Polk County, Minnesota - Biographical sketches, 1916 (part 11 of 15)

John Driscoll was bom in County Lanark, province of Ontario, Canada, January 14, 1855, and came to Polk county, Minnesota, and was soon joined by his older brother Jlichael, a sketch of whom, including the family history, will be found in this volume. John Driscoll entered a homestead soon after coming here on section 28, and in the course of a few years bought one-quarter of section 34, Sullivan township, for $1,500. A little later he paid $2,500 cash for 160 acres in section 29, then paid $2,000 for another quarter section and later became the owner of more land. He sold some of his land and owned only one whole section at the time of his death.

During his life Mr. Driscoll cultivated all the land he owned that was tillable and built all the improvements on it except the present dwelling house, which was erected by his widow in 1909, two years after the fire. Some years before his death he and his brother Michael began operating a threshing outfit, and they continued in this enterprise together until death ended his labors. He was also school director from the organization of the school district, and when he died was serving as a county commissioner, having been first elected to this office in 1904. He was an ardent Democrat in political relations and a very energetic and effective campaigner for the principles and candidates of his party. His religious connection was

Mr. Driscoll Avas married in 1882 to Miss Nellie O'Brien, who was also a Canadian by nativity. She died young leaving one child, John J. Driscoll, who owns a farm in Sullivan township but is still a bachelor. On March 3, 1886, at Grand Forks, the father contracted a second marriage which united him with Miss Catherine Enright, another Lanark county, Ontario, lady, who came to Grand Forks three years before her marriage with her parents, Michael and Catherine Enright. Mr. Enright took up a claim in Polk county but passed his remaining years mostly in East Grand Forks, where both he and his wife died. By his second marriage Mr. Driscoll became the father of five children, James Edward, Catherine, William, Anselm and Loretta. James Edward is a high school graduate and pursued a course of special training at a commercial college. He is now a bookkeeper in a Grand Forks wholesale house. The other children are still living at home with their mother. They are all members of the church of the Sacred Heart.

After the death of her husband Mrs. Driscoll assumed her great responsibility of rearing her children and caring for the property of the family. She built a new house in place of the old one, and it is one of the finest in the township. She has also directed the operations of the farm with great vigor and success and made them very profitable. She is a heroic lady and richly deserves the high and i;niversal esteem in which she is held.

Oscar Ulve

Owning a highly productive, well improved and pleasantly located farm in section 8, Sullivan township, this county, seven miles northeast of East Grand Forks, which he has helped to make what it is, and standing well in the regard and good will of the people of his township, Oscar Ulve is as comfortably fixed in a worldly way as most men, and he has the satisfaction of knowing that all he has he has accumulated by his own efforts and good management. He was born in Grant county, Wisconsin, November 25, 1872, and first came to Polk county in 1891. He passed the summer of that year working for Andrew E. Odegard, theu returued to his native state, where he remained with his parents until 1898. April 1st of that year he came back to this county, and during the following winter he was employed on the farm where he had formerly worked.

January 1, 1899, ]\Ir. Ulve began working for August Nelson on his farm in Sullivan township, with whom he remained for three years at a compensation of $22 to $26 a month in summer and less in winter. On November 13, 1901, he was united in marriage with Jliss Anna Olena Nelson, the oldest living daughter of his employer, who was born on her father's home farm and was in her twenty-first year at the time of her marriage. In April, 1902, he bought the farm on which he now lives, of ]Mrs. Annie N. Hotvedt and the Hotvedt heirs, but the house was not finished and the barn was built in May, 1910.

Raising grain and live stock have been his principal industries. He keeps twenty-one head of cattle and millvs eight cows, all of good Shorthorn breeds. He has always taken a good citizen's part in the public affairs of his township, and has rendered it excellent service as supervisor for nine years, as clerk for some time and as treasurer of the school board for five years. Mr. Ulve has no children. He and his wife are active members of the Grand Marais Norwegian Lutheran church and take part in all its works of benevolence and whatever it does for the improvement of the community. His farm is one mile from the Marais. It was originally the homestead of Nels Hotvedt, a brother of Peter A. Hotvedt, whose life story is briefly told on other pages of this volume.

John Davidson

This prosperous and highly esteemed farmer of Polk county, who owns what is known as "The Sprague Farm," taking the name from its former owner, but which might appropriately be called "White Oak Farm," has one of the most attractive and valuable country homes in the section of the county in which it is located. It lies on the Marais river, in section 5, Fisher township, four miles northwest of Fisher, and contains 472 acres. Mr. Davidson bought it in 1915, and has since made many improvements on it.

Mr. Davidson was born in County Carleton, province of Ontario, Canada, November 15, 1859, and came to Minnesota in 1879. He had former friends and neighbors in his native place here, the members of the Driscoll family, and he took a pre-emption claim in Nesbit township and proved up on it at $1.25 an acre. He built a shanty on his claim and broke up forty acres of the land, working out for the neighbors while he did this. In 1880 he went to Grand Forks county, North Dakota, and took up a homestead, and in that county he remained until 1896, sixteen years, acquiring the ownership of one quarter-section of land there, which he cultivated in grain.

In 1896 he returned to Minnesota and bought all of section 27, in Sullivan township, this county, paying $26 an acre for it. The farm was already improved, but the new owner built a new house on it, erected a silo and made other improvements, putting up several miles of fencing, and seeded the land in timothy grass. For a number of years he kept a good deal of live stock, raising and fattening cattle for the markets. In 1914 he sold his Sullivan township farm at $60 an acre for the whole section, and the next year he bought his present farm, which cost him about the same rate per acre.

The farm contains about sixty acres of timber and is well watered. As soon as he took possession of it Mr. Davidson began to rebuild and repair on an extensive scale, and he has greatly improved the property in this way. He has sunk a weU 150 feet deep, which supplies him with soft water for his stock, his domestic use and all other desired purposes. He is now giving a great deal of attention to diversified farming and stock raising.

who was boru iu Renfrew county, Ontario, and moved to North Dakota. They have nine children, Claude, William, Ethel, Pearl and Viola (twins), Ella, George, Florence and Stanley. Ethel is a saleslady in a jewelry store in Grand Forks. Pearl is a telegraph operator iu the Western Union Office in the same city. Viola is a teacher in the schools of Kittson county, Minnesota. She pursued a course in normal training at the State Normal school iu Crookston. The rest of the children are liviug at home with their parents.

Elling T. Dokken

Among the progressive and enterprising fanners and public-spirited citizens of Tynsid township, Polk county, Minnesota, none has ever stood higher in the esteem and good will of the people than the late EUing T. Dokken, who departed this life on his farm in that township November 10, 1910, at the age of sixty-eight years, one month and nineteen days, after a residence of some thirty-nine years iu that township, during all of which he was devoted to its welfare and zealous in promoting its progress and development.

Mr. Dokken was born at Hoi Hallingdal, Norway, September 22, 1842, and grew to manhood and was educated in that country, where he remained until late in the sixties, when he emigrated to the United States and located in Worth county, Iowa. In 1871 he moved to Polk county, Minnesota, and pre-empted 160 acres of land in section 36, Tynsid township, and on this land and the additions he made to his tract by subsequent purchases he passed the remainder of his days. He owned 270 acres at the time of his death, all under cultivation and the farm improved with good buildings, the result of his ability and industry as a farmer and his judicious management as a business man.

covered wagons and the party consisted of a number of families from the same neighborhood in Worth county, Iowa. The joui-ney consumed several weeks and while there were no real dangers encountered enroute they experienced all the hardships and privations incident to pioneer life.

Mr. Dokken was among the first settlers iu the township and a picture of his early home erected iu 1878 is still in possession of the family.

Mr. Dokken was married in Clayton county, Iowa, on April 2, 1878, to Miss Ingrid Houg, who was born in that county October 24, 1853, of Norwegian parents, and lived there until her marriage to Mr. Dokken. They had six children, only two of whom are living: Minnie S., who still has her home with her mother, and Thilda, who is the wife of Knute Eriekson, a resident of Tynsid township. The deceased children all died in infancy except a daughter named Lena, whose death occurred when she was twentyseven years of age. Mrs. Dokken conducted the farm after her husband's death until the spring of 1915, since when it has been operated by her son-in-law, Knute Erickson. As was her husband, she is an active and zealous member of the Sand Hill Free church.

