The Anderson Families of Lyon County, Minnesota

NELS ANDERSON (1877). One of the old and highly respected residents of Coon Creek township is Nels Anderson, who has lived in Lyon county for the past thirty-five years. He is a native of Jemtland, Sweden, and was born February 1, 1838, a son of Anders Jonson. Both his parents are deceased.

Nels received his schooling in the land of his birth and was a student until sixteen years of age. He then assisted his father with the work on the farm until he was twenty-one years of age. For the next ten years he worked out at farm labor and in the pineries.,

In 1869 Mr. Anderson immigrated to the United States, locating in Winona county, Minnesota. There he purchased land, which he later sold, and in 1877 he moved to Lyon county. He homesteaded the north half of the southwest quarter of section 2, Coon Creek township. In 1889 he purchased sixty acres on section 3, of the same township, and in 1892 purchased 160 acres on section 2, making him the owner of 300 acres of fine land.

Our subject is a member of the Swedish Lutheran church. He is a very successful firmer and stock raiser. His son, John, now has charge of the place.

Magdalena Erickson became the wife of Mr. Anderson early in 1869. She is the daughter of Erick and Christina (Halvorson) Erickson, both deceased, and was born March 26, 1843, in Jemtland, Sweden. She has three brothers and two sisters: Carrie (Mrs. Martin Hammerberg), of Barron county, Wisconsin; Christine (Mrs. Christine Skold). Erick Erickson, Halvor Erickson and Nels Erickson, all of Jemtland, Sweden. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are the parents of the following named three children: Andrew, born October 17, 1869; Christine, born September 16, 1871, died in August, 1872, John, born November 19, 1874. Andrew and John both reside in Coon Creek township.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JOHN ANDERSON (1877), Coon Creek township farmer, is a native of Winona county, Minnesota, where he was born November 19, 1874. His parents are Nels and Magdalena (Erickson) Anderson, with whom he makes his home. When three years of age he accompanied his parents to Lyon county, and he has resided here continuously since.

John attended school in Island Lake and Coon Creek townships until sixteen years of age. He then was a student in Marshall for some time, after which he taught school in district No. 70 several terms. He then took up his labors on the farm with his father and has continued that work since. In addition to farming, our subject raises a great deal of stock, among other breeds, Duroc- Jersey hogs, Jersey cattle, Shropshire sheep and Plymouth Rock chickens. Mr. Anderson is a member of the Island Lake Presbyterian Church, of which he is treasurer and an elder. He is a member of the Workmen lodge and holds stock in the Farmers Independent Elevator Company of Russell and the Farmers Mutual Telephone Company. He is also a stockholder in the Independent Harvester Company of Piano, Illinois, and is the owner of the southeast quarter of section 33, Island Lake township.

During Mr. Anderson's long residence in Lyon county he has been called upon to serve several times in an official capacity. He formerly held the following offices: Assessor of Coon Creek township four years, justice of the peace several years, road overseer several years. He was secretary of the Farmers Independent Elevator Company of Russell two years, superintendent of the Sunday School of the Island Lake Presbyterian Church several years and secretary and treasurer of the Island Lake Cheese Company seven years. Mr. Anderson is now secretary of the Farmers Mutual Telephone Company, secretary and treasurer of the Island Lake Cemetery Association and solicitor for the Hope Mutual Insurance Company of Tyler, his territory being Coon Creek and Island Lake townships. Mr. Anderson has been very successful in his undertakings.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

ANTON E. ANDERSON (187 2) is proprietor of the A. E. Anderson elevator in Cottonwood, having in 1909, in company with his brothers, George and Gabriel, bought the Northwestern elevator. The company buys grain and sells coal and wood. Mr. Anderson is secretary and a director of the Norwegian Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Eidsvold and is president of the Home Telephone Company of Cottonwood. He was also one of the organizers and a former president of the Cottonwood Hardware Company.

