Polk County, Minnesota - Biographical sketches, 1916 (part 8 of 15)

Andrew L. Steele

Andrew L. Steele, a successful farmer of Gi'and Forks township, is a native of Sweden and came to Polk county in 1879. He was born IMarch 5, 1855, and grew to manhood in his native land, where he was employed in an iron mine. In 1877 he came to the United States and for a time worked in the lumber yards at Minneapolis. Subsequently he spent a number of years as a lumber man and railroad laborer, spending the winters in the lumber woods and the summer season in railroad grading. It was in the pursuit of the latter occupation that he came to Polk county, Avorking on the eonstniction of the road bed between Fi-shers Landing and Grand Forks. Ambitious to secure an education, he availed himself of every opportunity to advance himself, using his carefully saved capital for this purpose. After gaining the use of the English language through his own studies, he spent two years in the public schools at Red Wing, Minnesota, and later studied for a year in the Gustavus Adolphus college, at St. Peter. In 1879 lie took a homestead in section eight of Northland township and since that time has devoted his attention to farming, living on his homestead son. She is a native of Sweden and came to Brainerd, Minnesota, 1877, as a young girl, to join her brother, Peter M. Lagerquist. In 1880, she came to Polk county, immediately after her marriage to Ole Eriekson, who had located in Grand Forks township two years previous. She has since continued to make her home on this farm, where the death of Mr. Eriekson occuiTed in 1884, at the age of thirty-five. He was a well known farmer of that section and was prominent in township affaii'S. There were four children bom to this marriage, three of whom are now living, Edith Caroline, the wife of Adolph Larson, of East Grand Forks; Minnie Amanda, who married her cousin, Andrew Eriekson, and lived on the farm which they bought of P. M. Lagerquist, until her death three years after ; and Oscar Herbert, who is a rural mail carrier, located at East Grand Forks. Upon his marriage, Mr. Steele assumed the management of his wife's farm, which he operated with his own land until some ten years ago, when he sold his homestead in Northland township and has since added to the home farm in section two, Grand Forks township, making an estate of two hundred and ten acres. In 1898 he erected the present pleas- ant farm home and has steadily added to the improvement of the property, prospering in his various agricultural enterprises. As a member of the school board he has given able service to the advancement of the best interests of the community. Mr. Steele and his wife have two children, Carrie Mabel Eloise, Avho married James Power and lives in East Grand Forks, and "Walter Andre. Mr. Steele and his family are faithful supporters of the Swedish Lutheran church.

David Will

David Will, a successful farmer of Huntsville township, is a native of Wisconsin and came to Polk county in 1882. He was born in Waukesha county, Wisconsin, July 29, 1862, and at an early age removed with his parents to Blue Earth county, Minnesota, where he grew to manhood. On coming to Polk county, he worked at whatever livelihood the country afforded, at Fisher for a time and for several years on the farm of Mr. Gilmour in Nesbit township. After six years of steady labor he had accumulated a small capital which enabled him to finance a farming enterprise on rented land, where he remained for three years and then bought the ([uarter section in section two of Huntsville township, which is his present home. This tract contained no buildings and but a few acres of cultivated land and Mr. Will entered upon his operations under the handicap of debt. He erected buildings and began the development of his property and has worked his way lo success through determination and unfailing industry, energetically overcoming failure and discouragement. In the first year he suffered the loss of his crops and for a number of years was able to make but little progress toward prosperity but able management and hard work have brought him to the goal of the successful agriculturist. He later bought eighty acres of railroad land and for many years has rented laud and operates two hundred and forty acres aside from the home quarter. lie engages principally in grain farming, harvesting some 8,500 bushels in 191.5 and also is interested in stock and dairy farming, and selling dairy products to private customers in Grand Forks. I\Ir. Will is interested in all matters of public moment and community welfare and is a township supervisor. His marriage to Mary Ferguson occurred in 1892. She is the daughter of Donald Ferguson, a farmer in Winona county, Minnesota.

Ludwig Larson

With a farm of 306 acres in Esther township, fourteen miles north of Grand Forks, in section ten, which is one of the best farms in the Red River valley, and owning in addition a well improved homestead, which is occupied and cultivated by his son, Ludwig Larson is well fixed in a worldly way and in a position to almost bid defiance to adversitj\ He was born in Nor^vay, June 12, 1862, the son of Johannes and Maren Larson, and came with them to the United States in 1872. The family at first located in Renville county, Minnesota, and lived there until 1877, when its residence was changed to Polk county.

On his arrival in this county the father took up a homestead, which is the northwest quarter of section ten, and is a part of the farm on which his son Ludwig now lives. The father built a log house which is still standing, but which he was not allowed to occupy long, for he died about two years later at the age of forty-seven. His widow afterward maiTied Martin Ilillard and passed the remainder of her days on the adjoining farm, where she died in 1892, and where Mr. Hillard also died.

whose farm was north of the Larson home. All the rest of the surrounding country for many miles was prairie in its wild condition. The father was a carpenter, but after his arrival in this county devoted himself to fanning, but worked incidentally at his trade. He and his wife were the parents of five children, four of whom are living. Those besides Ludwig are : Gena, who is now the wife of H. H. Flatten; Martin Juel, who is now a city councilman in Southern Minnesota, and Carl, who is in business at Thief River Palls. Anton died at the age of ten j'cars.

Ludwig Larson was seventeen years old at the time of his father's death and had to take charge of the farm as all the other sons were still young. When he reached the age of twenty-one he took up a homestead for himself, the southwest quarter of section tAvelve, Esther township, on which he erected some buildings and lived until after his mother's death. He then bought out the other heirs of the old place and to this he has since added 200 acres, so that his home farm now contains 306 acres, about eighty acres of which is timber laud but none of it touches the Red river. He paid $30 an acre for the additional 200 acres. He has erected a new dwelling house on the farm and some three years ago he built a new barn and other outbuildings. Grain is his principal production and in 191.5 liis crop was 2,060 bushels of wheat and 1,400 bushels of other cereals. He also keeps thirty head of cattle, Red Polled stock being his favorite brand, and raises a number every year, keeping the steers until they reach maturity.

Mr. Larson has taken an active part in public affairs in his township, having served on the township board almost ever since he came of age. He is a republican in politics and a Lutheran in religious affiliation, belonging to the United Lutheran church at Grand Marais. At the age of twenty-one he was married to Miss Annie Erickson, a native of Norway, who came to Polk county about two years prior to her marriage. They have had eight children, seven of whom are living: John, who is operating the homestead taken up by his father; Clara, who is the wife of Arthur Peterson, of Pennington county, Minnesota; Gena Matilda, who is the wife of Henry Bang, of Higdem township, and Regna, Carl Ludwig, Alma Christine and Mabel Sophia, who are living at home. A son named Emil Albert died when he was about twenty years old.

Nels Vasenden

During the thirteen years of his residence in Polk county Nels Vasenden, a prominent business man of Fertile and secretary of the Polk County Agricultural Pair association, has contributed in many ways to the progress and development of the county, having taken an active and serviceable part in its business activities, social life and public affairs. While he is still a young man, he is very energetic and progressive, with extensive intelligence, good judgment and a spirit of enterprise that overcomes obstacles and meets every I'cquirement of dutj^ witli courage and resourcefulness.

where he remained until he attained his majority. In December, 1902, he came to the LTnited States and located at Fertile, where he was employed for a time by his uncle, Dr. Arne Nelson, then the leading physician and druggist of this part of the county. After a time he left the employ of his uncle and pass'^d about eight months working on a farm, but at the end of that period he returned to Fertile, and thereafter he lived with the doctor until the death of the latter, which occurred in May, 1908.

This event opened a new chapter with enlarged opportunities in the life of Mr. Vasenden. He was appointed administrator of his uncle's estate, and in October, 1909, he took over the drug business which that estimable geutlemau had started and which ho owned at the time of his death. He has always taken an earnest interest in the affairs of Fertile and has served as village recorder. He is now secretarj^ of the Polk County Agricultural Fair association, and in this position he has wide scope for his ability and enterprise and is employing them igreatly to the advantage of the association and the general benefit of the people of the county. He is also a director of the First State Bank of Fertile, and is interested in farm lauds to the extent of 274 acres in association with E. B. Hanson. In church activities he also takes an active part as a member of the Synod Lutheran congregation. In fact, there is no line of endeavor for tlie good of the community in which he is backward, and all his efforts are guided by breadth of view and governed by prudence.

Ole 0. Hoff

This gentleman, Avho was formerly known as Mr. Olson, and whose fine farm lies two miles and a half north of East Grand Forks, adjoining that of Bernt J. Ilagen, was born in Solor, Norway, February 4, 1854, and came to the United States in 1882, with no capital but his strong arm, clear head and courageous spirit, his pas.sage across the ocean not having been paid, and he being l>ound under a strong obligation to work even that out before he could lay up anything for himself or with a view to starting any pro.iect of his own.

