BIOGRAPHIES - T
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.
JOSEPH TAGLEY
Pp 268-269Joseph Tagley, cashier of the First State bank of Mentor and vice president of the State bank of Gully, has been associated for many years with the business interests of this section. He is a native of Wisconsin, born in St. Croix county, October 26, 1867, the youngest of five brothers and one sister, children of John J. and Bertha Tagley. The family, after fourteen years residence in Jackson county, Minnesota, came to Polk county in 1883 and John J. Tagley became a homesteader in Woodside township about four miles southeast of the present village of Mentor. In the same year, in partnership with his father, Joseph Tagley engaged upon his initial venture in the business world with a small store at Rothsay, Minnesota, and three years later transferred his operations to Polk county, opening a store at the location of the Woodside postoffice, in section twenty-two, the first store and for a few years the only one in Woodside township.
Under the able direction of the young merchant, this proved a most successful enterprise, he bought out his father’s interest and rapidly advanced from his modest start with a three hundred dollar capital to a two thousand dollar stock of general merchandise. In 1892 he sold the building and removed his goods to Mentor, seven miles distant, where he opened a general store with a marked increase on his former activities, putting in a six thousand dollar stock. Although he was not able to entirely finance his operations during the first few months, this ambitious endeavor was made possible through the confident cooperation of the wholesale firms and one of the flourishing mercantile interprises of the county was auspiciously started on its career. Mr. Tagley continued his prosperous relations with this business until 1900 and in the later years was conducting an annual business of $30,000. He then sold the store of O. Moreau & Son but continues to be the owner of the building in which it is located.
Upon retiring from the mercantile field, his interest turned to other financial activities and in 1901, in company with A.D. Stephens, he opened the Bank of Mentor and has since given his attention to the direction of its affairs. In 1908 it was incorporated as the First State bank of Mentor, with a capital of $10,000. Mr. Stephens became president; Mrs. Tagley, vice president; and Mr. Tagley, cashier; in which capacity he has become well known in financial circles through the substantial results of his management. A more exhaustive comment on the merit and activity of this institution is made elsewhere in this work. Mr. Tagley also has extensive land interests in the state, owning some two sections in Polk, Clearwater, and Rosseau counties, over one-half of which is in Polk county. All of his Polk county land is being operated by Mr. Tagley through tenants.
His agricultural interests have been manly centered on grain and stock farming and he has given much attention to the improvement of stock, keeping a high grade and breeding Holstein cattle. He has further been identified with the business interest of the community in his association with A.D. Stephens, in the establishment of a creamery in 1900. Under the management of Mr. E. Axelson, this proved a valuable enterprise to the farmers of the territory. This led to the organization of a new company upon a cooperative basis which has now ninety stockholders, of whom Mr. Tagley is one. The importance and success of Mr. Tagley’s interests have inevitably contributed with the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens to make him a forceful factor in public affairs. In official capacity he has served as township clerk, village president, and in other local positions and was postmaster under the Cleveland administration.
He is a member of the modern Woodmen of America, having served as Venerable Council for fifteen years. Mr. Tagley has recently made a notable addition to the residence district of Mentor in the fine modern home which he has erected, which in addition to its architectural attractions, is provided with all the modern conveniences with which the village has not yet supplied it citizens, including an electric light and watering plant, power laundry, and hot water heating system. Mr. Tagley was married in 1895 to Milla Olson, of Fisher, Polk county, the daughter of Evan Olson, a retired business man of that place. They have one child, Elmer J. Tagley. Mr. Tagley and his wife are members of the Congregational church.
submitted Jan 17, 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.
