Polk County, Minnesota - Biographical sketches, 1916 (part 14 of 15)

In March, 1892, Mr. Kolars moved to Polk county and bought 480 acres of land in Sullivan township ten miles northeast of East Grand Porks. The land was wild, unbroken prairie, and he paid $8 to $10 an acre for it. He improved it with comfortable buildings, reduced it all to productiveness and made his home on it until 1910, when he retired from active pursuits and has since lived in East Grand Forks. But he still superintends the cultivation of his farm.

After quitting official life he kept store in Le Sueur county a year and a half, then conceived the idea that by coming to the Red river region he could operate a large farm (farming being more to his taste) and make an easy fortune. He found on coming to his present location, however, that very little ditching had been done in Sullivan and Keystone townships, and there was gi'eat difficulty in getting rid of the water on the land.

Soon afterward the two townships established county ditches along each mile of the roads east and west and throwing the dirt up to form a grade. This was found to meet all the requirements, and thei-e has been no difficulty with the water since. The plan has also resulted in good roads all over both townships and given the people satisfaction in other ways.

Mr. Kolars was twice married, his first wife died in 1888, after having become the mother of eight (8) children, three having died in Le Sueur county.

Cantwell of that county, where her parents settled in 1859. She -was educated in the schools of her native county and at tlic AVinona State Normal School, and was a teacher in Le Sueur county ten years, four of them in the graded school in the town of Le Sueur. She is a member of the East Grand Forks Civic League and Women's Club, and is one of the two lady members of the East Grand Forks school board, elected in 1915, Mrs. Mattie Massee being the other. By his second marriage Mr. Kolars has become the father of five children. Alice is a teacher at Beach, North Dakota. She is a graduate of the high school in East Grand Forks and the University of North Dakota, and is doing special work in the teaching of mathematics. Margaret is a teacher in the high school at Kensal, North Dakota. She is a graduate of a high school and the Teachers College. Grace is a student at the University of North Dakota. Paul and Henry are students in the high school in East Grand Forks.

Hon. James Gumming

South View Farm, the highly developed, richly improved and completely equipped family seat of Hon. James Gumming, in Section 13, Huntsville township, is not only one of the charming show places of Polk county but an impressive object lesson in advanced and progressive scientific farming which is of great benefit to the section of country in which it is located and to all who visit and studiously inspect it. The farm is also a strong and striking proof of the enterprise, ability and sagacity of its owner, and very creditable to his judgment and good taste.

The farm comprises 400 acres and is six and a half miles southeast of East Grand Forks and twenty miles west of Crookston. It is improved with a commodious modern dwelling supplied with a hot water heating plant, hot and cold hard and soft water all through, and many other conveniences and comforts usually found only in city residences. The farm also has separate barns for cattle and horses, both of which are large and almost unique in the completeness and comprehensiveness of their equipment and facilities. The barn for the cattle is 36 by 100 feet in ground floor dimensions and 41. feet from the ground to its peak. It has a basement under the whole of it and patent stanchions, concrete floors of the latest pattern. There is a root cellar in connection with it capable of storing 1,700 bushels of roots. The barn cost $4,000 and accommodates 75 head of cattle. It will also hold 2,000 bushels of grain and 150 tons of hay.

Jlr. Gumming was the first man to build a silo in this part of the Red river valley. He now has two silos, connected by full alleys, and uses a 12-horse power engine to cut ensilage, grind feed and other work of this kind. He uses steam power in doing bis plowing and threshing, owning outfits for both operations, each of which is complete in every particular. His house and barns are supplied with water from a tank under ground, which is in no danger of freezing, and the water is moved by air pressure. A two and a quarter horse-power engine pumps water, milks the cows, separates the cream from the milk, chums the butter and runs the washer.

On this farm Mr. Gumming raises about 4,000 bxishels of wheat a year, and he has other land, about 700 acres, part of which is a half-section in Section 3, Huntsville township, two miles and a half from his home place, which is farmed by a tenant and yields large quantities of clover and alfalfa. Until recently Mr. Gumming also owned two quarter sections of timber land on The Point on Red river, which he bought cheap in a swampy condition, improved into good farms and sold at $100 and $105 an acre.

The home farm Is the seat of the proprietor's chief activities. He raises grain, including 60 to 70 acres of corn for feed, and full-blooded Holstein and thoroughbred Shorthorn cattle, keeping some 75 head and milking 35 to 40 cows. For years he was the leading butter maker in the valley, but of late he has been sending his milk to Grand Forks by auto delivery, the trade amounting to $300 a month, as he emphasizes the dairy feature now. He also raises horses for sale besides what he needs for his own use.

Hon. James Gumming was born in County Carleton, Ontario, Canada, October 17, 1861, the son of William and Elizabeth (Whyte) Cumming, natives of Scotland and farmers in Canada, where the father died in May, 1880. Soon afterward the mother, James, his brother Peter and their sister Annie came to the Red river valley, Henry and John, two other sons of the family being already in this locality and working as blacksmiths in Grand Forks. The newcomers took up land in Grand Forks county. North Dakota, and lived on it two years. In the fall of 1882 they moved to the land Mr. Cumming now occupies, paying $20 an acre for it. The Northern Pacific railroad was later built through here and Cumming 's Siding, a grain loading station, was located on the farm.

Mr. Cumming has been active in school work locally and served as chairman of the township board twelve years. In the fall of 1898 he was elected as the candidate of the People's party to the state house of representatives. He served on the committees on agriculture, towns and counties, state capitol and claims and also other standing committees and was chairman of a special committee. He worked to obtain provisions for draining the Red river valley ; for allowing small municipalities to build or acquire their own water and light plants, his bill for this being killed in the senate ; for increasing the tax on the gross earnings of railroads from 3 to 4 per cent, and for county option. In

In religious affairs Mr. Cumming has always taken an active interest. He was one of the founders of Bethel Presbyterian church on the Marias and has served as one of its elders for more than twenty years. On March 16, 1887, he was married to Miss Katie Ferguson, a native of Canada but of Scotch Highland ancestry. He was living in Grand Forks with a sister at the time of the marriage. They have had eight children. William James is a graduate of the Agricultural college at Crookston and is now farming in Huntsville township. He married Misa Nettie Ellen Hannah and they have one child. Mary Isabella is a graduate of the high school in Grand Forks and a teacher in North Dakota, and is now married to I\Ir. Melvin Johnston of Kensal, N. D. Peter Allan is a graduate of the Grand Forks high school and a junior in the University of North Dakota. Elizabeth Gladden, who was graduated fi'om the Grand Forks high school in 1915, is a stenographer. Anna Zella will graduate from the high school in 1916, and Leslie Ferguson is a student in Grand Forks. Daniel died in infancy and John Russell September 27, 1915, aged sixteen and just ready to enter the high school. Fraternally Mr. Cumming is a Freemason and a member of the Order of Woodmen. For years he was one of the directors and the president of the Fair Association at Crookston three years.

Gulik S. Spokely

Owning a fine farm in Section 13, Hubbard township along the Red river, 1 mile north and 1 and i/o mile west of Neilsville, Gulik S. Spokely is comfortably fixed in a worldly way and almost beyond the reach of ill fortune. He is now living retired from active pursuits, but his period of toil was a long, exacting and very trying one. His life began at

In 1871 Mr. Spokely moved to Polk county and squatted on a quarter-section of land in a section not yet surveyed. The law was that such land had to be taken up on a pre-emption claim at $1.25 an acre, but he preferred to take his as a homestead and he sue- eeeded in doing so. For two yeai-s he lived in a dugout in till' liillsidc, and worked for other settlers, as he had very little money. At the end of two years he put up a little log oahin, and in that the family lived until 1913, when the present dwelling house was built, the fine barn on the place having been erected earlier.

IMr. Spokely bought eighty acres of railroad land adjoining his homestead, with a rebate provision for $2.50 an acre when he should have sixty acres plowed, and an allowance of fifty cents more for every acre seeded in grain. He came to this county from Houston county with a yoke of oxen, and with these he broke up most of his land. He also sold cord wood to the settlers on the prairie. For a time the hardships and privations of his life in this country made him long earnestly to return to his native land, but it was long before he had the means to gratify his wish in this respect, and by the time he got it he was over his longing and well satisfied here.

At times ilr. Spokely worked in the lumber woods, where the labor was very hard but the wages were good, and after coming to Polk county lie was employed on Red river boats going to Winnipeg and back. But in time he became a prosperous farmer and devoted his whole time to the cultivation of his land. For years he raised grain principally, but about ton years ago he began to give up a great deal of ground to potatoes, being the first man in his part of the county to raise them on a large scale. He devotes 5G to 100 acres a year to this product and it forms his leading crop. He usually sells liis potatoes as he digs them.

