BIOGRAPHIES - H

PAGE INDEX

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.

HAUGE, E. M.
page 244

E. M. Hauge, superintendent of the schools at Fertile and one of the progressive educators of the county, is a native of the state, born at Winona, September 9, 1886, the son of Reverend A. Hauge, a member of the Lutheran clergy in Minnesota for over thirty-three years.  E.M. Hauge received his early education in the Normal school at Winona and then attended a private academy, which is conducted in connection with St. Olaf college at Northfield, Minnesota.  After completing his preparatory studies he entered St. Olaf college for a collegiate course and graduated from that institution in 1909.  In the fall of the same year he came to Fertile as principal of the high school during the superintendence of H. R. Tonning, and after two years’ of efficient service in that position was promoted to the office of superintendent.  During the four years under his direction the school has made rapid advance in educational efficiency and has witnessed notable accomplishment in the educational field. 

Mr. Hauge conducts school along the modern lines of pedagogical theory.  The measure of his success and the interest accorded the school by the citizens appears in the almost unanimous vote case on the bond issue for the new school building, which is being erected at the cost of some forty thousand dollars.  The school district includes eight sections of Garfield township and has an enrollment of two hundred and forty-nine pupils, with a teaching force of eleven.  The high school was established in 1900 and is a commissioned state high school, with an attendance of forty-nine and a faculty of five instructors.  The school graduated eleven students in 1915, which is the average number of graduates for the last four years and has ninety-nine members in its alumni association.  Reverend A. E. Strom is the president of the school board, with J. A. Gregerson, clerk, and Norman Hanson, treasurer.  The other members of the school board are A. P. Hanson and Rev. J. M. Sundheim.

submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond

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.


Haugen, Arne J.
Page 349

Arne J. Haugen, a well known farmer of Badger township and a director in the State Bank of Erskine, was born in Norway, March 3, 1867, and came to the United States as a lad of eighteen years, borrowing the money for his passage from his brother.  For a few months he worked on a farm in Ottertail county and in November, 1885, joined his father in Polk county, where they located on the land, in section twenty-six of Badger township which is Mr. Haugen’s present home.  They continued to work in partnership and his father lived there until his death in May, 911, at the advanced age of eighty-two.  His wife’s death preceded his by eight years.  Arne J. Haugen has never married and with his sister, Gustava Haugen, is the only surviving member of the family.  The latter makes her home with her brother as housekeeper. 

The Haugen farm was formerly the homestead of Julius Bradley and upon coming into Mr. Haugen's possession was for the most part wild land and occupied only by a claim shack.  He has put eighty acres in cultivation and has reclaimed some low land with ditching.  The remaining tract is retained as pasture land, Mr. Haugen being interested in raising high grade stock.  He also engages in dairying.  Through his able efforts and farming ability he has built up a prosperous estate of two hundred acres and has also given his service and attention in other fields of local activity, being identified with two notable enterprises of that region, as vice president of the co-operative creamery at   Erskine and stockholder and director in the Erskine State bank.  He has been frequently called to public service by his fellow citizens and has held the offices of township assessor and township treasurer, chairman of the board and for fifteen years was a member of the school board.

submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond

Heidal, Abraham Lovalien
Born:  November 13, 1891, Queen Township, Polk Co., MN
Died:  July 1969, Tacoma, WA

Childhood and Conversion

My mothers maiden name was Isabelle Lysgaard (Ingeborg Ellefsdatter Berge).  The ancestors on my fathers (Isak Pedersen Lovalien) side were watchmakers and jewelers, they also undertook architectural work.  Father and mother emigrated from Gulbransdalen, Norway to the US in 1884, and were among the pioneers in Northern Minnesota.  They first lived in Pelican Rapids, Otter Tail County, but shortly after they were married they moved to Polk County.  Father took a homestead in Queen Township, when the so-called thirteen towns was opened up by the government for settlement.  Pioneer work was not an easy task.  The nearest town was Crookston, about fifty miles away, and road, where there were any, were poor.  Only the more fortunate settlers had oxen and wagon, but even that kind of slow, humble transportation was impossible in the newly opened settlement.  Markings were made on trees, by slicing off a piece of bark, to aid pedestrians in finding their way back and forth.  

My father often walked to and from Crookston, and carried, maybe, a fifty pound sack of flour, or other necessary groceries and household articles.  Building material was plentiful on the homestead, and a cute little log cabin was hurriedly built on a small, cleared plot in the woods.  A small barn was built for the first cow.  Then from time to time, a few acres of land was cleared and cultivated.  For three successive years frost destroyed much of the crop.  Still the hopeful and energetic pioneers, toiled on, building their future home.  Children were born in the old log cabin, and on a Friday, the thirteenth of November, 1891, yours truly was born in this little home-sweet-home on the ranch in Red River valley.  The religiously inclined father, prayerfully looked up to God and blessed his son.  Having prayed that the child might grow up in the fear of the Lord, and that he might become a man of faith like Abraham of old he said the mother, let us call him Abraham.

They were members of the Hauges Synod Lutheran Church, but by this time father had gotten more light on the Word, and he say that the so-called infant baptism was unscriptural.  And although three children had been brought through this ritual, father now refused to allow this child to be thus christened.  But mother did not see it that way, so one day, when father was away, she picked up her boy and carried him several miles to a minister to be sprinkled and christened.  Nine months after I was born father died and mother was left a widow with two boys.  With much hard work and great difficulty, she carried on the work on the farm for about three years.  In 1894 she married Mr. Ole Heidal.  

The children were adopted, and taking on the new name, Heidal.  Some years later my older brother died and I was left the only child of the first family.  I have three half sisters and two half brothers living.  In 1905 we moved to Saskatchewan, Canada and settled on a homestead near Eagle Creek, in Saskatoon municipality.  From here it goes on to tell about his religious life.

Submitters note:
1. Ingebjorg ELLEFSDATTER BERGE, F.   Born about 1862 in Sel, Oppland, Norway. On Nov 27, 1885 when Ingebjorg was 23, she first married Isak PEDERSEN LOVALIEN, in Fergus Falls, Otter Tail County, MN.  He died about 1892.

First lived at Pelican Rapids, Otter Tail county, then moved to Polk County shortly after they were married, November 27, 1885 in Fergus Falls, MN.  