On his arrival in this country- Jlr. Hoff came direct to Polk county, his brother, Bernt Olson, was already established on a homestead which he had taken up in 1877. Ole's first year in this county was passed in the employ of Samuel Ormeson as a farm hand, doing work to which he iiad been reared. When his brother Bernt took up bis homestead he also took uj) a ti-ee claim, and that is the land which Ole now owns. Bernt was killed by accident on the railroad on his way home from Crookston, and at his death left a widow and a son named Bernhardt. A daughter named Teolina was born after her father's death. Both of these children died early of diphtheria.

Olena Johnson, took over the homestead after her husband's death, and for one year Ole worked on it. He then moved to the place he now owns and occupies, and he has since bought an additional 160 acres in Roseau county. The widow liad only a log house on the land when he took hold of it, and he has since built the present buildings. He raises principally wheat, oats and barley, and for thirty-three years he has been devoting all his time and energies to the improvement and cultivation of this farm, of which only thirty acres were broken when he located on it and began to develop it. Three years after settling here he was united in marriage with his brother Bernt 's widow. They have three children, Olof, Emma and John, all living at home.

Mr. Hoff has been a member of the township board for the last si.K years, and has also been a trustee of Grand Marais Lutheran church. He was for many years a Republican in political faith and allegiance, but of late j'ears he has been independent of party control and uses his judgment of men in disposing of his vote, and in connection with his activity in public affairs. He is entei-prising and progressive, and is universally esteemed as an upright man and a very u.seful citizen.

Robert Kerr

native of Scotland, born in Roxburgshire, March 2, 1859, and came to America when a lad of fourteen years, his parents settling near Newcastle, county Durham, Ontario. He grew to manhood on the Canadian homestead and in the spring of 1879, came to Polk county, ambitious to secure a tract of land. He reached Grand Forks, a stranger in a strange land and without sufficient funds to engage immediately upon his project. During the summer he worked for John Ireland, a Polk county farmer, and after several months secured a homestead in Grand Forks county. North Dakota, but ill health compelled him to relinquish his claim after a year's residence and in 1880 he returned to Polk county and for a few years rented land along the river. He then purchased a part of his present farm in Grand Forks township, from the Culver estate, paying $25 an acre for the tract which was wild prairie. For some years he gave his attention to his farming interests, which also included a quarter section of land which he rented. In January, 1891, he was married to Annie Gagnon, who was then residing on her father's homestead, which had come into her possession at his death. The former Gagnon homestead has since been the home of Mr. Kerr and his family. Mr. Kerr is one of the successful farmers of this region and devotes the greater part of his half section farm to the raising of grain, harvesting some seven thousand bushels of small grain in 1915. He is also interested in dairying and keeps a herd of Short Horn cattle. His record of public service in local interests has been a long and worthy one and dates from the time when the country was sparsely settled and the important projects of road and ditch building were promoted by a few citizens and officials. He has been a member of the township board for twenty-seven years and has served as chairman for a number of terms. In political affairs, he is a nonpartisan, preferring to fonn his opinion and allegiance independent of party decision. His wife is a native of St. Paul and the daughter of Leander Gagnon, who was born in Canada and was of French lineage. The latter was employed as a car repairer in Minneapolis for some years and in 1879 secured a homestead in section twenty-three of Grand Porks township, Polk county, where he lived until his death in 1889 when the farm became the property of his daughter. Mr. Kerr and his wife have four children, Evelyn, Ella, Walter and Hazel. Mr. Kerr was reared as a member of the Presbyterian church and his wife and family are communicants of the Sacred Heart Catholic church at East Grand Forks,

Richard Barrett

Richard Barrett, a pioneer of the county and well known farmer of Huntsville township, was born in Jefferson county, "Wisconsin, July 26, 1846. His parents were natives of Ireland and removed to Wisconsin from Rutland, Vermont, in 1830. Their Wisconsin homestead still remains in the possession of the Barrett family. Richard Barrett has been a resident of Huntsville township since 1878. In the year previous he had visited Polk county with Thomas Nesbit and returned to Wisconsin for a short time before locating and drove from Milwaukee to his new home, taking twenty-two days for the journey. His homestead claim was the southeast quarter of section four and he later purchased the northern quarter and continued adding to his estate to the extent of seven hundred and twenty acres, all of which was under his management until recent years. One quarter section lies in Sullivan township and other tracts in sections one and nine of Huntsville township, his home having been on the latter place for the past thirteen years, it having formerly been the homestead of W. C. Sproat, who piirchased it as railroad land. Mr. Barrett's first home on his claim was a log house which a few years later he replaced with the farm house which now occupies it. On his home place he has erected good modern buildings and has brought all his property to a high standard of development and ranks notably among the progressive and enterprising agriculturists of Polk county. He has given his attention principally to the raising of grain and in 1915 harvested 13,000 bushels, of which oats was his principal crop. Although not a stock farmer, he recognizes the important feature of this phase and his farm has always been stocked with high grade animals and he has also successfully experimented with the culture of alfalfa and now devotes some forty acres to it. Mr. Barrett has ever given his earnest support to the promotion of the best interests of the community and as a public spirited citizen has rendered able service in the general upbuilding of the eountrj'. He actively seconded the opening up of the county's resources by railroads, giving the right of way for one-quarter of a mile through his farm, to the Northern Pacific road. He has been called to services by his fellow citizens in official capacity and has capably discharged the duties of chairman of the township board for twenty years and was the first treasurer of the school board, continuing in that office for twenty-five years. Ilis marriage to Mary E. Salisbury occurred in 1878, in Winona, Minnesota. She is a native of Columbia county, Wisconsin. Four children were born to this union, Allen W., who has assumed charge of home farm; Fred, also operating a part of his father's estate; Grace, a teacher in the Polk county schools, and Elsie, who married James Chaplin and lives in East Grand Forks.

Simon P. Pederson

This energetic and progressive fanner of Higdem township, whose residence is on the northwest quarter of section 26, and who formerly owned all of the south half of section 25 but has given his son 160 acres of this tract, was born in Noinvay, March 1, 1856, with the family name of Perhus, which his ancestors bore for generations, but which he has changed to the one he now bears since coming to the United States and taking up his residence in Polk county. He was 24 years old when he came to this country and located in Renville county, Minnesota, in 1880, and still had his passage across the ocean and to this state to pay for. After doing this out of his fir.st year's labor in Renville county, where he worked on farms and at railroad grading, he had only $30 left, but he felt independent and full of enterprise.

In 1884 he moved to Polk county and took uj) a homestead on which he built a small shed as a shelter. As he had no money then he was obliged to work out for other farmers, and this he continued for ten years before he did much on his own land. His first team was a yoke of oxen, which he used seven or eight years. As his property increased he bought additional laud, purchasing a railroad tract of eighty acres in section 25 at $7 an acre, another tract of eighty acres at $13 an acre, and a quarter of a section of A. D. Stephens at $20 an acre. About twenty years ago he bought 120 acres of the railroad at $10 an acre, but this tract he has since sold.

Mr. Pederson has devoted his energies mainly to raising wheat and other cereals and flax. In 1915 his crops were 4,000 bushels of wheat, 3,000 bushels of oats, 1,300 bushels of barley and a large quantity of flax. He also keeps seven or eight milk cows and raises some other live stock. In the public affairs of his township he has long taken an active part, giving special attention to the improvement of the roads and doing for their betterment a great deal more than the law required of him in the way of a road tax. He has also rendered the township valuable and appreciated service as supervisor. He is a man of advanced and progressive ideas and does all he can to put them in practice in the administration of the township government and all matters connected with or growing out of it.

About twenty-eight years ago, that is, in or about 1888, Mr. Peterson was united in marriage with Miss Anna S. Pederson, who was a native of Sweden. She died in 1907 leaving eight children: Peter S., who married Miss Lena Nelson and lives on a farm of 160 acres in Section 25, Higdem township, given him by his father; Oscar, who died at the age of twenty years; Hans, who married Miss Lydia Walberg and lives on part of his father's fann; Ragna, who is her father's housekeeper, and Albin, Harold, Joseph and Amanda, the last named being reared by another family. The father is a member and one of the trustees of Kongsvenger Lutheran church, two and one-half miles distant from his home. He is well known and highly esteemed in all parts of the township of his home.

Thomas Hendrickson

The late Thomas Hendriekson, who was for many years one of the leading farmers of Western Polk county, and who died on his little farm in Sandsville township June 30, 1912, was a native of Sweden, province of Vermland, where his life began December 22, 1855. He came to the United States with his father, Hendriek Leeden, and located with him in Renville county, Minnesota, where he lived until 1878, when he moved to Polk county and bought the southeast quarter of section 28, in Higdem township, to which he afterward added eighty acres which he purchased from the railroad company, and still later he also took up a homestead, which was the northwest quarter of section 26, Higdem township. On these tracts of land he lived until he retired from large operations and removed to a small farm in section 17, Sandsville township, on which he passed the remainder of his life.