Mr. Spokely has taken a great interest in school matters. He served as school treasurer of his district as long as he was willing to hold the office. lu 1870 lie was married in Houston county to Miss Gunvor Simon, and they had one child when they came to Polk county. Eleven were added to their offspring later, and of the twelve six are living: Albert, of Neilsville; Julius, of Crookston; Adolph, liLs twin brother, of Fargo ; Alexander, of Neilsville, and Annie and Sophia, at home. Julia, Theresa and Jlollie died in young womanhood and the other three in childhood.

In religious connection Mr. Spokely belongs to the United Lutheran church at Neilsville, but he was one of the organizers of the Conference church at Nebj'. One year after his arrival in the United States his father, Salva Olso Spokely, came over and took a homestead in this county, on which he died at the age of sixty-six. Gulik's brother Ole also took up a tree claim on the prairie and passed the remainder of his days on it, dying when he was about fifty years old.

It is not the purpose of this work to give a complete narrative of the life of Mr. Murphy. But his fruitful connection with the earlj' history and development of this region, especially with the development of tlie water powers along the Red Lake River have been so potential for good to this community that they are deserving of special mention in a work devoted exclusively to Polk county. Indeed so productive of large consequences have his activities been that no history of the county could be written without some account of them.

parents moved to a farm in Troy and later to a farm in Hammond. It was on this farm in Hammond tliat he chiefly spent his boyhood. He was educated in the country schools of the neighborhood and at Notre Dame, Indiana, and the University of Wisconsin.

He went to Grand Forks in 1880 almost immediately after taking his degree from the law school and opened a law office. He had practiced law but a short time when the opportunity was presented him of taking over the Grand Forks ' ' Plain Dealer. ' ' He took control of the paper and applied himself to the management Avith such energy that he soon had it in prosperous condition. It became a political power and wielded a strong influence in determining the territorial elections. A subsidiary book-binding and job-office establishment was built up with the newspaper and proved remarkably successful. Record books for the use of government clerks were prepared with exceptional care and the results were not slow in vindicating the pains which had been expended. Competition was practically driven out of the field. Mr. Murphy's legal experience was invaluable to him in the preparation of these books which would have been worthless had any technical errors been permitted to creep into them.

It was about this time that he became affiliated with the Gas Company in Grand Forks. He sold out the "Plain Dealer" in 1889 and then took complete control of the Gas Company. He improved it and developed it with such success that he was enabled to dispose of it at a handsome figure in 1910.

In 1890 Mr. Murphy bought the controlling interest in the Crookston Water Works, Power & Light Company, Crookston, Minnesota. At that time the company was in the near state of bankruptcy. The machinery was delapidated and outgrown and the buildings ready to tumble down. Instead of trying to repair them he decided to rebuild the plant entirely in a new place, which was accomplished in 1892 at a considerable cost. At that time Mr. Murphy lived in Minneapolis but visited Crookston at least once a month. After the completion of the building operations, he set about to increase the market for water and electric service even to the extent of giving consumers free installation of service. This policy was continued for several years until the business was built up to the extent that it would compare favorably with the most improved plants of its kind. In 1898 he sent representatives East to investigate the new system of central .station steam heating and after receiving a favorable report from the representatives, he decided to install such a plant in Crookston in connection with the steam reserve necessary for the water works and electric light plant. This was a new innovation and of great benefit to the community, giving

In 1905 Mr. JMurphy started to look up suitable locations on the Red Lake River between Thief River Falls and Crookston for the construction of dams and water powers and in subsequent years acquired title to several locations including the dam, water power and electric light plant at Red Lake Falls. Several of the water powers, including the Red Lake Falls Water Power & Electric Light plant was sold at the same time as the Grand Forks Gas & Electric Company but he still retained title to several others. In 1912 he began operations to construct a dam and water power five miles east of Crookston. This plant was completed and put in operation in the spring of 1914, having a capacity of 3000 H.P., part of which has been sold to the Crookston Water Wks. Pr. & Lt. Co. and the balance over a transmission line to the Red River Power Company of Grand Forks.

These activities in Polk county have been an important factor in its development. The high class of service furnished the City of Crookston has been much commented on. It has made Crookston a better place to live in because of it. ]\Ir. Murphy's foresight in developing latent water powers along the Red Lake River has effectively benefited a large number of the residents of the county. The land values in the neighborhood of the completed development five miles east of Crookston has increased the price of the land probably as much as $10 per acre and besides the farming community adjacent to the dam and transmission line are enabled to receive electric power and light service the same as the people living in the city.

In 1891 he went to Chicago intending to take a short rest before going to New York where he expected to resume the practice of law. Mr. Lowry, of this city, who had heard of him tlirough Senator Pierce, met him in Chicago with a proposition that he take charge of the business affairs of The Tribune. Mr. Murphy then took up liis home in Miimeapolis and became associated with The Tribune which he later came to control completely. The Tribune was in a precarious financial condition when he first became connected with it and only escaped failure in the panic of 1893 bj' the narrowest of margins. One particularly bad fire a few years afterward proved the only striking event of its subsequently prosperous career. The "Minneapolis Times" was absorbed by The Tribune in 1905 £ind in 1910 Mr. Mui-phy took over the Century Building which was converted into The Tribune Annex.

Jlr. Murphy was married in 1886 to Miss Josephine Hopkins of Chicago. Four children, two sons and two daughters, have resulted from the union. Mr. Murphy continues to exercise direct supervision and control of his newspaper and other properties, giving to them the benefit of a trained mind and business experience which have made them successful and highly efficient. He lives during the summer at Lake ;\Iiiuietonka and finds much pleasure in a splendid house boat and motor boat which he has had built under his special directions. He usually spends a portion of each winter in California or Florida.

Halbert P. Boukind

Although he is now engaged principally in cultivating and improving his fine farm of 320 acres, in Section 32, Roome township, three miles west of Eldred, Halbert P. Boukiud has tried his hand at various useful occupations and has done excellent work and won a good reputation in each. He was born in Wisconsin December 11, 1873, and is the son of Peter and Maria Boukind, who were born, reared and married in Norway and came to this country and located in Wisconsin in 1870. In 1878 they drove to this county with a team of horses, and the father filed on the land now occupied by his son Halbert, which he at once began farming with oxen, having lost his horses.

In 1894 the parents turned the farm over to Halbert and joined the Bella-Ceola colon}', which was organized by Rev. Mr. Sangstad to start a settlement on the Pacific coast in Briti.sh Columbia 400 miles north of Vancouver. After passing seven years in the colony the Boukinds returned to this county, and three years later the father was stricken witli paralysis, from which he has never recovered. He is now living with Halbert. The mother died in 1913. They had seven children. Karen married Halvor Lunos and became the mother of eleven children. She died in 1909. Ole died in January, 1913. He was unmarried and passed the whole of his life on the homestead. Nellie is the wife of Paul Bjornerud and lives on tlie farm adjoining Halbert 's. Clara is the wife of Thomas Twite, a commercial salesman living in Crookston. Peter is a dealer in lumber and real estate in Crookston. Minnie is the wife of Olof Myckle, of Devil's Lake, North Dakota.

Halbert P. Boukind never went to school until he Avas sixteen years old, as there was no district school in his neighborhood, but when he started he made rapid progi*ess. After attending three terms of three months each in his home district, three months in Grand Forks and nine months in Crookston he received a certificate as a teacher, and during the next ten years he taught schools in the vicinity of his home, the first one of which he had charge being tlie home school, which he taught for four terms. lie was very successful and was rapidly promoted. His pay at the start was $35 a month, but it soon reached $50, which was the highest then allowed. During his teaching he took an active part in all institute work.

After leaving the profes.sion of teaching Mr. Boukind passed five years at Eldred as manager of the co-operative store and postmaster, manager of the co-operative creamery and agent on construction work for the railroad company. He then succeeded to the ownership of the store, and during the next four years he conducted it on his own account. About the end of this period his brother and his mother died on the farm, and his services were required in connection with the management of his interests there. So he sold the store and returned to the farm in 1913. He is also interested in a threshing outfit, and in 1915 closed his second successful season as its manager.

One of Mr. Boukind 's specialties on his farm is raising black Orpington chickens, of which he alwaj's has a large lot, well-bred and reared with the utmost care. His products have taken a number of first prizes at the shows of tlie Northwestern Poultry Association. He is also still deeply interested in school work and was one of the leaders in obtaining the establishment of the new consolidated school district at Eldred. In addition he is editor of ' ' The Boo.ster, ' ' a publication that has attracted the attention to literary societies by the excellence of its contents in a literary and educational way, and is a justice of the peace and has served as towushiiD assessor four years. He and the other members of the family belong to the Sand Hill Lutheran church, and he is also active and helpful in connection with the affairs of the Community church at Eldred, singing in its choir and taking part in all its work of every kind. He is a firm believer in the value of athletic activities and outdoor sports of every proper character, and has zealously encouraged baseball games and other contests of strength and skill. Being a bachelor he can find time to give such matters attention, and being a hustler he boosts them, as he does everything else in M'hich he takes an interest, with all his might.

