BURGESON, CHRISTIAN

BURGESON, BENGTSON, STENBORN, ERICKSON

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 5/20/2004 at 15:41:23

Biography reproduced from page 222 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Christian Burgeson was during his life one of the best known Swedish residents of Swea township and his death was regarded throughout Kossuth county as a distinct loss to its agricultural development. He was born in Sweden, on September 15, 1836, and is a son of Borge Bengtson, who was a tailor by trade and who lived and died in his native country. His son Christian lived at home during his early boyhood and attended the Swedish district schools. He started out in life for himself when he was ten years of age and worked in the employ of others in the city of Gotenburg, Sweden, until the spring of 1871. In that year he crossed the Atlantic to America and located at Bangor, Maine, where for two years he worked in the tanneries and labored at anything which he could find to do. In 1873 he went to live upon the state line between Massachusetts and Rhode Island and there he remained for six years, working at farm work in the employ of others in the district. He was very poor and hampered by the difficulties of learning a new language and foreign customs. He had had very little education and was obliged to apply himself to the most menial tasks, but his dominating determination and energy carried him on to a remarkable degree of success. In 1880 Mr. Burgeson came to Kossuth county, Iowa, and in March of that year located on a farm where his widow still resides. He bought eighty acres on section 8 and improved and cultivated this land so successfully that he was soon able to add another eighty acres to his holdings. His prosperity was continuous from that time and he later bought two hundred and four acres on section 6, in Swea township, which was a valuable addition to his already large farm. He lived upon section 8, continuously improving his holdings along modern and scientific lines, until 1909, when he moved to an eighty-acre farm in Eagle township, on section 31, and there lived until his accidental death on the 14th of July, 1910. Mr. Burgeson had always been personally active in the conduct of his farm and upon that day had climbed to the top of a tall haystack. He missed his footing by some accident and fell to the ground, breaking his neck.

In 1866 Mr. Burgeson was united in marriage to Miss Mary Ann Stenborn, a daughter of Andrew Stenborn, a resident of Sweden, who lived and died in his native country. Mr. and Mrs. Burgeson were the parents of three children: Emil, who died in Sweden when he was three years of age; Albion, a prominent farmer on section 6, Swea township, who married on August 11, 1893, Miss Emma Erickson, by whom he has five children, Freda, Roy, Helen, Lee and Edith; and Josephine, the wife of Erick Erickson, a farmer of Swea township, of whom more extended mention is made on another page in this volume. Mrs. Burgeson after her husband’s death lived for a short time on the farm in Eagle township and later made her home with her son Albion on the farm on section 6. She remained there for some time but is now making her home with her daughter, Mrs. Erickson, who resides on the old homestead on section 8, Swea township.

Mr. Burgeson was a stanch republican and always voted his party ticket. He held membership in the Swedish Baptist church and was a well known figure in its affairs. He was one of the prominent and substantial farmers of this district and carried on his agricultural pursuits along scientific and progressive lines. He was constantly improving his holdings and adding to his stock which he made an important part of his work. He started life for himself alone in a new country with comparatively no assistance beyond dominating determination and a hopeful heart. He conquered his destiny by sheer will and energy, against hampering difficulties, and lived a dignified and worthy life to an honorable and much regretted death.