Lyon County Biographies
"An Illustrated History of Lyon County"
Below are biographies from the 1912 "An Illustrated History of Lyon County".
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*The date in parentheses following the name of each subject is the year of arrival to Lyon county.
HENRY FREESE (1878). One of the most prosperous and widely known farmers of Lyon county is Henry Freese, of Lake Marshall township, who has been a resident of Lyon county over thirty years. He was born in the province of West Fahlen, Germany, September 6, 1839, the son of Herman and Minnie (Tosbach) Freese. He attended school in the land of his nativity until fourteen years of age, after which he worked out at farm labor two years. He then immigrated to the United States, settling at Fort Madison, Iowa, where he worked as a wood-chopper and at farm labor eighteen months. Later he went to Madison, Wisconsin, where he worked three years in a nursery and at farm labor.
In 1862 Mr. Freese enlisted in Company D, Twenty-third Wisconsin Infantry, as a volunteer. He was mustered in August, 1862, and mustered out in May, 1865. He took an active part in several battles, including the battle of Vicksburg. After the war he moved to Minnesota, locating in Sibley county, near Le Sueur, where he purchased 240 acres of land, selling out six months later. He then purchased an eighty acre tract in the same county, later adding forty acres more, and making that his home until 1878.
In the last named year Mr. Freese moved to Lyon county and homesteaded land in Island Lake township, also taking a tree claim and a pre-emption, making him 480 acres of real estate. He farmed that eighteen months. He then purchased the eighty acres upon which the Marshall fair grounds are now located, on section 8, Lake Marshall township. Later he became the owner of section 7, Lake Marshall township, the west half of which he still owns, and the east half of which he sold to his sons, Noah Walter and George Arthur. Mr. Freese is a member of the German Evangelical church and the G. A. R., D. F. Markham Post No. 7, of Marshall. He was a school officer in Sibley county for several years and also in Lyon county, of district No. 9. He is a shareholder in the Lyon County Agricultural Society and owns several lots in Long Beach, California, where he spends his winters.
Mr. Freese was married in 1868 to Sarah Schmitt, a daughter of Christian Schmitt, of Kasson, Dodge county, Minnesota. To Mr. and Mrs. Freese were born the following named children: William, Arthur, Mary (Mrs. L. C. Moyer), Lydia (Mrs. A. J. Abernathy), Lawrence, Noah, Edward, Rollin, Elsie and two who died in infancy. Mrs. Freese died May 4, 1911.
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THOMAS NELSON (1872) is one of the Custer township farmers who came to the county in the early days, when the settlers were few and when the nearest trading points were New Ulm and Redwood Falls. He remembers how the farm work was done with the aid of oxen and that the trips to New Ulm after supplies took at least a week. Mr. Nelson of late years has been leaving much of the management of the farm to his son Edwin and has been enjoying a deserved rest from active cares.
Norway is the native home of Thomas Nelson and he was born in September, 1833, a son of Nels and Sarah (Yoe) Nelson, both of whom are dead. Thomas received his education in Norway and at the age of sixteen commenced to learn the carpenter's trade, which occupation he followed for several years. Later, for a period of years, the young man served in the army.
Coming to America in 1865, the subject of our sketch located in Decorah, Iowa, where he worked at his trade a few years; then he moved to Rochester, Minnesota, and followed the same line of work. In the spring of 1872 Mr. Nelson moved to Lyon county, locating in Custer township and taking as a homestead the southwest quarter of section 34. In addition to general farming, Mr. Nelson takes much pride in his herd of Hereford cattle and in his Duroc-Jersey swine. He is a stockholder in the Farmers Independent Elevator Company of Garvin and in the Garvin Telephone Company.
In 1872 Thomas Nelson was married to Karen Evanson, a native of Norway. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are the parents of four children, Henry, Neil, Edwin and Emma (Mrs. Christ Nelson), of Garvin. Mr. Nelson is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran church of Monroe township, of which he was at one time treasurer.
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JAMES J. THOMAS (1871), who now lives a retired life in Tracy, is one of the very oldest of the settlers of southeastern Lyon county. He came when a boy thirteen years old, forty-one years ago, and has spent the best part of his life as a resident of Lyon county. He has seen the country develop from a wild and almost uninhabited prairie to one of the most prosperous communities of Minnesota.
