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.
WILLIAM S. BALDWIN (1872) is postmaster of Taunton, the proprietor of a flour and feed store and a stock dealer. He has resided in Minnesota all his life and is among the early settlers of Lyon county, having first come here when less than twelve years of age.
William Baldwin was born near Troy, Winona county, Minnesota, August 12, 1860. His parents were Solomon and Ellen (Canfield) Baldwin, natives, respectively, of Pennsylvania and New York State. They were pioneer residents of Winona county and died there when our subject was a child. There are four children in the family: Lucy Robinson, of St. Charles, Minnesota; William S., of this biography; Fred, of Langdon, North Dakota: and George, of Winona.
The year of arrival to Lyon county was 1872, when William Baldwin was a lad eleven years of age. The railroad which was then building toward Lyon county—the Winona & St. Peter—had only reached Sleepy Eye, and the trip was made in a covered wagon from Chatfield. The trip was made with the family of Henry P. Gibbs and for three years our subject lived with that family on the homestead on section 14, Fairview township. Then Mr. Gibbs lost his life in one of the winter storms and young Baldwin went to live with the Castor family, over the line in Redwood county. The next winter he attended school in Marshall and from that time until 1893 he lived in and in the vicinity of the county seat.
During that period Mr. Baldwin worked at
various occupations. He was street commissioner of Marshall one year, operated a feed barn for some time, and engaged in farming land for Marshall residents. In 1893 Mr. Baldwin rented land from his father-in-law near Minneota, farmed it three years, and has ever since then resided in Taunton. He worked at the carpenter's trade and general work until he was appointed postmaster on December 24, 1907. Since then he has conducted a flour and feed store and engaged in the stock business as well as care for the postoffice. Before the incorporation of Taunton Mr. Baldwin served as justice of the peace of Eidsvold township and he has served several terms as a member of the Taunton Village Council. He is a member of the M. W. A. lodge.
Mr. Baldwin was married at Minneota October 1, 1892, to Bessie Walsh, a native of Springfield, Illinois. To this union two children, Leo and Elenor, were born. Mrs. Baldwin died December 7, 1896. The second marriage of our subject occurred at Ghent on January 18, 1900. when he wedded Annie Helvig, a native of Chicago. George, Margaret and Lester are their children.
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GUSTAV J. GOLTZ (1875), owner of one of the finest half sections in Lyon county, the northwest quarter of section 10 and the northeast quarter of section 9, Rock Lake township, is one of its most successful farmers and stock raisers. His stock sales each year amount to about $1,500. Mr. Goltz is also a stockholder in the Farmers Elevator Company of Balaton.
John and Wilhelmina (Abel) Goltz, parents of our subject, came to America from Germany in 1875 and settled in Owatonna, Minnesota. The father worked out that summer and filed on a homestead in Rock Lake township, the southwest quarter of section 2, where the family went to live in the fall. That was the family's home the next thirty-four years. They came upon hard times during the grasshopper years and contended with other discouragements of the early days until good crops, market facilities, the county's growth, and their years of hard work eventually brought prosperity. They have led a retired life in Balaton since that time.
Gustav was born in Germany December 15, 1871, and came to this country with his parents. Having finished his education at the age of twenty years he worked on the home farm one year, after which he worked out at various places in the state during the next six years. In the spring of 1899 Gustav returned to Lyon county, purchased the northwest quarter of section 10, Rock Lake, from his father, and has been farming the place since that time. In March, 1911, he bought the adjoining quarter on section 9 and has brought the half section to a fine state of cultivation.
Our subject is a member of the German Lutheran church. He was married in the township November 11, 1908, to Mary Abel, a native of Germany. Mrs. Goltz was born October 24, 1S80, and her mother, Mrs. Fred Abel, still lives in the old country. The father is dead. Mr. Goltz has the following sisters and brothers living: Minnie (Mrs. W. G. Myers) and Elsie, of Worthington; Emma (Mrs. Julius Frost) and Sophia (Mrs. Max Bollman), of California; Annie (Mrs. F. J. Breening) and Gertrude (Mrs. George Snow), of Balaton; Otto, of Warren, Minnesota; August, of Madelia; Robert, of Canada; Ray and Walter, of Montana; and Erwin, of Rock Lake township.
