BIOGRAPHIES - S
PAGE INDEX
SOURCE: “A Meeting of the Reds: East Grand Forks, 1887-1987,”
2 volumes, (out of print)
CECELIA SHIMEK
page 193, volume 1
Cecelia Driscoll Shimek was 95 years old last March 26, 1987. Born in 1892, the daughter of Michael and Margaret Driscoll, she is the third of their 11 children.
Michael Driscoll and his brothers came to the area from Canada in the early 1880’s and homesteaded their farms north of East Grand Forks. Her father returned to Canada and brought back his bride, Margaret O’Neil.
Among Cecelia’s many memories are those of her father telling of his walking to Fisher’s Landing for supplies, and of her walking a mile and a half to the country school. Cecelia also tells of how later she lived in town wither her grandmother, Mrs. Johanna Driscoll, whose home was where the present East Grand Forks post office is now located.
In 1911 Cecelia married Thomas J. Hanrahan, who was a rural mail carrier. She recalls how many times she ran the mail route with the team and buggy while her husband was putting up winter feed. She laughs as she remembers her mother warning her, “Those broncos will kill you one of these days.”
Cecelia and Tom homesteaded in 1913 in northeastern Montana, moved on to Oregon and in 1952, returned to Minnesota. Tom died in 1957. In 1960 Cecelia married John Boese, a retired railroad engineer. It was to be a brief but happy marriage, as she was widowed again in 15 months. In 1964 she married John Shimek, a lifetime resident of East Grand Forks. Although she was 72 and John was 74 at the time of their wedding, they celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary before John died in 1981. After spending a few years in Town Square, Cecelia now lives most of the time in California with one of her three nieces she raised. She returns to East Grand Forks for a few months in the summer, where she stays at the home of her brother, Clarence, at 219 7th St. N.W.
The children of Michael and Margaret Driscoll were John, Joseph, Cecelia, Michael, Francis, Josephine (Mrs. Walter Gaddie), Earnest, Leslie, Lawrence, Earl and Clarence. They were all raised in the original homestead of Michael and Margaret’s north of East Grand Forks. All but Cecelia and Clarence are now deceased, but there are children and grandchildren who remember “the way we were.”
Submitted by Jon Raymond, January 2003
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.
L. SHADDUCK
pages 214-215
L. Shadduck, a well known citizen and business man of McIntosh, was born in Clinton County, Iowa, April 14, 1865, and came to Polk County in 1886. For a year he was in the employ of his cousin, H.C. Misner, a merchant and grain dealer at Euclid, whose son is now engaged in the abstract business at Crookston. In the fall of 1887, Mr. Shadduck went to Douglas County and for several years operated an elevator at Garfield for the Minneapolis and Northern Elevator Company. He returned to Polk County in 1894 to assume the management of the company’s elevator at McIntosh and during the nine years of his association with that enterprise conducted a successful business, handling some six hundred thousand bushels of grain.
In 1903 he left this position to engage in an independent business venture and became the proprietor of the McIntosh Dray Line and has since devoted his attention to its management, employing two teams in his prosperous operations. Through his recognition of the responsibilities of citizenship and his ready services in the promotion of the best interests and progress of the community, Mr. Shadduck is widely known and respected and, as an influential citizen and a member of the town council has enthusiastically supported all local improvements, his own home, in its attractiveness and pleasant surroundings suggesting the sincerity of his efforts for the best civic conditions.
Mr. Shadduck is prominently known in fraternal circles as a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights of Pythias and has given efficient service in various lodge offices, having passed all the chairs in Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is the chief consul of the local camp of Modern Woodmen.
He has also been honored with office of representative to the grand lodges of both organizations. He was married at Alexandria, Minn., to Diana B. Sweet. She is a native of Illinois and came to Minnesota when ten years of age with her father, Stephen R. Sweet, who was for many years a farmer near Alexandria and whose death occurred in August, 1908, at his daughter’s home in McIntosh. Mr. Shadduck and his wife have five children, Vera A., the wife of Morris Narverson of McIntosh; Harold, wh graduated from the high school in 1914; Hazel, Grace and Martha.
Submitted by Jon Raymond, April 2004 at the request of P. J. Booth
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.