During the June term of the United States district court held in St. Paul in 1914 Mr. Boukind was a member of the petit jury drawn by Judge Page Morris, and during his service in that capacity he met many of the leading legal lights of Minnesota and the country. He found his experience in this jury service very interesting and profitable to him, as he is a diligent inquirer in all lines of intellectual activity.

Pat Lealas

Pat Lealas, the pioneer settler of Bygland township, is widely known throughout the county as one of the few survivors of that sturdy band of men who with the steady perseverance of the race of frontiersman surmounted all difficulties and hardships laying the foundations for the prosperity and accomplishment of today. As citizen, farmer and neighbor, his career has been marked by a personality, strongly typical of the virtues of his countrymen, possessed of a geniality, the ready humor and adventurous spirit which lends peculiar charm to Irish character, Mr. Lealas has made the people of Polk county his friends, and as a worthy and able citizen enjoys the respect and esteem of all. He was born in County Wexford, Ireland, and was reared in his native land, becoming apprenticed to the carpenter trade. On coming to America he located in Ontario, where he spent eleven years working at his trade. In 1871 a brother, Edward Lealas settled in Huntsville township, and in the following year Pat Lealas came to Minnesota, being the first of a number of settlers who came from County Lanark to Polk county. He was the first .settler in Bygland township, which was not yet siu-- veyed, and squatted on the northwest quarter of section one, the tract being traversed by the Red river, a boundary which later involved Mr. Lealas in litigation with the railroad company in which he established his title to the contested tract. He erected a shanty on the site of his present home and doing the first years supported his family trapping otter and other small game in which the country abounded, being instructed in this new means of livelihood by Mike Ferry, the partner of his brother, Edward Lealas. His reminicence of these days are unusually enjoyable, being enriched by numerous appreciation and the genius of a natural recounter of tales. The many adventures of the hunter and trapper in a land abounding in wild game furnishes ample material for anecdotes of greatest interest to the resident of today. Bear were among the wild visitors of that day and the largest specimen seen here was shot by Mr. Lealas near his cabin. In later years be added to his homestead, purchasing a quarter section of railroad land and has devoted his life to the development of his agricultural interests, and has given particular attention to raising well bred horses. As one of the organizers of the township he has given faithful and intelligent co-operation in furthering the best interests of the community, and is one of the original members of the Catholic chvirch at Fisher. Edward Lealas was a well known pioneer of the region and made his home on his land on the south side of Red Lake river until his death. Two sisters also became residents of Polk county, Ann, who married James Martin, and Elizabeth, who married Michael Quirk. Pat Lealas was married in Canada to Bridget Power, who is a native of Waterford, Ireland, and to this union were born eight children, si.^: of whom are now living, John, on the home farm; Joe and James who are located at Bermidji; Mary Ann, the wife of James 0 'Grady; Maggie, who married Henry Schustmer, and Alice, the wife of Tim McManus, all of whom are residents of Bermidji. Two sons, Patrick Lealas and Edward Lealas, are dead. After almost a half century in Polk county Mr. Lealas is enjoying the latter years of a busy life, keenly interested in and allied with the affairs of the day through his many friendships with men of achievement and accorded the full regard due the sturdv American citizen.

Kornelius H. Valor

During all of the last thirty-seven years Kornelius H. Valor has lived on and cultivated his fine farm in Section 26, Tynsid township, this county. He came here in 1877 and took the pre-emption on 120 acres and jiroved up one forty of this in 1879 and then bought 80 acres of a homesteader, which made 160 acres as a homestead. He now has 200 acres, and the fann is pleasantly located nine miles nortliwest of Climax, twent.y miles south of Grand Forks and eighteen miles southwest of Crookston. In 1914 he built on it a very convenient and comfortable twelveroom dwelling house, but the barn and other outbuildings were erected some years previous to that time.

The farm was originally prairie land, and there was nothing but a little log cabin standing on it and but few acres were broken when he bought it. Nearly all of it is now yielding annual crops of magnitude and good quality, wheat, barley and oats being the staple productions, but dairy products from seven to ten milch cows also forming a substantial factor in the business. Mr. Valor has conducted the farming and cattle operations himself from the beginning until recently, when his son Rudolph took charge of them.

Mr. Valor is a stockholder in the co-operative creamery at Eldred, seven miles from his home, and he supplies it with cream. His grain crop in 191.5 was 2,600 bushels of wheat, 1,450 of oats and 300 of barley. He was born in Norway August 4, 1850, and became a resident of Ottertail county, Minnesota, in 1876. He was reared and married in his native land and there also he learned the carpenter trade. This, with his wife and two children, constituted his whole earthly estate when he came to this country, and he was in debt for a part of his passage money to his new home. A few months after his arrival in IMinnesota with his family he moved to Polk county and located on his present farm. He hired a man to break up four acres of it and worked at his trade while waiting for his crops to become sufficient to provide for his household. In the affairs of his township Mr. Valor has always taken a good citizen's active and helpful part. He served several terms as supervisor at different times and for years as a member of the school board. His political affiliation was first with the Republican party and afterward with the Populist party while it flourished, but for soiue years lie has voted with the Demo- <irats at all general elections. In religious connection he is a member of the Free Lutheran church.

Mr. Valor was married in Norway to Miss Mary Peterson. She died in 1902. They were the parents of twelve children, only one of whom, Rudolph, is living. Two died in infancy of diphtheria and the others in early life of consumption. Rudolph, who is now cultivating the farm, married Miss Augusta Berland of Bygland township. They have two children, Alfou and Marion. Rudolph was born on the farm February 8, 1891, and after he grew to manhood spent some time in the state of Washington. He has had charge of the home place two years. Mr. Valor also owns 140 acres in the town of Roome and altogether that makes 340 acres.

Simon Boisvert

Simon Boisvert, of East Grand Forks, a retired farmer of Huntsville township, was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, March 31, 1852. He was reared in Canada, near Montreal, and came to Minnesota in 1882. For a number of years he lived in Grand Porks and worked as a carpenter in the employ of the Great Northern railroad, engaged in the constructions of the company's various buildings along its route, working as far westward as San Coule, Montana. Since 1889 he has devoted his attention to farming, enjoying prosperous success in his various agricultural enterprises. His interests are divided between an eight acre tract within the city limits of East Grand Forks, and his farm of one hundred and seven acres, a mile and a half distant, on the south side of the Red Lake river. Of late years he has made his home on his property in East Grand Poi'ks, while hLs son, Ed Boisvert, resides on the larger farm, which they operate in partnership. Mr. Boisvert is a member of the Sacred Heart Catholic ehiircli and a citizen of worth and esteem in the community in which he lives. In political affairs his allegiance is given to the Republican party. As a young man he was an ardent sportsman, and derived great pleasure and skill from this recreation, but later the many duties and responsibilities of the farm left meager time for sports. Mr. Boisvert is perhaps more widel.y known as Greenwood, the English translation of his French surname, which is generally used by his children, but prefers the original rendering of the family name. He was married in Canada to Mary Jeffrey, a native of that country, and sixteen years of age at the time of her marriage. They have seven children, Josephine, the wife of John Mero; Joseph, a farmer, who was married to Vina Pelkeg ; John, who married Rose Robert, and is farming in Huntsville township ; Ida the wife of R. E. Fullerton, of East Grand Porks; Lillie, the wife of Willia Bach, of Reinhart township ; Ed, who lives on his father's farm, and was married to Mabel Schow, and Willie. .

John 0. Eggen

The late John 0. Eggen, who was for years one of the leading farmers and substantial citizens of Northland township, with a good and well improved farm in Section 30, seven miles and a half north of East Grand Forks, was a man of force of character and great positiveness, and, as he was generally properly interested in pro.jects for the development and improvement of his locality, he was an influence for good that everybody respected and a very useful factor in the promotion of his township's progress. He was born December 5, 1819, in the historic city of Trondhjem, Norway, and came to the United States in 1857, locating in Wisconsin, where he was employed on a farm and in the lumber woods for a period of two years.

hue county, Minnesota, and there he took a pre-emj)- tion claim and developed it into a good and productive farm, remaining on it for a continuous period of about twenty years. In 1878 he sold his farm and moved to Polk county, taking up as a homestead the farm in Northland township on which his widow and daughter now live. When he sold his farm in Goodliue county he was tired of farming and expected to retire, but two years afterward he could not resist the temptation to return to his life-long vocation, and so obtained another farm. His operations had been successful in Goodhue county, and he had about $5,000 when he located in Polk county. On arriving here he rented a house, which was then the best to be found north of the Marias river.

