Biographies

BIOGRAPHIES - K

KIEWEL, CHARLES E.

pages 195-196

Secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Kiewel Brewing company of Crookston, Charles E. Kiewel holds a position of great importance in the business life of the city and is highly esteemed by all classes of the people for the admirable manner in which he fills it, the elevated and useful citizenship he exhibits and his sterling manhood in all the relations of life. He was born in the city of Moorhead, Clay county, Minnesota, in 1875, the son of Jacob and Rose (Niggler) Kiewel, the former a native of Prussia and the latter of Switzerland. They came to this county in their childhood and located in Ottertail county, Minnesota, the mother’s people arriving there in 1862. The father is president of the brewing company in Crookston of which the son is the secretary, treasurer and manager.

Charles E. Kiewel grew to manhood at Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and obtained his education in the schools of that city. He learned the brewing business at Little Falls in this state. In 1899 he and his father became interested in the brewing industry in Crookston by purchasing a small brewery owned and operated by August Walters. They soon afterward enlarged the plant to its present capacity of 30,000 barrels a year. Their product is sold in many parts of the Northwest in the United States and also extensively in Canada. They have an active trade and show the most commendable enterprise in keeping up with its steadily increasing demands and all of its most exacting requirements, being abreast of the times and the market at all times.

In addition to his interest in the brewery Mr. Kiewel is extensively engaged in farming and raising live stock, his favorites being Holstein and Shorthorn cattle, and he has lands devoted exclusively to agriculture besides those he uses for grazing purposes. He pushes all departments of his business with energy, giving each his personal attention, and studying everything likely to aid him in obtaining the best results and the largest returns for his outlay of time, effort and money throughout.

Mr. Kiewel was married in 1896 to Miss Katharine Blake of Little Falls. They have two children, their sons Dewey J. and Charles. The father of these children is a member of the Order of Elks and takes an active part in the work of his lodge. He is also a progressive citizen and displays a highly commendable public spirit in connection with all undertakings for the welfare and improvement of the city and county of his home. He is widely and favorably known in many parts of Minnesota and the adjoining states.

submitted Aug 27, 2003 Jon Raymond

KING, J.F.

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.

J.F. King, of Euclid, proprietor of a full line of agricultural implements and a hardware store and well-known citizen of the county, is a native of Ontario, Canada, and has been a resident of Polk County since 1890, when he was appointed station agent for the Great Northern Railroad, at Mallery. Until recent years, his career has been devoted to railroad work, having been employed by the Great Northern road as station agent in Polk County for twenty-two years and previous to that time he had spent several years in the same occupation in North Dakota. In1904, he was transferred from Mallery to Euclid and here he retired from his former interests after the many years of his able and competent service as a railroad man. He entered upon his present mercantile enterprise in 1915, establishing a hardware and agricultural implement business and erecting a modern and well-equipped building. During the years of his residence in the county, Mr. King has earned the respect and confidence of its citizens and has been given a prosperous welcome in his commercial activities. He was married to Mary O. Hunter in 1991. She is the daughter of Thomas Hunter, who for twenty years was section foreman at Mallery, for the Great Northern Railroad and now makes his home in Alberta, Canada. Nine children have been born to Mr. King and his wife, Catherine, Nellie, Clara, William, who is associated with his father in the hardware business, John, Mary, Hazel, Edward and Estelle. The two oldest daughters, Catherine King and Nellie King are graduates of the high school at Warren and of the State Normal school and are both employed as teachers in the schools of Polk County, the latter being the principal of the high school at Euclid. The third daughter Clara is bookkeeper and secretary of the firm’s accounts.