FRANCIS MARION SLYTER
pages 305-306
If he who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before is a public benefactor, much more is the man who starts a new enterprise in a community, the development of which leads to increased prosperity and comfort for hundreds and greatly augments the industrial and commercial importance of the community, entitled to this distinction and large credit for fruitful enterprise. Francis Marion Slyter, an extensive and progressive farmer of Andover township, has earned the right to such consideration. When in 1912 he located on the farm which he still occupies there were not twenty-five diary cows within six miles. Now there are nearly ten hundred in the same territory, and the business is a source of great wealth and progress. Mr. Slyter brought ten cows and began making butter for sale, others having since followed his example with excellent results.
Francis M. Slyter was born in Grundy county, Illinois, January 16, 1853. He moved to Benton county, Indiana, in 1872, and lived there nineteen years. In 1894 he changed his residence to Kossuth county, Iowa, where he bought a farm of 240 acres, which he sold in 1901 for more than double its cost. His two sons, L.E. and D.S. Slyter, had bought 160 acres of Polk county land in Fairfax township, four miles southeast of Crookston, and their father came to visit them and take a look at their purchase, but with no intention to make one himself. The county proved so attractive, however, that he soon made a selection of his present farm purchasing at a cost of $27.50 an acre. It comprises 320 acres and was then almost wholly unimproved. He has expended about $5,000 in substantial and lasting improvements, and has the land well drained and all under cultivation and yielding excellent crops.
Mr. Slyter’s place is the north half of section 25, Andover township, and lies four miles south of Crookston. It is devoted principally to raising oats and barley and raising and feeding cattle, the strain preferred being the Shorthorn breed. He has an artesian well 227 feet deep, which furnishes an abundant supply of excellent soft water for all purposes. His grain crop in 1915 amounted to some 7,000 bushels, and the yield per acre has been fair for years. He feeds regularly about 20 head of cattle and milks seven cows. Almost immediately after coming he began to set out some fruit trees and practically all the small fruits, including grapes, his success with them having been very gratifying.
Mr. Slyter had $6,000 in cash, live stock and some portions of a farm equipment. These combined with industry, good management and up-to-date farming methods he has wrought out results that are in the highest degree satisfactory. His land was at first overrun with wild growths destructive of regular crops. He follows a judicious system of crop rotation, thus keeping the land in prime condition. In 1913 his profits totaled $3,300 and in 1915 they reached $3,700. He has refused offers of nearly $75 an acre for his farm and discouraged all attempts to get him to sell.
Mr. Slyter was married in Grundy county, Illinois, in 1870, to Miss Anna E. Steep, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. They have five children; Lewis Edward, who lives at Red Lake Falls, Minnesota; Derwin Sheridan, a farm near Akron, Colorado; Ada Helen, the wife of J.F. McAdams, of Sioux City, Iowa; Clara Belle, the wife of Ray Murphy, of Chariton, Iowa, and Irene Winifred, the wife of Walter Mergan, of Andover township. During the last few years Mr. Slyter has been a member of the school board and he is now also supervisor of the township. He is a Republican in political alliance and a Presbyterian in religious affiliation, membership being in Crookston.
Submitted by Jon Raymond, January 2003
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.
TOM O. SOLBERG
page 251
Tom O. Solberg, a prominent farmer of Rosebud township, has been a resident of Polk county since 1885. In 1884 he filed on a homestead claim and on July 4th of the following year he moved on this land. Since then he has added to the original tract, buying the adjoining uncultivated land at a maximum price of six dollars and a half an acre, and eight acres of which he has sold for twenty dollars an acre. His present valuable farm property of three hundred and eighty-five acres attests to the thrifty management and unfailing industry of Mr. Solberg, who possesses all the sturdy characteristics of the men who wrestle with the wilderness and claim it for civilization. His had been the laborious task of clearing this tract of land and developing it into productive fields. He has engaged principally in the raising of grain and cattle, breeding blooded stock.
He keeps a number of dairy cows and finds this a lucrative enterprise. Some low land has been reclaimed by ditching and the farm is equipped with good buildings, the pleasant home being rendered the more attractive by its well chosen situation. Mr. Solberg was married at Fergus Falls, Minnesota, to Julia Nelson, and they have eight children: Fred and Arthur, who are farmers near Max, North Dakota; Tillie, the wife of Martin Hanson, of Stanley, North Dakota; Bertha A., who is a teacher in the Polk county schools and Elmer, Clifford, Mabel and Walter, who remain at home.
