Olaf W Tornell

TORNELL

Posted By: County Coordinator (email)
Date: 5/20/2010 at 14:15:19

Olaf W Tornell, a leading and prominent citizen of Pilot Mound, has been successfully engaged in the hardware and implement business for the past twenty-towo years and is the proprietor of the only establishment of its kind in the town. His birth occurred in Sweden on May 24 1860, his parents being Olaf and Carrie(Olson) Tornell, who were likewise natives of that country. They crossed the Atlantic to the United States in 1865, locating in Webster county, Iowa, and a year later in Boone county, the father purchasing 60 acres of land on the present site of the town of Pilot Mound. Here he continued to reside until his death, which occurred July 1895. The period of his residence in this county covered nearly three decades and in his passing the community lost one of hits respected and valued citizens. His wife was called to her final rest in the year 1902.
Olaf W Tornell who was a little lad of five years when he accompanied his parents on their emigration to the new world, acquired his education in the schools of Webster and Boone counties and remained on the home farm until seventeen years of age. Subsequently he worked for three years as a farm hand in Marshall county, Iowa and on the expiration of that period located on a tract of land which he had purchased in association with his father. He improve the property and was busily engaged in its operation for a period of nine years, then going to Gowrie, Webster county, where for two years he was employed in a grain and implement store. In the fall of 1892 he came to Pilot Mound and embarked in the hardware and implement business on his own account, having conducted an establishment of that character continuously and successfully since. On February 9, 1914, his store was completely destroyed by a disastrous fire which also demolished the places of business of several other merchants of the town. Mr Tornell is now rebuilding his establishment. He is the only hardware merchant of Pilot Mound and is accorded an extensive and gratifying patronage. He is a factor in financial circles as vice president and a stockholder of the Pilot Mound Savings Bank and likewise holds stock in the Leonard Hi-Oven Range Company of Cedar Rapids.
On March 3, 1890, Mr Tornell was united in marriage to Miss Augusta Younger a daughter of Gustaf and Mary Youngren, who were natives of Sweden and emigrated to America about 1865. The father followed farming in Webster county, where he spent the remainder of his life. The mother is still living. Unto Mr and Mrs Tornell have been born eight children, as follows: Ruth and Bernice, who are college students in Des Monies, Ward, Della, Clifford, and Roger, all of whom are attending school, and Vernon and Blanche both of whom died in infancy.
Mr Tornell give his political allegiance to the republican party and has served his fellow townsmen as a member of the town council and also in the mayor’s char, making a highly commendable record in both connections. His fraternal relations are with the Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and his wife is a devoted and consistent member of the Swedish Mission church. He is highly esteemed in the community, where he has ever manifested the strictest integrity in his business transactions and has contributed his share in pronouncing development and progress.

1914 Boone County History Book