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OLE O. RUNHOLT (1878) is one of the early settlers of Lucas township and is the owner of 160 acres of land on the south half of section 17.
Our subject was born in Christiania, Norway, October 12, 1853, and is a son of Ole and Carrie (Slette) Monson. The boy grew to manhood in his native country and after completing his schooling he worked in the mines with his father. In 1878 Ole and his brother Aasten came to America, and during the first year of their residence in the new country lived on the farm of Christopher Peterson in Lucas township. The following year Ole bought forty acres of school land on section 16, built a small house, and continued to make his home there the next five or six years. In 1879 the boy's parents came from Norway and made their home with him.
In the fall of 1884 our subject married and then sold his farm to his brother and returned to Norway. There he remained one and one-half years. Returning to America,
he took up farm work and worked on the railroad for a time in North Dakota. Shortly after coming back to this country, his wife died at her father's home in Norway, where Ole had left his family until he should find a good location in Lyon county. He was obliged to return once more to the Fatherland to get his two children, and after a stay of one year and a half our subject again made, the long trip.
Upon, again taking up his residence in Lyon county, Mr. Runholt spent seven years working out at farm labor. He then moved to the east half of the southwest quarter of section 17, Lucas township, where his parents lived, and took charge of the place, they being too old for the active care of the farm. His father is now dead and the mother is still living on the farm with her son. Ole has added eighty acres to the farm and is doing well with his farming.
The subject of this sketch was married a second time, to Annie Grandhagen on January 18, 1896. She was born in Norway January 18, 1874, and is a daughter of John and Martha Grandhagen. The children of his second marriage are Oscar, Cora O., Joseph R. and Laurence. Mr. Runholt has two children by his first marriage, Clara M. and Rudolph (deceased).
The Runholts are members of the Norwegian Lutheran church. Mr. Runholt is a member of the school board of district No. 89.
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S. H. ADAMS (1873). When S. H. Adams came to Marshall in 1873 he reports that there were only eleven houses in the town. He has seen the village grow from those proportions into the city of today, having lived in the village ever since, with the exception of a few years. During nearly all this time he has been engaged in the tinning business, and he is now the senior member of the firm of S. H. Adams & Son, plumbers, steamfitters and sheet metal workers.
Mr. Adams was the only son of Harrison S. and Betsey T. (Ladd) Adams and he was born at Cambridge, New York, on September 1, 1853. His father, a native of Connecticut, came to Lyon county in 1873 and died in November, 1903, at the age of seventy years. His mother was born in New Hampshire and died in Marshall May 1, 1874.
At the age of four years S. H, Adams accompanied his parents from Cambridge, New York, to Rutland, Vermont, and a little later to Springfield, Vermont, where the family resided until he was thirteen years of age. Then the family home was made in Trempealeau, Wisconsin. In that place young Adams attended school and grew to manhood. He came to Marshall in September, 1873, and the day following his arrival began work in the hardware store of J. P. Watson and there learned the tinner's trade. He worked for Mr. Watson ten years and for R. M. Addison eight years and then moved to Cottonwood and went into business with Thomas McKinley.
Eight years later Mr. Adams returned to Marshall and for the next five years was again employed by J. P. Watson. He then moved to Provo, Utah, where he remained four years. Returning to Marshall in April, 1909, he formed the company known as S. H. Adams & Son with his son, Lloyd E., as partner.
For two years the firm did business in Mr. Watson's hardware store, but the growth of the business demanded larger quarters and in April, 1911, a move was made to the present location in the Josh Goodwin building. The firm engages in plumbing, steam, hot water and hot air heating, ventilating and cornice work and does repairing. It is the only exclusive plumbing and tinning establishment in Marshall.
Mr. Adams has been a Mason since 1875, having been the first one admitted to membership after the local lodge secured its
charter, and he was the first .worthy patron of the Eastern Star lodge in Marshall. He is also a member of the A. O. U. W. lodge.
