseph Sturzl for a garage and machinery establishment). A few weeks after it was put up Mr. Bennett had thirty-seven acres of prairie land broken on and near the townsite.

In order to devote his entire time to the new settlement, Mr. Bennett disposed of his drug business In LeMars on the first of January, 1876, and in the spring of the same year he and D. B. Sweet platted Pipestone City. He planted twenty acres of trees and later twenty acres more and erected an office building, which now forms a part of his residence, on lots 14, 15 and 16, block 11, original plat. The lumber for the building was secured in Worthington and was hauled with teams by him fifty miles across country where roads were unknown. Mr. Bennett broke more land and planted the seeds that were to bear fruit and help transform the wilderness into a blooming garden. Settlers were invited into the new country, and largely through Mr. Bennett's instrumentality the first mail routes and post roads were established and the first steps taken for a civil organization.

On October 6, 1877, Charles H. Bennett took as his second wife Adelaide B. George, of Warner, New Hampshire, and In 1878 they established a permanent home In Pipestone. Hauling lumber from Luverne, a large two-story building was erected, in which, in the spring of 1879, Mr. Bennett established the first drug store in the county, a business he has ever since conducted. The business is now housed in the substantial and beautiful stone building on Centennial street, erected in the early days. Many other men hesitated through lack of faith in the future development of the town to invest of their means in building, but Mr. Bennett, confident of a future prosperity, spent freely of his means and all he could borrow to such ends. Besides the Bennett block, he erected the former postoffice corner of the Syndicate block. Portions of the first frame building put up by Mr. Bennett for his drug business were used for church services, court purposes, county offices and public hall.

Many of the flourishing institutions and factors of progress of which Pipestone today attributes its substantial and attractive appearance can be traced directly to the activity and influence of Charles H. Bennett. He was largely instrumental in the removal from LeMars, Iowa, of the widelyknown English firm of Close Bros., who established their office headquarters in Pipestone and inaugurated a boom for that city. To this Mr. Bennett contributed liberally in money and many thousands of dollars' worth of land and lots, which were turned over to the great land firm. He secured the building by Close Bros, of the first Calumet hotel, costing $40,000, which was burned, and the erection by them of forty new houses on adjacent lands. He assisted in bringing additional railroads to the county and was the most active agency in securing legislation and appropriation from congress for the founding in Pipestone of one of the finest government Indian industrial schools in the United States.

In an official capacity Mr. Bennett has also been of invaluable service to this city and county. Although not a lawyer by profession, he was elected the first county attorney of Pipestone county, later served as county court commissioner, and for several years efficiently served as chairman of the board of Pipestone county commissioners. He was the first clerk of Sweet township and has served as justice of the peace and as a member of the city council. In 1897 he was elected mayor and during his incumbency he accomplished an enterprise that has had lasting effects. He inaugurated the plan of conducting a contest for civic improvement among the housekeepers of the municipality. He offered as a prize a town lot valued at $150, which was given to the lady who during the year caused the most improvements in her dooryard, street and surrounding lots and who secured the maximum amount of labor from tramps in bringing about the desired results. This novel plan, prompted by gen-

The business conducted by Mr. Bennett is a model enterprise of its kind. It is headquarters for the largest stock of raw and manufactured Indian pipestone in the world. A large exhibit, under a concession, for the sale of pipestone curios was maintained at the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago in 1893, and also at the Louisiana Purchase exposition at St. Louis in 1904 by Mr. Bennett. In both instances he was awarded silver and bronze medals and diplomas of significance.

Mr. Bennett is a member of three local Masonic orders, the Royal Arch Chapter, Blue Lodge and Eastern Star. In the affairs of that noble organization, the Grand Army of the Republic, Mr. Bennett has always been an active participant. He is a charter member and a past commander of Simon Mix Post No. 80, department of Minnesota. He has been honored by the department as a former member of the committee on the state soldiers' home and he is at present adjutant of the post, an office he had held for many years. He was also a charter member of the First Presbyterian church of Pipestone City.

As a life member of the Minnesota Historical society, Mr. Bennett has rendered valuable aid to the society. He is a charter member of the Pipestone County Old Set tiers' society and has been its president. He has been continually secretary and historian of the society, and in those capacities he has prepared a rare record of local event in the county by keeping on file copies of every newspaper ever published in Pipestone City. These files, comprising many bound volumes, have been loaned to and placed by the society in the Carnegie public library. He has also preserved a duplicate set of files as above for his own use.

MAJOR D E. RUNALS (1876), of Osborne township, is one of the valiant pioneers who so prominently and actively played their allotted parts in the events in cident to the formative period of both Rock and Pipestone counties. He has fought a good fight and is now retired from active pursuits, although he continues to make the home of his declining years on the old farm on which he has resided for the past thirty years. His is one of the exceptionally fine and attractive farm homes of Osborne township. In that precinct he owns three quarter sections of land.

Major D. E. Runals was born in Burlington, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, May 1, 1843. His father was Abner Runals, whose birth occurred March 2, 1789, at Concord, Rockingham (now Merrlmac) county. New Hampshire. By occupation he was a millwright and miller. He was one of the first settlers of Wyoming county, New York, later moved to Ohio, Pennsylvania, and finally to Forestville, , Fillmore county, Minnesota, where he died April 2, 1860. The mother of our subject was Cassandra (EUicott) Runals, who before her marriage to Abner Runals on April 10, 1837, was a Mrs. Kingsbury. She was bom in Maryland November 25, 1798, and died at Granville, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, June 16, 1852.

A history of the Runals and Ellicott families is now being prepared by Major Runals, and from his data some Interesting ancestral information is gleaned. It has been ascertained that the Runals family originated in Ayrshire, Scotland. The first of the family born in America was John Runals (then spelled Ranals), the great great grandfather of our subject. He was born in 1689, and died in the town of Durham, New Hampshire, in 1756. His son, Abraham, served In the revolutionary war under Colonel Pierce Long and died July 24, 1804, at the age of eighty-six years. Abraham Runals had four sons who served in the struggle for independence. The seventh son, Jonathan, was born at Lee, New Hampshire, August 16, 1758, and died at Deerlng, in the same state, on April 18, 1840. He married Dorothy Dimond, the daughter of Ezekiel and Marian Dimond, who were the first settlers of Concord, New Hampshire. She was born October 15, 1780. The son of Jonathan and Dorothy (Dimond) Runals was Abner Runals, already mentioned as the father of our subject.

Tradition shows the Ellicott family to have been of early Saxon origin and to have been represented in Devonshire, England, at the time of the Norman conquest in

1066. The ancestry of Major Runals on his mother's side can be traced direct to the marriage of Francis Fox to Dorothy Kekewich, in Cornwall, England, in 1646. The founder of the American branch of this family, a direct descendant of this marriage, was Andrew EUicott, born July 11, 1708, who on coming to America in 1730 settled in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. The mother of our subpject. Cassandra Ellicott, was directly descended from this .\ndrew Ellicott.

Mr. Runals, whom we are now considering, passed the first twelve years of his life in various parts of Pennsylvania, where his father happened to be employed in the erection of mills. The family moved to Minnesota in 1855, located first at Carimona, and later at Forestville, Fillmore county, which was the home of our subject until locating in Rock county in 1876. The year following his adven' to Minnesota he took a position on the Fillmore County Pioneer, the first newspaper published in the county. He worked there until publication was suspended; then for a time he was succesively connected with the Decorah Journal and Decorah Gazette. The year previous to the out break of the civil war he worked at farm labor.

At the call for volunteers Major Runals was one of the first to respond. He enlisted .June 26, 1861, at Chatfield, Minnesota, as a musician in company A, Second Minnesota volunteer infantry. He was shortly after transferred to the ranks, and later become orderly to the colonel and regimental postmaster. He was wounded in the left breast at the battle of Chickamauga, and a few days after the battle, mention of Mr. Runals' conduct in the battle was made in the report of Colonel J. George, dated September 30, 1863. Following is an extract from the report: "Orderly M. D. E. Runals and Bugler Albert Gissell are entitled to special mention for their gallant and prompt discharge of duties under fire. Both were severely wounded."

During the latter period of the great sectional struggle Major Runals vvas detached from his regiment and attached as a dispatch bearer to the headquarters of the left wing army of Georgia, commanded by General W. H. Slocum. He participated in the battles and engagements at Perryville,

Kentucky, Chickamauga, Averysboro, Bentonville, and in the Atlanta campaign and the memorable march to the sea with Sherman. His is the distinction of being the first man to breast the works and enter Corinth after the evacuation of that city by the confederates in 1862. He was discharged from the service at Fort Snelling on July 11, 1865.

At the cessation of hostilities our subject zealously applied himself to his education. He attended the Cedar Valley seminary, at Osage, Iowa, for two terms; then he entered Eastman's Business college, at Poughkeepsie, New York, from which he received a diploma in I8611. Following his graduation he accepted a position as bookkeeper for Felix Meighen, at Forestville. He then took the management of a store at .\nson, Wisconsin, for Gilbert Bros. & Co. Following that, he was engaged successively in Fillmore county in securing patent rights, teaching school and farming. Mr. Runals then journeyed to the Pacific coast states, Idaho, Montana, and other localities in the west, on a prospecting tour. He struck a bonanza and at one time was reported to be worth $150.- 000, but much of this fortune he lost before returning east.