HUGH THOMPSON
pages 141-142Hugh Thompson, of East Grand Forks, an eminent citizen of Polk county, is widely known as a pioneer, whose career has been significantly associated with the development of the various important interests of northern Minnesota. He was born in Huntington county, Canada, July 4, 1850, the son of John L. Thompson, a well known farmer of that region, who continued to reside in Huntington county until his death. His son, Hugh Thompson, spent his early youth on the Canadian homestead and came to this country when sixteen years of age, securing a position as a clerk in a store owned by his brothers, at St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. Two years later he left St. Croix for Menominee, where he engaged in similar employment. In 1873 he came to Crookston, then in the earliest days of its settlement, and has since been actively identified with growth and progress of Polk county.
For a few years he was employed in the store operated by W.D. Bailey but in October, 1875, he embarked upon his independent commercial career, opening a general store at Fisher’s Landing. This proved a successful venture and in 1879 he extended his activities to the milling business, erecting a flouring mill which was destroyed by fire some three years later. In 1879 Mr. Thompson organized the Fisher bank as a private banking house and as president, capably directed its affairs during the first years of its operations. This became a State bank in 1896 and is one of the most substantial and prosperous financial institutions of the county.
In 1885 Mr. Thompson became associated in his various business interests with Marcus Johnson, buying the mercantile business owned by Andrew D. Stephens and erecting a flour mill which they operated for nine years when it was merged with the North Dakota Milling Association, of which Mr. Thompson became president. The corporation had extensive milling interests in North Dakota and Minnesota and Mr. Thompson remained at the head of its board of directors for several years. During these busy years of commercial enterprise, he found time for active co-operation in public affairs and gave his services in public offices, as county commissioner, and was the first postmaster appointed at Fisher.
In 1891 he was appointed registrar of the United States land office at Crookston and during the four years of his incumbency of that position, resided in Crookston. He removed to East Grand Forks in 1896 and since that time has given his attention largely to the direct service of public interests in the various official positions to which the confidence and regard of his fellow citizens have called him. Aside from the local offices which he has held, Mr. Thompson was also an able member of the State board of Equalization for ten years, being first appointed to the board in 1882. He has been prominently identified with civic affairs as mayor and president of the town council and for four years was county commissioner from the fifth district. As a pioneer citizen, merchant and banker, his career has been notably marked with that intelligent and constructive citizenship which lays the foundation for the steady prosperity and rapid development of all commercial and social activity.
Mr. Thompson has been twice married, his first union was with Luella May Thompson in 1875. She was born in St. Paul and was a teacher in the first school of Polk county, at Crookston. Three Children were born to them, two of whom died in infancy. The death of the mother occurred at Fisher in 1888 and she was survived by one daughter, Luella M., who is the wife of Bert Townsend. Mr. Thompson’s marriage to Lees McMaster, a native of Olmstead county, Minnesota, and a teacher in the Fisher schools at the time of her marriage was solemnized in 1891 and they have two children, Charlotte H. and June.
submitted Jan 17, 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)
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.
THEODORE A. THOMPSON
pages 392-393During all of the last eleven years Theodore A. Thompson, who is now a resident of Crookston, has rendered the people of Polk county excellent service in their register of deeds’ office, and for seven years of the period has been the register, filling the position of deputy register for the first four years of his connection with the office. Before he went into that office, however, he had a useful and prosperous career, in which he showed his mettle. He was born at Waseca, Minnesota, September 20, 1871, and is the son of Ole and Betsey (Amundson) Thompson, natives of Norway.
The mother came to this country about 1860, when she was eleven years old, and the father in 1866. They were married at Black Earth, Wisconsin, and moved to this county in 1888, locating on a homestead in Hill River Township, which the father selected at the time. He was a shoemaker and worked at his trade in Crookston ten years, during a part of which time he was the manager of a shoe store. He died in North Yakima, Washington, and the mother passed away on the farm. The family lived on that farm a long time and still owns it.
Seven children were born and reared to maturity in the household. Anna B., who is now living at home, has been a teacher in the Polk county schools and a stenographer. Lewis passed his life on the farm and died there at the age of thirty-nine. Tilda was also a Polk county teacher. She died unmarried in 1908. Louise, a school teacher and stenographer in this county, is also now living at home. Emma, who died at the age of twenty-one, also taught in Polk county schools, and Oscar B. is operating the old family homestead.