In Trempealeau, Wisconsin, on April 7, 1877, Mr. Adams was married to Ida H. Smith, a native of Illinois. They have three boys, as follows: Archer L., who was born February 15, 1878, married Mary Wilson, and is now foreman of the ventilating department of the H. Kelley Company plant (plumbers), Minneapolis; Lloyd E., who was born April 26, 1881, married Nellie Spaulding, and is now in business with his father at Marshall; Harry, who was born January 16, 1894, and is employed by the firm as bookkeeper.
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EUGENE A. DICKERMAN (1877), of Lake Marshall township, has resided in Lyon county for the past thirty-five years. He came here penniless in 1877 and today is one of the most prosperous and widely known men in Lyon county. Mr. Dickerman is a native of Vermont, where he was born November 29, 1847. He is a son of Lemuell and Irene (Hillyard) Dickerman. The father was engaged in farming and rock laying in Vermont, where he died when Eugene was only nine years of age. The mother lived several years after the father's death.
The subject of this review attended school at Casson Bridge Academy during the winter months until seventeen years of age. He then stayed at home with his mother until he had passed his nineteenth year, when he went to New York and worked on the Plattsburg & White Hall railroad for several months. Returning to Vermont, he remained a few weeks and then came to Minnesota and located in Olmsted county, where he resided until 1877, the year he came to Lyon county. Mr. Dickerman first located on the northeast quarter of section 24, Lake Marshall township, but later sold that and moved to the farm he now owns and operates, the east half of the northwest quarter of section 24.
Mr. Dickerman has been a school officer of district No. 6 almost continuously since 1880, and he holds membership in the Masonic lodge of Marshall. He has stock in the Lake Marshall Rural Telephone Company and in the M. W. Savage Stock Food Compan3r of Minneapolis. Mr. Dickerman is a veteran of the Civil War, serving in Company G, Fourth Vermont Infantry, known as the Home Guards.
In 1874 Mr. Dickerman was married to Maribah Templeton, a daughter of Matthew and Nancy (Frost) Templeton and the oldest of a family of six children. Mr. and Mrs. Dickerman are the parents of the following children: Luella, born September 4, 1875; Leora, born January 6, 1877; Lillian, born March 11, 1879; Leona, born December 19, 1881: Joseph, born March 27, 1886.
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EPHRAIM SKYHAWK (1877), deceased, was the first business man in Russell and for several years was the only storekeeper of the town. He was well known throughout the county and many were the friends who grieved over his death.
Mr. Skyhawk was born near Valparaiso, Indiana, April 19, 1853. When he was three years of age he came to Minnesota with his parents, and the family located in Mower county. The next twenty-one years of the lad's life were spent on the farm in that county and he was there educated and brought up amidst the environments of farm life. It was in the spring of 1877 that the young man came to Lyon county and located on a farm in Amiret, where he lived until 1885. That year he became a citizen of Marshall and engaged in the meat business with Joseph Pierard.
Four years later our subject went to Russell, then just being founded, and opened the first store. He conducted a general mercantile business and remained an active business man of the village until failing health caused him to turn over the conduct of his enterprise to his son, Lewis D., in the summer of 1908. Mr. Skyhawk failed rapidly and died at his home in Russell March 18, 1910. Mr. Skyhawk was married October 25, 1886, to Rosa B. Hanks, of Amiret, and at his death left a widow and four children. The children's names are Lewis D., Belle, Frank and Mona.
Ephraim Skyhawk was a type of the bluff and hearty pioneer of the county's earliest days—one of those courageous men who had the fortitude to endure the privations of frontier life, the ability and disposition to conquer, and one whose happy disposition made him popular among his associates. He was a prominent Mason, being a member of Coteau Lodge of Russell, of Marshall Chapter, R. A. M., and of Marshall Commandery of the Knights Templar.
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OLE AMUNDSON (1874) has lived in Eidsvoid township all his life—thirty-eight years. His parents, Amund and Kari (Heggen) Amundson, were among the earliest settlers of the precinct. They came to the United States from Norway in the spring of 1869, lived in Iowa, later in Dodge county, Minnesota, came to Lyon county in the spring of 1874, and took as a homestead claim the south half of the southwest quarter of section 24, Eidsvold township.