After a short sojourn in lus I<^iilniore county home, he visited in New Hampshire and the scenes of his birth. On again coming west, he located in Rock county, arriving in the latter part of October, 1876. On January 2, 1877, he declared his intention of homesteading the southeast quarter of section 32, Battle Plain township, which he carried into effect by filing a claim on March 26, 1877. Final proof was made September 14, 1878, and he made his residence on the land the year following. During that period Mr. Runals was one of those who perfected the organization of the township, and he served as its first clerk. For three months he was employed in the store of W. H. Glass, at Beaver Creek.

In 1879 Major Runals became identified with Pipestone county interests. On leaving the Battle Plain farm, he located in the prospective town of Edgerton and erected the second building in the town. He was variously engaged during his residence of three years in the place. He was in the real estate business, clerked in a store, and served as the deputy postmaster. For a time he was absent from Edgerton, while In the employ of Kniss & Walters, who were engaged in construction work in Iowa.

In the spring of 1882 this man of achievement located on the present Osborne township farm, his home to this day. The land had been homesteaded by Sarah J. Chapman, who on September 16, 1882, became the wife of M. D. E. Runals. On June 18, 1877, he filed a timber claim to the southeast quarter of section 22, township 105, range 44. Many were the offices of trust held by Mr. Runals in these early days. He was the first notary public given a commission in Pipestone county. That he received in 1879. He served as township justice and as a supervisor, and was for a time clerk of school district No. 2.

Major Runals has been twice married. His first wife was Eliza S. Baldwin, whom he married in Fillmore county on New Years day, 1867. To that union was born one son: Kenneth Artemas, now of California. He was born September 4, 1868. His second marriage has already been mentioned. Sarah (Chapman) Runals was born at Salem, Kenosha county, Wisconsin, on March 28, 1846. She comes of an old family, of English descent. She was graduated from the Kenosha, Wisconsin, high school in 1867 and taught school for over twenty years in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

JOSEPH H. CRAWFORD (1878), Pipestone county pioneer and large land owner of Sweet township, is an lowan by birth. His parents, Robert and Sarah (Shannon) Crawford, both natives of Coshocton county, Ohio, moved to Allamakee county, Iowa, where they had bought government land, in the early fifties, and in that county occurred the birth of our subject on February 26, 1856.

Joseph attended the district schools of Allamakee county and resided on the home farm until he was twenty-two years of age. Then, in 1878, young Crawford journeyed to the new Pipestone county, which had just commenced to attract the hardy settler, and there he determined upon the establishment of a future home. He pre-empted the northeast quarter of section 6, Sweet township, later changing his filing to a homestead claim and making final proof in 1885. To his original holding Mr. Crawford has added by purchase the southeast quarter of section 6 and the northwest quarter of the same section, which makes him today the possessor of 480 acres of as choice land as the county affords. He engages extensively in buying and feeding stock. In the promotion of his community's interests our subject has at all times been prominently and actively concerned. He represented the third district on the board of county commissioners for two years. Mr. Crawford is a director of school district No. 46 and is the president of the Farmers Elevator company of Airlie.

In Buchanan county, Iowa, the fourth of March, 1885, occurred the ceremony which united Joseph H. Crawford and Margaret Hood in the bonds of matrimony. Mrs. Crawford was born in Scotland September 24. 1860, and is a daughter of David and Barbara (Clawson) Hood. Mr. and Mrs. Crawford are the parents of the following named seven children: Sarah B., bom January 9, 1886; Florence M., born August 22, 1888; May, born June lu, 1890; Bertha, born November 13, 1896; Robert, born April 27, 1898; David, born February 8, 1900; and Hildred, born March 14, 1902.

WILLIAM J. TAYLOR (1875). Of those who came to Pipestone county in the very early days and took part in the history making events of the middle seventies only two are still residents of the county - C. H. Bennett and Dr. William J. Taylor, the subject of this biography. When he first visited the county, in 1874, and made preparations for settlement there were only two men living in the county and when he took up his permanent residence there in 1875 only a few more had pushed their way to this frontier region. He is certainly one of the pioneers of the county. Dr. Taylor resides in the city of Pipestone and is the senior member of the firm of Taylor & Rice, physicians and surgeons.

Taylor, having been born there on the eighteenth day of April, 1844. At the age ot seven years lie accompanied his parents to Dane county, Wisconsin, and grew to manhood on a farm eight miles west of the city of Madison. His education was secured in the common schools of his county, in the university of Wisconsin and in Rush Medical college.

Wnile a resident of Dane county and when eighteen years of age our subject, on August 20, 1862, enlisted in company K, of the Thirty-second Wisconsin volunteeer infantry, and served an enlistment of nearly three years, having been mustered out in Washington, District of Columbia, on the twelfth day of .Tune, 1865. He took part in the siege of Atlanta, was in Sherman's army on the march to the sea and in the march through the Carolinas, and participated in many engagements. After the war he returned to his home in Dane county and completed his education. In 1873 Dr. Taylor located at Black Earth, Wisconsin, where he began the practice of his profession and where he resided until May, 1874.

The events that led to Dr. Taylor's becoming a resident of Pipestone county are similar to those recorded for the settlement of many of the pioneer places of the west. In seeking a location in some new western country Dr. Taylor, in the spring of 1874, had paid a visit to Nebraska. On his return trip he stopped off for a visit with his sister, Mrs. E. H. Bronson, who resided at Beaver Creek, in Rock county. There he was told of the pretty country about the famous Pipestone quarries, and in June, 1874, he set out with a companion to visit the site. Where the city of Pipestone now stands he found the Sweet cabin, occupied by Daniel E. Sweet, wife and son and John Lowry, then the only residents of Pipestone county, Charles H. Bennett having been there a short time before but having then departed for his home in LeMars, Iowa. At the time only forty acres of land had been broken - ten acres on Sweet's claim, ten on Mr. Bennett's and two tenacre tracts on tree claims west of the spot where Pipestone was later builded.

visit he participated in the first republican county convention of Pipestone county - participated in by the only three men then in the county - and had the honor of being chosen to represent the county at the congressional convention held at Owatonna later in the year, the story of which is to be found in the historical part of this volume. Dr. Taylor remained at the quarries only long enough to select his claims, choosing the northwest quarter of section 18, Gray township, as a soldier's homestead, and the southwest quarter of the same section ns 3 tree claim He returned to his Wisconsin home and in August, 1874, filed his claims in the government land office.

The doctor spent the winter of 1874-75 teaching school in Dane county, Wisconsin, but the next spring, in company with H. D. Sanford, he organized a small party of homeseekers and drove again to Pipestone. He built a small house on his claim, broke some of the land, and remained in the land of his future home until the month of June. There were then five people living in the county or with intentions of soon becoming residents, and these participated in the second county convention. Again Dr. Taylor was chosen to represent the unorganized county, this time in the state convention at St. Paul. Dr. Taylor attended the convention and then spent the winter of 1875-76 in Wisconsin.

During the month of March, 1876, Dr. Taylor came to Pipestone county to reside permanently, his wife joining him that year. H. D. Sanford also came and both gentlemen seeded the lands they had broken the year before. The newcomers did not escape the devastation that visited the country during the seventies. On the twenty-seventh of July the grasshoppers swooped down upon their fields and almost totally destroyed their crops. Dr. Taylor took a "grasshopper leave" and in August moved to Luverne, where he engaged in the practice of his profession. For a few years he spent most of his time in the Rock county village, his family residing on his claim, however, until he proved up.

farm on the edge ot town and engaged in practice in the village.' In 1889 he erected the stone building in Pipestone which is now occupied hy the Cook drug store and the Johnson & Taylor jewelry store, and the following year he moved to the city. He has since devoted his time to the practice of his profession (being now the senior mem'ber of the firm of Taylor & Rice) and in looking after his land holdings, he now owning 400 acres of land in one tract.

Pipestone has been made the city it is today almost entirely through the efforts of its citizens, some of whom devoted their energies to the upbuilding of the city at great personal sacrifices. Among the number who took the lead in everything that might eventuate a greater Pipestone were five or six citizens, and among the number none took a more prominent part than the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. It was largely through his instrumentality and that of other influential citizens that the Burlington railroad (later the Rock Island) was bunded to the city, he with Messrs. Nichols, Goodnow and Moore spending one whole summer in helping secure the right of way for the company, and in almost every enterprise of a like nature he has taken a leading part.

In an official capacity Dr. Taylor has served his community on various occasions. He was a member of the pension examining board for a number of years, has been a member of the city council, of the board of education, was county coroner for a number of years, and has been a member of the local board of health. Fraternally the doctor is associated with many worthy orders, holding membership in the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Council of the Masonic order, Grand Army of the Republic, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen and Ancient Order of United Workmen.

Dr. Taylor is a man of family, having been married at Madison, Wisconsin, on November 19, 1868, to Jennie Sanford, who was born in Iowa, but who grew to womanhood in Middletown, Wisconsin. Dr. and Mrs. Taylor are the parents of Ave children, named as follows: Orville S., ot Lemmon, South Dakota; Luella (Mrs. William McGillivray), of Pipestone; Maude S. (Mrs. Grant S. Beardsley), of Eugene, Oregon; Mayme and Jane E.