Hans Hanson

The late Hans Hanson, for many years one of the leading farmers of Esther township, this county, whose useful life ended on August 13, 1908, was born in Norway April 13, 1834. He was married near Dui'- ham, Wisconsin, to Miss Caroline Eliza Johanson, who was also a native of Europe. She died at the age of thirty leaving four children, only one of whom, however, grew to maturity. This was a daughter named Carrie, who was born April 15, 1872, at Brainerd, Minnesota, and was six years old when her mother died before they had been on the farm one whole year. She is now the wife of Frank E. Nelson and lives on her father's old homestead.

work and business at Brainerd, in Duluth and in Winnipeg, and in 1877 made a trip up the Red river on one of the Hudson Bay steamers under Captain Griggs. He was pleased with the outlook in this section and chose the farm on which he afterward lived and labored until his death. His first 160 acres is located half a mile from tlie Red river and fourteen miles by road north of Grand Forks. He later added a tract of eighty acres, making liis farm 240 acres all in one body. He built a log cabin, the first shack put up in a radius of six miles, although he soon had a few neighbors. But for two or three years he was obliged to work out at farm labor to get the common necessaries of life. His wife's illness caused him to spend all the money he had and when he landed at Grand Forks he carried all his earthly possessions on his back. Fisher was then the terminus of the railroad.

j\Ir. Hanson's daughter soon became his housekeeper, and her work as such was her education. She had no opportunity to go to school. Her father, too, gave himself up wholly to his home duties, taking no part in anything outside except the Synod Lutheran church, of which he was an active and serviceable member. His remains were buried in a graveyard at the schoolhouse standing on his own land, and which he had donated for the purpose.

was born in Sweden April 21, 1869, and came to the United States in 1887. He journeyed direct to Polk county, where his father, John P. Nelson, a brother of August Nelson, had settled five years before. John P. Nelson was a carpenter and pas.sed the rest of his life in this county, dying January 1, 1907. Frank was only seventeen when he arrived here, but he at once went to work at farming and railroad gi-ading, going as far west as Montana in liis grading operations. He has canned on the Hanson farm since his marriage, and has bought 240 acres adjoining it, so tliat he now has 480 acres all in one body, about seventy-five acres being in timber.

Mr. Nelson's principal products are wheat, oats and barley, and in 1915 he raised over 9,000 bushels of these cereals. He also milks eight cows generally for butter to supply a lively trade among private customers. His cattle are Shorthorns, and of good .strains. The buildings on his farm are good and the property is a veiy desirable and valuable one. He has taken an active part in township affairs, serving ou the township board six years, and he has now been school clerk for three years. He and his wife are the parents of seven children, all of whom are living at home. They are John Henry, Elof, Albert, Arthur, Lizzie, Florence and Clifford. They also took in Lillie Halvorson at the age of six years and have reared her as their own child. She still abides with them as a member of their family circle.

N. J. Nelson

N. J. Nelson, cashier of the First State bank at East Grand Forks and prominent citizen, is widely known through the county as a progressive business man who measures his success by the development and prosperity attending the community in which he lives. Mr. Nelson is a native son of the state, bom in Goodhue county, March 15, 1867. His early life was spent on a farm and his business career was initiated as a traveling salesman. In 1891 he located in Crookston which was his home until 1906 when he removed to

East Grand Forks. As cashier of the First State bank of that city, he is in active charge of the affaii-s of that popular institution and through his policy of capable and far seeing administration is also identified with the important interests of civic and commercial circles. He has particularly given his attention and cooperation to the advancement of the agricultural enterprises of the region and in recognition of his services holds the office of county director of the Red River Valley Development association. Aside from, his business activities he takes an active interest in civic affairs and has given six years of able service as alderman and is also a valued member of the board of education. He is a member of the Republican party. Mr. Nelson was married in 1894 to Bertha S. Langford, of Dodge Center, Minnesota, and they have two children, Walter L. and Winifred. Mrs. Nelson is well known in the club and church circles of the city and is a member of the Baptist church. Not only is Mr. Nelson the cashier of one of Polk county 's most substantial financial institutions but he was the organizer as well and has thoroughly worked into its character his theory of cooperative benefit which makes it one of the strongest banks in the county today. The bank is located in a fine building with every modern facility, which stands as a credit to civic pride as well as to the enterprise of the directors of the institution.

Thomas Nisbet, whose death occurred at his city home in Grand Forks on the 18th of August, 1914, was one of the worthy makers of Polk county having come to it when it was practicallj' all a wilderness, with a choice of where he should secure a home.

He was born in Sherbrook, Countj- Lanark, Ontario, December 24, 1843, and was the fourth of several brothers to come to Polk county, of whom David was the first. James, of whom further mention is made elsewhere, followed, Robert and Tliomas coming in turn. Of these David died about 1880, a bachelor, in middle life, and was buried in Nisbet Cemetery, which was named in his honor. Their mother Christena also died here at an advanced age. One daughter Christena was the wife of James Lee, and another, Margaret, married James Gilmore, both now being deceased.

Thomas Nisbet was married in Winona county, Minnesota, December 30, 1871, to Miss Janet Robertou, cousin of James Robei-ton of Hunstville township. She was also born in County Lanark and as a child was brought to Winona county, where her parents remained till death. One of her brothers, Joseph Roberton was for several years a resident of Huntsville, dying some twenty-four years since.

Mr. Nisbet was a blacksmith by trade, working as such about eight years before marriage in Winona county, and so continued at Mallory finally operating a shop on his farm, his preference being to work at the forge rather than on the farm.

He secured railroad land at $7 per acre, securing the usual rebate for that part put into cultivation. He became the owner of 400 acres which comprises the present fine home of James Cummings, and which was drained by the Marais, making it a vei'y desirable tract, especially when natural drainage was depended upon. When Joseph Roberton died, his farm was also purchased by Mr. Nisbet making 640 acres of which he was proprietor, even after selling the original home.

Leaving the farm, he operated a shop in Mallory, two miles distant, for twelve years, when he retired to Grand Forks, although he continued to supervise the operation of his lands.

He was chosen township treasurer for several years and was a member of the Town Board. He was a stanch Republican and was once candidate for county commissioner.

Mr. Nisbet was an enthusiastic Mason, having been made one by Tom Morriss, ex-mayor of Crookston. He took practically all the work of the fraternity including both lines - the York and the Scottish Rite, being one of very few in Polk county who were advanced to the thirty-second degree. He frequently attended the National Conclaves, and attained a great local reputation as a lodge worker, being specially well fitted by temperament and physique to carry the work of the third degree, the character of Jubal Um being one that he appeared in almost to perfection.

wlio superintends the farm and has two children, Janet Olive and Keith Horace; Jennie F., at home and May T., wife of Frank Hankey of Grand Forks. Few men who have lived in Polk county had a larger circle of warm friends than Jlr. Nisbet. He was large of body and of mind and possessed to a great degree those qualities of head and heart, coupled with aflfability, enthusiasm and optimism that not only made him an ideal citizen but also a valued friend and companion.

Christopher H. Evje

Christopher H. Evje, a successful farmer of Eden township, is a native of Norway, born November 12, 1843. He was reared on a farm and spent his early manhood in his home land and was there married to Engeborg Sophia Novesta. But ambitious to secure a home in the western land across the sea, in 1886, he brought his wife and six children to the United States. His savings enabled him to purchase all but one passage and for this he had to borrow funds. He fii-st located in Norman county, ilinnesota, where for two years he worked at farm labor and in 1889 removed to Polk county which has since been his home. His farm had been the homestead of Hans Thompson, who died in 1888, leaving his interest in the place to the wife of Mr. Evje. It was located in section 21 of Eden township, a little over thirteen miles northeast of Fosston and near the old Indian reservation ; no land had been cleared but a small log house stood on the tract and was the first home of the Evje family and is now included in the construction of the living room of the present comfortable home. Mr. Evje has put eighty-five of the one hundred and fifty acres in cultivation and has added an additional forty acres to his estate. He has engaged in grain raising and dairy farming, keeping about ten dairy cows. He has devoted every effort to the development of his farm and with noteworthy ability and skillful management has built up one of the best country homes as well as one of the model properties of the county, directing all his operations along progressive lines and including the modern improvements in his equipment. In 1907 he erected a large barn. Although Mr. Evje has never acquired the use of the language of his adopted country, he is a wide-awake and public spirited citizen, interested in public matters and well informed on the questions of the day. He is a stockholder in Farmers store company at Fosston and in the cooperative creamery at Olga, one mile south of his place. His wife died, January 14, 1902, and is survived by Mr. Evje and ten children, Hans, who operates the home farm ; Dina, the wife of Erick Nyborg, a neighboring farmer; Tobine, who married Ole Engebretson and lives at Cleai-brook, Minnesota ; Tonnes, engag'-..-^ in farming in White Earth : Carl, a farmer of Eden township ; Clunstine, the wife of Harry Boon of White Earth ; Clara, who is in charge of her father's home and Herman, John and Tenny. One daughter, Gjertine Evje, died when twenty-three years of age. She was the wife of Bronnel Bronnelson. Mv. Evje is a member of the Zion Lutheran church.

Richard Enright

After a busy and successful business life, the results of which have made him one of the most substantial citizens of Polk county, Richard Enright is now enjoying the fruits of energy in rather a retired condition, though not by any means having entirely laid aside attention to business details.