Theodore A. Thompson spent ten years on the homestead. He was seventeen when the family took possession of it and had just been graduated from the high school at Waseca, and he began his career in this county by teaching Public School No. 120 in King township, near McIntosh. He continued teaching ten years, still living on the home farm, and during two years of the time was also interested in a merchandising enterprise in McIntosh. In 1898 he became assistant cashier of the Citizens Bank at McIntosh, and this position he held continuously for six years.
On January 1, 1905, Mr. Thompson was appointed deputy register of deeds by J.H. Stair, the register, and he served the county in this capacity until January 1, 1909, when he took over the office of register, to which he was elected in the fall of 1908, being the nominee of the Republican party. He was re-elected in 1910 without opposition, and again in 1912 and 1914, the last time for a term of four years, according to the provisions of a law passed by the legislature of 1913. He employs three assistants in the office and it turns over to the county annually, after all its expenses are paid, an average revenue of about $2,500.
Mr. Thompson was married in 1901 to Miss Caroline M. Jensen, of Brandsvold township, this county, where her father, Peter C. Jensen, now deceased, settled in 1888, coming to Polk county from Wisconsin. Mrs. Thompson was a teacher in Polk county three years prior to her marriage. She and her husband have had five children, one of whom died in infancy. Those who are living are Harlow B., Florence Lucille, Kenneth F. and Marjorie A. The parents are members of the English Lutheran Church, of which Mr. Thompson is secretary. He is well known throughout the county and very popular.
submitted Jan 17, 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.
T. THYGESON
pp 478-479Having come to this country as a young man from his native land of Denmark, where he was born May 27, 1843, and having worked his way to a comfortable estate by his own efforts, and at the same time given careful and helpful attention to the public affairs of his community and township, T. Thygeson, one of the progressive and successful farmers of Polk county, has made a record creditable alike to himself, his native country and the land of his adoption. He has for years been seriously handicapped by a physical affliction, having lost his right leg in a threshing accident, but this has neither arrested his progress nor slackened his energy.
Mr. Thygeson arrived in the United States in 1865 and at once came West and located in St. Paul, where he worked at day labor until 1870, when he moved to Ottertail county, this state, and turned his attention to farming. He became the owner of a farm in that county and lived on it until 1877. He then came to Polk county, bringing with him as his only facilities for starting a new home in the wilderness two yoke of oxen and a few cows. He took up a homestead in Section 4, Andover township, five miles west of Crookston, on the prairie and one mile from any timber. Alexander Burnham and Peter Anderson were then the only other settlers in the neighborhood, and they were on the creek, advantageously located, and had a start in developing and improving their land and obtaining the ordinary comforts of life.
In a little while Mr. Thygeson put up a log shanty on his tract, afterward erecting a larger and more substantial log house. His present dwelling was built in 1906, and is a comfortable and attractive home for him and his family. He also has a large barn built four years ago, or in 1911. To his original tract he has added another quarter section, so that he now owns and cultivates 320 acres in one body. His principal crops are wheat, barley, rye and oats, and in 1915 his products of these amounted to about 6,000 bushels. He keeps regularly six cows and makes butter of a superior grade for private customers. He also raises good horses and carries on a general farming industry embracing every ordinary feature of the business. Being one of the very early settlers of Andover township, Mr. Thygeson took an active part in all its activities at the beginning of its history. He helped to organize the township and has served it well and wisely as a member of its board of supervisors. The interest in its welfare awakened in him on his arrival here has continued to the present time, and he is still zealously devoted to its good and that of its residents. In political allegiance he is a Woodrow Wilson Democrat, and in religious feeling he is liberal, favoring no one church sect above another. He is a man of sturdy habits and never neglects his business, but he occasionally takes a hunting trip, which he enjoys intensely, and which constitutes almost his only recreation.