RICHARD H. O'CONNELL (1878) president of the Ihlen State Bank, is one of Pipestone county's earliest settlers, a homesteader of 1878. There were but three buildings' on the present site of Pipestone at the time, and he arrived in season to lose his first crop by the ravages of the unwelcome grasshoppers. The son of Richard and Letitia O'Connell, our subject was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, May 14, 1857. His parents came to America from Ireland in 1848.

Mr. O'Connell was a year old infant when he located with his parents in Saint Croix county, Wisconsin, where he grew to manhood on his father's farm. On arriving at his majority Richard left the shelter ot the parental roof and journeyed to the new country of Pipestone county. He took as a homestead claim the northeast quarter of section 8, Eden township, land which he developed from a prairie waste to a wellimproved farm with elegant and substantial residence and barns. He farmed the place until 1902, when he became a resident of Pipestone, moving thence to Ihlen in 1908 to engage in the banking business. Mr. O'Connell still retains possession of the old homestead, other real estate he later acquired, and also residence property in Pipestone.

In May, 1883, in Luverne, our subject was united in marriage to Ellen Dickson, who was also bom in Janesville, Wisconsin. The following eight children have been born to this union : Letitia, Henry, Thomas, Richard, Mary, Lillian, Patrick and Ellen. Henry and Thomas are twin brothers. Mr. O'Connell is a member of the A. O. U. W. lodge. During his long residence in Eden township he has held many offices of trust. Besides his interest in the bank, he is one of the owners of the Ihlen Mercantile company.

The private bank of which the Ihlen State Bank is the successor was founded In 1904 by L. L. Dale, who disposed of it after two years to M. C. Duea. A year later the institution was reorganized as a state bank, with a capital stock of $10,000.

as It is today. The present officers are: President, R. H. O'Connell; vice president, R. G. Larson; assistant cashier, Lillian O'Connell. S. B. Duea and William P. Eikmeier are additional directors.

CHRIST GILBERTSON (1878), one of the earliest of Aetna township's settlers, now living: a retired life in the village of Ruthton, dates his residence in the county from May 10, 1878. Only two men, Ed. Ginzel and .Tohn Mooney, can claim a longer settlement in Aetna township, and that by only a few months. Mr. Gilbertson was an active participant in the events incident to the township's organization.

A native of the land of the midnight sun, the subject of this biography was bom on June S, 1S45. His father, Giilbrand Hanson, died in Aetna township in April, 1882. His mother, Carrie (Oldsdatter) Hanson, passed away in 1879, while the family were residents of Fillmore county. Christ passed the first twenty-two years of his life in Norway. He was reared on a farm and after growing up commenced working out, doing farm work in the summers and during the winter seasons following a woodsman's life. In June, 1867, Mr. Gilbertson commenced his career in America. He went direct to Fillmore county, Minnesota, worked at farm labor for the first several years, then rented land and farmed on his own account. He later bought a forty acre farm in that county. While there he was .ioined by his parents, who came from Norway.

Pipestone county was a raw, untempered prairie land when it was first beheld by this honored pioneer, and settlement had scarcely begun. The trip was made overland from Fillmore county. Mr. Gilbertson filed homestead and tree claims to the east half of section 28, Aetna township, and that continued to be the scene of his rewarded industry until 1898. His first abode was a 16x24 feet, two-room sod house, which was the family home four years. He was engaged in the livery business in Ruthton for a number of years. For the past thirteen years he has lived in the residence he built just outside of Ruthton. Mr. Gilbertson has served terms as supervisor and treasurer of Aetna township. He is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran church of Ruthton.

Christ Gilbertson was first married in Norway on April 4, 1865, to Bertha Olson. Two sons and two daughters were born to this union, named Gilbert, Ole, Matilda and Emma. With the exception of Gilbert, of Ruthton, all these children are deceased. To the second union no children were born. On December 26, 1872, in Fillmore county, Martha Hanson became the wife of our subject. Again, in Ruthton, on November 10, 1898, he was joined in marriage to Mary Christina Peterson, who was born in Denmark April 5, 1861. Mr. and Mrs. Gilbertson are the parents of the following named children: Chris Melvin, Arlo, Norva, Glenn Theodore and Bertha Evelyn.

WARRINGTON B. BROWN (1878). With one exception, the gentleman whose name heads this review has had a longer continuous residence in Pipestone county than any other man now living in the county. The exception is Charles H. Bennett. J. H. Nichols came to the county for permanent residence one day after Mr. Brown. During these many years he has been a resident of Pipestone county, Mr. Brown has been an infiuential citizen, many times having been called upon to serve in an official capacity. When the county was organized he was chosen as a member of the first board of county commissioners and was chairman of the board from 1880 to 1885. He was a member of the Minnesota legislature during the session of 1885 and was state senator in the sessions of 1887 and 1889'.

The birthplace of Mr. Brown was Colchester, Chittenden county, Vermont, and he first saw the light of day on June 4, 1845. At the age of twelve years he accompanied the family to Janesville, Rock county, Wisconsin, where he grew to manhood and secured his education. He served in the union army during the war of the rebellion as a member of company I, Thirty-eighth Wisconsin infantry, his regiment being in the army of the Potomac. At the battle of Petersburg he was wounded by being struck on the head by a minie ball, and carries the scar of the wound to this day. After receiving the wound he re- ceived his discharge from the army and in September, 1S65, took up his residence in Goodhue county, Minnesota, where he engaged in farming until 1878.

In March of the last named year Mr. Brown came to Pipestone county, then almost entirely uninhabited. He spent the first few days in the shanty of Daniel E. Sweet, now deceased, which stood on Main street in the city of l-ipestone, where the Sellers furniture store now stands. He at once filed a homestead claim to the northeast quarter of section 30, Grange township, improved the place, and made his home there during the next eight years. He then took up his residence in the city, where he has since resided, having been engaged in the machinery business during all of that time. Mr. Brown holds membership in Simon Mix Post No. 95, G. A. R., and is a member of the A. P. & A. M. order. For five years he was chief of the Pipestone fire department.

Mr. Brown is a man of family, having been married at Red Wing, Minnesota, October 30, 1875. to Mary Holliday. She was born in Westmoreland, England, October 27, 1848, came to the United States with her parents, John and Anna Holliday, when seven years of age, and settled with the family at Janesville, Wisconsin, later moving to Goodhue county, Minnesota. To Mr. and Mrs. Brown have been born the following named six children: Dr. Paul F., of Minneapolis: Warrington S., of Lenimon. South Dakota: Garfield W., a lawyer of Glencoe, Minnesota; Annie B. (Mrs. George W. Winters), of Big Stone county, Minnesota; Mabel C. (Mrs. William Morgan), of Pipestone; Ruth H. (Mr3. Roland Donaldson), of Pipestone.

The parents of our subject were .Tason and Sarah Brown, both natives of Vermont. They moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, in 1857 and while a resident of that place the father of our subject enlisted in company" D, Second Wisconsin infantry. He was killed in the first battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861. Mrs. Brown died at Appleton, Wisconsin. There are five living children of this family: Sarah Schult^, of Appleton, Wisconsin; Nettie Carpenter, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; W. B. Brown, of this sketch; Luke Brown, of Pipestone; Myna Brown, . of Appleton Wisconsin.

EUGENE S. BUTMAN (1878). There Is no better known or more successful agriculturist living in Pipestone county today than the gentleman whose name heads this review. Mr. Butman was one of the homesteaders of Troy township, taking a claim in 1878, and that town has ever since been his hom.e and the scene of his rewarded activities. His original farm of 160 acres on section 12, range 47, has been added to year by year until now more than 1000, acres of Troy's choicest soil is the property of this man of industry.

Eugene S. Butman was born in LaCrosse county, Wisconsin, October 4, 1856, the son of Stark and Mary J. (Lynn) Butman, both of whom were natives of Ohio. Our subject was educated in the district schools of his native county and lived on the farm of his father until he commenced his career in Pipestone county, thirty-three years ago. Mr. Butman devotes considerable attention to the breeding of high grade cattle, sheep and hogs, and he directs the shipment of all his stock. He owns stock in a number of substantial enterprises, among them the Pipestone State Bank, Farmers Elevator companies of Airlie and Cazenovia, the Independent Harvester company of Piano. Illinois, and the Pipestone Rural Telephone company, of which he is the president.

Mr. Butman has always taken an active interest in matters of the public good and has labored zealously for the promotion of every worthy enterprise in both his home precinct and the county at large. He has had an opportunity to do this in a service of twenty years as a member of the board of township supervisors, and as a school director for a quarter of a century. Our subject is an ex-member of the board of county commissioners. He is a Maccabee by fraternal affiliation.

On New Years day, 1883, in Wisconsin. Eugene S. Butman was joined in wedlock to Anna M. Stillpflug, a native of the Badger state. She was born May 4, 1863. the daughter of Christopher and Mary (Sever) Stillpflug, both of whom were of German birth. To Mr. and Mrs. Butman have been born three sons and five daughters, all but one of whom are living. Their names are Mary Jane, born April 26, 1884, died May 28, 1904; Nellie L., born July 25,

JOHN E. DANNEKER (1878) has been a leading resident and agriculturist of Grange township since the first year of that precinct's existence. He homesteaded the west half of the northeast quarter of section 28, in 1878, adding later by purchase the east half of the same quarter. He is now the owner of as substantially improved a quarter section of farming land as is to be found in the county. Mr. Danneker experienced many reverses and discouragements during the pioneer days, especially during the memorable winter of 1S80-S1, which will ever be remembered for its unusual severity.