Mr. Eggen, II. H. Flatten and Carl Lindgren, who were all from the same place in Norway, teamed to this county together, Mr. Flatten being the cousin of I\Ir. Eggen 's mother. Mr. Eggen took the Southeast quarter of Section 30 as a homestead and built on it a fairly good frame house which is still standing. He M'as older than his companions and gave them employment, their first work for him being the erection of this house. The dwelling inhabited by the family now was built in 1889 not far from the first one, and the difference between them as they stand near together marks the progress of the owners between the two periods of their construction. In addition to his homestead the newcomer bought fifty acres of land on

While living in Goodhue county Mr. Eggen agreed to pay the passage of his nephew, Erick Eggen, across the ocean if the boy's parents would allow him to eomc to his uncle in the New World. The youth came over, being about twelve years old then, and was educated by his uncle, with whom he i-emained about six years, accompanying him to this county and still living with him until he located on the farm he bought from the uncle. When they came to Polk county a neighbor, John Bergen, accompanied them and they drove one of Mr. Bergen's teams, and also settled on land near his.

In January, 1887, Mr. Eggen was married to Miss Oliana Mogaed, a native of Norway, who came to this county the year before her mai-riage and worked some months for IMr. Eggen. Slie was a great help to him in the transaction of his business, doing all his clerical work, and she is still carrying on the farm. They became the parents of one child, their daughter, Annie, who is now a young lady and living with her mother. They also reared from the age of seven Lydia Nelson, a relative of Mr. Eggen, who is also with Mrs. Eggen, and is now fourteen and whose mother died while the daughter was a child. Mrs. Eggen and her daughter belong to the Grand Marias Lutheran church in the cemetery attached to which the remains of Mr. Eggen were buried.

Mr. Mickelson, who is a progressive and prosperous farmer and grain thresher, and has been a merchant, and in all places where he has lived a public-spirited and enterprising citizen, zealously interested in the welfare and improvement of his community, lias resided in Polk county continuously since 1883, when he came to the county with his parents, Mickel j\I. and Ingebor Martha (Olson) Mathison, natives of Norway. The son was born at Thronhjen, in that country, April 9, 1866, and remained there until 1873, when the family emigrated to the United States and located in Jackson county, Minnesota, which was its liome until the family residence was changed to Polk county. The father died in the village of Winger in May, 1915, at the age of sixty-eight. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, of whom their son Ole was the first born.

Jlr. I\Iickelson was reared to fai'm work and he has been engaged in it ever since he was large and strong enough to take a hand at it. For a period of about four years he was merchandising at Winger, and he now operates a threshing outfit in connection with his farming activities. He invented the Fosston wind cleaner for tlireshing machines, which was patented in this country in 1898, and is now in extensive use in many parts of the United States and also in Canada. On December 16, 1905, Mr. Mickelsen was married to Miss Anna Olson, a daughter of Christ Olson, and a native of Polk county. They have three children, Ida A., Alpha and Florence. In religious affiliation the parents are connected with Synod Lutheran church, and in official life Mr. Mickelsen is a member and chairman of the township school board. He takes great interest in his work on the board and it is highly appreciated by the people.

Avilliam S. Anglim

Among the early residents and business men of Crookston none stood higher in public esteem as a broad-minded and public-spirited citizen and as a progressive and resourceful merchant of large business capacity than the late William Anglim, member of the firm of Fontaine & Anglim. These gentlemen for a number of years conducted the leading general merchandising establishment in the whole Red river region, and so well did they understand and so completely did they meet the requirements of the region that they laid almost every part of it under tribute to their trade.

William Anglim was born May 25, 1843, at Brockville, in the province of Ontario, Canada. He left home at an early age and worked for a few years in the state of New York. He then came west to Detroit, Michigan, and entered the service of the American Express company. After a short term of faithful and appreciated work in a minor capacity in the employ of this company he was promoted to the position of railroad expressman on the run between Tomah, Wisconsin, and St. Paul, ]\Iinnesota.

While thus engaged Mr. Anglim cherished a desire which was bom in him early and gained vigor with his growth. This was to have a business of his own, and the desire at length became so strong that he could resist it no longer. He heard of the promising possibilities of Northwestern Minnesota and determined to see what he could do in this locality. So in 1878 he changed his residence from St. Paul to Crookston and, in company with Louis Fontaine, bought the stock and business of W. D. Bailey, a general merchant in the latter city, or at the frontier settlement in the woods as it was then. His association with Mr. Fontaine came through an advertisement for a business partner which Mr. Anglim inserted in the newspapers in St. Paul. Their business grew to vast proportions, and they also conducted a branch store at Argyle, in Marshall county, this state, with conspicuous success and a very large trade.

The partnership between Mr. Anglim and Mr. Fontaine continued for more than a quarter of a ceuturj'. They started their business in a little log house on the main road running through the village, which was then full of stumps of trees that had been cut down to make an opening for the march of improvement, and when they retired from business they turned over to their successors the finest, largest and most complete and comprehensive department store in Northern Minnesota.

In addition to being one of the leading merchants of the Red river valley Mr. Anglim was also one of Crookston 's foremost men in connection with public affairs. He was always a staunch Democrat in his political faith and alliance, but without regard to political considerations he was elected to every important office in the gift of the people. He was chosen either alderman or mayor of the city whenever he would consent to serve, and was a member of the school board for nearly twenty years. His conspicuous ability and sterling citizenship also received national recognition, President Cleveland, in his second term, appointing him receiver of tlie United States land office at Crookston. He also took an active interest in other business institutions besides his own, serving as a director and the vice president of the First National Bank of Crookston from its organization until his death, for years as an official of several country banks and also for a time as an official of the Wheeler-Misner Loan company of Crookston.

In fraternal relations Mr. Anglim was connected with the Order of Elks, and he was one of the prominent members of its Lodge in Crookston, of which he was the Exalted Ruler for two terms; also a member of the Knights of Columbvis. In religious faitli he was a devout Catholic, holding his raemljership in St. Mary's church, which he served as treasurer for many years, and to whose welfare he was earnestly and zealously devoted. He was a man of high ideals, strict integrity and a keen and imperative sense of honor. In his domestic relations he was genial and generously considerate, devoted to his family and willing at all times to make any sacrifice of his personal convenience or desires to promote its happiness. When he retired from business he returned to St. Paul to live, and at St. Joseph's hospital in that city his useful life ended on July 22, 1910, when he was a little over sixty-seven years of age.

Mr. Anglim was married in Tomah, Wisconsin, October 1, 1873, to Miss Mary Durham, who was born in Loekport, Pennsylvania, Januai-y 28, 1853, and died August 19th, 1895. Of their children three are living: Mrs. C. R. Winslow, who is a resident of Watertown. South Dakota ; W. G. Anglim, who is a member of the firm of Whaley & Anglim, wholesale hat and cap merchants in St. Paul, and H. T. Anglim, who is also a resident of Watertown, South Dakota. The parents are both buried at Crookston and the family still have large property interests in Crookston and Polk County.

Henry H. Oberg

After many years of hard labor, during which he encountered and overcame a number of difficulties and disasters, this enterprising and progressive citizen and successful farmer is now living retired in the village of Alvarado, IMarshall county, where he occupies himself in keeping a livery barn and feed stable in order to have something to engage his attention. At one time he owned 920 acres of land in Saudsville township, which he helped to organize in 1883, and 240 acres in Higdem township, and for some years superintended and personally directed the cultivation of it all. He has, however, recently sold the greater part of his real estate to his children.

Mr. Oberg came from Renville county to Polk in 1882 and took a homestead on the Southwest quarter of Section 22, in what is now Sandsville township, on Snake river. He had two yoke of oxen and was accompanied by John Hendriekson, now deceased, who took a homestead in Section 28. Martin Sands was then the only settler within the limits of the present township, and he had come earlier in the same year. The next year Henry Nelson, Ole Engson and Henry Hendrick.son joined the colony, and after them came others in more rapid course.

There was some timber along Snake river and from it the new settlers put up a little log shanty and each broke up ten acres of his land. They were not married and lived together after the house was built, but luitil then they slept in their wagon. They did fencing for pasture land during the winter and got ready for the next year's work. Then they brought live stock from Renville county, and plowed ground and sowed wheat. But the land was wet, and the ten acres Mr. Oberg had in wheat yielded only eighty bushels of good grain.

Mr. Oberg was married in 1888 to Miss Mary Paulson. By this time he had built another log house and had raised several good crops. He had also taken a tree claim in Section 26, and in time he made this one of the best tree claims in the county. He bought railroad laud at $6 an acre, but with no rebate, and later bought more at $8 an acre. His father, whose name was also Henry H. Oberg, came to Polk county in 1883 and took up a homestead on which he died two years afterward. On the death of the father this land passed into the ownership of the son.

When the township was organized in 1883 it was named in honor of Martin Sands, its first settler. Mr. Oberg was township treasurer and assessor at different times. After cultivating all his land in this township for a number of years he began renting parts of it to his sons, and in 1915 he had six farms worked by them. About 1895 he erected the house which is now on his home place, and which is one of the best in the northern part of the county. The farm has a flowing well 160 feet deep, which furnishes more water than is needed, and there is a large drove of

Shorthorn cattle of good strains on the place at all times. Mr. Oberg divided his land among his children and moved to Alvarado in 1914. He has five children, all unmarried, and working together. They are Ililma, Albert, Oscar, Emma and Selma.

