E S Thorngren

THORNGREN

Posted By: County Coordinator (email)
Date: 5/10/2010 at 10:45:39

E S Thorngren is one of the most active and substantial men of Boxholm, Boone county, conducting not only a large and profitable lumber business, but also holding title to extensive farm property and being connected with banking interests. Moreover, Mr thronged has always participated in movements for the up building and betterment of the county and is today connected with a number of public and semi-public institutions which contribute greatly toward the advancement of the county. He was born in Grant township, Boone county, March 24 1882, and is a son of J O and Josephine (Chingren) Thorngren, natives of Sweden. The father came to America with his parents and subsequently engaged in farming in Grant township, where he followed this occupation for many years. Upon his removal to Pilot Mound he turned his attention to the lumber, livestock and grain business, continuing so for about twenty years with ever increasing success. At the end of that time he removed to Minneapolis but subsequently returned to one fo his farms near Boone, where he lived until his death, which occurred on March 29, 1912. His widow is now living in Boxholm.
Mr E S Thorngren was reared and educated in Grant township and Pilot Mound, completing his lessons by attending Humboldt College and the Simpson Business College at Indianola. N 1903 he came to Boxholm and engaged in the lumber business and has ever since continued therein. He also hanldes building material and his business transactions are important and extend over a considerable territory. Moreover. Mr Thorngreen actively manages a 213 acre farm in Grant township form which he derives a gratifying income. He is also a stockholder and director in the Farmers State Bank of Boxholm and the proprietor of the Willow Grove Stock Farm. He was instrumental in organizing the Farmers Elevator Company of Boxholm and is a stockholder therein. Beside all of these interests he owns two farms, one of 80 acres and another of 160 acres in Oklahoma. Mr Thorngren is a typical representative of the successful young American business man and has attained to prosperity because of his far sightedness, his determination, his industry, his honesty and is close application. He has made use of opportunities as they presented themselves and it may be even said of him that he created opportunities where there were none before. While building his own fortune he has a been an important factor in the growth and development of his section of the state to the advancement of which he has made valuable contributions.
On June 10, 1904, Mr Thorngren married Miss Lillian Carlson, a daughter of J P and Jennie (Loving) Carlson, natives of Sweden, who settled in Boone county in 1883. The father turned his attention to farming in Pilot Mound township and there he is still operating a farm. Mr and Mrs Thorngren were the parents of three children: Francis M aged eight , J Loran, who is six years of age, and Ruth C who died April 20, 1914, at the age of three and one half years.
Mr Thorngren has always taken a deep interests in the welfare of the community, warmly championing the cause of education. He is president of the Boxholm school board and in that connection has been instrumental in greatly improving the educational system prevailing in his city. He also serves a president of the Commercial Association of Boxholm, allying himself with those men who are ever willing to make sacrifices in order to promote industrial and commercial growth. He is secretary of the Grant Township Mutual Telephone Company and has been for some time the republican committeeman for Grant township and a member of the town council. In 1912 Mr Thorngren was the republican nominee for representative from the fifty-third district but was defeated by J B McHose, of Boone, by less that one hundred votes. He ahs always been loyal to the republican party, upholding its principles and candidates. His religious faith is that of the Methodist church, and he gives material and moral support to its growth. Mr Thorngren is a public spirited citizen, a successful business man and a leader in all movements for moral and intellectual advancement. He reflects honor and credit upon the community and stand high in the estimation of all who know him.

1914 Boone County History Book