They had the following children:
Peder, M. Born in pre 1891. Peder died bet.             
   1895-1905; he was 4.
Abraham Lovalien, M. Born on Nov 13, 1891 in
   Queen township, Polk county

In 1894/95 when Ingebjorg was 32, she second married Ole HEIDAL, M, in Queen township, Polk county, Minnesota.

They had the following children:
1.  Emma, F.
2.  Carl Oscar, M
       Carl Oscar married Thora OTTERSLAD, F.
3.  Orville, M
4.  Clara, F.
5.  Olive, F.
6.  Edward, M

Submitted by Cindy Wheeler January 2003

HEIERMAN, Nicolai and Ingeborg - biography from Winger Historical Book - actual page below

Our First Pioneer Pastor

No history of our Winger community would be complete without a record of the work of the first pioneer pastor in this vicinity, the Rev. Nicolai Heierman.

Rev. Heierman came here from Blair, Wisconsin in 1884 and homesteaded on land in the south end of Knute township.  This is the farm that was later known as the Jonas Jonson farm and is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Helmer Hogenson.  Rev. Heierman organized the Gosen congregation, whose church edifice stands on land that was originally a part of his farm.  He also organized the Bethel congregation a short time later.

Came Here As Missionary

This pioneer pastor was a Norwegian Lutheran minister, associated with the general church body called "Konferensen."  When he first came to this territory he was classed as a missionary and his salary was very small.  His church work took him through practically all of the area where Winger, Erskine, McIntosh and Fosston are now located and he is credited with being the first pastor of nine different congregations. 

The work of this pastor could fill many volumes.  In the enormous Territory which he served there were few, if any, roads. The recollections of early settlers tell of how he covered his circuit, often on foot or on horseback, wading through snow or mud as he held church services in homes, visited the sick and disabled, and even brought desperately needed supplies to stranded families. The hardships he endured no doubt shortening his life for he died at the early age of 46.

Nikolai Heierman was born in Trondhjem, Norway in 1850 and studied for the ministry at Auzsburg Seminary in Minneapolis. Her served as pastor at Blair, Wisconsin for a time after being ordained a minister and came here in 1884. He left here in 1896 to serve at Atwater, Minnesota, where he died on April 9, 1897. His wife Ingeborg who was born in 1851, also in Trondhjem, Norway, died here in 1893 and was buried in the Gosen cemetery. His body was returned here bur burial beside the grave of his wife and his sister, Mrs. Anna Johnson, also one of the charter members of the Gosen congregation

Before the church was built, the services were held in homes, most of them in the loft of the home of Rev. Heierman's sister, Mrs. Anna Johnson, which was located west of the present church. The first confirmation service was held there on December 17, 1885 and the first Christmas tree festival was also held in this home. It was a blistering cold evening and there was no stove in the loft room, but Mrs. Johnson knew what to do. She filled a kettle with live coals from the stove downstairs and brought them up so as to break the chill of the room

Heierman Memorial Erected Later

In 1925 a movement was started to erect a monument at the graves of Rev. and Mrs. Heierman. A committee appointed for this project included Tallak Salveson, P. H. Sorvig, P. A. Mork, and Peter Myhr. A five-foot monument of red St. Cloud granite was purchased at a cost of over $300, which was raised by popular subscription

Several hundred people attended the dedication of this memorial which was held a the Gosen church on Sunday afternoon. October 4, 1925. Speakers were Rev. C. M. Westermoe of McIntosh and Rev. J. B. A. Dale of Dunseith, North Dakota, both former pastors of the congregation

 

Submitted by Larry and Marie Solberg, Winger MN 082703 Aug 2003

 

Note: More Information about Rev. Nicolai Heierman also on these pages:

Buried at :  GOSEN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CEMETERY
Was Pastor of Trinity Free Lutheran Church 1884-1894
Was Pastor of Zion Lutheran Church - Eden Twp. - Section 30

Pastor of Bethel Community as well

 

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)
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.


HELDSTAB, John
pp 174-175

Starting in life for himself at the age of twenty-one, with nothing but his strong arm, clear head and determined spirit as capital, the late John Heldstab, one of the enterprising and successful business men of Crookston, steadily pursued his way through a variety of trials and occupations to consequence in a worldly way and a position of high esteem and regard among the people of the city in which the greater part of his activities were shown.

Mr. Heldstab was a native of Switzerland, born in the city of Davos, December 2, 1860, where he was reared on a farm and remained until he reached the age of twenty-one.  He was the son of Honus and Anna (Travaner) Heldstab.  Both parents died in Switzerland.  In the spring of 1882 he came to the United States in company with his brothers, Christian and Martin, and located at Alma, Buffalo county, Wisconsin.  In that locality he worked for about one year at farm labor.  Early in 1883 he changed his residence to Crookston, Minnesota, and here also he worked out on farms for a few years, but passed most of the time in the neighborhood of Warren, in Marshall county, during this period.

Mr. Heldstab’s next move was to form a partnership with Mathew Ridi for carrying on an active business in the ice trade.  The partnership lasted only a few years, as Mr. Heldstab saw a more favorable opening for his energies in a short time and sold his interest in the ice firm.  He then turned his attention to the draying industry and also occupied himself to a considerable extent in collecting buffalo bones and shipping them to markets where they were in demand.  He continued his draying business for a number of years and then sold it to advantage.  In 1896 he purchased the ice business of John Schantzen, which he conducted with increasing trade and prosperity until his death at his home in Crookston, 4420 North Main street, on September 8, 1915.  He was fifty-four years of age when he died, and twenty-two years of his industrious and useful life were passed in Northwestern Minnesota.

During the whole of his residence in this country Mr. Heldstab took an earnest interest and an active part in the affairs of the community of his home and contributed essentially to its progress and development.  He was not, however, an active political partisan and never sought or desired a public office of any kind.  His work for the advancement of his city and county was that of a good citizen outside of political contentions and hopes of direct personal reward except what came from the improvement of his locality.  He belonged to the German Lutheran church and was one of the earliest and most active members of St. Paul’s congregation of that sect in Crookston.

On December 20, 1891, Mr. Heldstab was married in Crookston to Miss Lena Weber, who was born in Oberstein, Germany, November 12, 1871, and came to this country in 1888, when she was seventeen years old.  Seven sons were born of their union, one of whom, Paul Walter, died when he was about one year old.  The mother and six of the sons are living and have their homes in Polk county.  The living sons are: John W., Gustav M., Christian R., Theodore E., Harold D., and Willard A.  At the time of death the father owned a fine farm of 320 acres, which was well improved and under good cultivation.

submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond

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.

