BIOGRAPHIES - H
DATE: 9 Apr 2006
NAME:
Paula Peterson
HALVORSON/CONNER
Alanson Conner died in Bagley, Clearwater
County, Minnesota on November 19, 1907. Will probably be hard to find an obit
for him due to no county paper at that time. The death cert. indicates he was
born in France ? 1830.
Elvira Conner died on October 15, 1938 in Bagley and there should be an obituary
with information.
They had a son Johnny Conner and he was just written up in our county historical
society paper which came in today's mail:
Johnny Conner
Do you remember the man that dressed in a dark, long coat that walked the
streets in Bagley carrying a kerosene lantern and umbrella? Back in the 1940s
Johnny Conner lived in a small building south of the railroad tracks at the end
of Clearwater Ave. near the Olson slaughterhouse and the Bartz residence.
He worked for O. M. Kolb (former banker) who owned a gas station and a wood
yard. Johnny was Kolb's handyman and errand person.
Very little is really known about him.
It has been said he moved from Fosston to this area and years earlier his
brothers and sisters had died from diptheria.
Some say his mother was a gypsy and his father was a Civil War veteran. He is
said to have been a mystic- maybe a person that arouses curiosity or wonder.
Also, Johnny was a person who claimed the ability to predict the future from
reading coffee cup grounds.
Johnny was a quiet, humble and mysterious man that is part of the county
history.
Alanson's death cert. says his mother's maiden name was Halvorson
Submitted by Paula Peterson April 9, 2006
SOURCE: Compendium of History
and Biography of Polk County, Minnesota, Major R.I.
Holcombe, Historical Editor; William H. Bingham, General Editor; W.H. Bingham
And Company, Minneapolis, Minn.; 1916; reprinted by Higginson Book Company;
Salem Massachusetts; (book no longer copyrighted)
Library of Congress control number 16009966
This book can be ordered from Borders Book Store or from Higginson.
Both companies have web sites. The cost is about $70
and well worth the price.
HAUGE, E. M.
page 244
E. M. Hauge, superintendent of the schools at Fertile and one of the progressive
educators of the county, is a native of the state, born at Winona, September 9,
1886, the son of Reverend A. Hauge, a member of the Lutheran clergy in Minnesota
for over thirty-three years. E.M. Hauge received his early education in the
Normal school at Winona and then attended a private academy, which is conducted
in connection with St. Olaf college at Northfield, Minnesota. After completing
his preparatory studies he entered St. Olaf college for a collegiate course and
graduated from that institution in 1909. In the fall of the same year he came
to Fertile as principal of the high school during the superintendence of H. R. Tonning, and after two years’ of efficient service in that position was promoted
to the office of superintendent. During the four years under his direction the
school has made rapid advance in educational efficiency and has witnessed
notable accomplishment in the !
educational field. Mr. Hauge conducts school along the modern lines of
pedagogical theory. The measure of his success and the interest accorded the
school by the citizens appears in the almost unanimous vote case on the bond
issue for the new school building, which is being erected at the cost of some
forty thousand dollars. The school district includes eight sections of Garfield
township and has an enrollment of two hundred and forty-nine pupils, with a
teaching force of eleven. The high school was established in 1900 and is a
commissioned state high school, with an attendance of forty-nine and a faculty
of five instructors. The school graduated eleven students in 1915, which is the
average number of graduates for the last four years and has ninety-nine members
in its alumni association. Reverend A. E. Strom is the president of the school
board, with J. A. Gregerson, clerk, and Norman Hanson, treasurer. The other
members of the school board are A. P. Hanson and Rev. J.
M. Sundheim.
submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
SOURCE: Compendium of History and Biography of Polk
County, Minnesota, Major R.I.
Holcombe, Historical Editor; William H. Bingham, General Editor; W. H. Bingham
And Company, Minneapolis, Minn.; 1916; reprinted by Higginson Book Company;
Salem Massachusetts; (book no longer copyrighted)
Library of Congress control number 16009966
This book can be ordered from Borders Book Store or from Higginson.
Both companies have web sites. The cost is about $70
and well worth the price.
Haugen, Arne J.
Page 349
Arne J. Haugen, a well known farmer of Badger township and a director in the
State Bank of Erskine, was born in Norway, March 3, 1867, and came to the United
States as a lad of eighteen years, borrowing the money for his passage from his
brother. For a few months he worked on a farm in Ottertail county and in
November, 1885, joined his father in Polk county, where they located on the
land, in section twenty-six of Badger township which is Mr. Haugen’s present
home. They continued to work in partnership and his father lived there until
his death in May, 911, at the advanced age of eighty-two. His wife’s death
preceded his by eight years. Arne J. Haugen has never married and with his
sister, Gustava Haugen, is the only surviving member of the family. The latter
makes her home with her brother as housekeeper. The Haugen farm was formerly
the homestead of Julius Bradley and upon coming into Mr. Haugen’s possession was
for the most part wild land an!
d occupied only by a claim shack. He has put eighty acres in cultivation and
has reclaimed some low land with ditching. The remaining tract is retained as
pasture land, Mr. Haugen being interested in raising high grade stock. He also
engages in dairying. Through his able efforts and farming ability he has built
up a prosperous estate of two hundred acres and has also given his service and
attention in other fields of local activity, being identified with two notable
enterprises of that region, as vice president of the co-operative creamery at
Erskine and stockholder and director in the Erskine State bank. He has been
frequently called to public service by his fellow citizens and has held the
offices of township assessor and township treasurer, chairman of the board and
for fifteen years was a member of the school board.
submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
Heidal, Abraham Lovalien
Born: November 13, 1891, Queen Township, Polk Co., MN
Died: July 1969, Tacoma, WA
Childhood and Conversion
My mothers maiden name was Isabelle Lysgaard (Ingeborg Ellefsdatter
Berge). The ancestors on my fathers (Isak Pedersen Lovalien) side were
watchmakers and jewelers, they also undertook architectural work. Father and
mother emigrated from Gulbransdalen, Norway to the US in 1884, and were among
the pioneers in Northern Minnesota. They first lived in Pelican Rapids, Otter
Tail County, but shortly after they were married they moved to Polk County.
Father took a homestead in Queen Township, when the so-called thirteen towns
was opened up by the government for settlement. Pioneer work was not an easy
task. The nearest town was Crookston, about fifty miles away, and road, where
there were any, were poor. Only the more fortunate settlers had oxen and wagon,
but even that kind of slow, humble transportation was impossible in the newly
opened settlement. Markings were made on trees, by slicing off a piece of bark,
to aid pedestrians in finding their way back and forth. My father often walked
to and from Crookston, and carried, maybe, a fifty pound sack of flour, or other
necessary groceries and household articles. Building material was plentiful on
the homestead, and a cute little log cabin was hurriedly built on a small,
cleared plot in the woods. A small barn was built for the first cow. Then from
time to time, a few acres of land was cleared and cultivated. For three
successive years frost destroyed much of the crop. Still the hopeful and
energetic pioneers, toiled on, building their future home. Children were born
in the old log cabin, and on a Friday, the thirteenth of November, 1891, yours
truly was born in this little home-sweet-home on the ranch in Red River valley.