The mother of these children died in 1907, and in 1912 the father contracted a second marriage which united him with Miss Thea Olson. They have one child, their son, Henry Melvin, now (1915) two j'ears old. The parents are members of the Kronsvinger Norwegian Lutheran church, in Esther township, which Mr. Oberg helped to organize and of which he was one of the trustees for many years. He has always taken an active interest in the affairs of his township and rendered it every service devolving on a good citizen, and its residents hold him in high esteem for all he has done.

Hayes Brothers

James C. and Samuel C. Hayes, who are associated in business as partners and are almost inseparable, although they maintain separate homes on opposite sides of the main road leading through their land, are among the most extensive, enterprising, progressive and s\iccessful farmers in the Red River valley. They cultivate with great energy and in the most approved present-day methods over 2,000 acres of land, and have a great deal more which will be brought into productiveness within a short time. Their land is in Sections 9 and 16, Hubbard township, three and threequarters miles northeast of Neilsville, five and a quarter miles southeast of Climax and twenty-two miles southwest of Crookston.

The brothers were born, reared, educated and married in Union county, Pennsylvania, and began their business careers as lumbermen in the timber camps of their native state. They have been partners from their youth, and have succeeded broadly because of the iniity of effort that has directed their business ability and enterprise. James' life began July 6, 1844, and Samuel's June 13, 1847. Their father was a lawyer and a surveyor, and he, his father and one of his sons served Union county, Pennsylvania, as county surveyors each in his day. After some years of anxiety and discontent in the practice of law the father of James and Samuel abandoned it because of his scruples in connection with some requirements of the profession, but continued to give his neighbors and friends free legal advice.

The progenitors of this Hayes family's American branch came from the North of Ireland and settled in Pennsylvania in 1727. They were of Scotch ancestry and Covenanters in religion, and the members of the family now living are zealous adherents of the faith of their forbears, all belonging to the Presbyterian church. The members of the family have been patriots in this country for generations, too. Four of them were commissioned officers of the Continental army during the Revolution, three of them being captains and the fourth a lieutenant. James C, during our Civil war, served nine months in the Army of the Potomac and the rest of three years in the United States navy as a common sailor.

When the luinlicr trade showed signs of exhaustion in Pennsylvania James C. Hayes sought a Western field of operation in the same line, as neither he nor his brother had any early inclination to farming. He was induced by an editor friend at Pembina to come to the Red River valley in 1878, and the next year his brother Samuel joined him here. They bought a section of railroad land in the town of Hubbard at $7.50 an acre, with the usual rebate of $3 an acre for breaking and cultivating, and on this land they located in 1881. They had only $2,000 between them, hut James also took up a homestead in Reis township and Samuel a pre-emption claim in Liberty township. They had some live .stock and farming implements, but were not well supplied for extensive farming operations, avid had several j'ears of difficulty in the business.

In hard years they suffered from crop failures and other losses, and were unable to make the stipulated payments on their land. But they found the railroad company generous in its accommodations, and now have none but words of praise for James J. Hill and his policy in selling land and encouraging settlers. They also found the Polk county banks liberal in spirit and action, and they also commend the bankers of this county highl.y. They have been large borrowers from the banks and have always been promptly accommodated.

The specialty of the Hayes brothers is grain, and they have adliered to raising it from the beginning. Their crop in 1915, which was lessened one-third by the wetness of the season, amounted to 25,000 bushels. They have their own elevator on the farm and it has a capacity of 40,000 bushels. Seven men are employed by the month dui-ing parts of the year and three throughout the year, while twenty are I'equired during the threshing season. The lirothers plow with a gas engine and use it also in threshing, and they also use forty horses in their work, although they have a great deal of money invested in first-class modern machinery.

James C. Hayes was married in his native county in 1884 to Miss Mary Glover, who is also a native of that county. They have had three children, but lost them all in their childhood. Samuel C. Hayes was married in Pennsylvania in 1893, to Miss Ella Burn of Harrisburg, in that state. They have no children. The brothers have always been warmly and serviceably interested in the progress and development of Polk county, and have been potent factors in making and keeping up the good roads for which Hubbard township is noted. They are well pleased with Minnesota and desire to live in no other place.

Kenn Brothers

The firm of Kenn Bros., leading and extensive in its agricultural operations, and well and favorably known all over Polk county and tliose which adjoin Polk, is composed of Alexander, James Drunnnond, John Ramsey and Edmund Kenn, sons of the late James and Christina (Barnett) Kenn, who have their lieadquarters on Section 23, Grand Forks township, on a farm on which their father located in 1878. The father was bom in Aberdeen, Scotland, and became a resident of this county in the spring of the year last named. He emigrated from his native land some years earlier

At the time of their marriage the father was forty and the mother was twenty-eight. Robert Anderson, a friend of the family, was living in tlie Red River valley soon afterwai'd, and he induced the Kenns, who were farming in Canada, to come to where he was and seek a better opportunity for advancement in a new region with all its possibilities still to be developed. Mr. Kenn traveled by rail to Fisher, the end of the line tlien, and by boat to Grand Forks. He bought his hxnd of the railroad company at $7 an acre, with the usual rebate condition in the contract, his first purchase comprising eighty acres, to which he added 160 more soon afterward, the whole tract of 240 acres being in one body.

Mr. Kenn had very little money and was not able to own a horse for some months after his arrival. During his first year in Polk county he worked for other farmers, breaking up what he could of his eighty acres, and when the next spring came he found himself the owner of an ox team and ground that wa.s ready for seeding. His land lay next to the eighty acres owned by his friend Anderson, and with the help of that gentleman he built a log cabin sixteen feet square and began farming operations which in time grew to large proportions. He died June 9, 1891, at the age of seventy-one, but that same year he began the erection of the house now on the farm and bought 160 acres of additional land in Northland township, intending to continue and extend his farming industry, being a grain grower and devoted to his work and special line of production.

Mr. Kenn was active in township affairs and for many years filled various township offices, among them those of member of the township board, township assessor and school director. He was a member of the Presbyterian church in Grand Forks to his death, and his remains were buried in the cemetery connected with that church. The mother is still alive. They were the parents of six children, Alexander, James Drummond, Margaret, John Ramsey B., Agnes Jane and Edmund, all but one of whom are living in Polk county. Margaret is the wife of J. C. Dangerfield, of East Grand Forks, and Agnes Jane married J. C. Fegenshau and lives in Miles City, Jlontana.

John R. B. Kenn married Miss Margaret Fraser and lives in Esther township, three miles north of the home place. His three brothers, who are with him in the firm of Kenn Bros., live on the home place and are unmarried. The firm owns the 220 acres on which J. R. B. lives and 160 more near that place. They carry on general farming, breed dairy and beef cattle and raise their own horses, using twelve in their farm work. They are deeply interested in the welfare and advancement of Polk county, especially the two townships in which their property lies, and have rendered valuable service in different public offices. But their attention has been given mainly to their farming interests, and these they have conducted with skill, good judgment and prudent management. They enjoy the esteem of all who know them.

John Conneran

This gentleman, who was for years one of the most extensive and enterprising farmers in this county, owning 920 acres of land in it, and cultivating nearly all of it, has had a very interesting and in some respects striking career. The land is still all in his family, some of it having been given by him to his sons, and his own home farm of 160 acres is in Section 6, Roome township, twelve miles southwest of Crookstou. He was bom in County Galway, Ireland, November 10, 1844, and came to the United States in 1862, landing at New York May 2, and at once joining his brother Lawrence in New Jersey.

and they all moved up into New York state, where they lived for a number of years and then returned to New Jei'sey. John was a brakeman on a railroad for a time and afterward a conductor until his marriage in New Jersey in 1872 to Miss Anna Logan, the sister of John and Thomas Logan. He then became a section boss and held the job for seven years, and during his railroad service he saved $1,000 of his earnings as a stake for a contemplated venture in the distant West, as it was then, and late in 1887 he brought his family to Fisher, in this county, to be with his wife's people, the Logans and Mrs. Baraey Heggarty. Mr. Conneran took his place in Roome township as a homestead. Ilis inother-iu-law, Mrs. Kate Logan, had a claim on it for a time, but she allowed him to file on it, which he did in the spring of 1888, and he has since lived on it. By I\Iay 15, 1888, he had his house built and was occupying it. The farm is on the prairie three miles out from the Red river. I\Ir. Couneran has since bought 160 acres more in Section 6, and 160 in Section 32, eighty in Section 8 and forty in Section 7, Fisher township, and he also owns 320 acres in AVoodside township. The last is only a ([uarter of a mile south of ]\Iaple lake and a few miles south of the village of IMentor, in which he also owns some property which is rapidly growing in value.