HENDRICKSON, Thomas
pages 319-320

The late Thomas Hendrickson, who was for many years one of the leading farmers of Western Polk county, and who died on his little farm in Sandsville county June 30, 1912, was a native of Sweden, province of Vermland, where his life began December 22 ,1855.  He came to the United States with his father, Hendrick Leeden, and located with him in Renville county, Minnesota, where he lived until 1878, when he moved to Polk county and bought the southeast quarter of section 28, in Higdem township, to which he afterward added eighty acres which he purchased from the railroad company, and still later he also took up a homestead, which was the northwest quarter of section 26, Higdem township.  On these tracts of land he lived until he retired from large operations and removed to a small farm in section 17, Sandsville township, on which he passed the remainder of his life.

Owing to a rule long in use rather generally in Scandinavian countries the children of a man take as their surname the father’s given name with the suffix “son” added.  Thus this gentleman as the son of Hendrick Leeden became Thomas Hendrickson, and his children received the patronymic “Thompson” as their designation, and this all his sons and unmarried daughters still bear.  They are alluded to in this sketch under that name.

Mr. Henderson developed his homestead and other land into good farming ground and improved his several tracts with good buildings, especially the homestead, on which he made his headquarters for many years.  He had 400 acres in all in Higdem township, and when he moved to the Sandsville township farm, five and a half miles east, he turned the Higdem farm in section 28 over to his son, Henry Thompson, and the old homestead over to his son, Nels A. Thompson, whose sister, Miss Christine Thompson, keeps house for him as he is unmarried, although warmly interested in every phase of his township’s welfare and everything that ministers to its progress and further development.

The principal industry of the father on the farms was raising grain.  He was also the first man to operate a threshing outfit in this section of the county, beginning his work in this line with horse power and continuing it with steam power for many years after that became feasible.  For many years he was in partnership in the threshing business with H.H. Oberg, of Sandsville township, and they were also owners of imported Percheron stallions and gave a great deal of attention to improving the grade of horses in their part of polk county and the adjoining country.  In his later threshing activities he had Ole Lind as a partner.

Mr. Henrickson covered a wide area as a thresherman and was best known to the people of the Northwest in that capacity.  He served as treasurer of Higdem township for some time, and for a long period was one of the members of Kongsvenger Lutheran church, which stands one mile and a half south of his old home.  When he located in this county he had no capital and his experience during his first few years here was very discouraging. His land was so wet that he could not get his team over it, and his crops were more frequently less than half of what they should have been.  But he was a man of resolute spirit and adhered to his industries until success attended his efforts and prosperity followed them.

Soon after he became a resident of Polk county Mr. Hendrickson was married at Cokato to Miss Anna Nelson, also a native of Sweden but brought to this country and state in her childhood.  She died in 1898 leaving a family of children, seven of whom are now living (1916).  They are: Christine, who is keeping house for her brother Nels on the family homestead, as has been stated; Henry, who married Miss Christine Nequist and lives in section 28, Higdem township; Matilda, who is a trained nurse in Grand Forks; Nels A., who owns and cultivates the homestead; Alma, who is the wife of John Lind and lives near her old home; Esther, who is a student in the University of Minnesota and has her home at her brother’s Nils Thompson, and Annie, who has had her home in the family of Axel Mathisen, of Sandsville township, since the death of her mother, which occurred in giving  her birth.  Mr. Hendrickson contracted a second marriage, which united him with Miss Mina Hendrickson.  They had one child, their daughter Ruth, who is with her mother on the Sandsville township farm.

Nels A. Thompson, the second son of Thomas Hendrickson, was born June 29, 1889, on the farm on which he is now living, and has passed almost the whole of his subsequent life on it.  His education, which was begun in the district school near his home, was continued at the State Agricultural College at Crookston, which he attended when it was only an experiment station and later for some terms, being one of its first students.  He raises wheat, oats and barley, principally, and breeds Duroc-Jersey hogs.  For some years he worked with his father on the threshing outfit, but latterly he has devoted himself exclusively to his farm.  He is one of the enterprising, highly respected and influential young men of western section of the county and a very forceful agency for good in his immediate neighborhood, with a firm hold on the confidence and esteem of the people in all other parts of Polk county.

NOTE: Higdem Township is in the extreme NW corner of Polk.  The western border of Higdem is the Red River of the North.  Adjacent to the east is Sandsville Township.  The northern edge of each township is Marshall County.

submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond

HERNDON, Melvin

"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

 

“The First 100 Years, 1883-1983, Fosston, Minnesota”
Fosston’s Centennial Book Committee

HILDAHL, REV. K.O.
page 222

Rev. Hildahl was married to Caroline Rogne (b. 1875) who died in 1908.  On September 8, 1910 he was married to Anne Thompson (b. 1885) who had been a resident of Sletten Township since 1900.  Anna Thompson had completed a term of parochial instruction at Concordia College in 1908 and was a parochial school teacher.

Rev. Hildahl served for 28 years as pastor of this four point parish: Landstad, Brandsvold, Zion and Vernes congreagation.  Landstad and Brandsvold later were a part of a merger which became Hope Congreagation, and it was during Rev. Hildahl’s pastorate that the original unit of the present church edifice was built.

In May of 1935 Rev. Hildahl died as a result of injuries received in an automobile accident.  Anna Hildahl died on February 13, 1963.  Three children grew up in this family:

Alice, a former organist and music teacher, married Hilding V. Carlin on September 8, 1934 and they continue to reside in Fosston, where Hilding has been a long-time businessman in the Carlin Furniture and Funeral Home.  Both Hilding and Alice have been active in civic, community and church affairs.  They have three sons: Gary, married to Bernice Brekke.  Gary joined his father in the family business and Bernice taught at Fosston High School for many years.  They have three children: Kim (Mrs. Mike Roysland), John and Jeff.  David Carlin is married to Ida Thompson and they live in East Grand Forks, Minn., where David is a teacher.  They have three children: Joseph, Nathan and Maria.  Mark Carling and Barbara Scott Carlin have four children: Tim, Daniel, and twin daughters, Jill and Angie.  Mark joined the family business after moving back to Fosston.  Hilding Carlin retired in 1974 and the business is now operated by Gary and Mark.

Francis Hilding was married to Doris Calhoon on September 8, 1939.  After recently selling their Fergus Falls business, they have retired to Park Rapids, Minn.  They have two daughters: Sharon, who married Allen Rud and lived in East Grand Forks.  They have three children.  Louise and Dennis Lunski live in Burnsville, Minn. and have two children.  Francis and Doris also have one foster daughter, Ida Marie Sather Martinson who resides in St. Paul.