Owing to a rule long in use rather generally in Scandinavian countries the children of a man take as their surname the father's given name with the suffix "son" added. Thus this gentleman as the son of Hendriek Leeden became Thomas Hendriekson, and his children received the patronymic ' ' Thompson ' ' as their designation, and this all his sons and unmarried daughters still bear. They are alluded to in this sketch under that name.

Mr. Henderson developed his homestead and other land into good farming ground and improved his several tracts with good buildings, especially the homestead, on which he made his headquarters for many years. He had 400 acres in all in Higdem township, and when he moved to the Sandsville township farm, five and a half miles east, he turned the Higdem farm in section 28 over to his son, Henry Thompson, and the old homestead over to his son, Nels A. Thompson, whose sister, Miss Christine Thompson, keeps house for him as he is unmarried, although warmly interested in every phase of his township's welfare and everything that ministers to its progress and further development.

The principal industry of the father on the farms was raising grain. He was also the first man to operate a threshing outfit in this section of the county, beginning his work in this line with horse power and continuing it with steam power for many years after that became feasible. For many years he was in partnership in the thrashing business with H. H. Oberg, of Sandsville township, and they were also owners of imported Percheron stallions and gave a great deal of attention to improving the grade of horses in their part of Polk county and the adjoining country. In his later threshing activities he had Ole Lind as a partner.

Mr. Hendriekson covered a wide area as a thresherman and was best known to the people of the Northwest in that capacity. He served as treasurer of Higdem township for some time, and for a long period was one of the members of Kongsvenger Lutheran church, which stands one mile and a half south of his old home. When he located in this county he had no capital and his experience during his first few years here was very discouraging. His land was so wet that he could not get his team over it, and hia crops were more frequently less than half of what they should have been. But he was a man of resolute spirit and adhered to liis industries until success attended his efforts and prosperity followed thcni.

Soon after he became a resident of Polk county Mr. Hendrick-son was married at Cokato to Miss Anna Nelson, also a native of Sweden but brought to this country and state in her childhood. She died in 1898 leaving a family of children, seven of whom are now living (1916). They are: Christine, who is keeping house for her brother Nels on the family homestead, as has been stated; Henrj', who married Miss Christine Nequist and lives in section 28, Higdem township; Matilda, who is a trained nurse in Grand Forks; Nels A., who owns and cultivates the homestead; Alma, who is the wife of John Lind and lives near her old home; Esther, who is a student in the University of Minnesota and has lier home at her brother's Nils Thompson, and Annie, who has had her home in the family of Axel Mathisen, of Sandsville township, since the death of her mother, which occurred in giving lier birth. I\Ir. Ilendrickson contracted a second marriage, which united him with Miss Mina Hendrickson. They had one child, their daughter Ruth, who is with Iier mother on the Sandsville township farm.

Nels A. Thompson, the second .sou of Thomas Ilendrickson, was born June 20, 1889, on the farm on which he is now living, and has passed almost the whole of his subsequent life on it. His education, which was begun in the district school near his home, was continued at the State Agricultural College at Crookston, which he attended when it was only an experiment station and later for some terms, being one of its first students. He raises wheat, oats and barley, principally, and breeds Duroc-Jersey hogs. For some years he worked with his father on the threshing outfit, but latterly he has devoted himself exclusively to his farm. He is one of the enterprising, highly respected and influential young men of the westei'n section of the county and a very forceful agency for good in his immediate neighborhood, with a firm hold on the confidence and esteem of tho people in all other parts of Polk county.

Walter Latta

Now living in comfort on his fine farm of 1 20 acres on the edge of Crookston, two miles east of the county courthouse and on the south bank of Red Lake river, Walter Latta, one of the progressive and prosperous farmers of Crookston township, this county, has not reached his present condition of independence without a struggle and some very discouraging mishaps. Yet he never lost courage or slackened his industry, and has long been triumphant over every obstacle and difficulty that once impeded his progress.

Mr. Latta was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1856, and reared on a farm on the Grand Prairie in that state on which his parents settled about 1848, moving to it from Niagara county. New York. They were among the earliest settlers on the Grand Prairie and lived on their farm there over sixty years. Their son Walter remained at home with them until he reached man's estate and then pas.sed two years working on a farm in Wisconsin. In 1879 he came to Crookston to get land of his own. He took up a homestead in Fanny township on the prairie, ten miles and a half from Crookston. There were tlien only two other buildings in the township, one being at a gravel pit on the road leading from Crookston. Having no capital, Mr. Latta had to begin operations on a very limited scale. He put up a frame house 18 by 14 feet in dimensions, and for two years worked out to make a living, hiring help to plow his land and put his crop in. He lost his first crop by hail and two or three times later suffered the same disaster, one year having 140 acres of wheat destroyed. At the end of twelve years of only partial success on this farm he decided to sell it and seek a more favorable location. Before doing this, however, he served on the township board and in other local oflSces, doing his part to aid in the development and improvement of the township.

In 1900 Mr. Latta bought his present farm, which is known as the "Christ Sathre farm." It contains 120 acres, is bordered by the river on the east and is in the Crookston school district and formerly touched the city limits. He carries on a general farming industry, raising grain and live stock and keeping a small number of cows for milk. Six years ago, in 1909, he put up a new dwelling house to take the place of the old log cabin in which he lived until then, and which was one of the first houses built in the township. The new dwelling is modern in every particular and attractive in appearance as well as convenient in arrangement.

On December 23, 1880, Mr. Latta was united in marriage with Mis.s Mina Jones, a resident of Polk county at the time of her marriage but a native of Wisconsin. They have four children: Lois, who is the wife of H. C. Mcllbraith, a druggist in Jamestown, North Dakota; Edith, who is the wife of Edward Carlson, proprietor of a lively business in Crookston; Harlow, who is farming near Fosston in this county, and Elmer, who is living at home. Both daughters are high school graduates and were school teachers in Polk county. Mr. Latta belongs to the Order of Woodmen. He is too busily occupied in managing his farm and other business to take an active part in political affairs, but is, none the less, deeply and serviceably interested in the welfare of his home county.

Robert E. Smith

Profitably engaged in farming and raising live stock in this county since the spring of 1883, and having improved large tracts of wild land, helped to raise the standard of cattle and hogs in his township, served the people faithfully and wisely in several township offices, and generally performed the duties of citizenship in a highly commendable manner, Robert E. Smith, whose home is on the southwest quarter of section 19, in Fairfax township, has been a very useful man in his locality and won on merit the universal esteem which he enjoys among its residents.

Mr. Smith was born and reared at Shelburne, Franklin county, Massachusetts, and belongs to old New England families. In 1880 he came west and located in Kane county, Illinois, where he passed two years and a half, then changed his residence to Polk county, Minnesota, where he has ever since had his home. He bought the nucleus of his present farm of the railroad company in 1882, almost immediately after his arrival in the county, paying $10 an acre for his purchase. On this land he built a house 14 by 20 feet in size, and in the spring of 1883 began to break up and cultivate his tract. He broke up about one-fourth of it and thereby obtained the rebate on his purchase money so conditioned in the deal. He had less than $400 which he had saved from his earnings at farm labor in Illinois and other places when he bought his land, and his early years here were years of struggle and privation.

In the spring of 1883 Mr. Smith was joined by his brother, Frank R. Smith, and they worked the land in partnership, afterward purchasing the Northeast quarter of section 30 in the same township, cornering with the quarter section they already owned. The new purchase was a part of the homestead of Jacob Francis and the only improvement on it was a claim shanty. The Smith brothers paid $2,000 for the land, and they worked the two tracts together until 1896, getting them both under cultivation and in good farming condition. In the year last mentioned they divided their land, the farm in section 30 going to Frank. He continued to farm it until 1902, then moved to Ohio after a residence of over twenty years in Polk county.

township. This was an improved farm and he paid $20 an acre for it, although there were no buildings on it. He has since cultivated all of his 223 acres with excellent results. The railroad runs diagonally through his home fai-m. He raises large quantities of grain, Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs, and also carries on an active dairy business, milking 17 to 20 cows and selling cream in Crookston. He usually has about 40 head of cattle and 100 of hogs fattening for the markets, and puts about 50 acres of land in corn for ensilage and field food for his stock. He has about five acres in alfalfa every year, and he has very little trouble with his crops, as his land is well drained with open ditches leading into a county ditch running along the northern line of his land, and there is no loss, his excellent silo enabling him to preserve everything not devoted to immediate use.

Mr. Smith has served several times on the township board and is now a member of it. He and all the members of his family belong to the First Baptist church in Crookston. He was married in the spring of 1883 to Miss Lizzie Roese, of Pierce county, Wisconsin. Their second child, Roy E., died when almost two years old, but they have two living, Louise and George R. The daughter is a graduate of the class of 1904 of the Crookston high school and lived at home until her marriage with Charles Musselman, and they now have their home with Mr. Musselman 's parents. Tliey have three children, Mariam, Robert and Donald. Mrs. Musselman and her mother are members of the Fairfax-Andover Ladies Social Circle, a very useful organization formed by the ladies of the two townships. George R. Smith, the son of Robert E., is also a graduate of the Crookston high school class of 1909 and was for a short time a student at the University of Minnesota but finished his education at the Stout Institute in Menomonie, Wisconsin, from which he was graduated in December, 1911. For two and one-half years he taught manual training at the high school in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and is now teaching the same thing at the high school in Globe, Arizona.