Anton E. Anderson was born in Coon Prairie, Wisconsin, August 6, 1869. His parents, Endre and Bertha Anderson Barstad, were pioneer residents of Wisconsin and were among the first settlers in Lucas township, Lyon county, locating there in 1872, and taking as a homestead the southwest quarter of section 8. There the parents resided until their deaths, the father in 18 85 and the mother in 1899.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

OLUF ANDERSON (1876) has been a continuous resident of Monroe township, on the southeast quarter of section 28, since his birth on February 26, 1876. His parents, Ole and Thora (Olson Bjerkrud) Anderson,, were both natives of Norway and came to America in 1869, residing. in Fillmore county, Minnesota, two years before locating in Lyon county, on the land which Oluf now owns. The trip from Fillmore county was made in a prairie schooner, and most of the summer of 1871 was spent in looking for a suitable location.

Oluf received his education in the country schools of the township and at the age of fifteen completed his schooling, but remained on the farm, helping his father. At the age of twenty-three he rented the place and in company with his brother Anton ran the farm, afterward renting it alone until coming into full ownership when his father died. He has since been successfully managing the farm and engaging in stock raising.

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

Mr. Anderson is a member of the Farmers Club of Tracy, and belongs to the Norwegian Lutheran church of Monroe township. One sister of our subject is living, Bertha (Mrs. H. C. Olson), of Petersburg, North Dakota. His mother died in 1909.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

EDWARD ANDERSON (1879) is one of the early day settlers of Shelburne township, having lived continuously on the one farm for a third of a century. His home is on section 5, a couple of miles north of Florence.

Mr. Anderson was born in Norway February 1 1. 1848, and he lived in his native land until attaining his majority. He came to America in 1869 and lived ten years in Fillmore county, Minnesota. Upon his arrival to Lyon county in 1879 he purchased from the railroad company the west half of the southeast quarter of section 5, Shelburne township, and later he bought the west half of the northeast quarter of section 8. He was the purchaser of the first railroad land sold in the township and it cost him $4.00 per acre.

When he came to make his home in Shelburne township it was largely prairie land, the township had not been organized, and the nearest postoffice was Marshfield, on Lake Benton. His first home was a little 14x16 feet shack. He has prospered and become one of the substantial farmers of the community.

Mr. Anderson has served as a member of both the Board of Supervisors of his township and of his school district. The credit for the establishment of rural mail route No. 2 out of Tyler belongs to Mr. Anderson, he having spent time and money in bringing about the service. He also assisted in securing the establishment of the first telephone line in the vicinity. Mr. Anderson is a member of the Masonic, Woodmen and Workmen lodges.

Edward Anderson is the oldest child in a family of six children born to Andrew and Karen (Evenson) Christenson, who came to America in the seventies and died in their adopted country. The other children of the family are Karen (Mrs. Bore Larson), of Florence; Evan Berg, Christina (Mrs. Hans Benson), of Shelburne; Andrew Anderson Berg and Carl Anderson.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

ANTON E. ANDERSON

Of Cottonwood, Who Has Lived in Lyon

County Forty Years.

ject attended the country school and worked on the home farm until the age of fifteen, then hiring out as a farm hand for a number of years. At the age of eighteen he engaged in business in Cottonwood, continuing until his marriage three years later.

July 20, 1890, occurred the ceremony which made Anton E. Anderson and Martha Orwoll man and wife. To this union were born eight sons: Endre B., Sylfest M., Virgil L., Archie M., Nuel Fridtjof (deceased), Fridtjof B., Nordal O. and Earl R. Mrs. Anderson died December 17, 1907. After his marriage Mr. Anderson moved to his farm in Lucas and ran the place five years, then engaging in the grain business at Cottonwood, where he represented the Minnesota <fe Western Grain Company of Minneapolis fifteen years, until buying the Northwestern Elevator Company's business.

Mr. Anderson has been a member of the school board eight years, seven years of that time as secretary. He is active in church circles of the Norwegian Lutherans, being secretary of Silo Church of Cottonwood. He is one of the board of directors of the annuity fund and financial secretary of the Montevideo district of the United Norwegian Lutheran church of America.

Our subject has living the following sister and brothers: Dena (Mrs. O. H. Hatlestad), of Cottonwood; Tonnes, on the old homestead in Lucas; Henry E., of Minneota; John, of Parkland, Washington; Gabriel and Anton, of this sketch, both of Cottonwood.