Ole was born on the homestead November
28, 1874, and he resided with his parents until 1902. Then he was married and started farming for himself on the 120-acre farm on section 9 that he had bought several years before. His land is the south half of the northwest quarter and the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of the section. Mr. Amundson is clerk of school district No. 79 and he served as township treasurer thirteen years. He is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran church.
Helga Esping, born in Lyon county August 8. 1878, became the wife of Mr. Amundson November 20, 1902, the ceremony having been performed in Minneota. Her parents. Ole H. and Helga (Nelson) Esping were born in Norway and were early settlers of Lyon county. The mother died in 1904; the father still lives in Eidsvold township.
Mr. and Mrs. Amundson have the following named five children: Hilda C., born August 25, 1903; Arthur O., born April 25, 1905; Earl J., born January 18, 1907; Newel M.. born October 23,1908; George A., born March 9, 1911.
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HENRY MEEHL (1878), owner of the northwest quarter and the north half of the northeast quarter of section 11, Clifton township, is one of the township's prosperous farmers.
Mr. Meehl was born in Sullivan county. Pennsylvania, December 15, 1856, and at the age of six years moved to Rice county, Minnesota, with his parents, where the father took a homestead. Henry grew up on the farm in Rice county and when twenty-two years of age started out for himself. He came to Lyon county in 1878 and bought the southwest quarter of section 3 of the township in which he now resides. That place he farmed until 1900, when he sold out and bought his present farm. There he has since resided. He has improved the place and made it one of the finest farms in the region. Mr. Meehl raises a great deal of stock.
The subject of this sketch has been active in the township's affairs. He was a member of the Township Board several years and clerk for seventeen years. He was also township assessor four years and was for fifteen years treasurer of school district No. 42. Mr. Meehl is a shareholder and president of the Farmers Elevator Company of Milroy. He is a member of the A. O. U. W. lodge.
Henry Meehl was married in Marshall to Etta McElwee, the wedding occurring December 17, 1884. His wife was born in Indiana and died April 6, 1891. To this union the following children were born: Harry E., born September 25, 1885; Mae E., born May 2, 1887; and Eve E., born August 27, 1889.
Agnes Castle became the wife of our subject March 9, 1893. She was a native of Illinois, and by her marriage to Mr. Meehl she became the mother of one child, Viola, born August 24, 1894. Mrs. Meehl was born November 29, 1868, and died April 2, 1896.
Mr. Meehl was married a third time, to Mrs. Bessie Graham, a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania. The wedding occurred May 30, 1901. She is a daughter of Eugene and Lydia (Brown) Jaques, natives of Pennsylvania. Her father is dead; her mother lives in New York State. Mrs. Meehl was born June 10, 1876. She and Mr. Meehl are the parents of six children, named Clyde E., Persey M., Dorothy, Ines, Gladys and Marvin.
Mr. Meehl's parents were Jacob and Henrietta (Peter) Meehl, natives of Germany. They came to America in 1851 and settled in Pennsylvania, where they pursued the occupation of farmers and where they resided until coming to Minnesota.
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WARREN S. EASTMAN (1870) was the first veterinarian to locate in Marshall and has been practising his profession there for thirty-three years. He makes his headquarters at the City Drug Store.
Warren Eastman's father, T. S. Eastman, was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire, in 1815 and was married to Sarah Fifield, a native of Hill, of the same state. T. S. Eastman and wife came to Lyon county in 1869 and filed on the southeast quarter of section 12, Lynd township, as a homestead, locating on the place in the fall with a son Isaac V. T. S. Eastman was one of the organizers of the county, and the organization meeting was held in A. W. Muzzy's house in Lynd. Mr. Eastman was one of the county's first commissioners and was prominent in its early history. He died in 1880 and his wife in 1892.