In the county of Allegany, Maryland, on the twenty-seventh day of May, 1858, James J. Thomas was born. When a child he was taken by his parents to Wisconsin, lived there a short time, and thereafter lived a few years respectively in Rock Island county, Illinois, and Blue Earth county, Minnesota. In the spring of 1871 the family came to Lyon county and the father purchased from Zibe Ferguson a homestead claim on section 4, Custer township.
At the time of the arrival of the Thomas family there were only ten or twelve families in the vicinity, on the Cottonwood river. Among them were James Mitchell, Sr., Charles Grover, Lafayette Grover, George Robinson, Ogan Johnson, Clark Goodrich, Landy Soward, John Avery, Henry Masters, Charles Dailey and Horace Rahdalh. On the Thomas claim was a rude log shanty. Lumber was hauled from Mankato with ox teams and an addition was made and the shanty otherwise improved. This served as the family home until a modern building was erected in 1892.
James Thomas spent his early days en the claim. From 1880 to 1883 he was located in the western territories; then he returned and took the management of the home farm, which he and his brother Joseph had purchased. They later added to their holdings by purchase until they have a farm of 560 acres. Mr. Thomas remained on the old farm until 1910, when he retired from active pursuits and located in Tracy.
Olive A. Olson, a native of Wisconsin, became the wife of Mr. Thomas, the ceremony having been performed in Sodus township on August 16, 1893. Mrs. Thomas is the daughter of Tollef Olson, one of the early settlers of Sodus township and now a resiident of Balaton. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have two children, Grace and Lloyd.
Benjamin B. Thomas was the father of James Thomas. He was born in Wales and came to the United States when eighteen years of age. He married Catherine Jones, who was also born in Wales and who came to America at the age of eight years. Both died on the Custer township farm. The children of this family are as follows: Margaret Hughes, of Garvin; Fen F., of Garvin; Ruth (Mrs. Reese Price), of Tracy; James
J., Joseph B., of Garvin; and Anna (Mrs. Richard Hughes), deceased.
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CHARLES W. GOODRICH (1876) has been a continuous resident of Grandview township since coming to the county in 1876.
He was born in Lake City, Wabasha county, Minnesota, August 26, 1861. His parents, William I. and Margaret (Boody) Goodrich, natives of Connecticut and Massachusetts, respectively, settled in Wabasha county in 1856 and resided there until 1875. That year they moved to California for a residence of one year before coming to Lyon county.
In the spring of 1876 the father took a homestead on the southeast quarter of section 12, Grandview township. There the family made their home until 1891, when they moved to Marshall, and there made their home until Mrs. Goodrich's death in 1894. Since that time Mr. Goodrich has lived with a son in Louisiana. He is a veteran of the Civil War, having been a member of Company M, First Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment. He served thirteen months and was honorably discharged on account of ill health.
The subject of this sketch attended the common schools of Wabasha county in his youth and later went to school in California one year. He resided with his parents after coming to Lyon county until 1882 and then purchased land in Grandview township and started farming for himself. After six years on the place he sold out and rented three years, later purchasing his father's farm. In 1903 he sold one eighty and has since that time conducted the remaining eighty acres. He has a well improved piece of land and raises considerable stock. For several years Mr. Goodrich was road overseer of the township.
On February 24, 1881, occurred the marriage of Mr. Goodrich and Lizzie Williams, a native of Grant county, Wisconsin. She was born August 4, 1863, and died March 4, 1904. To this union were born six children, two of whom, Ethel and John, are living at home with their father. The others died in infancy.
Mr. Goodrich is a member of the Baptist church of Minneota. Fraternally he is allied with the Modern Woodmen lodge of Marshall.
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LOUIS RIALSON (1872), a business man of Tracy, is one of the oldest settlers of southeastern Lyon county, having resided there continuously for the past forty years. In the early days he took part in many of the history-making events, assisting in the organization of Monroe township and holding several offices under the township government, and in later years he has been identified with the political and business life of his community to a considerable extent.
The birth of our subject occurred in Green county, Wisconsin, January 11, 1851, and in that county he lived until coming to Lyon county in 1872 at the age of twenty-one years. He is of Norwegian parentage, both his parents, Rile and Lucy Evanson, having come from the old country. He has two brothers, Andrew and 6le. The former lives in Kandiyohi county and is a former member of the Minnesota Legislature.
