Eittreim, Ole O., Jr.

EITTREIM, DIGERNESS

Posted By: Janelle Martin (email)
Date: 5/19/2009 at 13:15:30

History of Hamilton County Iowa, Vol. II, p. 44

OLE O. EITTREIM. Jr.

Ole O. Eittreim, Jr., of the firm of Hanson, Eittreim Company, is regarded as one of the leading business men and foremost citizens of Ellsworth, where he is now serving his third term as mayor. He is a native of Norway, his birth having occurred on the 4th of March, 1868, and a son of Ole O. and Martha Eittreim. The parents, who were born, reared and married in the Norseland, came to America in 1868, locating in Illinois. Two years later they continued their journey westward to Hamilton County, where the father farmed as a renter until 1876, when he bought one hundred and twenty acres of land in Lincoln township. He is still actively engaged in the cultivation and improvement of this property, although he has now attained the age of seventy-two years, while the mother is sixty-eight.

Ole O. Eittreim, Jr., was only an infant when he accompanied his parents on their removal to the United States, and a child of two years when they located in Iowa. He was reared at home and at the usual age began his education in the common schools of this county, and completed it in the seminary at Redwing, Minnesota. Upon terminating his student days he engaged in teaching for two seasons and then accepted a clerkship in a general mercantile store at Radcliffe, Iowa. He continued in that employ for ten years, at the expiration of which time he resigned his position and came to Ellsworth. Here he became associated with H. L. Hanson and others in establishing the mercantile business now conducted under the firm name of the Hanson, Eittreim Company. They carry a large and well assorted stock of general merchandise, which they offer at reasonable prices, and are accorded a good patronage. The members of the firm are enterprising and progressive men and in the conduct of their business have adopted a policy which commends them to the confidence of all with whom they have dealings.

In April, 1892, Mr. Eittreim was married to Miss Celia Digerness, a daughter of A. J. and Mary Digerness, natives of Norway, and they have become the parents of three children, Oren, Myrtle and Ernest. The family affiliate with the Norwegian Lutheran church, in the faith of which Mr. and Mrs. Eittreim were reared. In politics he is a republican and is now serving his third term as mayor and he has also been a member of the council. He is highly esteemed in the community, where he has proven faithful to every trust reposed in him either in public or private life, manifesting the same promptness and efficiency in the discharge of his official duties as he exhibits in the direction of his private interests.