The subject of this sketch was born at
Andover, New Hampshire, February 22, 1852. In 1864 the family moved to Wabasha county, Minnesota, and a year later he was sent East to school, attending the Old New York School's medical department. in New York City. After a vacation of several months spent with his parents in Minnesota, Warren returned to New York and took the veterinary course in the college. In 1872 he returned to Minnesota. At that time an epidemic of epizootic was creating havoc among horses from coast to coast and the young veterinarian found plenty of employment.
Young Eastman remained on the home farm six years, practising his profession and helping on the farm. In 1879 he moved to Marshall, where he has since practised. In 1888 he bought the drug business of Shead & Richardson and conducted a drug store five years on the site of A. J. Gag's present drug store. He kept up his professional work during that time.
July 9, 1876, Warren S. Eastman married Emma Baldwin, a native of Warren, Warren county, Pennsylvania. Her family located in Lyon county in an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Eastman had one daughter, who died in March, 1893, aged fifteen years. An adopted daughter, Blanche, died November 9, 1910, aged nineteen years.
Isaac V. Eastman, the only other child of T. S. and Sarah (Fifield) Eastman, died in 1904. He had lived on the Eastman homestead since coming to Lyon county with his father in 1869, and was conducting the farm, which he had bought from his father, at the time of his death. His widow and two daughters reside in Marshall.
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WILLIAM H. GLOTFELTER (1874), owner of the northwest quarter of section 14, Rock Lake township, is the son of George A. and Emily A. (Weymouth) Glotfelter and was born in Vermont August 5. 1861. The father is dead and the mother is living with William on the farm. William has two brothers living, George T., a mail carrier in Minneapolis, and Charles W., of Waterville, Minnesota, president of the Minnesota State Fair Board.
The parents of William Glotfelter were pioneers of Lyon county, coming here in the spring of 1874 and locating in Rock Lake township, where the father had taken a homestead. The family before coming to Lyon county had spent some time in Illinois and in Owatonna, Minnesota. William's early education was received in Illinois, and he later attended school in Owatonna and in the Rock Lake district, finishing his scholastic work at the age of twenty years.
In 1879 George A. Glotfelter died and his son William took up the management of the home farm after his schooling was completed. He takes charge of additional land besides the old homestead, farms in all 216 acres, and raises stock. William has had care of the place during the last thirty years, with the exception of four years spent in St. Paul. Mr. Glotfelter has been clerk of school district No. 92 since 1892. He is a member of the M. W. A. lodge of Balaton.
Our subject's parents, among the early pioneers in the county, experienced the interesting and strenuous times of early days. Neighboring settlers were few and widely scattered. The winters were long and bitter, and younger residents do not realize the immense snowfall which was characteristic of many winters of thirty years ago. There were several years of grasshopper scourge. During those years George Glotfelter went to Owatonna and worked at the trade of blacksmith in the winter to keep up family expenses at home. While he was gone the family sometimes ran out of flour and some member would drive eighty miles to New Ulm to bring back supplies. Johnny-cake and turnips formed the principal diet in the settlers' homes during such periods.
The elder Glotfelter conducted a blacksmith shop on his farm and did work for the neighboring farmers, who often came with their work from miles around, and while Mr. Glotfelter did their blacksmithing the customers took his place in the field.
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ARNI B. GISLASON (1879) is a member of the Minneota law firm of Gislason & Gislason, which was formed in January, 1911. He is a native of Iceland and was born August 6, 1877, a son of Bjorn and Adalborg (Johnsson) Gislason, both natives of the northland.
When two years of age Ami accompanied his parents to Lyon county, the family locating on section 11, Westerheim township.
There Arni grew up and received his early education. After graduating from the Marshall High School, he moved to Minneota in 1898 and engaged in the hardware business three years with his brother, Walter, under the firm name of Gislason Brothers. He then took a one year academic course and spent two years studying law at the University of Minnesota. In 1902 he entered the Globe Land & Loan Company and has since been identified with that institution as secretary and treasurer. In February, 1911, he was admitted to the bar and became a member of the law firm above mentioned at Minneota.
Mr. Gislason is a member of the Masonic, Maccabee and M. W. A. lodges. He is clerk of the Board of Education of Minneota and was a member of the Village Council and village recorder for several terms.