Louis Rialson drove from his former home in Green county, Wisconsin, to Lyon county, arriving during the month of June, 1872, and at once filed a homestead claim to the southwest quarter of section 22, Monroe township, a short distance west of the present city of Tracy. But at the time of his arrival there was no Tracy, no railroad in the county, and the only settlers in the vicinity were the families of Ole Anderson, Ole Helgeson, Andrew Christianson and Kittel Christopherson. The first year our subject lived in a sod house which stood on the claim of his brother, Ole, on the southeast quarter of section 23. Ole Rialson had filed his claim in the spring of 1872 but did not make permanent residence thereon until that fall.
For some little time the trading point for these early settlers was Currie, but later, when the railroad was built, limited supplies could be procured at Saratoga, near the present site of Amiret, and within a short time Tracy was founded. Mr. Rialson assisted in the organization of Monroe township and suggested its name, in honor of the county seat of Green county, Wisconsin. This occurred in January, 1874. During the dark days of the grasshopper scourge Mr. Rialson continued to make his home on the
claim and his family remained there continuously, but he was obliged to seek work elsewhere to make both ends meet. During the summer season he worked for his brothers, Evan and Andrew, at Norway Lake, north of Willmar.
From the time he took the claim forty years ago until 1906 Mr. Rialson lived on the place and he still farms it, although he now makes his home in Tracy. For a number of years before moving to town he had been engaged in the mercantile business in company with A. R. Thompson and the partners also dealt in coal. He has continued the business since moving to Tracy and in August, 1911, he bought the Sleepy Eye elevator and now deals in grain, coal, feed and salt. When he engaged in the new line of business he admitted his son, Edward, as a partner and the business is now conducted under the firm name of Rialson & Son.
Of Monroe township Mr. Rialson served as assessor several terms. He has been alderman of Tracy three terms and is now serving his third term as a member of the Board of Education.
Mr. Rialson was married in Marshall in July, 1874, to Bertha Ellofson, a native of Norway. They have eight children, named as follows: George, Minnie, Ella, John, Freddie, Clara, Edward and Lilly.
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GUSTAV LEDEL (1873) has lived in Nordland township since he was a boy eight years of age. He was born in Namsos, Trondhjem, Norway, April 1, 1865, and the year following his birth was brought by his parents to America. The family farmed in Racine county, Wisconsin, four years, in Dallas county. Iowa, three years, and in 1873 they came in a prairie schooner to Lyon county.
The father took as a homestead claim the southeast quarter of section 24, Nordland township, and on that place Gustav grew, to manhood and has ever since resided. He worked for his father until a man grown and for the past twenty years has had charge of the farm. For three years Mr. Ledel served as township assessor and he was road overseer for eight or ten years. He is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran church.
Ole A. Ledel, the father of our subject, died April 30, 1912, at the age of eighty-four years. Josepha (Spellum) Ledel, his mother, still lives on the old Nordland homestead and is sixty-eight years of age. Gustav is the oldest of a family of three boys and five girls. The other children are Matilda (Mrs. H. R. Hanson), Nellie, Josie (Mrs. Chris Bang), Annie M. (Mrs. Gus Peterson), Adolph, of Minneapolis; Annie and Olaf, who are deceased.
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ANDREW HELLIKSON (1875), of Westerheim township, is a pioneer of Lyon county and a man who is conversant with much of its early history. He has been a continuous resident for the past thirty-seven years and has seen his part of the county develop from a wild prairie state into one of the richest agricultural districts of Minnesota.
Norway is the native land of Mr. Hellikson and he was born March 16, 1835. He came to America with his parents in 1842, lived for some years in Walworth county, Wisconsin, and later near Blue Mounds, Dane county, whence he came to Lyon county in 1875. Upon his arrival he took a pre-emption and a tree claim on section 18, Vallers
township, lived there two years, and then moved to his present location in Westerheim.
He paid $300 to Olaf Orsen for a tree claim, on which ten acres had been broken but on which no buildings had been erected. There were then only a few settlers in Westerheim and his nearest neighbor was Gula Peterson. Mr. Hellikson improved the farm and has ever since made his home thereon. He has prospered and is today the owner of 480 acres of fertile Lyon county soil. Many hardships were encountered in the early- days. Mr. Hellikson remembers a trip he made in March, 1881 (the year of the deep snow); no trains were yet in operation and the ground was covered with several feet of snow. He made the trip from Ghent to Sleepy Eye on snow shoes, it taking him three days to make the journey.