The religiously inclined father, prayerfully looked up to God and blessed his
son. Having prayed that the child might grow up in the fear of the Lord, and
that he might become a man of faith like Abraham of old he said the mother, let
us call him Abraham. They were members of the Hauges Synod Lutheran Church, but
by this time father had gotten more light on the Word, and he say that the
so-called infant baptism was unscriptural. And although three children had been
brought through this ritual, father now refused to allow this child to be thus
christened. But mother did not see it that way, so one day, when father was
away, she picked up her boy and carried him several miles to a minister to be
sprinkled and christened. Nine months after I was born father died and mother
was left a widow with two boys. With much hard work and great difficulty, she
carried on the work on the farm for about three years. In 1894 she married Mr.
Ole Heidal. The children were adopted, and taking on the new name, Heidal.
Some years later my older brother died and I was left the only child of the
first family. I have three half sisters and two half brothers living. In 1905
we moved to Saskatchewan, Canada and settled on a homestead near Eagle Creek, in
Saskatoon municipality. From here it goes on to tell about his religious life.
Submitters note:
1. Ingebjorg ELLEFSDATTER
BERGE, F. Born about 1862 in Sel, Oppland, Norway. On Nov 27, 1885 when
Ingebjorg was 23, she first married Isak PEDERSEN LOVALIEN, in Fergus Falls,
Otter Tail County, MN. He died about 1892.
First lived at Pelican Rapids, Otter Tail county, then moved to Polk County
shortly after they were married, November 27, 1885 in Fergus Falls, MN.
They had the following children:
Peder, M. Born in pre 1891. Peder died bet.
1895-1905; he was 4.
Abraham Lovalien, M. Born on Nov 13, 1891 in
Queen township, Polk county
In 1894/95 when Ingebjorg was 32, she second married Ole HEIDAL, M, in Queen
township, Polk county, Minnesota.
They had the following children:
1. Emma, F.
2. Carl Oscar, M
Carl Oscar married Thora OTTERSLAD, F.
3. Orville, M
4. Clara, F.
5. Olive, F.
6. Edward, M
Submitted by Cindy Wheeler January 2003
HEIERMAN, Nicolai and Ingeborg - biography from Winger Historical Book - actual page below
Our First Pioneer Pastor
No history of our Winger community would be complete without a record of the work of the first pioneer pastor in this vicinity, the Rev. Nicolai Heierman.
Rev. Heierman came here from Blair, Wisconsin in 1884 and homesteaded on land in the south end of Knute township. This is the farm that was later known as the Jonas Jonson farm and is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Helmer Hogenson. Rev. Heierman organized the Gosen congregation, whose church edifice stands on land that was originally a part of his farm. He also organized the Bethel congregation a short time later.
Came Here As Missionary
This pioneer pastor was a Norwegian Lutheran minister, associated with the general church body called "Konferensen." When he first came to this territory he was classed as a missionary and his salary was very small. His church work took him through practically all of the area where Winger, Erskine, McIntosh and Fosston are now located and he is credited with being the first pastor of nine different congregations.
The work of this
pastor could fill many volumes. In the enormous Territory which he served
there were few, if any, roads. The recollections of early settlers tell of how
he covered his circuit, often on foot or on horseback, wading through snow or
mud as he held church services in homes, visited the sick and disabled, and even
brought desperately needed supplies to stranded families. The hardships he
endured no doubt shortening his life for he died at the early age of 46.
Nikolai Heierman was born in Trondhjem, Norway in 1850 and studied for the
ministry at Auzsburg Seminary in Minneapolis. Her served as pastor at Blair,
Wisconsin for a time after being ordained a minister and came here in 1884. He
left here in 1896 to serve at Atwater, Minnesota, where he died on April 9,
1897. His wife Ingeborg who was born in 1851, also in Trondhjem, Norway, died
here in 1893 and was buried in the Gosen cemetery. His body was returned here
bur burial beside the grave of his wife and his sister, Mrs. Anna Johnson, also
one of the charter members of the Gosen congregation
Before the church was built, the services were held in homes, most of them in
the loft of the home of Rev. Heierman's sister, Mrs. Anna Johnson, which was
located west of the present church. The first confirmation service was held
there on December 17, 1885 and the first Christmas tree festival was also held
in this home. It was a blistering cold evening and there was no stove in the
loft room, but Mrs. Johnson knew what to do. She filled a kettle with live coals
from the stove downstairs and brought them up so as to break the chill of the
room
Heierman Memorial Erected Later
In 1925 a
movement was started to erect a monument at the graves of Rev. and Mrs.
Heierman. A committee appointed for this project included Tallak Salveson, P. H.
Sorvig, P. A. Mork, and Peter Myhr. A five-foot monument of red St. Cloud
granite was purchased at a cost of over $300, which was raised by popular
subscription
Several hundred people attended the dedication of this memorial which was held a
the Gosen church on Sunday afternoon. October 4, 1925. Speakers were Rev. C. M.
Westermoe of McIntosh and Rev. J. B. A. Dale of Dunseith, North Dakota, both
former pastors of the congregation
Submitted by Larry and Marie Solberg, Winger MN 082703 Aug 2003
Note: More Information about Rev. Nicolai Heierman also on these pages:
Buried at :
GOSEN
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CEMETERY
Was Pastor of
Trinity Free Lutheran Church 1884-1894
Was Pastor of
Zion Lutheran Church - Eden Twp. - Section 30
Pastor of Bethel Community as well
SOURCE: Compendium of History
and Biography of Polk County, Minnesota, Major R.I.
Holcombe, Historical Editor; William H. Bingham, General Editor; W.H. Bingham
And Company, Minneapolis, Minn.; 1916; reprinted by Higginson Book Company;
Salem Massachusetts; (book no longer copyrighted)
This book can be ordered from Borders Book Store or from Higginson.
Both companies have web sites. The cost is about $70
and well worth the price.
HELDSTAB, John
pp 174-175
Starting in life for himself at the age of twenty-one, with nothing but his
strong arm, clear head and determined spirit as capital, the late John Heldstab,
one of the enterprising and successful business men of Crookston, steadily
pursued his way through a variety of trials and occupations to consequence in a
worldly way and a position of high esteem and regard among the people of the
city in which the greater part of his activities were shown.
Mr. Heldstab was a native of Switzerland, born in the city of Davos, December 2,
1860, where he was reared on a farm and remained until he reached the age of
twenty-one. He was the son of Honus and Anna (Travaner) Heldstab. Both parents
died in Switzerland. In the spring of 1882 he came to the United States in
company with his brothers, Christian and Martin, and located at Alma, Buffalo
county, Wisconsin. In that locality he worked for about one year at farm labor.
Early in 1883 he changed his residence to Crookston, Minnesota, and here also he
worked out on farms for a few years, but passed most of the time in the
neighborhood of Warren, in Marshall county, during this period.