At one time Mr. Conneran spent four or five years on his Woodside farm getting out cordwood, which he shipped in carload lots to Crookston and Grand Forks, employing ten to twelve choppers and sending oft" 1,000 to 3,000 cords a year, his shipment being a carload every day one winter. His farming operations were also carried on on a large scale. His customary output at the height of his business was 400 to 500 acres in wheat, and he also kept 50 to 75 head of cattle when he had range for them, but he now keeps about 25 head, and in addition milks ten to twelve cows for butter, and ha.s milked 18 to 20 some years. The butter is made at his home and taken to

Mr. and Mrs. Conneran are the parents of nine children, all of whom are living. John is living on a farm of 160 acres in Fisher township given to him by his father. JIary is the wife of James Powers of Bygland township. Katie is the wife of Owen La Velle of Grand Forks county, N. D. Anna is the wife of Albany Capistran of Lowell township. Ella is the wife of A. P. Roberts of Crookston. James lives on a farm cornering witli his father's and given to liim by his father. Delia has a dressmaking establishment in Grand Fork.s. William, the youngest of the boys, is to get the home farm in time. Jennie, the youngest of the family, also lives at home. All the members of the family belong to the Catholic church at Fisher, Minn.

Mr. Comieran has served in several township offices, especially those having to do with road work. His railroad section supervision has been of great service in this connection, and as a result the township has very good roads. He has had a great deal of draining done and has labored hard to obtain the establishment of a general .system of county ditches, all the best ones in and near his locality being provided for largely through his strenuous efforts in this behalf.

Mrs. Chestina A. Messett

Having been successfully engaged in merchandising at Mentor throughout the last twenty years, and having won a competence for life by her industry, thrift and good management, Mrs. Chestina A. Messett has justly earned the high regard in which she is held by the residents of Grove Park township as a business woman, as she has also the universal esteem she enjoys because of her usefulness in other lines of activity and service to the public. No woman in Polk county is more highly or more generally respected, and there is none who deserves to be.

obtaining a fairly good education for her time and surroundings and opportunities. In her young womanhood she came to Polk county for about seven years and was employed as a teacher in the public schools, winning high favor for her success in the work. She was married in this county to I. K. Messett, a native of Norway, who was one of the early settlers in the county. He was a progressive and enterprising citizen and took an active part in the public affairs of his township and those of the Synod Lutheran church during his life.

school teacher also, following the excellent example of her mother. The latter was appointed postmistress of Mentor and held the office seventeen yeai-s. In addition to her other property she owns 240 acres of land in Grove Park township and personally supervises the cultivation of the farm, and in this work, as in her store, her excellent business qualifications are well displayed.

Oscar Wick

For more than a quarter of a century Oscar Wick has conducted the East Grand Foi-ks nursery to the great benefit of his own township and those that adjoin it in this state and North Dakota. He started the business in 1890, and he now has about one-half of the seventy acres of land in his nursery tract devoted to propagating hardy and flowering shrubs, ornamental and fruit trees, especially crab and other apple, plum and cherry trees, and such small fruits as strawberries and other berries. He also makes a specialty of producing fine asparagus plants in great numbers, and he gives particular attention to his ornamental tree and shrub department.

Mr. Wick was born in Sweden June 30, 1857, and became a resident of Minnesota in 1879. He was specially prepared for his business by thorough training at good horticultural schools and by practical work, and he is, therefore, a complete master of it, but he is also still a diligent student and close observer of its development in every line of progress. He was married in 1881, at Blanchard, North Dakota, to Miss Carrie Erickson, who died in 1890, leaving three children. Of these Ella, the first born, died at the age of nine years. Roy is a conductor on the Great Northern railroad and lives in Grand Forks, and Conrad is a gardener on land near his father's.

In 1893 Mr. Wick contracted a second marriage, which united him with Jliss Augusta Jernberg, who is also a native of Sweden. They have three children: Ella, who is a stenographer in the Northern State Bank of Grand Forks, and Lillie and Rudolph, who are living at home with their parents. The father was one of the founders of the Swedish Lutheran church in Grand Forks and served as its organist for seven years. The first money he made he sent back to his

Mr. Wick located at Blanchard, North Dakota, in 1880, and there he built a hotel and became a grain merchant. When he decided to change his occupation he was unable to sell his property at Blanchard, and so he came to Grand Forks without capital and started in selling nursery stock for the Grand Forks Nursery. He soon discovered that the profits in the business were large and decided to engage in it himself. He bought part of the land he now devotes to it, paying $60 an acre for it, although it was then full of stumps and brush, going in debt for the purchase money and borrowing $200 in addition. The land is on the east side of Red River, one mile south of East Grand Forks, and well located for his purpose.

For a time he conducted a restaurant in which he made money, but opposition developed when it was learned that he was going to start a new nursery. One Grand Forks and one Hillsboro, North Dakota, newspaper worked against him and were accused of being paid for doing this. But the Northwest News and the Normander gave his undertaking encouragement which proved to be of great advantage to him.

In a little while he bought more land, paying $150 an acre for some of it, and he now owns seventy acres. His rule of action has been to deal fairly with everybody, correct all mistakes of his own, replace poor stock and make every effort to produce stock suitable for the climate and local conditions. His business expanded steadily and brought him increasing prosperity. He now has a very desirable home with an avenue bordered by stately trees of his own planting leading to the dwelling and artistically arranged

Mr. Wick has contributed a great deal to improving the conditions of life in his home locality, much of the beautiful landscape gardening about the homes in East Grand Forks and its parks being the result of his efforts. He has spared no labor or expense in testing shrubbery and fruit culture, acclimating many varieties of such products that had long been considered too tender to gi'ow in this latitude. Thirty yeara ago it was believed that the only kind of apples that would live and flourish in this section of the country were crabapples. But in consequence of his enterprise and ability many varieties of apples are now produced here in fine qualities and of great commercial value in all the markets.

Rhinehart township Mr. Wick has taken an earnest interest and an active part in its public affairs. The four sections bordering on and near to the Red river were paying their taxes but getting no road improvement or other benefits. He started a movement to obtain their right to manage their own affairs by separation from Grand Forks township and the formation of a new township by themselves. The movement succeeded in time and after considerable effort. Rhinehart township was organized, Mr. Wick was elected township clerk and later a justice of the peace, and it was only a short time until the new town.ship found itself in a desirable condition, with good roads in every direction and a surplus of funds in its trea.sury. Mr. Wick is a Democrat in his political faith and allegiance, and he is a "live one" in political contests, as he is in everything else in which he takes an interest.

Ole Hanson

"Tried by both extremes of fortune and not .seriously disturbed by either" is a motto that might be appropriately applied to the enterprising farmer, courteous gentleman and public-spirited citizen who is the subject of this brief review. He has suffered hardship, privation and adversity in some of their most cruel forms, and he has triumphed over every difficulty and won a substantial competence for life by his own industry, thrift and good management, yet through all conditions and changes of fortune he has been the same firm, intrepid, hopeful and enterprising man, undaunted by Fate's greatest exhibitions of unkindness and not unduly elated over Fortune's most generous benefactions and sunniest smiles.

Ole Hanson was born at Lurvig, Norway, March 16, 1855, and when he was about eleven years of age came with his parents, Hans and Cheston Oleson, to the United States, arriving in 1866. In October, 1877, the family settled in Polk county, Minnesota, on Section 31, in Nesbit township, where the father died one year later and the mother three years after his death. They were the parents of twelve children, of whom their son Ole was the fourth in the order of birth.

Mr. Hanson was about twenty-two years old when he arrived in this county, and he at once bought onehalf of Section 31, Nesbit township, and on this tract he has ever since had his home, but he has added to his original holding by subsequent purchases, and he now owns and cultivates 360 acres, which, by his intelligent and skillful methods of farming he has made very productive. He had a hard struggle at first, however, and it required nerve and determined persistency to get through it. His first habitation on the land was a mud or sod shack, which was very inadequate for comfort or even shelter, and the other home appliances were in keeping with this. But the sod shack long since gave way to a good modern dwelling, and the other buildings that Mr. Oleson has erected are also modern and complete in every particular. His principal industry on this farm is general farming, but he also raises and handles live stock to a considerable extent, having on hand about twenty head of horses and forty of cattle, on an average.

While Mr. Hanson has paid strict and constant attention to his own affairs he has also given heed in an interested and helpful way to those of the town- ship and county of his home. Their welfare and progress have been objects of strong and continual desire with him, and he has been an influential factor in promoting their advancement. He has long been one of the school trustees of District No. 117, and in many other ways has been of great service to the public in his locality, and every public interest has always had hi.s earnest, intelligent and most active support.

On July 23, 1893, he was married to Miss Bertha Arkhaus, who is, like himself, a native of Norway. They have no children of their own but are rearing and educating a sou named Willard and a daughter named Grace, whom they have adopted. Mr. and Mis. Hansou are zealous and active members of the United Lutheran church.