The subject of this biography is a native German and was born on a farm in the province of Wurttemberg September 20, 1850, the son of Anton and Anna (Riede) Danneker. John was educated in the German lower schools, and he assisted with the duties on the home farm until twenty years old, when the America of many opportunities beckoned him, and he responded to the call. He journeyed direct to Minnesota and for a time was variously employed, as gardener, in a brick yard, and in a saw mill in the city of St. Paul. He then went on a farm in the vicinity and remained until the commencement of his successful career in Pipestone county. Mr. Danneker is an extensive stock raiser, making a specialty of Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs. He owns stock in the farmers' elevator at Pipestone and in the Midway Telephone company. Our subject has served for sixteen years as township supervisor and is the clerk of school district No. 16.

Mr. Danneker was married in Fountain Prairie township December 2, 1880, to Julia E. Heathfield, the daughter of Charles and Jane (Giles) Heathfield, now of Pipestone. She was born in New York on November 28, 1854. Four daughters, Laura, Sabina, Jane and Ruth, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Danneker. The family are members of the Catholic church.

DANIEL B. WHIGAM (1878), of Pipestone, is one of the pioneers of 1878 who settled in the county about the same time as C. H. Bennett, J. H. Nichols, Dr. Taylor, Daniel Sweet, Charles Smith, the Stuarts, and others who were so intimately connected with the early history and development of Pipestone county and city. Mr. Whigam entered Pipestone county in 1878, driving an ox team from eastern Minnesota. He is given the credit for building the second dwelling in Troy township.

Our subject has one brother, William, a resident of Lake county, Illinois, and a halfbrother, L. R. Ober, the hardware merchant of Pipestone. In Lake county. Illinois, on February 8, 1840, Daniel B. Whigam was born. At the age of seventeen he severed home times and undertook the long journey to California, going by way of the isthmus of Panama. In the Golden West he was employed for nearly four years in driving freight wagons to the frontier mining towns. Returning to his old Illinois home, Mr. Whigam was married and for seven years thereafter was a Lake county farmer. He then became a resident of Minnesota, locating in Faribault, where he engaged in the restaurant business six years. It was from Faribault that the ox team journey was made to Pipestone county.

Arriving in the land of promise with $100, Mr. Whigam at once took as a homestead claim the southwest quarter of section 10, Troy township, which he made a fruitful farm, and resided there sixteen years. The lumber to build his first house was hauled from Luverne. During the severe blizzard of 1888 this Troy pioneer lost twenty head of cattle. In 1894 Mr. Whigam became a resident of Pipestone. For four years he carried on a dairy business, then bought the George Warner cigar manufactory and store, which he still conducts in the same building. His first annual output was 80,000 cigars, and since then it has averaged between 50,000 and 60,000 cigars per annum. Mr. Whigam served two terms as a member of the city council. He has been a member of the Masonic order since 1864, having been received into membership during his residence in Illinois.

wedlock to Lucy A. Smith, who died in 1890 at the age of forty-five years. To this union, one son, L. Bert, of Seattle, Washington, was born. On August 20, 1902, Mr. Whigam was married to Grace Larmon, a school teacher and a native of Kentucky.

PETER H. NORVOLD (1877), who lives a retired life at Jasper, has been a resident of Rock and Pipestone counties thirtyfour years and is one of the highly respected citizens of the village in which he makes his home.

Mr. Norvold was born in Skedsmo, Norway, in 1842. He came to America in 1851 and became a resident of Allamakee county, Iowa, where he purchased land in 1860. He was married in 1862 to Maren Olsen Saga, who emigrated from Christiania, Norway. To them ten children were born, of whom the following named seven are living: Albert H., of Volga, South Dakota: Herman M., of Luverne; Carl W., who resides with his father in Jasper; Mrs. L. Erickson, of Pipestone county; Mrs. Erick Ausen, Mrs. Oscar Ausen and Mrs. Otto K. Steen, all of Rock county.

Mr. and Mrs. "Norvold came to Rock county In the fall of 1877 and the next year filed a homestead claim to the southwest quarter of section 2 and a timber claim to the southeast quarter of the same section, in Rose Dell township. They improved the place and there they resided until 1908, when they, with their son Carl, retired from farm life and moved to Jasper, where they had purchased a home. Mrs. Norvold departed from this life on December 2, 1910, at the age of sixty-nine years.

O. B. JOHNSON (1879) is retired from active pursuits and resides in Ruthton. He was born in Denmark April 15, 1851, and in that country he attended school and grew to manhood on a farm. At the age of twenty years he came to the United States and settled in St. Louis. In 1879 he located in Pipestone county, taking as a homestead claim the northeast quarter of section 2, Aetna township.

Mr. Johnson was one of the first settlers of Aetna township and is one of the few remaining homesteaders In the precinct. His first house was a dug-out, the lumber in the roof of which was hauled from Tracy. The initial home was replaced in 1S80 with a house of lumber, the building being completed by the construction of an addition la 1888. He set out a big grove and otherwise improved the homestead, land which he still owns.

The subject of this review passed through the days of Pipestone county's early history when twisted hay was used for fuel to supply warmth during the long, cold winters. In 1887, when the Great Northern railroad was building through the county, the chief engineer and his crew stopped at Mr, Johnson's house for several months and were compelled to twist hay to keep from freezing. Ten years ago Mr. Johnson erected a fine house in the village of Ruthton, and since that time has led a retired life.

O. B. Johnson is the son of John Johanson and Margareta .lohanson. The father died in the old country; the mother came to the United States with her son in 1871 and died in Ruthton in 1894, at the age of seventy-four years. The following named children of this family are living: Hans, Peter, Ole, Mary and Anna.

O. B. Johnson was married at LaCrosse, Wisconsin, October 22, 1872, to Miss Anna - L. C. Young, who was born in Christianstad, Sweden. Both are members of the Methodist church of Ruthton. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have two children: Oscar, of Lignite, North Dakota, and Alma (Mrs. Ben D. Martinson), of Ruthton.

JOHN HARVEY (1877) is one of Pipestone county's very earliest settlers and his home since 1877 has been continuously on the land he homesteaded at that date, the southeast quarter of section 24, Osborne township. He was born In Lee county, Illinois, October 26, 1854. His father, Edward Harvey, who died in Pipestone county in August, 1904, was a native of county Armagh, Ireland. His mother was Ann (Smith) Harvey, a native of New York state. She died in December, 1907, at StewartvUle, Minnesota.

he lived until coming to Pipestone county in 1877. In the fall of that year he took as a pre-emption claim the Osborne township farm already described. The following spring Mr. Harvey broke twenty acres of the land and in the tall erected thereon a frame shanty, 10x14 feet. He spent the summer of 1878 working near Luverne. The only other settler within a large radius when our subject took his claim was A. D. Kingsbury, who had located on land upon which the town of Edgerton now stands. During the troublesome grasshopper days in 1879 Mr. Harvey was forced to seek other employment than farming to keep body and soul together. Since those days he has prospered and is now one of the substantial farmers of the precinct.

At Luverne, on February 15, 1881, John Harvey was married to Charlotte Madison, a native of Sweden. Mrs. Harvey died March 26, 1897. Three children were born to this union: Melvin, born August 18, 1893; Loretta, born December 6, 1894; and John, born September 3, 1896.

ISAAC L. HART (1879), the founder of the pioneer and most influential journal in Pipestone county, the Pipestone County Star, has tor thirty-two years been connected with the paper as publisher. He was one of the very first business men to identify himself with the little prairie hamlet of Pipestone, and ever since the first year of its existence has made of the Star an agency that has labored without respite for the advancement of city and county along every worthy line of growth.

A native of New York city, the birth of Isaac L. Hart occurred on the ninth of August, 1843. He is the son of Elijah and Margaret (Stanton) Hart, both of whom came from old families of the Empiro state. In 1850 the Harts departed from the American metropolis to seek a home in the young but vigorous city' of Chicago. The journalistic spirit was first engendered within tlie youthful Isaac L. Hart in the office of the Chicago Times in 1853, where bis first duties were those of office boy. He was in the course of several years identified with several of the other wellknown early papers of Chicago, and from his experience he recalls many interesting and amusing anecdotes of Chicago's earlyday newspapers, when they were printed on the old style presses and the mechanical departments were crudely equipped.

The great sectional struggle came on and the best blood of the nation was called upon for a sacrifice that the unioa might be preserved. On August 7, 1862, Mr. Hart enlisted in company C, Seventysecond Illinois infantry, and served in that command until 1864. In the two years of army service he participated in a number of the memorable engagements of Grant's army in the southwest, up to and including the battles and siege of Vicksburg. After the siege of Vicksburg the Seventy-second Illinois was sent to Natchez, Mississippi, and in 1804 Mr. Hart was mustered from the military service to accept a clerkship in the government custom house at Natchez, which place he held for a little over a year.