Mr. Heldstab’s next move was to form a partnership with Mathew Ridi for carrying
on an active business in the ice trade. The partnership lasted only a few
years, as Mr. Heldstab saw a more favorable opening for his energies in a short
time and sold his interest in the ice firm. He then turned his attention to the
draying industry and also occupied himself to a considerable extent in
collecting buffalo bones and shipping them to markets where they were in
demand. He continued his draying business for a number of years and then sold
it to advantage. In 1896 he purchased the ice business of John Schantzen, which
he conducted with increasing trade and prosperity until his death at his home in
Crookston, 4420 North Main street, on September 8, 1915. He was fifty-four
years of age when he died, and twenty-two years of his industrious and useful
life were passed in Northwestern Minnesota.
During the whole of his residence in this country Mr. Heldstab took an earnest
interest and an active part in the affairs of the community of his home and
contributed essentially to its progress and development. He was not, however,
an active political partisan and never sought or desired a public office of any
kind. His work for the advancement of his city and county was that of a good
citizen outside of political contentions and hopes of direct personal reward
except what came from the improvement of his locality. He belonged to the
German Lutheran church and was one of the earliest and most active members of
St. Paul’s congregation of that sect in Crookston.
On December 20, 1891, Mr. Heldstab was married in Crookston to Miss Lena Weber,
who was born in Oberstein, Germany, November 12, 1871, and came to this country
in 1888, when she was seventeen years old. Seven sons were born of their union,
one of whom, Paul Walter, died when he was about one year old. The mother and
six of the sons are living and have their homes in Polk county. The living sons
are: John W., Gustav M., Christian R., Theodore E., Harold D., and Willard A.
At the time of death the father owned a fine farm of 320 acres, which was well
improved and under good cultivation.
submitted
Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
SOURCE: Compendium of History and Biography of Polk
County, Minnesota, Major R.I.
Holcombe, Historical Editor; William H. Bingham, General Editor; W.H. Bingham
And Company, Minneapolis, Minn.; 1916; reprinted by Higginson Book Company;
Salem Massachusetts; (book no longer copyrighted)
Library of Congress control number 16009966
This book can be ordered from Borders Book Store or from Higginson.
Both companies have web sites. The cost is about $70
and well worth the price.
HENDRICKSON,
Thomas
pages 319-320
The late Thomas Hendrickson, who was for many years one of the leading farmers
of Western Polk county, and who died on his little farm in Sandsville county
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, Hendrick
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 Hendrick Leeden became Thomas
Hendrickson, 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 threshing 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. Henrickson 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 his crops were more frequently less than
half of what they should have been. But he was a man of resolute spirit and
adhered to his industries until success attended his efforts and prosperity
followed them.
Soon after he became a resident of Polk county Mr. Hendrickson 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; Henry, 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 her 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 her birth. Mr. Hendrickson contracted a second marriage, which
united him with Miss Mina Hendrickson. Th!
ey had one child, their daughter Ruth, who is with her mother on the Sandsville
township farm.
Nels A. Thompson, the second son of Thomas Hendrickson, was born June 29, 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 western 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
the people in all other parts of Polk county.
NOTE: Higdem Township is in the extreme NW corner of Polk. The western border
of Higdem is the Red River of the North. Adjacent to the east is Sandsville
Township. The northern edge of each township is Marshall County.
submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
HALVORSON/HERNDON/VESTERHEIM, Nels L.
"These Our Roots, The History of Fertile,
Minnesota;" The Ulen Union, David G. Evans (Publisher), 1987, page 196
"Nels L. Vesterheim born in 1865 at
the Opheim farm in Voss, Norway, the son of Lars Isakson Vesterheim and Ingjerd
Opheim. In 1884, he left Norway together with one brother, Isak, and sisters,
Gjertrud and Cecelia. They first lived at Ada, Minnesota and then moved to
Fertile. Gjertrude lived with Nels and later married Fred Peterson. Cecelia
moved to Crookston and married Mr. Knutson. The brother, Isak, moved to Lengby.
Mrs. Nels Vesterheim was Sigrid Moyard, born in 1864. They were married on
November 18, 1893, and opened a restaurant where the Town and County building
now stands. There were five children, a son who died when a child and four
daughters, Ida, Christine, Leona and Inger. As they grew up they all worked
with the parents in the business. Christine married Chris Ormbreck and lives
in Ulen, Minnesota. She has four sons, Harlan, who lives in Fargo; Clayton,
Neal and Paul who live with their mother. Ida lived in Fertile all of her life
and died on September 14, 1973. Lena lived in Grand Forks and married Melvin
Herndon. She died in 1959. They had one daughter, Lois, who lives in
Macungie, Pennsylvania. Inger worked for many years in Grand Forks, returned
to Fertile and lives at the Sunshine Courts. Mr. Vesterheim died in 1945 and
Mrs. Vesterheim lived to be almost 95 years and died in 1961. She was a very
active worker in Concordia Lutheran Church ladies aid. She had attended aid
meetings from the time she was twelve years old back in Norway. The first aid
meeting she served in Fertile was in the kitchen of the restaurant where she
set the table in the kitchen, served biscuits, sauce, cheese, jelly, cake and
cookies and, of course, coffee. Another interesting fact is that Mr.
Vesterheim built the house where Jessie Halvorson now lives. Later he sold
this to Albert Gullickson, who added to the size of the house, and the
Vesterheim Family then bought the Kankel house where Inger lived until five
years ago. This house is now owned by G. Werner."
Jon Raymond
St. Paul Park, MN
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~raymond
submitted February 2006
“The First 100 Years, 1883-1983, Fosston,
Minnesota”
Fosston’s Centennial Book Committee
HILDAHL, REV. K.O.
page 222
Rev. Hildahl was married to Caroline Rogne (b. 1875) who died in 1908. On
September 8, 1910 he was married to Anne Thompson (b. 1885) who had been a
resident of Sletten Township since 1900. Anna Thompson had completed a term of
parochial instruction at Concordia College in 1908 and was a parochial school
teacher.
Rev. Hildahl served for 28 years as pastor of this four point parish: Landstad,
Brandsvold, Zion and Vernes congreagation. Landstad and Brandsvold later were a
part of a merger which became Hope Congreagation, and it was during Rev.
Hildahl’s pastorate that the original unit of the present church edifice was
built.
In May of 1935 Rev. Hildahl died as a result of injuries received in an
automobile accident. Anna Hildahl died on February 13, 1963. Three children
grew up in this family:
Alice, a former organist and music teacher, married Hilding V. Carlin on
September 8, 1934 and they continue to reside in Fosston, where Hilding has been
a long-time businessman in the Carlin Furniture and Funeral Home. Both Hilding
and Alice have been active in civic, community and church affairs. They have
three sons: Gary, married to Bernice Brekke. Gary joined his father in the
family business and Bernice taught at Fosston High School for many years. They
have three children: Kim (Mrs. Mike Roysland), John and Jeff. David Carlin is
married to Ida Thompson and they live in East Grand Forks, Minn., where David is
a teacher. They have three children: Joseph, Nathan and Maria. Mark Carling
and Barbara Scott Carlin have four children: Tim, Daniel, and twin daughters,
Jill and Angie. Mark joined the family business after moving back to Fosston.
Hilding Carlin retired in 1974 and the business is now operated by Gary and
Mark.