Mildred Hildahl, a former social worker, married Dr. Edward Bardshar in 1954.  Dr. Bardshar, a USDA Veterinarian, died in 1978.  They had two daughters: Patricia, married to Dr. Robert Jones, lives in Boston, MA., they have two children: and Joan and Glenn Slocum reside in Anoka, Minn. and have two children.

submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond

HOFF, Ole O.

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)
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.
Page 316

This gentleman, who was formerly known as Mr. Olson, and whose fine farm lies two miles and a half north of East Grand Forks, adjoining that of Bernt J. Hagen, was born in Sølor, Norway, February 4, 1854, and came to the United States in 1882, with no capital but his strong arm, clear head and courageous spirit, his passage across the ocean not having been paid, and he being bound under a strong obligation to work even that out before he could lay up anything for himself or with a view to starting any project of his own.

On his arrival in this country Mr. Hoff came direct to Polk county, where his brother, Bernt Olson, was already established on a homestead which he had taken up in 1877.  Ole’s first year in this county was passed in the employ of Samuel Ormeson as a farm hand, doing work to which he had been reared.  When his brother Bernt took up his homestead he also took up a tree claim, and that is the land which Ole now owns.  Bernt was killed by accident on the railroad on his way home from Crookston, and at his death left a widow and a son named Bernhardt.  A daughter named Teolina was born after her father’s death.  Both of these children died early of diphtheria.

Bernt Olson’s widow, whose maiden name was Olena Johnson, took over the homestead after her husband’s death, and for one year Ole worked on it.  He then moved to the place he now owns and occupies, and he has since bought an additional 160 acres in Roseau county.  The widow had only a log house on the land when he took hold of it, and he has since built the present buildings.  He raises principally wheat, oats and barley, and for thirty-three years he has been devoting all his time and energies to the improvement and cultivation of this farm, of which only thirty acres were broken when he located on it and began to develop it.  Three years after settling here he was united in marriage with his brother Bernt’s widow.  They have three children, Olof, Emma and John, all living at home.

Mr. Hoff has been a member of the township board for the last six years, and has also been a trustee of Grand Marais Lutheran church.  He was for many years a Republican in political faith and allegiance, but of late years he has been independent of party control and uses his judgement of men in disposing of his vote, and in connection with his activity in public affairs.  He is enterprising and progressive, and is universally esteemed as an upright man and a very useful citizen.

submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond


HOFF, OLE O.

SOURCE: “A Meeting of the Reds: East Grand Forks, 1887-1987,”
2 volumes, (out of print)
V 1, PAGE 84

Ole O. Hoff was born Feb. 4, 1854, at Sør, Norway.  He immigrated to the United States in 1882 with nothing except a strong arm, clear head and a courageous spirit.  His passage across the ocean had not been paid and that was his first concern before he could keep anything for himself.

Mr. Hoff came directly to Polk County, where his brother, Bernt Olson, had homesteaded in 1877.  Ole’s first year was spent working for Samuel O. Ormeson as a farmhand.

When his brother, Bernt Olson, took his homestead he also took a tree claim and that is the land that became the Ole Hoff Farm, 2 ½ miles north of East Grand Forks.

Bernt was killed by accident on the railroad while on his way home from Crookston, leaving his wife and son, Bernhardt, plus a daughter, Teolina, who was born after her father’s death.  Both of these children later died of diphtheria.

Bernt Olson’s widow, whose maiden name was Olena Johnson, took over the homestead after her husband’s death and for one year, Ole worked on it.  He then moved to the place and later married Olena.

When he moved to the homestead, there was only a log house and only 30 acres had been broken.  Later, Mr. Hoff, who grew wheat, oats and barley, also purchased an additional 160 acres in Roseau County.

Ole and Olena Hoff had three children, Olof, Emma and John.  Mr. Hoff served on the township board and was a trustee of Grand Marais Luther Church.

Mr. Hoff died in 1924 of injuries received when a motor vehicle collided with his horse and buggy while he was returning to his harm home.  Olena Hoff died in 1927.

Bernt Olson and his wife had come to the East Grand Forks area by covered wagon from Goodhue County.

The land that Mr. Hoff purchased in Roseau County was later sold for $2,000 and the money deposited in a Roseau bank.  It was lost there when the bank went through bankruptcy, not an uncommon event in those days.

The children of Ole and Olena Hoff all married and stayed in Polk County.  The original homestead was divided and their sons, Olaf and John, lived on their farms through their entire lives.

Olaf Hoff married Anna Thompson, the daughter of a pioneer family that had settled in Grand Forks Township.  They had four children, Howard, Lyle, Ruth and Shirley.  The four children had 14 children of their own.  Howard lives on the farm.  Olaf Hoff died at the age of 82.  Anna Hoff is now living in East Grand Forks.

John Hoff married Grace Aasland of Thief River Falls, also a daughter of Norwegian immigrants.  They had seven children, Orris, Stanley, Glenn, Elizabeth, Jacqueline, Paul and Patricia.  John Hoff died at the age of 80.  Grace Hoff died Jan. 19, 1982.

Emma Hoff married Henry Lindgren, the son of Scandinavian immigrants, and they lived in Ester Township.  They had three children, Lenora, Clarence, and Evelyn.  Evelyn died as a child.  Lenora and Clarence both married and had five children between them.  Clarence took over the farm.  Henry Lindgren died at the age of 92 after having spent his entire life in Polk County.  Emma still lives in East Grand Forks and Clarence is now farming their home farm.

HOFF, O. HOWARD

SOURCE: “A Meeting of the Reds: East Grand Forks, 1887-1987,”
2 volumes, (out of print)
V 1, P 83

O. Howard Hoff of rural East Grand Forks was born in the farm house he occupies presently, the same farm house that his dad was born in and on the same farm that his grandfather, Ole Hoff, homesteaded in 1878.  The farm is located just three and a half miles north of east Grand Forks and has been farmed all these years by three generations of Hoff’s, his grandfather, his dad and now himself.

Howard was born July 13, 1924 to Olaf and Anna Hoff (both deceased), the oldest of four children.  He grew up in the depression years and attended Sunnyside #2, a rural county schoolhouse, the first eight years and then attended and graduated from East Grand Forks Central.  After service in Europe in World War II, he returned home and attended one year at N. D. A. C. in Fargo, N.D., before talking over farming.