At the conclusion of his term of government service our subject returned to Chicago, where he continued to reside until 1870. In that year Mr. Hart moved to Eldora, Iowa, in which town he published the Herald, a paper he conducted until the commencement of his career in Pipestone county. The Star was established in June, 1879, and has since continued under the same management. During the blizzardy winter of 1880-81, when Pipestone was shut off from intercourse with the outside world for eighty days, the Star never missed an issue, but appeared sometimes on brown wrapping paper, at other times on wall paper - anything that was most convenient. For a number of years the Star published a daily issue, but now is a semi-weekly and is one of the influential publications of southern Minnesota.

During his long residence in the county Mr. Hart has given unselfishly of his time and talent to the end of a greater and better Pipestone county. He was the first judge of probate, having been elected to the office in 1879 and having served one term. He is widely known in the Masonic circles of the state, and is a past grand high priest of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons. Mr. Hart is a charter member of Quarry Lodge No. 148, A. F. & A. M., Triune Chapter No. 51, R. A. M., and Hope Lodge No. 89, I. O. O. F., in all of which he

On May 4, 1865, Isaac L. Hart was married to Mary E. Gardner, of Chicago, the daughter of Charles and Ellen Gardner. To this union have been born the following six children: Gardner E., a newspaper man of San Diego, California; Lillian G. (Mrs. L. H. Dibble), of Faribault, Minnesota; Mabel G. (Mrs. George W. Smith), of Coffey ville, Kansas; Charles G., Ralph G., the editor of the Star; and Kittie G.

ED. MILAR (1879) was one of the very first settlers of eastern Altona township, where he has dwelt and labored continuously for more than thirty years. He was born in Henry county, Illinois, on October 30, 1862, the son of Michael and Mary (Lupher) Milar. The father was a native of Ohio, and of English and Irish parentage, while the mother came from Germany.

Four years after the birth of our subject Michael Milar sold his holdings in Henry county and with his family moved to Cass county, Missouri, where he engaged in farming and lumbering until called by death in 1876. Immediately after that family bereavement Mrs. Milar disposed of the Missouri property and with her children became a resident of Minnesota. After a three years' residence in Goodhue county, the Milars, nothing daunted by the hardships and dangers of a new country, in 1879 established a home in Pipestone county. The valiant mother homesteaded the southwest quarter of section 12, Altona. In 1883 Ed. bought his mother's homestead right to the quarter, proved up on the same and has since developed it into one of the banner farms of the precinct. Mr. Milar is also the owner of a quarter of section 13.

Mrs. Milar passed away from this life in 1902. She was the mother of a family of nine children, four sons and five daughters, six of whom died from diphtheria. Our subject was the second youngest child. He is unmarried.

Pipestone, in the lower house of the state legislature during the years 1909-10 and in the state senate 1910-1914. He is a prominent man of affairs in his home community and in the county at large. He is a Ruthton banker and at present is serving as the treasurer of that village.

Severt B. Duea is one in a family of nine children, one of whom is deceased, and the son of Sam C. ^nd Betsy (Wierson) Duea, both of whom came to this country from their native land of Norway early in life. They were married in Story county, Iowa, where for many years Mr. Duea served as the superintendent of the county poor farm. The family moved to Pipestone county and Eden township in 1887, in which precinct Sam C. Duea owned and farmed a half section of land until his death in November, 1902. Betsy (Wierson) Duea died at the home of her son, W. C. Duea, in Ihlen in the spring of 1911.

In the town of Roland, Story county, Iowa, on February 13, 1876, occurred the nativity of our subject. Severt was eleven years of age when the family departed from Iowa and became residents of Pipestone county. He was educated in the district schools of Eden township and in the public schools of Jasper, and early in life became the molder of his own fortune. He secured his first employment at the little village of Ihlen as driver of the wagon for the village grocer. For a number of years thereafter he was located in Pipestone, where he clerked in the stores of Sommerville Bros, and the Minneapolis store. For four years he managed the business of the Northwestern Elevator company at that point.

In 1901 Mr. Duea established his residence in Ruthton. He entered the employ of the Bank of Ruthton as bookkeeper, and when that institution was later reorganized into the First National Bank of Ruthton he bought an interest and was elected to the cashiership of the bank, a position he still holds. Mr. Duea is also president of the State Bank of Ihlen. He owns farm property in Pipestone and Murray counties and is a stockholder in the Farmers Co-operative association of Ruthton, whicli he serves as treasurer. He is prominent in fraternal circles and holds membership in the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery

Severt B. Duea has been twice married. His first wife was Jennie Stuart, the daughter of Duncan Stuart, upon whose farm west of Pipestone the marriage ceremony was solemnized March 15, 1901. Mrs. Duea died October 6, 1902, five days after the birth of a son, Duncan Stuart Duea. Our subject was united in marriage the second time on February 6, 1907, in Ruthton, to Frances Allen. A son was born to these parents at the Willard hotel in St. Paul on February 27, 1909, Mr. Duea being a member of the legislature at the time. The baby boy was named Willard, after the hostelry in which his birth occurred.

HORACE H. GILMORE (1878), one of the pioneers of Sweet township, lived continuously for thirty-two years on the farm, the southeast quarter of section 34, which he homesteaded in 1878. He has now retired from active pursuits after an industrious and fruitful career and lives in the city of Pipestone, where he bought property and moved in the fall of 1910. His well improved farm is now conducted by his son, Charles C. Gilmore.

The parents of our subject were Edward and Sarah (Doty) Gilmore, both natives of Vermont. They were married in their native state and moved to Wisconsin in an early day. Eight children were born to this revered couple, the following four of whom are still living: Wilson, of Lyndon, Wisconsin; Allen, of Lyndon; Sophronia (Mrs. Charles Bentley), of Pipestone; and Horace H., of this review. William B., a twin brother of Wilson, died in Pipestone in 1906. Another son, Lafayette, died after having served his country in the civil war. An older son and a daughter also died many years ago.

Horace H. Gilmore was born in Jefferson county, Wisconsin, April 25, 1846. He left the home farm at the age of eighteen years and went to Juneau county, in the same state, and there entered the employ of the T. W. Weston Lumber company. In the summer seasons he worked with a lumber crew on the Wisconsin river, and during the winter months the work took him to the pineries. Men were wanted to preserve the union, and in 1864 Mr. Gilmore forsook personal interest and enlisted in company E, Forty-first Wisconsin regiment, and served until the cessation of hostilities.

The new county of Pipestone was most desolate in appearance when our subject determined to establish a home within its borders. He drove the entire distance from Lyndon, Wisconsin, in the spring of 1878 and homesteaded the land which was to be the scene of his activities for so many years. He hauled lumber from Luverne with which to build his first dwelling. The hardships of pioneer life fell in due portion to the lot of Mr. Gilmore, and he admits that had it not been for the courage and optimism of his wife he would have deserted the country, as did so many of the early settlers who experienced no counteraction to the discouragements. During the memorable blizzardy winter of 1880-81 Mrs. Gilmore was absent from her husband for nine weeks. She was visiting at Luverne, and it was utterly impossible for her to return home by any means whatsoever before the end of that period. That winter hay was synonymous with fuel and the settlers considered themselves lucky to have a supply on hand. Mr. Gilmore has never aspired to office. He was elected to the chairmanship of the township board in the early days but refused to qualify. He served as school director for more than twenty years.

At Kilbourn City, Wisconsin, on November 17, 1874, Horace H. Gilmore was wedded to Eliza Donaldson. She was born in Baraboo, Wisconsin, but in 1854, at the age of five years, moved with her parents to Lyndon, Juneau county, of the same state. She was engaged in teaching school in Juneau county from 1866 until 1874. Mrs. Gilmore is a sister of Mrs. P. J. Kniss, the wife of one of the founders of Luverne. She is a member of the Baptist church. To Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore have been born two sons, Robert E. and Charles C, both of Sweet township.

DAVID WILLIAMS (1879), proprietor of the Pioneer Stock Farm, located on section 18, Elmer township, has passed all except the first eight years of his life as a resident of Pipestone county. He is one of

David Williams was born in Green Lake county, Wisconsin, on August 25, 1871, the son of Cadwallder and Jane (Jones) Williams, now of Trosky. Both parents are natives of Wales. Our subject was iliree years of age when the family moved from Wisconsin and made settlement in Minrifsota. They were located in Fillmore county until June, 1879; then they journeyed overland to Pipestone county, then just opening for settlement. The father home steaded the southeast quarter of section

18, Elmer, and in an old sod shanty that had been moved from near Luverne the family made their first home. David was employed by his father until 1895, when he rented the home farm and has since conducted it. He later bought eighty acres on section 18 and now farms 240 acres. Mr. Williams was one of the organizers of the Elmer Rural Telephone company in 1908 and is now its president. He has been a supervisor of Elmer town ship since 1908 and for six years has been the treasurer of school district No. 65.

At Pipestone, on November 27, 1900, the subject of this review was joined in marriage to Lilly May Langei, the daughter of Lars J. and Mary Langei, of Flandreau, South Dakota. Mrs. Williams was born in Loni^ Rock township. Moody county, South Dakota, August 22, 1879. To this union have been born four children: Milton Leroy, born September 7, 1901; Helen Myrtle, born May 16, 1903; Hazel Harriet, born May 12, 1905; and Harry Rllery, born December 19, 1908.