Francis Hilding was married to Doris Calhoon on September 8, 1939. After
recently selling their Fergus Falls business, they have retired to Park Rapids,
Minn. They have two daughters: Sharon, who married Allen Rud and lived in East
Grand Forks. They have three children. Louise and Dennis Lunski live in
Burnsville, Minn. and have two children. Francis and Doris also have one foster
daughter, Ida Marie Sather Martinson who resides in St. Paul.
Mildred Hildahl, a former social worker, married Dr. Edward Bardshar in 1954.
Dr. Bardshar, a USDA Veterinarian, died in 1978. They had two daughters:
Patricia, married to Dr. Robert Jones, lives in Boston, MA., they have two
children: and Joan and Glenn Slocum reside in Anoka, Minn. and have two
children.
submitted
Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
HOFF, Ole O.
SOURCE: Compendium of History
and Biography of Polk County, Minnesota, Major R.I.
Holcombe, Historical Editor; William H. Bingham, General Editor; W.H. Bingham
And Company, Minneapolis, Minn.; 1916; reprinted by Higginson Book Company;
Salem Massachusetts; (book no longer copyrighted)
This book can be ordered from Borders Book Store or from Higginson.
Both companies have web sites. The cost is about $70
and well worth the price.
Page 316
This gentleman, who 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.
Hagen, was born in Sølor, 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 passage across the ocean not having been paid, and he being bound
under a strong obligation to work even that out before he could lay up anything
for himself or with a view to starting any project of his own.
On his arrival in this country Mr. Hoff came direct to Polk county, where 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 had been reared. When his
brother Bernt took up his homestead he also took up a tree 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.
Bernt Olson’s widow, whose maiden name was 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 had 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 six 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 years he has been
independent of party control and uses his judgement of men in disposing of his
vote, and in connection with his activity in public affairs. He is enterprising
and progressive, and is universally esteemed as an upright man and a very useful
citizen.
submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
HOFF, OLE O.
SOURCE: “A Meeting of the
Reds: East Grand Forks, 1887-1987,”
2 volumes, (out of print)
V 1, PAGE 84
Ole O. Hoff was born Feb. 4, 1854, at Sør, Norway. He immigrated to the United
States in 1882 with nothing except a strong arm, clear head and a courageous
spirit. His passage across the ocean had not been paid and that was his first
concern before he could keep anything for himself.
Mr. Hoff came directly to Polk County, where his brother, Bernt Olson, had
homesteaded in 1877. Ole’s first year was spent working for Samuel O. Ormeson
as a farmhand.
When his brother, Bernt Olson, took his homestead he also took a tree claim and
that is the land that became the Ole Hoff Farm, 2 ½ miles north of East Grand
Forks.
Bernt was killed by accident on the railroad while on his way home from
Crookston, leaving his wife and son, Bernhardt, plus a daughter, Teolina, who
was born after her father’s death. Both of these children later died of
diphtheria.
Bernt Olson’s widow, whose maiden name was 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 and later married Olena.
When he moved to the homestead, there was only a log house and only 30 acres had
been broken. Later, Mr. Hoff, who grew wheat, oats and barley, also purchased
an additional 160 acres in Roseau County.
Ole and Olena Hoff had three children, Olof, Emma and John. Mr. Hoff served on
the township board and was a trustee of Grand Marais Luther Church.
Mr. Hoff died in 1924 of injuries received when a motor vehicle collided with
his horse and buggy while he was returning to his harm home. Olena Hoff died in
1927.
Bernt Olson and his wife had come to the East Grand Forks area by covered wagon
from Goodhue County.
The land that Mr. Hoff purchased in Roseau County was later sold for $2,000 and
the money deposited in a Roseau bank. It was lost there when the bank went
through bankruptcy, not an uncommon event in those days.
The children of Ole and Olena Hoff all married and stayed in Polk County. The
original homestead was divided and their sons, Olaf and John, lived on their
farms through their entire lives.
Olaf Hoff married Anna Thompson, the daughter of a pioneer family that had
settled in Grand Forks Township. They had four children, Howard, Lyle, Ruth and
Shirley. The four children had 14 children of their own. Howard lives on the
farm. Olaf Hoff died at the age of 82. Anna Hoff is now living in East Grand
Forks.
John Hoff married Grace Aasland of Thief River Falls, also a daughter of
Norwegian immigrants. They had seven children, Orris, Stanley, Glenn,
Elizabeth, Jacqueline, Paul and Patricia. John Hoff died at the age of 80.
Grace Hoff died Jan. 19, 1982.
Emma Hoff married Henry Lindgren, the son of Scandinavian immigrants, and they
lived in Ester Township. They had three children, Lenora, Clarence, and
Evelyn. Evelyn died as a child. Lenora and Clarence both married and had five
children between them. Clarence took over the farm. Henry Lindgren died at the
age of 92 after having spent his entire life in Polk County. Emma still lives
in East Grand Forks and Clarence is now farming their home farm.
HOFF, O. HOWARD
SOURCE: “A Meeting of the
Reds: East Grand Forks, 1887-1987,”
2 volumes, (out of print)
V 1, P 83
O. Howard Hoff of rural East Grand Forks was born in the farm house he occupies
presently, the same farm house that his dad was born in and on the same farm
that his grandfather, Ole Hoff, homesteaded in 1878. The farm is located just
three and a half miles north of east Grand Forks and has been farmed all these
years by three generations of Hoff’s, his grandfather, his dad and now himself.
Howard was born July 13, 1924 to Olaf and Anna Hoff (both deceased), the oldest
of four children. He grew up in the depression years and attended Sunnyside #2,
a rural county schoolhouse, the first eight years and then attended and
graduated from East Grand Forks Central. After service in Europe in World War
II, he returned home and attended one year at N. D. A. C. in Fargo, N.D., before
talking over farming.
He married Agnes M. Ertman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Reinhold Ertman of Neche,
N.D. on Nov. 23, 1947 in Grand Marais Church, rural East Grand Forks. Agnes
grew up and was educated in Neche, a small town near the Canadian border.
Howard has served on the local township board for 35 years, on the church board,
on the Farmers Elevator board for 30 years and currently is on the board of the
Valley Memorial Homes.
Agnes and Howard have two children; Linda Hoff, East Grand Forks and James,
Minneapolis, and one granddaughter, MaLissa, the daughter of James, also of East
Grand Forks.
After 40 years of farming, Agnes and Howard are in the process of retiring to
devote more time to travel and fishing and to keeping up the farm home.
submitted
Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
HOFF, STANLEY
SOURCE: “A Meeting of the Reds: East Grand
Forks, 1887-1987,”
2 volumes, (out of print)
V 1, Page 84
Stanley James Hoff, the son of John and Grace Hoff, was born in East Grand Forks
on March 4, 1920. He graduated from Central High School in 1937. In 941 he
entered the Army, serving in the Pacific during World War II until 1945. On
June 10, 1951, he married Colleen Ann Bridgeford, the daughter of Gordon and
Lillian Bridgeford of rural East Grand Forks.
Colleen was born on April 20, 1927 and graduated from Central High School in
1944. She has been emplyed as a bookkeeper for the Farmers Coop Marketing Ass’n
for many years.