submitted March 2005 Jon Raymond

KJOLHAUG, TOLLOF

pages 215-216

Tollof Kjolhaug, a successful farmer of Rosebud township, was born in Norway, November 7, 1873 and is the grandson of Tollof Kjolhaug, one of the pioneer settlers of that township. The latter had been a farmer in his native land and had also served as a sailor on merchant ships. He came to the United States in 1881, bringing his family to Fergus Falls, Minn., and in May 1883 located on the farm in Rosebud township which continued to be his home throughout his life. He was one of the organizers and a faithful member of the United Lutheran Church at Fosston. He never acquired the use of the English language but preferred to speak his native tongue. He was married to Gurine Berg and they had seven children, Simon, Iver, Oliver, Mary, who still lives in the old home; Caroline; Karey, wife of E. O. Estenson, living near Climax, Polk County, and Trine, who married Anton Hanson and resides near the same place. Tollof Kjolhaug died March 8, 1906 at the age of eighty-one and is survived by his wife, who is living on the homestead farm with her grandson, in her eighty-eighth year. Simon Kjolhaug took a claim in section fourteen of Rosebud township and was a well known thresher man in this region. He was active in township affairs and was one of the organizers of the township and held the office of assessor until his death in 1893. He married Anna Anderson of Polk county and they had two children, Martin, who is a graduate of the Crookston high school and county surveyor in Clearwater county, Minn., and Selma who with her mother makes her home in Gonvick, Minn., with Martin Kjolhaug, and is employed as teacher in the public schools. Iver Kjolhaug was a farmer in section fifteen, Rosebud township, for a number of years and since 1907 has resided in British Columbia, which is also the home of his brother Oliver. The subject of our sketch is the son of Andrew and Caroline Kjolhaug. His father died in Norway and he was reared by his grandfather and when eight years of age accompanied him to this country. He has always lived on the farm which was his grandfather’s homestead, devoting his efforts to its development and since 1895 has had the entire management of it. The farm is equipped with good barns and the original house has been remodeled into a pleasant home. He has drained much of the marsh land with ditches and is now engaged in the construction of a county ditch, which will cross his land. He engages in diversified farming, raising grain and cattle and is interested in the dairy business, keeping a herd of cows for that purpose. He was an organizer of the Fosston Cooperative creamery company and has served as president of the company since its organization. He is a member of the Republican party and is active in political matters and has been delegate to a number of conventions. Mr. Kjolhaug is interested in the public welfare and progress and has given able service in local affairs as supervisor and chairman of the board of supervisors and is present treasurer of the township. He has never married.

submitted March 2004 Jon Raymond

at request of Kathy

KLINKHAMMER, REVEREND WILLIAM

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 271-272

Reverend William Klinkhammer, pastor of the Sacred Heart Catholic church at East Grand Forks, is a native of Minnesota, born in Le Sueur county, April 21, 1879, the some of Peter and Louis (Wilt) Klinkhammer, who were natives of Germany. Peter Klinkhammer came to the United States as a child and to Minnesota in 1852 and as a pioneer settler of Le Sueur county, was identified with the hardships and privations of the early days and all the activities attending the organization and development of the prosperous farming comm.unity. In the troublous times of 1862 the mother suffered the loss of friends and relatives in the Sioux massacre and he gave service himself, in a Minnesota regiment, in the quelling of the uprising and was a member of the guard in charge of the thirty0eight Sioux braves at Mankato. His influence was prominent in the organization of the St. Johns Catholic church in his home county and in all matters of public welfare. He was elected to various offices !
of local importance and gave able service as a county commissioner. He is still living on the old homestead. William Klinkhammer was reared on his father’s farm and educated in St. Johns University, the leading Catholic school of Minnesota, where he was ordained in June, 1908, by Bishop Trobec of St. Cloud. His first pastorate was a Park Rapids, Minnesota, where he remained for three years, during which time the present church building was erected, and the parish well organized for efficient service. In July, 1911, he was transferred to the Sacred Heart Parish where his admirable ministrations have proven him amply qualified to advance the work of that already splendidly equipped organization. The Sacred Heart Parish was organized in 1893 by the Catholics of East Grand Forks and the surrounding territory and from its first establishment evidenced the vital and worthy activity which has marked its rapid growth. The loss of the newly finished church building, whi!
ch was erected through the zealous efforts of the members, by fire in 1895 only resulted in a renewed strength of purpose and from the ashes of the first structure, rose a larger and finer building. The first pastor was Father Hendricks, who was succeeded in 1900 by Father J.F. Greene, who served the parish until his death in February, 1909. It was during this period that the present parsonage was built at an expenditure of $8,000 and the furnishing of the church completed. After the death of Father Green, Father J. Hogan was put in charge and under his administration the organization of the various interests of the church advanced notably. Father Klinkhammer succeeded Father Hogan after the return of the latter to his former diocese of Duluth which had been divided in 1910 for the establishment of the see in Crookston. Father Klinkhammer combines a rarely genial and companionable personality with a marked executive ability which was happily forwarded and consecrated la!
bors of his life and resulted in the increased efficiency of the parish through the splendid parochial school which he instituted under the encouragement of Bishop Corbett of Crookston. The finely equipped school building was finished in September, 1912, and put in charge of seven teachers who are Sisters of St. Benedict from Villa Sancta Scholastica, Duluth. The school now enrolls two hundred pupils and furnishes an excellent curriculum of preparatory studies for the high school. The membership of the Sacred Heart church numbers some fourteen souls.