Torkel Danielson

Torkel Danielson, a prominent farmer of Bygland township, settled in Polk County in 1877 and is a member of a well known pioneer family of this region. He was born in Norway, at Ose, Satersdahl, February 20, 1849, the son of Daniel E. and Anna (Torkelson) Ose. Daniel Ose was the first of his countrymen to settle in this district and his name is revered by all those familiar with his many worthy services in behalf of the commonwealth of which he was a pioneer. In his native land, he had been a farmer, but turning over his farm to his eldest son, Eivend Danielson, he came to the United States, that amid larger opportunities, he might secure a patrimony for his other children. He came direct to Polk county in 1872, and located on the northern half of the southwest quarter of section thirty-four of what later became Bygland township. Mr. Ose entered upon his farming enterprise in a new land with but a small capital but arrived at success and prosperity through years of industry and able management. His influence and his cabin home were the center around which clustered the various interests of the growing community and through him many of his countrj-mcn came from Wisconsin, Illinois and Norway and were assisted by him in securing a home. His ready services were abetted by his wife whose friendly assistance was a cheerful element in the lives of the neighboring families. They shared the experiences incident to the time and locality and at one time were warned to leave their home because of an approaching Indian raid, but this alarm proved to be without foundation. At the time of the organization of the township it was thought to be a fitting tribute to the worth and services of its pioneer to confer upon it his name but this honor he firmly declined and refused a similar recognition upon the organization of the

Lutheran church in which he was active as an orgaJiizer and faithful member. Upon his suggestion both township and church received the name of Bygland, because of the prevalence among the citizens of natives of that town in Norway. Mr. Ose continued to reside on his homestead until his death, December 28, 1885, in his seventy-ninth year. His wife survived him a number of years, spending the last few years of her life with her son, Toi-kel Danielson, and died December 14, 1913, at the age of eightynine. Of their family of four sons and two daughters, all but Eivend Danielson, who has always made his home on the Norway farm, live in Polk county. The fourth son, Ole Danielson, Junior, is a farmer in Huntsville township. Ole Danielson, Senior, sold liis farm of 180 acres some twenty years ago and returned to Bygland fjord, Norway where he now lives retired. Ingeborg, the younger daughter, is the wife of E. Proirak, of Mcintosh and Gro, oldest, married E. Aakhus, who resides in Grand Forks. Torkel Danielson is second oldest son and spent several years in Stearns county, Minnesota, before coming to Polk county, where during the many years of his residence, he has not only prospered his farming interests but has ably upheld the worthy record of his father in community affairs as a highly respected and progressive citizen. His first home was built of logs. This was destroyed by fire and lie then erected his present house which has since been remodeled. During the years of active traffic on Red river, Mr. Danielson operated a grain warehouse and since has devoted his attention entirely to his farm, engaging in both grain and stock farming. His place includes one hundred and twenty acres in section thirty-five, a short distance from the Red river and he formerly owned a one hundred and eighty tract which he sold to his son. He has given able service on the township board and school board and is a trustee in the Bygland Lutheran church. He was married in Stearns county, in 1872, to Sigrid Bjornson, who some ten years earUer had come with her parents from the neighborhood of his home in the old country. To this union, four daughters and two sons were born, Anna, Josephine, a talented musician; Daniel, who married Matilda Thompson and is a farmer in Huntsville township; Thora, the wife of L. Larson, a commercial salesman, residing at Grand Forks ; Bennie, who was married to Bessie Kjelleberg and is on a farm near the old home and Regina. The latter was a musical instructor in the schools at Minot, North Dakota, and is now the wife of J. E. Anderson, the present superintendent of the schools at Janesville, Minnesota.

Duncan B. Ferguson

Duncan B. Ferguson, prominent farmer of Huntsville township, was born at Fremont, Winona county, Minnesota, April 23, 1861, the son of Duncan and Elizabeth (Roberton) Ferguson, pioneers of the state. The former was a native of County Lanark, Ontario, and his wife was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and died December 17, 1915. Her bi'other, Joseph Roberton, was a pioneer of Huntsville township, where he located in 1875 and lived for many years, his death occurring in 1891. The senior, Duncan Ferguson, came to Minnesota in 1854 and built the first house on the prairie in Fremont township, on his claim in

Winona county. He was an influential citizen of the frontier community and sei-ved in various local offices and died there at the age of forty-nine. His son, Duncan B. Ferguson, was reared on the homestead and after receiving a rural school education and course of study in a business school at Winona, came to Polk county in March, 1882, and worked for an uncle, Thomas Nisbet, a prominent pioneer. After several months, Mr. Ferguson returned to Winona county but in the following spring, 1883, he became a permanent resident of Polk county, buying a tract of school land, which is his present farm in section thirty-six, Huntsville township, and is located near Mallory and nine miles southeast of East Grand Forks. From a modest beginning, Mr. Ferguson has built up a fine farm property, s-toadily increasing his operations and improving the ecpiipment of his farm. His first house was a one room frame building which upon his marriage he replaced with a more pretentious structure and the present modern farm home was erected in 1910. The barn was built in 1891. His estate now includes two hundred and eighty acres and is crossed by the Great Northern railroad. Mr. Ferguson is that type of progressive and enterprising farmer and citizen whose activities are largely evident in the advancement and prosperity of agricultural interests. With intelligent and able management, he has successfully demonstrated various profitable phases of farming operations, raising prize corn, which has brought many trophies from fairs and experimenting along original lines with alfalfa. He has given particular attention to stock and dairy farming, raising thoroughbred Short Horn cattle and Percheron horses, being a frequent exhibitor at stock shows. His dairy produce he markets to private customers in Grand Forks. Aside from his Polk county land he was also the owner of timberland, near Black Duck, Beltrami county, which he secured aa a claim, in 1900, but later sold. He has ever maintained an active interest in all matters of public activity and has discharged the duties of oflSce as a member of the township board and of the school board for many years and has been active in promoting the development of soil utility through county ditches. In fraternal orders he is a well known member of Masonic lodges at Grand Forks and Crookston, and is also affiliated with the Modem Woodmen of America. Mr. Ferguson finds his favorite recreation as a fisherman and enjoys frequent outings in pursuit of that sport. He was married in 1886, to Margaret Gunness, who was born in Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Christopher and Catherine Gunness. who were of Irish and English descent and .settled in Kcy.stone township, Polk county, in 1880. Seven children were born to Mr. Ferguson and his wife, all of whom make their home with their parents : Effie, who was formerly employed as bookkeeper in a store at Barnesville ; Arthur, who attended a business college at Grand Forks; Royal, who was a student in the agricultural school, at Crookston ; Mollie, who attended the Grand Forks high school ; Earl, a student in the high school at East Grand Forks; Lawrence, died at the age of six years, and Lois still attends the rural school at Mallory. The Ferguson family are members of the Bethel Presbyterian church.

T. N. J. Reese

T. N. J. Reese, of Mcintosh, druggist and piano dealer, is a native of Wisconsin, born in Vernon county, on July 13, 1871. The death of his father occurred in his early childhood and he remained with his mother until entering college. He pursued a classical course at the college at Decorah, Iowa, and was graduated from that institution in 1891. When the Red Lake Indian reservation was opened for settlement in 1896 he came to Polk county with the intention of securing a claim, but Mcintosh seeming to present a propitious location for a drug business, he decided to embark in that trade. He established the business in partnership with Dr. Nerall and liad a very small capital to invest, but the success which attended the enterprise soon enabled him to buy out other interests and he has continued to conduct the store with a steadily growing patronage and owns the building in which he opened operations. The store, under able and progressive management, with modern equipment and a fine soda fountain and refreshment dispensary, is one of the most attractive and popular business establishments in that section. Mr. Reese is a graduate of Dr. Drew's celebrated College of Pharmacy at Minneapolis and is ranked as oue of the most efficient pharmacists in the county. He has always been actively identified with the promotion of the general welfare and progress of the community in which he lives and enjoys the respect and confidence of all as a public spirited citizen and business man. He has added the sale of pianos and musical instruments to his commercial activities and employs several salesmen in this department, covering an extensive territory. Mr. Reese was married in 1899 to Caroline Matson, who is a daughter of Christ Matson, of Hill River township. They have five children, Nytar, Harto, Kermit, Entrup and Gunilda.