He married Agnes M. Ertman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Reinhold Ertman of Neche, N.D. on Nov. 23, 1947 in Grand Marais Church, rural East Grand Forks.  Agnes grew up and was educated in Neche, a small town near the Canadian border.

Howard has served on the local township board for 35 years, on the church board, on the Farmers Elevator board for 30 years and currently is on the board of the Valley Memorial Homes.

Agnes and Howard have two children; Linda Hoff, East Grand Forks and James, Minneapolis, and one granddaughter, MaLissa, the daughter of James, also of East Grand Forks.

After 40 years of farming, Agnes and Howard are in the process of retiring to devote more time to travel and fishing and to keeping up the farm home.

submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond

HOFF, STANLEY

SOURCE: “A Meeting of the Reds: East Grand Forks, 1887-1987,”
2 volumes, (out of print)
V 1, Page 84

Stanley James Hoff, the son of John and Grace Hoff, was born in East Grand Forks on March 4, 1920.  He graduated from Central High School in 1937.  In 941 he entered the Army, serving in the Pacific during World War II until 1945.  On June 10, 1951, he married Colleen Ann Bridgeford, the daughter of Gordon and Lillian Bridgeford of rural East Grand Forks.

Colleen was born on April 20, 1927 and graduated from Central High School in 1944.  She has been emplyed as a bookkeeper for the Farmers Coop Marketing Ass’n for many years.

Stanley Hoff has been a farmer all his life and retired in 1986.  They have two children: Julie Ann, born Nov. 15, 1954 and Joan Leslie, born May 26, 1960.

Julie married Bryan Alkema on Dec. 21, 1984 and resides in Steamboat Springs, Colo.  Joan married Kevin J. Mork on June 30, 1984, and they reside in Grand Forks, N.D.  They have a son, James Stanley, born Feb. 28, 1987.
 submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond


HOGENSON, HOGEN B.

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 169-170

This useful citizen of Polk county and resident of the village of Fertile for years met the requirements of duty as an industrious and successful home-steader and farmer, redeeming a tract of virgin land from the wilderness and making it fruitful with the products of systematic cultivation, and he is now engaged in ministering to the comfort and general welfare of a large number of persons as the United States mail carrier on Rural Route No. 2 running out of Fertile.  He was born in Norway December 27, 1859, the son of Thorsten and Guro (Hanson) Hogenson, and passed the first thirteen years of his life in his native land.

His mother died in Norway, and in 1872 he came with his father to the United States.  They located in Olmstead county, Minnesota, where the son lived until he reached the age of twenty-two.  He then changed his residence to Polk county and entered a homestead in Garden township.  On this homestead he continued to live and labor, breaking up and cultivating his land and making needed improvements year after year, until August, 1905, transforming his wild claim into a good farm and a comfortable home in his twenty-two years of residence and well applied industry on it.

In August, 1905, he moved to Fertile and was appointed rural mail carrier on Route No. 2, in which capacity he has ever since rendered excellent service to the public.  His farm comprises 200 acres and is well developed and improved.  While living on it Mr. Hogenson filled several township offices with credit to himself and benefit to his township.  He served as assessor, justice of the peace, chairman of the board of supervisors and member of the school board, taking an active part in all township affairs and helping to develop and advance the locality by all the means available to him.  His work in the township is appreciated and the people there have high regard for him because of his genuine worth and the service he rendered to them.

In church connection Mr. Hogenson is a Lutheran.  He was married in Olmsted county, Minnesota, June 3, 1882, to Miss Gunnhild Gunnufson, who was born and reared in this state.  She died September 8, 1914, at the age of fifty-four years leaving eight children: Anna, Thomas, John, Christine, Ida, Clara, Helmar and Gladys.  A son named Hogen died when he was five years old.  Anna became the wife of Albert Holm and died June 20, 1908.  Christine is the wife of William Olson, who is a farmer and lives in Garden township.

submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond

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.

HOGENSON, HOGEN MERRILL

pages 262-263

Hogen Merrill Hogenson, of Fertile, rural mail carrier and well known citizen, was born in Rock county, Wisconsin, November 29, 1857, the son of Peter and Sonva Hogenson, who had made the long trip across the waters from their native land of Norway to this county in a sailing vessel, taking several months to make the voyage.  In 1863, When Hogen Hogenson was a lad of six years, the family removed to Olmstead county, where Peter Hogenson located on land devoted his attention to the development of a farm.  The parents made their home on the homestead during the remainder of their lives. 

H.M. Hogenson resided there until 1880, when he took a homestead claim in Clay county, Minnesota, and proved up on the tract, acquiring title within two years, with a cash payment for the land.  In 1886 he came to Polk county to secure more land and preempted a claim in Garden township, filing one of the last preemptions permitted under the law.  Here he engaged in the arduous labor of clearing and cultivating the wild land, working during the first years without a team and then became the owner of a yoke of oxen.  For seventeen years he gave his attention to agricultural pursuits and built up a prosperous farm property which he left in 1903 to remove to Fertile, where he has since made his home. 

For a time he was employed draying and other occupations and in October, 1905, secured his appointment as rural mail carrier and for ten years he has continued to capably discharge the duties of this position, which entails the responsibilities of a twenty-eight mile route, through Garfield, Woodside and Godfrey townships, with some eighty patrons, the number of deliveries each month passing the six thousand mark.  Mr. Hogenson is still interested in farm land near Fertile, bought his present home which is one of the attractive residences of the town.  As a progressive and public spirited citizen, Mr. Hogenson has always been identified with public activities and has earned the confidence and respect of all his associates for his integrity and ability in all phases of his career.  He is widely known through his service in official capacity, having filled the various offices in Garden township, and the office of constable in Fertile, from which he resigned to accept his position as mail carrier. 

He is a member of the Order of the Sons of Norway.  Mr. Hogenson has been three times married.  His first union was with Christine J. Grimsrud, who is survived by three children, Peter E., employed as a motorman on the railway in St. Paul; Serena, who married Kittle Moen and resides in Dodge county, Minnesota; and Anna, who is married and resides at Turtle Lake, North Dakota.  Mr. Hogenson’s second marriage was with Martha Johnson.  His present wife, Bertha Souders Hogenson, is a native of Ohio and of German parentage.  She is prominently associated with the social life of the community and take an active interest in the affairs of the church and club circles.  They have one son, Max, aged eleven years.  Mrs. Hogenson is the bonded substitute for her husband on the mail route and has ably served as such for the past two years.

submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond

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.

