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FRANK E. BAILEY (1865) came
to Jackson county when a boy ten years of age and
ever since that date his home has been on land
that now is within the corporate limits of the
village of Jackson. He is the son of the late
Major Hiram S. Bailey and Jane R. (Wheeler)
Bailey. He was born in Waupun, Fond du Lac County,
Wisconsin, on April 11, 1855.
At the age of one year Frank
Bailey was taken with the family to Hamilton,
Mower county Minnesota, and in September 1865,
came with them to Jackson county, the father
taking as a homestead land which he afterward
platted as a part of the townsite of Jackson.
Frank was educated in the schools of Jackson and
in Carleton college, of Northfield. Minnesota,
where he was a student during the years 1872-73.
After securing his education he engaged in farming
until 1875. Then he took up teaching as a
profession and during the winter of 1875-70 taught
in Martin county. He taught in
Olmsted county during the summer of 1876 and
during the next three years was employed in
teaching in McHenry county, Illinois. He then
returned to Jackson county and continued in that
line of work. Mr. Bailey owns
village property, eighty acres of land in Des
Moines township and 160 acres of land in North
Dakota. On his land in the south part of the
village is an immense sand pit which he opened a
few years ago and from which he supplies the needs
of the village. Mr. Bailey
served as deputy sheriff of the county in 1884 and
1885, and was elected justice of the peace in the
spring of 1909. He is a member of the Odd Fellows
and Woodman lodges.
On the first day of the year
1880 Mr. Bailey was united in marriage to Miss
Elizabeth Bromaghim, and as a result of this union
have been born the following children: Frank E.,
born March 13, 1881: Herbert B., born July 2,
1883; Earl W.. born November 10, 1886; Helen, born
May 14, 1889, died November 27, 1892; Linden R.
born July 22, 1897.
MAJOR HIRAM S. BAILEY (1865),
deceased. In the early
days of Jackson county’s history there were few
men who took a more important part than did the
gentleman whose name heads this sketch. In
political matters he was a leader and played a
most important part in the organization of the
county. Major Bailey was
born in Montgomery, Vermont, m 1829, He received a
common school education in the towns of Montgomery
and Waterville and completed his education in an
academy at Bakersfield. In 1853 he came west and
located in Dodge county, Wisconsin, residing on a
farm near Waupon until 1856, That year he settled
on a farm in Fillmore county, Minnesota, where he
resided until the breaking out of the civil war.
He enlisted in 1861 in company A, of the Second
Minnesota infantry, and served four years and
three months in the army. He enlisted as a
private, but promotion was rapid and he was
mustered out of the service as major. Major Bailey
took part in some of the important engagements of
the civil war and in the Indian campaigns. He
assisted in the trial of the four hundred Sioux at
Mankato in 1862 and was present at the execution
of the thirty eight who were hung.
In 1865, after his discharge
from the army, Major Bailey came to Jackson
county, where he resided until his death. Earlier
in his career he had assisted in the organization
of Mower county, Minnesota, and when he came to
Jackson county, he, more prominently than any
other, assisted in the reorganization of Jackson
county. The first county election was held at his
home, in his log cabin, near the village. In
partnership with Welch Ashley he platted the town
of Jackson and was active in the promotion of
enterprises and the settlement of the county.
Among the offices he held were county
commissioner, court commissioner, superintendent
of schools, member of the board of education and
justice of the peace. Major Bailey died at Jackson
April 20, 1901.
Major Bailey was married at
Bishford, Vermont, March 10, 1852, to Jane
Wheeler. They had five children: Sidney, who died
at the age of one year; Frank E., of Jackson;
Wallace M., who died at the age of twenty-one;
Freddie, who died at the age of eighteen; Brownie
H. (Mrs. W. H. Dunstan), of Spokane,
Washington.
WILLIAM H. BAKER (1893)
is a Middletown township farmer who owns the
southwest quarter of section 5. He is a native of
the city of New York and was born May 2, 1857, the
son of William and Katherine Baker. When six
years of age, in 1863, the subject of this
biography accompanied his two sisters to Rockford,
Winnebago county Illinois, and two years later
moved to Odell in Livingston county, of the same
state. In 1868 he moved to Chenoa, McLean county,
and the next year to Ford county. In the last
named county he grew to manhood, engaged in
farming, and resided until 1893. On the ninth day
of February of that year he arrived in Jackson
county.
He moved onto his farm in Middletown and
has since made his home there.
Mr. Baker served as
supervisor of his township from 1902 to 1905 and
was justice of the peace one year. He is a member
of the Methodist church and of the M. W. A.
lodge.
On February 1, 1880, Mr. Baker was united
in marriage to Miss Emma Hamlon. They are the
parents of the following named children: Mabel,
born January 11, 1881; Cecil M., born November 21,
1882; Frank W., born September 10, 1884: Charles
F., born January 17, 1886; Clyde W., born July 9,
1890; Nellie, born September 26,
1895.
JOHN BALDWIN (1879), now a
resident of Spirit Lake, Iowa, was for over thirty
years a resident of Jackson county and one of its
best known citizens, having been in public life
during nearly the whole of that time. At the time
of his removal from the county in the fall of 1909
he was a member of the Minnesota legislature,
representing Jackson and Cottonwood counties.
Mr. Baldwin was born in
Ontario, Canada, December 30, 1844, the son of
William and Mary (Schlichter) Baldwin, natives of
New York state and Canada, respectively. His
father was of Irish descent; his mother was of old
Pennsylvania Dutch stock. The family moved from
the British Possessions to the United States in
1840, when our subject was less than two years of
age. From 1846 to 1853 the family lived in Saginaw
City, Michigan, and then the home was made in
Dubuque county, Iowa. William Baldwin died there
in 1859 at the age of 47 years; his widow died in
1885, aged 67 years. John is one of a family of
ten children horn to these parents, of whom five
are living. The children are Isaac W., deceased;
Samuel, deceased; Jacob E., deceased; Caroline,
John, William, Elizabeth, Charles M., Jared,
deceased, and Stephen D., deceased.
John Baldwin was brought up on
his father’s farm, upon which he lived until the
latter’s death in 1859. From that time until 1874
he was engaged in various occupations in Dubuque
and Jackson counties, Iowa; then he located in
Olmsted county, Minnesota, of which county he was
a resident until he came to Jackson county in
1879. Upon his arrival he bought a farm on section
25, Minncota township, and was engaged in farming
until the fall of 1888. Then he moved to Jackson
to take the office of register of deeds and
resided in the county seat until the year 1905.
Returning to the farm, Mr. Baldwin engaged in
farming two years, then sold out and again took up
his residence in Jackson. He continued to
reside in the county seat village until October,
1909, when he took up his residence in Spirit
Lake, Iowa.
Twenty-one years of Mr.
Baldwin’s life have been spent in public office,
he having been successful in ten contests. For
several years immediately following his
twenty-first birthday he served as township clerk
in Jackson county, Iowa, and was also postmaster
in the same county two years, serving under
appointment by President Andrew Johnson. He was
chosen county commissioner of Jackson county,
Minnesota, in 1885 and served a three year term.
In the fall of 1888 he was elected register of
deeds on the democratic ticket and held the office
continuously sixteen years, having been reelected
on the democratic ticket each two years. In the
fall of 1908, he was chosen representative from
the fourteenth legislative district and his office
had not yet expired when he removed from the
county and state. To Representative Baldwin and
Senator H. E. Hanson, of Windom, Jackson county is
indebted for the appropriation of $2,000 expended
in the erection of a monument to the memory of
those slain in the Inkpaduta massacre of 1857 and
that of 1862. Mr. Baldwin is a
member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows orders of
Jackson. On December 23, 1890, Mr.
Baldwin was united in marriage to Mrs. Irena E.
Gillis, a native of Michigan. They have no
children.
JOHN DIEDRICH BARGFREDE
(1905) who is engaged in farming in Petersburg
township, was born in Hamburg. Germany, July 31,
1872, the son of Fred and Mary Bargfrede. His
father died October 17, 1908, aged 75 years. Our
subject came to America when nineteen years of
age, resided respectively in Armstrong, Emmet
county Iowa; Vale, Crawford County, Iowa; and
Arcadia, Carroll county, Iowa. He arrived in
Jackson county Minnesota, February 0, 1905, and
has since been engaged in farming on section 23,
Petersburg township.
Mr. Bargfrede was married
January 18, 1905, to Emma Schulte. They are the
parents of the following children: Louie, Herman,
Alice and Alma. The family are members of the
German Lutheran
church.
JOHN BARNETT (1888),
who conducts a lumber yard at Okabena, is a native
of the Orkney Islands, where he was born November
23, 1856, the son of James and Margaret (Wallace)
Barnett. He spent his boyhood days in his native
land, receiving a common school education. He
learned the mason’s trade and followed that
occupation many years. Mr.
Barnett came to America in 1882, lived two years
in Canada, and then came to the United States.