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

SACRED HEART CATHOLIC CHURCH
pages 256-264
The following excerpt from the above article concerns Msgr. Klinkhammer
and is found on pages 262-263.

Msgr. William Klinkhammer was born at Union Hill, Minn., on April 21, 1879. He was reared on his father’s farm and received his primary education at St. John’s District school. His secondary, classical, and theological education was received from St. John’s University and Seminary at Collegeville, Minn. He was ordained in the St. John’s Abbey Chapel, June 13, 1908, by Bishop James Trobec of the Diocese of St. Cloud. He was ordained for the Diocese of Duluth and served the parish of Park Rapids, erecting a church there, and the mission parishes of Two Inlets, Akeley and Nevis.
After the division of the Diocese of Duluth and the formation of the Crookston Diocese, Father Klinkhammer was assigned to the latter and appointed pastor in July, 1911 to Sacred Heart Church. During his pastorate at the growing Catholic parish, he started a Catholic school in 1912, supervising the construction of a three-story brick building.
Sacred Heart Academy at first had only elementary grades, but starting 1919 added a secondary division. The sisters of St. Scholastica of Duluth staffed the schools for a number of years and were replaced by the newly formed Sisters of St. Benedict of Crookston about 1919. Meanwhile, Father Klinkhammer supervised the construction of a large convent for the teaching sisters and as a place to board country girls attending Sacred Heart Academy.
After serving as pastor of the East Grand Forks parish for 33 years and in recognition of his good work, father Klinkhammer was appointed domestic prelate by Pope Pius XII giving him the title of “Right Reverend Monsignor.” In addition to his parish activities, he served the Diocese as Officialis since 1918 and as consultor since 1939.
Msgr. Klinkhammer was known as an outstanding and caring leader of his parishioners. He made it a habit to visit each of his parishioners at least once a year. Young men going off to serve in World War II would stop to receive his blessing.
After a long illness, Msgr. Klinkhammer died on Sept. 22, 1947 at a St. Paul hospital. His funeral was held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Sept. 25 with an over-flowing attendance by his parishioners.
His dying wish had been to build enlarged and modern facilities for Sacred Heart School and a new Sacred Heart Church. Bishop Schenk of Crookston appointed the pastor of Sacred Heart, Father A.I. Merth, with the task in late 1949.
Msgr. Klinkhammer had started sometime earlier planning this project by saving $116,000 by the time of his death. In the succeeding years, Father Merth and the parishioners followed through with Msgr. Klinkhammer’s dream and built a new church, high school, grade school, gym, rectory and an addition to the convent in the 1950’s.
Msgr. Klinkhammer left behind a legacy as a man who was deeply concerned about the spiritual development of the parish community. His devotion to Catholic education, firmness of spirit, leadership and love of his parish family are still remembered and recalled at Sacred Heart.
submitted Jan 17, 2003 Jon Raymond