WILLIAM J. DODD (1878) is a Pipestone county pioneer of 1878, one who has lived continuously since then on land he homesteaded in Osborne township. That town is indebted to Mr. Dodd for the name it bears. He suggested the name Osborne in

A native of Ulster county. New York, William J. Dodd was born September 23, 1856, the son of Jared and Eliza (Coral) Dodd. The father was born in New Jersey of English descent, and the mother was a New Yorker, the daughter of Dutch and German parents. The family moved to Sauk county, Wisconsin, in 1861. On a farm which his father bought in that county William was reared and was educated in the primitive schools of those days. In 1878, with his brother, George D. Dodd, he came to Pipestone county, then just opening for settlement. The two brothers filed claims to adjoining homesteads, George taking as his allotment the southwest quarter of section 2, Osborne township, and our subject filing on the northwest quarter of the same section. The former later disposed of his holdings to William J. Dodd, who is now tlie owner of a half section of, Pipestone county's choicest soil.

The Dodds came to this locality in ample time to undergo the bitter experiences of the grasshopper scourge. They did not, however, lose more than one crop. Mr. Dodd has been unusually successful in his stock raising ventures. He maintains a large herd of choice breeds, making a specialty of the Polled Angus and Durham cattle and the Duroc-Jersey hog. He has served five years on the township board and for four years was a school director. Fraternally he is a Modern Woodman.

The marriage of our subject to Flora J. Bacon occurred in Sauk county, Wisconsin, February 20, 1884. Mrs. Dodd was born in Baraboo, tiie county seat, on April 2, 1857. For ten years she was a teacher In the public schools of that place. She is the daughter of Ira Bacon, who was born in Michigan of Scotch and English parentage, and Helen (Nethaway) Bacon, a native of New York and of English and German ancestry. One daughter, Nellie E. N., was born to Mr. and Mrs. Dodd, on June 23, 1890.

CHARLES H. SMITH (1878), of Pipestone, is a homesteader and one of the pioneer settlers of Pipestone county. He was born in Hesia, Germany, April 4, 1843. His

Mr. Smith came alone to the United States in 1857 and located at Lancaster, Grant county, Wisconsin, where he worked in a flouring mill and engaged in farming until 1862. On February 12 of that year he enlisted at McGregor, Iowa, in company H, first battalion, Sixteenth United States infantry, and served in the army until his muster out in June, 1865, at Louisville, Kentucky. For a time he served in the army of Ohio, under General Buell, and later he was in the army of the Cumberland, in the Fourteenth army corps. He took part in the battles of Shiloh, on April 7, 1862; Perryville, Kentucky; Stone's River, Tennessee; Hoover's Gap, Tennessee; Chickamauga, Georgia; Missionary Ridge, Georgia; Buzzard's Roost, Georgia; Resaca, Georgia; Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta; Jonesboro, Georgia; and the engagements in the Atlantic campaign. At the battle of Chickamauga he received a scalp wound but continued in the service.

After his muster out Mr. Smith returned to Grant county, but in September, 1865, located in Winona, Minnesota. After spending six months there, he went to Minneapolis, where he remained one year. Our subject then returned to Grant county, Wisconsin, where he resided until 1875, engaged in the grocery and meat business. Mr. Smith engaged in the same business at New Albion, Iowa, two years and in 1877 became a resident of Vernon county, Wisconsin. On the seventeenth day of April, 1878, Mr. Smith arrived in Pipestone county, where he has ever since resided. He took as a homestead claim the northwest quarter of section 26, Gray township, and resided there until 1893, since which time he has lived in Pipestone. He conducted a grocery and meat store in the county capital until 1898.

Mr. Smith was elected clerk of the district court in 1898 and held the office during the next eight years. He served as deputy sheriff under Sheriff Lake one year and now holds the position by appointment by Sheriff Shepherd. Mr. Smith has held other local offices. He was clerk of Gray township from the date of organization until he moved from the precinct, and he was treasurer of school district No. 13 for many years. For two years he was justice of the peace in Pipestone. Mr. Smith is a member of the Presbyterian church. He is a charter member of Hope Lodge No. 89, I. O. O. F., is a member of Quarry Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and is secretary of the local order of the Royal Arch Masons. He also holds membership in Simon Mix Post No. 98, G. A. R., and is aid de camp of the national encampment.

At West Prairie, Vernon county, Wisconsin, on August 30, 1878, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Kate L. Schoenberger, who was born in Germany June 22, 1845, and who came to the United States ten years later. Three children have been born to this union as follows: Nettie May (Mrs. Ross M. Nason), of Antlers, Colorado; Fred C. O., who died in Minneapolis in October, 1898, while a member of company M, of the Fifteenth Minnesota infantry; and Edith Estella, of Pipestone.

GUTTERM GUNDVALDSEN (1878) is one of the homesteaders of Eden township, and he has maintained an uninterrupted residence of thirty-three years on the land he laid claim to in 1878, the southwest quarter of section 24, range 47. A native Minnesotan, he was born in Houston county June 19, 1856, the son of Guhdvald and Margretta (Arneson) Gutterson, both natives of Hallingdal, Norway.

The parents of our subject immigrated to the United States at an early day, and after residing in Wisconsin for four years settled in Houston county. Gutterm resided on the home farm until twenty-two years of age, when he commenced his career in the then new and undeveloped Pipestone county. Mr. Gundvaldsen is an extensive breeder of high grade stock. He owns stock in the Farmers Elevator company of Jasper and is a member of the United Lutheran church. He has been a school director for four years.

Mr. Gundvaldsen met with a bitter experience in the blizzardy winter of 1888. On the twelfth day of January he had been to Pipestone and was on the return home when the storm overtook him, with no shelter in sight. All night long he was forced to remain in a straw stack by the

The subject of this biography was married in Pipestone June 19, 1S82, to Tonetta Michaelson, a native of Norway. She was born September 28, 1856, and is the daughter of Christian and Engebor (Mengsole) Michaelson, of Hedemarken, Norway. To these parents have been born the following seven children: Christian I., born June 16, 1885; Gerhart T., born February 26, 1887; Aimer N., born April 21, 1891; Ellert, born February 28, 1904; Gina M., born May 15, 1883; Enga S., born October 11, 1895; and Teha J., born February 20, 1S97.

ROBERT M. DOUGHTY (1879), the genial boniface of Doughty's hotel, Holland, is one of Pipestone county's very earliest settlers and has been an interested observer of and an active participant in many of the events of transformation from a barren waste to the present land of fruitful acreage. He was born near Springfield, Illinois, on January 17, 1847, and is one in a family of nine children. His parents, Robert and Lydia (Adams) Doughty, were natives of Indiana, in which state they lived until 1854, the date of the former's death. The mother and her children then moved to Savannah, Illinois, and .a year later to Winona county, Minnesota. Mrs. Doughty was later a Pipestone county resident and died in 1897, at the age ol seventy-eight years, at Clarem'ont. Minnesota.

Robert M. Doughty of this review became a resident of Pipestone county in 1879, coming at that time via the prairie schooner route from Olmsted county, Minnesota. He filed a homestead claim in February, 1879, to the southeast quarter of section 26, Fountain Prairie township. His first abode was a crude 14x24 feet dug-out, covered with reeds, coarse grass and hay, tor there was not a stick of lumber to be found. In the fearful blizzards of the winter of 1881 Mr. Doughty lost all his live stock. His dug-out was hurried in mammoth snow drifts, and it was only after the most laborious effort that an egress to the outer world was made by means of steps hewn out of the icy whiteness. The only fuel available through the long and dreary winter was twisted hay, and the only bread making material was ground in a coffeemill.

Settlers were few and far between in those formative days of the county. During the first few years Mr. Doughty's nearest neighbors were Ed. Giles, the present postmaster of Holland; Matthias Hick, a Mr. Hines and Pat Sweeney. The lumber with which he built his first "real" house was hauled from Marshall, Lyon county. Until the Southern Minnesota railroad was built to Pipestone Mr. Doughty's nearest trading point was Tracy. Not a tree or sign of habitation was there in the fourteen miles which intervened between the claim of our subject and the infant village of Pipestone.

Mr. Doughty worked zealously in the improvement of his Fountain Prairie homestead, and after residing upon it for seven years, he soid at a good profit and then bought the northeast quarter of section 12, Grange township, the land upon which the village of Holland is located. > He lived on the place two years and then disposed of the same to the promoters of the Holland townsite. Mr. Doughty next invested in a half section of Aetna township land, upon which he lived for eighteen years, or until 1902, when he built and assumed the control of Doughty's hotel. He sold his Aetna township property in 1908, but he still owns a farm in Rock township, the northwest quarter of section 18 - land he purchased over twenty years ago.

Fountain Prairie township was not organized until the year following Mr. Doughty's settling there. He was one of the organizers of the school district of his locality and served as its first treasurer. He was a member of the Aetna township board fourteen years.

Robert M. Doughty was married at Rochester, Minnesota, on December 10, 1870, to Nettie C. Franklin, a direct descendant of Benjamin Franklin. She was born in Livingston county, Michigan, July 4, 1857, and is the daughter of Shuble K. and Chloe (Mason) Franklin. Mr. and Mrs. Doughty are the parents of the following five living children: Charlie A.,

Gertrude L. (Mrs. Patrick Sullivan), of Pipestone; Lydia (Mrs. J. W. Watt), of Burk county, North Dakota; Robert E. and May D. (Mrs. Leonard Avery), of Aetna township. One daughter, Nettie (Mrs. Henry Mortensen), died January 29, 1908.