Transcriber’s note:
A map on page 121 “The Centennial History of the Thirteen Towns” shows Tom Solberg as owning the following land, all in Section 2, Township 147 North, Range 40 West (Rosebud Township, Polk County):
The SW ¼; the SE ¼ and the SW ¼ of the NE ¼; and the NW ¼ and the SW ¼ of the SE ¼. In 1958 the land was owned by Mrs. Fred Solberg and in 1983 by Philip and David Olson.Also, the same map shows K.P. Solberg as owning SE ¼ of Section 12, not far from Tom’s land. K.P.’s property was owned in 1958 by Elven Nelson and in 1983 by Jerome Nelson.
Submitted by Jon Raymond, January 2003
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.
ALBERT SPOKELY
page 291
Whatever there is of credit in the career of Albert Spokely, on of the extensive and successful farmers of Hubbard township, this county, and there is a great deal that is entitled to warm commendation, reflects in large measure back upon the township and county of his present home, for he is a native of that township and has passed almost the whole of his life this time (1915) within its borders. He was also educated in that township and married there, and, therefore, all his interests center in it.
Mr. Spokely’s life began in Hubbard township, Polk county, Minnesota, April 21, 1874. He is a son of Gunleik and Gunvor (Hagen) Spokely, natives of Norway, and a brother of Alexander G. Spokely, sketches of whom will be found in this work. The parents became residents of Polk county in 1871, but emigrated to the United States several years earlier. They were pioneers in this county, and when they arrived here the father took up a homestead in Hubbard township, which was then largely a wilderness, and on that farm, as by his industry and skill he has made it, the parents still have it as their home.
Of the twelve children born in the family Albert was the third in the order of birth, and he is now the oldest of those who are living. He was reared on his father’s farm and educated at the school in the neighborhood. For a short time after reaching his manhood he conducted a saloon at Climax, but, with the exception of this venture in mercantile life, he has devoted his time and energies wholly to farming. He owns 440 acres in Hubbard township, on which he has put up good buildings and developed a large industry in raising potatoes and wheat, of which he makes specialties. On October 9, 1897, he was united in marriage to Miss Johanna Myrland, a native of North Dakota. They have four children, Guy, Earl, Delight and Syla.
Submitted by Jon Raymond, May 2003
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.ALEXANDER G. SPOKELY
page 357
A brief account of the history of the Spokely family will be found in a sketch of the parents of this enterprising, progressive and successful farmer of Hubbard township, Polk county. They are Gunleik and Gunvor (Hagen) Spokely, also residents of Hubbard township, where they settled in 1871, among the pioneers of the township. Their son Alexander was born on the parental homestead in that township August 30, 1879, and remained at home assisting his father on the farm until he reached the age of twenty-one. He then joined his brother Adolph in keeping a saloon at Climax, with which he was connected about five years.
Farming presented more attractions to Mr. Spokely as an occupation for life than merchandising of any kind, and at the end of the period mentioned above he returned to it. In the fall of 1910 he took up his residence on the tract of 160 acres which he now owns and occupies in Section 28. Hubbard township, on which he has good buildings and other improvements, making it one of the comfortable and attractive homes in the township, and which he has brought to a high state of productiveness by his industry and intelligence as a farmer. He is wide-awake and progressive, and makes his attributes in these respects tell to his advantage in conducting his business. He is also an active participant in local public affairs, aiding in promoting the welfare of his township by his public spirit and breadth of view.
On October 30, 1900, Mr. Spokely was married in North Dakota to Miss Nellie Myrland, a native of that state. They have three children, their daughter Grace B. and their sons Glenn E. and Lowell D. A. The parents are held in high esteem for their sturdy and sterling citizenship and the helpful interest they take in everything designed to promote the welfare of the township.
Submitted by Jon Raymond, May 2003
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.GULIK S. SPOKELY
pages 457-458
Owning a fine farm in Section 13, Hubbard township along the Red river, 1 mile north and 1 and ½ mile west of Neilsville, Gulick S. Spokley is comfortably fixed in a worldly way and almost beyond the reach of ill fortune. He is now living retired from active pursuits, but his period of toil was a long, exacting and very trying one. His live began at Fyresdal, Norway, June 12, 1842, and he came to the United States in 1866, locating in Houston county, Minnesota, and there working as a farm laborer to make a living.
In 1871 Mr. Spokely moved to Polk county and squatted on a quarter-section of land in a section not yet surveyed. The law was such that such land had to be taken up on a pre-emption claim at $1.25 an acre, but he preferred to take his as a homestead and he succeeded in doing so. For two years he lived in a dugout in the hillside, and worked for other settlers, as he had very little money. At the end of two years he put up a little log cabin, and in that the family lived until 1913, when the present dwelling house was built, the fine barn on the place having been erected earlier.