KNUTE KNUDSON

Pp 362-363

Knut Knudson, well known pioneer of western Polk county and prominent farmer of Bygland township, came to this county in 1873 from Wisconsin. He was born in Norway, in November, 1847, and was but twelve years of age when his parents brought their family to the United States and settled in Wapaca county, Wisconsin, where Knute Knudson became familiar with the labor and vicissitudes of pioneer life, assisting in the work of clearing the timber land for cultivation and working in the lumber woods. During his first winter in Minnesota, he hauled logs to the Red river for the Hudson Bay company and in the spring took his homestead in what became section four of Bygland township and was joined in his new location by Aspen Olson, his brother-in-law and Osman Isaacson, whose sister, Bertha Isaacson, later became his wife. He assisted Mr. Olson to erect a home and later replaced the loss of his own shack, which had been destroyed by a prairie fire, with a more substantial structur!
e, which is now included in his present home. With thrifty management he had saved several hundred dollars and he continued his lumber work along the river, and this enabled him to purchase a yoke of oxen and immediately engage in the breaking of his land. He endured discouragements and misfortunes and suffered the loss of one of his first crops through the devastation of grasshoppers. Some years later he bought two hundred acres of railroad land and continued adding to his property until it comprised an estate of four hundred and forty acres. His principal agricultural interest has been the raising of grain, to which he devotes a quarter section of his land and he has an annual crop of several thousand bushels. He also keeps a herd of Short Horn and Polled Angus cattle and dairy cows but has never engaged in stock farming. As one of the first settlers and a man of progressive interests, he has ever been associated with public affairs and the general advancement of the!
community. He was present at the first election held when the township received its name from those present who were natives of Bygland, Norway. He was elected the first township treasurer and has given almost continuous service since on the township board, in various capacities. His interests were always active in church and school affairs and he was one of the organizers of the Bygland Lutheran church. He is a member of the Republican party but maintains the independence of his political judgment from the structures of partisan views. His marriage to Bertha Isaacson, whom he had known in his Wisconsin home, occurred in 1876. Ten children were born to this union, of whom two are dead, Isaac, whose death came in his eighteenth year and Neal, who died on his Canadian homestead. Margaret is the wife of Ole Torkelson, of Red Lake county; Martin is now living on the western coast; Toney married Lars T. Larson and lives in Canada; Birget is the wife of Osman Sannes, of Gr!
and Forks and Osman Salve and Ole remain with their parents. Theodore Knudson, the eldest son of the family took a homestead in Pennington county, near Thief River Falls and after acquiring the title to his land, sold and returned to Polk county, purchasing a portion of his father’s homestead and has since combined the operation of his farming interests with those of his father. He is a member of the Socialist party.

