Ingval S. Refsell, 1863-1930
REFSELL, NESTEGAARD
Posted By: Emmet County IAGenWeb Coordinator (email)
Date: 3/10/2011 at 19:00:14
Ingval S. Refsell is a representative of a prominent and well known family of Emmet county. He has practically been a lifelong resident here, for he was only two and one-half years of age when brought by his parents to Iowa. He was born in Norway, December 3, 1864, a son of Ole and Mary Refsell, who in 1867 came to the United States and established their home in Emmet county, casting in their lot with its early settlers. The family home was one of the pioneer farms of the district and thereon Ingval S. Refsell was reared, while his education was acquired in the district schools not far distant. When not busy with his textbooks he worked in the fields and his youth was a period of earnest labor in which he learned to correctly value industry and perseverance as factors in the attainment of success. He remained at home until he attained his majority and then purchased the farm upon which he now resides, comprising two hundred and twenty acres of land on section 21, High Lake township. In the intervening years he has wrought a marked transformation in the appearance of his place, to which he has added many modern improvements, including fine buildings that furnish ample shelter to grain and stock. His home is an attractive residence and is the abode of warm-hearted hospitality. In addition to tilling his fields he makes a specialty of raising stock and in that undertaking is meeting with deserved success.
On December 12, 1894, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Refsell and Miss Bertha Nestegaard, a native of Norway and a daughter of Lars and Bertha (Swenson) Nestegaard, who were also born in the same country. They came to America in early life and spent their remaining days in Emmet county. Mr. and Mrs. Refsell have become the parents of a son and three daughters: Ole L., Mabel S., Ina Bertha and Alice Irene.
Mr. Refsell supports the republican party and keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day. He has served as school director but has never been a politician in the usually accepted sense of seeking office. He and his wife are consistent members of the Lutheran church, loyal to its teachings and its purposes, and they have gained many warm friends by reason of the spirit of Christianity which they display in every relation of life. Mr. Refsell has proven himself an enterprising and progressive business man, utilizing his time and talents to good advantage, and he has ever keep abreast with the spirit of progress in the methods in which he carries on his farm work.
Source: History of Emmet County and Dickinson County Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, The Pioneer Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1917.
Interment in Wallingford cemetery
Emmet Biographies maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
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