John Henry Larson

As printed in 1916

TOHN HENRY LARSON.

The second eldest living settler of Tordenskjold township, Otter Tail county. Minnesota, is John Henry Larson, who had many Indians for neighbors when he first came to this part of Minnesota. Bear and deer were also plentiful during the period of his early residence in this county.

Mr. Larson was born at Lolland, Denmark.' September 21, 1841, and is a son of Lars Christiansen and Annie Elizabeth Hendricksen, who spent their entire lives in their native land. Mr. Larson's father was a farmer and gardener. Both he and his wife were faithful and earnest members of the Lutheran church. They were the parents of five children, of whom Johanna, who married Hans Petersen, died in Denmark; Sophia, who married Peter Olson, died in Copenhagen Denmark; Henry died in infancy, and.M 111,1 died at the age of ten years; John Henry, the subject of this review, is the youngest child.

Educated in the common schools of his native land and reared on his father's farm. John Henry Larson enlisted in the Danish army in 1864, and served eight months in the Danish-German War. He was taken prisoner by the Germans and was confined in a prison camp for two months. During his service as a soldier he participated in the battle at Duble, and after that battle was driven on to an island, where he was captured. He remained m prison until the close of the war. As a result of his service in the Danish army he receives an honor gift every year.

After leaving the army, Mr. Larson returned to the farm in order to earn money with which to come to America, and in 1868, while still unmarried, he emigrated to America and settled in Waukesha county, Wisconsin, about twenty miles west of Milwaukee, where he lived for one year. The next year Mr. Larson emigrated to Minnesota, where he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land in Tordenskjold township. He began life in this new state by clearing the land and improving it in various ways. From time to time he erected substantial buildings and has lived on the farm where lie first settled ever since. In the meantime, however, he has added to his original holdings and now owns two hundred and forty acres of splendid land in cue tract. Mr. Larson is a general farmer and stockman, and has met with pronounced success in his chosen calling. He is a director in the creamery at Rattle Lake, and takes an active interest in all local affairs which have for their object the betterment and development of his home community.

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

with her mother and some of her brothers, later came to America. Mr. and Mrs. Larson are the parents of ten children, as follow: Annie, the wife of Christian Hilton, lives at Red Wing, Minnesota; Sophia, who died in infancy; Dora, who also died while young; Sophia II is the wife of George Newman, and lives in Nebraska; Hans Johan, living at home; Dora, the wife of Emil Newman, a farmer of Elizabeth township; Mina, the wife of Bernard Carson, also a farmer of Elizabeth township; Henry, who lives at home; Julius, also living at home, and one who died in infancy.

John Henry Larson was identified with the Populist party. He served as a member of the school hoard in this township for many years. Although he was forty years a member of the Lutheran church, he is not now identified with any church. Mr. Larson is a very successful farmer, and a man who enjoys the confidence of a host of friends in this community.

As printed in History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota : its people, industries, and institutions : with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families (1916). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.