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

native of Denmark. They have had ten children. One died in infancy, and a son named William passed away at the age of twenty-five. He had been farther West and died in Montana on his way home. The eight who are living are: Christian, who is a mechanic in an auto shop in Crookston; Thomas, who is boss carpenter in a railroad repair shop; George, who is single and living at home ; Alfred, who is living on a homestead of his own near Middle River; Henry, who married Miss Eva Capistran and whose three children died in infancy ; Lena, who is the wife of Gust Lavine, of Polk Station, this county; Anna, who is the wife of Otto Schroeder, and lives with him in Seattle, and Laura, who is Mrs. Robert Nicholson, whose home is in Winnipeg, Canada.

Ole J. Volland

Having come to this country at the age of twentyone without capital of any kind but a determined will and a good trade, and having suffered a serious setback through ill health, yet, in spit^ of all adverse circumstances, having made his way by industry and perseverance to independence and worldly comfort, Ole J. Volland, a prosperous farmer of Andover township in this county, is entitled to high commendation for his successful career, which is creditable to himself, his native land and the land of his adoption.

Mr. Volland was born in the historic city of Trondhjem, Norway, October 20, 1861, and came to the Ignited States in 1882, joining at Crookston his brother Lewis, who had come over two years before. Lewis left Crookston eight years ago, changing his residence to North Yakima, in the state of Washington. Ole J. had only $22 when he reached Ci'ookston, and went to woi'k at once at his trade as a tailor. He was soon afterward taken ill, however, and forced to seek outdoor employment. He then went to work at farm labor for Peter Berg in Roome township at $25 a month. As soon as his health improved he became a full hand and received better wages. In the fall of 1883 he went to work for Andrew Anderson of Andover township, whose only daughter he afterward married, as told in a sketch of her brothers Andi'ew and Arnold W. in this work.

In the fall of 1889 Mr. Volland went to the stete of Washington and during the next three years remained in that state. He worked at day labor on a steam shovel until August, 1890, when he changed his base of operations to South Tacoma and was employed in helping to build the shops for the Northern Pacific railroad at that point. In 1891 he came back to Crookston to collect some money he had loaned out here, and with the intention of returning to Washington. But, instead of going back to the coast he took employment of Ole Knudson for the summer, and in the winter he cut cord wood in the timber.

In the fall of 1892 he bought his farm of 160 acres, which is the southwest quarter of Section 14 in Andover township. He had saved $1,800 of his earnings, and agreed to pay $3,000 for the farm. It had been the homestead of Gust Olson and the only dwelling on it was a little old log cabin, but Mr. Volland lived in this four years and then built his present residence. The barn on the place was erected some eight or nine years ago. He has also sunk an artesian well 225 feet deep at a cost of $500, and this supplies his house and bam with excellent water.

Mr. VoUand devotes his energies principally to raising grain. In 1895 he raised 40 bushels of wheat to the acre. 1896 was a year of partial crop failure, but 1897 was a good year. His yield for the present year of 1915 amounted to about 6,500 bushels of grain in all, 3,681 bushels of which were oats, 1,271 barley, and the rest com and millet, part of the crop being produced on land which he has rented. He keeps regularly a number of head of Holstein cattle, milking nine cows and selling cream to the creamery and confectionery stores. He is a Republican in politics and has served three years as township supervisor. His religious affiliation is with the Lutheran church. In 189.3 he was married to Miss Julia Anderson, the daughter of Andrew and Sarah (Bordahl) Anderson, of Andover township. They have four children, all living at home, Andy, Stella, Laura and Edna. Mrs. VoUand is a member of the local Ladies' club.

J. Frazer Montgomery, of Angus, a successful lumber and hardware dealer of Polk county, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1859, and came to Minnesota and to Angus in 1884, when he took charge of the general mercantile store owned by G. C. Winchester. This business had been started by the company of Flint and Winchester in 1882 as a branch of the W. A. Warren store in Marshall county and had been under the management of J. E. Flint previous to Mr. Montgomery 's employment. The latter entered upon his commercial career in Angus with a capital of $7.50 and native business talent and ambition sufficient to guarantee the success and prosperity which have attended his efforts. Under his able management the operations of the store increased rapidly and won a large patronage from tlie surrounding territory, which is one of the richest grain sections in the county and whose citizens are thrifty members of the Scandinavian, Bohemian and German peoples aside from the native residents. In 1897 he extended the company's interests to the lumber business and this department, with the hardware business, now constitutes the principal interests of the store. Since 1898, which marked the zenith of the lumber trade, the other branch has grown steadily and in 1915, enjoyed its largest trade. In 1908, Mr. Montgomery became sole owner of the business, which requires a fifteen thousand dollar stock and stands a material evidence of a successful business career. The postofifice of Angus was established in this store in 1884 and Mr. Montgomery served as assistant postmaster until 1895 when he was appointed postmaster. Aside from his commercial activities, he has also invested considerably in farm lands. He is a member of the Democratic party and has served as a county commissioner. Mr. Montgomery was married in 1898 to Helen M. McAvoy of Crookston.