He was born near Almont, Ontario, and grew to manhood near Port Sarnia, coming to Grand Forks in 1877 to seek employment. James E. Sullivan was his first employer and he worked for two months, in 1877, on the farm of John O'Brien and for others. The next j^ear after his own coming, he was followed by his parents, Dennis and Catherine (O'Neill) Enright, and their eight sons and two danghtei's. Of these, John is a ranchman in California ; Thomas lives in Sullivan township ; Dennis J. is also in California ; Jerry is in Alberta as is also James. William was drowned in the Red river at the age of twenty-three ; Michael L. is a farmer of Huntsville; Edward F. is an employe of the Arneson Mercantile company, while Mary Ann was the wife of Thomas Mason, who came to the county in 1879, and both of whom are since deceased. Maggie became the wife of George Tinkler and lives in western Canada.

The father liought the homestead, where his son Michael L. now lives, to which he added at various times till he owned upwards of 1,000 acres lying along the Red Lake river a few miles from East Grand Forks. For several years, in fact till his death in 1886, the sons all remained at home, the operations being carried on an extensive scale. The widow continued, with the younger sons, to manage the farm, however she finally retired to the city, where she passed away October 18, 1906.

In 1880 Richard was married to Johanna Forn, and at once assumed charge of his own farm. In about one year thereafter he had the misfortune to lose his companion, when he rented the farm, which he originally bought as railroad land. He began to add more land when it could be had from the railroad company at about $6 per acre. His operations were more than usually successful, investing in land as opportunity offered till he possessed six quarter sections or 960 acres in one body, all lying in Huntsville township. Generally this has been operated by tenants, Mr. Enright giving more personal attention to making and keeping up improvements.

Five years ago he decided to dispose of his lands, since when he has made some investments in California, although much of his present business interests are in farm loans. No man has had greater faith in the future of the Red river valley, in every phase of whose development he has taken an active part, being ever an ardent advocate of a system of farming that tends to greater production and increase in valuation. He has rather kept aloof from public life, but has yielded to the extent of serving the township as Supervisor for some fifteen years. He has ever stood for better living conditions and it is not a little to the efforts of such men that East Grand Forks is now fast faking its place among the better residence towns of the Red river valley.

Brown Duckstad

One of the leading pioneers, business men and promoters of the village of Fertile, and for years a valued public official in various capacities. Brown Duckstad has contributed much to the improvement and benefit of the land and locality of his adoption, and he has also embraced, greatly to his own advantage, the opportunities it has offered him for his own progress in a material way and along lines of social and political influence and consequence.

Mr. Duckstad is a native of Norway, where his life began December 6, 1865, and where he was reared to the age of nineteen and obtained his education. In the spring of 1884 he came to the United States and at once to Polk county, Minnesota, where he has ever since resided. During the first five years of his residence in this county he was employed as a farm hand, working hard, living frugally and saving his earnings to enable him to begin at the earliest practicable time the business career to which he was steadily looking forward.

In 1889 he located at Fertile and opened the hardware store which he is still condiicting there. His business was started on a small scale, but by enterprise, close attention to eveiy detail and excellent business capacity he has steadily expanded his trade and enlarged his operations until he is now one of the leading merchants in the part of the county in which he lives. His trade soon outgrew its first meager facilities and he was obliged to provide for its growth by erecting the comiuodious and substantial building in which his store is now located. He has also kept up his interest in agricultural pui'suits and now owns about 1,200 acres of land in the vicinity of Fertile, and he is also vice president of the First State Bank of Fertile and of the Fertile Brick and Tile company.

Although he has never for a day neglected his own business or the claims of dutj^ to himself and his family, Mr. Duckstad has also at times taken an active and helpful part in the public affairs of his community and county, and the people have had the benefit of his integrity, ability and good judgment in the administration of several local ofRees. He was postmaster at Fertile from 1898 to 1907, and at different times has also filled other positions with credit to himself and advantage to the people. His political affiliation has always been with the Republican party and his church connection with the congregation of Synod Lutheran church.

Mr. Duckstad was first married at Fertile in 1889 to Miss Bertha Skime, who was, like himself, a native of Norw^ay. She died in 1901. They were the parents of seven children, three of whom are living, Benjamin, Lisa and John. Benjamin is a graduate of the West Point United States Military Academy and a lieutenant in the United States army. In 1903 Mr. Duckstad contracted a second marriage, uniting himself with Miss Sophia Skime, who was born in Iowa. They have six children, Norman, Volbarg, Volter, Sylvia, Paul and Eleanor. The family stands well in the community and richly deserves the general esteem bestowed upon its members.

Theodore A. Thompson

During all of the last eleven years Theodore A. Tiiompson, who is now a resident of Crookston, has rendered the people of Polk county excellent service in their register of deeds' office, and for seven years of the period has been the register, filling the position of deputy register for the first four j'ears of his connection with the office. Before he went into that office, however, he had a useful and prosperous career, in which he showed his mettle. He was born at Waseca, Minnesota, September 20, 1871, and is the son of Ole and Betse.y ( Aniundson) Thompson, natives of Norway.

The mother came to this country about 1860, when she was eleven years old, and the father in 1866. They were married at Black Earth, Wisconsin, and moved to this county in 1888, locating on a homestead in Hill River township, which the father selected at the time. He was a .slioemaker and worked at his trade in Crookston ten years, during a part of which time he was the manager of a shoe store. He died in North Yakima, Washington, and the mother passed away on the farm. The family lived on that farm a long time and still owns it.

Seven children were born and reared to maturity in the household. Anna B., who is now living at home, has been a teacher in the Polk county schools and a stenographer. Lewis passed his life on the farm and died there at the age of thirty-nine. Tilda was also a Polk county teacher. She died unmarried in 1908. Louise, a school teacher and stenographer in this countj^ is also now living at home. Emma, who died at the age of twenty-one, also taught in Polk county schools, and Oscar B. is operating the old family homestead.

Theodore A. Thompson spent ten years on the homestead. He was seventeen when the family took possession of it and had just been graduated from the high school at Waseca, and he began his career in this county by teaching Public School No. 120 in King township, near Mcintosh. He continued teaching ten years, still living on the home farm, and during two years of the time was also interested in a merchandising enterprise in Mcintosh. In 1898 he became assistant cashier of the Citizens Bank at Mcintosh, and this position he held continuously for six years.

On January 1, 1905, Mr. Thompson was appointed deputy register of deeds by J. H. Stair, the register, and he served the county in this capacity until January 1, 1909, when he took over the office of register, to which he was elected in the fall of 1908, being the nominee of the Republican party. He was re-elected in 1910 without opposition, and again in 1912 and 1914, the last time for a term of four yeai-s, according to the provisions of a law passed by the legislature of 1913. He employs three assistants in the office, and it turns over to the county annually, after all its expenses are paid, an average revenue of about $2,500.

Mr. Thompson was married in 1901 to Miss Caroline M. Jensen, of Brandsvold township, this county, where her father, Peter C. Jensen, now deceased, settled in 1888, coming to Polk county from Wisconsin. Mrs. Thompson was a teacher in Polk county three years prior to her marriage. She and her husband have had five children, one of whom died in infancy. Those who are living are Harlow B., Florence Lucille, Kenneth F. and Marjorie A. The parents are members of the English Lutheran church, of which Mr. Thompson is secretary. He is well known throughout the county and very popular.

Erick Ellingson

During the last four years Erick Ellingson, head of the firm of Ellingson & Groven, hardware and farm implement merchants, has been a stimulus and an inspiration to business activities in and around the village of Mentor, Grove Park township, this county, and has fully justified the rank he holds as one of the township's leading business men. He was born in Green county, Wisconsin, September 27, 1864, and was reared and educated there. In the spring of 1909 he moved to Alexandria, Minnesota, and during the next three years he was occupied in farming near that town.

Farming failed to meet all the requirements of Mr. Ellingson 's desires, and in the spring of 1912 he changed his residence to Mentor and his pursuit to mercantile activity. He formed a partnership with Olof M. Groven at that time, and since then they have carried on a flourishing and growing business under the firm name of Ellingson & Groven as dealers in shelf and heavy hardware, furniture, stoves and ranges, farm implements, threshing machines, harness, horse furnishings and other articles of general merchandise, conducting their operations with studious attention to the needs of the community and the comfort and satisfaction of their patrons.

Mr. Ellingson was married in Green county, Wisconsin, April 11, 1906, to Miss Emma Anderson, who was born in Minnesota and reared in Wisconsin. They have four children, Marion G., Goldie T., Charlotte N. 0. and Russell K. The father of the family is a member of the village council of Mentor and clerk of the local school board, and is highly esteemed as one of the most useful residents of the township. He and his wife are active and valued members of the United Lutheran church.

George J. Flaten

Deprived in part of his left hand in a hunting accident at the age of eighteen years, the subsequent career of George J. Flaten, the able, industrious and conscientious treasurer of Polk county, has been largely shaped by that occurrence. It seemed like a lines of work for which he is especially fitted and to a position at length for which he seems to have been destined. He was born in Goodhue county, Minnesota, November 4, 1876, the son of J. J. and Anna (Brandsvold) Flaten, who now live in Garden township, this county, five miles east of Fertile, on a home- stead which was taken up by the father in 1880. The lather is a native of Norway who came to this country and located in Goodliue county, Minnesota, soon after the Civil war. The mother is a cousin of Knute Brandsvold, in whose honor Brandsvold township in this county was named, and who now lives at Dalton, ]\Iinnesota.