After residing four years in
Sibley, Iowa, Mr. Barnett, in August, 1888, came
to Jackson county and located in West Heron Lake
township, southwest of the location of the present
village of Okabena, where he worked on a farm
several years. In 1898 he engaged in the lumber
business in Okabena and has since been so engaged.
Mr. Barnett owns his home in Okabena. He is a
member of the Presbyterian church and of the M.
W. A.
lodge No. 7918, of which he has been clerk for
nine years. He served as clerk of West Heron Lake
township seven years. On
February 23, 1902, Mr. Barnett was married to Miss
Alice Cramblit.
RAYMOND BARTOSCH (1886)
owns and operates at Jackson one of the best and
most up-to-date harness shops and harness
manufacturing establishments in southwestern
Minnesota.
The business is conducted in a handsome
brick block on Main street which was erected by
Mr. Bartosch in 1899. On the second floor of this
building and the one adjoining is located
Jackson’s opera house.
Mr. Bartosch was born
in Bohemia October 2, 1864, the son of German
parents, both his parents, Englebret and Rosa
(Schmidt) Bartosch, having been native Germans.
The family left the old country when Raymond was
ten years of age, came to America and settled in
Steele county, Minnesota. On his father’s farm in
that county Raymond resided until he was sixteen
years of age, receiving a country school
education. He then went to Owatonna and started
learning the harness maker’s trade under C. Butch,
with whom he remained five years. In January,
1886, he located at Jackson and took charge of the
G. A. Albertus harness shop. After managing the
business for Mr. Albertus five years he purchased
the store and has ever since conducted it. During
the first two years he conducted it in the
building south of Kiesel’s saloon, then he
purchased an old frame building on the site of his
present store, and in 1899 he erected his present
handsome structure. In addition to this business
property Mr. Bartosch owns a fine home in the
city, erected in 1906. He is a member of the A. F.
& A. M.
Mr.
Bartosch was married in Sauk City, Wisconsin,
August 8, 1892, to Dorathea Roeser, a native of
that place and a daughter of George Roeser. To Mr.
and Mrs. Bartosch has been born one child, Rita
Bartosch.
ADAM BAUCHLE (1899) is one of
the progressive farmers and breeders of
thoroughbred stock in Jackson county, his home
being in Alba township, where he owns and farms
400 acres of land. He has a nice home and a well
improved farm, all the improvements having been
made by him. Mr. Bauchle breeds thoroughbred
Norman Percheron horses. Shorthorn cattle and
Duroc-Jersey hogs. He has two Percheron stallions,
Nobleman and Cousin, which took first premiums at
the Jackson county fair of 1909 and which are
noted throughout the county. Besides his farming
and stock raising Mr. Bauchle deals extensively in
hay, buying, pressing and shipping. The subject of
this biography is of German birth, having been
born in the province of Wurttemberg April 10,
1863. His father is Adam Bauchle, a farmer, who
lives in Germany and is 72 years of age. His
mother, Justina (Schmidgal) Bauchle, died when
Adam was two years old.
Adam was brought up on a farm
in his native land but was educated in the village
school. At the age of nineteen years, in March,
1882, he came to America and located at Morton,
Tazewell county, Illinois, where he resided six
years. Four years of this time he worked out as a
farm hand; the other two years he engaged in
farming rented land. In 1888 he moved to Iroquois
county, Illinois, where he farmed rented land
until 1899. In February, of the last named year,
he came to Jackson county and located upon the
home quarter of his present farm in Alba township,
which he had purchased six years before coming to
the county. He has lived upon the farm ever since,
having added to his holdings by purchase until
today he has 400 acres, all of which he farms. In
addition to his business interests mentioned Mr.
Bauchle has stock in the Brewster Round Lake
Telephone company, the Farmers Creamery company of
Brewster and the Farmers Elevator company of the
same place.
During the eleven years of
his residence in Alba township Mr. Bauchle has
taken an active part in local affairs. He has
served five years as a member of the township
board and is now the chairman, having been elected
to that office in the spring of 1909. He is also
clerk of school district No. 86 and has served
continuously since 1900. He and his family are
members of the United Evangelical church.
Mr. Bauchle was married in
Pekin, Tazewell county, Illinois, February 23,
1886, to Katie Dietrich, daughter of Carl
Dietrich, of Germany. Mrs. Bauchle was born in
Wurttemberg, January 6, 1866, and came to the
United States in 1884. To Mr. and Mrs. Bauchle
have been born nine children, as follows: Frank,
born January 11, 1887; Pauline, born .January 31,
1889; Ida, born January 13, 1891; Willie, born
August 27, 1893; Henry, born July 15, 1895; Carl,
born October 3, 1897; Leroy, born April 7, 1899;
Walter, born September 17, 1901; Alice, born March
26, 1906.
CHRIST BAUER (1883)
owns 240 acres of land on sections 12 and 11 Heron
Lake township, where he has lived nearly a quarter
of a century. He is a German by birth and was born
June 24. 1856, one of a family of two boys. Both
his parents are dead, his mother having died when
he was ten years old, his father twenty years
ago.
Christ Bauer lived in
Germany twenty-six years, of which the first
fourteen were spent at home, the others working on
farms. He came to America in 1882 lived one year
in Cook county Illinois, and then came to Jackson
county. For four years he worked out and then in
1887 bought his present farm, where he has ever
since lived, making all the improvements on the
farm. During his long residence in Heron Lake
township Mr. Bauer has held several township and
school offices. He is a
member of the German Lutheran
church.
Mr. Bauer was married in
Jackson county in April 1880, to Mrs. Will Bauer,
a native of Germany. To them have been born three
children, named as follows: Rosa, born June 24,
1890; Herman, born December 6, 1891: Emma, born
May 30, 1895. By her first husband Mrs. Bauer is
the mother of five children, Frida, Dora, Meta,
Ernie and Will.
MATTHIAS BAUMAN (1903)
is a farmer and landowner of Ewington township,
owning the west half of the west half of section
13.
He was born in Baden, Germany, January 9,
1847, son of Leonard and Barbara (Bauman) Bauman.
The former died in Champaign county, Illinois, in
1889, aged 64 years; the latter died in Germany in
1869.
The subject of this
biography lived in Germany until he was past
twenty-one years of age. He was raised on a farm
and educated in the village school, making his
home with his parents during his boyhood days. He
came to America, arriving in New York June 7,
1868, and located in Marshall County, Illinois.
There he worked as a farm hand ten months and then
returned to his old country home. Returning to
America again in March, 1869, Mr. Bauman took up
his home in Champaign county, Illinois, where he
bought a farm and engaged in agricultural pursuits
eight years.
The next home of our subject was Iroquois
county, Illinois, which was his home the next
twenty-seven years. He owned an eighty acre farm
there but farmed a half section. In the year 1902
Mr. Bauman sold out in Illinois and bought his
farm in Ewington township, and on February 27,
1903, moved to his new home. He is a member of the
Evangelical church of Ewington township. He served
us a director of school district No. 92 for two
years and has held the office of road
overseer.
Mr. Bauman has been married
twice. His first marriage occurred in Marshall
county, Illinois, January 23, 1872, when he wedded
Mary Goetz, who was born in Canada and who died in
Iroquois county May 0, 1890. Eight children were
born to this union, as follows: Caroline
(deceased), Rosa (deceased). Charles (deceased).
John a Ewington township farmer; Ben, Edward,
school teacher of Ewington; Annie, school teacher
of Alba township; Aggie (Mrs. Herman Meinhard), of
Illinois.
The second marriage of Mr. Bauman occurred
in Iroquois county in August 1893 when he wedded
Maggie Haefner, a native of Marshall county,
Illinois. To this union have been born the
following named five children: Leonard. Lloyd,
Wilbert. Leona and Grace, all living at home. Mr.
Bauman’s eldest daughter, Caroline, who became the
wife of Albert Lenz. was murdered in cold blood in
Iroquois county Illinois, in November, 1897, by a
man named Hartman. who later paid the penalty of
his crime by hanging at Paxton,
Illinois.
JOHN BAUMANN (1888),
farmer and dairyman of Heron Lake township, is a
native of Switzerland and was born January 16,
1860.
His father, Fred Baumann was born in 1824
and died February 18, 1901. His mother, Anna
Baumann was born in 1821 and is still living in
her native country. John is next to the youngest
of a family of five children born to these
parents.
John Baumann lived with
his parents in his native land until he was
twenty-four years of age, securing an education
and working on his father’s farm and serving a
three years’ enlistment in the army. He came to
the United States in 1884 and located in Green
County, Wisconsin, where he resided four years. He
came to Jackson county in 1888, worked as a
laborer two years, and then bought the south half
of the northeast quarter of section 24, Heron Lake
township—part of his present farm. There were then
only a shanty and old stable on the place, and the
fine home Mr. Baumann
has today is the result of his labor. He also
owns the west half of the northwest quarter of
section 19, Belmont, and the north half of the
quarter upon which is his house—a 240 acre farm in
one body.