OLE KNUDSON
PP 427-428

Ole Knudson, who is one of Polk county’s advanced, enterprising and successful farmers, lives on Section 10, Roome township, nine miles west of Crookston, four and a half north of Eldred and five southeast of Fisher, owns 480 acres of excellent land improved with good modern buildings and up-to-date conveniences, and carries on extensive operations with great vigor, progressiveness and profit to himself and the region in which he lives. He was born in Norway, September 23, 1848, and came to the United States in 1870. After spending some months at Decorah, Iowa, he moved to Reed’s Landing in Wabasha county, Minnesota, and there he worked on the railroad.
In the spring of 1871 he began running lumbe rrafts on the Mississippi river to St. Louis. A steamboat was used to push and steer the rafts, and each trip to the Missiouri metropolis consumed about three weeks. Mr. Knudson next spent two winters as a driver in the lumber woods near Menomonie, Wisconsin, and at the end of that period made a trip to the Black Hills to prospect for gold. He had no luck, owing to lack of water, and remained in the diggings only about one month, leaving there the day of the Custer massacre and in the midst of excitement over the theft of a pony in the locality by Indians. His experience as a gold seeker cost him about $400.
In 1878 Mr, Knudson decided to turn his attention to farming and came to the Red river region in search of land for his purpose. He selected a homestead in Section 11, Roome township, and Andrew and John Locken, who were then, or afterward became, his brothers-in-law, did the same. They all obtained railroad land and located on it, building a house and living together and doing their own house work. In 1882 Mr. Knudson sold his land to the Lockens and bought a part of the place on which he now lives in Section 10, which was a homestead belong to Ole Lee.
This homestead was improved with a little log shanty and a sod stable, and about twenty-five acres of it had been plowed. Mr. Knudson agreed to pay Ole Lee $1,800 for it and was soon able to make the whole payment. He had broken some 200 acres of his first farm and seeded it in wheat. He harvested a good crop from this and got $1.25 a bushel for what he sold, and so he had money to clear his new home of debt. But he had no team with which to cultivate the land, and had to work for other farmers to get one. He succeeded in buying a team that same year, and at once proceeded to devote his attention to his own land.
From this time on Mr. Knudson was in debt for thirty years. But he bought eighty acres more for $600, an additional tract of 160 for $2,000 and still another of eighty for $1,100. His farm is now half a mile wide and a mile and a half long, with the buildings at the north end, the house in which he now lives having been built in 1891. His crop in 1915 aggregated 9,000 bushels of wheat, oats and barley. He also keeps nine milch cows and furnishes cream for ice cream factories in Crookston. His cattle are Shorthorns and Holsteins of good quality, and he keeps fifteen horses for his work. He recently installed a complete acetylene lighting plant for his buildings.
Mr. Knudson served as chairman of the township board for twelve or fourteen years and then refused to accept the office longer. He has also been a member of the school board for eighteen years, and has taken an active part in all drainage and good roads movements in his township. He has been married three times. His first wife was Miss Guro Locken, sister of John and Andrew Locken, who died three years after her marriage, leaving no children. His second wife was Miss Mary Locken, a sister of the first wife. She died a year and a half after her marriage, leaving one son, George, who is now 26 and still with his father. On December 19, 1897, Mr. Knudson solemnized his third marriage, which united him with Mrs. Josephine Carlson, a widow with one son, Wilfred, who is now 27. By her marriage with Mr. Knudson she has become the mother of another son, Richard, who is 16. Mr. Knudson is a Republican in politics and he and his wife and sons belong to the Lutheran church.

submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond

KANKEL/KNUTSON/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

GEORGE KRONSCHNABEL
pages 307-308

Having been a resident of Polk county for thirty-five years, with the exception of about eighteen months, during which he lived in Winona, Minnesota, and having been in business in Fertile since 1886, and all the time zealous and enterprising in the service of the community in various ways, George Kronschnabel, president of the Fertile Brick and Tile company, has proven himself to be a valuable citizen and a stimulating force for progress among the people of this section, and he is esteemed by them in accordance with the services he has rendered and is still rendering them and his sterling integrity as a man and fidelity and ability as a public official.
Mr. Kronschnabel was born in Cleveland, Ohio, June 14, 1857, the son of George and Mary (Klinghorn) Kronschnabel, who moved to Minnesota in 1862 and located in Carver county. The father died in San Antonio, Texas, in 1903, at the age of seventy-six years. He operated a sawmill for a number of years in Carver county, and his son George assisted him in the work. He was educated and grew to manhood in Carver county and there learned the trade of tinsmith. This trade was his regular occupation for about sixteen years, but other and better opportunities opened before him and he was prompt in embracing them and making them serviceable to his advancement.
In January, 1880, Mr. Kronschnabel became a resident of Polk county, and in 1886 he opened a hardware store at Fertile. He continued in this line of trade until 1898, since which time he has given his attention wholly to the manufacture of brick and tile and the management of his farm of 160 acres in the vicinity of Fertile, except what has been required by his position as director of the First State Bank of Fertile and as president of the village council, which he also served for a time as treasurer. He was the first president of the council and has occupied that office altogether seven years, filling it with ability and studious attention to the welfare of the community and to its entire satisfaction.
In 1897 Mr. Kronschnabel started what is now the tile factory as a sand mold brick plant. In 1900 the business was incorporated with him as president of the company, which he has been ever since, and in 1903 the manufacture of tile and hollow blocks was added to the operations of the factory. It has a capacity of 40,000 brick a day, or 4,000,000 a year. Mr. Kronschnabel is the manager of the business as well as president of the company. Brown Duckstad is vice president of the company and E.B. Hanson is secretary and treasurer. The industry is a leader in this part of the state and has an extensive and steadily expanding trade. It is admirably managed and enjoys hearty and widespread popularity, which is based wholly on the excellence of its products and the strict integrity which governs the business.
Mr. Kronschnabel is a member of the Order of Odd Fellows and the Workmen of the World. He has been a director of the First State Bank of Fertile from its organization, and has taken an earnest and serviceable interest in every worthy undertaking for the good of his home community. On June 27, 1882, he was united in marriage with Miss Sophia Oehler, a native of Rice county, Minnesota. Four children have been born to them, two of whom died in infancy. The two living are Almo O. and George C.