Mr. Hellikson is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran church of Minneota. He is one who assisted in the organization of school district No. 3 and he was a director of the district one year.
The parents of our subject were Hellik and Sarah Hellikson. They took a home-
stead claim in Jackson county, Minnesota, near the village of Brewster, in 1873 and resided on the farm until their deaths. They are buried in the Heron Lake cemetery.
The marriage of Andrew Hellikson to Inger Cliffgard occurred in Prairie township, Dane county, Wisconsin, March 31, 1860. She was born in Norway and came to the United States at the age of twenty-two years. Eight children were born to this union, of whom the following named three are living: Sarah (Mrs. Knud Kjorness), of Minneota; Mrs. John E. Berg, wife of a farmer of Westerheim township; and Anton, who lives on the home farm.
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VIRGIL B. SEWARD (1879) has been engaged in the practive of law in Marshall for the past thirty-three years. He was born on a farm near Larwill, in Whitley county, Indiana, October 4, 1853. When he was less than two years of age, in May, 1855, he accompanied his parents to Mankato, Minnesota, and practically his entire life has been passed as a resident of Southern Minnesota. He was educated in the Mankato public schools and in the University of Minnesota. Later he studied law at Mankato under M. G. Willard and at Stillwater under Congressman J. N. Castle. Mr. Seward was admitted to the bar in September, 1878, practised at Mankato until the spring of 1879, and then took up his residence in Marshall.
He has served as president of the City Council, mayor and village recorder. He was county attorney of Lyon county four terms, having served during the years 1885, 1886, 1889 to 1892, inclusive, and in 1895 and 1896. He was elected state senator from the seventeenth district in 1906 and served one term.
The parents of our subject are the late Amos D. Seward and Pleiades (Barber) Seward, natives of Tallmadge, Ohio, and New York State, respectively. They were of old Connecticut stock, the family's settlement in America dating back to the sixteenth century. They were pioneers of Indiana, having located there in the late forties, and settled at Mankato, Minnesota, in 1855. The elder Mr. Seward erected the first gristmill and sawmill in that frontier village—a mill that met destruction in the Sioux War of 18.62. Amos D. Seward moved to California in 1885 and died there in 1908 at the age of ninety-three years. Mrs. Seward, who is now ninety-three years of age, lives at Ventura, California.
Virgil B. Seward was married at Marshall October 22, 1893, to Edna Goodwin, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Joshua Goodwin, an early settler of Lyon county. Mr. Seward is a member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Commandery and Shrine of the Masonic orders, and of the Sons of the Revolution and the Royal Arcanum.
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FRANK A. ADAMS (1877) has lived in Eidsvold township since he was a boy fifteen years of age. He was born in Oneida county, New York, January 14, 1862. At the age of four years he was taken with the family to Plainview, Minnesota, and three years later to Redwood Falls. A little later the family located in New Ulm and there Frank attended school, his instructor being M. E. Mathews, the Marshall attorney. In 1874 the family moved to St. Paul and in that city young Adams continued his education.
He accompanied his parents to Lyon county in June, 1877, his father taking as a homestead claim the west half of the southwest quarter of section 4, Eidsvold township. On that place our subject has ever since resided. His father left the farm in 1883 and since that time Frank has owned and farmed the old homestead. He has since purchased an additional quarter section and farms all his land. He feeds hogs and cattle quite extensively. Part of the old claim shanty erected by the father in 1877 still stands on the homestead, a reminder of pioneer days. In 1908 Mr. Adams erected a fine two-story, ten-room house and he has one of the fine homes of the vicinity. Mr. Adams has served as a director of school district No. 43.
Mr. Adams descends from old New England stock, his ancestors having settled in the colonies prior to the Revolutionary War. His father, Francis R. Adams, was born in Massachusetts and is now a resident of St. Paul. Frances Louisa (Winchell) Adams, the mother of our subject, was born in New York State and died in St. Paul about 1892. There were seven children in the family, of whom the following five are living: Frank
A., of this biography: Hattie Munsell, of Redwood Falls; William, a conductor of the Northern Pacific, residing in St. Paul; Nell Voight, of St. Paul; and Charles, a dining car conductor on the Northern Pacific, residing in St. Paul.
