Marshall County Biographies
KASPER WESTBURG.
Kasper Westburg, owner of the northwest quarter of section 22 in Rock
township, this county, where he has a very comfortable home, is a native of
the kingdom of Sweden, born there on December 16, 1862, son and only
child of Hans and Eva (Peterson) Johnson, who spent all their lives in that
country. Hans Johnson died in 1874 and his widow married again and lived
until 1914, she being seventy-two years of age at the time of her death. By
her second marriage she was the mother of three children, Martha and
Sandra, who are living in their native land, and Carl, who came to this
country and is now living at Kansas City, Missouri.
Upon attaining his majority Kasper Westburg decided to come to the
United States and upon his arrival here came on out to Kansas, arriving at
Frankfort, in this county, April 17, 1886. For three months after his arrival
here he was engaged in farm labor in the vicinity of Frankfort and then
began working as a stone mason, quarrying rock at Frankfort. He then
presently rented a farm in this county and worked the same for four years,
at the end of which time, in 1892. he pushed on farther west and homesteaded a
quarter of a section of land in Wallace county, this state, taking
possession of the same in 1893, building a claim shanty on the place and
starting in to develop the farm. While thus engaged he divided his time
between his homestead tract and a job he secured over in Colorado as a farm
hand, driving back and forth from the farm on which he was employed to
his homestead, under the mistaken impression that he could hold his homestead in this fashion. Upon losing his homestead Mr. Westburg went over
into the gold fields of the Cripple Creek country and was there engaged seeking fortunes until 1897, when he returned to Marshall county and rented a
farm in Rock township, on which he "batched" until his marriage in 1899.
He then rented the old Kellberg farm and there lived for five years, or until
1904, when he bought his present well-improved farm of one hundred and
sixty acres in section 22 of that same township, where he since has made his
home and where he and his family are very pleasantly situated.
On April 1, 1899, Kasper Westburg was united in marriage to Louise
Carlson, who was born in Sweden, daughter of Carl J. and Petronella
(Johnson) Carlson, and who left Sweden in 1895, her parents continuing
to reside in that country. To this union one child has been born, Raymond
K., born on May 2, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Westburg are members of the
Lutheran church and take a proper interest in church work and in other
good works in the neighborhood of their home. Mr. Westburg is a Republican and gives a good citizen's attention to the political affairs of his
adopted country.
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This website created July 4, 2011 by Sheryl McClure.
� 2011 Kansas History and Heritage Project
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