Mr. Spokely bought eighty acres of railroad land adjoining his homestead, with a rebate provision for $2.50 an acre when he should have sixty acres plowed and an allowance of fifty cents more for every acre seeded in grain. He came to this county from Houston county with a yoke of oxen, and with these he broke up most of his land. He also sold cord wood to the settles on the prairie. For a time the hardships and privations of his life in this country made him long earnestly to return to his native land, but it was long before he had the means to gratify his wish in this respect, and by the time he got it he was over his longing and well satisfied here.
At times Mr. Spokely worked in the lumber woods, where the labor was very hard but the wages were good, and after coming to Polk county he was employed on the Red river boats going to Winnipeg and back. But in time he became a prosperous farmer and devoted his whole time to the cultivation of his land. For years he raised grain principally, but about ten years ago he began to give up a great deal of ground to potatoes, being the first man in his part of the county to raise them on a large scale. He devotes 50 to 100 acres a year to this product and it forms his leading crop. He usually sells his potatoes as he digs them.
Mr. Spokely has taken a great interest in school matters. He served as school treasurer of his district as long as he was willing to hold the office. In 1870 he was married in Houston county to Miss Gunvor Simon, and they had one child when they came to Polk county. Eleven were added to their offspring later, and of the twelve six are living: Albert, of Neilsville; Julius of Crookston; Adolph, his twin brother, of Fargo; Alexander, of Neilsville, and Annie and Sophia, at home. Julia, Theresa and Mollie had died in young womanhood and the other three in childhood.
In religious connection Mr. Spokely belongs to the United Lutheran church at Neilsville, but he was one of the organizers of the Conference church at Neby. One year after his arrival in the United States his father, Salva Olso Spokely, came over and took a homestead in this county, on which he died at the age of sixty-six. Gulik’s brother Ole also took up a tree claim on the prairie and passed the remainder of his days on it, dying when he was about fifty years old.
Submitted by Jon Raymond, May 2003
JULIUS SPOKELY
pages 182-183
Although born and reared on a farm and beginning his life work as a tiller of the soil, Julius Spokley has such natural adaptability to and capacity for merchandising, that in eleven years of active and enterprising devotion to this line of business he has made himself one of the leading merchants in the city of Crookston, a field in which there is strong competition and rivals of ability are numerous.
Mr. Spokley is a native and wholly a product of Polk county whose life began in Hubbard township in 1877. He parents, Gullick and Gonvor (Simon) Spokley, were born and reared in Norway, and came to the United States in the sixties. They were married in Houston county, Minnesota. They located in Houston county, Minnesota, and entered a tract of government land in Chippewa county, but in 1871 took up their residence in Polk county when it was nearly all still a wilderness, being among the very earliest settlers in that part of it where they live. The father took up homestead, pre-emption and tree claim, and on the land which he thus acquired he is still residing at the age of seventy-three, the mother being sixty-eight. They made the trip to their new home through the wilds in a “prairie schooner,” patiently enduring the privations, hardships and dangers of the journey buoyed up with the hope of obtaining a good reward for their enterprise and daring.
These hardy and resolute pioneers have four sons and two daughters living: Albert, a farmer; Julius and Adolph, twins; Alexander, a farmer, and Annie and Sophia, who are living at home with their parents. Julius grew to manhood on his father’s farm and obtained his education at the school in the neighborhood. After farming a short time he began his mercantile career as a clerk in a store at Nielsville. In 1899 he moved to Crookston, and during the next five years he clerked in stores in this city. At the end of this period he opened a store of his own, and this he has since conducted with a steadily increasing trade and strengthening hold on the confidence and regard of the people of the city and county. He was also associated with his brothers in keeping a store in Fargo, North Dakota.
Mr. Spokely is a citizen of public spirit and progressiveness, and takes an active and helpful part in the public affairs of his community. He was a member of the local school board, and was its treasurer at the time when the new school house was erected. Fraternally he is a Freemason and a member of the Order of Elks, the Sons of Norway and the Scandinavian Workmen. In 1907 he was united in marriage with Miss Minnie Tisdel, who was born in Austin, Minnesota. They have one child, their son Roland.