George J. Flaten grew to manhood on his father's farm, remaining there until he reached the age of twenty-three, and was educated in the district schools and at Concordia college in Moorhead, in which he pursued a special course of commercial training. In 1900 he was appointed a clerk in the office of County Treasurer ]\Iartin G. Peterson, and was continued in his position under Treasurer W. L. Vannet, holding it for six years. In November, 1908, he was elected county treasurer, taking the office on January 1, 1909, and he has been re-elected at the end of every term since, in the fall of 1914 for a term of four years iu accordance with the provisions of a law passed by the legislature in 1913. He was the nominee of the Republican party in 1908, 1910 and 1912, and a nonpartisan candidate in 1914.

Mr. Flaten is wholly devoted to his official duties and gives eveiy phase and detail of them his personal attention. He employs one deputy, who is Miss Sophia Stromstad. He also owns a grain farm near Harold Station, but that is cultivated by a tenant. On December 24, 1903, he was married to Miss Grace Lothe, of Wisconsin. They have no children. Both belong to the English Lutheran church and are active in its service. Fraternally Mr. Flaten is a Fx'eemason and a member of the Order of Elks.

This enterprising, progressive, broad-minded and highly capable superintendent of the public schools of Crookston acquired his knowledge of school work and success in directing it by long experience in the school room and thoughtful and observant study of its requirements. He was born in Scott county, Alinnesota. May 1, 1873, the son of Swedish parents who came to the United States and settled in Carver county, Minnesota, in the early fifties. The father was a blacksmith and worked at his trade in Carver county and at Blakely, this state, where he and his family located in 1870, the parents having been married in Carver county. The father died at Blakely but the mother is still living and has her home at Le Sueur, Minnesota.

The son was graduated from the Mankato State Normal school in 1897 after completing its most advanced course of instruction. He has also taken work in the College of Education at North Dakota State University. He was president of his class at the normal school, and he has passed all of his subsequent years since his graduation in the school room. He was principal of the graded school at Bellingham, Minnesota, four years, and was then superintendent of Bird Island high school, with eight to ten teachers under his direction, seven years. The next six years he passed as superintendent of the schools at Wiudom, with twenty teachers to direct.

In June, 1914, without any solicitation on his part, he was selected as superintendent of the schools in Crookston. The school board sent out a committee to investigate the work of several superintendents who were not candidates for the office it had to fill, and on the report of the committee the board voluntarily offered Mr. Sanberg the position. He has conducted teachers' summer training schools for nine years, and been active in all teachers' organizations. For a time he was president of the Southern Minnesota Teachers' association which meets annually at IVIankato. He also was largely instrumental in reorganizing the Northern Minnesota Teachers' association.

Compendium Op History And Biography Of Pol.K County

improving activities, especially its Sunday school work. He was married at Garden City, Minnesota, in 1897, to Miss Berda M. McBride, a native of that place and a teacher of music. They have six children, Ruth, Beatrice, Keith, Glenn, Wilbur and Marion.

Mr. Sauberg is a Freemason of the Past Master's rank, having served as Worshipful Master of the Lodge at Bird Island, Minnesota. He usually passes his vacations in outing camps, and is highly favorable to athletic games when they are propei'ly supervised.

William T. Nicholson

Coming in daily contact with the residents of Crookston as assistant postmaster of the city during the last fourteen years, and winning their high and lasting regard by his ability and devotion to duty, William T. Nicholson has shown traits of admirable manhood and citizenship which fully justify the good opinion the people have of him. He was born in County Simcoe, province of Ontario, Canada, January 2, 1862, and was reared in County Grey of that province. On January 22, 1888, he emigrated to this country and located in Crookston, where he had friends living.

Mr. Nicholson's first employment here was as a school teacher, and this lasted three years. He first taught the school in District No. 105, near Gentilly, and then had a berth in the Central building in Crookston. During the next six years he was a fireman and during the succeeding four an engineer on the Great Northern railroad, running between Crookston and Grand Forks. In 1902 he was appointed assistant postmaster by Postmaster Andrew Eiken, with whom he served two years. He next served under Postma.ster Elias Steenerson nine years, and since then has been as.sistant to Postmaster C. L. Skoug.

He is a member of the state and national Assistant Postmasters' associations, and is wholly occupied with the duties of his ofSce. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is a trustee, and was superintendent of its Sunday school four years, succeeding in that position a man who had held it twentyfive years, and he has himself been in the school as teacher and superintendent twenty-six years. In all church and social work he takes an active and serviceable part.

On November 1, 189.3, Mr. Nicholson w'as married to Miss Rachel Nicholson, who is a daughter of John Nicholson, a pioneer in Crookston, who settled here in 1879. The daughter was born in Ontario, Canada, but was reared in Crookston. She is president of the Ladies' Aid society of the Methodist Episcopal church. She and Mr. Nicholson are the parents of four children : Marietta, who is a graduate of the high school and State Normal school in Moorhead and is now a teacher at Lake Park, Minnesota; Harry, who is a student at Hamline University, in St. Paul ; Sadie,, who is a graduate of the Crookston high school of the class of 1916, and Walter.

N. A. Thorson, the present county superintendent of schools, was born in Nicollet county of this state December 22, 1881. He claims the county poor farm as his birth-place, where his father was then siiperintendent. Many of the older inmates of the poor farm were persons of considerable leisure and they contributed a great deal to the early rearing of the subject of this sketch. With them he went fishing, boating and berry-picking, and played with the home-made toys which they so generously supplied.

With his parents and the family of five children he moved to Winthrop Minnesota, in 1887, where later he spent many years of his life working on his father's farm. In 1898 he entered a secondary school at St.

Peter, Minnesota, from wliieh he graduated in 1900. In the fall of the same year he entered Gustavus Adolphus College at that place from which institution he graduated and received the degree of A. B. in 1904. During the spring of his graduating year, he was chosen by his college to take part in a state oratorical contest in which he later won the right to represent the state in the interstate contest at Springfield, Illinois, the same summer. Upon his return he attended the summer session at the Maukato Normal School. The same fall he was engaged to teach at Crookston and during his connection with the high school at that place for four years he taught principally the sciences and mathematics. He attended the University of Minnesota during the summer of 1905 and the following year was a member of a group of teachers who enrolled for the first summer training course at the St. Anthony School of Agriculture. He built and operated the first wireless telegraphy outfit witnessed in Crookston. He also served as athletic director of the high school and together with other school anthorities in the Valley labored to place athletics among the schools on a high standard. In the fall of 1908 he taught for a short time under Sui)t. Wni. Robertson at the Crookston School of Agriculture. The same year Mr. Thorson entered the race for county superintendent of schools of Polk county and has now served his constituents seven years. During this time he has tried to systematize the work of the common schools and has always stood for progressiveness in educational work. He has given his support to industrial movements in the county by inducing the pupils in the schools to engage in practical home and school projects.

Mr. Thorson has served on the State Teachers' Reading Circle Board for a number of years and is at present secretary of this organization. He is also a member of several musical organizations, including the English Lutheran Church Quartet, the Viking Chorus and the Citizens' Band of Crookston.

In 1913 he was married to Miss Sarali Rollefson of Montevideo, Minnesota, and their marriage has been lilessed with two children, Sue and Paul.

Andrew M. Malmberg

Among those who came to Polk county, while it was still in its primitive condition, is he whose name heads this article, and who is looked upon by those who know him as one whose efforts did much toward the making of the county. After many years of industrj', during which he became financially independent, he is now living in retirement in Crookston, the operation of his large farm being in the hands of his sons.

Mr. Malmberg was born in Sweden March 8, 1842, and came to America in 1866, securing work in the harvest field near Davenport, Iowa. That fall he came to Red Wing, Minnesota, and the following spring began work on the grade of the Hastings & Dakota Railroad, when it was first started at Hastings. The next four years were spent in farm labor near St. Paul, and in 1870 he assisted in the construction of

While working at Glyndon he was induced to take a preemption on a tract of land close to that village, which, being the junction point was thought would become quite an important place.

In the spring of 1872 in company with others he came to the Red Lake River country, it being said to surpass in fertility other sections of the country. He was pleased with it and at once secured a homestead some eight miles west of Crookston along the Red Lake River two miles southeast of Fisher. He also secured similar tracts for his brother and for a friend, Olof Erickson. But two or three others were there before him, so that he thus had his choice, and selected lands along the small creeks, which were lined with valuable timber.

He soon sold his Glyndon tract for $400, but with such payments that he derived little benefit from the sale. He hired a few acres broken out that first year, so that when he came the next year to make it his home, he had a small crop ; but there was no market and it was not sold but was stored in a bin in one corner of his cabin and not sold till the next year, 1874, when it was part of the grain that loaded the first car ever purchased at Crookston.

When the Great Northern Railroad was built through to Fisher's Landing (so named in honor of the superintendent of the road) a store was started by Hugh Thompson, to whom Mr. Malniberg sold much produce. There being no crossing of the river he arranged a raft out of dry logs, which had been peeled for the bark when he built his cabin and this was the first means of getting farm produce to the market. He was active in all the first road making, and in fact every line of local improvement found him ready to do his part.