June 9, 1911, Mr. Anderson married a second time, taking for his wife Selma Nelson, a native of Pipestone county, born March 15, 1882.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

MARTINUS ANDERSON (1880) farms 280 acres of land in Lucas township, a short distance west of Cottonwood. The farm is the southeast quarter of section 6. He was born on the adjoining farm, the homestead of his father, October 14, 1880. With the exception of a few months spent in Colorado and Canada, Martinus has always lived in this vicinity. The farm on which he now resides he has farmer since 1905 and he has since made many improvements on it, including a large barn built in 1912. v

Gabriel Anderson, the father of our subject, superintend the farming of the home place, although he resides in Cottonwood. He is one of the largest land owners of Lyon county, having purchased about 1600 acres since taking up his residence here. He was born in Norway and came to America when one year old. He came to Lyon county in the early seventies and was one of the first settlers of Lucas township. The mother of our subject is Margaret (Olson) Anderson, a native of Fillmore county, Minnesota.

The oldest child of the Anderson family, Edward, was drowned when five years old. The other children are Martinus, Mrs. Bernard Dahl, Mrs. J. Von Williams, Mabel, Joseph, Henrietta and Hartford.

Martinus Anderson was married at Granite Falls, Minnesota, October 18, 1905, to Annie Wangsness, a native of Fillmore county. Their only child, Gifford J., died at the age of five months.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

NELS ANDERSON (1882) owns 600 acres of land in Eidsvold township and he and his sons farm it all. The home place is the southwest quarter of section 10 and he owns in addition 160 acres on section 2, eighty acres on section 11, 120 acres on section 9 and eighty acres on section 16. Mr. Anderson has an exceptionally fine farm and is one of the big farmers of Eidsvold township, being rated among the substantial men of northwestern Lyon county.

The birth of Nels Anderson occurred in Denmark November 16, 1857, one of two sons born to Nels and Sophia Anderson. His parents are deceased. His brother is Rasmus Anderson, of Vernon county, Wisconsin. In 1872 Nels accompanied his parents to America. He lived in Allamakee county, Iowa, a few years and in Brookings county. South Dakota, a few years, and in 1882 became a resident of Lyon county. At that time he bought the home quarter section of his farm, which at that time contained as the only improvement a little shack built by a man who took the land as a tree claim. Mr. Anderson has lived on that farm thirty years and has prospered exceedingly.

Mr. Anderson was married in Eidsvold

HOME OF NELS ANDERSON Who Has Lived on This Farm in Eidsvold Township Thirty Years.

f Coon Creek Township, From a Photograph Taken When They Started Farming.

\ township in the fall of 1880 to.Mary Fodness. She was born in Norway and came to the United States when a child. The family came to Lyon county in the early se\ entries. Following are the names of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Anderson: John, who farms a quarter section of his father's land; Carl, a banker of Aneta, North Dakota; Rasmus, who farms another of his father's farms; Edwin, who lives at home; and Sophia, a graduate of the Madison Normal School. The family are members of the Norwegian Lutheran church of Minneota and Mr. Anderson has stock in the Farmers Elevator Company of Minneota.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

RASMUS N. ANDERSON (1887), Eidsvold township farmer, has spent his entire life in Lyon county. He is a son of Nels and Mary Anderson, early settlers and still residents of Eidsvold township. He is one of a family of five children, the others being John, Carl, Edwin and Sophia.

Rasmus was born on his father's Eidsvold township farm March 7, 1887. He attended the district school and St. Olaf College at Northfield, being graduated from the academy in 1907. Two years after his graduation Rasmus moved on one of his father's farms, the east half of the northeast quarter of section 16, Eidsvold, and has since been engaged in its cultivation.

On December 22, 1909, Mr. Anderson was married to Nellie Kvanbeck. She is also a native of Lyon county, having been born on her father's Eidsvold township farm April 23, 1886. She is a daughter of Knute S. Kvanbeck, one of the county's early settlers. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have one child, [name withheld], born September 30, 1911.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

HERMAN ANDERSON (1884) is manager of the C. M. Youmans Lumber Company's yards at Marshall and is an old resident of Lyon county. He was born in Sweden January 8, 1855, and that country was his home until 1880. There he was educated and there he worked as a farm laborer, at the carpenter trade and as a coachman. Upon his arrival to the United States Mr. Anderson* located in Winnebago county, Illinois, resided there four years, and then came to Lyon county.