Submitted by Jon Raymond, May 2003
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.Ole E. Sonstelie,
A pioneer farmer and prominent citizen of Sletten township, was born in Valders, Norway, December 27, 1845, the eldest of the eight children born to Elling and Maret (Higden) Sonstelie. The Sonstelie family came to the United States in 1865 and located in Vernon county, Wisconsin, where they remained for about four years. They then removed to Chippewa county, Minnesota, and later to Dakota where the parents died at an advanced age, she in her eighty-fifth year and he living to the age of eighty. Ole Sonstelie went to Dakota in 1882 but only remained a year, being dissatisfied with conditions there.
On hearing of the springs of “13 Towns” he came to Sletten township and although the land was not yet open for settlement, he located on the creek bottom meadows, making a squatters claim to the land. About a month later, July 13, 1883, this district was declared open to settlers and on August 8, he filed on his claim. His start in his farming enterprise was with thirteen head of stock and his first home was a dos-roofed dug out. He has interested himself particularly in stock farming, his first ventures being with sheep but he now confines his attention to the raising of blooded short horn cattle. He has been eminently successful in the stock business, the rich meadows which were his choice as a homestead, providing excellent grazing land. He now owns three hundred and sixty acres of land in Sletten township, all of which he has made productive. He has erected good farm buildings and his comfortable home commands a delightful view of the valley of Sand Hill river.
He also engages in the dairy business and was one of the original shareholders in the Sletten cooperative creamery company. As president of this corporation, his capable services have done much to promote its rapid growth and success. The company was organized in 1902 with thirty-two stockholders. It now cares for the dairy produce of forty-five farmers and in the months of June and July, 1915, distributed over thirty-eight hundred dollars among its patrons. As an early settler of this region Mr. Sonstelie has been identified with every effort to further its welfare and prosperity, giving his services and support freely to every worthy cause and has earned the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens, who have invested him with various offices of authority in the local government. He was present at the meeting of October 10, 1883, at the home of Lars Saue, when the township was organized and was named Sletten in complimentary respect for Paul Sletten, at that time the incumbent of the land office at Crookston.
He was elected chairman of the first township board, the other members being Lars Saue and James Vanvert. Aside from his private and public interests, Mr. Sonstelie has had charge of several estates to which he has been appointed administrator or guardian. When the Sletten postoffice was established, he received the appointment of postmaster and served in this capacity until the innovation of the rural delivery which took away from Sletten township its only postoffice. Mr. Sonstelie pledges his allegiance to no political organization and maintains the independence of political opinion.
He was married June 28, 1885, to Miss Gertrude Sorlien, whom he had met at Dakota. She, like her husband, is a native of Norway. Her parents, J.P. Sorlien and his wife are now living in Sletten Township. Seven children were born to Mr. Sonstelie and his wife, three of whom died. The oldest daughter, Ragna, died in her twenty-second year and the four surviving children are at home, Emil, who was a graduate of McIntosh high school in 1912, Maria, Julia and Gerhard. Mr. Sonstelie was one of the organizers of the Sand Hill Lutheran church and continues in active membership.
Ingeborg Sovick
Born in Norway Apr 4th 1847. Maiden name Frostad. She was the second wife of Lars Sovick. She died of influenza (Le Grippe, in the parlance of that day) on May 4th 1891, and was buried on Lars Sovick's farm as there was not yet any church or cemetery. In Feb of 1892, Lars Sovick donated the land around Ingeborg's grave for a church and cemetery. In 1899 an agreement was Sovick for a piece of land on the south side that abutted the road. This required the reburial of those persons buried north of the new line. Ironically, Ingeborg Sovick was one that had to be moved. She was the mother of eight children : Peter, Ole*, Hans*, Edwin, Henry, Carolina (Bjorke), Juliana (Holden), and Emma (Halkinrud). Henry was adopted out after his mother died and went by Henry A Berg.
Source - Sexton of St. Petri Cemetery, Tim and Laura Johnson Sept 2008
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.
HON. A.D. STEPHENS
pages 205-206
Hon. A.D. Stephens, president of the Merchants’ National Bank of Crookston, former mayor of Crookston and state senator, is a typical representative of its best and most serviceable citizenship. He has lived in Crookston continuously for more than thirty years, and has passed the whole of his life in Minnesota to the present time.
Mr. Stephens was born in Carver county, this state, in 1855, a son of Lars and Hannah (Peterson) Stephens, natives of Sweden, where they were reared, educated and married. The father came to the United States in 1851 and the mother in 1853. They located in Carver county, Minnesota, in 1854, and were among the pioneers of that county, clearing a farm there from the wilderness, and helping to lay the foundations of the county’s industrial, civil, social and educational institutions. The father filled with credit to himself and benefit to the county several difference local offices, and stood high in the regard of the people. He died in Kandiyohi county a number of years ago. The mother is still living and is now ninety-seven years of age.
