BERG, LEO

BERG, KNUDSON, YOUNG, JOHNSON, ANDERSON, RINQUIST, SAXTON

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 5/24/2004 at 16:49:11

Biography reproduced from page 694 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

The late Leo Berg was one of the enterprising and diligent citizens Sweden has furnished Kossuth county. He was for nineteen years actively identified with the agricultural development of Kossuth county, where he owned one hundred and sixty acres of land located on section 14. His birth occurred in Carlstad, province of Varmland, on the 15th of December, 1851, and he was a member of a family of six children, the others being as follows: Carl and Theodore, deceased; Andrew, who resides in Newark, New Jersey; Bertha, now Mrs. O. Knudson, of Denver, Colorado; and Elizabeth, who married L. E. Young, of Chicago, Illinois.

The educational advantages of Leo Berg were limited as at the age of fifteen years he became an apprentice in an iron mill. He remained at home until he attained his majority when he decided to come to America to seek his fortune. Upon his arrival in this country he went directly to Michigan, where for a time he worked in the copper mines, subsequently obtaining employment in the iron works in Worchester, Massachusetts. He remained there until 1882, during which time he accumulated enough money to buy some land, so together with his wife and two eldest sons he again started westward, Kossuth county being his destination. Here he purchased the southwest quarter of section 14, Swea township, and turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. He met with fair success in his undertakings and during the intervening years made many improvements on his farm, which he cultivated until his death on the 29th of January, 1901.

At Worchester, Massachusetts, on the 23d of August, 1879, Mr. Berg was married to Miss Sarah Christine Johnson, who was born in Christineham in the province of Varmland, Sweden, on the 6th of October, 1850. She is a daughter of John and Mary Johnson, who passed their entire lives in the old country, where the father was a building contractor. He died in 1865 and the mother in 1871. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were the parents of six children, and Mrs. Berg, who is the third in order of birth, is the only one to have become a citizen of the United States. In order of birth the others are as follows: Andrew, deceased; John; Carl; Adam; and Carrie, the wife of Adolph Anderson. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Berg numbered seven. Theodore Leo, who was born on the 15th of June, 1880, engaged in farming in Grant township, and died December 1, 1912. He married Anna Rinquist, a daughter of Andrew Rinquist of Swea City, and to them were born two children: Fordyce and Elna. The widow and children are still residing on the farm in Grant township. Andrew Gus, who was born on the 9th of March, 1882, and who has been operating the home farm for his mother ever since the death of Mr. Berg, was married on June 12, 1912, to Dema Saxton, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Saxton, Lone Rock, Iowa. Ellen Sarah, whose natal day was January 1, 1885, graduated from Humboldt College, this state, in 1904, and is now employed as a stenographer in Chicago. Edward Charles, born June 18, 1890, graduated from Valparaiso University, of Valparaiso, Indiana, in 1909. Richard Emmanuel, born April 29, 1894, is now attending the Swea City high school. Two other girls, Judith and Julia, twins, were born on the 26th of October, 1887, and died at the age of nine months.

The family attend the Swedish Baptist church, of which Mr. Berg was a member as is also his widow. He enjoyed the full rights of citizenship and gave his political support to the men and measures of the republican party. He was a stockholder in the Cooperative Creamery Company and the Farmers Elevator Company of Swea City, and always assisted in promoting the development of every movement that would tend to advance the interests of the community. Mr. Berg was highly esteemed by his fellow townsmen and neighbors, who knew him to be a man of integrity and high principles, thoroughly dependable and faithful to every trust. The widow and children continue to reside on the homestead, which is located two and a quarter miles west of Swea City, and is one of the best improved and most attractive properties in that vicinity.