Our subject was married in
Green county, Wisconsin, August 9, 1886 to Eliza
Krahenbuhl, who was born in Switzerland April 17,
1864, and came to the United States in 1884. She is the
daughter of John and Anna Krahenbuhl. To Mr. and
Mrs. Baumann have been born three children: Fred,
born September 25, 1888; William, born December
25, 1889; Anna, born March 2, 1897. The family are
members of the German Lutheran
church.
 GEORGE BEHRENFELD (1870),
stock buyer and real estate dealer of Heron Lake,
is a native of Minnesota and one of the very
earliest residents of western Jackson county, he
was born August 20, 1861 at a point forty miles
west of St, Paul, where is now located the town of
Waconia, in Carver County. His parents were John
and Anna (Shibley) Behrenfeld natives of Germany
and Switzerland, respectively. The father of
our subject came to America in 1854, lived about
six months in Wisconsin, and in 1855 located in
Carver county, Minnesota. There he took
government land and engaged in farming until the
town of Waconia was founded. At that time he moved
to the new village and engaged in the hotel
business until 1870. In May of that year he moved
with his family to Jackson county and took a
homestead in LaCrosse township. He engaged in
farming there twenty-two years, and then moved to
Heron Lake, where he engaged in the milling
business. He died at Heron Lake in 1901 aged 77
years. The mother of our subject immigrated to
America and was married to Mr. Behrenfeld in this
country. She died about eighteen years ago.
George Behrenfeld accompanied
his parents to Jackson county when nine years of
age. He received a country school education and
lived on his father’s LaCrosse township homestead
until eighteen years of age. He left home at that
age and for seven years was employed in a flouring
mill at Rock Rapids, Iowa. Returning to Jackson
county at the end of that time, he bought land in
LaCrosse township and engaged in farming five
years. Leaving the farm, Mr. Behrenfeld located in
Heron Lake and for a time was employed in his
father’s mill. Then he engaged in the stock and
real estate business, which he has since followed.
He has office rooms in the First National Bank
building. He deals in
Minnesota and North Dakota lands and buys and
ships stock. He owns farms in LaCrosse and Weimer
townships and village property. Mr. Behrenfeld is
a member of the Catholic church and of the M. W.
A.. M. B. A.. Royal
Neighbors and K. of C. lodges.
Mr. Behrenfeld was married in
Jackson county October 15, 1886, to Louisa
Powletcheck, aged 42 years, a native of Austria
and a daughter of John and Eva Powletcheck. She
came to Jackson county with her parents in 1872,
Mr. and Mrs. Behrenfeld are the parents of the
following children: Maybelle L. aged 19 years:
Beatrice B., aged 16 years; Eva M., aged 13 years:
John C, aged 9 years: Raymond G, aged 7 years;
Marrion M. aged 4 years.
JOHN C. BEHRENS (1903)
owns and farms the southwest quarter of section 14
Delafield township. He has one of the best
improved farms in the township, all tiled and
fenced.
When he bought
the farm in 1901 practically the only improvement
consisted of the dwelling house.
Mr. Behrens was born in
Germany March 21, 1867, the elder of a family of
two children born to Eli and Marguerita (Behrens)
Behrens.
The former died in Whiteside county,
Illinois, in 1879; the latter is living at the age
of 67 years. John C Behrens accompanied his
parents from the fatherland to the new world in
1874. Until he was of age he resided on the farm
in Whiteside county, Illinois. Then he married and
engaged in farming on his own account, having
rented a farm in that county. Three
years later he moved to Plymouth county, Iowa,
where he engaged in farming eleven years. In the
spring of 1903 Mr. Behrens came to Jackson County
and located upon his present place, which he had
bought in 1901, and there he has since made his
home.
In Whiteside county,
Illinois, on February 22, 1888 Mr. Behrens was
united in marriage to Ida Folkers. who was born in
the county in which she was married July 28, 1867,
and who is the daughter of Henry Folkers. Mr. and
Mrs. Behrens have had twelve children, of whom
three died in infancy. They are members of the
German Lutheran church. Mr. Behrens is
a member of the board of supervisors of Delafield
township.
ANDREW BENSON (1871),
Petersburg Township farmer, was born in Jackson
county May 20, 1871, and has made his home here
all his life. He is the son of Daniel and Bertha
(Ashlyson) Benson. He received a common school
education and after growing to manhood engaged in
farming for himself. He owns 200 acres of land in
Petersburg, 160 acres in North Dakota and 198
acres in Iowa, and has stock in the Petersburg
creamery and the Jackson telephone.
Mr. Benson was married March
11, 1896 to Bertha Nasby. To them have been born
two children: Balmore, born April 15, 1899, and
Albertina R. born July 22, 1902.
GUST
BENSON (1893) is one of the big farmers of West
Heron Lake township, in which he owns 400 acres of
land on sections 28 and 22. He was born in Sweden
May 5, 1858, the son of Nels and Johanna (Monson)
Benson, both of whom died in their native
land. Gust was
educated in the Swedish schools and until eighteen
years of age lived with his parents.
After that age he worked for
his own account and in 1883 came to the United
States. He located
first at Sugar Notch, Luzerne county,
Pennsylvania, where he worked at the carpenter
trade four years. He then came west and for
several years worked at his trade in St. Paul.
While a resident of the Minnesota capital city Mr.
Benson bought the southwest quarter of section 22,
West Heron Lake township, and in 1893 he moved
onto the land and began farming. He resided on
that farm six years and bought the east half of
section 28, and has since made his home on that
land, farming the whole 480 acres. He is treasurer
of school district No. 90.
Mr. Benson was married in St.
Paul December 11, 1880, to Engri Mortenson, who
was born in Sweden, the daughter of Morten Nelson,
and came to the United States in 1884. To them
have been born the following named children:
Arthur, born April 28, 1890; Alma, born November
4, 1892; Septer, born September 26, 1899; Herman,
born February 3, 1904. The family are members of
the Swedish Lutheran church.
 DR.
IVER S. BENSON (1881), physician and surgeon of
Jackson, is a native of the county and the son of
pioneer settlers. His parents were Ben and Bertha
(Lostegard) Benson, born in Norway April 18, 1820,
and February 21, 1831, respectively. They came to
America in 1867 and to Jackson county in October
of the same year. The head of the family filed a
homestead claim to the northwest quarter of
section 32, Petersburg township, and he and his
wife lived there the rest of their lives. The
father of our subject died in the spring of 1906;
his mother died in February 1882. There were
sixteen children in the family, of whom three died
in infancy. The thirteen living children are: Ben,
born April 18, 1855; Ashley, born September 21,
1856: Sigrid (Mrs. Lars Nelson)
born October 9, 1860; Ragnhild (Mrs. F. E.
Murray), born November 5, 1863: Peter, born
January 30, 1865; Engebret, born February 12,
1867; Berget (Mrs. S. A. Brunsvold), born January
14, 1869; Andrew, born May 20, 1871; Marget (Mrs.
S. H. Darby) born April 6, 1874: Louis, born April
25, 1876: John born August 25, 1877; Anna, born
June 23, 1879; Iver S., born October 3, 1881.
Iver S. Benson, the youngest
of this large family, was born in Petersburg
township and spent his boyhood days on the farm,
attending the district school. In the fall of 1897
he entered Augustana college of Canton, South
Dakota, and was a student there until his
graduation in the spring of 1901. During the next
year he was engaged in teaching school, conducting
a six months’ term in Iowa and a three months’
term in Jackson county. In the fall of 1902 he
began the study of medicine at Hamline university
and was a student there two years. He entered the
College of Physicians and Surgeons, of Chicago, in
1904, from which he received his diploma in the
spring of 1906. Immediately after graduation Dr.
Benson was appointed resident physician and
surgeon of the Norwegian Deaconess hospital in
Chicago and served in that capacity one year. He
located in Jackson in the spring of 1907 and has
ever since been engaged in the practice of his
profession.
Dr. Benson now conducts a
hospital and has his office and residence in the
new Matuska & Skalicky block, opposite the
post office. Dr. Benson holds
membership in the Jackson County Medical society,
the Minnesota State Medical society and American
Medical association. Fraternally he is associated
with the Knights of Pythias, Equitable Fraternal
Union, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Sons
of Norway. He and his wife are members of the
Norwegian Lutheran church. In the city of
Minneapolis, on June 14, 1907, Dr. Benson was
united in marriage to Katherine Oberg, who was
born in Sweden and who came to America and to
Minneapolis at the age of six years. She is the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. M.
Oberg.
JOHN W. BENSON (1872).
Soon after the founding of the village of Heron
Lake John W. Benson came to the little town and
engaged in the mercantile business in a modest
way. That village has been his home ever since.