HOLE, C. P.
pages 229-230

C.P. Hole, the editor of the Erskine Echo, has been successfully associated with newspaper interests of the county for some twenty-five years.  He is a native of Norway, born October 2, 1876, the son of B.K. and Mathea Hole, and when five hears of age accompanied his parents to the United States and to Fargo, North Dakota.  B.K. Hole was a graduate of Lille Hammer, a famous educational institution of Norway, and had taught for a number of years in the parochial schools of that country.  In 1883, at the opening of the land of the Thirteen Towns for settlement, he took a homestead in King township, a few miles south of McIntosh, and brought his family to the new home in the following spring.  His activities as a pioneer farmer were of short duration, his death, from typhoid fever, occurring in the autumn of the same year.  He was survived by his wife and three small children: C.P. Hole, who was then eight years of age; P.B. Hole, who is now a resident of McIntosh, at the age of six, and Marie, then in her infancy.  The latter is the wife of C.H. Hendrickson of Moorhead. 

After two years spent on the homestead the mother married Charles Johnson, a settler of Knute township, whose farm was three miles east of the present site of Erskine.  He had also been previously married, his wife having died in their pioneer home.  The Hole claim was sold and the family received a pleasant home with their step-father on his homestead.  He has now retired from farming and with his wife makes his home in McIntosh.  C.P. Hole was reared on the Knute township farm and when fourteen years of age apprenticed himself to the printer's trade, entering the office of the McIntosh Tribune in 1890 and continued in the employment of the editor, P.P. Bodine, for a time, learning the rudiments of his trade and then advanced to typesetting for Mr. McKenzie of the Crookston Times. 

After completing his apprenticeship he became the foreman of the McIntosh Times under C.T. Lanman, who was the editor at that time.  In 1903 he made his first independent venture in the publishing business and established the Mentor Herald, the first and only newspaper ever published in that village.  This venture became a successful and prosperous enterprise and Mr. Hole continued the sheet for several months after becoming the editor of the Erskine Echo and then consolidated the two papers and covers the combined circulation with the Echo.  His plant is fully equipped with a power press and type setting machine and is one of the competent and popular country printing offices of the county. 

Mr. Hole has devoted every interest of his career to his paper and with intelligent appreciation of the responsibilities of his profession and the power of the press in public welfare is ably advancing the best interests of the county.  He is also identified with public activities in an official capacity as recorder of the village, a member of the school board and the chief of the fire department.  His marriage to Edna Wadekamper, of Mentor, occurred May 4, 1905.  She is a native of Ottertail county and is of German and Norwegian parentage.  Five children have been born to this union, Earl, Ethel, Loren, Ray and Kenneth.

submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond

HOLTE, HELVOR, M.D.

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 193-194

This pioneer physician and surgeon of Crookston, who is widely and favorably known as a professional man of extensive attainments and skill and a citizen of great enterprise, public spirit and progressiveness, is a native of the city of Stavanger, Norway, where his life began July 11, 1857, and where he lived until he reached the age of sixteen years. In 1873 he came to the United States with his parents and located with them on a farm in Fillmore county, Minnesota.

Dr. Holte remained with his parents and assisted them on the farm for a number of years. He then entered St. Olaf college, at Northfield, this state, and in 1893 was graduated from the medical department of the University of Minnesota. He at once began practicing his profession with Crookston as his headquarters, and he has since then been continuously engaged in an active practice with special attention to the surgical branch of the profession. He has served as county physician of Polk county and is now secretary of the Tuberculosis Sanitarium Commission for Polk and Norman counties.

In 1897 Dr. Holte built the Bethesda Hospital in Crookston, and for a number of years thereafter he was in active control of it. This valued institution is now owned by the Bethesda Hospital Association of Crookston and is conducted by the organization known as the Lutheran Deaconesses. Dr. Holte is a member of the state, county and Red River Valley medical societies and the American Medical Association. He is also a member of the American Public Heath Association, and director of the Minnesota Public Health Association, and in business circles is a director of the Scandia-American Bank of Crookston and the Crookston Commercial club.

His religious affiliation is with the English United Lutheran church, and he is one of the deacons of the congregation in which he holds his membership. On September 25, 1902, he was united in marriage with Miss Henrietta Lunde, of Franklin, Minnesota. [see note below] They have three children, Harold Oliver, Evelyn Irene and Junius Augusten. With nearly a quarter of a century of upright and serviceable living among this people, during all of which he has always been at their command for high-grade professional work, it is not surprising that Dr. Holte is universally esteemed throughout the Northwest, and the fact that he is creditable alike to him and to the people among whom he has lived and labored so long and to such good purpose.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: There are at least four places called “Franklin” in Minnesota: Franklin Township in Itasca County, Franklin city in Renville County, Franklin city in St. Louis County and Franklin Township in Wright County.


 submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond

HOLTEN, HON. John

pages 260-261

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 193-194  

Hon. John Holten, of Fertile, an eminent citizen, businessman and statesman of Polk County, was born at Sundahl, Norway, September 18, 1849, and grew to manhood in his native land.  In 1872 he came to the United States and settled in Winneshiek County, Iowa, where he spent seven years before coming to Minnesota and taking a homestead claim in Norman County.  There he was active in public affairs and in the organization of Sundahl Township, which upon his petition, received its name from his old home in Norway and he also served as the first township clerk and assessor.  His father, John J. Holten, had come to Iowa in 1873 and joined his son in Norman County, making his home on an adjoining homestead where he continued to reside until his death, February 16, 1910, at the age of eighty-six years.  The death of his wife occurred some two years earlier, in her ninety-first year. 

Mr. Holten’s career as a merchant dates from the start of the village of Fertile, when in partnership Mr. Carlson he engaged in the agricultural machinery business.  The usual success and extensive operations of this firm has set a worthy pace for the rapid growth of the town; from a business started with but capital sufficient for the freight charges on a carload of machinery, it has advanced to a twenty thousand dollar stock and totals the annual sales of forty thousand.  In 1886 Mr. Holten had become a wheat buyer at Twin Valley and in December of that year transferred his operations to Fertile and this enterprise continued to receive his attention for a number of years, the management of the store being left to his partner, Mr. Carlson. 

