Charles W. Goodrich

As printed in 1912

CHARLES W. GOODRICH (1876) has been a continuous resident of Grandview township since coming to the county in

He was born in Lake City, Wabasha county, Minnesota, August 26, 1861. His parents, William I. and Margaret (Boody) Goodrich, natives of Connecticut and Massachusetts, respectively, settled in Wabasha county in 1856 and resided there until 1875. That year they moved to California for a residence of one year before coming to Lyon county.

In the spring of 1876 the father took a homestead on the southeast quarter of section 12, Grandview township. There the family made their home until 1891, when they moved to Marshall, and there made their home until Mrs. Goodrich's death in 1894. Since that time Mr. Goodrich has lived with a son in Louisiana. He is a veteran of the Civil War, having been a member of Company M. First Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment. He served thirteen months and was honorably discharged on account of ill health.

The subject of this sketch attended the common schools of Wabasha county in his youth and later went to school in California one year. He resided with his parents after coming to Lyon county until 1882 and then purchased land in Grandview township and started farming for himself. After six years on the place he sold out and rented three years, later purchasing his father's farm. In 1903 he sold one eighty and has since that time conducted the remaining eighty acres. He has a well improved piece of land and raises considerable stock. For several years Mr. Goodrich was road overseer of the township.

On February 24, 1881, occurred the marriage of Mr. Goodrich and Lizzie Williams. a native of Grant county, Wisconsin. She was born August 4, 1863, and died March 4, 1904. To this union were born six children, two of whom, Ethel and John, are living at home with their father. The others died in infancy.

Mr. Goodrich is a member of the Baptist church of Minneota. Fraternally he is allied with the Modem Woodmen lodge of Marshall.

LOUIS RIALSOX 11872). a business man of Tracy, is one of the oldest settlers of southeastern Lyon county, having resided there continuously for the past forty years. In the early days he took part in many of the history-making events, assisting in the organization of Monroe township and holding several offices under the township government, and in later years he has been identified with the political and business life of his community to a considerable extent.

The birth of our subject occurred in Green county, Wisconsin, January 11, 1851, and in that county he lived until coming to Lyon county in 1872 at the age of twenty-one years. He is of Xorwegian parentage, both his parents, Rile and Lucy Evanson, having come from the old country. He has two brothers, Andrew and Ole. The former lives in Kandiyohi county and is a former member of the Minnesota Legislature.

Louis Rialson drove from his former home in Green county, Wisconsin, to Lyon county, arriving during the month of June, 1872, and at once filed a homestead claim to the southwest quarter of section 22, Monroe township, a short distance west of the present city of Tracy. But at the time of his arrival there was no Tracy, no railroad in the county, and the only settlers in the vicinity were the families of Ole Anderson, Ole Helgeson, Andrew Christianson and Kittel Christopherson. The first year our subject lived in a sod house which stood on the claim of his brother, Ole, on the southeast quarter of section 23. Ole Rialson had filed his claim in the spring of 1872 but did not make permanent residence thereon until that fall.

For some little time the trading point for these early settlers was Currie, but later, when the railroad was built, limited supplies could be procured at Saratoga, near the present site of Amiret, and within a short time Tracy was founded. Mr. Rialson assisted in the organization of Monroe township and suggested its name, in honor of the county seat of Green county, Wisconsin. This occurred in January, 1874. During the dark days of the grasshopper scourge Mr. Rialson continued to make his home on the claim and his family remained there continuously, but he was obliged to seek work elsewhere to make both ends meet. During the summer season he worked for his brothers, Evan and Andrew, at Xorway Lake, north of Willmar.

From the time he took the claim forty years ago until 1906 Mr. Rialson lived on the place and he still farms it, although he now makes his home in Tracy. For a number of years before moving to town he had been engaged in the mercantile business in company with A. R. Thompson and the partners also dealt in coal. He has continued the business since moving to Tracy and in August, 1911, he bought the Sleepy Eye elevator and now deals in grain, coal, feed and salt. When he engaged in the new line of business he admitted his son, Edward, as a partner and the business is now conducted under the firm name of Rialson & Son.

Of Monroe township Mr. Rialson served as assessor several terms. He has been alderman of Tracy three terms and is now serving his third term as a member of the Board of Education.

Mr. Rialson was married in Marshall in July, 1874, to Bertha Ellofson, a native of Xorway. They have eight children, named as follows: George, Minnie, Ella, John, Freddie, Clara, Edward and Lilly.

As printed in An illustrated history of Lyon County, Minnesota (1912). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.