A.D. Stephens was reared and educated in Carver county in part, completing his academic course at Gustavus Adolphus College. After leaving college he passed some years in clerking, as a salesman on the road and in other occupations, and in 1880 located at Fisher, Polk county, where he engaged in general merchandising. In 1884 he took up residence in Crookston as the representative of the Corbin Banking company. In 1891 he purchased an interest in the Merchants National Bank of Crookston, of which he became president after serving the bank some time as cashier. The bank has grown in patronage and influence under his careful management, keeping progress with the current of events and up to date at all times in all departments and features of its business. It is held to one of the safest, soundest and most satisfactory banks of its rank in the Northwest. Mr. Stephens is interest also in several other banks in Polk county and other places in Minnesota. He is one of the directors of the Scandinavian American Bank of Minneapolis and president of a bank in Montana.
The public affairs of his city, county, state and country have always received careful, studious and serviceable attention from Mr. Stephens, and he has taken an active part in them. He served as mayor of Crookston in 1893 and again I 1900. In 1902 he was elected a member of the state senate, and during his service in that body he was the chief instrument in obtaining the location of the Northwestern School of Agriculture at Crookston. This institution has done a great work in promoting advanced farming in the northwestern part of the state.
Mr. Stephens is a public speaker of ability, eloquence and force, and is in frequent demand for public addresses of various kinds. He pas been particularly successful in political speeches in many campaigns, advocating and defending the principles and candidates of the Republican party, to which he ahs always belongs and in which he has long been prominent. He ahs been strongly brought forward by his friends as the candidate of that party for the governorship of the state at various times and was a delegate to the Chicago Republican National convention of 1904 which nominated Theodore Roosevelt for the Presidency, and in the campaign which followed he urged Mr. Roosevelt’s election with great fervor and effect.
Even when out of office Mr. Stephens has devoted considerable activity to promoting the welfare of the state and its public institutions. He was the leading force in bringing about improved methods of administration at the State Reformatory for Boys at Red Wing. He preferred charges before the legislature against the management of that institution, and the investigation that followed resulted in the abolition of corporal punishment there and other reforms in the discipline and government of the institution.
In 1878 Mr. Stephens was united in marriage with Miss Christie Cameron, a native of Canada. They have two sons, Marcus, Merriam and on daughter Adrea. The sons are employed in the Merchants National Bank of Crookston and Miss Andrea is attending school. Fraternally their father is a member of the Masonic Order, the Order of Elks and the Swedish Order of Vass.
During his service in the senate he introduced the bill which provided for the payment of inmates of state penal institutions for labor performed. The first law of its kind in the world and on which the state is now paying from $75,000 to $80,000 per annum, and which has worked wondrous good among the inmates. Is also a member of State Immigration board serving second term.
Submitted by Jon Raymond, Nov 2003
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.
JOHN STROMSTAD
pages 446-447
Overtaking good fortune after it had fled from him for a number of years, John Stromstad, one of the leading farmers and live stock men of Scandia township, he and his son Theodore owning and cultivating all of Section 34, has kept a firm grip on his opportunities and made the most of them ever since. His fine farm and pleasant country house is twenty miles south of Crookston and seven miles southwest of Beltrami. He was born in Norway October 5, 1850, and came to the United States alone in 1871 and located in Houston county, Minnesota. He had a little money left when he reached his new home, but did not invest it immediately. For two years he worked at farm labor in Houston county, and then, in 1873, was married there to Miss Martha Christianson, a native of that county, where her parents settled in 1853, when they came over from Norway among the first emigrants from that country to locate in Minnesota.
After his marriage Mr. Stromstad bought a farm in Houston county, but chinch bugs and other pests destroyed his crops, hard luck attended him in many forms, and in 1884 he was worse off than having nothing. He owned a team but it was not paid for. That year he determined to seek a new basis of operations and came to this county and took up as a homestead the northeast quarter of Section 34 in Scandia township. He built a small frame house on his land, hauling the lumber for it from the Red river, and covered the building with tar paper inside and out. Until he was able to get some of his own farm into condition for cultivation he worked with his team on other farms, especially during harvest times.