The first two years of his residence in the county Mr. Anderson farmer; then he entered the employ of M. Sullivan, the pioneer lumber dealer of Marshall, and he has been identified with the one yard for the past twenty-five years. The yard was established by Mr. Sullivan in 1879. Under the latter's proprietorship Mr. Anderson had practical charge of the yards and the stock, and since 1905 he has had the management of the entire business. The present owners purchased from Mr. Sullivan in May, 18 99. The yard is the oldest and largest in the county.

Mr. Anderson is one of a family of three children living and he is the only one in America. The two children residing in the old country are Victor and Clara. Our subject is a member of the Methodist church and of the A. O. U. W. and M. W. A. lodges.

In Marshall, on the sixth of March, 1889, Mr. Anderson was united in marriage to Sophia Carlson. To them have been born the following named children: Emory, Selma, Ellis and Violet.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

LINCOLN L. ANDERSON (1887) is one of the largest farmers in the southern part of the county, renting the southeast quarter of section 12 in Rock Lake, upon which he makes his home, and farming in addition other land in Rock Lake, Sodus and Custer townships, bringing up his total farming acreage to 600 acres.

Mr. Anderson is a Lyon county product, having been born December 14, 1887, in Custer township. His parents, Charles A. and Mary (Erickson) Anderson, pioneer settlers of Custer township, are now residing on their farm in Rock Lake, near Balaton. Lincoln attended the country school in his district in Sodus when a boy and at the age of nineteen years he engaged in farming on the quarter section in 12, where he now lives. Our subject devotes much of his time to the raising of Hereford cattle, Chester White swine and sheep.

Lincoln Anderson is a member of the Modern Woodmen lodge of Balaton. He was married June 2, 1909, in Custer township, to Lorenta Gifford, a native of Lyon county. Her parents, George B. and Ruth (Hughes) Gifford, were pioneer residents of Custer. Mrs. Anderson was born December 16, 1888.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

ANDREW ANDERSON (1890) is the owner of the southwest quarter of section 27, Coon Creek township, where he has resided for twenty-two years. He was born in Sweden December 5, 1851. His parents are Peter and Ellen (Olson) Anderson, with whom he resided in the old country until 1882) attending school and learning the cabinetmaker's and housebuilding trades, which he followed several years.

In 1882 Mr. Anderson came to the United States and located in Chicago, where he worked eight years for the Pullman Car Company. In 1890 he immigrated to Lyon county, having purchased the southwest quarter of section 27, Coon Creek township, in 1884. He has made all the improvements on the place and has a very comfortable home. He raises a great number of cattle and hogs and has stock in the Farmers Elevator Company and Farmers Telephone Company of Russell. Mr. Anderson is a member of the Swedish Baptist church.

Mr. Anderson was married in Sweden March 6, 1874, to Elna Nelson, a daughter of Pehr Nelson and Hanna Nelson. Mrs. Anderson was born September 9, 1850, and died in 1900. To Mr. and Mrs. Anderson were born five children: Peter, John, Emily, Olive and Hattie.

G. J. 1NHOFER (1906) is a merchant and manager of the Western Grain Elevator at Ghent, He is a native of the Gopher State and was born in Nicollet county July 8, 1870. The parents of our subject are George and Agnes (Michels) Inhofer, natives of Germany, the former of Bavaria and the latter of Saxony. They came to the United

States in 1856. The father resided in New- York two years and in 1858 moved to Nicollet county, where he settled on railroad land and was married. They farmer until 1910, when they retired and moved to New Ulm. They are the parents of the following children: George, of this sketch; Joseph and Louis, of Nicollet county; John, of Brown county; William, Mary and Annie, of New Ulm. Two sons, Michael and Charles, are deceased.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

ADOLPH T. ANDERSON (1886) has spent the entire twenty-six years of his life in Nordland township. He is the son of pioneer settlers and homesteaders, Lewis and Stena Ellefson. His father was born in Norway, his mother in Wisconsin. They came to Lyon county in the seventies and took a homestead, later buying the southeast quarter of section 33, Nordland.