On September 30, 1906, our subject was married to Cora S. Eastman, a native of Yellow Medicine county, Minnesota. They are the parents of three children: Arlon B., Anna G. and a baby boy.
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ANDERS E. RYE (1878) is a pioneer settler of Nordland township and a man who has taken a prominent part in the affairs of his precinct. He is the owner of a half of section 34 and is rated among the substantial men of western Lyon county. When he came to the county thirty-four years ago he was without means and his present position has been gained by his own unaided efforts.
In Vallers, Norway, in May 1858, Anders E. Rye was born, a son of Esten and Marit {Ranum) Rye. He was given an education in his native land and at the age of twenty years, in 1878, he severed home ties and came alone to America. His home has ever since that time been in Lyon county. For two years he worked on the railroad and in 1880 he took as a pre-emption claim the southwest quarter of section 34, Nordland township.
Not having the means with which to improve the claim, Anders continued working out and turned the management of his claim over to his father, who had come from the old country in 1879. Later he moved to the farm and has since had his home there. He has prospered and in 1890 he added to his holdings by the purchase of the northeast quarter of section 34. The farm is well improved and Mr. Rye has a fine home. He engages in stock raising and makes a specialty of Poland China hogs. He has stock in the Farmers Elevator Company of Minneota. For twenty years he served as a member of the Nordland Township Board of Supervisors and for several years he was a member of the school board of his district. Mr. Rye and his family are members of the Norwegian Lutheran church.
Sarah Dovre became the wife of Mr. Rye at Canby on July 14, 1888. She was born in Vallers, Norway, December 2, 1866, a daughter of Ole and Ragnild Dovre, both of whom died in the old country. Mr. and Mrs. Rye have nine children, as follows: Maria O., Esten, Otto, Alma, Clara, Ragnild, Agnes and Lillian, twins; and Sophia.
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SIGPINN GOODMUND (1878) is a farmer and land owner of Lyons township who has spent nearly his entire life in Lyon and Lincoln counties. He is the owner of the northwest quarter of section 22 and forty acres on section 15.
Mr. Goodmund was born in Iceland May 1, 1870, the son of Gudmund and Ingeborg (Torkuldson) Asmondson. When eight years old, in 1878, he came to America with his parents and direct to Lyon county. The family spent the following winter near Minneota and the next spring took a homestead on section 6, Lake Stay township, Lincoln county. On that farm our subject grew to manhood, and in the nearby district school he received his education. He worked for a number of years, but when he reached his majority, in 1891, he bought his farm in Lyons township and has lived there ever since.
Our subject raises lots of stock in addition to his general farming. He owns stock in the Farmers Elevator Company of Russell and for five years has served as a director of school district No. 10. He is a member of the Workmen lodge.
In Lyons township, on June 8, 1892, Mr. Goodmund was united in marriage to May Fifield. She was born in Wabasha county, Minnesota, April 25, 1870, and is the daughter of Ira and Emma (Rueber) Fifield, natives, respectively, of New Hampshire and
New York. Mr. and Mrs. Goodmund have three children, as follows: Ira S., born April 11, 1893; Oscar J., born December 24, 1894; Carrie M., born March 30, 1896.
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C. F. CASE (1874) is one of the pioneer residents of Lyon county and a highly respected citizen of Marshall. He is an ex-receiver of the United States Land Office and a pioneer journalist of Southwestern Minnesota. He has taken an active part in the development of his home. city and has erected several of its business blocks. He erected the Messenger Block as agent and put up and owns the brick store building adjoining the opera house on the west and the Case Block, in which the Reporter has its home. He also owns the opera house building at Ivanhoe, Minnesota, and farm land in Red Lake county.
The subject of this biography was born in South Manchester, Connecticut, November 1, 1839. When he was about fifteen years of age he accompanied his parents to Waterloo, Iowa, where his parents died soon after, throwing him upon his own resources. After securing a high school education, he taught school three years and then for one year was a student in Beloit (Wisconsin) College. Then the Civil War began, and young Case left college to fight for his country. He served as an enlisted man in Company B, of the Fortieth Wisconsin Infantry. He was discharged from the army in 1864 and became a student at the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated with the class of 1868.