Elias G. Gustafson

Elias G. Gustafson, one of the enterprising, progressive and successful farmers of this county, is a veritable pioneer of Woodside township in the true sense of the terra. He broke the first land and raised, reaped and threshed the first grain produced in that township and helped to plant the seeds of its present civilization and development. He was born in Sweden May 22, 1857, and when he was ten years old came to this coimtry with his parents, Gustaf and Mary Eliasoii. The family located in Douglas county, Minnesota, where the mother died October 12, 1879. Two years later the father and the rest of the familymoved to this county and took up their residence in Woodside towuship, where the father died in the fall of 1909.

When the son came to Polk county late in the fall of 1881 he at once took up a tract of wild land iu Woodside township, which was all wild then, and began improving it. He has lived in Woodside township ever since except for six years, during which he was engaged in farming in Godfrey township. Farming has been his principal occupation from his youth and he has made it a successful and profitable one for him. He now owns 340 acres of good land improved with buildings well suited to his needs and nearly all under cultivation. He has held the office of supervisor of Woodside township for a number of years and is also a member of the school board.

On November 15, 1884, Mr. Gustafson was married in Woodside township to Julia M. Johnson, a native of Norway. They liave had thirteen children, two of whom, a son and a daughter, died in infancy. The eleven who are living are John R. G., Caroline, William W., Antone N., Edward E., Guste, George N., Otto, Conrad, Walter and Theo. Caroline is the wife of Ole R. Luckan. Mr. and Mrs. Gustafson are zealous and serviceable members of the Norwegian Lutheran church and take a helpful interest in all its work for the good of the community.

Ole Helmer Estenson

Known far and wide as one of the best and most capable business men in this county, and esteemed wherever he is known as a man of sterling worth and progressive and serviceable citizenship, Ole Helmer Estenson, manager of one of the leading mercantile enterprises of Climax, has earned his rank and reputation by his genuine merit and fine business capacity,

Mr. Estenson is a native of Vineland township, this county, having been bom on his father's farm in that township January 22, 1878. He is a son of Ole and Paulina Estenson, who were pioneers of Vineland township, locating on a homestead there early in the seventies. They became the parents of five children, all of whom are living. Emma is now the wife of Mertin Strommen, and a resident of Vineland township. Ole H. is the immediate subject of this review. Peter is still living at liome with his parents. Ida is the wife of Sever Rostvcdt and has her home in North Dakota, and John is also still a member of the parental family circle.

Ole H. Estenson, the second born of the five children, was reared to manhood on his father's farm and obtained only a common school education. In 1900 he began his mercantile career in the Estenson company of Clima.x. The partnership continued until 1911, when the business was sold to the Climax Co-operative Mercantile company, Mr. Estenson remained as a clerk in the store under i+s new owners for a vear, then moved to Canada and took up a homestead, on which he lived two years and a half. At the end of that period he returned to Climax and was appointed manager of the store which he formerly owned, and in that capacity he has been connected with it ever since. In the government and social life of Climax IMr. Estenson has always taken a cordial interest and been a forceful factor. He proved his devotion to the welfare of the community by serving as a member of the village council with energj- and public spirit for some years. He is also a devout and serviceable member of the Norwegian Lutheran church. On August 10, 1906, he was united in marriage with ]Miss Clara Bangen, a daughter of Hans H. Bangen, of Vineland township. Two daughters have been born of the union, Irene and Romona.

William James Porter

While he is not now and never has been regularly a resident of Polk county, William James Porter is entitled to recognition in this compendium of Polk county history because of his having married into one of the prominent families of the county and his intimate connection with certain features of the industrial and commercial life of the Polk county people.

Mr. Porter was for a few- years a grain buyer at Davidson station, near the old Nesbit farm, and he married Miss Margaret Evelyn Nesbit, the daughter of James Nesbit, the owner of that farm and a member of the family in whose honor Nesbit township was given the name it bears, and he and Mrs. Porter own a part of the old family homestead, which is being farmed by a tenant. Mr. Porter has, during the last four or five years, been a grain buyer for the Diamond Mill in Grand Forks.

Mr. and Mrs. Porter were married October 24, 1906. They have four children. Myrtle Evelyn, Frances Marion, Lois Christina and Willard James.

Edmltnd M. Walsh

Edmund M. Walsh, wlio is the author of the valuable article in this work giving an interesting account of the early days in the history of Polk county, has been a resident of Crookston continuously since 1872, and during the whole period of his residence in the city has been prominent in its various lines of life, particularly in connection with its public affairs and those of Polk county, and the fi-atemal activities in both.

March 2, 1851, and in 1857 he was brought by Ills parents, Thomas and Eleanor Walsh, to Henderson, Sibley county, Minnesota, he grew to manhood and obtained his education. In 1870 he assumed charge of a .store belonging to his father at Henderson, but a short time afterward he sold this business and started a mercantile entei'prise of his own. He disposed of this also in a short time, and then went to GaiTV, now Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he did not tarry long, returning to this eountrj' in a few weeks

Soon after his arrival in Crookston Mr. Walsh was elected auditor of Polk county, being the first incumbent of the office. In 1878 he organized the old Crookston Telephone company, and throughout his connection with it he served as its manager. He was a member of the first city council of Crookston, and for fifteen years he rendered valuable service as a member of the school board. In 1885 he was elected mayor of Crookston, and at the end of his term he was re-elected. But in the meantime, in 1886, he was also chosen clerk of the district court. He has long taken an earnest interest and an active part in the affairs of the Masonic Order, which he joined in 1880, and in which he was made a Knight Templar in Palestine Commandery No. 14, at Fergus Falls, ^Minnesota, in 1886.

Mrs. Mary Buckley Nelson

The career of this good woman in Polk county, which has covered a period of nearly forty years, has been one of great usefulness and her life has been one of continuous devotion to the comfort and general welfare of others. She was born in Ireland August 16, 1849, the daughter of Matthew and Anna ( Murphy j Buckley, who came to the United States in the year of her birth and located in Adams county, Wisconsin, where they lived until she was six years old. At that time her father entered the United States army and was commissioned captain of Company D, Fourth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil war. He died in the fall of 1865.

The daughter was married in Wisconsin May 14, 1878, to Christopher Nelson, a native of Norway. Soon after their marriage the young couple took up their residence in Polk county, making their first home in it in Crookston, where Mrs. Nelson, for five months taught the first school ever kept in the place. The next year she and her husband moved to Fanny township and took up a half -section of land on which they lived and which they improved and cultivated for sixteen years. At the end of that period they lived for a year on a farm in Euclid township, and then moved to the village of Euclid, where they followed keeping a hotel, and where Mr. Nelson died March 17, 1912, at the age of seventy-four years.

ilr. and Mrs. Nelson were the parents of five children : Anna, who is the wife of ilr. Joseph Henemeth ; William, who died when ten years old ; Florence, who is the wife of J. Dunnoody ; and Amber E. and Walter, who are still living with their mother. She ow-ns 200 acres of land in Polk county and takes an earne.st interest in everything that affects the welfare of the county.

Nels M. Malmberg

Owning 280 acres of superior laud in Fisher township and eighty in Roome township, this county, and having the greater part of it under cultivation with good results, Nels 'M. Malmberg is one of the substantial citizens of Polk county and one of its progressive and successful farmers. His home farm is in Section 26, Fisher township, four miles southeast of Fisher and eight miles west of Crookston. He born in Sweden April 7, 1838, and came to the

United States in 1869. In the fall of that year he joined his brother Andrew in St. Paul, the latter having come over about tAvo years and a half before. Nels had always worked on a farm in his native land, and his whole capital when he arrived in this country was $30 to $40.

During his first winter in the United States Mr. Malmberg worked in the pineries. He was next employed in laying track for the St. Paul & Duluth railroad, and iu his second winter he went south to Memphis and engaged in chopping wood. The next summer he was back at railroad work on the Northern Pacific near TJrainerd and the next winter on the grade in Dakota. In the fall of 1872 he and his brother came to Polk county and selected land, and in the spring of 1873 he took possession of his, taking it first as a pre-emption claim but later turning half of it into a homestead.

Mr. Malmberg's land is on Burnham's creek, which was named for Mr. Burnham, who settled in this county the j'ear before Mr. Malmberg, and with him came also Charles Matson, August Peterson, Martin Swentson and a Jlr. Christiansen, all of whom settled along the Red Lake river toward Crookston. INIr. Malmberg had eighty acres of timber in his tract and the rest was prairie. lie has since bought eighty acres of school laud and 100 acres more of prairie and timber land in Section 25, Fisher township, besides sixty-six acres in another tract and eighty acres of hay land in Roome township, or 360 acres iu all, and the whole body is productive in one way or another.