He was one of the organizers of the township and was chosen supervisor, in which position he served for many years, as well as having been chosen to other local offices.

He soon began to buy other lands, mainly of the railroad company at prices ranging from $8 to $10 per acre. This was at a time when title of these lands was still in dispute and many would-be purchasei's were fearful of buying. He finally became the owner of four hundred acres of as fine land as there is in the state and which he converted into one of the really valuable farms of the county. In the early years he would get but small returns owing to frosts or water, but being so close to the river, his land was fairly well drained, and progress was satisfactory, he becoming one of the independent farmers, whose success came from faith in Polk county soil.

His original cabin, covered with bark, was later much enlarged and became a convenient home, but which was totally destroyed by fire ; when he erected the present commodious country residence.

In 1908 he turned the farm over to two sons, himself buyinig a small farm on the river and but two miles west of Crookston, where he remained seven years, when he came into the city, where he has since lived in easy retirement, enjoying the fruits of a wellspent life.

His marriage in St. Paul in 1872, to Miss Ellen Angdahl, who had come from Sweden at the age of fifteen, has resulted in the birth of four sons and one daughter.

Oscar Albin and Carl Emil are partners in the operation of the old farm. William Haniel is one of the well known teachers of the county, having entered upon that work at the age of sixteen and so continued for several years. James Montaine and Ella Johanna complete the family, the latter being a successful music teacher and living at home.

AVhile the life of Mr. Malmberg has not been filled with unusual events, it has carried a valued influence in shaping the affairs of liis community, and it is to such lives that the future historian will refer to learn of the details of empire building.

This enterprising and progressive farmer and public-spirited citizen of Polk county, who is one of several members of the same family, lives at Davidson Station on the Northern Pacific railroad, sixteen miles and a half northwest of Crookston, in section 29, Nesbit township, where he has redeemed from the wilderness and highly improved a large farm. He was born in County Frontenac, Province of Ontario, Canada, May 20, 1861, and came to Polk county in 1878, his brother, James McDonald, having come to Blue Earth county, this state, two j-ears before. He changed his residence to Polk county the next year, and is still living here, as will be seen in a sketch of him elsewhere in this history.

Daniel IT. McDonald is a son of Donald and Ellen (Hannah) McDonald. He bought eighty acres of his present farm from the railroad company at $5 an acre, with a rebate of $2.50 an acre for l)reaking threefourths of it, and three years later was allowed 50 cents an acre in addition for all he had under cultivation. He worked out on other farms the first year but broke up eijjht acres of his own land although he had no buildings on it. In the winter he hauled wood. The next .year he rented for cash what he had plowed and broke up more, and so got twenty acres broken up in a short time. Soon afterward he bought the other half of the (piarter-section in which his land lies, and in four years he had 120 acres broken and got the rebate on it all.

During this four years Mr. McDonald continued to work out and rented his own plowed land. He then built a little house and stable, but continued to make his home with his father, Donald McDonald, who came to the county two years after the son did. The father bought a homestead right and on this land he lived until his death on February 20, 1915, having survived liis wife fifteen years. He was a zealous Presbyterian and took the initiative in founding the Bethel church of that sect, and of this church he was a very active member the rest of his life.

His son Daniel worked his own land and his father's until his marriage, which took place in 1889 and united him with Miss Tena Lee, a daughter of James and

Tena (Nisbet) Lee, and also a native of Ontario, coming to this county with her parents when Mr. McDonald came. She died in 1899, leaving four children: Winifi'ed, who is a teacher in the Polk county schools; Earl, who was a student at school in Crookston ; and Lee and Lindsey, who, like Earl, are living at home with their father.

Mr. McDonald's second marriage was with Miss Annie McDougall, also a Canadian by nativity, and occurred at Elphin, Ontario, March 2, 1904. They have four children, Grace, Gilbert, Maurice and Marvin. Since his first marriage Mr. McDonald has added 160 acres to his farm and it now comprises 320 acres, his last purchase costing him $23 an acre, with improvements. Ilis main dependence for a time was grain, but in late years he has devoted more attention to live stock, keeping regularly about thirtj' head of cattle with twelve milch cows. He has seventeen acres in potatoes and generally plants thirty in corn, and the buildings and other improvements on his place are good.

The public affairs of his township have always interested Mr. McDonald and enlisted his service. He has served on the township board one term, being its chairman. He was also town-ship treasurer for three years and has been a member of the school board for many. His religious connection is with the Bethel Presbyterian church, of vsiiich he has been an elder for a long time and is now an occupant of that office.

Born, reared and married in Norway, and coming to the United States and the Northwest in the full vigor of his young manhood at the age of twenty-four, Iver Hoye, who has a productive and attractive farm in section 8, Sullivan township, this county, which is known far and wide as the "Hoye Farm," brought to his new home a stimulating force which has been serviceably emploj'cd in pushing the further development and improvement of the locality in which he lives, as it was in doing the same in other localities in which he lived previous to settling where he is now.

Mr. Hoye's life began in Norway February 28, 1854, and he remained in his native land until 1878, when he came to this country and located in "Winneshiek county, Iowa, where he remained one year. In 1879 he moved to Yellow JFedicine county, ^linnesota, where one of his sisters was living. He made his home with her until 1881, and then bought a homestead in Grand Forks county. North Dakota, near the village of Honeyford, twenty-five miles northwest of the city of Grand Forks, driving with oxen to his new home from Yellow Medicine county.

For a few years hail storms destroyed Mr. Hoye's crops on his homestead and he encountered many other discouragements. He discovered that his laud at best was none of the most choice, and after living on and cultivating it fourteen years he changed his base of operations to this county. In 1891 he bought a quarter of section 34 in Northland township, for which he paid $1,500, it being all wild land. In 1895 he came to this county to live, but instead of locating on his Northland township land he bought a quarter of section 8 in Sullivan township, two miles distant from his first piirchase, and has made his home on that ever since. This second purcliase in Polk county was made on a contract for 8,000 bushels of wheat to be delivered within a certain term of yeai's, and Mr. Hoye 's enterprise and good management in the operation of his farms was such that he was able to meet the requirements of his contract promptly and without any default whatever.

Mr. Hoye has since sold his Northland township farm and erected new buildings on the one in Sullivan township. He has also bought a quarter section half a mile distant from his home place. By these deals he has made money through the advances in the value of the land. He raises grain principally on his two quarter sections and keeps ten to twelve cows of good grades. His interest in the welfare and advancement of the township in which he lives has always been warm and active. He has served on the school board for a number of years and has show-n his progrsssiveness and public spirit in many other ways.

In his young manhood Mr. Hoye was married in his native land to Miss Ingeborg Wistad. They have had seven children, three of whom are living. One daughter named Anna died at the age of sixteen. Another, who had the same name, died at the age of twelve. Theodore died when he was eight and Emma when she was four. The three living children are : Martin, who is still with his parents, and who has been the township assessor for four years ; Henry, who married Miss Alma Onneland, has two children and is living in Montana, and Matilda, who is the wife of Non^al J. Bolstad. The members of the family all belong to the Grand Marias Norwegian Lutheran church.

Jens Ohnstad, M. D., of Mcintosh, one of the leading physicians of the county, was born in Dane county, Wisconsin, June 20, 1868. His parents were uatives of Norway and came to the United States in 1846 and were pioneer settlers of Dane coiinty, where his father is living at the close of a long and useful career, having reached his eighty-eighth year and being one or the few survivors among those who initiated the emigration of his compatriots to this country. Two brothers and a sister are also living at advanced ages, all having passed their eightieth year. Jens Ohnstad was reared on the Wisconsin homestead and was educated in normal school at St. Ausgar, Iowa. He graduated in 1892 and in his early manhood engaged in teaching school in Fillmore county, Minnesota, using this work to secure the financial aid to attain to his professional ambitions. In 1899 he entered State

University for a four-year course of study iu the college of physicians and surgeons and received his degree from that institution iu 1903 and iu October of that year located iu Mcintosh, where he has continued to pursue his practice with eminent succes.s:, with the exception of two years, during which time he transferred his professional activities to Minneapolis. Dr. Ohnstad has kept in touch with the progress of medical science and has taken post-graduate courses in advanced scientific studies, in Chicago. He has gained a wide reputation for his skill and professional achievements and his able services have been distinguished by notable victories over serious epidemics of malignant diseases. He has devoted every effort and interest to the duties of his vocation and has increased his opportunities for efficient service bv the establishment of the Dr. Ohnstad Hospital, which is amply equipped, with professional muscs in attendance, and has proved of unmeasured benefit to the community in providing immediate relief for local distress, obviating the disastrous delays entailed in reaching city hospitals. Dr. Ohnstad is that type; who, by their broad, progressive and unselfish service, furnish the substantial support of the welfare of any communitv and has made a most honorable record as a physician and citizen. He is a member of the Red River Valley, the Minnesota State and the American iledical associations, and in fraternal societies is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. He was married at Red Wing in 1908 to Jlabel Hooverson, of that place, who had resided for a time at Mcintosh. Two sons have been born to them, Peter Rolf and Karsten Jerdee.

