SOROOS, Lawrence Andreas 1859-1943

SOROOS, MAAKESTAD, JESSEN

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 8/14/2015 at 00:26:47

DEATH CLAIMS 3
OLD RESIDENTS
MITCHELL COUNTY

Death this week claimed the lives of three present and former residents of Mitchell county, all in advanced age. George Walter, of Mitchell, Lawrence Soroos of Osage and Mrs. Eva Church, resident of this county until 1926, who died at Watertown, South Dakota.

Lawrence Soroos

Lawrence Andreas Soroos died in Osage, Iowa, Sunday, April 4, 1943. He had been in ill health for several years and was almost 84 1/2 years of age at the time of his death.

He was born in Trondeim, Norway, October 8, 1859. He was the third of eight children of Johan and Ingeborg Soroos. At the age of 15, with his father, mother, two sisters and a brother, he came to Dodge county, Minnesota. For some time he worked as a farm hand near Rock Dell in Olmstead county, Minnesota, and on Washington Prairie, near Decorah, Winneshiek county, Iowa. At the age of 20 he went to the Red River Valley, where he later homesteaded 160 acres of land near Larimore, North Dakota.

Here he met Gurine Maakestad from Mitchell county, Iowa, who had come to North Dakota to assist her brother, in that new territory. Lawrence Soroos and Gurine Maakestad were married in 1885 at Rock Creek Lutheran Church, near Osage, the Rev. Johan Olson officiating. One son was born to them, Carl Arthur Jessen, who is employed as a senior specialist in Secondary Education by the United States Office of Education, Washington, D.C. Mrs. Soroos and this son are the only surviving members of Mr. Soroos' immediate family, all of his brothers and sisters having passed on before him.

After disposing of the farm in North dakota, Lawrence Soroos moved his family to St. Paul, Minnesota, then to Dodge county, Minnesota, and from there to Thief River Falls, Minnesota, later moving to Osage, Iowa. The two communities that are most closely associated with Mr. Soroos' career are Dodge county, Minnesota, where he farmed for 21 years, near Hayfield, and Osage, Iowa, where he lived the last 23 years of his life. In addition to operating his farm in Dodge county, Mr. Soroos was for several years secretary of the Vernon Co-operative creamery company. During World War I, and for some years following, he served as bookkeeper in the offices of Jas. A. Smith Lumber company, which had its headquarters in Osage.

The funeral service was held today, Thursday, at the Osage Lutheran Church, the Rev. T.P. Solem conducting the services. Interment will be in Rock Creek Cemetery.

Source: Mitchell County Press, Osage, Iowa, 8 apr 1943
(Credit: K. Kittleson)