Stanley Hoff has been a farmer all his life and retired in 1986. They have two
children: Julie Ann, born Nov. 15, 1954 and Joan Leslie, born May 26, 1960.
Julie married Bryan Alkema on Dec. 21, 1984 and resides in Steamboat Springs,
Colo. Joan married Kevin J. Mork on June 30, 1984, and they reside in Grand
Forks, N.D. They have a son, James Stanley, born Feb. 28, 1987.
submitted
Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
HOGENSON,
HOGEN B.
SOURCE: Compendium of History and Biography of Polk
County, Minnesota, Major R.I.
Holcombe, Historical Editor; William H. Bingham, General Editor; W.H. Bingham
And Company, Minneapolis, Minn.; 1916; reprinted by Higginson Book Company;
Salem Massachusetts; (book no longer copyrighted)
Library of Congress control number 16009966
This book can be ordered from Borders Book Store or from Higginson.
Both companies have web sites. The cost is about $70
and well worth the price.
pages 169-170
This useful citizen of Polk county and resident of the village of Fertile for
years met the requirements of duty as an industrious and successful home-steader
and farmer, redeeming a tract of virgin land from the wilderness and making it
fruitful with the products of systematic cultivation, and he is now engaged in
ministering to the comfort and general welfare of a large number of persons as
the United States mail carrier on Rural Route No. 2 running out of Fertile. He
was born in Norway December 27, 1859, the son of Thorsten and Guro (Hanson)
Hogenson, and passed the first thirteen years of his life in his native land.
His mother died in Norway, and in 1872 he came with his father to the United
States. They located in Olmstead county, Minnesota, where the son lived until
he reached the age of twenty-two. He then changed his residence to Polk county
and entered a homestead in Garden township. On this homestead he continued to
live and labor, breaking up and cultivating his land and making needed
improvements year after year, until August, 1905, transforming his wild claim
into a good farm and a comfortable home in his twenty-two years of residence and
well applied industry on it.
In August, 1905, he moved to Fertile and was appointed rural mail carrier on
Route No. 2, in which capacity he has ever since rendered excellent service to
the public. His farm comprises 200 acres and is well developed and improved.
While living on it Mr. Hogenson filled several township offices with credit to
himself and benefit to his township. He served as assessor, justice of the
peace, chairman of the board of supervisors and member of the school board,
taking an active part in all township affairs and helping to develop and advance
the locality by all the means available to him. His work in the township is
appreciated and the people there have high regard for him because of his genuine
worth and the service he rendered to them.
In church connection Mr. Hogenson is a Lutheran. He was married in Olmsted
county, Minnesota, June 3, 1882, to Miss Gunnhild Gunnufson, who was born and
reared in this state. She died September 8, 1914, at the age of fifty-four
years leaving eight children: Anna, Thomas, John, Christine, Ida, Clara, Helmar
and Gladys. A son named Hogen died when he was five years old. Anna became the
wife of Albert Holm and died June 20, 1908. Christine is the wife of William
Olson, who is a farmer and lives in Garden township.
submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
SOURCE: Compendium of History and Biography of Polk
County, Minnesota, Major R.I.
Holcombe, Historical Editor; William H. Bingham, General Editor; W.H. Bingham
And Company, Minneapolis, Minn.; 1916; reprinted by Higginson Book Company;
Salem Massachusetts; (book no longer copyrighted)
Library of Congress control number 16009966
This book can be ordered from Borders Book Store or from Higginson.
Both companies have web sites. The cost is about $70
and well worth the price.
HOGENSON, HOGEN MERRILL
pages 262-263
Hogen Merrill Hogenson, of Fertile, rural mail carrier and well known citizen,
was born in Rock county, Wisconsin, November 29, 1857, the son of Peter and
Sonva Hogenson, who had made the long trip across the waters from their native
land of Norway to this county in a sailing vessel, taking several months to make
the voyage. In 1863, When Hogen Hogenson was a lad of six years, the family
removed to Olmstead county, where Peter Hogenson located on land devoted his
attention to the development of a farm. The parents made their home on the
homestead during the remainder of their lives. H.M. Hogenson resided there
until 1880, when he took a homestead claim in Clay county, Minnesota, and proved
up on the tract, acquiring title within two years, with a cash payment for the
land. In 1886 he came to Polk county to secure more land and preempted a claim
in Garden township, filing one of the last preemptions permitted under the law.
Here he engaged in the arduous labor of cleari!
ng and cultivating the wild land, working during the first years without a team
and then became the owner of a yoke of oxen. For seventeen years he gave his
attention to agricultural pursuits and built up a prosperous farm property which
he left in 1903 to remove to Fertile, where he has since made his home. For a
time he was employed draying and other occupations and in October, 1905, secured
his appointment as rural mail carrier and for ten years he has continued to
capably discharge the duties of this position, which entails the
responsibilities of a twenty-eight mile route, through Garfield, Woodside and
Godfrey townships, with some eighty patrons, the number of deliveries each month
passing the six thousand mark. Mr. Hogenson is still interested in farm land
near Fertile, bought his present home which is one of the attractive residences
of the town. As a progressive and public spirited citizen, Mr. Hogenson has
always been identified with public activities and has e!
arned the confidence and respect of all his associates for his integrity and
ability in all phases of his career. He is widely known through his service in
official capacity, having filled the various offices in Garden township, and the
office of constable in Fertile, from which he resigned to accept his position as
mail carrier. He is a member of the Order of the Sons of Norway. Mr. Hogenson
has been three times married. His first union was with Christine J. Grimsrud,
who is survived by three children, Peter E., employed as a motorman on the
railway in St. Paul; Serena, who married Kittle Moen and resides in Dodge
county, Minnesota; and Anna, who is married and resides at Turtle Lake, North
Dakota. Mr. Hogenson’s second marriage was with Martha Johnson. His present
wife, Bertha Souders Hogenson, is a native of Ohio and of German parentage. She
is prominently associated with the social life of the community and take an
active interest in the affairs of the chu!
rch and club circles. They have one son, Max, aged eleven years. Mrs. Hogenson
is the bonded substitute for her husband on the mail route and has ably served
as such for the past two years.
submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
SOURCE: Compendium of History and Biography of Polk
County, Minnesota, Major R.I.
Holcombe, Historical Editor; William H. Bingham, General Editor; W.H. Bingham
And Company, Minneapolis, Minn.; 1916; reprinted by Higginson Book Company;
Salem Massachusetts; (book no longer copyrighted)
Library of Congress control number 16009966
This book can be ordered from Borders Book Store or from Higginson.
Both companies have web sites. The cost is about $70
and well worth the price.
HOLE, C. P.
pages 229-230
C.P. Hole, the editor of the Erskine Echo, has been successfully associated with
newspaper interests of the county for some twenty-five years. He is a native of
Norway, born October 2, 1876, the son of B.K. and Mathea Hole, and when five
hears of age accompanied his parents to the United States and to Fargo, North
Dakota. B.K. Hole was a graduate of Lille Hammer, a famous educational
institution of Norway, and had taught for a number of years in the parochial
schools of that country. In 1883, at the opening of the land of the Thirteen
Towns for settlement, he took a homestead in King township, a few miles south of
McIntosh, and brought his family to the new home in the following spring. His
activities as a pioneer farmer were of short duration, his death, from typhoid
fever, occurring in the autumn of the same year. He was survived by his wife
and three small children: C.P. Hole, who was then eight years of age; P.B. Hole,
who is now a resident of McIntosh, at the age !
of six, and Marie, then in her infancy. The latter is the wife of C.H.