Olof M. Sandin

Olof M. Sandin, a well known pioneer and prominent citizen of Esther township, was born in Sweden, July 7, 1843, and came to St. Paul in 1872. Previous to that time he had lived in his native land, where lie had engaged in farming and in the mines of Norway and had also given two seasons of service in the military training camp. He reached his destination in the new country without any financial resources and secured his first employment on a farm at Mendota, wielding a scythe in the hay fields. He was at first refused full wages but with his great prowess and expert skill, he soon proved himself the most competent among the Avorkmen. In the fall of the same year he entered the Northern Pacific railroad shops at Brainerd, Minnesota, and continued as a railroad employee for several years, starting as a laborer in the yards and steadily advancing until he was offered the position of an engineer, but he did not care to devote his attention to that career as his ambition was fixed on the free life of out of doors on the farm. In the spring of 1877 he worked at well digging along the company's line from Fargo to Bismark and with his fellow workmen experienced the dangers of the frontier, their lives being seriously threatened by armed desperadoes. On returning to Fargo, in company with two of his companions, one of whom was his brother, John Sandin, he worked his passage on the river to Grand Forks, by driving a small raft of 90,000 feet of lumber. This proved a tedious and laborious journey, the crookedness of the stream requiring the attention of the drivers night and day for two weeks. Grand Forks then comprised a few dwellings and a Hudson Bay Company store and no settlement had been started on the eastern side of the river. Mr. Sandin immediately began his search for land on which he might achieve his farming ambitions and in partnership with his brother, John Sandin, settled on the land, which has ever since been his home, in Section 36 of Esther to\vnship, seven miles north of Grand Forks, on the Marais river. His brother continued to be allied with him in all his interests until his death. They settled on their land in August, 1877, and were among the first settlers of that region, their neighbors of the early day being "William Jackson, James Pederson and Louis Larson, and two years after their coming, Mr. Dangerfield located on the tract across the Marais from their place. The land chosen by the brothers was school land and was not put upon the market until the following year, when Mr. Sandin secured possession at the auction held at Crookston, for $7.25 an acre, a neighbor bidding against him for the title to the eighty acres which bad been Mr. Sandin 's home for several months. He later bought one hundred and sixty acres of railroad land adjoining his farm, and in the next section. It is not only as a successful and prosperous farmer that Mr. Sandin is known through the county; undoubtedly his largest claim among the people of Polk county is as a pioneer and a public spirited citizen. A man of genial nature, wide capabilities and commanding physique, he is one of those unique personalities who are ever largely identified with life and development of any new country; their worth and ready service laying the foundations for civilization's progi-ess. He was one of tlie organizers of the township, named for the daughter of ex-President Cleveland, and was chairman of the fisrt township board. In educational and religious affairs his influence was prominent and it was through his efforts that the Betheseda Swedisli Lutheran church was established, Mr. Sandin donating some of his land for the site of the church and cemetery. He has ever been a loyal supporter of the Republican party. He was married December 31, 1888, to Ursilla Larson, of Grand Forks, and they have three children, Miranda, who attended North Star college at Warren, Minnesota, and is now engaged in teaching; Lillie and Oscar. Mr. Sandin and his family are all faithful and active workers in the interests of the church of which they are members. From the wealth of his experiences in the days when western

Minnesota was frontier countrj-, ilr. Sandin recalls many entertaining tales. He was on friendly terms with the Indians who passed through the territory and they often encamped on his land. One party, in 1878, had in their possession a white horse which had belonged to General Custer and had been given them at Devil's Lake. A blood hound which had also belonged to Custer, became so savage while in this neighborhood that Mr. Sandin was asked to shoot it. As a sportsman he possessed no little skill and at Brainerd brought the noted deer "Stub Toes" to ground, after the latter had been the coveted prey of the local hunters for many seasons. He has also killed deer on his own laud and during the first few years, engaged quite extensively in trapping small fur animals.

Knute F. Uggen, a well known farmer of Knute township, is a native of Norway, born July 15, 1863, and has been a resident of Minnesota since childhood, having come to Rice county in 1871 with his parents, F. A. and Anne Uggen, who made their home in that county during the remainder of their lives. When he was fifteen years of age, Knute Uggen found employment at farm labor and thriftily saved his earnings that he might embark upon an independent career as a farmer. In five years he has accumulated two hundred dollars and with this and an unfailing capital of ambitious industiy, he bought wild land in Ottertail county. He remained on this place for several years during which he cleared some fifty acres of timber land and put it into cultivation. In 1888, he removed to Polk county and bought a claim and filed on a homestead in King township. At this time he had advanced his financial prosperity to two thousand dollars axid during the ensuing years he steadily increased the value of his property, through unceasing labor and capable management. He was a resident of King township thirteen years and broke one hundred acres on his tract for cultivation. In

1901 he sold the homestead for $3,200 and bought his present farm at an additional thousand. This is in section twelve of Knute township, a little over two miles east of Erskine and not far from Mcintosh and is one of the most attractive country estates in Polk county, with one hundred and twenty acres in the highest condition of productiveness, and a pleasant farm house, delightfully situated on the shore of Oak lake. The Great Northern railroad crosses the farm not far from the house. The tract comprises two hundred and thirteen acres by government survey and upon coming into the possession of Mr. Uggen, had ninety acres in cultivation, with a log house and small barn. He has built it up to its present prosperous condition, erecting the home and a good barn. He gives his attention for the gi-eater part to grain raising and in 1915 harvested some thirty-seven hundred bushels of wheat, oats and bai-ley. his wheat crop averaging thirty-four bushels to the acre. He also engages in stock and dairy farming. During the busy years of his successful career, Mr. Uggen has been actively interested in the promotion of the best interests of the community and has served in local offices both in King and Knute townships, and is at present a member of the school board. He is associated with business enterprise as a stockholder in the cooperative creameries in Erskine and Mcintosh and was one of the organizers from King township of the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company, a flourishing corporation of Polk county, of which he was president at one time and is now treasurer. His marriage with Agnes Hoffard, a native of Norway, was solemnized December 30, 1889, in Dakota county.

Minnesota. Seven children were born to them of whom six are living: Frithjof and Christ, who are twins; Gunda, staying at home; Julia and Agnes, students in the high school at Mcintosh, and Emma. A daughter, Ingeborg, died in her fifteenth year. Frithjof Uggen is associated with his father in the management of the home farm and Christ Uggen is living on a Montana claim, Dawson county. Mr. Uggen and his family are members of the Synod Lutheran church.

H. H. Flatten

With a fine farm of 160 acres in Section 24, Esther towDsliip, eight and a half miles north of East Grand Forks, and on the boundary line between Esther and Northland townships, which is improved with good buildings and in a condition of high productiveness, H. H. Flatten is one of the most comfortably fixed farmers in his part of Polk county, especially as he owns an eighty-acre tract of hay land in Sandsville township in addition to his home farm. And the best part of it all is that everything Mr. Flatten has he has accumulated by his own industry, thrift and good management. He was bom in Norway July 2, 1850, and was reared on a farm and educated in that couutiy. In the spring of 1875 he came to the United States and located in Goodhue county, Minnesota. He had only a few dollars in money, and so for thi-ee years he worked out at farm labor for a compensation of $20 a month and his board in summer and for his board alone in winter. He was very frugal and .saving with his earnings, and at the end of three years he had $350 laid by.

About this time Jens I. Peterson, who had come over a year before and located in this county, wrote to his friend C. M. Lindgren in Goodhue county to join him in Polk county, and Mr. Flatten accompanied Mr. Lindgren to this part of the state, arriving in March, 1878. He took up his home place as a homestead by the side of one selected by Mr. Lindgren, and built on it a one-room log house, with a sawed roof and floor, which made him a comfortable dwelling for the time and his circumstances. He procured a team of oxen and broke up fifteen acres of his land, which he put in wheat the next season.

The first year he worked out at hai-vesting and threshing but also put up some hay for his own oxen and cows. He and Mr. Lindgi'eu each had a yoke of oxen and they joined forces and made crops in 1879, Mr. Flatten 's yield being about 300 bushels. He then broke up more of his land and put in more wheat. After two or three years hail storms wasted his crops and caused him serious loss, but he persevered and kept on making progress, and he was soon able to buy a tract of eighty acres of railroad land in Sandsville township, four miles northeast of his home, for which he paid $7 an acre. This is excellent hay land, and it is nearly all devoted to that product.

Mr. Flatten lived in his little log house nine years, then erected his present dwelling. This was an ambitious structure for the section twenty-eight years ago, and many persons thought it was too large. But the owner felt confident he could pay for it, and he accomplished that duty years ago. "Wheat, oats and barley have been his main crops, with wheat leading. He has taken an active part in the affairs of the township, serving on the township board in Higdem township before the division, then helping to organize Esther township and serving on its township board. He has also been a member of the school boai'd in each, but lie has never held or sought a county office. For two years after settling on his farm Mr. Flatten lived in the barl)aric splendor of a bachelor's hall, but in 1882 he was united in marriage with Miss Gina Larson, a sister of Ludwig Larson, and a Polk county arrival of 1877, coining here with her father, Johanes Larson, who took up a homestead that year in Section 10. IMr. and Mrs. Flatten have two daughters, Hilma and Julia. Hilma is now the wife of Carl Thompson of Esther township and has one child, their daughter Genevieve. Julia is the wife of Richard Rice and is living at home with her parents. She attended the high school in Grand Forks and the State Normal in Moorhead, and for four years was a teacher in the Polk county public schools. All the members of the family belong to the North Lutheran church at Grand Marais, of which the head of the hou.se has been treasurer for fifteen years.