W. M. LUDKE (1878), who with W. W. Foster was the very first to homestead land in Rock township, has maintained a continuous residence in that precinct since April, 1878. A few other settlers came later in the season. Mr. Ludke did not put in a crop the first year, and it was perhaps just as well, for promise of even a meager yield was destroyed by the ravages of the grasshoppers. He broke land and put in his first crop in 1879. His first dwelling in the new country was a 12x16 feet board shanty, covered with sods.

Near the city of Berlin, Germany, on November 22, 1853, Mr. Ludke was born. His father, Charles Ludke, died in July, 1903, but his mother, Minnie (Tesky) Ludke, is living and resides at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. .In the spring of 1854 the Ludke family departed from Germany and made settlement in the new world. They were located for the first four or five years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which at that time was simply an over-grown village. From Milwaukee they went to Fond du Lac county, where our subject resided until he moved to Pipestone county. He was reared on a farm and acquired an education offered by the country schools. He commenced working out on farms in the vicinity of his home at the age of eighteen. The land which Mr. Ludke homesteaded and which is his home to this day is the southeast quarter of section 10, Rock. With many other hardy pioneers he was forced to struggle against the disastrous prairie fires and dreaded blizzards, events which tried men's souls and proved their calibre.

It was Mr. Ludke who circulated the petition which resulted in the organization of Rock township, and at the first election he was chosen one of the supervisors. For eight terms he was a valued member of that governing body. He has always been deeply interested in the welfare and improvement of the county educational system and for many years lent of his energetic spirit as a member of the board of district No. 7. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen lodge at Woodstock.

Mr. Ludke is a man of family. His first wife, whom he married in Winona county, Minnesota, in March, 1878, died in the fall of the same year. On May 13, 1880, he was joined in marriage to Carrie Goodman, a native Minnesotan. She was born in Fillmore county January 10, 1864. Mr. and Mrs. Ludke are parents of the following named children: Minnie (Mrs. James Wadland), of Canada, born September 21, 1883; Emma (Mrs. Adolph Voght), of South Dakota, born June 28, 1886; Llva, of Idaho, born July 9, 1888; William, born June 19, 1894; Florence, born March 1, 1896; Walter, born January 23, 1901; and Fred, born April 8, 1903. One son, Charlie, is deceased. He was born June 26, 1890, and died April 15, 1892.

JAMES F. DELANEY (1877), of Woodstock, is an early settler of Pipestone county and has enjoyed a continuous residence in the county since he was a youth of sixteen years. He is a native of the North Star state and was born in Blue Earth City, Faribault county, September 27, 1861.

With his parents James moved to Pipestone county in 1877, and for thirty-two years following he was a leading agriculturist of Osborne and Burke townships. He bought the northeast quarter of section 5, Osborne, the nucleus of later land holdings. He has been the owner of an additional eighty acres on section 5, an eighty on section 4, and 240 acres on section 33, Burke township. He still retains possession of these lands, with the exception of a quarter on section 5, Osborne. He made substantial improvements on all his farms, and since moving to Woodstock in 1909, the farming interests have been conducted by Frank and Ray, sons of James F. Delaney.

Mr. Delaney became a resident of Woodstock to assume the management of the Farmers Elevator company, a successful co-operative concern in that village. He also engages in buying and shipping live stock in partnership with John Hoog. Mr. Delanev is treasurer of the Farmers Grain

In Luverne, on November 6, 1883, our subject was joined in marriage to Lizzie Lynch, a native of Fillmore county, Minnesota, who was born May 6, 1866. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Delaney, as follows: Frank, Nellie and Ray. The family are members of the Catholic church.

EDWARD W. DAVIES (1879), a Welshman by parentage and an Englishman by birth is Edward W. Davies. He is the only surviving son of John and Elizabeth (Owens) Davies, natives of Wales, who settled over the border in Shropshire, England, a few years before the birth of our subject, which occurred April 5, 1855. Two years later, in July, 1857, the family departed from Britain and embarked in a sailing vessel, which consumed six weeks in the journey to America. The Davies resided for a time in Canada, then in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and later settlement was made in Rock county, Wisconsin. There Edward lived ten years and there he acquired his first taste for learning.

The family became residents of Minnesota in 1869. They came as pioneers to Jackson county, where the father, John Davies, homesteaded land in Middletown township, and there our subject grew to manhood and finished his education in the back-woods school. At the age of twentyone Edward W. Davies set out from home to see what the world had in store for him. His first employment was a clerkship in the store of the pioneer merchant of Jackson, Minnesota. He was for two years the deputy in the office of the county treasurer and then accepted a position to manage the yard of the C. L. Colman Lumber company, which was established at the new town of Lakefleld. It was nothing but a bare townsite in July, 1879, and the very first building erected was the office of the Colman Lumber company, which young Davies himself built. He is also credited with the naming of Lakefleld.

was transferred to the management of the yard at the then infant village of Pipestone, a position he filled for seven years. His banking career commenced November 23, 1886. At that time he acquired an interest in the Pipestone County Bank, now the Pipestone State Bank, was made its cashier, and four years later was promoted to the presidency, an office in which he has continued to the present day. He is one of the principal stockholders in this strong financial institution and is also interested in banks at Jasper, Woodstock and Ruthton, all in Pipestone county. Mr. Davies has served several terms on the city council, and for the past twelve years has been a member of the board of county commissioners. He is prominent in Masonic lodge circles, holding membership in the Blue Lodge, Commandery and Shrine.

John and Elizabeth (Owens) Davies, the parents of our subject resided on the old Jackson county homestead until 1886, when they settled in the village of Jackson, where they both passed to their reward after having spent lives of fruitful effort and charity. Mrs. Davies died in February, 1907, at the age of elghty-slx years, and Mr. Davies, in October, 1909, at the age of seventy-nine.

The marriage of Edward W. Davies to Nellie G. King, the daughter of William V. and Antonette L. (Porter) King, early settlers of Jackson county, was solemnized at Jackson on January 5, 1881. Mrs. Davies was born in Walworth county, Wisconsin, on Christmas day, 1858. The following two living children have been born to this union: Kittle A., born December 27, 1884; and Bonnie, born April 17, 1907.

JOHN A. KLINSING (1879) is one of two residents of Sweet township who still reside on and are actively engaged in the farming of their original homesteads. The other early setiler is Joseph Crawford. Mr. Klinsing drove through to Pipestone county from Wisconsin and homesteaded the northwest quarter of section 32, Sweet township, in June, 1879. He prospered and fifteen years ago added to his original holding by the purchase of the southwest quarter of section 29.

John is the son of Nicholas and Mary (Honsinger) Klinsing, who came to America from their native land of Germany shortly after their marriage. They first located in Milwaukee and later made settlement in Dane county, Wisconsin, where the father died. Mrs. Klinsing was married a second time to William F. Lang and died in 1894.

Our subject was born in Dane county, Wisconsin, on January 31, 1855. He was early thrown upon his own resources and was employed at agricultural labor until he located in Pipestone county, at the age of twenty-four years. His first crops in the new country .were devastated by the grasshoppers and he was forced to seek other employment to meet living expenses.

Mr. Klinsing hauled the lumber to build the first house on his farm from Luverne. He was one of the hay-burners during the long, disastrous winter of 1880-81. On several occasions during that season he journeyed to Pipestone on snow shoes to get supplies, but the only staple to be secured at any price was "black-strap." Mr. Klinsing vividly recalls the burial of a child of Al. Lincoln, who lived on the southeast quarter of the section on which his farm was located. The child met death as the result of a scalding. The few neighbors, traveling on snow shoes, gathered at the Lincoln home to perform the last sad rites. Pood was a scarce article, and after the child was buried in the yard the company ground wheat in the coffeemill and made bread. That was one of the earliest burials in the history of the county. The grave, still intact, is located on the farm now owned by Peter Johannsen.

In June, 1894, Mr. Klinsing fell victim to the fury of a disastrous cyclone. The roof of the farm residence was blown away level with the top of the stairs, the granary was blown down, the barn totally destroyed, and other buildings damaged to a greater or less extent. One steer was killed and a horse, which was carried forty rods by the force of the wind, was badly crippled. The only one of the family to suffer injury was Mr. Klinsing, who wag struck by a wagon seat which inflicted a slight wound on his head. This misfortune was made all the harder to bear because of the poor crops, due to a dry year.

Our subject was married in Pipestone on March 25, 1880, to Mary Niermeier, a native of Dane county, Wisconsin. Seven children have been born to these parents, of whom five survive. A daughter, Ida, died April 17, 1908, and a son, Richard, died in infancy. The names of the other children are Rose (Mrs. L. L. Pritchett), of Herrick, South Dakota; Charles Henry and William Frank, of Sweet township; and Bessie and Clarence Paul, who reside at home.

Mr. Klinsing is an ex-member of both the township and school boards and is overseer of his road district. He is a stockholder in the farmers' elevators at Pipestone and Ihlen and holds membership in the A. O. U. W. lodge at Jasper.

ALVA C. SMITH (1878), a progressive and long established farmer of Fountain Prairie township, dates his residence in the county from the year of its first settlement. Hi-3 parents, Clark W. and Phoebe (Carpenter) Smith, natives of Pennsylvania and New York, respectively, settled in an early day in Vernon county, Wisconsin, where occurred the birth of our subject on February 6, 1872.