Joseph Croy

Joseph Croy, who is one of the progressive and enterprising citizens of East Grand Forks, and has been, in his time, largely engaged in general farming and market gardening with his own labor and direction as the principal factors in his industries, but has born in Jasper county, Iowa, January 26, 1860, the son of John and Hannah (Hale) Croy, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania, but both reared in Indiana and married in that state. They moved to Iowa soon after their marriage, and

When the father married again at the end of this four years Joseph returned to the family and remained with it until he reached the age of twentyone. He then worked a year on a railroad grading and hauling, and the next year rented a farm. After he sold his croj^ on tliis farm he went to Buffalo county, South Dakota, and took up a pre-emption claim on the Missouri river, 75 miles west of Mitchell. He lived on this claim three years and then rented it three years M'hile he visited the Black Hills and other parts of the land.

On June 14, 1893, Mr. Croy came to Crookston, and in the fall of 1894 he bought twenty acres of stump land with all the timber cut off except about sixty cords of wood, paying $575 for this purchase and going in debt $200 to make it. The land had a little log house on it and he moved into this. He had four horses and an old wagon for his farm work and just enough furniture to start housekeeping in a very primitive way. Then he had a setback through a spell of sickness, the only one he has ever had in Minnesota. But he cut and sold his wood and got a few acres of his land cleared. He planted corn, tomatoes and other vegetables, and from that time on times have been easier and more prosperous for him. He bought additional land at different times at prices ranging from $30 to $101 an acre, and devoted his energies mainly to raising potatoes, onions and cabbage, which he sold to families at their homes, running a peddling rig seven or eight years.

In the course of time Mr. Croy owned eighty-two and a half acres and devoted nearly the whole tract to garden products, with some grain to vary his crops and keep his land in order, and one year he cleared $3,700 on this land, which he occupied and fai'med for five years and a half. He then bought a part of his present home place and 34 acres of the old Murphy farm, paying $4,500 for the latter, and taking up his residence on it. He also bought the IMurphy out lots, on two of which he now lives, the lots numbering eight, so that he now owns 68 acres and these eight lots inside the city limits of East Grand Forks, in addition to his other land, all of which is rented except the few acres which he cultivates himself.

Mr. Croy has raised 1,000 bushels of onions per acre and enormous crops of cabbage and potatoes. He is an intensive farmer and will be satisfied with nothing but the best possible results from his work. In 1911 he bought 60 acres of the Rinnfranz farm just outside of the city limits, and this is also rented, but the place is farmed in the same way as his other land. In 1914 he raised 6,000 bushels of potatoes and in 1915 his average yield was 100 bushels to the acre. He has a good local market but had also shipped his products in carload lots to Duluth and realized $700 a car for them. His son John is emulating his bright example to advantage. This young man is eighteen years old now (1916), and he has made a record as a corn grower that is almost phenomenal, producing on a measured acre 117.58 bushels in the production of which he did all the work himself.

While Mr. Croy was living in Rhinehart township he served as a member of the school board, but he has refused all persuasions to become a member of the city council in East Grand Forks. He was married in Buffalo county. South Dakota, to Miss Anna Belle Stearns, a native of Wright county, Iowa, but living on a claim with her parents in South Dakota at the time of her marriage. They have five children, Maud Esther, John Arthur, Hannah May, Grace and Dorothy. Maud Esther obtained a high school education and followed a course of special instruction in Union Commercial College. John Arthur is in his third year in the Central High School, and the others are attending schools of lower grades, the intention of their parents being to give them all good educations. All the members of the family belong to the Methodist Episcopal church in Grand Forks, and Mr. Croy is a member of the Order of Modern Brotherhood. He has assisted an uncle and an aunt to become citizens of this country, and has been a liberal contributor to many worthy undertakings for the improvement of the various communities in which he has lived.