ALBERT ALBERTSON, 1844-??

ALBERTSON, THOMPSON, EVERSON, SUMMERS, JACKSON

Posted By: Bahnson
Date: 4/24/2002 at 18:26:35

ALBERT ALBERTSON.
Albert Albertson, a retired citizen of Inwood, and an honored veteran of the war for the Union, is one of the older settlers of Lyon county, and has played a very active part in the development of this section of Iowa. He was born in Norway in 1844, and in his career exhibits many of the characteristic traits of his ancestral blood. He has led an industrious and honorable life, and now in the afternoon of his day on earth is enjoying the fruits of his upright and manly career.
When Albert Albertson was four years old his parents brought him to the United States, and settled near Argyle, Lafayette county, Wisconsin, where his mother died five years later. This great loss broke up the family, and threw the nine-year old lad on his own resources, as his father was poor and unable to maintain the unity of his family. Young Albert obtained a home with a farmer, where he worked during the farming season, and attended district school for three months during the winter time. After three years had passed Albert obtained a situation where he was engaged in driving cattle and received for his pay his board and clothes. When he was eighteen he was caught up by the tide of enlistment in the Union army, and found his old Norse blood could not resist the war fever. He did not wish to avoid what he felt was a sacred duty, to fight for the land of liberty.
Albert Albertson enlisted in Company E, Thirty-first Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. The regiment received its drill at Darlington Prairie du Chien and Racine until the spring of 1863, when it was ordered to the front, and found its place on the firing line at Columbus, Kentucky, where it remained on guard duty during the ensuing summer. In the fall it did provost guard duty at Nashville for some two months, after which it was on guard duty for a time at Murfreesboro. There it was under command of General Thomas, but later was attached to the army of General Sherman, and for two weeks was under fire day and night before Atlanta, and when that city fell the Thirty-first Wisconsin became part of its garrison to guard it from an expected assault by General Hood. When that danger was over, the regiment was sent forward to take part in the march to the sea, and participated in the fights at Peach Tree Creek and Goldsboro. Mr. Albertson recalls that during this march the rations were very uneven, for while they were sweeping through Georgia, and approaching Savannah, they had chickens, turkeys, and all kinds of meat; at the two weeks’ siege of that city they lived almost entirely on unhusked rice. From Savannah the regiment went to Washington where it participated in the grand review, later being sent to Madison, Wisconsin, where it was paid off and formally discharged from service. The surviving member entered into civil life, and the Thirty-first Wisconsin became a glorious memory.
Mr. Albertson was married in March, 1866, to Miss Martha L., a daughter of Gilbert and Maria Thompson, both of them were born and reared in Norway. The young couple settled on a rented farm, where they remained for a year, and then removed to a farm of ninety acres, which they had purchased in the meantime. This farm was their home until 1882, when it was sold, after they had brought it to the highest state of cultivation. That year they entered Lyon county, where Mr. Albertson bought a hundred and sixty acres, paying a little over $7 an acre, and shortly after purchased another tract of one hundred and sixty acres, paying $14 per acre, becoming possessed of a half section of very choice and productive farm land. This fine body of highly productive Lyon county soil he brought into the best condition, and in 1890 rented it, to remove to town. At first he lived in what is now the home of Dr. Lewis, but four years later he bought three acres of land on which he built a house, now the family home.
Mr. and Mrs. Albertson have had eight children: Marie, the wife of G. Everson; Hannah, the wife of Rev. S. C. Summers; Mary J., the wife of C. J. Jackson; Tyler, whose death at the age of fifteen years was the result of an accident; Charles L., now in the poultry business in Inwood; Fred Earnest, now a bookkeeper in Minnesota; Ona Dell and Jessie H. are still at home. Mr. Albertson is a Prohibitionist, and has held the offices of school director, assessor and road supervisor. He hired the first teacher in his district, and has been a member of the Methodist church for thirty-three years.

"COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY OF LYON COUNTY, IOWA", Published under the Auspices of the Pioneer Association of Lyon County. GEO. MONLUN, Pres.; HON. E. C. ROACH, Sec’y; and COL. F. M. THOMPSON, Historian. GEO. A. OGLE & CO., Published, Engravers and Book Manufacturers. CHICAGO, 1904-1905