From the modest beginning thirty-seven years ago
the business operations of Mr. Benson have
advanced to such an extent that he is now
interested in concerns capitalized at several
hundreds of thousands of dollars and is one of the
wealthiest men of Jackson county. He is president
of the First National Bank of Heron Lake and of
the First National Bank of Westbrook. He is
president of the Benson Grain company, having a
line of elevators in Minnesota and Nebraska and
capitalized at $150,000. He is president of the
Benson-Cabot company, incorporated, which does a
general merchandise business at Heron Lake. He is
secretary and treasurer of the Western Implement
company, whose headquarters are at Heron Lake and
which has several branch houses. He is president
of the Sontag Lumber company of Heron Lake and
Wilder. He is president of the Karamin Lumber
company of Republic, Washington. In addition to
his interests in these companies Mr. Benson owns,
in partnership with a sister, Mrs. F. M.
Southwick, 5,000 acres of farming lands in
Jackson, Cottonwood and Murray counties.
John W. Benson descends from
colonial stock. The American branch of the Benson
family was founded in 1620, when his ancestors,
who were seafaring men, came from England and
settled along the coast of Massachusetts. On his mother’s
side Mr. Benson is of Scotch-Irish descent. His
great grandfather, John Moore, was granted land
near Madison, Maine, by the government, in
recognition of services during the revolutionary
war.
The father of our subject was
John Benson, a Methodist minister, who was born on
the island of Martha’s Vineyard, off the coast of
Massachusetts. He located in Maine in an early
day, and prior to 1852, when he moved to
Minnesota, had no permanent location, being
located in different towns where his duties as
minister called him. Coming to Minnesota in 1852,
he located a claim on land that had been ceded to
the government by Little Crow. Thereafter
until his death in October, 1889, he was a
resident of Minnesota. Our subject’s mother was
Margaret (Moore) Benson, who was born near
Madison, Maine and who was the daughter of Goff
Moore and Betsy Moore. She died in
Minneapolis in October 1906, at the age of 91
years.
To these parents John W.
Benson was born at Dixmont, Maine, on the
15th day of March, 1849. He
accompanied his parents to Minnesota in 1852 and
lived on the claim in Dakota county five years.
The next two years were spent in Red Wing, and
from then until he arrived in Jackson county he
resided on his father’s farms in Goodhue and
Dakota counties. During the month of July, 1872,
Mr. Benson arrived in the little hamlet of Heron
Lake and engaged in the mercantile and grain
business and in farming. In September, 1892, he
organized the Peoples State Bank, of which he was
president, and when that was reorganized into the
First National Bank he continued to hold the chief
office. As the country
developed and his capital increased Mr. Benson
engaged in other lines of business until today he
has interests as above mentioned.
In Rice county, Minnesota,
March 22, 1877, Mr. Benson was married to Hattie
M. Cabot, a native of Dane county, Wisconsin, and
a daughter of John and Mary (Partridge)
Cabot. She came to
Minnesota with her parents in 1857, the family
first locating in Goodhue county and later in
Murray county. Mrs. Cabot died in
Murray county: Mr. Cabot in Heron Lake in
December, 1897.
Five children have been born
to Mr. and Mrs. Benson. They are Elsie, wife of
Prof. H. S. Kirk of the
Heron Lake schools: Lois Benson, who resides at
home; Frances (Mrs. C. A. Kirby), of
Kansas City, Kansas; Paul, assistant cashier of
the First National Bank of Heron Lake; John C, a
student at Hamline university.
Mr. Benson is a member of the
Methodist Church. He served as treasurer of the
board of education for a number of years. Mr.
Benson’s sister, Mrs. F. M. Southwick, who is
interested with her brother in the many
enterprises, came to Jackson county with her
brother in 1872 and homesteaded in Alba
township.
 PAUL H. BERGE
(1878), president of the P. H. Berge Company
(incorporated) of Jackson, is one of the pioneer
merchants of the county seat village. He is a
native of Rock county, Wisconsin, where he was
born February 28, 1852, the son of H. H. and Annie
(Sanden) Berge.
In his native county Paul H.
Berge received his education, completing it with a
two years’ course in Beloit college. In 1874, at
the age of twenty-two years, he came to Minnesota
and located in the little village of Windom, where
for two and one-half years he was engaged in the
butter business. Returning at the end of that time
to his old home, he spent the next two and
one-half years clerking in a store.
In September, 1878, just
before the arrival of the railroad to Jackson, Mr.
Berge came to that town and bought an interest in
the mercantile establishment of Strong Brothers,
the firm name then becoming Strong Brothers &
Berge. Two years later Strong Brothers withdrew
from the firm and thereafter for twenty three
years the establishment was conducted under the
name of Berge Brothers, H. H. Berge, Jr. a
brother of our subject, being the junior member.
P. H. Berge bought out his brother’s interest in
1904 and conducted the store alone for two years.
Two years after the last change noted the P. H.
Berge Company, with a capital stock of $20,000,
was incorporated. Of this company
the following are the present officers: P. H.
Berge, president;
A. A. Berge, vice president;
H. J. Berge, secretary; 0. B. Berge,
treasurer. Besides the P.
H. Berge Company Mr. Berge has other business
interests. He is vice president of the First
National Bank of Jackson, has stock in the First
National Bank of Heron Lake and has an interest in
a lumber firm in the state of Washington. In a
political way he has served in various capacities.
He was chairman of the board of county
commissioners six years, was a member of the local
board of education twelve years, six years as
president and six years as secretary, and was
president of the village council the second year
after incorporation. He is a member of the
Norwegian Lutheran church and of the I. O. O. F. and A. O.
U. W. lodges.
Mr. Berge was married in
Belmont township in November, 1881, to Lena Olson.
To this union eight children have been born, as
follows: Herbert J., Oscar B., Parker L., Amy A.,
Irene Luella, Hazel Aliouse, Catherine (died at
the age of one year), Nellie E. (McNamara), who
died August 6, 1908, at Alexandria,
Minnesota.
SYVERT H. BERKNESS (1875)
proprietor of a restaurant and confectionery store
at Heron Lake, has resided in the county since he
was a boy. By birth he is a Norwegian, the date of
his arrival upon this earth being October 21,
1863. His parents were Hans G. and Annie
(Gudmunsen) Berkness. The father came from Norway
in September, 1872, and was followed by the family
the next year. The family
located in South Minneapolis and there the mother
of our subject died one month after her arrival.
Hans Berkness continued to make his home in
Minneapolis until 1876 then he moved to Jackson
county and homesteaded the east half of the
northeast quarter of section 20, Heron Lake
township. He died in the county March 25, 1888,
aged 55 years.
Syvert came from the old
country with his mother and the other children
when ten years of age. He lived in Minneapolis
until the spring of 1875 and then came to Jackson
county. He worked one year on a farm in Heron Lake
township and the next year in Mower county.
Returning to Jackson county, he made his home with
his father on the farm until the latter’s death in
1888. Then he bought the farm and conducted it
until 1893. when he sold
out.
Mr. Berkness moved to Heron
Lake village in the fall of 1893 and during the
following winter worked at the carpenter trade.
Thereafter until the spring of 1896 he worked at
various occupations in Heron Lake. Then he rented
a farm on section 25, Heron Lake township, which
he conducted until the fall of 1902. Again taking
up his residence in Heron Lake, he bought the Nels
Larson restaurant, known as the Corner restaurant,
and has since managed it.
While living in Heron Lake
township Mr. Berkness held
office frequently. At the age of twenty-one he was
made road overseer and held the office a number of
years. Later he served as a supervisor for several
terms and was township assessor one year. He was a
member of the Heron Lake village council during
the year 1906. Mr. Berkness is a member of the
Norwegian Lutheran church, holding membership in
the Salem church of Heron Lake, and has held
nearly all the offices in that society. He is now
a trustee and treasurer and president of the
Sunday school and young peoples’ society. He is a
member of the A. 0. U. W., holding the office of
receiver at present.
Mr. Berkness was married in
Heron Lake township November 6, 1886, to Mary
Johnson, a native of Norway. To them were born
five children, of whom the following four are
living: Henry, Carrie, Anna and John. The youngest
child, Minnie, was born May 3, 1894, and died
August 3, 1894. Mrs. Berkness died September 30,
1894, at the age of 37 years. Mr. Berkness
was married the second time in Heron Lake village
June 27, 1900, to Mrs. Sophia Robson,
who was born in Norway and came to the United
States in May, 1881. She is the mother of one
child, Julius, of Minneapolis, who was born under
her first marriage to John
Robson.