In 1892 the latter removed to Tennessee and Mr. Holten became sole owner of the business, two years later adding a stock of general merchandise.  Mr. Carlson returned to Fertile in 1897 and the old relation was again resumed and the firm has since continued as Holten & Carlson.  They are the owners of the attractive business block which they occupy, one of the largest in Fertile, and the adjoining building which was formerly utilized for farm machinery, a department which was discontinued in 1915, the firm interests now being directed solely to a general mercantile trade.  Mr. Holten is still the owner of his Norman County homestead which comprises 220 acres and, in partnership with Mr. Carlson, owns a quarter section of land four miles north of Fertile.  Mr. Holten’s achievements have not been confined to the private interests of the business world but his talent and attention has been given freely for the benefit of the public welfare and progress where the worth of his service has marked him as a leader in the activities of the commonwealth. 

His influence has been prominent in the furthering of all civic improvements and as president of the Fair association; he has assisted in putting the Fertile fair on equally notable basis with the County fair at Crookston.  In local offices he has filled the positions of village treasurer, village recorder, and a member of the board of education for fourteen years, the last six of which he was president of the board and for three terms has been president of the town council.  In 1907 his field of service was widened through his election to the lower house of the State Legislature as representative from the sixty second district.  An issue of that election was the county option law and he made his stand as a staunch defender of temperance, in which cause he ahs always been a valiant fighter.  He was re-elected for a second term and in 1911 without making a personal campaign for favor, and was again returned to office, receiving a larger majority from his fellow voters than in previous elections. 

His activity and ability as a legislator brought his a wide reputation and the confidence and high regard of his constituents.  During his membership in the House he served on numerous important committees, on the State Prison and Reform Committee, the several committees regulating commerce and retail trade, public lands and the state fair and in 1911 was chairman of the drainage committee and was appropriation commissioner for roads and bridges.  He also sat in the special session of 1912.  He was not a candidate for re-election in 1913 and has given his attention to his business interests.  Mr. Holten is a member of the Sons of Norway and of the United Lutheran Church and has given faithful service as a trustee in that congregation for many years. 

His favorite recreation is found in out of door life and he has collected many trophies which attest to his skill as a hunter and fisherman.  Mr. Holten was married in 1892, to Elina Hoff, of Battle Lake, Ottertail County, and they have a family of two sons and five daughters; John Chester, who is associated with his father in the mercantile business; Melvin Stanley, employed in the Citizens State Bank; Frances, who is a student in the Norman School at St. Cloud; Esther and Agnes, members of the high school classes of 1916 and 1917, and Lillian and Ena.

submitted June 2004 Jon Raymond

HOSS, Joe

Source:  The book "Fertile: Hub of the Sand Hill Valley" has this info on a Hoss family:


**p. 35 lists Joe Hoss as an early  member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
**p. 36 lists Kankel & Hoss as receiving mail at the Fertile post office in 1907.
**p. 46 lists Kankel & Hoss Roller Mills. 
**p. 96 has an ad for Rindahl Bros. which says "We sell and recommend Kankel & Hoss' Best Patent Flour".

The book "Garfield: The First 100 Years" does not mention the name Hoss.

submitted March 2004 blazek@elltel.net

 

HOTVEDT, PETER A.

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 373-375

The late Peter A. Hotvedt, who made a quarter of Section 8, Sullivan township, and some other land into choice farms, well improved and highly productive, and who became one of the leading citizens of his township, began his career in this county with almost nothing in the way of capital, continued it through many difficulties and rendered every step of it one of progress and service to his locality.  He was born in Portage county, Wisconsin, February 26, 1856, and died on his Sullivan township farm July 22, 1905.  On April 1, 1878, in company with his brother, Nels Hotvedt and O.T. Onneland, he came to the Red river valley, whose promise had been painted in glowing colors to his two companions while they were working on farms in Fillmore county, Minnesota, by a traveling merchant tailor.

Each of the three adventurers selected a homestead, Peter A. Hotvedt taking the southwest quarter, his brother Nels the southeast quarter and Mr. Onneland the northeast quarter of Section 8, in Sullivan township.  They decided to pool their issues and built a shanty nine by fourteen feet in size on the line between the homesteads of Nels Hotvedt and Mr. Onneland, with a bed on each side of the one room.  They then cut basswood logs on railroad land on the Red river five miles away, and with them they built a house fourteen by eighteen feet for Peter, who had been married the year previous.  The three had about $300 among them and they bought two yoke of oxen at $125 a yoke.  The two bachelors slept in their own house but boarded with Peter after the arrival of his wife and first child.  The wife was Clarissa Lind before her marriage, and they were married young.  Soon after they settled here Andrew Anderson, who had been their neighbor in Wisconsin, homesteaded on the remaining quarter of Section 8.

A little later Mr. Hotvedt bought eighty acres of railroad land in Section 9 at $6 an acre, with a rebate of $3 for each acre he should break up, and his brother and Mr. Onneland made similar deals.  Peter passed his time on his land until the death of his first wife five years after she came to this country, and for some time longer, his sister keeping house for him.  He then passed two years keeping store at East Grand Forks, but in 1889 returned to his farm and remained on it the rest of his life.  He served as township clerk for several years and in other ways rendered good service to the people, as he was always interested in their welfare and ready to aid in promoting it.

By his first marriage Mr. Hotvedt became the father of two sons and one daughter, William L., Charles and Gertrude.  Charles is now a resident of Rocky Ford, Colorado, but still owns a farm near the family homestead.  Gertrude died in infancy.  William was born in Portage county, Wisconsin, March 31, 1878, and was reared on the Sullivan township farm.  He attended school in the country near his home and at East Grand Forks, and was with his father until the death of the latter except during five years which he passed on a homestead he took up in Marshall county, Minnesota, 1899, which he still owns and now devotes to raising hay.  [see footnote]  He also owns 160 acres near his old home, the father assisting him in the purchase of it, as he aided the other son in making a similar purchase.  They all worked together with their father, and the two sons remained in partnership for two years after the father’s death.

William withdrew to his own farm at the end of the partnership and Charles worked the home farm until 1909, when William returned to it and Charles works his own farm, the home place and Charles’ farm, 560 acres in all, and raises large quantities of grain and other products, his crops in 1915 being more than 10,000 bushels of grain and a great output of potatoes from the twenty to thirty acres devoted to that vegetable.  He also plants a few acres in corn and keeps a number of cattle of good strains and raises his own horses, having three four-horse teams with which he plows and does other work.