John N. Bolstad

Although a native of a foreign land in which his ancestors lived for many generations, John N. Bolstad, one of the enterprising and successful farmei-s of Sullivan township, this county, has passed the whole of his life to the present time, except the first four months of it, in the United States and the Northwest. He was boni in Norway March 15, 1858, and was brought to this country by his father, Niles Bolstad, in July of the same year. The parents settled in Crawford county, Wisconsin, and passed the remainder of their days there. They converted a tract of wild timber land into a good farm on which they both died.

Their son John remained at home until he reached the age of twenty-one. His father died when the son was twelve years old, and although the latter had four sisters older than himself, the management of the farm rested largely on him and his brother Nels, who operated it under the supervision of their mother. Nels now owns the home place. Another brother, Louis, is a homesteader in Bowman county. North Dakota, and their sister Josephine, the wife of Ole Miller, a retired farmer, lives in East Grauk Forks. This sister accompanied John to Polk county in 1879. Each of them took up a homestead, the two comprising the northeast and southeast quarters of section 28 in Northland township, and each built a shanty. Josephine proved up and paid all that was required on her claim, and remained on it until she sold it when she moved to East Grand Forks. She was married to Mr. Miller in 1882.

The shanty built by John N. Bolstad on his homestead M'as twelve feet in size each way and had a board roof covered with tar paper. He and his sister worked their land together as they had opportunity. But as they had only $7 or $8 between them at the start they were obliged to work for other persons in order to live. The sister worked in Grand Forks and John N. obtained employment on the great Grandin wheat farm in Dakota in the summer of 1879. In a little while he bought a pair of steers and with them he broke up what ground he could that year. But his land was low and flat, and it was generally too wet to plow until June, and crops sown after that would not mature.

Owing to the conditions told above Mr. Bolstad rented a farm in Dakota for three years, and when the third year brought him good crops he traded his oxen for three mules and bought two horses. Meanwhile he had held on to liis homestead and kept on working on it. In 1886 he rented the farm on which he now lives, which then belonged to William Colby. It contained all of section 7 except eighty acres, but it had not been properly cared for. Mi-. Bolstad plowed 100 acres that had been without crops for a number of years and obtained good returns for his labor. After renting tliis farm for several years he bought one-half of it at !f!27 an acre and a few- years later bought the other half at a higher price.

Mr. Bolstad has devoted his attention principally to raising grain. He has erected all the buildings on the place, lias a deep well with a wind pump and a pressure tank to force the water to all parts of his house and barn and many other modern conveniences. A few years ago he sold the north half of the section to his son Norval, hut in 1914 he bought an additional tract of 160 acres at $65 an acre, and he now cultivates all he owns. He helped to organize Northland township and obtained a good deal of employment from W. C. Nash, the first settler in it. In Sullivan township he has served several years as a member of the township board and the school board.

In 1883 Mr. Bolstad was married in this county to Miss Bertha Jaeobson, who came to the Northwest with her father, Jacob Jaeobson, and her married sister, Mrs. Anna Christlund, and took up her residence with them on a farm in Dakota. She afterward lived with her brother, Hans Jaeobson, on his homestead in the northwest quarter of section 6, in Sullivan township, where his widow is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Bolstad have had four children, but only one, their son Norval J. Bolstad, is living. Their first born, Matilda, died when .she was fifteen. Norval J. was born on the farm and has passed the whole of his life to the present time on it. He was educated in the local and the Grand Forks schools, and has now been operating his part of the home farm for two years. He married Miss Matilda Hoye, the daughter of Iver Hoye, who lives on the adjoining section. Three children have been born of their union, Joseph, Bernice and Florence. All the members of btoh families belong to the Grand Marias Lutheran church, of which John N. Bolstad is an original member and was one of the men who built the church edifice.

Edward La Barge

Having come to the locality in which he now lives in the early days before there were any internal improvements in it and while it was yet largely in its primeval state of wildness, Edward La Barge, who is now one of the enterprising and prosperous farmers of Sullivan township, this county, was called upon to experience many of the hardships of frontier life, as was also his wife, but they endured them with patience and an unyielding detei-mination to overcome all difficulties and make their way to independence.

Mr. La Barge was born at Hudson, St. Croix county, Wisconsin, January 10, 1861, and is a son of David La Barge, who located on a farm near Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in 1849. The father converted his wild land near Fond du Lac into a good farm and some years later moved to St. Croi.x country in the same state. His son, Edward, remained with his parents until 1880, working on the home farm in summer and driving teams in the lumber woods and logs on the St. Croix river in winter. In 1880 he came to Polk county to get land for himself with only about $50 in money, but he bought the Southwest quarter of Section 9, Sullivan township, of the rail-

He broke up his land as rapidly as he could, boarding at a neighbor's while doing it, and hiring some help in the operation. In the spring of 1881 he bought four horses, intending to push the improvement of his farm rapidly. But the land was low and wet, hail storms came and other disasters to his crops followed in almost continuous succession, so that some years elapsed before he raised any crops worth speaking of. During all this time the Grand Marais was often full of water and totally unbridged, and all who crossed it with teams were obliged to swim their horses, as the water was often twelve feet deep. Once, when Mr. La Barge was taking a seeder across it got tangled up in the heavy tall grass which grew in the Marais and the horses could not pull it out. He was forced to unhook his team and abandon the seeder, and it was not found until more than a month later when the water subsided.

Owing to his inability to raise crops for seven or eight years Mr. La Barge spent the winters in the Wisconsin lumber woods and used his teams there.

lie afterward worked about the same period iu the lumber woods of Minuesota. In the winter of 1896 he took a contract for lumbering near Black Duck and had a camp of his own. lie employed ten men in carrj'ing out his contract and got out about one million feet of lumber. That winter Jlrs. La Barge passed the winter in the camp and acted as cook. Her husband had a timber claim near the place, but this he has since sold.

The first house Mr. La Barge built on his land was a tar paper shanty. In that he lived as a bachelor three summers while working his farm, and in it afterward his wife kept hou.se three years. Part of their present dwelling was built in 1889 and the rest in 1903. The fine bam now on the place was erected in 1915. ]\Irs. La Barge's maiden name was Jessie Johnson and she was born in Pierce county, "Wisconsin, Init her marriage to ]\Ir. La Barge took place in St. Croix county of that state. They have no children.

The principal industry of the farm has been raising grain, full-blooded Shorthorn cattle and graded hogs. Twelve to fourteen milk cows supply large quantities of butter for customers in the city. Horses are also raised to some extent. Jlr. La Barge has sei*ved on the school board but has sought no other office. For twenty years he operated a threshing outfit, wearing out three engines and several separators. His present engine is a tractor. He is one of the best known threshermen in the Red river valley.

In 1903 Mr. La Barge took a contract to dig eleven miles of ditch for the county, extending from the Jlarais into Keystone township, the amount of money to be paid for his work being $7,200. He let the greater part of the w'ork to sub-contractors, but dug about two miles of the ditch himself. His record in this coiuity shows impressively that persistency and pluck are winning factors in the battle of life. In spite of all his difficulties and setbacks he now has a fine farm which is well improved and highly productive.

Jerry Driscoll

Pleasantly located on a fine farm comprising the Northwest quarter of Section 34 and the Northeast quarter of Section 33, in Sullivan township, Jerry Driscoll has a substantial acquisition to show as the result of his thirty-six years of life and labor in this county. His farm is five miles east of Grand Forks, and one mile north and four miles east of the farm made memorable in this locality as having been the home of his father and his brothers, Michael, John, James and Thomas Driscoll, all well known residents of Sullivan townsliip for many years.

Jerry Driscoll was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, April 19, 1858, and in the spring of 1879 he came to Polk countj% Minnesota, arriving here just before the twenty-first anniversary of his birth. He lived and worked with his father and brothers until 1892, when he moved to his present farm, the first quarter-section of which was taken up by him as a

During the same year be built the dwelling house which he now occupies. The other part of his farm, the Northeast quarter of Section 33, was a part of his father's estate, which he had helped to purchase of the railroad company at $6 or $6.50 an acre, with a rebate for breaking it up. His whole life in Minnesota to the present time (1916) has been pa.ssed on these two farms, his father's and his own. He i*aises wheat, oats and barley, keeps twenty-five head of graded Shoi'thorn cattle and milks eight to ten cows. He has studiously kept out of political tangles and resisted all importunities to become a candidate for any public office, finding at all times plenty to full.y occupy his time and attention in his own affairs.

fives of Canada who came to this county in 1881 and are now living on the Point in East Grand Foi'ks. Mrs. Driscoll was born in ^lichigan. She and her husband are the parents of three children, James, George and Linus. James is a student at the high school in East Grand Forks. All the members of the family belong to the Catholic church of the Sacred Heart in East Grand Forks.