James Adair

The late James Adair, of Esther township, who died February 17, 1909, at the age of sixty-three years and eight months, and who was for over twenty years one of the wide-awake and energetic farmers and live stock men of Polk county, was Iwrn in Simcoe county, province of Ontario, Canada, the son of an Irish father and Irish mother. He was reared and educated in his native county, and at the age of twenty-five married there Miss Margaret Patterson, whose father was Irish and mother Scotch, both born in Ireland but married in Canada, where her life began in the same county as her husband's.

In the spring of 1878 Mr. and Mi's. Adair emigrated to the United States and located in this county. Mrs. Adair's brother, Thomas Patterson, had come across the line four years before and settled on the Red river five miles north of Grand Forks. He lived there several years, then moved to Grantsdale, Montana, where he now has his home. Mrs. Adair also had a sister in this county, Mrs. Robert Anderson, who is now deceased, and whose life storj' is briefly told elsewhere in this volume.

On their arrival in this county the Adairs bought railroad land in Esther township at $10 an acre, the same being part of the farm in Section 35 of that township on which Mrs. Adair is still living. They bought cows, oxen and other necessary things for the farm, and built a small log house with a floor and shingle roof but no chimney, the smoke being allowed to escape throtigh a hole in the roof. When they settled in their new home they had just enough means to supply them with the absolutely necessary things for their living for a year. They had a stove and made benches and a table, but were without dishes. In a little while Mr. Adair had sixteen acres ready for a crop, and after that matured they were able to live in some degi'ce of comfort.

When his progress enabled him to do it Mr. Adair bought an additional tract of eighty acres of land at $25 an acre, and still later 160 acres more, paying $5,000 for the last tract, which is half a mile distant from the home farm. He raised grain and cattle, milked 8 to 10 cows and made butter for private customers, and worked as hard as anj- man in the county, keeping up his industry without abatement until seven years before his death and retaining the care of his cows to the last. In 1886 he built the dwelling house which is now on the fariu and the home of the family.

Mr. Adair had no taste for public life and never sought office or took an active part in political contests, although he was an unwavering Democrat and loyal always to his party. But he always manifested a deep and helpful interest in the building of roads and other public improvements. In religious faith he was a Presbyterian and at first belonged to church of his sect in Grand Forks, but later he helped to start the Presbyterian church in East Grand Forks and was a member of that until he died.

Edward Alexander, William Jolm and Annie Belle. Edward is now living on the home farm. He has operated a threshing outfit for nine years, threshing in 1915 nearly 80,000 bnshels of grain. William owns the farm of 160 acres half a mile from the home farm. His first wife was Miss Runa Belle Peters, who left two children when she died, William Roscoe and

James Monroe. After her death the husband married Miss Iva Beulah Haas. They have five children, John Edward, Walter Earl, Clarence Millen, Emmet and Karl. Annie Belle is the wife of Hugh Blue. They cultivate the home farm and have three children, Annie Luella, Edward Donald and Leonard. Mrs. Adair has her home with them.

Peter Olson

Passing through severe trials to enduring triumph, and winning a comfortable estate by his own persevering and wisely applied industry, Peter Olson, one of the substantial and progressive farmers of Higdem township, has well illustrated in hi.s career the sturdy hardihood and determination of the pioneer and the strong fiber and resolute self-reliance of the sterling citizenship of Polk county, Minnesota, and the Northwest in general.

Mr. Olson was born in Norway October 22, 1860, the son of Ole and Ella (Midtmoen), and with them came to this country and located in Iowa county, Wisconsin, when he was twelve and a half years of age. In the spring of 1878 the family moved to Polk county, Minnesota, and Peter located on eighty acres of railroad land two miles north of East Grand Forks. Later he changed this land for a homestead in Section 24, Grand Forks township. During his first winter in this county he had only two pounds of butter and ten bushels of potatoes from October 21 to spring, and would frequently walk three miles through the snow to cut cord wood at 50 cents a cord and dine on frozen pork and bread.

Peter Olson's homestead was improved with a little log shanty with a sod roof and other accommodations in keeping with this. He lived in that one winter, but after that made his home with his brother Andrew until the latter married. In 1903 Andrew moved to the state of Washington, where he is now living. Peter improved his homestead and sold it. In 1898 he bought his present farm in Higdem township, which is in Section 32, bordering Red river, and seventeen miles by road from East Grand Forks. The farm comprises 2'42 acres, eighty of the acres being in timber, the balance on the prairie. Lars Ericksen was the original homesteader on this land, but he returned to Sweden.

When Mr. Olson bought this land he paid $6,100 for it, including the live stock and machinerj' on it. He has enlarged and improved the dwelling house and put up a good barn and other structures needed for his purpases. Raising grain has been his main dependence, but he lost on crop by hail, the first one destroyed on this farm in thirty-seven years. He milks nine or ten cows regularly and raises some other live stock but does not make this a specialty.

Mr. Olson is at this time (1916) chairman of the township board and has been for seven years, and for twelve years he has been a member of the board and taken an active part in all township affairs. He is a Republican in politics, and a Lutheran in religious faith, holding membership in Grand Marais church.

On December 31st, 1896, he was married to Miss Anna Anderson of Grand Forks, who was born in Sweden. She died April 9, 1906, leaving four small childrun to the care of her husband. They are still living with

William Cameron

William Cameron, prominent citizen and business man of Fosston, is a native of Ontario, Canada, born November 22, 1848. In 1878 he came to the United States, joining a brother-in-law who had previously located in Grand Forks, North Dakota. After a short time spent in that city, Mr. Cameron took a homestead claim, ten miles from Grand Forks in Nesbit township, Polk county. He later purchased anotlier quarter section of land and for a number of years devoted everj' attention to the development of his farm, putting it under cultivation and engaging principally in the raising of wheat. He erected good buildings and built up a valuable farm property which continues in his possession. In 1894, after sixteen years spent in Nesbit township, he came to Fosston and engaged in the livery business. At that time Fosston presented an unusually advantageous location for this enterprise ; situated at the end of the i-ailroad and the Soo line to the north not yot built and ho conducted an extensive and lucrative business. He was the owner of several lots on Main street and for ten years his stable occupied the present location of the Campbell garage. On removing from here he erected the present livery building. His stables were widely known among the horsemen and were always the center of the horse trade in this region. After almost twenty years of successful activity in this business he retired from the livery trade. During this time he had also engaged in the hay trade, being the first dealer in hay in Fosston which is the market for many small towns, and since 1913 he has given his attention exclusively to this business. He employs a number of men and bales from two to three hundred tons of liay and ships as much more for patrons. The same qualities which have brought him success in the business world are disclosed in his citizenship. He is ever alert to that which will promote the public welfare and a faithful suppoi-ter of its best interests. He has given able services on the village council and served in office in Nesbit township. He is a member of the Republican party. He has always taken a keen interest in athletics and has been instrumental in promoting local endeavor in this line. ]\Ir. Cameron was married in Ontario, Canada, to Anna Campbell and they have three children, Laura, who with her son, Harold, has made her home with her parents since the death of her husband, John Cumyn ; William, living in St. Paul, where he operates a garage, and Waltei", who has taken over his father's livery interests. Mr. Cameron is an enthusiastic hunter and has enjoyed much good sport in early days hunting elk and moose near Thief lake, and never failed to pull down his limit of game each season.

Ole H. Flatten

This good citizen of Polk county and progressive farmer of Esther township, whose choice farm is located in Section 23, ten miles north of East Grand Forks, and adjoins that of Ole S. Basgaard, is a brother of H. H. Flatten, a sketch of whom is to be found in this work, and like him was born in Norway, where his life began January 19, 1858. He came to Polk county and joined his brother H. H. here in 1880, two years after the arrival of the brother. Wlien he reached tliis county he had no money left, and during the first summer of his residence here he worked out at farm labor and railroad construction. In the winter following he was employed in the lumber woods near Brainerd and in looking after drives of ties to Little Falls on the Little Elk river, spending forty days in each of two or three seasons in such labor as the drives of ties required.

Having made a little stake by his industry and frugality, Mr. Flatten purchased a yoke of oxen and during the next eight or ten years he rented land and followed farming as a tenant. In 1895 he bought 160 acres of his present farm, which now comprises 260 acres in one body, and he also owns 120 acres in Northland township three miles distant from his home farm. In addition to spending $400 for improvements on his home farm, Mr. Flatten paid about $13 an acre for it. The original price was $10 an acre, but it was railroad land, and by the time certain disputes over it \\ere settled the improvements made by him raised its value to $13 an acre. For the additional tract of 100 acres, Avhich is crossed by the Grand Marais river, he paid an average of $12 an acre, but none of the land was above a reasonable price.

stock but has never done much in that line as yet. He built a part of his present dwelling house in 1895 and the rest of it since. It is in a commanding location on the bank of the Grand Marais overlooking a large extent of the surrounding country. He also has a good bam and other buildings and improvements in keeping with these. The farm is one of the most desirable in this part of Polk county, his land being now worth $100 an acre, its value havmg been greatly increased by what he has done to it in the way of development, improvements and advanced cultivation.

