O. I. Olson

OLSON, PETERSON

Posted By: Gordon Felland (email)
Date: 5/14/2007 at 16:07:35

The Scandinavian countries have contributed a valuable element to the citizenship of Winnebago county. Among the men of foreign birth living in Forest City is O. I. Olson, a native of Sweden, who for many years was .prominently connected with general agricultural pursuits but is now living retired. He was born July 12, 1842, a son of Ole and Beulah Olson, who were also natives of Sweden, where they spent their entire lives, both having now passed away. In their family were eight sons, of whom four survive.

O. I. Olson was reared and educated in Sweden and came to the United States in 1880, at which time he made his way at once to Winnebago county, Iowa. For a time he worked at the carpenter's trade, which he had learned in his native land, but afterward purchased a farm of one hundred and eighty-nine acres in Newton township. Upon that place he lived for twenty-nine years and his labors and efforts converted it into a valuable and splendidly improved property equipped with all accessories of a model farm. Well kept fences divided the place into fields of convenient size and his land was carefully cultivated, producing excellent crops. He made a specialty of raising and feeding stock in addition to farming, but in 1913 he sold his place and removed to Forest City, where he has since lived retired, enjoying a rest that he has truly earned and richly deserves.

In 1869 Mr. Olson was married in Sweden to Miss Ingar Peterson, a native of that country, and they became parents of eight children, as follows: Olaf, William and Allen, all of whom reside in North Dakota; Oscar, of Winnebago county, Iowa; Neil and Albert, who also live in North Dakota; Tilla, who makes her home in Montana; and John, who is deceased. The wife and mother passed away in 1914 and was laid to rest in the Forest City cemetery, leaving a husband and seven children to mourn her loss.

In politics Mr. Olson is a democrat, and while not an office seeker, he has served as school director. He stands for all those interests which work for the good of the community and, moreover, he is a self-made man whose life record should serve as a source of inspiration and encouragement to others, for all that he possesses has been acquired since he came to the United States through the utilization of those opportunities which are here offered to every individual.

Source: History of Winnebago and Hancock Counties, Iowa, 1917, Vol. II., page 143.