FREDERICK H. BERREAU
(1884), furniture dealer, cabinet maker and
undertaker of Heron Lake, is a pioneer of
Minnesota. He is n native of Missouri and was born
February 28, 1855. His parents, Herman and Lena
(Mackie) Berreau, were born in Germany and came to
America soon after their marriage. They lived in
Missouri three years and in 1858 moved to Carver
county, Minnesota, which was their home until
1871. Then they located in Nobles county, being
pioneer settlers of that county, and homesteaded
the northwest quarter of section 2, Hersey
township. The father died
there in 1889 at the age of 55 years. The mother
died at the age of 57 years. They were the parents
of four living children: Frederick, Antonio (Mrs,
B. Poppitz), Otto
and Emma (Mrs. H. J, Nelson), all of whom live in
Jackson County except Otto, who lives on the
homestead in Nobles county.
At the age of two years our
subject accompanied his parents to Carver county,
Minnesota, and there he resided upon his father’s
farm, attending the district school, until
1871. That year he
accompanied his parents to Nobles county and there
resided on the farm until 1875, when he was twenty
years of age. The family
suffered severely during the terrible grasshopper
scourge of the seventies and to alleviate their
sufferings and help them through the ordeal,
Frederick went to Chaska, Minnesota, and worked at
the carpenter trade four years. He was married
there in 1882 and then located in Brewster, where
he worked at his trade two years. During a part of
the season of 1884, Mr. Berreau was at Chaska,
straightening up his affairs preparatory to
engaging in business in Heron Lake, He purchased a
stock of furniture in Minneapolis and brought it
to Heron Lake, arriving October 15, 1884, rented a
building from T. A. Dieson, and
started a furniture store, engaging also in
cabinet and carpenter work. The next year
he erected a business block of his own and added
undertaker’s supplies to the stock, Mr. Berreau
took out an embalmer’s license in 1908.
On the fifth day of
September, 1882, Mr, Berreau was married at Chaska
to Mary Smith, who was born in Holland and who
came to the United States with her parents in
1869, Her parents both died in Carver county, to
which place they moved upon their arrival to
America. Mr. and Mrs. Berreau are the parents of
six children Tillie (Mrs. John McCarroll) of
Anaconda, Montana, Herman of Heron Lake, Annie
(Mrs. Gus Teda) of St James, Fred, Otto, Albert,
of Heron Lake. The family are members of the
Catholic church of Heron Lake. He is a member of
the Woodmen Lodge. He owns his own
home in Heron
Lake.
JOHN BESSER (1876) is one
of the pioneer settlers of Alba township and owns
the southeast quarter of section 14. He is a
native of Ohio and was born July 16, 1858. He was
brought up and educated in his native state. His
father died when he was a child and John worked
out for neighboring farmers until he was nineteen
years of age. Mr. Besser came
to Minnesota in 1876 and for a year worked on a
farm near Brewster. he was married
in 1877 and took as a homestead claim eighty acres
of his present farm and has ever since lived on
the place. He is a member of the German Lutheran
church of Brewster and for several years served as
treasurer of school district No. 102.
The marriage of Mr. Besser
occurred at Brewster, Minnesota, in 1877, when he
wedded Catherine Barton, who was born at Chaska,
Carver county, Minnesota, October 30, 1855. Three children
have been born to this union, as follows: Andrew,
born November 24, 1870; Frank, born January 16,
1882; Fred, born August 21, 1894.
Frank Besser, the second son
was born in Hersey township. Nobles county,
January 16, 1882, and has spent his entire life on
the farm. He was educated
in the school of district No. 102 and spent
his early years assisting his father with the farm
work. In 1907 he acquired eighty acres of land
from his father and engaged in farming for
himself, and in the spring of 1910 he rented and
took the management of his father’s farm. He is a
member of the German Lutheran church and is
treasurer of school district No. 102. He is not
married.
HENRY BESTE (1900) is a
farmer and land owner of Sioux Valley township. He
is a native of Germany and was born July 2, 1853,
the youngest of a family of three children born to
August and Carolina (Miller) Beste. Both his
parents died in the old country. A brother of our
subject is August Beste, of the United States
navy. He is a captain of one of the gunboats and
took part in the Spanish-American war.
Henry came to America from
Germany in 1967 and located first at Baltimore,
Maryland. He spent the
first winter driving a baggage wagon in that city
and then located at Little York, Pennsylvania,
where for the next year he was employed as a stock
tender on the Ohio river. Returning to Baltimore
after his service he was employed as a sausage
maker a year and a half. Mr. Beste then returned
to his old home in Germany and enlisted in the
German army to fight in the war between that
country and France he being enlisted as an
ambulance driver. After the war Mr. Beste remained
in Germany three years, being employed as a driver
of a stone wagon. Returning to
the United States Mr. Beste located in Scott
county, Iowa where for three years he had
employment on the section. He then engaged in
farming in Scott County, renting for a number of
years and later buying seventy (wo acres of land.
Mr. Beste came to Jackson county in 1900 and
bought the northwest quarter of section 26. Sioux
Valley township, where he has since lived. In
addition to his Jackson county farm Mr. Beste owns
a quarter section of land in Butte county, South
Dakota. He is a member of the Herman Lutheran
church and of the M. W. A. lodge.
Mr. Beste was married in
Germany November 12, 1883, to Agnes Miller. To
them have been born the following named children:
Ernest, Henrietta, Agnes, Caroline, Hilda, Henry,
Alfred, Freda.
VINCENT BEZDICEK (1888),
a farmer of Hunter township, was born in Bohemia
January 12, 1884, the son of Frank and Francika
(Bezdieek) Bezdicek. When an infant he came to
America with his parents, lived with them a short
time in Nebraska and in Lyon county, Iowa, and
then in 1888 came with the family to Jackson
county.
Vincent received his
education in Jackson county and was brought upon
his father’s farm. After his mother’s death, which
occurred in 1903, the home farm—the northwest
quarter of section 13—became the property of the
children. Vincent has been farming the place on
his own account since 1907. He has been a director
of school district No. 15 for the past two years.
He is a member of the Catholic church of Jackson
and of the Catholic Western Union.
Mr. Bezdicek was married at
Jackson September 17, 1907, to Annie Dvorak. She
was born in Jackson County August 14, 1880, the
daughter of the late Frank Dvorak, an early
settler. Her father died in 1903; her mother lives
in Hunter township. One child has been born to Mr.
and Mrs. Bezdicek, Theresa, born April 11,
1908.
ELIAS T. BJORNSTAD (1880)
is a Des Moines township farmer and well driller.
He resides on section 15 on the west side of the
river, where he owns seventeen acres of land. Mr. Bjornstad
is perhaps better known locally as E. Thoreson,
Thoreson being his father’s second name and the
name by which he is generally known. He is a
Norwegian by birth, born September 28, 1855, the
son of Peter T. and Bertha (Bureson)
Bjornstad.
Elias Bjornstad was educated
in his native land, and during the last six years
of his residence there was employed as a clerk. He
came to America in 1880 and direct to Jackson
county. For a year and a half he lived in Belmont
township and worked on the railroad. Then he moved
to Des Moines township, and for the next ten years
engaged in farming on rented land. Then he bought
a small tract on section 15, and has since added
to it until he now owns seventeen acres. During
the last twenty years, in addition to his farming
operations, Mr. Bjornstad has been engaged in the
well digging business. He has held several offices
in his township, having served three years as a
member of the township board in the early
nineties. He was elected chairman of the board for
a three-year term in the spring of 1909 and is now
serving. He is a member
of the Norwegian Lutheran church and of the Sons
of Norway lodge.
Mr. Bjornstad was married at
Finmarken, Norway, August 28, 1878, to Hannah
Johnson. To them have
been born eleven children, as follows: Bertha,
born October 9, 1878, died June 17, 1879; Tory,
born March 20, 1880; Peter, born March 20, 1880,
died October 6, 1881; Peter, born September 19,
1882; Robert, born August 29, 1884; Emmett, born
November 23, 1886, died December 22, 1907; John,
born January 23, 1889; Oscar, born July 22, 1897 :
Carl, born October 4, 1893; Wallie, born August
25, 1896; Amanda, born December 22,
1898.
EDWARD A. BOEHL. (1887)
is the proprietor of the livery barn and of the
dray line at Alpha. He is a native of Monee, Will
county, Illinois, and his parents were August and
Wilhelmina Boehl, both deceased.
Mr. Boehl lived in Will
county, Illinois, until he was twenty-seven years
of age. Fifteen years of this time he engaged in
threshing during the seasons and for fourteen
years engaged in stock raising. He arrived in
Jackson county March 12, 1887, and has ever since
made his home there. During the first twelve years
he resided in Jackson, during all of which time he
was engaged in the threshing business. For three
years he also engaged in farming and from 1890 to
1899 conducted a dray line. Mr. Boehl moved to
Alpha in the spring of 1899, and has since been
engaged in farming, teaming and threshing. In the
fall of 1908 he and his son, Eddy, purchased the
livery, dray and feed business of C. J.
Swenson. Besides the
business enterprises mentioned Mr. Boehl owns
stock in the Farmers’ elevator company of
Alpha.