Charlotte L. Conger became the wife of Mr. Adams on July 4, 1883, the ceremony being performed in Marshall. Mrs. Adams was born in Durand, Wisconsin, and is a daughter of Samuel Conger, who settled in Lyon county in 1880. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Adams, as follows: Francis, Clara (Mrs. Ray Dillon), of South Dakota; Harry, William, Ralph, Stella, Roy and Kate.
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HENRY D. MORGAN (1873) owns and farms the west half of the northeast quarter of section 12, Custer township. He was born February 22, 1873, in that township and is- a son of James and Mary (Davis) Morgan, natives of Wales.
His parents came to the United States when children and settled in Blue Earth county, Minnesota. There they grew up in the same neighborhood and were married. In an early day they located in Lyon county. Henry received his schooling in Lyon county and grew up on the farm. His young manhood was spent helping his father on the farm. In 1897 our subject went West, and the next three years were spent in Montana and Wyoming working in the mines.
Henry Morgan returned to Lyon county in 1899 and was given eighty acres of land by his father, which he has since conducted, and where he has made his home. He has been raising considerable stock on his farm and has invested in various enterprises, owning stock in the Farmers Elevator Company of Garvin and being a stockholder and president of the board of directors of the Current Lake Telephone Company. Mr. Morgan has also been called upon to fill several of the township offices. He is chairman of the Township Board of Custer, served one year as a member of the board, and was several years clerk of the school district. He is active in church affairs and is a member of the Congregational church. The county Y. M. C. A. work in the Garvin community is looked after by Mr. Morgan.
Margrette Hughes, a Lyon county girl, became the wife of Henry Morgan on May 11, 1896, and the ceremony was performed at Marshall. She was born April 10, 1874. Her people located on a homestead on section 12, Custer township. Her father, Richard Hughes, a native of Wales, still lives on the old farm, at the age of seventy-two, and her mother, Ann (Thomas) Hughes, a native of Maryland, died in 1894. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Morgan: Louis M., born November 9, 1898; Herald G., born January 24, 1905; and Donald A., born July 22, 1908.
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THOMAS E. DAVIS (1877), mayor of Marshall and an attorney of that city, is one of the best known men of Lyon county —a man who has played an important part in the affairs of his community. Although born outside the county, his parents were residents of Lyon county at the time, and he has spent his entire life here.
Thomas E. Davis was born in Judson, Blue Earth county, Minnesota, February 18, 1877. He was brought to Lyon county by his parents when a babe. He was graduated from the Marshall High School in 1894 and during the next year he worked at various occupations. He was a student at Macalester College in 1895 and 1896, preparing himself for the ministry, but he changed his plans and decided to become a lawyer. In March, 1898, he entered the law office of M. E. Mathews, where he read law during the next three years. In March, 1901, he entered the office of Senator V. B. Seward, completed his studies, and the same year was admitted to the bar.
The law firm of Mathews & Davis was then formed and until April, 1902, our subject was engaged in practice with the older attorney. He then opened an office in a dingy little room containing no furniture except a kitchen table loaned by his mother. To purchase books he borrowed one hundred dollars from Col. A. R. Chace. In September, 1902, Mr. Davis received the Republican primary nomination for county attorney, defeating E. C. Patterson, the incumbent, with a majority of 276. At the general election he defeated E. B. Johnson, of Tracy, an independent candidate, by a majority of 540. He received the Republican nomination without opposition in 1904, but
was defeated at the general election by B. B. Gislason, of Minneota, by 214 votes.
During his term as county attorney Mr. Davis was exceptionally successfully in the prosecution of criminal cases, securing 140 convictions out of 143 cases, including minor and major offences. His law business has grown rapidly, and today he enjoys one of the largest law practices in Southwestern Minnesota. He devotes his time exclusively to the trial of cases and has a large practice in Redwood, Yellow Medicine, Lac qui Parle and Swift counties.
Mr. Davis has taken an active interest in politics and is an orator of state-wide reputation. In the campaigns of 1908 and 1910 he made speeches for the state and national tickets in many parts of the state, spending several weeks in Minneapolis, Duluth and other cities. He has been mentioned as a candidate for congress and is credited with the ambition to represent his district in the nation's law-making body. Locally he has held several offices in addition to that of county attorney. In 1908 and 1909 he served as alderman from the second ward, and in April, 1910, he was elected mayor of the city, defeating H. P. Fulton by ninety-eight majority.