Mr. Hotvedt is a Democrat in his political faith and allegiance, and is at present (1915) a justice of the peace.  His father was a Republican in the early life but became a Democrat before he died.  By a second marriage he became the father of four children, Gertude M., Clara, Walter and Arthur.  Gertrude married O.E. Bjoring and died at the age of twenty-five, leaving a daughter, Margaret, who lives with her grandmother.  Clara, Walter and Arthur are living at home.  Clara has been a teacher in the schools in North Dakota.  She was educated in Grand Forks, pursuing the summer normal course and also a course in business training.  For two years she was employed as a stenographer in Grand Forks.

Peter A. Hotvedt’s second marriage took place in East Grand Forks, November 28, 1888, and with him Miss Mary Bergman.  His venture in merchantile life was an unfortunate one.  The business was conducted largely on credit and turned out disastrously.  When he died his estate was heavily encumbered, but his widow displayed rare business ability as the head of affairs, and within a few years had all the indebtedness paid off and the new buildings now standing on the farm erected.  She assumed a weighty burden with the heroic fortitude of a Spartan woman and bore it to a triumphant release with the selfdenial of a devotee and the skill of a veteran financier.

NOTE:  There is no mention of Charles in the Marshall County book.

submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond



HOTVEDT, PETER

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
Volume one, page 87

Peter Hotvedt was born in Portage County, Wisc. In 1856.  In April 1878 in company with his brother, Nels, and O.T. Onneland he came to the Red River Valley.

They each selected a homestead on Section 8 in Sullivan Township and built log cabins.  The two bachelors slept in their own house, but boarded with Peter after the arrival of his wife, Clarrisa Lind, and first child, William.  Later they had two other children, Charles and Gertrude.  Gertrude died in infancy.

Peter bought 80 acres of railroad land in Section 9 at $6.00 an acre with a rebate of $3 for each acre broken up.  His brother and O.T. made similar deals.  Peter farmed until Clarissa died, just five years after she came to this country.  He then opened a general mercantile store in East Grand Forks in about 1884, but was forced to close as business was conducted mostly on credit, and he returned to farming.

He married a second time, to Mary Bergman of Sweden and they had four children: Gertrude, Clara, Walter and Arthur.  Gertrude married Orrin Bjoring of Bemidji, Minn.  She died at the age of 25 leaving a daughter, Margaret, who lived with her grandmother and family.  Clarra married twice, but had no children and she died during the 1918 flu epidemic.

Peter died in 1905 on his Sullivan Township farm.  When he died his estate was heavily encumbered, but his widow displayed rare business abilities as head of affairs and within a few years had all the indebtedness paid off and new buildings erected with the help of her two step-sons, William and Charles.

Walter married Pearl Cariveau East Grand Forks and had two children, Paul and Mary.  Arthur never married.

After two years at the University of Minnesota and two years in the armed services, Paul farmed with his dad and later on his own.

Walter was active in community affairs, township and school boards, Farmers Elevator and also in antique cars.  He died in 1975.  Since that time, Pearl has been active in many different projects including the Red Cross and the East Grand Forks Senior Center.  She also keeps Walter’s 1926 Studebaker shined for parades and car shows.


submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond

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.

HOVE, JOHANNES R.
pages 220-221

Johannes R. Hove, of Queen township, a prosperous farmer and influential citizen of the county, was born in Norway, March 22, 1855.  He spent his boyhood on a farm and was educated in the public schools of his native land.  In 1882 he came to the United States and lived during the first year in Worth county, Iowa, and then removed to Polk county.  Here he preempted land on section seven of Queen township and after proving up on this land, six months later, in December, 1883, he took a homestead claim in section twelve of Brandsvold township, just across the township line from the first farm.  With the exception of marsh tracts, all of this land was covered with heavy timber, for the most part, poplar, and with thrifty enterprise and unceasing industry, he has put practically all of the three hundred and twenty acres under cultivation. 

During the early stages of the development of the farm, he employed various means of support, working during the harvest seasons in Dakota and selling wood which he hauled to Fosston, receiving from one dollar and a quarter to two dollars a cord for it.  Mr. Hove has devoted his life to his farming interests and with intelligent study of every phase of his occupation and able management, has developed on of the finest farms in the county.  He has installed an adequate ditching system which with a county ditch has reclaimed some sixty-seven acres of slough land.  The comfortable country home was erected eight years ago and in every particular, the farm demonstrates the successful application of modern and progressive agricultural methods.  The large new barn in thoroughly equipped with especial regard for winter feeding; the extensive watering system including troughs in the barn.  He gives his attention to grain and stock raising, breeding short horn cattle and has met with unvaried success in every enterprise and has never known a crop failure, on field yielding, in 1904, forty bushels of wheat to the acre. 

He has established equally high records in the dairy business, in which he engages extensively, having realized, in one month, $173.50 from dairy produce, with a herd of fifteen cows, beside what was required for family consumption.  He is the largest producer in the Olga cooperative creamery, of which he was an original stock holder.  Mr. Hove has been prominently associated with the promotion of the best interests of the community in which he lives and was actively identified with the organization of both Queen and Brandsvold townships.  He has been a faithful supporter of the Brandsvold united Lutheran church since its organization, in which he took an active part and has given efficient service for many years as a church officer.  His marriage to Betsy A. Yerstad was solemnized in his home in Queen township, in 1887, by the Reverend Rude of Fosston.  She was born in Norway in 1858 and was reared in the same neighborhood with her husband.  They have a family of six children, Lena, Sonva, Olaf, Roy, Hans and Johanna.


submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond

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.

HUSBY, Gunner

page 145

            Gunner Husby, a retired farmer and well known citizen of King township, now residing at McIntosh, was born in Norway, April 13, 1852.  He remained in his native land until thirty-one years of age, when he came to the United States and in the spring of 1882 took a homestead claim on section eight of King township in Polk County.  He immediately engaged in the development of his land and devoted the efforts and interests of his successful farming career to this farm, building up one of the most prosperous properties of the section. 

In 1914, after many years of business activity, he sold the homestead and has since made his home at McIntosh.  As one of the early setters of the township he has been prominently identified with public affairs and has taken an active interest in the promotion of the general welfare.  He has capably discharged the duties of various local offices to which he has been elected and has served as a member of the school board and township board.  Mr. Husby is a member of the St. Johns Lutheran church.  He was married in Norway, to Marit Haaven and they have seven children, Magnhild, Louis, Peter, John, Ingvar, Gertrude and Gottfried.

submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond

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