Mr. Thygeson was married while living in St. Paul to Miss Thrine Cresterson, who is, like himself, a native of Denmark. They have had ten children. One died in infancy, and a son named William passed away at the age of twenty-five. He had been farther West and died in Montana on his way home. The eight who are living are: Christian, who is a mechanic in an auto shop in Crookston; Thomas, who is boss carpenter in a railroad repair shop; George, who is single and living at home; Alfred, who is living on a homestead of his own near Middle River; Henry, who married Miss Eva Capistran and whose three children died in infancy; Lena, who is the wife of Gust Lavine of Polk Station, this county; Anna, who is the wife of Otto Schroeder, and lives with him in Seattle, and Laura, who is Mrs. Robert Nicholson, whose home is in Winnipeg, Canada.
submitted Jan 17, 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.
John E. Tice
pp 298-299John E. Tice, a prominent farmer of Grove Park township, was born near Niagara Falls, Ontario, December 23, 1856, and came to the United States and to St. Paul October 29, 1878. For two years he was employed in farm labor in Ottertail county and in April, 1880, filed on his Polk county homestead, in section twenty-eight of Grove Park township. In the following spring he suffered the loss of his farm house, the erection of which had required the investment of his entire capital and he was compelled to build up his finances in other occupation for a time.
He worked in the harvest fields and became foreman in the brickyard at Crookston, 1881, where he directed the manufacture of the material used in the First National bank building. In 1882 he went to Fergus Falls and for two years was foreman of the brickyard there, some of the output being used in the construction of the Grand Hotel. Since then he has devoted his attention to his farm which in the original tract consisted of prairie and timber land. He has now added sixty acres to his homestead and has on hundred and forty acres in cultivation. This is one of the most prosperous estates of the community and a notable example of the thrift and enterprise of the farming population of Polk county who have advanced the general welfare of the region to its present high standard of development. Mr. Tice engages in grain and stock farming and as a dairy farmer is a patron of the cooperative creamery at Mentor.
Although he was not present at the first election held in the township, being employed in brick making in its season, he has always been prominently associated with the direction and promotion of public interests and a forceful supporter of any project which tended to the welfare of the community. As a pioneer of the section he recalls the significance and associations of the naming of the township and town, the first receiving its name from the many groves which dotted its territory and the postoffice town having been named Mentor by Mrs. E.E. Abbott in honor of President Garfield’s home. Mr. Tice is a member of the Democratic party and has ever been interested in political activities and was allied with the Farmers Alliance and Peoples party of earlier days.
His official service has been almost continuous, in the various offices, as treasurer for 19 years, justice of peace 2 years, and as a member of the township board, being chairman of that body for seven years, and as a member of the school board. He is now president of the school board of Mentor. In business enterprise, he is associated with the cooperative elevator creamery and store as a shareholder. Mr. Tice has been a member of the Modern Woodmen of America for many years and was one of the organizers of the Episcopal church at Mentor and has since served its interests. He was married in Fergus Falls, July 3, 1883, to Louise Kenline, a native of Dubuque, Iowa.
Eight children have been born to this union, Essica, formerly a teacher in Polk county schools and now the wife of Alvert Strand, of Staples, Minnesota; Frankie; Elwood, associated with the mercantile interests of Reed’s Store at Black Duck, Minnesota, for six years; Dorothy; Anna, a student in the Mentor high school; Joyce, who is attending high school in Crookston; Robert and Elaine, attending Mentor school. Frankie Tice and Dorothy Tice have both been employed in the Polk county schools. The former who has taught ten years continues to teach near East Grand Forks, while the latter, a teacher of four years, is a student in the business college at Crookston. The Tice home is an attractive residence and is situated but a short distance from Mentor, as the farm is partly within the village boundaries.
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