Mr. Davis is a man of family. He was married at Chetek, Wisconsin, June 26, 1906, to Mabel Emma Johnson. She is a native of that place, having been born May 17, 1884. She is the daughter of Ole and Mary Johnson, who were born in Norway. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Davis: Esther Mabel, born March 4, 1908, and Dona May, born June 23, 1910. Mr. Davis holds membership in the M. W. A., Royal Arcanum, Maccabees, Elks and Knights of Pythias lodges.
The subject .of this biography is the son of Reese and Jane (Jones) Davis, the former a native of Wales and the latter of Ohio, she being of Welsh descent. Reese Davis came to the United States at the age of three years and located with his parents in Ohio. In 1861 he enlisted in Company C, of the Fifty-sixth Ohio Infantry, served the period of his enlistment, and then re-enlisted and served until the close of the war. Jane Jones located in Blue Earth county, Minnesota, with her parents in 1858. After the war Mr. Davis located in the same county, where was a large Welsh settlement, and there the parents of our subject were married. They moved to Lyon county in 1873 and took a homestead claim in Monroe township. They left the farm in 1882 and located in Tracy, and four years later moved to Marshall, where they have since resided. Mr. Davis is a trustee of the First Presbyterian Church and has been since the church was built.
Reese and Jane Davis have five children, all living and all graduates of the Marshall High School. Following are the names of the children: Esther, the wife of William Russell, an attorney at Moorhead; Mary Agnes, the wife of O. A. Krook, who is postmaster of Marshall; Elizabeth Ida, who was the assistant principal of the Laurel, Montana, schools and who is now the wife of Thomas Rigney, a merchant of Laurel; Thomas E., of this biography, and his twin brother, John I., who is an attorney at Benson, Minnesota.
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CHARLES TRUAX (1875), Amiret township farmer, is a native of Lyon county. He was born at Tracy on November 12, 1875, and is a son of Samuel S. and Adeline E. Truax, the latter being deceased. The parents were born in Ohio. In 1871 they came to Lyon county and homesteaded the northwest quarter of section 32, Amiret township, where they resided until 1908. In the latter year they moved to Wyoming. To them were born the following children: Nettie, Lydia, May, Ella, Charles and Samuel.
The subject of this review has spent his entire life in Lyon county and was educated in the district and high schools of the county. After finishing his schooling he resided on his father's farm in Amiret township until 1905. In the latter year he moved to Amiret village, where he bought grain for Bingham Brothers five years. In May, 1911, he returned to his father's farm, which he has since conducted in connection with his own farm which adjoins it. Our subject is a member of the M. W. A. and the A. F. & A. M. lodges, and he was township treasurer two years.
Mr. Truax was married at Oakfield, Wisconsin, on February 14, 1900, to Gertrude Mihills. Mr. and Mrs. Truax are the parents of the following five children: Norris. Merrill, Charles, Donald and Samuel.
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DAVID H. EVANS (1878). One of the best known men of Lyon county and a man who has played a most active part in the affairs of his city and county is David H. Evans, a hardware merchant of Tracy. He is interested in many business enterprises in his home town and- in the state at large and he has taken an active and leading part in political affairs. Mr. Evans has resided in Tracy continuously since 1878.
At Utica, New York, on the first day of November, 1852, the subject of this biography was born. He came to Minnesota in territorial days with his parents, the trip being made by way of the Mississippi river and ox team. It was when David was only five years of age, in 1857, that the family made settlement in the little hamlet of South Bend (since removed from the map), three miles west of Mankato. There his father opened a blacksmith shop and there the family resided for the next fifteen years.
The community at that time boasted no educational advantages and young Evans received little book learning. During the winter months he. helped his father with the work in the shop and during the summer seasons he helped clear the timber from the eighty-acre tract that the elder Evans owned. At the age of sixteen years David H. Evans left home and began work in a hardware store at Mankato, and in that business he has ever since been engaged. He lived in Mankato until 1878 and since that date has been a resident of Tracy.
The date of his arrival to Tracy was May 3, 1878, and he is now the senior business man of the city. At the time of his arrival Tracy had a population of only about 150 people and he established the second hardware store in the village, the first having been founded by David Stafford. The first five years Mr. Evans' business was conducted in a building on South Street and then he moved to his present location, erecting the two-story 44x100 feet building at that time. He carries a complete line of shelf and heavy hardware and implements. He is also engaged in the grain business, having bought the Neil Currie elevator in an early day and having built an addition to it in 1893.