The affairs of his township have always deeply interested Mr. Flatten, and he has take an active part in the management of them, having served on the township board, of which he is now a member, most of the time since he located here, and for many years having been also a member of the school board. He was married in 1893 to Miss Mary Fjeld, who is like himself a native of Norway. They have had eight children, seven of whom are living and all of them still at home with their parents. They are Henry, Christine, Mabel, Clara, Clarence, Olga and Melvin. A son named Carl died at the age of seven yeai-s. All the members of the family belong to the Swedish Lutheran church at Grand Marais, of which Mr. Flatten is a deacon and a trastee.

Nick Welter

This wide-awake, enterprising and progi'essive Polk county farmer and live stock breeder, who owns and lives on the East half of Section 27, Fairfax township, eight miles southeast of Crookston and one mile and a half west of Harold station on the Northern Pacific railroad, came to his present condition of independence and comfort in a worldly way through many diflfieulties and discouragements but with a spirit of determination, industry and perseverance that triumphed over all obstacles. He is a cousin of Frederick Baatz, who lives two miles south of him on Section 4, Russia town.ship, a brief account of whose life will be found on this work.

Mr. Welter was born in the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, Germany, September 20, 1858, and came to the United States in 1888, joining an uncle in Wabasha county, Minnesota, with whom he remained a few months and then came to Argj'le in Marshall county, where his uncle owned a large tract of land. For six years he lived on one of his uncle's farms and during the next three on another belonging to him. He improved 200 acres of his uncle's land, having some good years in Marshall county but losing his first three crops by frost. As he had only $150 in money when he came to this country the loss of his crops was a serious setback for him. But his uncle carried him along at a high rate of interest on loans and deferred payments, and in the end he won his way out of all embarrassments and through all difficulties.

"While farming his uncle's land Mr. Welter was in partnership with his own brother Frederick until 1894. On April 16 of that year he was married to Miss Susan Clemen, then a resident of Wabasha county, Minnesota, but born in Luxemburg, Germany, August 3, 1867, and brought to America in her infancy. Two years later, in 1896, Mr. Welter came to Polk county, and until April, 1914, he rented land in Fairfax township, 320 acres of which he now owns, liaving paid $50 an acre for it in the spring of 1914. Four years before buying this land, however, which he had farmed for twelve years as a tenant, he bought 160 acres partially improved in another section, paying $25 an acre for it. He has since built a good barn at a cost of $1,000 and made other improvements of value.

township, and it is very productive. But what it is his industry, good judgment and skilful farming have made it. He raises wheat and other grain, and in 1915 his crops reached a total of about 4,000 bushels of wheat and the same amount of oata and barley. He also keeps 18 to 20 head of cattle and 10 horses and always has a few cows for milking purposes. His success in his farming operations in this county is very gratifying to him, especially as it is all the result of his own unaided efforts and good management.

Five children have blessed and brightened the Welter household, all of whom are still living at home with their parents. They are: Fredei'ick Peter, aged twenty -one; Peter Aloysius, aged nineteen; Andrew Nicholas, aged seventeen; Theodore Johann, aged fifteen, and George William, aged five. The members of the family have all been reared in the Catholic faith and belong to the Cathedral parish in Crookston.

Erick Nelson

One of the enterprising and progressive and therefore successful farmers of Higdem township, Erick Nelson, who lives on Section 20, sixteen miles north of Grand Forks, has made his own way in the world from nothing to his present condition of worldly comfort and independence, and has taken pride and pleasure in the struggles by which he has advanced. He was born in Norway August 22, 1839, and in 1861 came with his father to this country and located at Eau Claire, Wisconsin. From there he worked iu the lumber woods and in saw mills for eleven years, living frugally and saving his earnings.

In the fall of 1880 he came to Polk county with a cash capital of $250 and more due him in Wisconsin, which, however, he never got. He bought seventyeight acres of his present farm as script land, paying $6 an acre for it. The tract lies along the Red river and about eighteen acres of it is in timber. He has since bought eighty acres additional, forty of which adjoins his fii*st purchase and forty lies about two miles and a half east of that on the prairie. For the prairie land he paid $300 and for the other forty acres $600.

When he settled on his land Mr. Nelson first built a little log house, which is still standing, but it is no longer his residence, as he built the dwelling he now occupies in 1902. For the first two years all his labor was in vain. His crops were drowned out and he was driven to other resources to make his venture pay. lie began keeping cows, starting with four or five and gradually increasing the number as his butter trade increased. This is no longer extensive, and he now depends on his general farming operations for his profits and they have been so successful that they have fully satisfied him.

iu the affairs of his township. He has served as supervisor and for a number of years as a member of the township board. His political allegiance and service have always been given to the Republican party, and he has at times been very active in behalf of its candidates. In religious affiliation he is a Lutheran and a member of Kongsvinger church of that denomination, which is about four miles distant from his home. For .ten years or longer he served as a member of the school board and its treasurer, finally growing tired of the office and giving it up.

In 1881, one year after his arrival in Polk county, Mr. Nelson was married in Grand Forks to Miss Oleauna Farder, a sister of Ole S. Parder. She was bom in Norway and died at her Polk county home on January 11, 11)12, leaving six children living. Anna Dorothy is now the wife of A. N. Anderson, a merchant at Birkholz, a sketch of whom will be found in this volume. Sigward N. conducts his father's home farm. He married Miss Ada Finseth. They have no children. ^lary Sophia is living at home with her father. Emma Olena, who was the wife of Albert Anvinson, died in February, 1913, at the age of twenty-three. Agnes is married to Carl L. Larson. Oscar Edwin is still living at home. Another son, also named Oscar Edwin, died in infancy. Mr. Nelson was something of a hunter in his youth and young manhood, and while living in AVisconsin killed many a deer.

Edmund L. Stowe

Edmund L. Stowe, of Mcintosh, a successful business man and well-known citizen, has been prominently identified with the interests of the county since the early settlement of the eastern townships. He was born in Saline county, Missouri, May 5, 1859, and is the son of Dr. L. S. Stowe, an eminent pioneer of Polk county, where the memory of his hospitable and generous character and able services still linger in the reminiscences of the earlier days. Dr. Stowe had removed from Grant county, Wisconsin, in 1857 to Missouri, but in the storm center of those troublous times his native frankness and fearless championing of his convictions soon incurred the disapproval of the prevailing local sentiment and he was given notice to leave and he returned to Wisconsin to enlist in the Sixteenth AVisconsin regiment and to serve throughout the four years of war in defense of those convictions. After the close of the war he resumed the practice of medicine near Bloomiugton, Illinois, and later went to Sangamon county in that state, where he remained until 1881, wlieu he came to Polk county and took a claim some thirteen miles southeast of Crookston. This pioneer home was open to everyone and the cordial welcome and good cheer made it a popular stopping place for travelers en route to Fertile or the Sand Hill river country. Dr. Stowe made his home in the county for about ten years, devoting his time to his professional duties and farming, and subsequently removed to Hawley, Clay county, Minnesota, where he engaged in a successful practice until his death in 1899, at the age of seventyfive years. His wife died in the early childhood of his son, Edmund Stowe, and the latter, at an early age, assumed all responsil)ility for the securing of an education and the direction of his carreer. Willi ambitious determination, he managed to attain sufficient training to fit him for the teaching profession and taught in 1879 and 1880 in Sangamon county, Illinois, and in 1881, after coming to Polk county, taught his third school, which was near Crookston, and for the next few years continued in this occupation, devoting the vacation periods to his land. On coming to the county he had filed on a homestead, near his father's tract, and the law of that time permitting him to prove up on the claim in a few months, he secured a tree claim near the present station of Melvin, on the Northern Pacific railroad, and there set out ten acres of ash, box elder and cot- touwood, whiL-h lias siiK-e grown into the finest grove in the country and is a worthy tribute to the pioneer labors of ^Ir. Stowe. The years spent as a teacher were the years of the settlement of the Thirteen Towns and he is associated with the activities of the period as the first teacher in an organized school district, in Polk county, east of Crookston, and he recalls many experiences of that interesting day. At the close of the fall term of the Ilafterson school, No. 68, in 1883, he first learned of the organization of two school districts in the Thirteen Towns, No. 120 and No. 122, which had not been supplied with instructors, and having been previously acquainted with John Flesch, an influential settler of Rosebud township, determined to apply for the latter position, which was the Fosstou school. The Fosston postoffice and store were then located on the Flesch farm, five miles southwest of the pi-esent site of the town, and with no definite direction for reaching his destination, Mr. Stowe began his cross-country journey on foot anil after many miles of weary travel throiigh the January snow, he met the Indian, Bolieu, mail carrier to the postoffices of King and Fosston and obtained the first intelligible explanation in English of his route. He was directed to the home of John D. Knudson, the clerk of District No. 120, and as Fosston was some miles further, he decided to end his journey here and made his application for this school, and his services were accepted by the director, K. N. Newton, with a monthly salary of thirty dollars. He taught in this school for two j'ears, meanwhile boarding in the Newton home, where his acquaintance with a daughter of the house soon culminated into a happy union. The first term was of but six weeks' duration and had an enrollment of over thirty pupils, who ranged from children of five years to studious men of thirty-seven. Ole Hoven, a well-known farmer of King township, and Fred Hanson were among the older students. During the winter term of the next year C. K. Hofi'ard, the vice president of the First National bank, was one of his pupils. In this year John A. Newton taught the school at Fosston and much interest centered about the educational intei'ests of the neighboring communities. Mr. Stowe organized a spelling school which proved a most popular form of entertainment, and closed the term with a school exhibition which was attended b^- a large and appreciative audience. lie was married March 17, 1885, to Anna Newton. They immediately made their home on the claim near Melvin and for the ensuing seventeen years Mr. Stowe devoted his attention to the development of his farm. After selling that property, he purchased a farm on section 31 of Hill River township, five miles northeast of ilclntosh. This land had been improved and put under cultivation by his brotherin-law, Bennie Newton, and Mr. Stowe successfully conducted his farming operations here for several years. On being appointed deputy sheriff under Louis Gonyea, he removed to Crookston, but in Jlr. Gonyea's second term resigned to become the buyer at Mcintosh for the Minneapolis & Northern Elevator company. During the five years of his association with this company he handled some two hundred thousand bushels of Polk county grain. He left that position to establish an independent trade as a dealer in grain and hay and has been prosperously identified with this business. He makes extensive shipments of hay, buying the greater part of the large crops of the prairie section of the county and shipping to the Iron Range towns. Throughout the many years of his activities as farmer, business man and citizen Mr. Stowe has won the esteem of all his associates for his able attainments and many services and has been elected to various offices of public trust in the localities in which he has resided, serving as assessor in King and Hill River townships and as census enumei-ator in 1900 for the latter and in 1910 for King towmship and the town of Mcintosh. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Modern Brotherhood of America. Mr. Stowe and wife are faithful and active supporters of tlie Congregational church, in which he is a trustee. Mrs. Stowe is a native of Waseca county, Minnesota, and accompanied her father, K. N. Newton, in his removal to Polk county in 1883. She, like her husband, is popularly known in the social life of the community and is a member of the various local organizations. They have reared a family of twelve children, Newton, living at Grand Forks, where he is engaged in the auto livery business; Grant, a ditch contractoi'.

