John C. Engebretson

ENGEBRETSON, HYLLAND

Posted By: Peter Gausmann (email)
Date: 1/8/2010 at 05:16:22

JOHN C. ENGEBRETSON

Among those names in Winnebago county which are synonymous with progress along agricultural lines and also with good citizenship is that of John C. Engebretson, a representative of one of the pioneer families of northern Iowa. He was born in Logan township, upon his father's farm, July 20, 1875, and is a son of Christian Engebretson, mentioned elsewhere in this work. At the usual age he became a pupil in the early schools, where he mastered such branches of learning as then constituted the public school curriculum. At the age of eighteen he went to Decorah, Iowa, and for two terms was a pupil in Breckenridge College, thus becoming well qualified for life's practical and responsible duties. He then returned to Winnebago county and took up the profession of teaching, which he successfully followed for ten terms in Logan township, imparting clearly and readily to others the knowledge that he had acquired. When twenty-five years of age he started farming on his own account on the northeast quarter of section 19, Logan township. He began putting fine improvements upon it and from time to time he purchased a part of the farm until he had become owner of the entire tract. He is also interested with his father and brother in the ownership of one hundred and sixty acres on section 34, Logan township.

On the 4th of July, 1900, Mr. Engebretson was united in marriage to Miss Carrie Hylland, a daughter of Nels O. and Anna Hylland, formerly of Logan township, but now residents of Woonsocket, South Dakota. Mr. and Mrs. Engebretson became the parents of five children, but two of the number, Matilda and Gehard, died in infancy. The others, Clarence J., Nora Amanda and Matilda, are all at home. Mr. Engebretson and his family are members of the United Lutheran church. He votes with the republican party and is one of its acknowledged leaders in Winnebago county. He has been called upon to fill various local positions, serving as township clerk for ten years, as assessor for four years, as road superintendent for seven years and as a member of the school board for two years. His duties are always discharged with promptness and fidelity and over the record of his official career there falls no shadow of wrong nor suspicion of evil. His entire life has been passed in Logan township and that his career has been an honorable and upright one is indicated in the fact that many of his stanchest friends have known him from his boyhood to the present time.

Source: History of Winnebago County and Hancock County, Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Vol. II. Pioneer Publishing Company (Chicago), 1917. pp. 322, 325.

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