In many other lines of business is Mr. Evans interested. He was one of the incorporators of the Tracy Mill Company, which was established in 1890 and which, was later destroyed by fire. He was one of the incorporators of the Citizens State Bank and is a director of that institution. He is vice president of the Houston .Pen Company and president of the Tracy Cement and Tile Company.
Mr. Evans was one of the organizers of the Retail Hardware Dealers Mutual Insurance- Company of Minneapolis and is vice president of the company. On the first day of December, 1911, this concern had in force insurance to the amount of $15,000,000 and a reserve fund of $306,224.81. Our subject is the president of another worthy concern, the Retail Implement Dealers Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of Owatonna, which in three years has accumulated a surplus of over $10,000. Mr. Evans was the founder and is the president of the Minnesota Commercial Federation, which was established in 190S. The objects of the federation are to secure united effort and definite action on the part of the various retail commercial associations of Minnesota, to better conditions of retail merchandising, and by cooperation to carry out the purposes of the affiliated organizations and secure such legislation as will promote the business interests of the state.
An extensive land owner is Mr. Evans, about 3000 acres being recorded in his name. Among his holdings is the famous Captain Aldrich farm of 650 acres on Lake Shetek. That farm is a historic spot because of the fact that the thirteen people who were massacred by the Indians in 1862 in the settlement on Lake Shetek are buried on the farm, the grave occupying a beautiful spot on the lake front.
Mr. Evans is a deep student of political conditions and has decided opinions on questions of the times. He is a strong champion of the small town as against the city. He believes that centralization of business brings about a centralization of population, and that both history and experience teach that centralization of population is disastrous to civilization—that a well distributed population contributes to the general welfare and progress. "Commerce to a town, large or small," he maintains, "is what blood is to the human body; deprive a town of its commerce and it is a dead one." Therefore, he thinks, if we are to maintain
our present standard of civilization and progress it is necessary to distribute the population over the state, that the inland town must be built up and is essential as a social, religious, civic and educational center.
It is the belief of Mr. Evans that under the present system there is discrimination in railroad freight rates which gives the large centers a strangle hold on the smaller towns and that they are rapidly crushing the life out of the inland towns and rapidly destroying agricultural life. He thinks means must be found to build up the smaller towns and has given the matter deep thought and advocated these principles. He was a warm supporter of the Cashman bill, which met defeat in the last Legislature.
In politics Mr. Evans has taken an active part and is a prominent Democrat. He was the nominee of his party for congress against James T. McCleary in 1898 and has been a candidate for the Legislature. He was a delegate to the national convention that nominated Alton B. Parker for the presidency and in 1906 was made the nominee of the Democrats for state treasurer. He served a term as a member of the State Reformatory Board at St. Cloud, receiving the appointment from Governor Lind. He served as mayor of Tracy two terms and for ten years was a member of the Board of Education, serving part of the time with John Lind, who was then a resident of Tracy and later became governor of the state. Mr. Evans is a member of the Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias lodges.
The subject of this review was married at Denver, Colorado, February 22, 1880, to Mary A. Evans. She was born at Berlin, Wisconsin, February 17, 1858, the daughter of William J. and Hannah (Roland) Evans. Mr. and Mrs. Evans have six children: David Tracy, of Omaha, Nebraska; Hannah Vaughn (Mrs. John F. Lehman), of Watertown, South Dakota; William Henry, who assists his father in the store; Mary Winnifred, a student in the State University; Theodosia, a student of the Tracy High School; and Dianessa Bryan, also a student in the Tracy High School.
The parents of David H. Evans were David D. and Eleanor (Vaughn) Evans, natives of Wales. The father came to the United States when two years old in 1828 and the mother in 1844. They were married in Utica, New York, and in the fifties settled near Mankato. The father still resides in that city at the age of eighty-six years; the mother died there in 1882. Six children of their family are living, as follows: David H., John M., of Osseo, Minnesota; Maurice V., of Minneapolis; Joseph, of Hamilton, Canada; Mrs. Hattie J. Hill, of Mankato; Louis R., who is chief engineer on a steamer plying between San Francisco and China. Mr. Evans witnessed the hanging of the thirty-eight Indians at Mankato after the close of the Sioux War. During the famous outbreak his father was a second lieutenant of the state militia.