operating in Iowa and southern Minnesota; Sarah, the wife of Barney Davis, vi^ho is the proprietor of a hotel at Kellog, Idaho; Nobel, who is a teacher in the schools at Trail; Charles, who is associated with Grant Stowe in the contracting business, and Dewey, Joyce, Nellie, Eunice, Laura, Phyllis and an infant.

Adolph N. Anderson

Actively and profitably engaged in general merchandising at Birkholz, in this county, twelve miles north of Grand Forks, during the last eleven years, and for fifteen rendering the township of Higdem good service as a public official, first as a justice of the peace for two years and since then as township clerk for thirteen, Adolph N. Anderson has well earned the cordial regard and good will of the people around him which he enjoys in such full measure as a merchant, as a progressive citizen and as an upright man.

Mr. Anderson was bom in Chippewa county, Wisconsin, February 11, 1871, and became a resident of Minnesota in August, 1893. He is a son of Jens and Dorothy (Nelson) Anderson, natives of Norway. The father came to the United States prior to the Civil war and settled in Wisconsin. During that war he served in the Fifteenth Wisconsin Infantrj-, and felt the effects of the hardships and privations he was obliged to undergo in the army to the end of his life, which came on his Wisconsin farm in 1877.

Adolph N. Anderson left the farm in 1891, when he was twenty years old, and during the next two years worked as a hired man on other farms. In 1894, having relatives in Polk county, he came here in search of employment and soon obtained an engagement on a threshing outfit, on which he worked as a hand one season and was then given full charge of it. During the next six seasons he operated this outfit for the Eliason brothers and during the next six seasons he operated one for Ole H. Bang. The business was extensive and gave him plenty to do.

Wlien Mr. Anderson first came to Minnesota he located at Hinckley, in Pine county, and was there on September 1, 1894, when the great fire in which 380 lives were lost and the town was entirely destroyed occurred. He lost all his possessions by the fire and escaped out of the burning town on the illfated train which was destroyed by the same fire at Skunk Lake. At Skunk Lake, six miles north of Hinkley, it was discovered that the fire was getting ahead of the train and it was stopped on the bridge to give the passengers a chance to save themselves by getting into the water, which many of them did. The train was entirely destroyed by the fire where they left it on the bridge.

In 1904 Mr. Anderson bought the store he is now keeping. It had been opened three years before by M. 0. Kleven. The stock and buildings at that time amounted to $1,500. Now the investment in the business, including the real estate used for it, aggregates several thousands of dollars and the trade is growing all the time. On January 1, 1915, the store and its contents were destroyed by fire at a loss of about $2,000 above the insurance. Mr. Anderson immediately rebuilt his store and opened up on a larger scale than before. He handles farm produce, butter and eggs as specialties and a regular stock in general, and his business has more than doubled within the last few years.

O. T. Wold, a successful farmer of Badger township, is a native of Norway, bom June 9, 1858, and came to the United States in 1877, in his early manhood. He had been trained in the carpentering trade in his own country and worked for a few years at his trade in Wabasha county, IMinnesota. After some three years, in 1881, he returned to Norway, remained but a few months and in 1882 again resumed his residence in this country, locating in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where he was employed in carpenter work until 1889, when he availed himself of the opportunity to become a land owner and filed on a homestead in section eight of Badger township in 1883. He entered upon his farming enterprise with but a few dollars and a few head of stock and with unfailing industry and able management has advanced his fortunes to his present prosperous standard. To the original quarter, he added an adjacent eighty acres and now has two hundred acres of his farm under cultivation, some ninety acres of which was devoted to gi'ain in 1915. He is also extensively interested in stock farming, raising cattle for the market and keeping dairy cows. He has recently added alfalfa to his crops. The first house, a log cabin, was replaced in 1900 by a comfortable modern home and in 1912 i\Ir. Wold erected a fine large bam. Aside from his agricultural activities, he has been associated with local enterprise as a director and stockholder in the cooperative creamery at Erskine and in various offices of public responsibility, having sei'ved for a number of years as township supervisor and as a member of the school board. The sport of the hunter has never made its appeal to Mr. Wold and he has never owned a gun. He was married in 1889 in Grand Forks, to Anna T. Sather, who was born in Nonvay and four children were born to them, two of whom died in early eliildhood. Talmer Wold resides on the home farm and is a stockholder in the State Bank of Erskine. Magna Wold has been a student in the Ei-skine high school. Mr. Wold and his family are communicants in the United Lutheran church.

John Letnes

Mr. Letnes is one of the wide awake and progressive farmers of Andover township, this county and therefore one of the successful ones. He was born in Norway October 30, 1867, of well-to-do parents and emigrated to this country in 1888, located in North Dakota and in 1891 he became a resident of Polk county, Minnesota. When Mr. Letnes came to this county he was a single man. He worked on farms in the vicinity of Climax for several years until lawas married. He was prudent and thrifty and luid saved up some money. When the railroad came through that part of the county he bought a lot and put up a dwelling in the new village of Climax. While living in Climax, in company with his brotherin-law, Levi Steenerson, he traded in wheat for a while.

bought land in Vineland township. He put up buildings on this farm and farmed there two years. In 1900 he sold this farm for a good price and bought an improved farm in Andover township. This he sold in 1902 and then bought his present home farm. He bought one hundred and sixty acres more four years ago, making it one-half section of well improved land he owns to date. Mr. Letnes has all his land under cultivation, and devoted to raising grain. His crops in 1915 amounted to 8,000 bushels of oats, wheat and barley, oats being the leader. He keeps Ills farm well stocked with graded stock. The buildings on his farm are of good dimensions, most of them being erected by himself, and the land is of superior fertility and fibre and very productive. It is well drained and skillfully cultivated. His methods of farming are altogether modern and progressive.

He plows with a gas tractor, and all his other appliances for his work are strictly up-to-date, and in addition to carrying on with vigor and energy the cultivation of the land, he oijerates his own threshing outfit. The public affairs of the township have always enlisted the active interest of this progressive citizen, and he has taken a helpful part in administering them. He is at present a member of the board of township supervisors and its chairman. In 1894 he was married to Miss Margaret Oustby of Climax, but a native of Norway. They have nine children, Lawrence, Thomas, Pauline, Anna, Lars, John, Magnus, Daniel and Isabelle. Lawrence is a gas engineer, Thomas is a student at the Crookston Business College and Pauline is a student at the Northwest School of Agriculture at Crookston.