SWANSON, LOUIS A.

SWANSON, OLESON, LARSON, ANDERSON, ROST

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 7/18/2003 at 22:36:40

Biography reproduced from page 423 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Louis A. Swanson started out in life a poor boy in Sweden and by industry and good management has become the owner of a fine one hundred and sixty acre farm, well improved and cultivated. He loyally assisted his parents in their old age, returning to his native land for that purpose, and after the death of the father cared for his mother, bringing her to America with him, where she made her home thereafter. He was born in Sweden, February 26, 1851, a son of Swan P. and Louise (Oleson) Larson, both natives of that country. The father was a farmer and gave his attention to agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in 1875. The mother, who after the death of her husband came to America with her son Louis, made her home in East Chain township, Martin county, Minnesota, until her death, which occurred in 1887. In their family were four sons but only two survive, the brother of our subject, John Swanson, being a resident of Chicago, Illinois.

Louis A. Swanson was reared on a farm in Sweden and through his early boyhood assisted his father with the work of the fields, enjoying very limited educational advantages. He emigrated to the new world in the fall of 1869 and settled in Boone county, Iowa, where he was employed at farm work until the fall of 1874. At that time he returned to Sweden on account of his father’s illness and remained with the family, rendering them material assistance, until after his father’s death. He then returned to America in the spring of 1881 and settled in Boone county, Iowa, where he continued to work for farmers until he removed to Martin county, Minnesota, where he remained for a time, returning to Iowa in 1893 and settling in Grant township, one mile east of his present home. He there purchased eighty acres of land and later eighty acres more, residing upon that farm for three years. In the spring of 1896, having sold his original Iowa farm, he removed to his present property on section 8, Grant township, which consists of one hundred and sixty acres of well improved land. He does general farming and is raising high-grade cattle and hogs for the market, having become one of the well known and successful farmers of his township.

Mr. Swanson was married in Boone county in 1882 to Miss Caroline C. Anderson, a native of Sweden, who came to America as a member of the same party which Mr. Swanson joined upon his second trip to this country. In the family of her father and mother were six children, three of whom survive, namely: Anna, a resident of Sweden; Hulda, the wife of John Rost, a farmer of Kearney county, Nebraska; and Charles, who is making his home in Sweden. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson also emigrated to the new world and continued to make their home on this side of the Atlantic throughout their remaining days. Their daughter, Mrs. Swanson, died June 2, 1911, on the farm. By her marriage to Mr. Swanson she had become the mother of four children, namely: Lillian, who died when only fourteen months old; and Albert, Edward and Henry, all at home. In politics Mr. Swanson has never given allegiance to any particular party as he prefers to support for office such candidates as seem to him best fitted for the positions to which they aspire. He has long been recognized as one of the best citizens of his township, a successful farmer and business man and a thoroughly upright and honorable citizen.