Mr. Boehl owns property in
the village of Alpha. He is a member of the
Presbyterian church and of the M. B. lodge of
Alpha. He served four years as chairman of the
board of supervisors of Wisconsin township, was a
member of the Alpha village council two years and
was village treasurer three years. He was also
chief of the Alpha fire department three
years.
Mr. Boehl was married
February 12, 1887, to Miss Emma Bohlander. To them
have been born the following children: Francelia,
born March 24, 1800; Eddy H., born January 10,
1892; Florence, born March 31, 1894; Blanche, born
February 18, 1901.
HARRY L. BOND (1901),
cashier of the Jackson County State Bank of
Lakefield, is a native of Iowa City, Iowa, where
he was born November 20, 1866, the son of A. J.
and Ada (Dennis) Bond. His education was received
in the country schools, in the Johnson county,
Iowa, high school, and in the Iowa state
university. At the age of
twenty-two years Mr. Bond began his business
career as bookkeeper in the First National Bank of
Storm Lake, Iowa. Three years
later he took a position as corresponding clerk
for the Iowa Land & Loan company, of Storm
Lake, and later became treasurer of the Iowa
Investment company, of Sioux City, which position
he held several years. In 1894 he became cashier
of the Cherokee County State Bank of Meriden,
Iowa, and was employed in that capacity seven
years. In 1901 Mr. Bond moved to Lakefield, having
bought out the interests of M. H. Evans in the
Jackson County State Bank in partnership with J.
M. Putman, and since that date has been identified
with the bank. During his
residence in Lakefield Mr. Bond has served as a
member of the village council and of the school
board. He is a member of the A. F. &. A. M.
and Eastern Star lodges.
JOHN BORSGARD (1875), of
Christiania township, was born in that precinct
June 9, 1875, the son of Severt Borsgard and
Kiersten (Krogstad) Borsgard and has ever since
made his home in Jackson County. He secured his
primary education in the district schools and
completed five terms at the Breck College at
Wilder. He completed
his education in the Mankato Normal school. He
began teaching school in 1895 and was so engaged
eight terms. He is a member of the Lutheran
church.
PETER BORSGARD (1872).
farmer and school teacher, owns 160 acres of land
on section 28 Christiania township. He is a native
of the county, having been born in the precinct in
which he now lives March 10, 1872, the son of
Severt Olson Borsgard and Kiersten (Krogstad)
Olson Borsgard, both deceased. Peter early
decided upon teaching for his profession. After
securing a primary education in the district
school he attended the college at Wilder. He lived
on the home farm until twenty years of age; then
he began working out and teaching school, being
employed in the latter occupation twelve
years. In 1898 he took
a course in the Mankato Normal school.
Except for a few years spent
in Windom, Mr. Borsgard has been a resident of
Jackson county all his life. He clerked several
years in the store of John Hutton general merchant
of Windom. Mr. Borsgard has stock in the
Christiania mercantile company, which owns the
store at Bergen. He clerked in the store two years
and was its manager one year.
Our subject was married to
Carrie Kulseth, of Christiania township May 12,
1900. Three children have been born to this union,
as follows: Gertrude, born May 23, 1902; Severt,
born July 21, 1905; Thomas Bjarne, born July 5,
1907. The family are members of the Norwegian
Lutheran church.
JOHN P. BRAKKE
(1871)—spelled in Norw egian would be Johannes
Pedersen Brakke—is one of the oldest settlers of
Delafield township and is one of the precinct’s
most successful and best known farmers. He came
with the vanguard of those who pushed out into the
frontier country, when a young man just coming of
age, and he has seen Jackson county develop from a
wilderness into the fine farming country it is
today.
John P. Brakke was born in
Ringsakeis parish, Hedemarkens, Norway, March 22,
1850. His parents
were Peder Johanesen Brakke and Anne (Svendsdatter
Olesveen) Brakke. His father, who was a carpenter
and farmer, was born in the same place as was his
son November 10, 1824, came to America in 1866 and
located at Houston, Minnesota. He came to Jackson
county in 1872 and located in Heron Lake township,
but made his home with his son in Delafield most
of the time until his death, which occurred June
7, 1879. The mother of our subject was born early
in the year 1820, was married to Peder Brakke in
Norway and died in her native land January 9,
1908. Until he was
seventeen years of age Mr. Brakke lived in
his native land. At the age of twelve years he
began working at the cabinet making and carpenter
trades, which he followed in Norway until his
arrival to America in 1867. Coming to the new
world, he located at Houston, Minnesota, and there
he worked at his trade until the spring of
1871. At that time he
was twenty-one years of age and took a fancy to
locate in some frontier section of the country and
grow up with it. His father had visited Jackson
county so early as 1868 and was pleased with the
country, although he did not locate here at that
time. His report on the country to the west
decided young Brakke to visit the county. He did
so, and on March 20, 1871, set foot on the soil of
Jackson county for the first time. Two days later,
on his twenty-first birthday, he made filing on
the east half of the northeast quarter of section
32, Delafield township, as a homestead claim.
When he arrived in the county
he had practically nothing in the way of property
or money, but he set to work with a will to make
his fortune. He at once erected a frame house,
12x14 feet with eight foot posts, and engaged in
farming on a small scale. When the
grasshoppers came in 1873 Mr. Brakke was
obliged to temporarily desert his claim, and from
that date until 1878 he worked at his trade in
Houston county. He returned to his Jackson county
home in the spring of 1878 and again engaged in
farming. In 1889 Mr.
Brakke received the appointment as a deputy state
weighmaster, under the first administration of
Governor Merriam, and he held the office eleven
years, serving under Governors Merriam, Nelson,
Clough and Lind. During these years he resided in
Minneapolis, his family remaining on the
farm. Returning to
the farm in 1901, he again took up the duties of
an agriculturalist. He now owns 360 acres of land
in one body and has one of the finest homes in the
neighborhood, his grove being one of exceptional
merit. The grove was started in 1878. In the
summer of 1909—thirty-one years later Mr. Brakke
sawed 10,000 feet of Cottonwood, maple and ash
lumber from it, without it apparently diminishing
the grove.
Besides his other
accomplishments, Mr. Brakke is a
violin maker of more than a local reputation. When
he was a boy in the old country he engaged in
violin making as a recreation. When he came to
America at the age of seventeen he gave up the
work, but when forty-seven years of age he again
took it up and has spent odd moments at the work
ever since. He has a number of the instruments on
hand, all the work of his handicraft. Many of the
instruments have been decorated by his
daughter.
Besides holding the state
office for eleven years, Mr. Brakke has held many
minor offices. He was chairman
of the board of supervisors of Delafield township
three years, was township assessor three years,
was township clerk nine years and he has held the
office of clerk of school district No. 29 for many
years. He is a member of the A. O. U. W.
lodge. Mr. Brakke was
married at Blackhammer, Houston county, Minnesota,
March 24, 1878, to Mari Guttormson Tyribakken, who
was born in Houston county December 2(1,
1857. She is the
daughter of Knudt Guttormson Tyribakken, Who was
one of the early settlers of Houston county,
locating there in 1854. To Mr. and Mrs. Brakke
have been born the following children: Albert
Marius, born May 22, 1880; Anna Elisa, born April
4, 1882; Clara, born October 30, 1883; Peander
Cornelius, born October 10, 1885; Gustav, born
January 8, 1888.
LOUIS J. BRITSCH (1885)
is a retired business man of Lakefield, which
village has been his home for nearly a quarter of
a century. He devotes his time principally to the
management of his farms and city property, but is
also engaged in buying and shipping furs. He owns
148 acres of land in section 3, Hunter township, a
half section in Ransom county North Dakota, a drug
store building in Lakefield, a residence and other
property in that village.
L. J. Britsch was born May
26, 1858, in Niles, Trumbull county, Ohio, the son
of Christian and Catherine (Schofer) Britsch. His
father was born in Bretten Bathen, Germany, and
his mother at Hessen, in the same country. They came to
America when young and were married in Ohio. For
many years the family lived at Niles, where Mr.
Britsch was engaged as a puddler in the iron
mills. Later he engaged in farming in Winneshiek
county, Iowa, and later still farmed near Spirit
Lake, Iowa, where he died October 23, 1880, aged
50 years. Mrs. Britsch is 77 years of age and
resides in Lakefield. Louis is one of a family of
ten children, of whom seven are living.
Louis Britsch resided with
his parents in Niles, Ohio, until six years old,
and then accompanied them to Winneshiek county,
Iowa. It was seven
years later when the family moved to Spirit Lake.
Louis was educated in the district schools, and
after securing his education learned the harness
maker’s trade at Spencer, Iowa. Later he worked at
his trade in Chicago, Youngstown, Ohio, New
Castle, Pennsylvania, and at Spirit Lake. He
located in Lakefield in 1885 and opened a harness
shop, which he conducted nine years. Selling out
then, he has since devoted his time as mentioned
above.