In the early daj's this enterprising farmer sold wood and did anything else he could to turn his opportunities to advantage. He had two yoke of oxen with which he broke prairie land for other farmers, and he had to do whatever he could, because he had only about .$300 when he came to the county, and this was very little with which to found a home and improve a farm in the wildei-ness and rear a family there. In his farming operations for years he depended on raising wheat and other small grain as his mainstay, but of late he has been keeping live stock and milks ten cows for cream, which he sells in Crookston. He has also been raising fine crops of corn for some years, steadily increasing his acreage in this cereal.

Mr. Malmberg has devoted his attention largely to his farm and has taken no active part in public affairs and has held no political office at any time, although he has always been warmly and practically interested in the welfare and progress of his township. For several years he was his own housekeeper, but in 1891 he was married to Mrs. Matilda Johnson Rodahl, a widow, born in Norway. They have two sons, Nels Henning and Alfred. Carl Rodahl, a son of Mrs. Malmberg by her former marriage, is also a member of the family, and they are all living on the farm.

The first bridges over the creeks in the neighborhood were built by Mr. Malmberg and the other settlers, those over Burnham and Anderson creeks being built earlier. He and two or three others also sold and loaded the first carload of wheat that was shipped out of Crookston by rail, having sold their crops to Mr. Bailej' in that city.

Henry L. Gaylord

Henry L. Gaylord, of Fertile, a prominent pioneer of Polk county is widely known through the manj^ interests of his busy career as lawyer, real estate dealer and farmer. He is a native of Minnesota, born at Rockville, Stearns county, November 15, 1857, the son of L. P. and Lida Gaylord, who came from Connecticut to St. Anthony Falls in 1855 and shortly afterward removed to RockviUe, where L. P. Gaylord operated the mill and postoffice and owned some six hundred acres of land. The Sioux outbreak of

1862 caused him to seek safety for his family at St. Cloud and he later sold the land in Stearns county and for a number of years was employed as a lumber scaler by Bridgeman, making his home iu Minneapolis for eight years. In 1877 he came to Red Lake Falls, then in Polk county and took a homestead four miles west of the town, iu Louisville township, where he was actively associated with the organization of community affairs and served in various local offices. Later he lived for a number of years in Cali- fomia, returning to Polk county to spend the last years of his life with his son, in Fertile, M'here his death occurred in 1901, in his eighty-second year. Two sons, William 0. Gaylord and Henry L. Gaylord, are both residents of Minnesota, the former being a farmer in Beltrami county, having formerly been an employee in the courthouse at Minneapolis.

H. L. Gaylord came to Crookston as a young man of twenty years and as his first business ventui'e, secured a contract with the Great Northern railroad for nutting cord wood, supplying them with some five hundred cords for engine use. The proceds from his work enabled him to purchase a yoke of oxen and establish his farming activities and in 1882 he located on a homestead in Liberty township, where he was one of the first settlers, Pat Connery and Christian Sankey being the only previous residents, the latter having been the first to file on a claim in that township. Mr. Gaylord built a log house for his family and spent six prosperous yeai-s on the place, during which he erected good buildings and put one hundred and sixty acres under cultivation and stocked his farm with a large herd of cattle. But ambition directed his attention to other fields. The goal which his childhood's wishes had fixed for his manhood's career was the practice of law and native determination and industry brought him victoiy over the restricted advantages and seemingly discouraging circumstances which attended his desire. During the years spent on the farm he secured law books from John Bottineau of Minneapolis and through his own efforts fitted himself for admittance to the bar and for practice in all the courts. During the earlier years of his life this latent ambition and ability had led his instigation of the organization of a number of debating societies in private homes and school houses and such a club was started by him in Fertile. Mr. Gaylord is notably associated with the history of Fertile, as the man who had charge of the sale of the lots when the townsite was put on the market in 1888. The town was laid out by J. B. Holmes, of Minneapolis, who then sold the site to James M.

Payne, a townsite owner of Carlton, Minnesota, and Mr. Gaylord was made the local agent. In the first week fifty lots were sold. The first building was erected by John LaDue, who removed his store from the old town of Fertile which he had started some years previous, about a mile south, and Fritz Barholz also moved his hotel to the present site of the Fertile House. Other pioneer merchants were A. L. Middleton, Orpheim & Nelson and Mr. Gilmore. The law and real estate office of Mr. Gaylord was the fourth building to be erected on Main street. Mr. Gaylord began the practice of law before the justice of peace, while still living on his farm and served as a justice of peace for fourteen years. From the experiences of the early days he recounts many amusing instances of legal procedure, among which was the granting of a decree of divorce by a justice of peace in Norman county, and recalls a ease which he settled out of court by refusing a search wan-ant to a man who claimed that a sum of money had been taken from him in a saloon and instead searched the man, discovered the missing funds in the plaintiff's shoes. His principal opponent in these days was Mr. J. Walsuff. Other members of the profession, who have since moved away, were Edward Titus, now an attorney at Minneapolis, and Thomas Keith. For twelve years, Mr. Gaylord was associated in his professional interests with Judge Watts, during which time Mr. Watts gave his attention to the business in Crookston and Mr. Gaylord remained in Fertile. They were easily recognized as among the most able in this section and stood at the head of the profession in their activities in the courts, having as many as eightyfive cases on the calendar for one term. They engaged in numerous criminal cases and always successfully established their retainers' cause. The association was dissolved upon the election of Mr. Watts as judge and Mr. Gaylord has since continued the practice of law in the office which he opened in Fertile in 1893. A number of the important cases in which he has been interested have involved disputed titles to land and liis practice has included cases in the Supreme court, in one of which the sustaining of his contention that it was illegal for a justice of peace to change venue to a justice of peace in an adjoining township not adjoining the village, resulted in a state law. Aside from the many accomplishments of his legal career, Mr. Gaylord has engaged extensively in the real estate business, retained an active interest in his farm and for the last five years, has engaged in the mercantile business, operating a general store in Fertile. As a real estate dealer, he has handled one of the largest businesses in the county making a sales record of one week's sales of fifty quarter sections of land. In Fertile he has built some thirteen buildings among which is one of the first brick structures. He has given particular attention to the raising of potatoes in his agricultural enterprise and has taken three hundred bushels from the acre, raising a crop of ten thousand bushels. In all phases of public affairs his career has been marked by loyal service and able support of the best interests of the community and as a member of the school board he was influential in securing the present splendid organization of the public school system. He is a member of the Republican party and has ever been an active worker in political circles. His fraternal affiliations are with the Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Gaylord has been twice married, his first union wajs with Laura M. Briggs of Minneapolis, in 1875, and two sons were born to this marriage; Harry 0., who lives in Grand Forks, and George, who is a barber at Park River, North Dakota. In 1907 Mr. Gaylord was married to Kasper Aggerness, of Fertile and they have six children, Christina, Henrietta, Lida, Belle, Henrv and Harriet Beecher.

Having come to this counti-y as a young man from his native land of Denmark, where he was born May 27, 1843, and having worked his way to a comfortable estate by his own efforts, and at the same time given careful and helpful attention to the public affairs of his community and township, T. Thygeson, one of the progressive and successful fanners of Polk county, has made a record creditable alike to himself, his native country and the land of his adoption. He has for years been seriously handicapped by a physical affiiction, having lost his right leg in a threshing accident, but this has neither arrested his progress nor slackened his energj^

Mr. Thygeson arrived in the United States in 1865 and at once came "West and located in St. Paul, where he worked at day labor until 1870, when he moved to Ottertail county, this state, and turned his attention to farming. He became the owner of a farm in that county and lived on it until 1877. He then came to Polk county, bringing with him as his only facilities for starting a new home in the wilderness two yoke of oxen and a few cows. He took up a homestead in

Section 4, Andover township, five miles west of Crookston, on the prairie and one mile from any timber. Alexander Burnham and Peter Anderson were then the only other settlers in the neigliborhood, and they were on the creek, advantageously located, and had a start in developing and improving their land and obtaining the ordinary comforts of life.

In a little while Mr. Thygeson put up a log shanty on his tract, afterward erecting a larger and more substantial log house. His present dwelling was built in 1906, and is a comfortable and attractive home for him and his family. He also has a large bam built four years ago, or in 1911. To his original tract he has added another quarter section, so that he now owns and cultivates 320 acres in one body. His principal crops are wheat, barle.y, rj'e and oats, and in 1915 his products of these amounted to about 6,000 bushels. He keeps regularly six cows and makes l)utter of a superior grade for private customers. He also raises good horses and carries on a general farming industry embracing everj' ordinary feature of the business.

township, Mr. Thygeson took an active part in all its activities at the beginning of its histoiy. He helped to organize the township and has served it well and wisely as a member of its board of supervisors. The interest in its welfare awakened in him on his arrival here has continued to the present time, and he is still zealously devoted to its good and that of its residents. In political allegiance he is a Woodi-ow Wilson Democrat, and in religious feeling he is liberal, favoring no one church sect above another. He is a man of sturdy habits and never neglects his business, but he occasionally takes a hunting trip, which he enjoys intensely, and which constitutes almost his only recreation.