Hendrickson of Moorhead. After two years spent on the homestead the mother
married Charles Johnson, a settler of Knute township, whose farm was three miles
east of the present site of Erskine. He had also been previously married, his
wife having died in their pioneer home. The Hole claim was sold and the family
received a pleasant home with their step-father on his homestead. He has now
retired from farming and with his wife makes his home in McIntosh. C.P. Hole
was reared on the Knute township farm and when fourteen years of age apprenticed
himself to the printer’s trade, entering the office of the McIntosh Tribune in
1890 and continued in the employment of the editor, P.P. Bodine, for a time,
learning the rudiments of his trade and then advanced to typesetting for Mr.
McKenzie of the Crookston Times. After completing his apprenticeship he became
the foreman of the McIntosh Times under C.T!
. Lanman, who was the editor at that time. In 1903 he made his first
independent venture in the publishing business and established the Mentor
Herald, the first and only newspaper ever published in that village. This
venture became a successful and prosperous enterprise and Mr. Hole continued the
sheet for several months after becoming the editor of the Erskine Echo and then
consolidated the two papers and covers the combined circulation with the Echo.
His plant is fully equipped with a power press and type setting machine and is
one of the competent and popular country printing offices of the county. Mr.
Hole has devoted every interest of his career to his paper and with intelligent
appreciation of the responsibilities of his profession and the power of the
press in public welfare is ably advancing the best interests of the county. He
is also identified with public activities in an official capacity as recorder of
the village, a member of the school board and the chief!
of the fire department. His marriage to Edna Wadekamper, of Mentor, occurred
May 4, 1905. She is a native of Ottertail county and is of German and Norwegian
parentage. Five children have been born to this union, Earl, Ethel, Loren, Ray
and Kenneth.
submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
HOLTE, HELVOR, M.D.
SOURCE: Compendium of History and Biography of Polk
County, Minnesota, Major R.I.
Holcombe, Historical Editor; William H. Bingham, General Editor; W.H. Bingham
And Company, Minneapolis, Minn.; 1916; reprinted by Higginson Book Company;
Salem Massachusetts; (book no longer copyrighted)
Library of Congress control number 16009966
This book can be ordered from Borders Book Store or from Higginson.
Both companies have web sites. The cost is about $70
and well worth the price.
pages 193-194
This pioneer physician and surgeon of Crookston, who is widely and favorably
known as a professional man of extensive attainments and skill and a citizen of
great enterprise, public spirit and progressiveness, is a native of the city of
Stavanger, Norway, where his life began July 11, 1857, and where he lived until
he reached the age of sixteen years. In 1873 he came to the United States with
his parents and located with them on a farm in Fillmore county, Minnesota.
Dr. Holte remained with his parents and assisted them on the farm for a number
of years. He then entered St. Olaf college, at Northfield, this state, and in
1893 was graduated from the medical department of the University of Minnesota.
He at once began practicing his profession with Crookston as his headquarters,
and he has since then been continuously engaged in an active practice with
special attention to the surgical branch of the profession. He has served as
county physician of Polk county and is now secretary of the Tuberculosis
Sanitarium Commission for Polk and Norman counties.
In 1897 Dr. Holte built the Bethesda Hospital in Crookston, and for a number of
years thereafter he was in active control of it. This valued institution is now
owned by the Bethesda Hospital Association of Crookston and is conducted by the
organization known as the Lutheran Deaconesses. Dr. Holte is a member of the
state, county and Red River Valley medical societies and the American Medical
Association. He is also a member of the American Public Heath Association, and
director of the Minnesota Public Health Association, and in business circles is
a director of the Scandia-American Bank of Crookston and the Crookston
Commercial club. His religious affiliation is with the English United Lutheran
church, and he is one of the deacons of the congregation in which he holds his
membership. On September 25, 1902, he was united in marriage with Miss Henrietta
Lunde, of Franklin, Minnesota. [see note below] They have three children, Harold
Oliver, Evelyn Irene and Junius Augusten. With nearly a quarter of a century of
upright and serviceable living among this people, during all of which he has
always been at their command for high-grade professional work, it is not
surprising that Dr. Holte is universally esteemed throughout the Northwest, and
the fact that he is creditable alike to him and to the people among whom he has
lived and labored so long and to such good purpose.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: There are at least four places called “Franklin” in
Minnesota: Franklin Township in Itasca County, Franklin city in Renville County,
Franklin city in St. Louis County and Franklin Township in Wright County.
submitted
Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
HOLTEN, HON. John
pages 260-261
SOURCE: Compendium of History and Biography of Polk
County, Minnesota, Major R.I.
Holcombe, Historical Editor; William H. Bingham, General Editor; W.H. Bingham
And Company, Minneapolis, Minn.; 1916; reprinted by Higginson Book Company;
Salem Massachusetts; (book no longer copyrighted)
Library of Congress control number 16009966
This book can be ordered from Borders Book Store or from Higginson.
Both companies have web sites. The cost is about $70
and well worth the price.