On that farm, on November 24, 1886, Adolph Anderson was born, and there he has ever since had his home. He received a district school education and worked for his father until 1909. Then he rented the farm and has since conducted it to his own account.

Mr. Anderson was married in Minneota to Rena Skogen. She is also a native of the county and is a daughter of Halvor O. and Christie Skogen, of Nordland township. Lila and Harvey are Mr. and Mrs. Anderson's children.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JOHN M. ANDERSON (1891) is proprietor of the Liberty Lunch Room in Cottonwood, having purchased the business from Henry Hanson in May, 1907. He serves short orders and lunches and handles cigars, candies, ice cream and soft drinks. He has been enjoying a liberal patronage, owns his store building, and has a nice residence in the village. In May, 1912, he purchased T. Fossum's restaurant and moved to his new location June 1. He carries on the business under the old name.

Our subject was born in Crawford county, Wisconsin, January 2, 1877, and is a son of Magnus and Ingeborg Anderson, the former of whom is now a resident of Clarkfield, Minnesota, the latter having died at Cottonwood in May, 1903. John received his early education in Dakota and about four years of schooling in Lyon county after the family moved from Dakota and settled on a farm near Cottonwood.

From his eighteenth year until he attained his majority John worked on the farm and then hired out to Bolsted & Mero, liverymen of Cottonwood. He worked for that firm a while and later for George Anderson several years. He then engaged in the livery and dray business with his brother-in-law, Sam Olson, and at the end of six months bought his partner's interest in the dray line. He continued that business two and one-half years and then wascompelled by ill health to sell and cease active work. One year's rest found Mr. Anderson greatly improved and he engaged in the dairy business for a little over two years, after which he bought the Liberty Lunch Room and took charge.

John M. Anderson and Hulda Larson were married September 20, 1902, in Yellow Medicine county. The bride was born November 2 9, 1882, and is a daughter of Ole Larson, a Yellow Medicine county farmer. Mr. Anderson is a member of Silo Norwegian Lutheran Church of Cottonwood. He has served as a member of the Village Council of Cottonwood for the past two years.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

SORN A. ANDERSON (1910) has been farming in Island Lake township since 1910, in which year he moved there from South Dakota and bought the northeast quarter and the north half of the southeast quarter of section 1. He is successfully farming the 2 40 acres and is devoting some time to stock raising.

Our subject's parents were natives of Norway. Hans and Ronoge (Hagen) Anderson came from Norway when quite young and were married in this country. The father was a shoemaker by trade and followed that occupation many years in Mankato, Minnesota. Sorn was born in that city July 9, 1876, and was brought up there and attended school until the age of fifteen years. The family then moved to Kossuth county, Iowa, where the father rented land and became a farmer and later bought eighty acres.

Sorn was at home with his parents until 1900; then he went to Brown county, South Dakota, bought a half section of land, and commenced farming for himself. He later sold 160 acres and then farmer his remaining quarter until 1910, in which year re sold out and came to Lyon county. He purchased the land where he now resides and has made a well-improved property out of it.

The ceremony which united Sorn Anderson and Hannah Quist in the holy bonds of matrimony was performed in Nicollet county, Minnesota, February 12, 1903. To this union three children were born, Olive, Victor and Throdore. Mrs. Anderson was born in Nicollet county April 3, 1876, and is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Nels Quist.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

OSCAR J. ANDERSON (1910), farmer and renter of the northwest quarter of section 21 in the township of Monroe, is a native of Sweden and has made his home in the United States since he was seventeen years of age.

Our subject was born December 1, 1889. His parents, Anders Anderson and Siverina (Bengtson) Anderson, are still living in Sweden. Oscar received his education in the Swedish common schools. In June, 1906, the boy came to America and located in Kankakee county, Illinois. For four years that was his home, and most of the time be found employment at farm labor. It was in April, 1910, that Oscar came to Lyon county, where, after working out one year, he rented the place where he now resides.

On January 30, 1912, in Tracy. Minnesota, occurred the ceremony which joined Oscar Anderson and Mabel Surprenant in the holy bonds of matrimony. Mrs. Anderson is a native of St. George, Kankakee county, Illinois, and was born December 24, 1892. Mr. Anderson is a member of the Swedish Lutheran church.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.