Mr. Stromstad and his son Theodore now together own all of Section 34 and carry on flourishing industries in raising grain and beef and dairy cattle. They have stock in the co-operative creamery at Beltrami and keep sixteen to twenty milch cows from which they furnish cream to that institution. They breed their dairy cattle from a thoroughbred shorthorn sire and keep them in good condition by giving them careful attention. Their grain product is also large, the crop of wheat, oats and barley in 1915 totaling over 10,000 bushels. For one quarter-section of his land Mr. Stromstad paid the sum of $4,400, but it is worth a great deal more than that now.
Mr. and Mrs. Stromstad have two children. Their daughter Milla is now the wife of Andrew N. Mjelde and lives two miles distant from her father’s farm. Theodore, who is the other child of the household, lives with his parents. He married Miss Helene Evje, of Norman county, Minnesota, and they have one child, their son Melvin. Theodore is at present township supervisor and has been on the board some years. He has also operated a threshing outfit for ten or twelve years. His father was one of the founders of Helleland United Lutheran church near his home, which was organized soon after his arrival in the township, and all the members of the family belong to it and are active workers for its advancement. Part of the dwelling house now on the farm was hauled from Beltrami, seven miles away. It was built in portions at different times. The first barn put up by Mr. Stromstad was constructed of sod and covered with marsh hay. He and his son have a genius for improvment and have lately taken contracts to do ditching along the public roads to the great advantage of the township and its residents.
Submitted by Jon Raymond, January 2003
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.HERBERT B SYKES
pages 159-160
The subject of this brief review is one of the leading farmers and most public-spirited men in Park Grove Township, Polk County, and has reached his position of prominence and influence soley through his own merit and his unaided, individual efforts. He lives on his fine farm near the village of Mentor, but is known throughout the county as one of the substantial and progressive farmers and most representative citizens of his township.
Mr. Sykes was born in Monticello, Wright County, Minnesota, October 09, 1876, the son of William E. and Luzerna (Mitchell) Sykes, the former a native of Montreal, Canada, and the latter of Wright County, where they were old settlers. Their son Herbert was the first born of their seven children, and remained at home with them until he reached the age of twenty-four. He was reared on the farm, and from his boyhood bore his part of the labor of cultivating it, which interfered with the full use of his opportunity to obtain even the limited common school education that was available to him.
On September 20, 1898, Mr. Sykes was married to Miss Lois Canfield, a native of Lyon County, Minnesota, and a daughter of Frank L. and Flora (Hall) Canfield. The marriage took place in Wright County, where Miss Canfield was living at the time. After their marriage they continued to live in that county for two years, Mr. Sykes being engaged in buying and shipping livestock. In 1890, they moved to Itasca County, this state, taking up a homestead 125 miles distant from a railroad. On this tract, they located and lived for about seven years, during which Mr. Sykes worked at logging during the winters. In the spring of 1908, the family moved to Polk County. During the two years following his arrival in this county, Mr. Sykes lived on land which he rented and farmed in Park Grove Township.
He then bought eighty acres on which he now has his home, but he farms a much more extensive tract, directing the operations on 560 acres in all. His farming is of a general nature in the main, but he makes a specialty of raising potatoes on a large scale, and shipped the first full carload sent out from Mentor. In the public affairs of his township, Mr. Sykes has always taken an earnest interest and an active part. He has served as chairman of the township board and as school clerk. he is now one of the directors of the creamery in Mentor and also a director of the co-operative store at that village.
No movement for the good of the township or the benefit of its residents ever goes without his energetic support, and all his efforts in this behalf are guided by good judgment and public spirit and governed by prudence and enterprise. He is vice president of the Park Farm Club and in fraternal relations holds membership in Camp Number 5288, Modern Woodmen of America, in which he has held all the important offices. He and his wife are the parents of six children, Mildred E., Milton F., Hazel L., Mabel M., Roy E., and Earl H.
Submitted by Jon Raymond, Sept 2008
Sweet, Agnes Edna (Asseltine)
Fisher Bulletin
Feb. 15, 1902
submitted by Peggy and Bruce Ogan Sept 24, 2003
Sweet – At the home, just north of the village of Fisher, Thursday, Feb. 13, 1902, Agnes Edna, Beloved wife of E. A. Sweet, Age 55 years and 16 days. Mrs. Sweet was one of the best known and most loved woman in the village, knowing everybody and always having a kind word of greeting when meeting people in the street, she became endeared, not only to the younger generation, but also to those of middle age.