Alva was in his sixth year when the Smith family established a home in the new Pipestone county. The father homesteaded the southeast quarter of section 12, Fountain Prairie, which since then has been the home of our subject. He was educated in the district schools and for a year was a student at Avon, New York. Mr. Smith works the home farm. He owns the northeast quarter of the same section, which he secured in 1894 as a tree claim. All the land is thoroughly improved. Mr. Smith is a large stock raiser and makes a specialty of Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs.

Alva C.Smith has contributed much time and energy to the promotion of the community'" welfare. For two terms he served on the board of county commissioners. He was an organizer of the farmers' elevators at both Holland and Ruthton. He was the first president of the Holland company and has been the only vice president of

Mr. Smith was married- on Chiritmas day, 1904, to Jessie Warner, who was born in Iowa, the daughter of N. S. and Emily Warner, natives, respectively, of Ohio and Michigan. There are two children from this union: Raymond, born July 17, 1906; and Clark, born December 4, 1908.

LORENZO W. KINGSBURY (1882), secretary and treasurer of the Edgerton Flouring Mill company, a leading enterprise of that flourishing Pipestone county village, has been identified with the county's intere-3ts since the very earliest period of its settlement. It was on the homestead of his brother, Alonzo D. Kingsbury, the northeast quarter of section 28, Osborne, that the town of Edgerton was platted. Charles H. Kingsbury was another brother who i3 counted among the worthy pioneers of Edgerton.

The parents of our subject, Charles W. and Louisa (Stocker) Kingsbury, natives respectively of Massachusetts and New York, were early settlers of Independence, Iowa, and died at Littleton, Iowa, where they are buried. At Independence, on September 14, 1862, Lorenzo W. Kingibury was born. Six other children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Kingsbury, one of whom, Chester B., is deceased, having died in 1909. The remaining members of the family are Alonzo D., of Quartermaster Harbor, Washington; Carrie M., of Gig Harbor, Washington; Charles H., of Edgerton; Edwin J., of Independence, Iowa; and Alvin C, of Gig Harbor, Washington.

For the first 3everal years after casting his lot in Pipestone county Mr. Kingsbury engaged in agricultural pursuits; then in company with his brother Alonzo he built and for three years operated Edgerton's first creamery. He retired from that business to become a blacksmith, an occupation he followed in Edgerton seven years. Mr. Kingsbury was later a general merchant, so engaged for a period of four years. In February, 1909, lie became a member of the firm controlling the Edgerton flour mill and has since served as secretary and treasurer of the company. Under the new management the mill has

The Edgerton flour mill was built in 1895 by D. J. Forbes, who conducted the enterprise for a number of years. Several changes in ownership followed before the business was finally taken over by the present proprietors in 1909. The officers of the company are: President, Oscar J. Larson; vice president, F. M. Schultz; secretary and treasurer, L. W. Kingsbury. New appliances for high grade flour making have recently been installed, and now sixty barrels per day is the capacity of the plant. The leading brands of flour manufactured by the Edgerton mill are the "Golden Crust" and "Our Friend."

From 1898 to 1904 L. W. Kingsbury served efficiently as Edgerton's assessor. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic and Modern Brotherhood of America lodges. At Edgerton, on September 5, 1898, our subject was married to Emma L. Mc- Venes, a native of Independence, Iowa. She i" the daughter of Thomas McVenes, who resides in that Iowa town and is now in his eighty-ninth year.

JAMES ARROWSMITH (1881), of Aetna township, came to Pipestone county as a boy in the early years of the county's history. His parents. Aaron and Elizabeth (Wittel) Arrowsmith, are both buried in the county. The family started life in the new county under most adverse financial conditions, but hard times eventually vanished and there came the dawn of more prosperous days.

Across the sea, in Lancashire, England, on March 28, 1865, was born the subject of this biography. James was reared and educated in the city of Wigan, which was his home until he was seventeen years of age. Then, in 1881, the Arrowsmith family immigrated to America and journeyed direct to Pipestone county, the father homesteading land in section 12, Grange township.

On attaining his majority our subject filed a tree claim to the northeast quarter of section 30, Aetna, and after holding it six years changed the filing to a homestead and proved up on the land. During that time he lived at home with his parents, working out at intervals. He farmed in Grange township seven years; then in 1897 moved on and commenced the improvement ot his homestead. He has a nice home and a well improved farm. He raises considerable stock. Mr. Arrowsmith belongs to the Catholic church of Pipestone and is affiliated with the Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen and Royal Neighbors ledges of Holland. He has served the past seven years as treasurer of school diitriot No. 30.

At Pipestone, on April 4, 1893, Mr. Arrowsmith was married to Julia Dixon who was born in St. Croix county, Wisc^^nsin, August 8, 1872. Her parents, Thomas and Catherine (Conway) Dixon, were Pipestone county pioneers ot 1879 and among the earliest homesteaders of Eden township. Mrs. Dixon still lives in that precinct. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Arrowsmith, as follows: Flora, born January 14, 1894; Frank, born November 4, 1895; Catherine, born February 18,1899: Lloyd, born December 16, 1902; and Myrtle, born February 9, 1905.

C. W. GILMORE (18821, municipal judge of Pipestone, is a prominent member of the Minnesota bar, and in point of residence and continuous practice is the pioneer attorney of Pipestone county. He has lived in the county seat since 1882. Judge Gilmore has presided over the municipal court for five years past. He is an excounty attorney, an office he held for three terms. He is one of the progressive citizens of the city and county and has been actively identified during his long residence within its borders with many of the movements that have brought Pipestone county to the forefront, industrially, politically and otherwise. Mr. Gilmore was the supervisor for the second Minnesota district of the 1910 federal census.

A native of Potsdam, New York, the subject of this review was born July 8, 1852. In that city he acquired a thorough academic training, and then taught school for several years in the county. In 1874, in the first year of his manhood, he joined the western procession and selected Minnesota as the field for future achievement.

He located at Rochester, where he studied law and where by examination he was admitted to the bar. In 1877 he moved to Mankato and entered upon the practice of his profession. Five years later he made settlement in Pipestone, which has ever since been his home. A public-spirited citizen, he has given of his time and talent to the promotion of the city's every helpful influence. Mr. Gilmore has served as a member of the board of education and for the past six years has been a member of the library board.

Our subject is best known throughout this section of the state as Captain Gilmore, a title he earned for distingiushed service in the conflict with Spain. It was largely through his individual efforts that company M, Fifteenth Minnesota regiment, was recruited, and of that company he was elected leader. The company under Captain Gilmore was encamped successively at Camps Ramsey and Snelling, Minnesota; Camp Meade, Pennsylvania; and Camp McKenzie, near Augusta, Georgia. The war ended before there was need of its services at the front.

Mr. Gilmore was married at Rochester in 1878 to Carrie A. Mount, a native Minnesotan. She died May 26, 1894. Two sons, Fred C. and Charles R., of Seattle, Washington, and one daughter, Florence M., were born to this union. Fraternally our subject is a member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery branches of the Ma"onlc order; the Elks, and the Modern Woodmen of America.

GEORGE F. LANGE (18791, a pioneer of Eden township, having resided there since he was ten years of age, is one of the most prominent and influential men of affairs in that precinct. A native of Dane county, Wisconsin, he was born January 18, 1869. Both his parents were native Germans. His father, William F. Lange, was born near Berlin on February 8, 1828, came to this country at the age of twentyseven years, and died December 29, 1894. His mother, Mary (Hoisinger) Lange, who was born May 17, 1830, died February 24, 1909.

eled overland to Pipestone county, and the father at once horaesteaded the northeast quarter of section 6, Eden. A small frame house waj erected on the claim, and for a number of years they experienced hard times, but prosperity came in due season. Our subject resided on the home farm for fifteen years. In 1893 he married and commenced farming on his own account. For five years he rented the southwest quarter of section 5, Eden, then bought the place and haT since lived there. He also owns tlie northwest quarter of section 8, land he purchased in the fall of 1909, and farms the entire half section. Mr. Lange is a successful stock raiser and makes a specialty of the Cheiter White hogs.

In the promotion of every worthy enterprise and in matters of local government Mr. Lange has always taken an active interest. For three years he was chairman of the Eden township board and has for four years past been one of the supervisors. He is clerk of school district No. 22, an office to which he was elected six years ago, after having served the district for three years as treasurer. Mr. Lange has been township assessor two yeari and he was census enumerator for Eden township and Jasper village in 1905. In 1907 he was made a director of the Sweet Township Fire Insurance company, and since 1909 has been the vice president of that strong concern. Our subject owns stock in the farmers' elevators at Ihlen and Jasper and also in the Ihlen State Bank. Fraternally he is a Mason and a Workman, belonging to the lodges of those orders at Jasper. Of the latter lodge he is the master workman. He and his wife are members of the Eastern Star lodge of Jasper. With his family he belongs to the Evangelical church of Sweet township.

The subject of this biography was married October 25, 1893, near Luverne, to Ida Engel, who was born in Rice county, Minnesota, May 22, 1874. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lange, of whom one, Clifton, is deceased. He was born July 5, 1899, and died January 25, 1907. The names of the three surviving are: Nita, born August 7, 1894; Etta, born January 6, 1897; and Walter, born September 13, 1903.