Andrew Peterson, a well known business man of East Grand Forks, is a native of Sweden, born February 22, 1864. He was reared on a farm in that country and came to the United States when nineteen >ears of age and for a number of years lived at Fargo, North Dakota. In 1891 he removed to Grand Forks and two years* later to Ea.st Grand Foi-ks where he embarked in the restaurant business. From a capital of fifteen dollars he has won his way to success and substantial prosperit.y, with a career of creditable accomplishment in the local commercial activities. His liusiness interests have been confined to the hotel and restaurant business and to the management of his farming property. As an extensive property owner in both East Grand Forks and Polk county, his influence has ever been a factor in the promotion and development of the best interests of the community. He has invested some thirty-five thousand dollars in city property, owning a number of residences and has erected two business blocks on De Mers avenue. His farming interests have been equallj^ profitable and here his attention has been given mainly to the cultivation of grain, the annual crops attesting to able management and intelligent farming. This property is situated in Grand Forks township, where he owns a half section, two and a half miles north of East Grand Forks and in Northland township, where he operates a quarter section. Mr. Peterson was married in 1892, in Grand Forks, to Ellen Satten, who was born in Norway and they have two children, Bertha, and Arthur, who is in the employ of the Northern Pacific railroad. Mrs. Peterson is a member of the Zion Lutheran church.

Torkel G. Anderson

Torkel G. Anderson, a successful farmer and well known citizen of Bygland township, is one of the pioneers of the county, having settled on the land which is his present home in 1874. He was born in Norway, October .30, 1852, and in 1861, a lad of nine years, accompanied his family to Dane county, Wisconsin. Five years later, his father, Gunder Anderson, removed to Stearns county, Minnesota, and there resided until 1876, when he followed his son to Polk county and bought forty acres of railroad land in Fisher township, on the Red Lake river and continued to reside there until his death in 1909, at the age of eighty-two. Another son, A. G. Anderson, also located in Fisher township in 1876, where he is a well known farmer and a daughter, Gunhild, became the wife of Ole Paulson. Torkel Anderson made the trip to Minnesota and later from Stearns county to Polk county by the primitive use of ox teams and in the fall of 1874 drove oxen through to Winnipeg, where scarcity of supply and abundance of demand, enabled him to secure from $180 to $200 for a team. His homestead lay in section ten of Bygland township and he later bought a quarter section of railroad land in section eleven. During the first years of his operations he suffered loss of crops through hail and endured the various hardships which visit the pioneer farmer, slowly winning his way, by unfailing industry and thrift to success and prosperity. For eighteen years, he operated a threshing outfit and owned the first steam thresher in the township and has invested extensively in farm machinery, availing himself of advanced and efficient methods in agricultural activities. He has given par- ticular atteiitioii lo the raising of small grain and also has his place well stoeked with cattle and horses. Mr. Anderson is a man whose enterprise and ability have carried his influence and activity beyond the marked success of his private interests and have made him a leader in tlie jiromotion of best intei'csts and progress of the community in which he lives. He has given able service on the township board and was active in the organization and building of the local church, of which he is still a loyal supporter. He was united in mari-iage to Miss Aspar Isaacson, wliose death occurred in 1908. Six children were born to this union, of whom five survive, Torand, the wife of Ben Krostue, of Thief River Falls; Gunder, who is living at the same place ; Isaac, Toney, and Birget, who live in Dakota, the former being the wife of Mr. Gunderson ; and Nora, who resides in Bygland township. A son Ormand, died in his sixteenth year. Isaac Anderson lives on the home farm and is as.sociated with his father in its management. He was married to Julia Qualick and tliey have five children, Tovald, Aspar, Emma, Oscar and Anna.

Thomas D. Stewart

Thomas D. Stewart, a well known pioneer farmer of Polk county, now living retired on his farm in Huntsville township, is a native of Canada, born in County Lanark, Ontario, February 9, 1854. At an early age he became employed in the lumber woods and worked as a lumberman for a number of years, thriftily saving from his wages to later finance his farming venture. In 1878 he came to tlie United States and took a preemption claim in Grand Forks county. North Dakota, but the soil proving unsatisfactory he soon removed to Polk county wliere he purchased a quarter section of railroad land in Nesbit township. He owned two yoke of oxen and witli these he broke ten acres for his first year's crop and was able to clear quite a sum of money selling ties and cord wood to the railroad. With thrifty management and industry, his farming venture prospered steadily and he soon built up a fine farm propertj'. After eighteen years in Nesbit township, he sold the tract and purchased four hundred and sixty acres in section eleven of Huntsville township and this place has continued to l>e his home. His principal interest has been the cultivation of grain and his wheat crop alone in some years has yielded some six thousand bushels. Of later years he extended his activities to stock farming, starting a herd of thoroughbred cattle. In 1912, after many years of successful and creditable accomplishment, he retired from the active management of

Ills estate and the operation of the farm lias been assumed by his sons. Robert Stewart and Stanley Stewart. Throughout the yeai-s of his residence in Polk county, Mr. Stewart has given his influence and service in all matters of vital import in the development of the conununity life and has earned the respect accorded to the public spirited intelligent citizenry of a commonwealth. As a pioneer of Nesbit township he assisted in the organization of the disti-ict, when it was named in honor of one of its earliest settlers, David Nesl>it, and subsequently served during his residence there in various official capacities, as township treasurer, chairman of the township board and clerk of the school board. In Huntsville township he has been prominently identified in the promotion or educational progress, particularly in the district in which he lives, the organization of the local school having been effected through his indefatigable interest and preserving efforts in the face of opposition. Mr. Stewart was married in March, 1880, at Fisher, to Agnes Ferguson, whom he had known in his Ontario home. A year after the marriage, her parents followed her to Polk county, settling on land in Huntsville township which is now included as part of the Stewart farm. Her father, James Ferguson, is now a resident of East Grand Forks. Seven children were born to Mr. Stewart and his wife, Ida, who married Joseph Mills, a surveyor, located at Granada, Minne- sota; Robert; Edith, the wife of Lee Bryson, a Polk county farrnei", living near Euclid ; Kate, who married Willie McDonald, a farmer near Mallory; Maggie, Stanley and Ella. These children and Mr. Stewart survive the death of the mother and wife, whose death occurred in 1906. Robert Stewart and Stanley

Stewart are among the capable and progressive younger generation of farmers and are capably carrying on the labors of the pioneer father. Robert Stewart was married to Mabel McDonald, sister of Willie McDonald and they have four children, Donald, Bert, Dorothy and Marian.

Ann Cox

Among the pioneer families of the county, none were more actively associated with the early history and development than the Cox family, who settled here in 1872. They were of Irish descent and came to Minnesota from Ontario, Canada. Ann Cox and Johannah, who married Paul Jones were the last of the five brothers and sisters wdio were early settlers of Polk county. Mrs. Jones ' death occurred December 17, 1915, and Miss Cox passed away January 22, 1916. Catherine Cox was married to James Rowe, previous to coming to the county and died here in 1875. Miles Cox joined the others in 1879 and took a claim in Iluntsville township, near the farm of Paul Jones and made his home there until his death about ten years ago. He is survived by two children, Thomas C!ox and Mary Ann Cox, who married Peter McManus. In 1872 the land had not yet been surveyed and brothers and sisters each selected a tract of land which they later purchased as railroad land. Both Patrick Cox and his brother-in-law, James Rowe, located on the north side of the Red Lake river, the former's land being in .section thirty-six of Huutsville township.

where he became a well known citizen and farmer and acquired much local fame as a hunter. James Rowe later sold his property and removed to Saskatchewan. Ann Cox shared with her brothers the experiences of pioneer days, sturdily weathering the hardships and capably meeting all the responsibilities of the times. She secured a homestead in section two of Bygland township, which she later sold and upon the death of her brother Patrick Cox, purchased his farm, which adjoins that of Paul Jones, where she made her home with her sister. Prom the experiences of the early days, she recalled many interesting tales of significant events which can claim few living witnesses; the historical value of the story being enhanced by the gift of a keen observant mind. Ann Cox was a notable type of pioneer womanhood which had always founded the solid fabric of social organization, trained in the rigorous school of service to discern the true values of life. She with the other members of the family were members and faithful supporters of the Sacred Heart Catholic church at East Grand Forks.