At Hamilton, Minnesota, on
May 26, 1887, Mr. Britsch was married to Miss Ida
Hinze, who was born in Cook county, Illinois,
January 27, 1869, the daughter of Adolph and
Caroline Hinze. To Mr. and Mrs. Britsch have been
born four children, as follows: Lillian, a state
university student and school teacher, born April
15, 1889; Arthur, a high school student, born
November 7, 1892; Elsie, born September 9, 1895:
Ludie, born March 15, 1899.
CARL BRODIN (1888) is a
successful farmer of Delafield township, owning
the northwest quarter of section 27 and the east
half of the northwest quarter of section 28. He
was born in Sweden June 27, 1866, the son of
Johannes Anderson and Johanna (Andreasson)
Anderson, who were born in 1833 and 1831,
respectively, and who are still living in their
native land.
Carl lived in the old country
until twenty-two years of age, working on the home
farm. He came to the
United States and to Jackson county in 1888,
arriving in this county on April 30. Upon his
arrival he took the name Brodin, after his old
Swedish home, his name in Sweden having been Carl
Johnson. This change was made because of
anticipated troubles in mail matters incident to
the name of Johnson. During the first five years
of his residence in Jackson county Mr. Brodin
worked out as a farm hand, three years on the farm
of Hans Skinrud in Delafield township and two
years on the farm of Christ Knudson in Weimer
township. He then bought eighty acres of his
present farm, then without a building, tree or
fence on it, and engaged in farming on his
account. In 1902 he bought an additional eighty
acres and in 1904 increased his farm to 240 acres
by the purchase of eighty acres on section 28. He
has a finely improved farm—the result of his
labors.
Mr. Brodin was married in
Delafield Township April 2, 1892, to Ida Linstrom,
who was born in Delafield township. She is the
daughter of August Linstrom of Wilder. To Mr. and Mrs. Brodin
have been born the following named children:
Ernest Arthur and Henry Robert (twins), born
October 21, 1894; Gustav Victor, born March 22,
1897; George Elmer, born July 11, 1899. Mr. Brodin
is treasurer of school district No.
121.
FRANK H. BROWN (1896), of
Jackson, was born in Brown county, Wisconsin,
December 21, 1873, the son of W. N. and Hepa
(Hayden) Brown, natives of Maine and New
Hampshire, respectively.
Until he was thirteen years
of age Frank lived with his parents on the farm in
Brown county, Wisconsin, and then he accompanied
them to Dickinson county, near Spirit Lake, Iowa.
He lived with his parents on the farm until he was
twenty years of age. Then he married and engaged
in farming on rented land for himself three years.
He came to Jackson county in 1896 and during the
next five years engaged in farming in Middletown
township. Giving up farming in 1901, he moved to
Jackson and for several years was engaged in
various occupations. In 1907 he engaged in the
livery business in Jackson in partnership with
Scott Huestis, having bought out Robert Henderson,
and conducted the barn until the spring of
1909.
Mr. Brown was married in
Jackson county March 22, 1893, to Edith Gruhlke, a
native of Waseca, Minnesota, and a daughter of
Edward Gruhlke, deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Brown
have been born the following children: Harry L.,
Vera M., Iva G. and Earl. Mr. Brown is a member of
the I. O. O. F.
lodge.
JOHN K. BROWN (1879),
deceased. Among the men who entered prominently
into the business and social life of Jackson
mention must be made of John K. Brown, the founder
of the first bank in the county.
John K. Brown was born in
Canada in 1827, of Scotch, English and Dutch
descent. He lived on a farm until eighteen years
of age and then moved to St. Thomas, where for
four years he was a salesman in a retail store. He
moved to London, Ontario, in 1851 and engaged in
the dry goods and millinery business. While a
resident of that city he served as a member of the
city council. Mr. Brown moved to New York in 1860,
was with Arnold, Constable & company one year,
and then entered the freight office of the Rome
& Watertown Railroad company. From 1865 to
1870 he was a traveling salesman, with
headquarters at Montreal, his territory including
parts of both the United States and Canada.
In 1870 Mr. Brown located at
LaCrosse, Wisconsin, where he entered the general
office of the Southern Minnesota Railroad company
and became assistant paymaster. A little later he
entered the land department of the same road and
served as land commissioner eight years. When the
Southern Minnesota railroad was constructed to
Jackson Mr. Brown gave up
his position with the railroad company and in 1879
founded the Bank of Jackson, the first bank in the
county. He was the head of that institution (later
it became the Brown National Bank) until his
death, which occurred April 16, 1908.
Mr. Brown was married in
November, 1883, to Pluma M. Kimball. Two children
were born to this union; John K. Brown, Jr., and
Cordon Brown.
OLIVER W. BROWN (1887),
foreman of the round house of the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway
company at Jackson, has led an interesting and
eventful life, the last twenty three years of
which have been spent in Jackson. He was born at
Frederick’s Varn, which was at the time the
location of the Norwegian navy yards, Norway, on
December 7, 1841, the son of Edward and Olivia
(Brown) Brown. When Oliver was
a mere child his mother died and he went to live
with an uncle at Horten, Norway, to which place
the navy yards had been moved from Frederick’s
Varn. There he received a meager education and
served an apprenticeship in the navy yards. At an
early age he shipped as a seafaring man in the
Norwegian naval mail service and followed that
occupation until 1862. For several years
thereafter he served in the capacity of ship’s
machinist and visited many foreign countries.
In the latter part of 1866
Mr. Brown, while at Copenhagen, Denmark, shipped
with the American navy, taking service on the
United States warship Canandaigua, which had been
built during the civil war for a blockade runner,
and which at the time was one of a squadron under
the command of Admiral Farragut, on a cruise of
the world. Over three years were spent on this
trip, the squadron visiting every civilized
portion of the world, and landing at the Brooklyn
navy yard during the holidays of 1869. Upon
leaving his ship at that time Mr. Brown enlisted
in the United States navy as a blacksmith, but his
skill as a mechanic soon won him promotion to the
position of machinist. He was honorably discharged
at Brooklyn.
Having saved up quite a sum
of Spanish gold, Mr. Brown exchanged it for coin
of the realm and went to Newburg, on the Hudson
river, where, in partnership with a retired naval
officer, he started a machine shop on an extensive
scale. The enterprise proved a failure and for a
short time thereafter he worked at his trade at
Cold Springs, near West Point, New York, and at
Jersey City. In the fall of
1871 he turned his face westward and landed in the
city of Chicago, where he followed his trade until
the big fire of October, 1871. After that
never-to-be-forgotten event he went to Milwaukee
and entered the employ of the Milwaukee railroad,
and with the exception of seven months during the
panic of 1873, he has been continuously in the
employ of that railroad.
During the seven months he
was not in the employ of the railroad company in
1873 Mr. Brown built and
put in operation the first steam yacht that ever
sailed the waters of the Milwaukee river. The
vessel was successfully operated as a pleasure
boat for three seasons, and then went out of
commission in that service because of the carrying
away by flood of the Milwaukee dam. The boat was
then sold to a fishing firm on lake Michigan. The
yacht was supplied with a fourteen horse power
upright engine and had a speed of sixteen and
one-halt knots an hour.
When he entered the employ of
the Milwaukee road at Milwaukee in 1871 Mr. Brown
served as machinist and later was made foreman of
the round house. In 1887 he moved to Jackson to
take the position of foreman of the round house of
the Milwaukee road at that point and has ever
since served in that capacity.
In the month of October,
1871, in the city of Chicago, fourteen days before
the big fire, Mr. Brown was married to Ovidia Bay,
a native of Norway. To Mr. and Mrs. Brown have
been born seven children—two sons and five
daughters. Both sons are dead, the elder having
met his death by drowning in the Milwaukee river.
The daughters are all teachers, Milly being an
artist of great ability, and Birdie (Mrs. Ainsley
Hughes), is a talented musician, having studied
under old masters in Norway and Chicago. The other
living children are Hilda, Grace and Maybelle.
Mr. Brown owns a section of
land in Wadena county, Minnesota, and owns
considerable property in the village of Jackson.
He was a member of the village council two terms
and has been a member of the board of education
for the last five years.
WILLIAM C. BUCHMANN
(1881) has lived upon his present farm in
Petersburg township nearly twenty-nine years. He
is a German by birth .and first saw the light of
day November 10, 1864, being the son of William
and Amelia (Hessler) Buchmann, both deceased. He came to the
United States with his parents ah the age of nine
years. The family resided in the city of Chicago
three months and then located in Wisconsin, where
our subject lived eight years.
In the month of March, 1881
Mr. Buchmann came to Jackson county. He bought
land in Petersburg and for the first few years
made his home in a 10x15 feet shanty—and one
summer four families lived in that. Besides his
farming operations, he engaged in the threshing
business eleven seasons, having been the owner of
two horsepower and one steam outfit. Mr. Buchmann
now has a fine farm of 240 acres on the east half
of section 17, improved with a large, modern house
and a good sized basement barn. He owns stock in
the Petersburg Creamery company and in the Jackson
Fair association. He served one year as supervisor
of his township, five years as town treasurer and
ten years as road overseer.
