ANDERSON, THEODORE

ANDERSON, JOHNSON, THIEL, STERLING, REYNOLDS, PEARSON, SAMUELSON, SWANSON, LUFSTROM, THORESON

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 5/27/2004 at 15:41:14

Biography reproduced from page 46 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Theodore Anderson has the distinction of being the first settler of Eagle township, where he owns and cultivates two hundred and forty acres of land. He was born in the Province of Smaland, Sweden, on the 14th of September, 1862, and is a son of Freden and Sarah (Johnson) Anderson, also natives of Sweden. The father, who was a farmer and stone-mason, emigrated to the United States with his family in 1879, coming direct to Kossuth county. Upon his arrival he purchased land on section 1, Swea township, which he diligently cultivated for many years. He subsequently disposed of his holdings here and crossed the boundary line into Minnesota, where he continued his agricultural pursuits for two years. At the expiration of that time he returned to Kossuth county and located in Bancroft, where he passed away on the 26th of August, 1910. He is survived by his wife who now makes her home with her children. Their children are as follows: John, who is cultivating the father’s old farm in Minnesota; Theodore, our subject; Annie, the wife of Fred Thiel, who is engaged in the real-estate business in South Dakota; Edith, who became the wife of Byron D. Sterling, a hardware merchant of Buffalo Center, Iowa; Solomon, agent on the Soo line at Frazee, Minnesota; Selma, the wife of Lark Reynolds, a farmer and stockman of Grant township, who is mentioned at greater length elsewhere in this work; and Clara, who married John Pearson, a ranchman of South Dakota.

Theodore Anderson was a youth of sixteen years when he accompanied his parents on their removal to America, and has ever since made his home in Kossuth county. In 1879, he and John Lindbloom, whose sketch also appears in this work, trapped wild game on the prairies of Eagle township and also hunted deer, which were then quite plentiful. His education was obtained in the schools of his native land and there he also learned the stone-mason’s trade under the supervision of his father. He remained with his parents for several years after they settled in Swea township and assisted his father, but he subsequently left home and for two years thereafter farmed as a renter. Thus he acquired the money to enable him in 1890 to buy eighty acres of land in Eagle township, which forms the nucleus of his present farm. As his circumstances have permitted during the intervening years he has extended the boundaries of his homestead until he now holds title to two hundred and forty acres of land, which he has brought to a high state of productivity. In connection with the cultivation of his fields he raises and feeds cattle and hogs for the market, and is prospering in both lines of his business.

On the 14th of April, 1895, Mr. Anderson was married to Miss Selma Samuelson, a daughter of Lars and Emma (Swanson) Samuelson, who are mentioned at greater length in the sketch of Lars Samuelson. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Samuelson numbered eleven, all of whom are now deceased with the exception of five: Anna, the wife of Gustave Lufstrom, a farmer of Eagle township; Mrs. Anderson; William, a minister in the Swedish Lutheran church, of West Sweadall, Minnesota; Sabina, the wife of Louis Thoreson, a farmer of Swea township; and Edith Marie, a clerk in Fults’ store at Swea City.

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are the parents of four children: Carl Earl, who was born December 17, 1896, and is assisting his father on the farm; Richard Milton, whose birth occurred on the 12th of December, 1897, and who is a member of the class of 1912 of the second district school, Eagle township; Lloyd Emery, who was born March 20, 1900, and is attending school in Eagle township; and Ruth Mildred Christine, whose natal day was the 17th of October, 1902, and is a pupil in the fifth district school.

The family are members of the Swedish Lutheran church of Swea township, and Mrs. Anderson belongs to the Ladies Aid Society. The political allegiance of Mr. Anderson is accorded to the republican party, and he is one of the first trustees of Eagle township, in which capacity he served for eight years, while for four he has been a director in school district No. 2. He takes an active interest in promoting the development of every movement that will benefit the agriculturists, and is a stockholder in the Farmers Elevator Company of Swea City and the Iowa Lake Creamery. He is widely known in the county and held in high esteem by his neighbors and fellow townsmen, whose regard and confidence he has won through the honorable and upright manner of conducting his transactions.