August Nelson

August Nelson, of East Grand Forks, for many years a leading farmer of that region and identified with business activities as a director in the First National bank, has been a resident of Polk county since 1877. He was born in Sweden, July 12, 1848, and came to this country, a young man of twenty-one years ; locating in Duluth, where he secured work in a sawmill and for the next eight years continued to be employed in the mill or in lumber woods. Thrifty management during this time enabled him to realize his desire to become a farmer and an owner of land, and removing to Polk county he took a homestead in Sullivan township, five miles northeast of East Grand Forks. His former employers furnished him the lumber for his first home and he entered upon a career marked with the creditable achievement of the man who rises throuj^h his own efforts to success and affluence. He added steadily to his property and now owns eight hundred acres which is operated as one farm, is one of the largest estates in the western part of the county and equipped with good buildings and modern efficient methods for stock and grain farming is also one of the most profitable farms in the region. Aside from this enterprise, Mr. Nelson is associated with various important business interests, being one of the original directors and stockholders of the First National bank, a stockholder and director in the Arneson Mercantile company and was formerly a stockholder in a boat operating on Red river. Since 1905 he has resided in East Grand Forks, where of late years, ill health has confined him to his home and necessitated his retirement from business activities. Mr. Nelson is a member of the Ziou Lutheran fliurcli and was actively influential in the organization of the Grand Marias Lutheran church. He has been three times married. The first marriage was contracted in Duluth and six children were born to that union, three of whom are now living. Edward, who is engaged in the grocery business at Centennial, Wyoming, Annie, the wife of Oscar Ulve, a farmer of Sullivan township, and Carl who operates a part of his father's estate. To the second union, with Martha Brandon, of Grand Forks, two children were boin, William, with the Arneson Mercantile company and a director in the company, and John, employed in the offices of the Great Northern railroad, at East Grand Forks. On October 17, 1905, Mr. Nelson was married to Annie Peterson Anderson, the widow of Nels Anderson, of Grand Forks. Mrs. Nelson has two children by her former marriage, Oscar Anderson, who lives at St. Paul and Lillian Anderson, who makes her home with her mother.

As a merchant, banker and farmer L. S. Kolden, cashier of the State Bank of Neilsville and president of the State Bank of Leonard, Minnesota, has had a busy and productive life to the present time (1916), and one that has been of great service to the communities in which he has operated. He was born in Norway August 28, 1857, and became a resident of the United States in 1873. After his arrival in this country he lived eight years in Wisconsin and devoted seven of them to clerking in a drug store at Sparta in that state, during which he exhibited fine business ability.

In 1881 he moved to Ada, Norman county, Minnesota, and for two years clerked in a general store there, then srtarted a general store of his own at Neilsville, which he conducted with great success for nine years. He began his business on a capital of $1,000 and sold it at a handsome profit in 1891, having built it up to large proportions and made the store widely popular and its trade very extensive and active.

When the railroad was built through Neilsville he started a lumber yard, which he continued to operate continuously for three years. During almost the whole of his residence at Neilsville until 1911 he was also engaged in cultivating his fine farm of 290 acres, which lies close to the village and is one of the most valuable and attractive in Hubbard township. Since 1911 tenants have farmed it.

In July, 1911, Mr. Kolden was elected cashier of the State Bank of Neilsville, and he has held that position ever since greatly to the advantage of the bank and its patrons. He is treasurer of Hubbard township and has been all of the last fifteen years, and has served as school treasurer or clerk continuously for twenty-two years. He is also treasurer of St. Peter's Lutheran church at Neilsville.

Mr. Kolden was married in 1883 to Miss Mary Christianson, who was also a resident of Wisconsin while he was living in that state. They have one child, their daughter Lucy Clara, who is now the wife of

Axdeevv Opheim

David Payne, a partuer of Mr. Kolden in a lumber business at Holt, Minnesota. Mr. Kolden and his brother, S. S. Kolden, are also keeping an agricultural implement store at Holt, and for some years they handled hardware also in it. They have had charge of this store six years. In 1915 Mr. Kolden organized the State Bank of Leonard, Clearwater county, on the Soo railroad line, and he is president of that bank.

surplus of $3,000 and deposits amounting to $134,000, w bile its loans and discounts amount to $132,000. The banking house occupied by the institution was built in 1904 by Nels Muns and A. D. Stevens. The bank was known as the Stevens bank until 1906, when B. B. Larson and Norman Rosholt bought it and changed its name to the State Bank of Neilsville. L. S. Kolden was chosen cashier in 1911. The bank is in a flourishing condition and carrying on a general banking business of extensive and steadily increasing scope and volume.

Andrew Opheim

Entering this section of the state of Minnesota and the Northwest while it was still largely an unbroken wilderness and founding a business which soon became, and has continued, a leader in its line ; taking a very active and helpful part in laying the foundations of civilization in the section and giving its public institutions form and direction, and using his wide acquaintance and strong personal influence to bring settlers into the region, the late Andrew Opheim, whose death occurred at his home in Fertile April 5, 1915, was, for a period of thirty-three years, one of Polk county's most useful, representative and esteemed citizens, and well deserved his rank.

Mr. Opheim was born in Voss, Norway, November 14, 1844, the son of Styrk and Anna (Opheim) Opheim, also natives of that country, who passed their lives in it and whose mortal remains were at last laid to rest in its soil, which they had hallowed by their long and productive labors. The sou was reared in hia native land and obtained his education in its public schools, completing it at one of the excellent normal schools it contains. He taught school for a few years in Norway after attaining his majority, then came to the United States, arriving in 1871 and locating in Dane county, Wisconsin, where he passed two years. From there he went to Chicago and was employed as a laborer in that city until 1875, when he moved into Southern Minnesota. There he worked on farms and taught school until 1882. In that year he came to Aldal and entered into partnership with the late Dr. Arne Nelson in a general merchandising and drug business, which they conducted at that place until 1887, then moved both stock and building to Fertile. Their business grew and flourished at Fertile, as it had done at Aldal, and they became as widely and favorably known as merchants and progressive, enterprising and public-spirited citizens as any residents of the Northwest have ever been. Their partnership continued until 1893. In that year it was dissolved by mutual consent and the business was divided, Mr. Opheim taking over the general merchandising department and Dr. Nelson the drug stock and trade.

In 1895 Mr. Opheim erected at Fertile the building which bears his name and is one of the best in that village. The business founded by him is still conducted in it by his nephew, Odd Eide, a sketch of whom appears in this work. Mr. Opheim was one of the founders of the First State Bank of Fertile and served it as a director until his death on April 5, 1915, at which time he was also vice president of the bank. He long took an active interest in the Feiiile Brick and Tile company and was one of its directors to the end of his life. His political allegiance was given to the Republican party and he was an ardent and effective worker for its success in all campaigns.

Locally he took an energetic and serviceable part iu public affairs, serving as president of the village of Fertile for ten terms. Fraternally he belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was zealous in his membership and his devotion to the fraternity. As Air. Opheim never married he was able to give earnest attention to every public interest, and he did this diligently.

Charles Nelson

Living retired from active pursuits in his pleasant home at Climax, this county, Charles Nelson has plenty of food for interesting meditations in the many features and numerous thrilling experiences of his long years of useful labor. He was born at Nummedal, Norway, June 30, 1844, and lost his mother by death when he was but two years, seven months old. In 1857 his father brought him to the Uniter", States, locating in Dane county, Wisconsin.

In 1862 Mr. Nelson and his father moved to Kandiyohi county, Minnesota, with a view to bettering their opportunities for advancement. But the time was badly chosen, for six weeks after their arrival and the filing on a preemption claim by the father the Sioux outbreak came and, with many others, the newcomers were obliged to leave that part of the state. Many of the settlers gathered on Indian island, and on the historical Wednesday afternoon of that period thirteen neighbors of the Nelsons were massaei'ed by the Indians there. Mr. Nelson and others afterward visited the neighborhood to ascertain if there were any wounded persons on it, but they found only dead bodies.

Sixteen wagonloads of fleeing settlers left the country Saturday morning under the guard of an escort, which conducted them well out into the prairie and then left them. The teams proceeded to Paynesville and from there to Goodhue county. The Nelsons never returned to their claim, and the father passed the remainder of his life in Goodhue county, where he died at the age of fifty-two. Charles' brother Nels died in 1901 by falling from a tree which he was pruning. Charles remained in Red Wing working at his trade as a painter until 1878, when he was married iu Minneapolis to Miss Carrie Olson Romoe of Goodhue county, whither slie was brought by her parents from her native town of Stordalen, Trondhjem Stift, Norway, when she was twelve j-ears old.

After spending some months at the home of his wife's parents he visited Crookston and other parts of Polk county on a tour of inspection, in July, 1879, and in May, 1880, bought a proved-up homestead of 120 acres of Halvor Steenerson in Section 29, Vineland township. He also bought 200 acres of railroad land at an average price of $7.50 an acre with a rebate of $3 an acre on all that he broke and seeded within three years. He broke up three-fourths of the tract and got it sowed, and thereby he saved the rebate on that much.

On April 17, 1880, Mr. Nelson arrived at Crookston with a carload of live stock and farming implements, and the wife and ohild arriving in May. When the railroad was constructed through here it was built along the section line nearly the whole length of his land, and when Climax was made a railroad station Mr. Nelson sold a part of his land along the road in town lots, and he has since sold more, as the village of Climax is partly on his farm, and his own residence is in the village, although the farm buildings are half a mile away.

The Nelson farm now contains 295 acres. Mr. Nelson cultivated it in wheat, oats and barley for about twenty years, and since he retired it has been farmed by tenants under his direction. He has served four years on the village council of Climax, l)ut has given his attention mainly to his farm. In politics he is a Democrat, but in connection with local affairs he is independent of party ties. His first presidential vote was cast for Gen. George B. McClellan in 1868. His religious connection is with the Lutheran church at