Shortly after his graduation, Mr. Case bought the Clarksville, Iowa, Star and entered upon a journalistic career. He published the Star five years and then spent one year in California. Returning to Iowa, he edited the Waverly Republican two years. He disposed of that paper in 1874 and in December of that year arrived in Marshall. He bought of J. C. Ervin the Prairie Schooner, which had been founded by Mr. Ervin in 1873 and was the first paper published in the county. Mr. Case changed the name of the journal to Marshall Messenger and presided over its destinies until 1882, when he sold the paper to C. C. Whitney. Five years later Mr. Case founded the Lyon County Reporter and edited the paper until 1899, when he turned the management over to his son Frank Case.
Just before retiring from the newspaper business Mr. Case was made receiver of the United States Land Office, which was then located at Marshall, and served five years. Thereafter he engaged in the mercantile business at Herman, Minnesota, until the spring of 1910, when he again became a resident of Marshall. Mr. Case served as mayor of Marshall in. 1884 and for several years was president of the Marshall Library Association. He is a member of D. F. Markham Post, G. A. R.
The marriage of Mr. Case to Fannie Waller occurred at Shellsburg, Iowa, November 6, 1872. Mrs. Case is a native of Illinois. They have three children, Frank W., Fred H. and Dorothy A.
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IVER NELSON (1876) is the owner and manager of a 209-acre farm on section 2, Lucas township. He has made his home on that farm thirty-six years, having moved there with his parents when two and one-half years of age. He has made a success of farming and stock raising and is one of the influential men of his precinct.
His parents were pioneers of Minnesota and of Lyon county. Iver Nelson, the father, was born in Norway, came to America in 1845, and shortly afterward enlisted in the army and fought in the war with Mexico. He served five years in the army and during the late forties was stationed at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Later Mr. Nelson was a resident of Wisconsin and later still of Filmore county, Minnesota. He located in Yellow Medicine county in an early day, and in the spring of 1876 he came with his family to Lyon county, purchased a homestead right to the farm now conducted by his son in Lucas township, and resided there until his death in 1895 at the age of eighty years. Aase (Frygne) Nelson, our subject's mother, was also born in Norway; she died in Lyon county in 1889.
Besides our subject there are six other children in the Nelson family, as follows: Nicholas, of Ada, Minnesota; Thomas, of Williams county, North Dakota; Henry, of Lucas township; Martha (Mrs. Thomas Joel), of Canada; Anna (Mrs. Erick Roti), of Vallers township; and Caroline (Mrs. John Prestegaard), of Yellow Medicine county.
Iver Nelson of this review was born in Yellow Medicine county October 2, 1873. He was brought with the family to Lyon county in 1876 and has ever since lived on the farm in Lucas township. He attended the district school until eighteen years of age and then took a one-term course in Willmar Seminary. He worked for his father until he attained his majority and in the fall of 1894 assumed control of the farm, of which he later became the owner.
For a number of years Mr. Nelson was a member of the Lucas Township Board of Supervisors, part of the time being chairman, has been township treasurer the past three years, has been clerk of school district No. 19 for the past twelve years, and was road overseer one year. He is a member of Silo Norwegian Lutheran Church of Cottonwood.
Iver Nelson was married in Yellow Medicine county December 1, 1897, to Mary Cole. His wife is a native of Columbia county, Wisconsin, and was born January 9, 1872. Her parents, Lars and Johanna (Dahl) Cole, were pioneer settlers of Yellow Medicine county. The father still lives in that county, at the age of seventy-eight years; the mother died in 1893.
Six children have been born to Iver Nelson and his wife, their names and dates of births being as follows: Lloyd Ingren, born November 13, 1898; Arthur Joseph (deceased), born November 10, 1900; Herbert Ray, born November 24, 1902; Wilbur Vernand, born June 2, 1905; Morris Norman, born November 10, 1907; Kenneth Joseph, born February 23, 1910.