Mr. Buchmann was married
November 28, 1889, to Adeline Wendelsdorf, who was
born December 2, 1873. To these parents have been
born the following children: Mary, born October
11, 1891; Arthur H., born September 26, 1892;
Ernest T., born August 18, 1894; Reuben P., born
August 13, 1897, died March 10, 1898; Esther R.,
born August 5, 1900; Addie E., born January 22,
1903; Ruth E., born March 1, 1906. Mr. Buchmann
and his family are members of the Evangelical
church.
 HARRY M.
BURNHAM (1892) is the proprietor of one of
Jackson’s leading department stores. He is a
native of London, England, and was born September
12, 1873, the son of James and Maria (Steele)
Burnham. In his native
city Mr. Burnham lived until 1884. That year he
came to the United States with his parents and
located at Wyckoff, Minnesota. Two years later
he moved to Fairmont, and in that village he was
educated and grew to manhood. He moved to Jackson
in the fall of 1892 and that village has since
been his home. He engaged in the dry goods
business in 1897 and has built up excellent trade,
having one of the neatest and best appointed
stores in the county. He built his present
commodious business block in 1903.
Mr. Burnham was married in
Jackson in September, 1898, to Miss Mabel
Albertus, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. A. Albertus.
To them has been born one child, Cecil A.
Mr. Burnham is a member of
the Masonic order, belonging to the Knights
Templar and Commandry of Fairmont, and the Osman
Temple of St. Paul. He is at present an officer of
the Grand Lodge of the state and is a past master
of Good Faith lodge No. 90, of Jackson. He also holds
membership in the Modern Woodmen of America lodge.
Mr. Burnham has served as president of the Jackson
village council and of the board of
education. He is a member
of the M. W. A. and A. O.
U. W. lodges.
PETER BURRESON (1860).
whose farm lies in Des Moines township a short
distance northwest of the village of Jackson, is a
native of the county, having been born on the farm
he now conducts November 21, 1874. His parents,
William Burreson and Christie (Olson) Burreson,
were among the very earliest of the settlers of
Jackson county. They were born in Norway and came
to Jackson county in 1860 with the vanguard of the
Norwegian settlers and were living in the county
at the time of the Indian massacre of 1862.
William Burreson and his wife still live on the
old homestead he took in 1860. Eleven children
were born to them, of whom the following seven are
living: Burr, Emery, Peter, Belle, Bedena, Obena
and Annie.
Peter Burreson attended the
Jackson county district schools and grew to
manhood on his father’s farm. Until he was
twenty-three years of age he worked for his
father; then he rented the home place on sections
14 and 11 and engaged in farming for himself. In
1909 he bought eighty acres of his father’s
farm. His place is
known as the “Fairview Farm.”
DR. C. L. BURRILL (1901),
Heron Lake dentist, was born in Nicollet county,
Minnesota. July 20, 1873
the son of L. L. and Clara Inez (Dolph) Burrill.
When he was four years of age he accompanied bis
parents to Springfield, Brown county, where he
grew to manhood and where his parents still
reside. Our subject
received a high school education in Springfield
and completed his general education in Minneapolis
in 1899. He then went to Chicago and entered the
dental department of Northwestern university, from
which he received his diploma in May 1902.
June 10 of the same year Dr.
Burrill located in Heron Lake and engaged in
practice. He holds membership in the Southwestern
Minnesota Dental association, the Minnesota State
Dental association and the National Dental
association. Dr. Burrill was
married January 7, 1900, to Miss Rosa K. Miller,
of Okabena. He is a member of the Methodist church
and of the Masonic and Knights of Pythias
lodges.
SHERRILL BUSHNELL (1885)
is a Des Moines township farmer whose place is on
section 14, a short distance north of the village
of Jackson. He is a native of Lisbon, Kendall
county, Illinois, and was born November 24, 1858.
the son of Joseph and Elenora (Cobley) Bushnell
now residents of Jackson. The father of
our subject was born in New York state, came west
in an early day and settled in Illinois. He
located in Jackson in 1885, bought the farm upon
which his son now resides in 1886, and has ever
since been a resident of the county. His wife was
born in Vermont. They are the parents of three
children: Jackson, of Kansas City, Kansas; Edith
(Mrs. Jabe Norman), of Denver, Colorado; Sherrill,
of this sketch.
Sherrill lived in his native
county until twelve years of age. Then he moved to
Ford county, Illinois, where he attended school
and engaged in farm work until he came to Jackson
county in 1885. During the first four years of his
residence in the county he lived in Jackson and
worked on his father’s farm north of the village.
He spent one year at lona Lake, one year in
Jackson, and then located on his father’s farm,
where he has since made his home. He is a director
of school district No. 13, is a member of the
Presbyterian church and of the M. W. A.
lodge.
Mr. Bushnell was married in
Jackson March 33, 1887 to Annie Davis, daughter of
Joseph and Caroline (Farrar) Davis and a native of
Maine. Mr. and Mrs. Bushnell are the parents of
eight children, as follows: Horace, born January
22, 1889; Andrew, born May 31, 1891, Wallace, born
November 5, 1893; Edith born February 2, 1896;
Lillian F., born May 16, 1898; Gordon born
September 12, 1900; Grace born October 29, 1902:
Edwin W., born July 20,
1907.
VERNON E. BUTLER (1891),
secretary and treasurer of the Benson Grain
company of Heron Lake, and ex-auditor of Jackson
county, is one of the leading businessmen of Heron
Lake. He descends from colonial stock and pioneers
of the west. His grandfather, Willis R. Butler, a
native of Virginia, settled in Iowa in territorial
days and became very wealthy, owning many
thousands of acres of land. Butler county, Iowa,
was named in his honor.
The parents of our subject
are the late James Butler and Margaret (Bonwell)
Butler. James Butler
was born in Coshocton, Ohio. He located in
Iowa when a young man and from that state enlisted
in company G, of the 32nd volunteer infantry,
serving until seriously wounded, which
necessitated his discharge. After the war
he located in Butler county, where he engaged in
the grain, stock and banking business. He died
September 23, 1880, at the age of 39 years. On his
mother’s side V. E. Butler descends from an old
English family which settled in Virginia and North
Carolina in colonial days. Mrs. James Butler was
born in Indiana; was married to Mr. Butler at
Clarksville, Butler county, Iowa, and now makes
her home with her son in Heron Lake. She is 68
years of age.
To these parents Vernon E.
Butler was born in Butler township, Butler county,
Iowa, on the 10th
day of July, 1860. He received his education in
that county and made his home with his parents
until seventeen years of age. Then, being in
poor health, he spent two years in Kansas and
Colorado. Returning to Iowa, Mr. Butler located in
Elma, Howard county, and at the age of nineteen
years engaged in the hotel business, which he
followed until 1889. That year he married and
moved to Blue Earth City, engaging in the
mercantile business in partnership with an uncle,
A. Bonwell.
Mr. Butler sold out at Blue
Earth City in the summer of 1891, and on October
1, of that year, he moved to Heron Lake. He
secured a position as bookkeeper for J. W. Benson
in that gentleman’s general store, at which work
he was employed several years. In 1894 Mr. Butler received
the republican nomination for county auditor, but
was defeated at the election by 32 votes. He made
the race again in 1896 and was elected by two
votes. He was reelected in 1898 by over 800
plurality. His term of office expiring January 1,
1901, Mr. Butler, having
refused to again become a candidate, retired to
private life. That year he and J. W. Benson and F.
S. Kingsbury organized and incorporated the Benson
Grain company, Mr. Butler becoming secretary and
treasurer. The company was first incorporated for
$100,000 but later the capital stock was raised to
$200,000 . It is the owner of twenty two elevators
and one flouring mill in Minnesota and
northeastern Nebraska. In February, 1906, Mr.
Butler purchased the Kingsbury interests in this
company.
In official life Mr. Butler
has taken an active part and has held a number of
local offices. He has served
as a member of the Heron Lake village council and
has been president of that body. He holds the
office of president of the board of education and
has been a member of the board for five years. Mr.
Butler affiliates with the Methodist Episcopal
church. He is a member
of the A. F. & A. M., the M. W. A. and the
Yeomen lodges.
Mr. Butler was married in
Elkader, Clayton county, Iowa, June 20, 1889, to
Bessie I. Fairfield, a native of Iowa. Her parents
were natives of Massachusetts, settled at Niles,
Indiana, and later in South Bend, Indiana, where
her father died, her mother is now 73 years of age
and makes her home with her daughter in Heron
Lake. To Mr. and Mrs. Butler have been born four
children, as follows: James Arthur, Grace Gladys,
George Vernon and Kenneth Alfred.
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