pages 193-194
Hon. John Holten, of Fertile, an eminent citizen, businessman and statesman of Polk County, was born at Sundahl, Norway, September 18, 1849, and grew to manhood in his native land. In 1872 he came to the United States and settled in Winneshiek County, Iowa, where he spent seven years before coming to Minnesota and taking a homestead claim in Norman County. There he was active in public affairs and in the organization of Sundahl Township, which upon his petition, received its name from his old home in Norway and he also served as the first township clerk and assessor. His father, John J. Holten, had come to Iowa in 1873 and joined his son in Norman County, making his home on an adjoining homestead where he continued to reside until his death, February 16, 1910, at the age of eighty-six years. The death of his wife occurred some two years earlier, in her ninety-first year. Mr. Holten’s career as a merchant dates from the start of the village of Fertile, when in partnership Mr. Carlson he engaged in the agricultural machinery business. The usual success and extensive operations of this firm has set a worthy pace for the rapid growth of the town; from a business started with but capital sufficient for the freight charges on a carload of machinery, it has advanced to a twenty thousand dollar stock and totals the annual sales of forty thousand. In 1886 Mr. Holten had become a wheat buyer at Twin Valley and in December of that year transferred his operations to Fertile and this enterprise continued to receive his attention for a number of years, the management of the store being left to his partner, Mr. Carlson. In 1892 the latter removed to Tennessee and Mr. Holten became sole owner of the business, two years later adding a stock of general merchandise. Mr. Carlson returned to Fertile in 1897 and the old relation was again resumed and the firm has since continued as Holten & Carlson. They are the owners of the attractive business block which they occupy, one of the largest in Fertile, and the adjoining building which was formerly utilized for farm machinery, a department which was discontinued in 1915, the firm interests now being directed solely to a general mercantile trade. Mr. Holten is still the owner of his Norman County homestead which comprises 220 acres and, in partnership with Mr. Carlson, owns a quarter section of land four miles north of Fertile. Mr. Holten’s achievements have not been confined to the private interests of the business world but his talent and attention has been given freely for the benefit of the public welfare and progress where the worth of his service has marked him as a leader in the activities of the commonwealth. His influence has been prominent in the furthering of all civic improvements and as president of the Fair association; he has assisted in putting the Fertile fair on equally notable basis with the County fair at Crookston. In local offices he has filled the positions of village treasurer, village recorder, and a member of the board of education for fourteen years, the last six of which he was president of the board and for three terms has been president of the town council. In 1907 his field of service was widened through his election to the lower house of the State Legislature as representative from the sixty second district. An issue of that election was the county option law and he made his stand as a staunch defender of temperance, in which cause he ahs always been a valiant fighter. He was re-elected for a second term and in 1911 without making a personal campaign for favor, and was again returned to office, receiving a larger majority from his fellow voters than in previous elections. His activity and ability as a legislator brought his a wide reputation and the confidence and high regard of his constituents. During his membership in the House he served on numerous important committees, on the State Prison and Reform Committee, the several committees regulating commerce and retail trade, public lands and the state fair and in 1911 was chairman of the drainage committee and was appropriation commissioner for roads and bridges. He also sat in the special session of 1912. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1913 and has given his attention to his business interests. Mr. Holten is a member of the Sons of Norway and of the United Lutheran Church and has given faithful service as a trustee in that congregation for many years. His favorite recreation is found in out of door life and he has collected many trophies which attest to his skill as a hunter and fisherman. Mr. Holten was married in 1892, to Elina Hoff, of Battle Lake, Ottertail County, and they have a family of two sons and five daughters; John Chester, who is associated with his father in the mercantile business; Melvin Stanley, employed in the Citizens State Bank; Frances, who is a student in the Norman School at St. Cloud; Esther and Agnes, members of the high school classes of 1916 and 1917, and Lillian and Ena.
submitted June 2004 Jon Raymond
HOSS, Joe
Source: The book "Fertile: Hub of the Sand Hill Valley" has this info on a Hoss family:
**p. 35 lists Joe Hoss as an early member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
**p. 36 lists Kankel & Hoss as receiving mail at the Fertile post office in
1907.
**p. 46 lists Kankel & Hoss Roller Mills.
**p. 96 has an ad for Rindahl Bros. which says "We sell and recommend Kankel &
Hoss' Best Patent Flour".
The book "Garfield: The First 100 Years" does not mention the name Hoss.
submitted March 2004 [email protected]
HOTVEDT, PETER A.
SOURCE: Compendium of History and Biography of Polk
County, Minnesota, Major R.I.
Holcombe, Historical Editor; William H. Bingham, General Editor; W.H. Bingham
And Company, Minneapolis, Minn.; 1916; reprinted by Higginson Book Company;
Salem Massachusetts; (book no longer copyrighted)
Library of Congress control number 16009966
This book can be ordered from Borders Book Store or from Higginson.
Both companies have web sites. The cost is about $70
and well worth the price.
pages 373-375
The late Peter A. Hotvedt, who made a quarter of Section 8, Sullivan township,
and some other land into choice farms, well improved and highly productive, and
who became one of the leading citizens of his township, began his career in this
county with almost nothing in the way of capital, continued it through many
difficulties and rendered every step of it one of progress and service to his
locality. He was born in Portage county, Wisconsin, February 26, 1856, and died
on his Sullivan township farm July 22, 1905. On April 1, 1878, in company with
his brother, Nels Hotvedt and O.T. Onneland, he came to the Red river valley,
whose promise had been painted in glowing colors to his two companions while
they were working on farms in Fillmore county, Minnesota, by a traveling
merchant tailor.
Each of the three adventurers selected a homestead, Peter A. Hotvedt taking the
southwest quarter, his brother Nels the southeast quarter and Mr. Onneland the
northeast quarter of Section 8, in Sullivan township. They decided to pool
their issues and built a shanty nine by fourteen feet in size on the line
between the homesteads of Nels Hotvedt and Mr. Onneland, with a bed on each side
of the one room. They then cut basswood logs on railroad land on the Red river
five miles away, and with them they built a house fourteen by eighteen feet for
Peter, who had been married the year previous. The three had about $300 among
them and they bought two yoke of oxen at $125 a yoke. The two bachelors slept
in their own house but boarded with Peter after the arrival of his wife and
first child. The wife was Clarissa Lind before her marriage, and they were
married young. Soon after they settled here Andrew Anderson, who had been their
neighbor in Wisconsin, homesteaded on the remai!
ning quarter of Section 8.
A little later Mr. Hotvedt bought eighty acres of railroad land in Section 9 at
$6 an acre, with a rebate of $3 for each acre he should break up, and his
brother and Mr. Onneland made similar deals. Peter passed his time on his land
until the death of his first wife five years after she came to this country, and
for some time longer, his sister keeping house for him. He then passed two
years keeping store at East Grand Forks, but in 1889 returned to his farm and
remained on it the rest of his life. He served as township clerk for several
years and in other ways rendered good service to the people, as he was always
interested in their welfare and ready to aid in promoting it.
By his firs marriage Mr. Hotvedt became the father of two sons and one daughter,
William L., Charles and Gertrude. Charles is now a resident of Rocky Ford,
Colorado, but still owns a farm near the family homestead. Gertrude died in
infancy. William was born in Portage county, Wisconsin, March 31, 1878, and was
reared on the Sullivan township farm. He attended school in the country near
his home and at East Grand Forks, and was with his father until the death of the
latter except during five years which he passed on a homestead he took up in
Marshall county, Minnesota, 1899, which he still owns and now devotes to raising
hay. [see footnote] He also owns 160 acres near his old home, the father
assisting him in the purchase of it, as he aided the other son in making a
similar purchase. They all worked together with their father, and the two sons
remained in partnership for two years after the father’s death.
William withdrew to his own farm at the end of the partnership and Charles
worked the home farm until 1909, when William returned to it and Charles works
his own farm, the home place and Charles’ farm, 560 acres in all, and raises
large quantities of grain and other products, his crops in 1915 being more than
10,000 bushels of grain and a great output of potatoes from the twenty to thirty
acres devoted to that vegetable. He also plants a few acres in corn and keeps a
number of cattle of good strains and raises his own horses, having three
four-horse teams with which he plows and does other work.
Mr. Hotvedt is a Democrat in his political faith and allegiance, and is at
present (1915) a justice of the peace. His father was a Republican in the early
life but became a Democrat before he died. By a second marriage he became the
father of four children, Gertude M., Clara, Walter and Arthur. Gertrude married
O.E. Bjoring and died at the age of twenty-five, leaving a daughter, Margaret,
who lives with her grandmother. Clara, Walter and Arthur are living at home.
Clara has been a teacher in the schools in North Dakota. She was educated in
Grand Forks, pursuing the summer normal course and also a course in business
training. For two years she was employed as a stenographer in Grand Forks.