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.

submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond

HON. GUNDER KROSTUE

As a large landholder, an enterprising and successful merchant, a member of the state legislature, the postmaster for many years of the town Fisher and a prominent, influential and highly esteemed citizen, the late Hon. Gunder Krostue dignified, adorned and admirably represented the best manhood and citizenship of Polk county in many lines of usefulness and beneficial labor and example to the locality of his home.
Mr. Krostue was born June 10, 1851, on a farm named Krostue in Sætersdahl, Norway, and was brought to the United States by his parents when he was but ten years old. The family located in Waupaca county, Wisconsin, where the son grew to manhood and obtained a limited education in the country schools. At an early age he began to work at farm labor and later was employed as a lumberman, driving logs down the Mississippi river to St. Louis. These occupations, however, were too precarious and unpromising to satisfy his ambition, and he determined to do something more in line with his tastes and embodying better prospects for him.
In 1880 Mr. Krostue took up his residence in Polk county, and here for a time he served an engineer with a threshing crew and then worked on the survey of the Great Northern railroad between Grand Forks and Crookston. Later he proved up on a homestead claim in Grand Forks county, North Dakota, which he then sold. He at once located in the town of Fisher, this county, and for four years thereafter was employed as a clerk in the store kept by Messrs. Thompson & Johnson. At the end of that period he entered upon an independent mercantile career, opening a store in Fisher for general merchandise and farming implements. This proved to be one of the most successful of his many activities, and carried him to a prominent place in connection with the business interests of the county. He became an extensive landholder, owning some 2,100 acres of farm land near Fisher, and was also president of the Fisher Bank from the time of its organization until his death. In addition he ser!
ved as postmaster of Fisher for many years until the pressure of other engagements compelled him to retire from the office.
Mr. Krostue continued to live in fisher until his death on July 7, 1912, when he was in his sixty-first year. He belonged to the class of men who rise to success and influence through their native ability and industry and win the regard of all who know them by their sterling worth and admirable manhood. He freely bestowed the gifts of his strong personality in their service of his fellow men and left the memory of many commendable accomplishments as a citizen, many noble traits as a friend and many wise and fruitful achievements through his enterprise and public spirit, as well as that of his eminent success as a business man.
In the public life of his community this far-seeing gentleman always was a trusted leader, and in the fall of 1902 his fellow citizens selected him as their representative in the lower house of the state legislature. In the session of 1903 he was chairman of the House committee on drainage and a member of the committees on grain and warehouse and roads, bridges and navigable streams. He was re-elected in the fall of 1904, and in the session of 1905 he was again chairman of the committee on drainage and was also assigned to duty on the committees on binding twine, public health, dairy and food products and temperance legislation.
In his religious affiliation Mr. Krostue was connected with the United Lutheran church, of which his widow is also an active member and earnest supporter. Her maiden name was Christine Benson and she is the daughter of Lars Benson. She was born in Waupaca county, Wisconsin, and at an early age removed with her parents to Goodhue county, Minnesota, where the family resided until the accidental death of the father by drowning at Red Wing. After that sad event the mother and her eight children changed their residence to Pop county, Minnesota, and there Miss Christine lived until her marriage to Mr. Krosute, which took place on December 2, 1882. Ot the children born of their marriage seven are living: Lawrence, who is a farmer, and Clara, Lottie, Myron, Theresa, Clayton and Glendora. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Krostue has continued to maker her home at Fisher.

submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond

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