"History of Cottonwood and Watonwan Counties of Minnesota, 1916"



One of the most progressive citizens of Watonwan county is J. K. Sonnesyn, who has worked his way up from a modest beginning, having landed in the New World from a foreign strand, "A youth to fortune and to fame unknown". He has ascended the ladder step by step until he has reached a position of no mean importance, by his individual efforts, which have been practically unaided from boyhood.

Mr. Sonnesyn was born in Norway, April 15, 1858, and is a son of Christopher Nitter Sonnesyn and Ingrid Sonnesyn, both of whom lived and died in Norway. He grew to manhood and received his education in Norway. In 1882 he set sail for America, taking up his residence in Madelia, Minnesota, where he worked in the general mercantile establishment of Bisby, Olson & Boynton, remaining there until the spring of 1886, when he came to St. James and opened a general store, and has been engaged in-general mercantile pursuits ever since at the same stand. He was successful from the first and has enjoyed a large and steadily increasing patronage. He has carried at all seasons an extensive and carefully-selected stock of goods, and many of his first customers are still trading with him, which fact would indicate that they have received honest and courteous treatment. He has been very successful in a business way, and was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of St. James, and has been a heavy stockholder and a director in the same since its organization, and is now president of the same. The pronounced success of this sound, conservative and popular institution has been due to his able management and commendable methods. In 1906 he organized the Twin City Oil Company of Minneapolis and has since been president of the same, which has proven to be a most fortunate venture. He also organized the Sonnesyn-Sundt Company, a general mercantile corporation of Velva, North Dakota, in 1910, and has since been president of the same.

Mr. Sonnesyn was married in 1896 to Anna Sophia Fuhr, of Moorhead, Minnesota, and to their union four children have been born, namely: Carl, Ingrid, Ruth, Jenette. They are all living at this writing.

Politically, Mr. Sonnesyn is a Republican. He has been a member of the local board of education for eight years, and president of the same for the past five years. He has done much to encourage better schools, and, in fact, he is one of the most influential of our citizens for the general welfare and upbuilding of St. James. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and is a Knight Templar. He belongs to the Norwegian Lutheran church.

Return to Watonwan Co. AHGP

� 2005 Watonwan County Minnesota AHGP