Peter A. Hotvedt’s second marriage took place in East Grand Forks, November 28,
1888, and with him Miss Mary Bergman. His venture in merchantile life was an
unfortunate one. The business was conducted largely on credit and turned out
disastrously. When he died his estate was heavily encumbered, but his widow
displayed rare business ability as the head of affairs, and within a few years
had all the indebtedness paid off and the new buildings now standing on the farm
erected. She assumed a weighty burden with the heroic fortitude of a Spartan
woman and bore it to a triumphant release with the selfdenial of a devotee and
the skill of a veteran financier.
NOTE: There is no mention of Charles in the Marshall County book.
submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
HOTVEDT,
PETER
SOURCE: “A Meeting of the
Reds: East Grand Forks, 1887-1987,”
Two Volumes, (out of print), Dr. Stephen Sylvester,
East Grand Forks Centennial Committee,
East Grand Forks, Minnesota, copyright 1988
Volume one, page 87
Peter Hotvedt was born in Portage County, Wisc. In 1856. In April 1878 in
company with his brother, Nels, and O.T. Onneland he came to the Red River
Valley.
They each selected a homestead on Section 8 in Sullivan Township and built log
cabins. The two bachelors slept in their own house, but boarded with Peter
after the arrival of his wife, Clarrisa Lind, and first child, William. Later
they had two other children, Charles and Gertrude. Gertrude died in infancy.
Peter bought 80 acres of railroad land in Section 9 at $6.00 an acre with a
rebate of $3 for each acre broken up. His brother and O.T. made similar deals.
Peter farmed until Clarissa died, just five years after she came to this
country. He then opened a general mercantile store in East Grand Forks in about
1884, but was forced to close as business was conducted mostly on credit, and he
returned to farming.
He married a second time, to Mary Bergman of Sweden and they had four children:
Gertrude, Clara, Walter and Arthur. Gertrude married Orrin Bjoring of Bemidji,
Minn. She died at the age of 25 leaving a daughter, Margaret, who lived with
her grandmother and family. Clarra married twice, but had no children and she
died during the 1918 flu epidemic.
Peter died in 1905 on his Sullivan Township farm. When he died his estate was
heavily encumbered, but his widow displayed rare business abilities as head of
affairs and within a few years had all the indebtedness paid off and new
buildings erected with the help of her two step-sons, William and Charles.
Walter married Pearl Cariveau East Grand Forks and had two children, Paul and
Mary. Arthur never married.
After two years at the University of Minnesota and two years in the armed
services, Paul farmed with his dad and later on his own.
Walter was active in community affairs, township and school boards, Farmers
Elevator and also in antique cars. He died in 1975. Since that time, Pearl has
been active in many different projects including the Red Cross and the East
Grand Forks Senior Center. She also keeps Walter’s 1926 Studebaker shined for
parades and car shows.
submitted
Jan 20, 2003
Jon Raymond
SOURCE: Compendium of History and Biography of Polk
County, Minnesota, Major R.I.
Holcombe, Historical Editor; William H. Bingham, General Editor; W.H. Bingham
And Company, Minneapolis, Minn.; 1916; reprinted by Higginson Book Company;
Salem Massachusetts; (book no longer copyrighted)
Library of Congress control number 16009966
This book can be ordered from Borders Book Store or from Higginson.
Both companies have web sites. The cost is about $70
and well worth the price.
HOVE,
JOHANNES R.
pages 220-221
Johannes R. Hove, of Queen township, a prosperous farmer and influential citizen
of the county, was born in Norway, March 22, 1855. He spent his boyhood on a
farm and was educated in the public schools of his native land. In 1882 he came
to the United States and lived during the first year in Worth county, Iowa, and
then removed to Polk county. Here he preempted land on section seven of Queen
township and after proving up on this land, six months later, in December, 1883,
he took a homestead claim in section twelve of Brandsvold township, just across
the township line from the first farm. With the exception of marsh tracts, all
of this land was covered with heavy timber, for the most part, poplar, and with
thrifty enterprise and unceasing industry, he has put practically all of the
three hundred and twenty acres under cultivation. During the early stages of
the development of the farm, he employed various means of support, working
during the harvest seasons in Dakota a!
nd selling wood which he hauled to Fosston, receiving from one dollar and a
quarter to two dollars a cord for it. Mr. Hove has devoted his life to his
farming interests and with intelligent study of every phase of his occupation
and able management, has developed on of the finest farms in the county. He has
installed an adequate ditching system which with a county ditch has reclaimed
some sixty-seven acres of slough land. The comfortable country home was erected
eight years ago and in every particular, the farm demonstrates the successful
application of modern and progressive agricultural methods. The large new barn
in thoroughly equipped with especial regard for winter feeding; the extensive
watering system including troughs in the barn. He gives his attention to grain
and stock raising, breeding short horn cattle and has met with unvaried success
in every enterprise and has never known a crop failure, on field yielding, in
1904, forty bushels of wheat to the acre. He!
has established equally high records in the dairy business, in which he engages
extensively, having realized, in one month, $173.50 from dairy produce, with a
herd of fifteen cows, beside what was required for family consumption. He is
the largest producer in the Olga cooperative creamery, of which he was an
original stock holder. Mr. Hove has been prominently associated with the
promotion of the best interests of the community in which he lives and was
actively identified with the organization of both Queen and Brandsvold
townships. He has been a faithful supporter of the Brandsvold united Lutheran
church since its organization, in which he took an active part and has given
efficient service for many years as a church officer. His marriage to Betsy A.
Yerstad was solemnized in his home in Queen township, in 1887, by the Reverend
Rude of Fosston. She was born in Norway in 1858 and was reared in the same
neighborhood with her husband. They have a family of six children!
, Lena, Sonva, Olaf, Roy, Hans and Johanna.
submitted
Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
SOURCE: Compendium of History and Biography of Polk
County, Minnesota, Major R.I.
Holcombe, Historical Editor; William H. Bingham, General Editor; W.H. Bingham
And Company, Minneapolis, Minn.; 1916; reprinted by Higginson Book Company;
Salem Massachusetts; (book no longer copyrighted)
Library of Congress control number 16009966
This book can be ordered from Borders Book Store or from Higginson.
Both companies have web sites. The cost is about $70
and well worth the price.
HUSBY, Gunner
page 145
Gunner Husby, a retired farmer and well known citizen of King township, now residing at McIntosh, was born in Norway, April 13, 1852. He remained in his native land until thirty-one years of age, when he came to the United States and in the spring of 1882 took a homestead claim on section eight of King township in Polk County. He immediately engaged in the development of his land and devoted the efforts and interests of his successful farming career to this farm, building up one of the most prosperous properties of the section. In 1914, after many years of business activity, he sold the homestead and has since made his home at McIntosh. As one of the early setters of the township he has been prominently identified with public affairs and has taken an active interest in the promotion of the general welfare. He has capably discharged the duties of various local offices to which he has been elected and has served as a member of the school board and township board. Mr. Husby is a member of the St. Johns Lutheran church. He was married in Norway, to Marit Haaven and they have seven children, Magnhild, Louis, Peter, John, Ingvar, Gertrude and Gottfried.
submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
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