Deceased was born in Frontenac Co, Ont., near Moscow, Jan. 28, 1847, and was married at her home May 29, 1873, to E. A. Sweet. The couple lived at Selby, Ont., the next eight years when they moved to the United States and settled in Polk Co. April 1, 1881, and since then have lived in Bygland and Fisher, The latter few years making this village their home.
For some months passed Mrs. Sweet had been troubled with diabetes, or Bright’s Disease, but up to about ten weeks ago no serious results were feared, and at that time she consulted a physician, but he could give her no hopes, for the poison resulting from the disease had so spread through her system that it was impossible to fight successfully. At the time of her death she was all prepared to go, in fact was to leave yesterday for the sanitarium at Battle Creek, Mich., for a course of treatment in hopes of prolonging her life.
Wednesday she was taken worse and on Thursday morning all hopes were giving up, and she passed away about ten O’clock that morning, Suffering a great deal of pain, but unconscions.
Mrs. Sweet was a noble Christian woman, a staunch member of the Methodist Church, and one whom it was a pleasure and honor to greet. Always motherly and with a hearty “how-do-you-do,” No one realized the pain and sickness their friend was undergoing. Her death is a loss to us all, but no one realized her worth till to late to appreciate the past.
Beside a bereaved husband, who is well-known through out the county, she leaves a family of four children, Mrs. Mabel Van Leuven, of Moscow, Ont., and Arthur, Cyrus, Miss Edna and Harry, of this village, who will all be here to see their mother to-morrow for the last time, and also as many of her brothers and sisters as possible will be present.
There was one other child born, Geo. H., who died while a babe in the fall of 1878.
The funeral will take place to-morrow afternoon, Feb. 16, leaving the home at 2 o’clock, going from there to the Methodist Church, and thence to Oak Hill cemetery.
Everyone in this part of the country sympathize with the bereaved husband and children.
Submitted by Peggy and Bruce Ogan, September 2003
See Ephraim A. Sweet's Guest Book - listing visitors at their home from May 30, 1898 to April 10, 1904.
Sweet, Ephraim Ash and Family
Sources:
Family History,
Family Photos.
1900 Federal Census Minnesota,
Red River Valley Genealogical Society Cemetery Book,
Ephraim Ash Sweet’s Diary for 1918,
Obituary of Agnes Edna Asselstine Sweet,
Obituary for Cyrus Sweet.Ephraim Ash Sweet was born May 22, 1848 in Selby, Ontario, Canada. He was the youngest of eight children born to Henry Sweet and Jane Danley. He married Agnes Edna Asselstine, daughter of Benjamin Asselstine and Charlotte Huffman, May 29, 1873 in Selby, Ontario. They lived in Selby until 1881 when they immigrated to the United States and settled in Polk County, Minnesota. They lived first in Bygland and then later in Fisher.
Ephraim and Agnes were blessed with six children; Mabel Gertrude born March 10, 1874, Arthur Grange born February 23, 1877, Cyrus James born October 12, 1878, George Hilton born March 20, 1880, Edna Amelia May born February 21, 1882 and Harry Ben born October 11, 1664. Edna and Harry were born in Fisher. George died August 10, 1881 and is buried in Oakhill Cemetery in Fisher.
The Sweets were farmers by trade and were Christians by faith. They attended the Methodist Church in Fisher.
Mabel married Everton Van Luven, March 22, 1897 (the widower of her aunt Hannah Effie Asselstine, her mother’s sister) and moved back to Ontario.
Agnes Edna Sweet died February 13, 1902 and was buried in Oakhill Cemetery, Fisher, Minnesota.
In 1907 Ephraim and his 4 remaining children moved west to Washington State where they eventually settled in Spokane. Cyrus was killed in an accident in Sacramento, California September 2, 1915. Ephraim died December 24, 1934 in Spokane, Washington. Edna, who never married, died October 2, 1936 in Spokane, Washington. Arthur, who also never married, died March 5th, 1952 in Spokane Washington. Harry married Mantia Belle Marcellus February 21, 1918 in Hillyard, Washington and raised a family in Spokane. He died July 28, 1959 in Spokane, Washington. They are all buried in the Riverside Memorial Park, Spokane, Washington.
Written and submitted by Peggy Fish Ogan September 27, 2003
Harry, Arthur, Cyrus, Mabel and Edna, think it was taken at the time of their mother's death in 1902, judging by the dark clothing and very solemn expressions on their faces.
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